make them believe they are going to get well.  If you do not wish to do this, refuse such cases, or you will fail with them.  If there are any patients that need encouragement and kindly, sympathetic, judicious “cheering up,” these patients are the ones, and they generally are “laughed at and made fun of” by people who should know better.  Remember their troubles are real to them, and are due to exhaustion or prostration of the nervous system and this condition, as before described, produces horrid feelings and sensations of almost every part of the body.  The patient must be made to believe that he may expect to get well; and he must be told that much depends upon himself, and that he must make a vigorous effort to overcome certain of his tendencies, and that all his power of will will be needed to further the progress of the cure.

[282 Mothers’ remedies]

First, then, is rest.—­Both mental and physical diversions, nutritious though easily digested food, and removal of baneful influences as far as possible.  Physical exercise for the lazy.  Rest for the anemic and weak.  For business or professional men the treatment is to get away and far off, if possible, from business.  It will often be found best to make out a daily programme for those that must remain at home, something to keep the mind busy without tiring, and then times of rest.  The patient, if it is possible, should be away from home if home influences and surroundings are not agreeable.  Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, of Philadelphia, has devised and elaborated a cure, called a rest cure, for the relief of this class of patients, and it is wonderfully successful especially in thin people.  “Be the symptoms what they may, as long as they are dependent upon nerve strain, this ‘cure’ is to be resorted to, and if properly carried out is often attended with surprising results.”  “A bright, airy, easily cleaned, and comfortable room, is to be selected, and adjoining it, if possible, should be a smaller one for an attendant or nurse.  The patient is put to bed and kept there from three to six weeks, or longer as may be necessary, and during this time is allowed to see no one except the nurse and doctor, since the presence of friends requires conversation and mental effort.  The patient in severe cases must be fed by the nurse in order to avoid expenditure of the force required in the movement of the arms.  No sitting up in bed is allowed and if any reading is done it must be done by the nurse who can read aloud for an hour a day (I have seen cases where even that could not be done).  In the case of women, the hair should be dressed by the nurse to avoid any physical effort on the part of the patient.  To take the place of ordinary exercise, two measures are employed, the first of which is massage or rubbing; the second, electricity.  By the kneading and rubbing of the muscles and skin the liquids in the tissues are absorbed and poured into the lymph spaces, and a healthy blush is brought to the skin.  This