A judicious use of stimulants has, under such circumstances,
not only given me sufficient energy to unpack my writing materials,
lie on my face, and propped on both elbows, write for hours by the
light of a smoky lamp; but also produced the flow of ideas that
previously refused to come out of their mental hiding places, or which
presented themselves in a flat and uninteresting form. I consider,
then, the use of alcoholic and other stimulation to be conducive to
literary labours under circumstances of physical and mental
exhaustion; and very often the latter is the normal condition of
writers, especially those employed on the press. Perhaps, too, in
examining into the nature of some metaphysical and psychological
questions the use of alcohol, or some similar stimulant, aids the
appreciation of _nuances_ of thought which might otherwise escape
the cooler and less excited brain. On the other hand, while travelling
in the East during the past few years, and when, as a rule,
circumstances precluded the possibility of obtaining stimulants, I
found that a robust state of health consequent on an out-door life,
made the consumption of alcohol in any shape quite unnecessary. In
brief, then, my opinion is, that at a given moment of mental
depression or exhaustion, the use of stimulants will restore the mind
to a condition of activity and power fully equalling, and in some
particular ways, surpassing its normal state.
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