Veronal

It would be understandable enough, considering his problems with morphine, Veronal and absinthe; the nervous breakdown precipitated by his artillery training in World War I; and his suicide in 1938, at the age of 58, after the Nazis had denounced him as a degenerate.

A different meaning of “Patient X” is suggested near the end of the novel, after Akutagawa has downed a fatal dose of Veronal.

Between 1913-15 Virginia made several suicide attempts, including trying to jump from a window and overdosing on Veronal, a powerful sedative.

In 1912, the 24-year-old Eugene O’Neill tried to kill himself with an overdose of Veronal, but botched the job and was found unconscious by friends.

Under these circumstances such drugs as trional, veronal, amylene hydrate, ammonol, etc., may be tried until one is found which produces sleep.