An ancient traditional remedy for insomnia the scent of lavender flowers has now been proved effective In a recent study 30 volunteers with chronic insomnia slept each night for three weeks on lavender scented pillows in a controlled room where their slee

The argument states that lavender, which has used in ancient times, can facilitate people into sleep proofed by nowadays experiment. The author claims that lavender scent can efficiently improve people's sleeping quality in three weeks. However, there is no sufficient information to assess the argument properly and then render the argument a little unconvincing.

First of all, the writer mentions that there are 30 volunteers included in the experiment. Nevertheless, the quantity of sample models is small. There is no obvious causation between the effect on 30 people and all human beings. It is possible that the 30 volunteers are fond of lavender scent which make their bedroom in a suitable place for sleep. If lavender scent solely works on people who love the scent, it does not mean that the scent truly has the function of medical care. It only provides a comfortable place to sleep.

Secondly, the argument avers that in the third week of the experiment, the volunteers obtain a better sleeping quality than the previous two weeks, and in the first two weeks the volunteers become more tired day by day. Nonetheless, they might sleep very well because they were too tired for unsound sleep in the first two weeks. Probably, the first two weeks might exhaust all the strength and energy of the test targets, and then they are really in a low spiritual state, so they can fall asleep more easily than before. There is no clear evidence to demonstrate the test targets sleep tightly caused by tire or scent.

Moreover, the writer concludes that lavender could cure insomnia only in three weeks. Notwithstanding, the research solely records the sleeping results of three weeks. There is no related connection between sleeping well in one week and in a long term. Perhaps, they slept soundly in the third week since they were too tired and they return to their regular unsoundly sleep in the fourth week. In the experiment, there are three weeks, the test targets only attain good sleep in one week, which is less than half time of the whole experiment time. Hence, the good sleep in one week cannot evince that their insomnia are really cured.

To sum up, according to the above information, the argument would be specious. To appraise the argument fairly, the author should provide more detailed evidence to bolster the argument.