The Sun.
London, England, 1829-01-20 00:00:00

SLEEP.

A. question has been raised how much sleep
is required, and how long it is necessary to. be
in bed, for the purpose of rest and refreshment.
—Eight hours have been allotted for the labourer,
and six for the scholar and gentleman. Very
few gentlemen, hoWeVer, are .satisfied with this
scale ; and a capacity for sleeping Makes the
greater part of this class of the community in-
clined to double the period. The capacity for
sleeping, like the capacity for eating and drink,
ing, is to be increased by indulgence. Much
depends upon habit. Some people can sleep
when they w ill, and wake when they will ; and
are as much refreshed with a short nap as a long
one.—Sea-faring people have this property- from
education. I have known persons who have
never indulged in a second sleep. One gentle-
man, who entertained a notion that a second nap
was injurious, invariably got up as soon as he
awoke, no matter how early the hour—winter or
summer,. Others again. will sleep for four and
twenty hours. The celebrated Quin had this
faculty. " What sort of a morning is it, John ?"
" Very wet, Sir," " Any mullet in the market ?"
" No, Sir." " Then, John, you may call me
this time to-morrow." So saying, he composed
himself to sleep, and got rid of the ennui of a
dull day in the arms of Morpheus. One gen-
tleman, in the Spectator, used to sleep- by
weight. " I allow myself, one night with another,
a quarter of a pound of sleep, within a feW grains
more or less; and if upon my rising I find I
have not consumed my whole quantity, I take
out the rest in my chair." 'A lazy. old 'woman
used to apologize for lying in bed by saying that
" she lay in bed to contrive." Strange as this
old womarrs excuse was, it was an example
followed by one• of the most extraordinary
geniuses of this country, viz. Brindley, of whom it
is recorded, that when any great difficulty occur-
red in the execution of his works, having little
or no assistance from books, or the labours of
other men, his resources lay within himself. In
order, therefore, to be quiet,,and uninterrupted,
whilst he was in search ofthe necessary expedients,
hngenerally retired to his bed; and he has been
known to lie there one, two, or three days, till- he
had obtained the object in view. He would•
then get up and execute .his design without any
drawing or model. There are different kinds of
sleepers, as well as different kinds of sleep ; some
cannot sleep from home—others cannot sleep
at home ; some can sleep on a board, and snote
on a carpet; while others tumble and toss
on a soft bed, as
.if the down disconcerted
them. Some again cannot sleep in a noise ;
others cannot sleep out of it. A miller
awakens the moment' his 'Mill stops ; and a
tradesman from Cheap-side. cannot sleep in the
coontry, because "itis so plaguy quiet. Som-
nambulists, or sleep-walkers, usually sleep with
their eyes open ; but without vision. Shakspeare,
who may be considered a very good medical
authority, makes Lady Macbeth a somnambulist
with her eyes open—" but their sense is shut."
This is not always the case, however, and there
is a singular exception, in the -instance of Johan-
nes Oporinus, a printer, who being employed,
one night its correcting the copy of a Greek
book, fell asleep as he read, and yet ceased not
to read, till he had finished. not less than a whole
page, of which, when he awoke, he retained no
recollection. There are many curious histories
of
l sleepingic
Transactions have several ; in one, a
man
from August till January. There is
s
sophical
a case, read before a Society of Physicians in
1756, of Elizabeth Orvin, who began her sleep-
ing fit in 1738, by a four days' nap, and for ten
years afterwards never slept less than 17 hours
out of the four-and-twenty. Dr. Brady relates,
that some strange methods were resorted to; to
rouse her—such as rubbing her back with honey,
and in a hot day exposing her to a hive of bees,
till her back was full of bumps—making a pin-
' cushion of her, and performing acu-punctura-
lion, with pins and needles—flagellation, and
" other old experiments," which the Doctor in-
forms us he thinks better " to pass over in
silence," all of which might as well have been
spared, for she was very sulky and good for
nothing when she was awake. This sulkiness
however, should be noticed, as being connected
with the complaint. Previously to this'somno-
lent disease, many of the persons have beeoMe
uneasy, sullen, and surly. In all, the mind his
evidently been affected ; and in some,lvhere there
has been extreme abatinenee,•their waking. hours
have been characterised by decided mental aber-
ration.—Quarterly Journal.

KILKENNY MAEKET, JAN. 14.—Butter, 77e. to 18g.
per cwt. ; Bacon Pigs, 35e. to 37i. per ditto ; Wlaeot
33e. to'4oe. per barrel ; Barley, 18e. to 20e. ; Oats, 12s. to
12e.; Flour, 20s. to 48e. per bag ; Beef and /tattoo, 4d.
to 50. per lb. ; Potatoes, Od. to 2d. per atone ; Coate,
to 2d. per cwt.