The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1854-07-19
; CWrlOsitIcs Of Sleep.

CuriositIcs oG Sleep.
There are some curious incidents on
record Of sleeping and waking. In
Turkey, if a person happens to fall a.
sleep in til. ncighborhood Of Il poppy
field, and the wind blows over towards
him, he becomes gradually narcotics.
cd, aud would die itthc country people,
who are well acquainted with the cir
cumstancc, did not bring him to the
next we'll or stream, and empty pitch
or after pitcher OH his face and body.
DR.. Oppenhe;m, during his residence
in Turkey, owed his life to this simple
End e!tica cious treatment. DR.. Gra"as,
from whom this anccdotc is quoted,
also reports the case Of Il gentleman.
thirty years Of age, who from long con,
tlhucd slccpincss, was reduced to
complete living skeleton, unable to
stand on his legs. 1t was partly ow-
ing to disease, but chiefly to thc use
of mercury and opium, until ut last
unable to pursue his business, lie sank
into abject poverty and woe. DR..
Reid mentions a friend Of Ills who.
whenever anytli, 6 occurred to distress
llm, soon became drowsy and fell
asleep a fellow student also, al FL.
inhmg, upon hearing suddenly the
,meXpe .tcu death OF II near relative,
threw himself OH his bed, and almost
instantancously. amidst the glare Of
noon day, sank into Il profound slam.
Der. Another person, reading aloud
to one Of his dearest friends stretched
on his death bed, fell asleep, and, with
the book still in his hand, went on
reading utterly unconscious Of what he
was uttcring. a woman at ucnnult
Slept seventeen or eighteen hours
day for fifteen years. Another is re-
corded to have slept once for forty
days a man twenty five years of
Aye, at Timsbury, near Bath, once
slept for a month, and in two years he
slept again for seventeen days. DR..
Macnish mentions Il woman. who spent
thrce-lourths Of her lil, in sleep and
Dr.. EIliotson, who has collected sever
al Instances Of this sort, quotes the
case of a Young lady who slept for six
weeks and recovered. Ilcrodolus, in
"Melpomene," aludes incredulously
to race Of the Scythans, or tartars,
i'll the extreme North, who were repor.
ted to sleep six months Of the year.
"Two young gentlemen" says DR..
Graves, ''colIege students, went to bed
in perfect health the night previous to
their examination they slept soundIy:
the older one rose early in the nom.
ing, and left his younger brother in
bed still asleep he remained so for
two hours more, having slept atogcth.
or for more than ten hours, when he
awokc in state ofcomplctc insanity"
The same author likewise relates the
case Of a gentleman who fell asleep
with his head resting on his hands, fol.
dcd together before OH the table, after
dinner. On awakening, one arm was
paralyscd, and remained par;,Iytic to
the day of his death, which followed
not long afterwards. The celebrated
General Elliott, Frederic the Great,
and John Hunter, seldom slept more
than four or five hours in the twenty
four. DR.. Macnish mentions a lady,
in perfect health, who never slept more
than three or four hours in the twenty
four, and then only half an hour at a
time.
General Pichcgru, according to Sir
Gilbert Blame, had only one hour
sleep in the same space of time for a
whole year. The venerable St. Au.
gustine, Of Hippo, prudcntly divided
his hours into three parts eight he
devoted to sleep, eight to recreation,
and eight to converse with the world.
De Moivrc slept twenty hours out of
the twenty four. Quinn, the celebrated
player, could at Ills pleasure slumbcr
tweptY.four hours in succession and
DR.. Reid could, when he liked, take as
much inol and as much sleep as would
serSehiIn for couple ofdays. Theo
d0s'us, falling asleep in the morning
watch oi his great battle, saw in his
dreams an apparition that assured him
Ola great victory over his desperate
foe Engenius; and the issue Of the
forthcoming day verified, or coincded
win, the strange, presentiment. The
Dagphjn.s son ofthe unfortunate Louis
AVt,sae' descendans ofthe Sovoreigns
Of France and, Navarro. phat up il a