The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1854-07-19
Cu1rlOsitIcs OF Sleep.

CRafAOSleacs 0a steep.
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 poppy
field, and the wind blows over towards
him, !ic becomes gradually narcotics.
Cd, aud would die the country people,
who are well acquainted with the cir
cumstancc, did not bring him to the
next well Oh ,tTedin, and clnply pitch
or after pitcher on his face aud body.
DR.. Opponhe;m, during his residence
in Turkey, owed his life to this simple
and etficaciou treatment. DR.. Graves,
from whom this anccdotc is quoted,
also reports the case of Il gentleman.
thirty years of age, who from long con.
tii,ucd slecpincss, was reduced to Il
complete living skeleton, unable to
stand on his legs. 1t was partly ow-
ing to disease, but chiefly to tic use
of mercury and opium, until ut last
unable To pursue his business, lie sank
into abjcct poverty and woe. DR..
Reid mentions :, friend of his who.
whenever any,hi. < occurred to distress
l'im, soon became drowsy and fell
asleep a fellow studcn, aiso, at FL.
inhu'g, upon hearing suddenly the
meXpe .tcl death Of il near relative.
threw himself OH his bed and almost
instantancously, amidst the glare Of
noon day, sank into u 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, wen, on
reading utterly unconscious of what he
WAS uttcring. y woman at IIcnault
slept seventeen or eighteen hours a
day for fifteen years Another is re-.
corded TO have slept once iur forty
days man twenty-five years of
age, at Timsbury, near Bath, once
slept for month, and in two years he
slept again for seventeen days. DR..
MacniSh mentions Il woman. who spent
thrcc-foni tbs Of her lil,. in sleep and
Dr.. E!liotson, who has coIlc,tc sever
ii Instances OF this sort, quotes The
case of a young lady who slept for six
weeks and recovered. IIcroLutus. in
"Melpomenc," aIludes increduIously
to race Of the Scythians, or tartars,
i'll the extreme North, who were rcpor.
ted to sleep six months Of the year.
"Iwo young gentlemen" says DR..
Graves, 'collcgc students, went to bed
in perfect health the night previous TO
their examination; they slept soundly:
the elder one rose early in the nom
ing, and left his younger brother in
bel still asleep he remained so for
two hours more, having slept altogeth.
or for more than ten hours, when he
awoke in q state ofcomp!ctc insanity"
The same aLthor likewise relates the
case of a gentleman who fell asleep
with his head resting on his hands, fol-
dcd together before Oil the table, after
dinner. On awakening, one arm was
paralyscd, and remained paralytic 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
time.
General Pichcgru, according to Sir
Gilbert Blame, had only one hour
sleep in the same space of time for u
whole year. The venerable St. An
gustine, ofl1ippo, 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 his pleasure slumbcr
twenty.four hours in succession; and
Dr. ,Rcid could, when he liked, take as
much food and as much sleep as would
serve him for couple ofdays. Theo
dos'us, falling asleep i'll the morning
watch ot his great battle, saw in his
dreams an apparition that assured him
on great victory over his desperate
foe Eusenius; and the issue Of the
forthcoming day verified, or coincided
win, the strange presentment. The
Dopphin.' son yofthe unfortunate Louis
AVi:, shs deScundant pfthe Sovoreiuns
Of FraRee anaI Navarro, ehlb up in g