Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1850-1854, 1854-02-03
Clriosities of Sleep.

Curiosities of Sleep.
There are some curious incidents on record
of sleeping and waking. In Turkey, if per-
son happens to fall asleep in the neghborhood
of peppyfeld, and the wind blows over to-
ward him, he becomes gradually narcotized,
AMI VOL die if the country people, who are
well acQu1n tel with the circumstance, did
not bring him to the next well or stream, and
empty pitcher after pitcher on his face and
body. DR.. Oppeheim, during his residence
in Turkey, owed his life to this simple and
effic 'cious treatment. DR., Graves, from whom
this anecdote is quoted, also reports the case
of gentleman, thirty years ofage, who from
long-continued sleepiness, was reduced to a
complete living skeleton, unable to stand on
his legs. 1t was partly owing to disease, but
chiefly to the abuse of mercury and opium,
until at last unable to pursue his business, he
sank into Affect and poverty and woe. DR..
Reid mentions friend of his, who, whenever
any thing occurred to distress him, soon be-
came drowsy, and fell asleep. A FELLOWSHIP
| dent also, at Edinburgh, upon hearing sud-
| denly the unexpected death of a near relative,
| threw himself on his bed, and almost instant
aneously, amid the glare of MONDAY, sunk
into a profound slumber. Another person,
reading aloud to one of his dearest friends
stretched out on his death-bed, fell fast asleep.
and, with the book still in his hand, went on
reading, utterly unconscious of what he was
uttering. A woman at Henaut slept seven
teen or eighteen hours day for fifteen years
Another is recorded to have slept once for
forty days. A man twenty-five years of age,
ut Tmsbury near Bath, once sleptfor a month
and in two years he slept again for seventeen
days. DR.. Macnish mentions woman who
spent three fourths of her life in sleep, and
DIR. EIllottson, who has collected several in
stan ,es of this sort quotes the case of a young
lady who slept for six weeks, and recovered.
Hercdotus in "Melpomene," alIudes incrcd-
uIously to race of Scythians, or Tartars, in
the extreme north, who werercportcd to sleep
away six months of the year. Two young
gentlemen, says Dir. Graves, 'coleoe-students,
went to bed in perfect health the night pre-
vious to their examination; they slept sound
y: the elder one rose early in the morning,
and letthis younger brother in bed still asleep;
he remained so for two hours more having
slept altogether for more than ten hours,
when he awoke in complete state of insan~
ty."
The same author likewise relates the case
Of a gentleman who fell asleep with his head
resting on his hands, folded together before
him on the table after dinner. On awaken
ing, one arm was paralyzed, and remained
paralyzed to the day of his death, which fol-
| lowed not long afterward. The celebrated
General Elliott, Frederic the Great, and John
Hunter seldom slept more than four or five
hours in the twenty four Dr. Macnish men
tians a lady, in perfect health, who never slept
more than three or four hours in the twenty
four, and only half an hour at a time. Gen
eraI Pichegvu, according to Sir Gilbert Blame,
had only one hours sleep in the same space
Of time for whole year. The venerable St.
Augustine, of Hippo, prudently divided his
hours into three parts; eight lie devoted to
sleep eight to recreation, and eight to con
verse with the world. De Moivre slept TWEEN
'ty hours out of the twenty-four. Quin, the
celebrated player could at his pleasure sIun-
Der twenty-tour hours in succession; and DR..
Reid could, when he liked, take as much food
and as much sleep as would serve him for a
couple of days. Theodosius, falling asleepin
the morning watch Of his last great battle saw
in his dreams an apparition that assured him
of his victory over his desperate foe Eucen;-
US, and the issue of the forthcoming dav yes
fled, or conceded with, this strange present.
ment. The Dauphin, son of the unfortunate
Louis. ANl., the descendant Of the soyereigns
Of France and Navarro, shut up in loath-
rlDl- with l,,l. -, h., l.. L l.
scanty rations were thrust, was killed by the
want Of sleep. His feyeriSh temples were
scarcely laid upon the pallet, when a stern
voice pealed round the waIS-C dpet, on, IS
tn? doris tn? BY a refinement of cruelty of
this description his ductile and confiding spirit,
drawn out to the last gasp, silently gave up
the ghost on the Sth of June, in his tenth
/ year, 1895. The famous ST. Dominic never
reposed except on the floor, or the bare boards
which served him for a bed. St. Bonayen-
tura, one of the first Franciscans, made use of
I a common stone of some size, instead of a
! pillow; and St. Peter, of Acantara, slept but
an hour and a half in the twcntv-four hours
for forty years together, either kneeling or
standing, with his head leaning aside, on a
! little piece of wood fastened for that purpose
in the wall. He usually ate but once in three
days yet he lived to be old, though his body
was so attenuated and weak that it seemed
to be composed Of the roots of trees, and his
skin SO Uarched that resembled thedr bark
of a tree rather than flesh. People may sleep
in all sorts of postures According to Mr.
Wilkinson, the ancient Egyptians, who as ev-
cry body knows, shaved their scaps, slept
with their heads resting on an iron prong like
that fapitchfork, welted with something soft
This they did for the sake of keeping their
heads cool, which they supposed strengthen
ed their wits. The position will sleep on
horseback, and the sentinel at his post An
entire bat!lliol of infantry have been known
to sleep on the march. 1t is about three o,
four o'clock in the morning that this propen-
sity OF sleep IS the most overpowering-the
moment seized upon by troops for driving in
the cnemy's oatposts, and taking the bivouac
by surprise. Maniacs are reported, particular
" in the Eastern hemisphere, to become flu