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

ouan aO3nehSS Os 'SaccEp.
There are some curious incidents ON
record of sleeping and waking. In
Turkey, if person happens to fall 4.
sleep in til. nciyhborhood Of Il poppy
field, and the wind blows over towards
him, he becomes gradually narcn,cis
cd, and would die the country people,
who arc wei! acquainted with The cir
cumstancc, did not bring him to the
inext well or stream, and empty pitch
or after pitcher on his face and body.
DR.. Cppenhe;m, during his residence
in Turkey, owed his life to this simple
and etfica cious treatment. DR.. Graves.
from whom. this anccdotc is quoted,
also reports the case Of Il gentleman.
thirty years of age, who from long con
tihucd slcepincss, was reduced to
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 at las.
unable to pursue his business, he sank
into ablcct poverty and woe. Dir.
Reid mentions a freud of,l,is who.
whenever any,h' g occurred to distress
him, soon became drowsy and fell
asleep \ follow student also, at i!l.
inbung, upon hearing suddenly tie
,meXpc .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, went on
reading utterly unconscious of what he
was u,tcring a woman at Ilcnnult
slept seventeen or eighteen hours a
day for fifteen years. Another is re.
corded to have slept once Tor forty
days a man twenty-five years of
Age, at Timsbury, near Bath, once
slept for a month, and in two years he
slept again for seventeen days. DR..
Mucnish mentions Il woman. who spent
thrce-iout tbs of her life in sleep and
Dr.. E!liotson, who has coIlcr' cd sever
al Instances Of this sort, quotes the
case of a yonng lady who slept for six
weeks and recovered. Ilcrodotus, in
"Melpomenc," alludes incredulously
to race Of the Scythians, or tartars,
III the extreme North, who were rcpor.
ted to sleep six months Of the year.
"Iwo young gentlemen" says DR..
Graves, college students, Went to bed
in perfect health the night previous to
their examination they slept soundly;
the older one rose early in the nom.
ing, and left his younger brother in
bc'' still asleep he remained so for
two hours more, having slept altogc,h.
cr for more than ten hours, when he
awoke in q state ofcomp!ctc 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 on 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 all 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.
gustinc, 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.. Reid 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 of his great battle, saw in his
dreams an apparition that assured him
OF great victory over his desperate
foe Engenius; and tho issue Of the
forthcoming day verified, or coincided
WIN, tills strange presentiment. The
1,,eAphjn.sson tofths unfortunate Louis
AVi:n,sae descendant pfthe Soyereians
Of France and Navarro, eaat up in a