Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-08-11
Prolonged Sleep.

serving Me,ss sGss0r IN corpors s07,0 va
ries in different individuals. Infants and
young children require far the most, and
old persons the least. sleep. Perhaps
seven hours 10, a. nearly - We can dx It,
the average time that an average adult
should devote TO sleep. Active brain
work OCCASIONS far greater demand for
deep than good days muscular exercise.
Numerous cases OF prolonged sleep for
weeks, or even months, are on record,
some Of which are undoubtedly authentic,
and probably are analogous with the phe-
nomena Of hibernation and estivatiOn
that occur in certain Of the lower animals =
- bears, bats, hedgehogs, dormice, and
many fishes, reptiles, mollusks and In
sects. These may be regarded ~ cases Of
trance rather than Of ordinary sleep, In
asmuch "a, although there Is no stupor,
the patients cannot be reused. We may
quote one or two of the most remarkable
OF the well. authenticated instances.
Samuel Clinton, or Chelton, Of Tin.
bury, near Bath, England, laborer, aged
twenty-five, apparently in sound health,
fell asleep on the 18th of May, 1894, and
could mot be aroused. Food and drink,
which were placed at his bedside regu.
larly disappeared, although no one cav
him eating. At the end of q month he
arose of his own accord, and went to his
ordinary work. Except that he never
spoke for . month, he kept apparently
we'll till the 9th of April, 1896, when he
again fell asleep. No external irritant-
as cupping or scarifying-could arouse
weeks, after which his jaws became 90
clenched together that II became neces-
sary to utilize hole In his teeth made by
his pipe, and pour little wine into his
mouth through quill. About two quarts
were thus introduced In the course OF six
weeks and four days and he took no
other nourishment On the It'll OF Au.
gust, after sleeping seventeen weeks,
he awoke and dressed, not know
ing that he had slept more than
q night, till he went into the
fields and saw the harvest being
gathered In which hs had helped to SOW
whom he fell asleep. He remained wei!
and at his regular work till the 18th Of
August, 1897, when he again fell asleep,
and could mot be reused by pricking,
pinching, the application Of hartshorn to
his nostTils, ETC., till the 18th OF Novem.
Der, when his mother, hearing . noise
found him eating. She asked him how
he did. He replied, "Very well, thank
God" She asked him which he liked
best, bread and butter, or bread and cheese
He answered, Bread and cheese" Upon
this the woman, Ovcrjoyed, left him "a
scquaint his brother, and on their return
to his room they found him 90 fast asleep
a. ever, and could not BY any means
awake him. He finally awoke spontane-
Ously ct the beginning Of February, per.
fectly well, and remembering nothing
that had happened during his long sleep
and this u the last we hear Of him.
4 very remarkable case 10 that describ
cd by N. BlAnchet to the Paris Academy
OF Sciences, and published In the Complies
Rsndus for 1894. A lady, aged twenty
four, who slept for forty days at the age
of eighteen, and fifty days at the age Of
twenty-including her honey -moon-at
length had . sleep Of nearly year from
Easter. Sunday, 1862, to March, 1858. BY
the removal Of false front tooth she was
fed with milk and broth. She was mo-
tionlesa insensible to any external stimu.
lus, and her muscles were In . state Of
contraction. The pulse was very weak,
and the breathing scarcely perceptible.
All the ordinary calls OF nature were sus.
pended. Her complexion was florid and
healthy, and there WAS no emaciation.
Except in the last particular, her case ap.
proximates TO one that has recently
attracted much attention in England.
The difference may be readily accounted
for by the apparently persistent and al.
most total last OF the subject In the latter
case.