Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1870-08-11
Prolonged sleep. ]

ia THE necessary amount Of sleep for pre-
serving meas sanGoi1si eorpore s11O; Va
ries in different individuals. Infants and
young children require far the most, and
old persons the least, sleep. Perhaps
seven hours is, as nearly as we can fix IT.
the average time that an average adult
should devote TO. sleep. Active brain
sleep than o 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 certsin ofthe lower animals
as bears, bats, hedgshogA sdormice, and
many fishes, reptiles, mo1usks and in
sects. These may be regarded as cases of
trance rather than of ordinary sleep, IN
asmuch as, 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 0lintong or, iChelton, of Tin
bury, near Bath, England, q laborer, aged
twenty-five apparently in Bound health,
fell asleep on the 18th of May, 1894, and
could not be aroused. Food and drink,
which were placed at his bedside regu-
laI1y disappeared, although no one saw
him eating. At the end of. month he
arose of his own accord, and went to his
ordinary work. Except that he never
spoke for q month, he kept apparently
well till the 9th of April. 1896, when he
again fell asleep. No external irritant-
as cupping or scarifymg mg-could arouse
him and he lay in this state for ten
weeks, after which his jaws became SO
clenched together that 1t 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 nourfshment. On the 7th of An
gust, after sleeping seventeen weeks,
he awoke and dressed, not know
ing that he had slept more than
night, till he went into the
fields and saw the harvest being
gathered in which he had helped to SOW
when he fell asleep He remained well
and at his regular work till the 18th of
August, 1897, when he eiagain fell asleep,
and could not be reused by pricking,
pinching, the application of hartehorn to
his nostrils, etc, till the 18th, of Novem-
ber, when his mother, hearing noise,
found him eating. She asked him how
he did. He replied, rVery. well, thank
God" She asked him which he liked
best, bread and butter, or bread and cheese
He answered, Bread and chess" =. Upon
this the woman, overjoyed, left him to
acQuaint his brother, and on their return
to his room they found him as fast asleep
as ever, and could not by any means
awake him. He finally awoke spontane7
ously at the beginning of February, per
fectly well, and remembering nothing
that had happened during his long sleep )
and this is the last we hear Of him
A very remarkable case is that describ-
ed by M. Blanchet to the Paris Academy
of Sciences, and published IN the Complies
Rsndus for 1864! A lady, aged twenty
four, who slept for forty days at the age
of eighteen, and fifty days at the age of
Notwithstanding her honey-moon-at
length had sleep of nearly year-from
Easter-Sunday, 1852, to March, 1858. By
the removal of false front tooth she was
fed with milk and broth. She was mo-
tionless, insensible to any external stimu-
1us, and her muscles were in q 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 horid 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 fast OF the subject In the latter
case. .-' -HGi s FfLT4 .gCE-