The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1870-08-04
Prolonged Sleep.

THE necessary amount of sleep for pre-
serving naens sana IN cOrpore sanO 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 SIS we can fix it,
the average time that an average adult
should devote to sleep. Active brain
work occasions far greater demand for
sleep than a good days muscular exercise
Numerous cases of prolonged sleep for
weeks, or even months, are on record
some ofwhich are undoubtedly authentic,
and probably are analogous with the phe-
nomens Of Information and estivatiOn
that occur in certain of the lower animals =
as bears, bats, hedgehogs. dormice, and
many fishes, reptiles, m0llusks and in
sects. These may be regarded es 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 Clinton, or Chelton, of Tin
bury, near Bath, England, laborer, aged
twenty-five, apparently in sound health,
fell asleep on the 18Th of May, 1904, and
could not be aroused. FOod and drink,
larry 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 a month, he kept apparently
well till the 9th of April, 1896, when he
again fell asleep. No external irritant-
az cupping or scarifying-could arouse
aim; and he lay in this state for ten
weeks, after which his jaws became so
clenched together that it became neces-
sary to utilize q 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 n0urishment On the 7,h of Au-
gust, after sleeping seventeen weeks,
be awoke and dressed, not know
ing That he hsd slept more than
night, till he went into the
fields and ssw 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 again fell asleep,
and could not be reused by pricking,
pinching, the application Of hartshorn to
his nostrils, etc, till the 19sh 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, overjoyed, left him to
scQuaint 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 spontane-
ously at the beginning of February, per
fectiy well, and remembering nothing
thet had happened during his long sleep;
and this is the last we hear of him.
A very remarkable case is that describ-
ed by NJ. Blanchet to the Paris Academy
of Sciences, and published in the Complies
Rendus for 1864. 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 a sleep Of nearly year-from
Easter-Sunday, 1862, to March, 1868 By
the removal Of false front tooth she was
fed with milk and broth. She was mo-
tionless, 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-
proxiInstes to one that has recently
attracted much attention in England.
The difference may be readily accounted
for by the apparently persistent anAral-
most tOtal fast Of the subject in the latter
case.