The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1870-09-14
Prolonged Sleep.

AVAVAsSS~
I The necessary amount of sleep for
preserving mems saaa IN c0rpOre sano
varies 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 work occasions far great
er demand for sleep than,a good days
muscular exercise.
Numerous cases of prolonged sleep
for weeks, or even months, are on re-
cord, some of which are undoubtedly
authentic, and probably are analogous
with the phenomena of alienation and
estivation that occur in certain Of the
lower animals---as bears, bats hedge
hogs, dormice, and many fishes, rep
tiles, mollusks and insects. These
may be regarded as cases of trance
rather than of ordinary sleep, inasmuch
as, although there is no stupor, the
patients cannot be reused. We may
quote one or two of the most remarka-
BILE of the Northumberland 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 not be aroused. Food
and drink, which were placed at his
bedside regularly disappeared although
no ono saw him eating. At the end Of
a month he arose of his own accord,
and went to his ordinary work. Ex-
cept that he never spoke for month,
he kept apparently well till the 9th of
April, 1896, when he again fell asleep,
! No, external irritant-as cupping or
! scarifying-could arouse him and he
, lay in this state for ten weeks, after
which his jaws became so clenched to-
gether that it became necessary to
: utilize hole in his teeth made by
It his pipe, and pour little wine into
t his mouth through quill. About two
9 quarts were thus introduced in the
!, course of six weeks and four days, and
! he took no other nourishment On the
k 18th of August, after sleeping severn
,. teen weeks, he awoke and dressed, not
n knowing that he had slept more than
# q 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 we'll and at
6 his regular work till the 18th of An
g gust, 1897, when he again fell asleep
j, and could not be reused by pricking,
:. pinching, the application of hartshorn
/, to his nostrils, etc, till the 10th of
November, when his mother, hearing
Il a noise, found him eating. She asked
is him how he did. He replied, every
d well, thank God" She asked him
! which he liked best, bread and butter,
i or bread and cheese. He answered,
II "Bread and cheese" Upon this the
l. woman, overjoyed, left him to acquaint
d his brother, and on their return to his
o. room they found him asfast asleep as
It ever, and could nots4by any means
!. awake him. He finally awoke spon-
a taneously at the beginning of February
Il perfectly well, and remembering moth
ID ing that had happened during his long
Il sleep; and this is the last we hear OF
J. him.
10 A very remarkable case is that des
J cribed by NJ. Blanchet to the Paris
I'd Academy of Sciences, and published il
the Complies Readus for 1864. A lady
ot aged twenty -four, who slept for fort,
IF days at the age Of eighteen, and fit,
Id days at the age .of. twenty Including
I'd her honey moon-at length had slee]
n Of nearly year-from Easter Sunday
,is 1862, to March, 1868. By the remova
70 of false front tooth she was fed witt
n milk and broth. She was motionless
ife insensible to any external stimulus
IN and her muscles were in state of con
e,s traction. The pulse was very veal
X. and the breathing scarcely pcrceptibl,
70 All the ordinary calls of nature wer
ed suspended. Her complexion wa
~ ford and healthy, and there was n
inn emaciation. Except in the last particr
of lar, her case approximates to one tn;
has recently attracted much attentio
in England. The difference may |
H. readily accounted for by tile apparent
! ly persistent and almost total fast
the subject in the latter case.
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