Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1871-08-12
For the Clarion.
Sleep vs.. Early Rising.

SNiuo tHC tcSultihlIllcb VI SltSpJ Gllu
why some men can maintain their
bodily and mental vigor with so small
an amount of sleep as falls to their
share? and then tell why some re-
quirc SO much and then give his view
in regard to sleep and early risihg?-
His information heretofore has been
interesting, and, in one respect, salts
factory.
You k1low, Mr.. Editor, that Lord
Brougham, and many other great
statesmen and lawyers, are known to
have been content with marvellous
small quantity Of sleep. Frederick
the Great is said to have allowed him
self only five hours; John Hunter,
five hours Gen. Elliott, the hero of
Gibralter four hours while Welling-
ton during the Peninsula war, had
still less. This may answer.
How then, on the other hand, can
friend "Tom's Creek account for the
cormorant sleepers? De Moivre, the
great mathematician, it is said, could
(though it is to be hoped he did not)
sleep twenty hours out of the twenty
four; and Quin, the actor, sometimes
slept for twentyfour hours at a stretch,
DR.. Reid, the mctaphysician, could SO
manage, that one potent meal, followed
by one long and sound sleep, would
last him for two days, We also learn
that Old Parr slept away his latter
days almost entirely. In the middle
Of the last century a young French
woman at Toulouse, had, for half a
year, fits of heightened sleep, varying
from three to thirteen days each. And
about the same time, a girl at New
castle-on-Tyne, slept fourteen weeks
without waking and the waking pro-
cess occupied three days to complete.
DR.. Blanchct, Of Paris, mentions the
case Of a lady who slept for twenty
days together when she was about
eighteen years Of age fifty days when
she was about twenty and had nearly
n whole years sleep from Easter Sun
day, 1862, till March, 1868: during
this long sleep (Which physipians call
hysteric coma) she was fed with milk
and soup, one Of her front teeth being
extracted to obtain an opening into
her mouth A Mr.. Stow tells US that
the 9th Of April, 1915, being Tues
day in Easter week, w. Foxlcy, pot
maker for the Mint in the Torier of
London fell asleep, and continued
slceping and could not be walked with
picking, cramping or otherwise, till
the first day Of the next term, which
was fully fourteen days ana fifteen
nights. The causes OF his thus sleep
ing could not be known, though the
same were diligently searched for by
the Kings physicians and other
learned men; yea, the King himself
examined We said W. Foxley, who wa
in all points found at his waking to
be as if he had slept but one night"
Another very notable instance was
that of Samuel Chiffon, of Tmsburv,
recorded IN one Of the early volumes
Of the Philosophical Transactions ofMe
HoyoI Society," In the year 1904, he
slept for a month, and no one could
wake him. Later in the same year
he had four months sleep, from
April 9 to August 7; he woke, dressed,
went out into the fields (wherc he
worked as laborer) and found his
companions reaplng the corn which he
had helped to SOW the day before his
long nap: it was not till that moment
that he knew of his sleep having ex-
ceeded the usual duration of q few
hours. He went to sleep again on
the 18th of August, and did not wake
till the 10th Of November, notwith
standing the pungent applications of
hellebore and s,l -ammoniac to his nos
trlls, and bleeding to the extent of
fourteen ounces, He woke, asked for
bread and cheese, but went off to sleep
again before it could be brought to
him, taking another spell of sleep
which lasted till the end of January,
After this it is not recorded that he
had any more of these strange relapses.
| could mention many moro such
strange occurrences, at home and
abroad, but let these suffice. Now,
who will explain the causes, and let
the readers of the CLARION know
which is better fos us loag sleeps
retire at | ! o'clock and rise at @. or
retire at s OF 8 and rise at 4 in the
morning? j.. S. &,
nas~ Farmers complain that there