Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1874-08-06
WAKEFULNESS FROM OyERWORK.

A symptom of mental exhaustion, indica-
tive of very good degree of mental strain,
is persistent wakefulness. The physiological
cause of this condition is we'll understood
During excessive labor Of the brain there is
an increased flow of blood to the working
organ, the vessels of the head and neck be.
come dstended with blood, as is shown by
the flushing of the face. If this condition of
distension is long continued, the vessels are
apt to lose the power of contracting when
mental activity is diminished. Hence arises
the impossibility of fulfilling the physical
condition ofsleep, the most important of which
is the dimnution of the flow of the vital fluid
to the brain. Some extraordinary instances
have been recorded of prolonged wakefulness
as result of mental overstrain. Boerhave
mentions that when, on one occasion, intently
engaged on particular study, he did not
close his eyes in sleep for six weeks. Sir Gil
bert Blanc was informed by Gen. Pichegrue
that for whole year when engaged in active
campaign, he slept but one hour in twenty
four. These, and other similar cases, have
probably been unconsciously exaggerated, for
people often sleep without having an after
consciousness of the fact 1t is certain that
the continued deprivation Of any considerable
part of the normal amount of sleep will be
seriously detrimental to health.
DIR. Hammond, in his work on sleep, men,
tions the case of a literary man in America,
who, for nearly year, while intently engaged
in favorite study, restricted his period Of
rest to four hours day, and frequently less.
At the end of that time the everlasting Of his
mental powers was manifested in a curious
way. He told the physicians that, though
still able to maintain connected line Of rea-
soning, he found that as soon as he attempted
to record his ideas on paper, the composition
turned out to be simply tissue Of arrant
nonsense. When in the act of writing, his
thoughts flowed so rapidly that he was not
conscious of the disconnected nature of what
he was writing; but as soon as he stopped to
read it over, he was aware how completely ne
had misrepresented his conceptions. If the
language happened to be at all ineligible, it
was sure to have no relation to the idea he
wished to express. Thus, wishing to obtain
q book from friend, he found that, instead
of the request, he had written the prayer of
Socrates, as written by Plato.
Sir Isaac Newton, in the latter years of
his life, suffered greatly from wakefulness.
The fact, we'll known to every medical man,
that persistent sleeplessness is frequently the
precursor or initiatory stage of several most
intractable maladies, physical and mental,
always invests the presence of this indication
of mental overstrain with grave interest.
But a continued course of excessive mental
labor generally manifests itself on the mind
in various ways, all more or less premonitory
of approaching collapse The brain-worker
begins to perceive an unwonted want of clear
ness in his ideas work comes gradually less
on him; he is alarmed at sudden awkward
failures of memory feeling of surfeit or
disgust will steal over him in the midst of
work he becomes unable to fix his attention,