Connecticut western news., 1875-06-11
SLEEP, AND HOW TO PROCURE IT.
An Article that is We'll Worth the Reading $ --AIl About Sleep. ssE

a --Al About Sleep. Es#
 The human frame cannot do without sleep, says Frank Buckland, in Lorad and Water. I believe the reason is that the mysterious property-for want of bet ter name we call it ss vital energy "--, gradually leaks out during the day. During sleep, the machinery of the body, especially the brain, becomes recharged with it. The cause of not being able, to sleep-I write now of people in good health and hard workers with their brains -is that the brain cannot, so :to speak, ego down." but it continues to act, more or less. My father, when writing the 'Bridgwater Treatise,' had his own way of working. He was an excessively busy man during the day, and had only the night hours in which he could write. He generally dined at seven o'clock, and immediately after dinner went to sleep for two or three hours. He then got up, rapdyworked on till two retiring to rest, he took some light pud- ding, or sandwich, with cocoa or milk. Thus he always slept well, as the. blood was diverted from the brain to the stomach. ~- ""- ~N' ~S ~-'s
 I have no hesitation in saying that the proper thing to do is to go to sleep i'm mediately Cor at least very soon) after the meal of the day. All. animals always go to sleep, if they are not disturbed, after eating. This is especially noticeable in dogs; and the great John Hunter showed by an experiment that digestion went on during sleep more than when the animal was awake and going about. This is his esperi%spt; l#s He a,ts9 took tE9 aogs EsPa gl food. One of them was then allowed to gontin go tG s|sGR RRstke Tss sstde Jf fo o
 hours he killed both these dogs, The food in the stennachy of 7they dogY which mad been asleeh was quite digested; in that of the one which had-been hunting the food was not digested at all. @s: saa
 This fact r think, shows the Aad7tiisa- visa bility of going to sleep immediately after eating. This ignored fact always occurs to ay3oaemory 1iwhsnF Ia'seep old gentlemen holding over their wine. E Nature says to them: "Go to bed. " They will hB go to. bed, but still mature will not alloy her law to Ebe broken, R she sends Them to sleep aitting Sin the chairs. People therefore who feel sleepy after, dinner ought to dine late, and go straight to bed when g sleepy feeling comes over them.
 Most good folks, however, do the worst possible thing ifhagiHable; they retire altogether into atlh the haea drawing room, and then to make matters worse, they drink tea and coffee. Now I re- gard tea and coffee when taken at night A to be poison to certain constitutio ions, It is very well in the morning, but it is very bad at night. The reason why tea and coffee should not be taken at night is that one contains ang alkaloid called thehe, and the Other containse -faf salka Ibid ea11ed caffeine. These two afRa. loids taken into the system stimulate the brain and do not allow it to go to rest. speak of this matter from ex- perience. If I take thoughtlessla cup of tea or coffee after five ,6,eoSN ih the evening, going to bed about eleven, I cannot go to sleep; and if the brain does fall asleep, the alkaloid will wake it up in about an hour or two. Sleep lessness, therefore, is usually caused by tea or Scoffee, though strange to say that ten and coffee actually Send some people into sound slumber.
 I we'll recollect the late Dr. Wilber- force, then Bishop of Oxford, telling my father, then most actively engaged as Dean of Westminster, of his patent way of going to sleep. It is better than the old-fashioned prescription of watching sheep jumping through a hedge one after another, ships sailing out to sea, etc. The bishops prescription was to repeat very slowly the vowels A P I O.. In doing this, they were to be faintly pronounced with each inspiration and expiration.s sItwill be found easy to do this withput moving the lips, but the vowel U must not be pronounced, for to do this the muscular action of the lips necessarily takes place, and3 sleep comes not.o I%adyise my readers to try this plan.
 I once heard of a midshipmaasswho complained that he could not sleep at night because thore were no waves dashingfa against the sides of the ship. To this noise he had so many months been accustomed that he could not sleep without the familiar sound. He asked his mother to dash pails of water against his bedroom door till he went to sleep. I was once told, when on a salmon in- spection, that certain miller couldsleep So long as the continued whirr of the mill wheel was going on, but directly the noise stopped he awolze. %is<E'-..
 The deepest sleep is always just before dawn. It is, I believe, probable that some change takes place at this time in the atmospheric condition, as the. houl 1 just before dawn is selected by savages to make their attack, and it is at this time. also, I believe, that a great propor tion of children are born. When stay ing at a country house, unfortunately the visitor not accustomed to country sounds gets often woke up. The abomi nable cocks begin their horrible crow ing, called, in Herefordshire, "cocl shout.p !, I recolleet on one occasion after the wretched cocks had gone from the fowl house to feed, fell asleep, anc then there came, 8 most awful cry O. agony; in fact, the farmer killed pig under my window-enough to wake any body. This pig was most vocIeroqs but as he was irnmolated in honor O. my arrival, I could not say much.
 I now venture to suggest new bu simple remedy; for want of sleep Opiates in any form, even the Hquoropi sedat., and chlorodyne. will leave trace
 of their influence the next morning.
 therefore prescribe for myself-and hav
 frequently done so for others-onions simply dommon onions raw, but Spanisl onions stewed will. do.. Everybod, knows the taste of onions; this is due t. a peculiar essential oil contained in thi
 most valuable and healthy root. Thi
 oil has,tI am sure, highly soporif
 powers. In my own case they neve fail. If l am much pressed with work
 and feel I shall not sleep, Ileat two o
 three small onions,s and, the, effect
 magical Onions are SaIso5 excell6n
 things to eat when much exposed to in
 tense cold. .MrS Parnaby, Troutdal
 Fishery, !, Keswiek, Uniforms me that
 when collecting salmon and trout egg
 in the winter. he finds that comm on ral