The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1875-06-03
Sleep.
From Buckland in Land and Water. /

We read of Bismarck that ''hs Old foe, in
| somnia, still tenaciousy cngs to him. lie
passes whole nights waking. At morning
| dawn, slumber, if not sleep, comes at last, but
| day finds him weary and unfit for work. yet
with mountains of work to get through IIav-
ing paid considerable attention to this import
ant question of being able to procure sleep,
venture to record what | know about it.
The human frame cannot do without sleep.
L believe the reason is that the mysterious pro-
perty-for want of better name we will call
it 'vtal 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
l write now Of people in good health and hard
workers with their brains-is that the brain
| can not, so to speak, ''go down." but it con-
tinues to act, more or less. My father, when
writing the Bridgeport 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 =, O'Clock, and Immediately after din
| ner went to sleep for two or three hours. He
| then got up and worked on until , or 3 o'clock
| Ill the morning. Just before retiring he took
| some light pudding or 4 sandwich, with cocoa
| or milk. Thus he always slept well, as the
| blood was diverted from the brain to the sto-
| mach.
| l have no hesitation in saving that the pro-
per thing to do is to go to sleep immediately
| COR at least very soom after the meal of the
| day. All animals always go to sleep. if they
are not disturbed, after eating. This is especi-
| ally noticeable in dogs; and the great John
| Hunter showed byan experiment that diges-
| ton went on during sleep more than when the
animal was awake and going about. This is
! his experiment: He took two dogs and gave
| them both the same quantity Of food one OF
| them was then allowed to 90 to sleep, and the
| other was taken out hunting. At the end of
| three or four hours he killed both these dogs.
| The food of the stomach of the dog which had
been asleep was quite digeSted; in that of the
one which had been hunting the food was not
| digeSted at all.
| This fact, think, shows the advisabilty of
gong to sleep immediately after eating. This
| ignored fact always occurs to my memory when
| | see old gentlemen nodlmg over their Wine
| Nature says to them, go to bed" They will
not go to bed, but still nature will not allow
| her law to be broken, 50 she sends them to
sleep sitting in the chairs. People, therefore,
| who feel sleepy after dinner ought to dine late
and go straight to bed when sleepy feeling
| comes over them.
| Most good folks, however. no the worst pos
slbc thing Imaginable; they retire altogether
into the drawing-room, and then, 10 make mat
| terS worse, they drink tea and coffee Now
regard tea and coffee, when taken at night, to
| be poison to certain constitutions. 1t 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 an aIkaod
| called theme, and the other contain, un alkalol
| called eatfein. These two alkaloidS taken into
the. system stimulate the brain and do not allow
experience If take. thouohtIessly. n run of
| tpa or COTE. tnr ! o.rlurl, In th,. evening On,
| ING to bed about II, I cannot go to sleep: and
| if the brain does fall asleep, the alkaloid will
wake it up in about an hour or two. Sleepless-
| cot,,.r thouoh str,noe Ia NV tb,f tr, nn,
| cotfaa actually senL Some nno,J. intn ,onnI
| slumber.
| well recoect the late DR.. Wilbcrforcc, then
| artiveIv nno,rad ~ Dnan If IVn.tminista. ~ r
| hiS n,tant Wv of yoin,, to slann If i h.ttnr
| than thn oIdt sbionnI nrns,.rint;on ar u-nt,.L.
| mo sheen i,mniny thronoh - heI,.. nnn ,ttnr
another. ships sailing ont to sen, etc. The
| Rishon,S nrnscrintion was ia rrne,t yrrx xlnw-
| ly tht vnweIs 4 EIo In doino this thnv
| Wer, ia he f,intlv nronounrnd Win ,.acl in
snir,tinn and avnir,tion If will ha tnun,l
easv tn 10 this without moyjna III, linz hnt
yoyei r n1,,st NOT In ,lrnnni1,J ctnr H. ,In
this the nisrnllr action Of thr Gns nrrrSs.rii,,
takes place. and slren comes nof advise nv
readers to nv mis- MIN
/ once heard \ midshiuman who romnIainrd
thnt he rol,lI not slpen NJ nioht horaIlsr there
wnrn ,,o >y.vns 1,sbinir ,g.inst th, ains of thn
sl,in rro mis- noise La h1I 20 many months
been accustomed that he could NOT ,Ieen with
out ne familiar sound, lie asked his mother
to dash pals of water against lis bedroom door
fin he went to sleep was once told. when
on =, saln,on ipsnection mat , rert,iu milInr
coula sleep so long as the continued yyhrr of
the miII-whcel was going ON. but directly After
the noise stopped he ;lwoke
The deepest sleep is always iust before dawn
1t is | believe, probable that some change
takes place ~ this time in the atmosphcric
condition, Us the hour ust before dawn il So
lcctcd by sayaaeS to make their attack ana il
is at this time also, believe. that a great uro-
portion of children are born When Stayine
at q country house unfortunately, the visitor
not accustomed to country sounds, gets often
woke M The abOmjnable cocks bepiu their
horrible growing called in Hereford shire
''cock-shout" | recoect on one occasion
after the wretrhed cocks had cone from thr
tow-house to feed. | fell aslpcn and then romn
n most awful crv of agony; in fact the farmer
killed 4 pic under my window-enouch TO wake
any body This pir was most yofifrrouS hut
as he was inundated in honor of NV arrival |
could not say much
Nv MONKEYS ALWAYS Get sleepy when the oas
is lighted in my study where and my mon
KEYS ALWAYS sit This room was once called
by the servants the ..nl,tstcr's roo,n:' but
found out lately, by accident that they now
call it the ''monkey's room" This is Darwin
going backWardt
Dogs. likewise. will sleep at night if thcy can.
cats. / observe. are sleepy in the mornug. fine
reason being that the wretches have been out
all night and of course feel very scedy in the
morning and doubtless their heads ache some
fines and if serves Them rioht if they do can
siJerino the row thev make. ti@htna Ind r,tor.
wnulin@ hove stronv r4aSon to th;nl, ia
nv own black cat is President of n trne-am,l.
pasv c]ub for they hold their meetinos amnnn
the rims Of the Coliseum at the haek Of M
honse, This Is = regular "catterv ;, All n.y.. |
stray cats in the Regents Park and the nei%h- |
borhooI come here 10 arrange family m,tters.
sometimes ,hev come into \, bark cellar whtrn |
keep skeletons, casts. etc, and kindly sunnly |
me with a lot of kittens. which | convert ina |
how to get rid of caterWaung cats WIN any
o'e uai,. rel Us rantur, 70 .raao.t no,r ,u..;,.
remedy for Want Of sIcen Oniates in any, f,nn
even Uquor opU sedoi., and chloronye, viii |
leave traces of their influence the next morn
ing. therefore prescribe Tor myselt-and
nave upUc SO LOT OllltfS-OnlbnS. !