The daily gazette., 1875-05-11
sleep ANA HOW to procure n.

ing. At morning dawn, slumber, IL
not sleep, comes at last. but the uay
finds him weary and unit for work,
vet with mountains of work to get
through" Having paid considerable
attention to this important q uestlon OF
being able to procure sleep, venture
to record what know about it. The
human frame cannot do without sleep.
I believe the reason is that the myster-
ious property-for want OF a pe.tGr
name we call it "vital energy grad
ually leaks out during the day. Dur
ing sleep the machinery OF the bouy
becomes rechaged with it. The cause
of not being able to sleep-l wrlte now
of people in good health ana naru
workers with their brains-ls tnat the
brain cannot, so to speak, "go down
but continues to act more or less. My
father. when writing the Bridgewater
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. lie
generally .dined at seven o'clock and
| Immediately aftcrdinner went to sleep
| for two or three hours. lie then got up
and worked on until two or three In
the morning. Just before retiring to
rest he took some light pudding, or
sandwich, with cocoa or milk. Thus
he al ways slept well, as the blood was
diverted from the brain to the
stomach.
| l have no hesitation in saying that
the proper thing to do is to go to sleep
| Immediately (or at least very soon) al
ter the meal of the day. All animals
always go to sleep, if they are not DIS
turbed, Immediately after eating. lhis
is especially noticeable in dogs; and
the great John Hunter showed by eX-
pertinent that digestion went on dur
| ing sleep more then 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, the other was taken out
hunting. At the end of three or four
hours he killed both these dogs. The
food in the stomach of the dog which
had been asleep was quite digested; in
that of the one which had been hun
ting, the food was not digcsted al
all.
This fact, l think, shows the advisa
bility of going to sleep immediately
after eating. This ignored fact Away
, occurs to my memory when see ole
gentlemen nodding over their wine
Nature says to them, $50 to bed. They
: will not go to bed, but still
, nature will not allow her law tt
t be broken, so she sends them to sleel
y sitting in tho chairs. People, there
fore, who feel sleepy, after dinner
ought to dine late and go straight t.
bed when a sleepy telling comes owe
:. them.
= Most good folks, however, do th
It worst possible imaginable; the retir
. altogether to the drawing room an,
then, to make matters worse, they drinl
tea and coffee. Now l regard tea an
: coffee, when taken at night, to be POI
son to certain constitutions. 1t is yer
we'll in the morning but very bad o
night. The reason why tea and coffe
should not be taken at night is tina
n the one contains an alkaloid Gale
!. theme and the other contains alkaloi
called caffeine. These two alkaloid
rs taken into the system, stimulate til
t. brain and do not allow it to 60 to rest.
d speak on this matter from experienc,
IN If take thoughtlessly a cup of tea {
in coffee after five o'clock in the evenin
OF going to bed about eleven, cannot e
e, to sleep; and if the brain does fa
Sc asleep, the alkaloid will wake it up
&C about an hour or two. Sleeplessnes
IN therefore, is usually caused by tea al
ee coffee, though strange to say that t,
., or coffee actually send some people in
"a. sound slumber.
Nv Iwell recollect the late DR.. Wilde
Ay force, then bishop of Oxford, tellil
. my father. then most actively cngag,
as dean of Westminster, of his patie
70. way Of going to sleep. 1t is better th
me the oldfashioaed prescription of
or watching sheep jumping through
's- hedge one after another, ships saili
out to sea, etc, The bishops prescri
lion was to repeat very slowly the vo
l. els A Il o. In doing this they VIC
to be family pronounced with each
spiration and expiration. 1t will
found easy to do this without movi
the lips, but the vowel u must n
be pronounced, for to do this the m,
Mn cular action of the lips necessar
ii. takes place, and sleep comes not
in advise my readers to try this plan.
lnid l once heard q midshipman W
.ete complained that he could not sleep
de- night because there were no wa'
iiceid dashing against the sides of the 81
ach To this noise he had so many mon
ices been accustomed that he could !
P an sleep without the familiar sound.
an asked his mother to dash pals of Y
'ro- er against his bedroom door till
yTnf ysTf- went to sleep. I was once told wi
in on a salmon inspection, that cert
'ein miller could sleep as long as the C
.sl tinued whirr of the mill wheel was
:. at ing on, but directly after the NO
nty stopped as awoke,
,r. The deepest sleep is always Just
fore dawn. 1t is, believe, proba
E,. that some change takes place at t
anne time in the atmospheric condition
fore the hour just before dawn is selec
Gun by savages to make their attack,
it is at this time also, believe, thi
ix. great proportion of the children
veou born. When staying at O coun