Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1876-03-01
SOMNAMBULISM.
Sleep Walking and Sleep Writing-Sin-
gular Incidents.
From Chambers Journal.


higher psychological curiosity is reach
ed. Here, we shall find it convenient
to adopt some kind of classification, SO
varied are the forms in which the &C
ton presents itself. Many cases are
on record, for instance, in which the
sleep action is direct continuation of
wakeful action, without any break.
Coachmen, postillions and muleteers
are known to have continued driving
even after they had fallen into drowsy
sleep; the muscles and nerves continue
to act In a sort of automatic manner
after consciousness had lapsed into
slumber. NJ Platter, the celebrated
lutanist or lutte player, one evening
dropped asleep while playing, after
partaking of an unusually liberal sup
per; he continued to "discourse sweet
music" correctly and tastefully until
reused from his drowsy nap by the noise
of his lutte falling on the floor. A
''reader" in a printing office fell asleep
while reading for the correction of
proof, but continued reading down to
the bottom of that page. In this case
the probability is that his sleep only
went to the extent of drowsiness; at
any rate, when reused up, he could not
remember the words which he had just
been correctly reading. Sir John Moore,
during his ever memorable retreat to
Corunna, had to make forced marches
night and day, as the only mode of
averting capture by vastly larger
French army; his poor tired soldiers
often slept as they marched, or march
ed as they slept. A truely remarkable
manifestation of somnambulism is that
which can be brought about by the in
huence of other persons on the sleeper.
External voices and sounds can move
him to action even when his conscience
is asleep. Dr.Carpenter and other ply
siologists have recorded many instances
of this kind. A young naval officer,
signalGeutenantt to Admiral Lord Hood
at Toulon, sometimes continued his
anxious duties for eighteen or twenty
hours at stretch; going to his berth,
and falling instantly to sleep, his mind
was nevertheless so far awake on one
particular subject that if comrade
whispered "Signal p in his ear, it
reused him at once and irresistibly. A
young military officer voyaging with
his regiment in a troop-ship, displayed
a tendency which some of the mis-
chievous wags around him took an I'M
fair advantage Of When he was asleep
in his berth, they would whisper in his
ear, giving him all the details of duel
a shipWreck, or a battle; his mind
unconsciously followed the MARIA
tive, until he was reused to
action by the climax, and awoke by
springing out of bed. Sleep-writing is
not the least noteworthy among these
phenomena. Indeed some of the in
stances are inexplicable in the present
state of our knowledge; for things are
done with closed eyes while asleep, which
the person certainly could not have
done with closed eyes when awake In
some cases, although the eyes are open,
ordinary vision does not seem to be
performed by them. It would almost
appear as If we were endowed with an
additional sense, which only makes it.
self manifest In the somnambuHstic
state. Be this as it may, the recorded
examples are deeply interesting. A
young French ecclesiastic frequently
rose III the middle of the night, went
to a table, took pen and ink, and wrote
portions of sermons. 1t was not mere
mechanical work; he would make fire.
quent corrections, to improve the
grammar and syntax of his compost
tion-changing, for instance, Gee divin
enfaut" into Get adorable infant y
and then into "cet infant adorable"
On one OCCASION when watched by the
Archbishop Of Bordeaux, experiments
were made to ascertain what kind of
vision was being exerted. A sheet of
writing paper was quietly and cautious
ly substituted for that which the SOM
nambulist had placed before him; he
did not recognize the change, if the
two sheets were similar in size and
shape; an Opaque screen was placed
between his eyes and the paper, but he
wrote on just the same. In another
case young poet, not having finished
some stanzas before he went to bed,
rose in the night, went to his table, and
finished them-sO much to his satisfac-
ton that he applauded his own genius
and taste; in the morning he remem-
bered nothing of the matter. DR.. Car
penter mentions an instance of a man
who wrote accurately In his sleep,
placing his words at good distance
apart, dotting every and crossing
every t. A young cCllegian got out of
bed asleep, lit candle, sat down to
table, took pen and paper, wrote out
some geometrical and algebraic prob
lens, extinguished the light and went
to bed again, his eyes closed all the
time. On one occasion an Amsterdam
banker requested mathematical pro-
fessor to work out very intricate cal
culation for him; the professor set his
pupils to work; one of them went to
bed with his mind full of the subject;
and in the morning was not little sur
prised to find his table covered with
sheets of paper on which the calcula-
ton was fully and satisfactorily devel-
oped. The writing was in his own
hand; he had risen in the night and
done it while asleep.