Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-07-28

A Tendency 80 Extended RepOse In-
dIcatIve of Long Life and Mental
Power.

A Tendency 30 Extended RepOse In.
dIcatIve of a Long Life and Mental
Power.
DR.. Osl0old in the Popular Science Monthly.
There is no danger of child's-espe-
cially boy's-oversleeplng himself. un-
less the hardships of his waking hours
are so intolerable that oblivion becomes
a blessing; but it can do no harm 10
make the health-giving morning hour 8
attractive as possible. Provide SON e
outdoor amusement, a prize foot race,
butterfly hunt or gathering windfall
in the apple orchards" If the desire
for long sleep can outweigh such in
ducements, there must be something
wrong-plethoric diet, probably, or
over study. The requisite amount of
sleep depends on temperament and
occupation as well as on age; with
children under ten, however, too
much indulgence would be an error on
the safer side. Let them choose their
allowance between eight and ten hours;
in after years, seven hours should be the
minimum, nine the maximum for healthy
children; sicklY ones ought to have carte
Blanche both as to quantum and time of
repOse; cOnsumptlves especially need all
the rest they can get. Profound sleep
in a cool, quiet retreat is natures own
specific for all wasting diseases, a
panacea without price or money. Moth
ing can be more injudicious than to stint
children in their sleep with a view of
gaining few hours for study. That
plan," says Pestolozzi, defeats its own
purpose, for such children are never wide.
awake; you can keep them out of bed,
but you cannot prevent them from
doing with their eyes open. A wide
awake boy will learn more in one
hour than day-dreamer in ten" Habit
ual deficiency of sleep will undermine
the strongest constitution; headache.
throbblng and feverish heat are precur-
sOrs of graver evils, unless temporary
loss of mental power compels an armis-
tice with outraged nature King Alfred,
Spinoza, KEEPER, Victor Alieri, Madame
de Stael and Frederick Schiller killed
themselves with restless study; BeethO-
ven and Charles Dickens, too, probably
prepaid the debt of nature by their habit
of fighting fatigue with strong coffee.
Sleeplessness may lead to chronic hypo-
chondria, and even to idiocy. With
out their long vigils, the monks of
the Thebais and the fathers of the
Alexandrian church could hardly have
written such stupendOus nonsense 1t
is a curious fact that compulsory wake.
fulneSs, combined with mental activity,
often induces state OF morbid insOrl-
mia, an absolute inability to obtain the
sleep which was at first so difficult to re-
sist. In such cases the only remedy is
fresh air and a complete change of occu-
patton. During sleep the brain is in a
comparatively blocdless condition: a hot
head and throbbing temples are unfavor-
able to repose, and it has been suggested
that insomnia might be counteraCted by
a hot foot bath, chatting the arm5 and
legs, or any similar operation that would
divert the blood FROM the head toward
the extremities, and thus tend to dimin-
ISL tho activity of the cerebral circula-
ton.
Listening to distant music or the rip
pie of a river current has also a wonder
full hypnotic effect, the repetition Of
mOnOtOnOuS sounds, or, indeed, of any
seasonal impression, seems more favOra-
bio to repOse than their entire absence
The philosopher Kant assures US that he
could Obtain sleep IN a parOxysm of
govt by resOlutely fixing his attention
ON some abstruse ethical or mathemati.
cal problem, but remarks that the sue
cess of that method depends upon the
labOriOusness of the mental process; the
mind, as 1t were, takes refuge In sleep
as the alternative of drudging at weari-
some task Robert Burton, too, gives a
number of similar recipes, besides list
of wOndrOus medicinal compounds to be
swallowed or inhaled 40 h0ram a0mni,
but in ordinary cases it is better to try
the effects of outdoor exercise before
reso ting to dormouse fat, theological
text books or other desperate remedies.
Being naturally a sound and long
sleeper has been ranked among the surest
prOgnOstics of long life, and sleep after
a wasting disease as the most certain
symptom of recovery. Most brain work
ers are subject to occasional fits of in
somnia, but the faculty of sustaining
health aud vigOr upon a very small al
lOwance of sleep is generally a cOncOmi-
tant of mental infeTi0rity, or at least in.
activity The most intelligent animals,
dogs and monkeys, sleep the longest;
stupid brutes merely stretch their legs;
their inert brain requires no rest. A
cow never sleeps in the proper sense of
the word. Mirabeau Goethe and james
Quin often slumbered for twelve or four
teen hours successfully, while Leopold
l. of Austria and Charles ". of Spain,
the heartless and brainless bIgOts, could
content themselves with five hours sleep
out of the twenty-four, and their proto-
type the Emperor Justinian, often even
with one-Gj650R'S Rome" C0l Uii., D.
400