Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-08-23
vAGARIES OF SLEEPLESSNESS.
Queer Ways by which Victims OF In
somnia SO0the Themselves to Slum-
her, ~

DER
Insomnia" remarked an elderly physician of
the old school to reporter for the Sun, sis a
perpetual puzzle to me-"
"How sop
"Well, sleep being not only a natural condi-
ton, but necessity. we find nature furnishing
all the conditions to induce sleep. not only In
health, but in disease, in ninety mine cases in
hundred-but the hundredth case is the mys-
terry. Why, sir" and the doctor warmed into
professional enthusiasm, ''when we see how
quickly and easily men adapt themselves to
most unnatural and artificial conditions of life
working by night and sleeping by day; sleeping
with the clink of the forge, the jar and clash of
machinery, or the shrill whistle of escaping
any unfamiliar sound, or at the cessation of the
accustomed racket-it seems as though man
could never suffer from sleeplessness'
But will not excessive fatigue explain sleep
under such trying circumstances"
mot satisfactorily. Il am too tired to sleep
is common complaint; while in one case that
OF night watchman in bank, q cripple who
has not probably done days work in dozen
years, the man sleeps with his ear close to the
1ncessant buzz and whrr of the burglar alarm,
and has twice been reused only to find a tramp
or drunkard asleep on the steps outside the
bank. Once, after l had been treating him with
medicine that slightly affected his hearing,
this Waterman complained bitterly that he was
getting too deaf to Sleep and declared that he
was kept awake by not hearing the burglar
alarm distinctly.
''When you realize that the strongest man
may, in spite of his will, be reduced to the blind
helpiessness OF slumber by the droning of q
friendly bore, an accumulation of foul air or
the temperature of the weather, it becomes
still more mysterious to me how slight thing
Will murder sleep and work measureless mis-
chief to mind and body"
Perhaps" suggested the experienced re-
porter, IAN unQuiet conscience. domestic anX-
ieties. or. an unpaid debt
"Fudge." retOrted the doctor. 81 have seen
man sleep soundly and TRANQUILITY up to within
an hour OF his own hanging; l have seen my
brother fall asleep while waiting for his mother
ln-law-a peculiarly wide-awake anxiety she is,
too-and l should not be sorry if careless
debtor were sometimes kept awake; but YOU
can lay down no rule in these cases except that
each man is a rule to himself.
The various eccentricties and whimsical
fancles OF the men and women who suffer from
wakefulness defy all rule, and would be amusing
II they were not so dangerous to the patient
and SO discouraging to the doctor. There are
many persons who cannot sleep on the left side
Others who must have their heads point to some
pet quarter OF the compass, patients who de-
mand noise, like the ticking of clock and
others who require perfect silence to enable
them to fall asleep. What, for instance, do you
think OF woman who cannot or will not, sleep
in q room carpeted with anything except straw
mating, and who cannot sleep in the same
room more than ten consecutive nights? ] am
assured and believe that she has faithfully tried
again and again, to exceed this ten night limit;
that the eleventh night is Invariably sleepless
the twelfth excited. historical perhaps, the next
worse, and so on, until, on two occasions when
l have been called, l can assure you that her
condition was too critical TO admit of a suspicion
Of malingering."
''Are women more subject to it than men?'
Not in my experience nor Is it confined to
the physically or mentally weak among men,
A well-known athlete has assured me that
after training tor some important event, he used
often TO be thrown out OF condition by sleepess-
ness for several nights preceding the trial of
strength, until he discovered that he could
always sleep if the closet door in his chamber
were set wide open. Even now, in travelling
If he occupies a room without closet, he is GER
tain to lose his night sleep.
"a grave and self-contained Judge" continued
the physician. every night ties a black thread
tightly round the big toe Of his left foot-th q
right won't do at all-and. with judicial gravt v
claims this as a certain cure for what he used to
call his night fits while ciassmate of mine at
college. now an eminent and eloquent clergy
man. once cOnfided to me with much seli-re-
proach and perturbation of mind. that when
ever he had an attack OF sleerlessness he be-
came at once possessed by an irresistible temp
tation to say damn and that cabalistic word
ONCE uttered, HIS unrest vanished and sleep
came at once. Think said he to me, solemnly
but with twinkle in his eye, of minister of
the Gospel becoming irresponsibly profane for
want of something to pat him to sleep. when he
has desk full OF old sermons in the house,"
80 "lrreSpOnSibly prOfane.' we repeated.
"Quite so. Maudsley declares insomnia to be
frequent cause of insanity. and | am inclined
to regard 1t as one of the most obscure of men
tai diseases"
"And the cure?"
"Wel, there is a grim humor about giving
restless man the active principle of hops to put
him to sleep, but, as for permanent cure, the
most satisfactory cures are those queer fancies
of the patients themselves. They may be alb
surd and Irrational, but they are lasting, and
taste better than most medicines"