Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1884-11-30

The Relationship Betuess the I've Cendi-
lions Of Unconscieasness.
Brii.A Medical JsursaL
The relationship between sleep. the cou-
sin of death, and death ITSELF ID probably
real as we'll as apparent The distance
which separates them is great but there are
intermediate connections grades Of disso-
luton as OF development. Among these
the similar states Of trance and Information
are worthy Of special notice. For sleep and
for trance, one cause, the exhaustion chiefly
of the nervous matter, but more or less OF
every organ and tissue, is assignable. The
hystericsl stupor is the sleep of nerve CEN
tres worn out with the assault and conflict
Of stormy reflex action. Healthy sleep il
the rest of physical elements wearied With
the same strain applied more gradually.
Cases have been recorded in which SOM
Violence, continuing for days without cessa-
ton, has resembled trance in Its duration,
while preserving all the ordinary features OF
natural sleep. Vsriousfacts support Us IN
sssociating the Information Of animals with
the same train of organic or functional
changes as the other unconscious states
which we have been considering. II comes
like habit; It has, one may say, annual re-
turn; Its apparent cause is the oppression OF
external cold, and the animals it affects are
mostly those which, from their bodily s,ruc-
lure or habits, are subject to great periodic
visitations of temperature. Vital tissue IS
exhausted and function is in part suspend
cd probably because the numbness Of cold
has taken hold upon the radicles OF the
outer circulation, and Of that Of the brain
surface which is connected with itby numer-
Gus ansstomoses. In such case snemia
would seem to bs the cause Of the winter
sleep, as there IS evidence to show that it is
also the cause Of that temporary starvation
| of brain which lulls without arresting its &C
lion, in the natural repose of each night
We may even regard the lethargy, ended
by death, into which man tails when ex.
| posed TO great cold, as short snd mortal
| Information. The same inhue9ce acts upon
him as upon the bear or fish, but the power
| of its shock is greater on his finer and less
accustomed eenses than on their compare
lively coarse organization. So likewise in
other regions and forms Of life, in the WEAR
| ness, paralysis, atrophy, and gangrene OF
limbs, in the leahess Information Of trees
and in their decay, beginning in the termin-
al twigs, the same teaching is evident that
vascular nutrition, in its periodic variations,
is the parent Of activity and OF rest, as Its
| absence is of death. 1t is not, therefore,
altogether surprising to meet with occasional
instances in which death is simulated oy
,ome deep degree Of stupor.
The case Of George Childet laborer,
living at Bridgewater, which was lately re-
corded in the daily papers appears to have
been one Of this kind. The trancehke
state developed quite suddenly, and was
mistaken by the relatives for death. Some
light degree Of warmth in the apparent
orpse induced the clergyman in attendance
o refuse burial in spite OF the decided wish
{ the relatives that it should take place
lf,er eight days the signs OF animation
,ere re established, and the subject Of this
;ngular experience slowly recovered. In
! ii such cases there is an element OF mys-
| nv: and one cannot always decide how
much of this is due to physiological or
| Astrological conditions, or 10 some external
| agency. We are not informed Of the ante
cedenis in the present instance and cannot
,ay how much hard work, under feeding
,nxiety, or other causes may have had to
10 with the result. The state described, il
really one of,rance, affords striking ex'
ample of the difficulty which sometimes,
hough very rarely, arises in proving the
;inal point in diagnosis, and warning that
he most trivial sign Of vitality should moi
he overlooked in determining the fac. Of
| leath