The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-12-05
sLKRp ANp DEATH.
IBrilish Medical Iournai.l

I
 The relationship between sleep, 9th.
 cousin of de th," and death itself. i.
 probably real as we'll as apparent The
 distance which separates them is great
 but there are intermediate connexions
 grades of dissolution 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 ner.
 vous matter, but more or less of every or
 gan and tissue, is assignable. The hys-
 terical stupor is the sleep of nerve cen
 ters worn out with the assault and con- | tilct of stormy reflex action. Healthy
 sleep is the rest of ph, sical clemens
 wearied with the same strain applied
 more gradually.
 Cases have been recorded in which son.
 nolence, continuing for days without ces-
 sation, has resembled trance in its dura-
 ton, while preserving all the ordinary
 features of natural sleep. Various facts support us in associatipg hibernation with the train of organic or functional ch anges as the other unconscious states which we
 have been considering. It comes like a
 habit 1t has one may say, annu al return : its apparent cause is the oppression of external cold. and the animals it affects
 are mostly those which, from their bodily structure or habits, are subj ct to great periodic variations of temperature. Vital tissue IS exhausted and function is in par, su'pended, probably because the num,. ness of cold has taken hold upoo the rad icles of the outward circulation. and of that of the brain surface which is con nected with 1t by numerous auastomoses In such case ar 8 nia would seem to be 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 action in the natural repose of each night.
 We may even regard the letharey ended by death, into which a man fall, when exposed to great cold, as short and mortal hibernation. The same influence acts upon him as upon the bear or fish but the power of its shock is greater on his finer and less accustomed orsaniz .- ton So, likewise, in other tha an the com paratively coarse forms of life, in the weariness, paralysis, atrophy and gan grene of limbs, in the leaaess hiberna- ton of trees, and in their decay beginning at the terminal twigs, the same teaching IS evident that vascular nutrition, in it's periodic variations, is tho parent of activ ity and of life, as its absence is of death It is not, therefore, altogether surprising to meet with occasional instances in which death is simulated by some deep degree of stupor.
 The case ot George Childet, a labo~er living at Bridge water, which was lately recorded in the daily papers, appears to have been one of this kird. The traoce. like state developed q lite suddenly. and was mistaken by the relatives for death oome slight degree of warmth in the ap- parent corpse induced the clergyman in | to refuse burial, in spite ot the decided wish of the relatives that it should take place. Alter eight days the signs of animation were re-established, l and the subject of this singular experience slowly recovered. In all sue cases there Is an element of mystery and one cap- not always decide how much of this is | due to the physiological or pathological l conditions or to some external agency.
 We are not informeI of the antecedents ID the present instance, and cannot say | how much hard work, underiecding | anxiety or other causes may have to do | with the result. The state described, If really one of trance. aff)rds a striking example of the diff :ulty which some times, though very rarely, arises in prov ing the final point ia diagnosis, and a that the most trivial srgn of vi. | tality should not be overlooked ia deter. | mining the fact of death.