Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-12-04
SLEEP AND DEATH.
The Close Relationship Between the Two
Conditions.
[From the British Medical Journal1


The relationship between sleep, "the
cousin of death, " and death itself, is prob
ably real as well as apparent The dis
lance which separates them is great but
there are intermediate connections, grades
of dissolution as of development. Among
these the similar states of trance ana hi
bernation 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 hystcrical stupor
is the sleep of nerve centres worn out
with the assault and conflict of stormy
reflex action. Healthy sleep Is the rest of
physical elements WCaried with the same
strain applied more gradually.
/ Cases have been recorded IN which
somnolenCe, continuing for days without
cessation, has resemblcd trance in its du-
ration while preserving AL the ,ordi-
nary features of natural sleep Nari-
Gus facts support us in associating
Information with the train OF organic or
functional changes as the other unCOn-
scious states which we have been cOnsid-
ering. 1t comes like Il habit: it has, one
may say, annual return; its apparent
cause is the oppression of external cold,
and the animals it affects are mostly those
which, from their bodily structure or hab-
Its, are subject to great periodic Nara-
tons of temperature. Vital tissue is eN-
hausted and function is in part suspend
ed, probably because the numDncsS OF
cold has taken hold upon the radicleS
of the outward circulation, and of that
of the brain surface which ~ connect
ed with it by numerous anastOmOseS.
In such case anHmia 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 III
the natural repOSe of each night.
We may even regard the lethargy, ended
by death, into which man falls when eN'
posed to great cold as short and mortal hi
bernatiOn. The same influence acts upon
him as upon the bear or fish, but the
power of its shock is greater on his iinei
and less accustomed organization. so
likewise, in other than the comparatively
coarse forms of life, in the WEAKNESS
paralysis, atrophy and gangrene of limbs
III the leaiiess Information of trees and ii
their decay, beginning at the termlna
twigS, the same teaching Is evident, tina
vascular nutrition, in its periodic varia
tons, is the parent of activity ami %
death, rs its absence Is of death. 1t Is moi
therefore, altogether surprising to NEE
with occasional Instances III which deatl
is simulated by some deep degree o
StupOr.
The case of George Childet,a laborer liv
ing at Bridgewater, which was lately re
corded IN the daily papers, appears To nav
been one of this kind. The trance-lik
, state developed quite suddenly, and WA
e mistaken by the relatives for death
Same slight degree OF warmth III TIT
apparent corpse induced the clcr
gyman in attendance to refuse burma
in spite of the decided wish of Tia
relatives that it should take place. Afte
eight days the signs of animation were re
established, and the subject of this singu
1 lar experience slowly recovered. In al
such cases there is an element of mystery
4 and one cannot always decide how muc
, of this is due to the physiological o
pathological conditions or to som
external agency. We are not in
, formed of the antecedents in tn
D present instance, and cannot sa
= how much hard work, understanding
V anxiety or other causes may have TO Il
= with the result. The state described,
: really one of trance, affords n striking eN
= ample of the difficulty which sometime:
f though very rarely, arises in proving tn
D final point in diagnosis, and Il Warnin
that the most trivial sign of vitality shout
not be overlooked in determining the fac
of death