The National tribune., 1889-05-30
Written for THE NATIONAL TR1BuSE]
WEALTH HINTS
For Old and Young.
BY FELIX L. OSWALD, NJ. D.,
Author Of Physical Education; Household
Remedies" The Bible of Nature etc.
CHAPTER XVIII.
SLEEP.

Arabian interpreter, who was quzzed good
deal about his Mohametan prejudices, and
who, in return, used to ridicule the efieminate
| habits of his French comrades.
Recovered-that's what they call it." said
he one evening pointing to lank fever patient
| who had been dismissed as cured" Recov-
ered-the idea They call man cured if he
! is just able to waddle about on his hindlegs.
Why! not one-thousandth part of you fellows
really know what it is TO be in good health"
have often thought that certainly not more
| than q thOusandth part of our Christian fellow
men would nowadays be able to speak from per-
sonal experience in talking about sound Sleep"
The very necessity Of that enjoyment would
seem to have been forgotten in many households.
! Parlors, studies and boudors are furnished
with every continuance for comfort in houses
where any spare garrett is considered good
enough for bedroom. Don't waste q super
tluous copper-coin on my grave" said French
philosopher; 4" can rest just as well under a
| cover of sods as under a pile of marble" In
! activity and Inconsistencies sum up the popu-
| ular idea of sleep, and it seems hardly worth
| while to waste much trouble on the arrange
ment of room that receives only drowsy
tenants. During the eclipse of their conscious
senses they would not be able to appreciate that
| trouble, anyhow.
But sleep is something more than rest. Some
! functions of our internal economy are too i'm
portant to be trusted to the caprices of human
volition, and after IA or 16 hours of waking
life the cerebral workshop is closed for repairs,
and the exhausted body commits its care into the
healing handso Nature. Hundreds of disorders
| which drugs would only aggravate are sure to
| take favorable turn during the first few hours
of quiet slumber. Nature seems to be able to
/ do her best only during the absolute nom inter
| ference of that faculty called-and too often
miscalled-" reason" and frequently appears
! to postpone difficult job of reconstruction till
! 10Th as m Aafn no
! to the time when her mischieVous baby has
! gone to sleep.
Nay, even the brain itself can best solve
certain sort of problems in a condition which
modern Psychologist defines as a process of
mental digestion" 1t is a common expert
ence that questions which have puzzled us
/ good deal III our waking hours will, as it were,
seem to have adjusted themselves during sleep,
and DR.. Abercrombie mentions the case Of an
| eminent Scotch lawyer who :" had been con-
| suited regarding "a case of great Importance
and much difficulty, and had been studying it
| with intense anxiety and attention. After sew
eral days had been occupied in this manner ne
was observed by his wife to rise from his bed
in the night and go to writing desk which
stood in the bedroom. He then sat down and
wrote long paper, which he carefully put by
| in his desk and returned to bed. The follow
| ing morning he told his wife that he had
most interesting dream that he had dreamt of
delivering clear and lucid opinion respecting
a case which had exceedingly perplexed him,
and that he would give anything to recover the
| train of thought which had passed before him
| in his dream. She then directed him to the
writing-desk, where he found his opinion
clearly and fully written out, and this was
afterwards found to be perfectly correct"
Practical problems too will often resolve
| themselves in that manner. During CAM
| paign in southern Mexico French army Off
Ger of my acquaintance one evening wrote out
an application for reinforcements as he con-
| sidered a mountain fort of the enemy too steep
| for an assault by troops unprovided with heavy
artillery. But early the next morning he
countermanded his order. I'VE can do it
alone after ALL" said he, "i if we can get under
| shelter Of those overhanging cliffs. Their very
steepness will prevent the sentries on top from
| seeing us till we are almost upon them.
noticed that in accommodating yesterday" he
| added, but the practical value of the circum-
stance didn't get quite clear to me till last
night, when l revisited che place in my
dream"
Sleeplessness seriously aggravates the diff
Guilty of treating certain forms of disease; yet
| the hope of obtaining an hour of perfectly un-
disturbed sleep is almost incompatible with the
| arrangement of many bedrooms. In ouT large
North American cities thousands of people
| sleep in chambers where air can enter only
| indirectly through a labyrinth of alleys and
| ton. Patients pent up in sweatbox, lighted
only by transom, or by windows facing the
dead wall of a narrow alley, might as well try
to get good nights rest in the Black Hole of
| Calcutta. Sea voyages are often prescribed for
| the cure of respiratory disorders, and with
| their abundant opportunities for active exer-
| else sailors would be the healthiest of bipeds
if it was not for the unspeakable miscarriage
ments of their sleeping quarters in the foul
| atmosphere OF their cockpits; yet l know more
| than one merchantmen Captain who thinks it a
| sanitary duty to punish his men for trying to
get wink of good sleep in the pure air of the
upper deck, even in climates where tho con-
trast of hot air to the fumes of the forecastle
cabins is as great as the difference between the
airiest highland of the Californian coast range
| and the foulest opium-den of the Chinese
| slum- quarters. Chase them down, Mate" one
| of those sanitarians would admonish his boat
| swain rush them down the moment their
watch is over; don't want them to catch
| their death of cold in this COMPOUNDED land
wind speaking of the balmy night-breeze
| from the ir-crowned Sierras of eastern Cuba,
while the hammocks of his sanitary wards
| were dangling in sitting atmosphere of grog-
fumes, train-oil smoke, tobacco smoke, fish bait
odors and sulphureted hydrogen.
Millions, nay, tens of millions, of our fellow
men prefer the misery of feeding their lungs
| on similar mixtures of gaseous poisons to the
alternative of opening a bedroom window.
what! Sleep in the direct draft of the night
air?" They stand aghast at the mere idea of
the possible consequences. You may call
their attention to the countless varieties of
feeble birds and animals who breathe that
same night-air not only with impunity, but
with unquestionable benefit to their respira-
tory organs. q won't argue with person who
compares himself to beast" is the answer
you are apt to get. 1t is equally in vain to re-
mind them Of the robust health of hunters and
trappers, who spend their nights sub Joue-
under the canopy of the starred armament,
after the fashion Of the Roman DICTIONARIES
they decline to debate the question; the neces-
sity of sleeping in q stagnant atmosphere seems
too self-eyident.
Compared with the results of that wretched
superstition, the consequences of an occasional
late supper are from sanitary point of view,
the yeriest trifies. Conceding the advantage
of COOL airy bedroom, it might indeed be
questioned if the end of the working. day is
not the very best time for the principal meal
call ii supper or dinner; the wisdom of rest
after repletion being demonstrated by the
Cows, after grazing their fill, lie down in the
shade; wolves rest-and, judging from the an
alogy of their next relative, the wolf-dog,
probably also sleep-after good bait. Gorged
birds of prey sit motionless for hours together,
and nurses we'll know that infants sleep sound
est after meals. The belief in the danger of
late suppers is very probably founded on the
circumstance that in fashionable life such sup
pers include many things that can be digested
only under the stimulus of fresh air, and