Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1889-02-16
NATURES SWEET REsrosga.

DR.. johnson had to fight continually asainst
drowsinesA "
The elder Descro1flles slept but two hours
In the twenty-co
Jeremy Taylor slept but three hours dur
Ing the twenty-four.
Newton's mind was impaired by the priva-
ton Of sleep in his old aga
Thompson, the author Of the Seasons"
passed an undue proportion Of his time In
bed.
There Is no better soporifc than plenty of
outdoor exercise, carried even, in extreme
cases or wakefulness, to a sense Of fatigue.
Sir Thomas Brown found it most effect
ual soporific to repeat some verses on which
the well known Evening Hymn" is founded.
Poor little factory children have fallen
asleep from sheer WEAKNESS, and yet contin-
ued to move their hands and fingers as if ut
work.
Rabelais tells us Of some monks who, when
wakeful, resolutely set themselves to prayer,
and who, before they had concluded half q
dozen ayes or paternosters, fell asleep,
Perhaps one reason why the most gifted
minds have been afflicted by wakefulness IL
that bodily exercise is too often neglected by
Sir Walter Scott has told us how the North
American Indians, when at the stake Of tor
ture, slept on the least intermission of agony
until the fire WAS applied to waken them.
Any strong intellectual effort, such as an
exciting game Of chess just before retiring to
rest, will keep the circulation in the brain at
such an unnatural tension that sleep is i'm.
possible.
Soldiers have slept during march, as in
the case OF those retreating with Sir John
Moore from Corunna; while others, again,
have slept sound with tho roar of artillery
around them
a cause Of sleeplessness, which is, how
ever, too little recognized, Is the taking of
stimulating drinks, and in this, an effort of
the will to forsake the habit il all that is
necessary in the way Of a cure.
Horace, In his satires, recommended the
swimming Of the Tiber three times as a
means of procuring deep .repose; and the
science Of the present day, with all its array
OF tacts' has Little better advice to give.
Franklin took his air bath; Sir John Sim
clair counted; while Sir John Rennie, when
engaged on public works. never went to sleep
without previously having his hair combed
ut the back of his head with a fine tooth
comb and rubbed gently with the palm of
the Iand.
Lord Hailes, when composing his "Annals
OF Scotland" constantly resorted to a wheel
chair he kept in his study, that he might DO
driven rapidly about by a servant, to dispeI
his disposition to slumber, and in church
could only keep himself awake during the
sermon by crunchinS sweetmeats.~
There are some people vino can sleep or
wake at will Napoleon Bonaparte was an
example. as was also Quin, the actor; and
another occurred in Capt Barclay, who
walked l,OOO miles in l 200 consecutive hours,
DOING regularly of to sleep when he had
completed his mile, and waking in time to re-
new his walking.
The sufferer who has wooed sleep In vain
Is, according to a Mr.. Gardner, to lie on his
right side, with his hesd comfortably pluced
on the pillow, having the neck straight, so
that respiration may not be impeded. The
lips are then to be closed slightly and rather
full inspiration taken, breathing through the
postrils as much as possible. The full inspi.
ration taken, the lungs are to be left to their
own action. Attention must now be fixed
upon the respiration. The person must Inn
agine that he sees the breath passing from
his postrils in a continuous stream, and al
the instant he brings his mind to conceive
this apart from all other ideas, consciousness
leaves him-or, at least, 90 says the recipe
and he falls asleep.