Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-04-27
WAKING UP AT WILL.
WHY lsITTRAT MANY PERSONS
WAKE Ala CERTAIN TlNE.
A discussion Of Peculiar Phase Of Ire Sleep.
ing Mind-Tns, II Is Beyond Doubt hat
Many Sci Themselves Tor a Period

a discussion has been going on in the
Society for psychical Research rs TO the OK.
istence aud the nature Of the power by
which 80 many people manage 10 wake
themselves precisely at the hour at which
they have resolved 90 awake on the pre-.
vious night There Is no question rs 70 tho
'act. II isa matter on which probably the
greater number Of people can convince
themselves. You may tx n time when no
clock strikes, 70 that II cannot be a half
heard sound which wakes you.
You may tlx five minutes before the hour
in house In which no clock strikes tho
quarters, or even In a house In which there
"a no striking clock at all aud no church
clock within a couple Of miles, and yet not
one person only, but a great many--wc
might perhaps say tho majority OF persons
past middle AEGEAN wake themselves 10
the right hour 10 on the previous night
they go 10 bed with the resolve 10 DO SO
strong on their minds. Il Is a power which
belongs 70 all sorts " persOns-not only
persons who have been IN the habit Of get.
ting mp at given hours, but to persons who
have not.
Most nurses have Il, most servants, most
very difficult TO account for, for when YOU
wake you have no distinct, nor indeed ia.
distinct recognition Of the time on you.
You only know what time you ought to
have been awake, but not In the least con.
sciously that this time has arrived. though
when you look no your watch On a fright
you find rs a matter Of fact that II has ar.
rived, aud only just arrived. We believe
that tho sane power would apply 10 the
daytime undef the Same couditious--uamc.
~ that You flx firmly In your mind some
hours, or at least some considerable time
earlier. that you are 10 do something spe-
citic and to be reused 90 a scusc OF the time
nt a specific minute, only people notice
This less, since there are SO many things in
the daytime which warn us aud thus pu-
az on the watch as 90 how time is flying
The curious thing is that. though you
Gnu arrest your attention aud wake up nc
tho required time, you never seem to have
the least assurance that % is the right time
without consulting your watch. II you 10
really divine the time, you have no
power OF recognizing that YOU have "di
vined" TO- You feel as II YOU had merely
guessed 10. and very probably guessed &
wrong, until your watch confirms the guess
1t Is not by a keen sense OF duration that
you compute the hour, for that would im.
ply that you knew at what time You made
the rcsolye-ot what time you went 10
sleep with the resolve on your mlnd-and
this Is often just what you do not know
II you measured time by the organic
processes which 90 on within you, by
general sense Of the number Of pulsntiuns
81 your heart, or the number OF brratha
drawn then sou would require % know
accurately what the time was when you
received To- awake, and you would measurd
only 10y the length Of the thread suhso
qucntly drawn ont. Not oaly would that
Do "a very complicated process. but II ~ al
most certainly not the actual process, fui
you may De quite unconscious 40 what
hour exactly tho resolve 10 formed Is
seems 20 be a sense OF time. as quito dis
tnct from o sense Of tho duration Of your
sleep or OF the lcnglh Of any organic proc
ess which has COMO ON sinoe the resolve wa
made.
Yet II Is extremely dihicult 10 imagine
that the individual mind con be 80 closely
identified IN feeling with the revolution NJ
the earth on its axis az would enable Il &c
say nt what hour q. m. or p. m. you have
arrived. Tho mind measures duration chief
by by the succession OF its own thoughts,
but, as we have seen. 10 Is not duration, but
something quite different from duration,
VI which it appears 10 b. conscious Thus
II can wake The body az any given hour
without even knowing consciously At
lenfp how much time has elapsed since
the resolve 10 wake WAS 1rst formed
The present writer may assign the pres
eut article a. a consequence Zone OF ycry
many of the power Of waking az the exact
hour desired, an hour which f. often varied
IA accordance with the urgency OF the case,
30 that IL cannot bo ascribcd 10 che habit OF
waking nc exactly the same hour. Itisa
very curious power, for which we can As
sign NO parallel. We certainly have no
similar power OF waking ourselves on q
| Journey az auy exact point In space on
which we may previously determine. II
we resolve 60 wake up ~ tho moment the
express train In which we are travelling
| passes a particular point from which, sup.
/ pose, striking Landscape N visible, We
should not manage d unless the train were
80 punotunl chat We could effect 10 by du,
termining to waken at the precise minute
| when the train was due there, though ir
that way we believe h might occasionally
DO effected
But there eortaialy are multitudes Of
/ persons who appear 70 carry some Kind o.
clock about with them In their inner mind
/ though whether IL be the clock OF the
/ house or the clock OF the neighborhood il
| would be VOL 70 mud out.
In tho present writer's case IL h not the
/ clock OF the house, which Is kept fast, but
as near az he can Judge. what lac believes
/ 20 boright tiue--i. G., railway time. though
! II he were, say, i've minutes wrong Ia his
| impression OF what right time Is, IL IL prob
! able that no would awaken boy the time "
/ his impression, and not by railway OF
! Greenwich time, London Spectator
Rarriago Among the wsada.
A parlor talk recently on the Wends,
who, IL seems were originally Slavs, but