Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1893-04-29
THE FLEETING SHOW.
Some of Hts Facts and Fancies.
Written for the JOURNAL AND CoURIER1
narHc. tn Srrrp

Sleep is oftentimes the most desirable
thing in life, and the most difficult to OBJ
tain. Money cannot buy it, or love be-
STOW it, and drugs provide only tempo
rsry and unsatisfactory substitute.
To sleep-to rest-with quiet limbs and
relaxed muscles, all exercise of body and
brain suspended, willis life and vigor
mysteriously are renewed, that is what we
need, and long for, and persistently seek
even with groans and tears and tossings to
and fro. All sorts of expedients are tried
to bring "golden sleep' to our bedsides,
from fstiguing ourselves with unwonted
bodily exercise, or eating food supposed to
be soporifo, before retiring, to counting
imaginary focks of sheep leaping imagin-
ary bars, or reeiting the multiplication
table forward and backward, after retiring.
These latter ingenious devices, recon-
mended as sedatives, are quite as likely to
lead to wakefulness as to repose, and the
sufferer from sleeplessness finds them of
little avail.
The average American does not sleep
enough, and no people upon the face of
the earth are now, or ever have been, such
bundles of irritable nerves as we. The in
crease Of nervous disorders is ala ming.
Sleeplessness encourages nervousness, and
nervousness sleeplessness, these twin evils
going hand in hand to work their mischiev-
ous wills upon US, with alarming SUCCESS.
The professional man and the business
man, the housekeeper and the attendant
upon Society's functions, from the real or
fancied stress of duties deny themselves
sleep, end at last sleep, in revenge, denies
itself to them. Then they may ardently
WOO 1t, but even the "twinklings of obliv-
ion" are not to be won.
Setting aside sorrow, that plants thorn
in the pillow and something sharper than
a thorn in heart and brain, the prime
causes of insomnia are overwork and i'm
proper food. Could we only treat our
selves as we ought with respect to these,
we might spend seven to nine hours out OF
the twenty-four in delightful, restorative
unconeciousaess.
DR.. ]. II. Salisbury declares that Hthe
cerebrum should not be permitted to work
and consume vitality for more than ten
hours In the twenty-f -four on an average.
The fourteen should be spent in recreation,
eating and refreshing sleep. We should
live less in the garret of our house and
more in the Kitchen" ie., let the thinking
and planning and scheming come to full
stop, and let our physical needs receive
due attention. Easier said than done,
those reckless ones will think who most
need to take the doctors advice.
This same physician has given us q very
simple formula for inducing restful quiet,
If not entire Inconsistencies. 1t may
seam too easy and inexpensive to be of any
importance, but 1t is of real value, and has
been repeatedly tried with surprising suo-
cess.
ssOne easy and effectual plan for calm
ing an excited brain is to seek a quiet
room, and, seated in an easy chair, or still
better, lying in bed, to place the palm of
the right hand on the forehead, and the
palm Of the left hand over the cerebellum
and back of the neck. The eyes should be
fixed upon some object and kept there; the
breathings, which should be full, easy and
slow, should be counted up to forty nine,
the patient listening intently, as If expect
ing to hear good news.
"When forty nine inspirations have been
reached, the right hand must be similarly
placed on the pit of the stomach and the
| left hand to the opposite of the back, while
| the previous operations are to be repeated.
With the last Of the second series of forty.
niue inspirations, the right hand is remov.
| ed to the ambilicus, and the left to the
small of the back, with a repetition of
breathing, etc. If these simple and appar
emily childish operations are properly and
| quiescsntly conducted, the patient will bt
happily sleeping or happy awake before ths
last forty-ninth inhalation has beer
reached"
The principle of this process Is thus ex
planned by DR.. Salisbury: The palm o.
| the right hand and the fore part of tn,
body are both positive magnetic poles
The left palm and the back part of tn,
body are both negative poles. Like pole
repel, and by thus placing the palms o
the hands over the various centers, q vita
current Is directed back into the body, 1t
normal circuit is re-established, aud 1t
energies are guided and evenly distributed
among the organs situated along it's course
The physical and mental Systems win be
come passive, contented and comfortable
all parts working together for the common
good. The result will be composure an,
reoupsration.
Whatever the explanation, the process
very soothing one, often bringing sbou
thoee few delightful seconds of consciou
unconsoiousnsss which give the swsetes
zsst to the act of falling asleep. To kno,
that sleep is approaching, to satoh your
self mapping, as 1t were, and hold yoursel
half awake for an instant to realize th
fact, though ever 80 vaguely, and then
slip away into forgetfulness, Ia happy 81
psIience, ''swset foreknowIng Of sur
and best
There IL q simpler method still than d.
Salisbury's that answers very well In ord
nary cases. You have only to make you