Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-04-25
WAKING UP AT WILL.
WHY IS IT THAT MANY PERSONS
WAKE AT A CERTAIN HoURi

A Discussion Of Peculiar Phase Of the
sleeping Mind True, It Is beyond
Doubt That Many There Are Who Can
SET themselves for Certain Period.
A discussion has been going on in the
Society for PsyChical Research as TO the ex-
istence and the nature Of the power by
which so many people manage to wake
themselves precisely at the hour at which
they have resolved to awake on the pre-
vious night. There is no question as TO the
fact IL il matter ON which probably the
greater number OF people can convince
themselves. You may tx a time when 10
clock strikes, so that II cannot be a half
heard sound which wakes you.
You may fix 1--WE minutes before the hour
in a house in which no clock strikes the
quarters. or even in q house ia which there
Is no striking clock at all and no church
clock within n couple of miles, and yet not
one person only, but q great many-we
might perhaps say the majority Of persons
past middle age can wake themselves nc
the right hour II on the previous night
they 70 90 bed with the resolve 10 do so
strong on their minds IL is power which
belongs to all sorts Of persous-not only
persons who have been in the habit Of get
ting up az given hours, but 20 persons who
have not.
Most nurses have &C. most servants, most
labogers, 'uost professional men. Yet 10 is
very difficult TO account for, for when you
wake you have no distinct, nor indeed in.
distinct recognition Of the time on you.
You only know what time you ought 70
have been awake, but not in the least con.
seiously that this time has arrived, though
when you look at your watch In a fright
you find as a matter OK fact that II has ar.
rived, and only just arrived. We believe
that the same power would apply to the
daytime under the same conditious-name.
IT, that you fix firmly In your mind some
hours, or 40 least some considerable timG
earlier that you are TO do something spe.
Cilc and 10 be reused 20 "a sense of the time
at a specific minute; only people notice
this less since there are 50 many things In
the daytime which warn as and thus put
MS ON the watch as to how time liz flying
The curious thing is that, though you
can arrest your attention and wake up no
The required time you never seem TO have
the least assurance that it is the right time
without consulting your watch. II you do
really divine" the time YOU have no
INHfHA va wv llAHAtAA hAlAN OA UNNN AAa
yincd' It, You feel as " you had merely
guessed IT, aud very probably guessed it
wrong, until your watch confirms the guess.
10 is moi by keen sense Of duration thas
you compute the hour for that would i'm.
ply chat you know at what time you mado
the resoye-at what time you went TO
sleep with the resolve ON your miud-and
this is often just what you do not know.
II you measured time by tho organic
processes which 20 on within you los
general sense of the number of pulsationg
Of your hcnrt, or the number OF brcaths
drawn, thcn YOU would require 90 know
accurately what tho time was when You
resolved 10 awake aud you would measure
only by the length OK the thread suhse.
quently drawn ont. Not only would that
Dc very complicated process, but 10 Is al.
most certainly not the actual process, for
you may be quite unconscious at what
hour exactly the resolve is formed. lg
seems 20 be a sense OF time as quite dis
t.nct from q sense of the duration of your
sleep or OF the length OK any organic proc
ess which has gone on since the resolve wa
made
Yet Il rs extremely difficult 20 imagind
that the individual mind can be 30 closely
Identified Ia feelin. with the revolution Of
thc earth on les axis as would enable it q
say nt what hour a. IA, or b. M. you have
arrived. Tho mind measures duration chief
ly by the succession Of lbs own thoughts
but, ns We have seen, 70 Is not duration bat
something quite different from duration,
OF which 10 appears 90 DE conscious Thus
II enn wake che body ut any given hour
without even knowing consciously at
lcaat how much time has elapsed since
the resolve 10 wake was hrst formed
The present writer may assign the pres
ent article as "A consequence Zone OF very
many oi the power OF waking at the exact
hour desired an hour which Is often varied
in accordance with the urgency ot the case.
80 that 10 cannot Doe asCrlbed 20 the habit Of
waking 40 exactly the same hour Itisa
very curious power Tor which we can as
slgu no parallel, We certainly have nc
similar power OF waking ourselves on a
journey 40 any exact point In space on
which we may previously determine. II
We resolve 10 wake up 40 the moment the
express train In which we are travelling
passes particular point from which, sun.
pose, "a striking landscape Is visible. wa
should not manage ituulyes the train wers
30 puuctuAl that We could effect 70 by de-
termiuiug 20 waken az the preci se minute
when the train was doe there. though In
that way we believe II might occasionally
be- effected
But thole certainly are multitude Of
persons who appear 20 carry some kind Of
clock about with them in their inntguind
though whether 10 be the clock of tbe
house or the clock OF the neighborhood Ia
would be well 30 llnd out
Ia che present writer's case 70 is not this
clock OF the house which Is kept fast. but
as near as ao can judge, what he believes
tohcrIBht time. G., railway time. though
! II he were, say, five minutes wrung Ina bis
impression OK what right timeis, IL is prob.
| able tuat he would awaken by the tlme of
his impression, and not by railway or
Greenwich time London Spectator
9listakon Impression.