The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-10-23
ON THE SUBJECT OF SLEEP.

intellectual Activity as II Affects the
Need of SIcep--Peopie Who Can
Sleep at Any Tim C and in Any Place.
Maps After Meals-- conditions When
the Nerve Cells Shut Up.
From the New York Sun.
But l can't sleep" insisted the patient.
That's nothing" repeated the doctor.
Nothing! Why, | stay awake all night"
mo, you don't" rejoinCd the doctor.
you stay awake part of the time and
dream moro of the time that you re
awake, and bctin es you sleep soundly."
well, you can put it that way if you
want to: what I'm after is something
that'l make me sleep instead of lying
awake, and will keep me from dreaming
that m awake"
you're going too fast" said the doctor.
"ln the first place, how do you know that
You need to sleep any more than you do?
Lots of people sleep too much for their
own good"
|. I've been accustomed to my seven
straight hours all my life, and | don t
know why l should cut down the allow
ance now"
Some people," rctortcd the doctor,
"come in here and say they've been ac-
customed to their three square meals a
1
they should have dyspepsia now. There
are lot of possible dangers about too
much sleep in the way Of causing certain
ailments, to say nothing Of the wear and
tear of the nerves brought about by trying
to force yourself to Sleep more than ma
ture says just because you've heard that
the normal man spends a third of his life
in bed. Why, don't you know that the
higher the intellectual rank, the less
sleep a man requires? Goethe ana Hum
boldt got along with two Or three hours
of sleep day. Napoleon needed only
four of five hours, and Kant scolded
his pupils for exceeding that limit. Now,
you're Intellectual"
And a victim of insomnia" added the
| patient
Il once saw a Chinaman I admired"
continued the doctor. He was waiting
| for a train at a station consisting OF a
| platform set down in the middle of no.
| where out west. We intellectual CauCas-
| ians fretted and fumed but my Celestial
merely sat down on one side of the edge
| Of a barrel rested his feet against The
| other edge-an uncomfortable position
| you will observe-laid his arms on his
knees and his head on his arms, and went
off to sleep as sweetly as a child up there
| on his perch. It's a faculty that civiliza.
| tion deprives us of, that of going to s.cor
| at any time and in any place. The Pa,
| puans fall asleep when they've nothing
| else to do. So do all sayages. So dC
| dogs"
Dogs can fall asleep at any moment
! during the day." interrupted the patient
because they stay awake all night bark
| ing as you'd know if you had ever tried
| to keep one in q house in the country"
! "Whcn you're growing DID," continued
! the doctor, you may know that youl
! intellect is all right and your powers are
| unimpaired so long as you stay awake
! its only when you feel a constant need oi
! sleep that the decay of the mental facut
! ties has set in"
"Then maybe I'm growing young" sait
the patient 81 used to take nap aftel
dinner, and now | don't even do that
"A good thing for you," said the doctor
You oughtnt to sleep after meals"
How about the famous siesta of Latir
! countries?"
IT'S all wrong. If doctors wait Ions
| enough a case is pretty sure to come alonl
that will tell them what they want. /
would, of course be easier to cut peopl,
| up and find out the things we want tC
know as the questions arise, but there
! are objections to doing that, and so W.
have to wait until good fortune injure!
! somebody in that way. So it happened
that once a man had his stomach Gu
! open by an accident, and his doctor mad,
| other things that the process of digestion
| became weaker while the man was asleep
| The moral is that it isn't well to slceI
| after meals. Some people feel the need o
a nap after eating. That is because theil
! digestive apparatus isn't in good wOrkinl
order, or because they are gluttOns. II
either case blood needed elsewhere 1!
drawn to the stomach, and the brain Il
! impoverished. That's why serpents an,
certain other animals so TO sleep afte
| gorging themselves"
THAT may be AL right about the othe
man." persisted the patient, but i'm my
case it is different. / don't sleep now be
! cause I've had lot of care ON my mind
"Maybe that's the reason and maybe i
isn't" replied the doctor. Care works
both ways. Toward the end of his caree
! Napoleon sometimes could scarcely kCeI
awake at critical moments in the mids
| of a battle. They said it was his liver
but it wasn't The same phenomenon wa
| observed among the ancients. a passag,
was called to my attention only the othe
! day from Montaigne's essay on sleep. II,
describes the suicide of the Emperor Otho
After having made all arrangements fo
| killing himself, he was so overcome by
! drowsiness that he fell asleep, and sooI
| was snoring. In the same way, Cato
| when about to make away with himself
was overcome by sleep, and once the EN-
| peIOr augustus, Wn6n engaged IN a naNa
battle, could hardly keep himself awak,
long enough to give orders"
"All that is very interesting" said tn,
patient; but what has all that to do viii
my caGc?"
Everything i'm the world" answered tn,
doctor "lf we only knew what sleep was
/ might do something for you that wouiC
! remedy the evil in a direct manner; bu
| unfortunately we don't We're not ever
sure that we're anywhere near know
ing; but we think We are. DO you know
what the latest theory of sleep is? o.
course you don't It's only about tw,
| years old, and IT isn't yet in a condition
| for popular consumption. II is too com
| plicatcd for me to explain to you; ther,
! are too many techncaNtles ana proVis
| ional hypothesis and other Involved thing,
| about IL. But the general idea OF II :,
| simple enough You know there are suci
| things as nerve cells, don't you? Well w,
| used to suppose that they We're continu
Gus and formed a permanent line of com
| municatlon for ideas to pass over. Now
| we ind, or, at least we think we find
| that they are only contiguous; that they
| connect one with another by means oi
| prsongations. Sometimes they contract
and draw in their prolongations. and ther
| Oh. ~ nj 81,