The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-10
ON TINE sUBJEcr OF s1Drp.
Intellectual Activity aa Il Anrect. the Need or
sleep-Peopie who Gun sleep mt Any Tipae
and In Any ~l'ince-Nnp. after Meals
Conditions when the Nerve Cc,,- shut Up.

steep-Peopie who Gun sleep mt Any Tiu,
and In Any P~lnce-Nrpa AFTER Menls-
Conditions when the Nerve Cells shut UP
But 1 can't sleep" insisted the patient.
That's nothing repeated the doctor.
Nothing! Why, i stay awake all night
mo, you don't" reioincd the doctor. ''Yo,
stay awake part of the time and dream som
more Of the time that you're awake. and be
times you sleep soundly.
well, you can put 1t that way If YOU wan
to; what I'm after Is something thatn max,
me sleep instead of lying awake, and will keel
me from dreaming that I'm awake"
you're going too fast" said the doctor
I'm the first place, how do YOU know that 20,
need to sleep any more than you dot Lots o
people sleep too much for their own good"
I've been accustomed to my seven straight
hours all my life, and 1 don't know why
should cut down the allowance now"
Some people," retorted tho doctor, 'com,
in here and say they've been accustomed tc
their three square meals a day all their lives
and they don't see why they should have dys
! pepsia now. There are q lot Of possible dan
gers about too much sleep in the way of caus
ing certain ailments, to say nothing Of the
wear and tear Of the nerves brought abou,
by trying to forco yourself to sleep more than
your nature says, just because you've heard
that the normal man spends q third Of his life
in bed. Why, don't you know that tho higher
the intellectual rank. the less sleep a man re.
quiresi Goethe and Humboldt got along with
two or three hours of sleep q day. Napoleon
needed only four or five hours, and Kant
scolded his pupils for exceeding that limit.
Now, you're intellectual"
And q victim Of insomnia" added the pa.
tient.
81" once saw n Chinaman / admired" con.
tinued the doctor. "He was waiting for q
train at a station consisting of q platform set
down in the middle of nowhere out West. We
intellectual. Caucasians frettcd and fumed,
but my Celestial merely sat down on one side
OF the edge of u barrel, rested his feet against
the other edge-an uncomfortable position,
you VIII 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 civilization deprives us of,
1has OF F Sbs p TO sleep AT az any time and in any
dogS"
know Il you had ever tried to keep one in a
When you're growing old continued the
doctor. you may know that your intellect is all
as You stay AWAKE; its d When you 81 FEEL tIns 3
mental faculties has cot In"
hASA hihs ~ a Nv slo"l M sOuDk, Bdlu llB
patient. Il u.ed TO take a nap after dinner,
and now don I even do that:
a good thing for you" said the doctor. You
oughtn't to sleep after meals"
How about the famous siesta of Latin coun-
trieSi. r,.
2 case Is pretty sure TO come along that will
tell them what they want to know. 1t would,
out the things we want to Know a up the heu oues.
tons arise, but there are objections to doing
that, and so we have to wait until good fortune
IN E0nlehnfv n fhR iph ktlt- 60 tt ha~-
pened that once n man had his stomach cut
open by an accident, and his doctor made use
OF him: The doctor learned among other things
that the process OF digestion became, weaker
while the man was asleep. The moral is that
II isn't well to sleep after meals. Some people
cause their digestive apparatus isn't in good
WORKING We liking order or because they are g%luttons.
70 the stomach, and the brain ia impoverished.
That's why serpents and certain other animals
90 " II sIeg ps sf's be- S ali TiS6t th apass tSs Other man +"
persisted the patient, but in my case 1t is dif-
ferent. l don't sleep now because Two had a
Maybe hats the reason and maybe 1t isn't"
replied the doctor. Care works both ways.
times could scarcely keep awake at critical mo
ments In the midst of a battle. They said it
was his liver, but it wasn't. The same phe-
passage was called to my attention only the
other day from Montaiene's essay on sleep.
After. having made all arrangements for kill
ing himself, he was so overcome BY drowsi.
ness that he fell ASLEEP, and soon was snoring. In
the same way, Cation, when about TO make away
with himself, was overcome by sleep, and once
the Emperor augustus, when engaged in a
Imnn battle could hardly keep himself awake
That is very interesting" said the pa
TENT, but what has all that to do with my
Everything in the world" answered the
doctor; III We only knew what sleep was,
l might do something. for You that would
remedy the evil in n direct manner: but nm
fortunately we don't. We're not even sure
t thu, W" Ws re ara sn' Ta Tou near gnow kn %Ta1 na but lst we
theory of sleep isl OF course you don't. It's
only about, two years old. and 1t isn't vet in a
complicated for me to explain to you: there are
too many technicalitics and provisional hypo-
the general idea OF it is simple enough. You
know there are such things AS nerve cells, don't
youi Well. we used to, suppose that they were
continuous and formed a permanent line OF
communication for ideas to pass over. Now
we find, or, at least, we think we find, that
they are only contiguous; that they connect one
with another by means Of prolongations. some.
times they contract and draw in their prolonga-
tons. and then they are as much shut off and
isolated as a medimva, baron used to be in his
castle when he raised the drawbridge, or as two
cities are, nowadays when a blizzard comes
That is sleep. Sometimes a few of the nerve
cells remain connected and exchange ideas;
q u. Is wi What dreams are. When you're awake
contract and shut off the current. Pretty
theory, isn't It'll Well. in your case, say, some
things wrong that prevents the cells, or some
Of Them. from contracting and keeps them OK
cited. SO the thing to do Is to try to soothe
Don't worry about going to sleep. and maybe
in time the balky cells will get Gained down
and will contract. and then youm get all the
sleep you're entitled to. Try soothing them.
And / suppose you expect me TO give you a pre-
scription besides all this good advice and wis
domi'
II believe it's customary" said tho patient.