The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-10-20
ssBut | can't sleep" insisted the pa

IuaG upIuluS, iSpS"' "
tor.
Nothing Why I stay awake all
night
mo, you.don't rejoined the doc
tor. "You stay awake part OF the
time andsdream some more Of the time
that you're awake, and betimes you
sleep soundly.'
'iWell, you can put it that way If
you want to- what I'm after is some
thing that will make me sleep instead
Of lying awake, and will keep me from
dreaming that I'm awake
''Tou're Hgoing too FAST said the
doctor. 'Ins the. first place how do
you know that you need to sleep any
more than yougdo Pilots 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 should cut down the al
loWance now"
'sSome people, retorted the doctor,
sscome in. here and say they've been
accustomed to their three square meals
a day all their lives, and they don't
see why they should have dyspepsia
now. There are lot Of possible dan
gers 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 .toGsleep'more than your
/ nature says, just because you've heard
that the normal man spends third Of
his life in bed. Why, dom you know
that the higher the intellectual rank,
the less sleep man requires? Goethe
and Humboldt got along with two or
three. hours Of sleep day. Napoleon
needed only four or i've hours, and
Kant scolded his pupils for exceeding
that limit. Now, you're Intellectual. I"
"And victim of insomnia added
the patient.
IT once saw a Chinaman | admired, :"
continued the doctor. ''He was wait
ing for train at station consisting
of a platform set down in the middle
of nowhere out west. Weintellectual
Caucasians fretted and fumed, but my
Celestial friend merely sat down on
one side of the edge Of barrel, rested
his feet against the other edge-an un-
comfortable position, ,Eyou will observe
laid his arms on his knees and hiS
head on his arms. and Wentoff to sleep
as sweetly as child up there on his
perch. It's a faculty that civilization
deprives US Of, that Of going to sleep
at any time and in any place. The
Papuans fall asleep when they've
nothing else to do. So do all savages.
So do dogs
Dogs can fall asleep at any moment
during the day." interrupted the pa
tient, because they stay awake all
night barking, as you'd know if you
had ever tried ito keep one in house
in the country
"When you're growing old, con-
tined the doctor, you may know that
your intellect'Gis all right and your
powers are unimpaired so long as you
stay awake It's only when you feel a
constant need Of sleep that the decay
a)ef the mental faculties has set in."
, Then maybe I'm growing young,
said she patient. II used to take q
nap after dinner, and nov, I don even
DO that"
ga good thing for you," said the
doctor. "You oughtn't to sleep after
meals.
tsHoW about the famous siesta Of
Latin countries p
"It's all wrong. If doctors wait
long enough a case is pretty sure to
come along that will tell them what
they want to know. It would, Of
course, be easier to cut people up and
find out the things we want to know
as the questions arise, but there are
objections to doing that, and SO we
have to wait until good fortune Injuries
somebody in the right way. So it
happened that once a man had his
stomach cut open by an accident, and
his doctor made use of him. The doc
tor learned among other things that
the process Of digestion became weak
er while the man was asleep. The
moral is. that it isn't we'll to sleep
after meals. Some people feel the
need of nap after eating. That is
because their digestive apparatus isn't
in good working order, or because they
are gluttons. In either case blood
needed elsewhere is drawn to the
stomach, and the brain is impoverish-
ed. That's why serpents and certain