The age-herald., 1898-02-10
SLEEP MORE THAN REST.

MT. John Bigelow writes "The Mystery of Sleep for the sake of pointing out that the third of our life which is spent in ob-- livion of our daily toll and cares is some- thing more than mere resting and refresh- ment, and is passed not for the rest of the body so much for the relief of the soul. lie sets forth that the theory of physicians whereby this period of somnoiency Is re- quired for the repair of the tissues of the body, which have been wasted by the ac- tivlties of the day, will not bear investi- gation. The body, as matter Of fact, ooes not rest during sleep. The beating Of the heart, the movement of the lungs, the action of the digestive apparatus, and the brain activities through which these and other things are made possible all con- tinue without a moments stop, sleeping or waking. The senses are alert, and any thing which would have commanded the attention when awake will usually rouse the slumberer, however wrapped in dreams. Our eyes are closed, yet sleep-walkers will thread the dizziest paths with them shut. as if they did not interfere with vision in the least. strange or heavy order gen- orally awakens. The hair, nails and stature grow during slumber; more, in- deed, than at any other time. And so far as absence of thought affords refreshment for the brain, MT. Bigelow shows clearly that it is in other forms of thought that the brain finds its rest, never by an abso-
 
 nothing known of the human soul which indicates that it requires any rest at ali, either by day or by night.
 Why, then, should a third of our life be taken from us if we make no gain thereby for our bodies, our minds or our souls? This, of course, is the mystery" which MT. Bigelow sets out to explain. The re- suits he reaches are curious and instruc- tive Most important are the hours of ha ha1 n separated from the workaday world and all its cares, in Sudden and complete dis sociation from the world in which we live" Whatever becomes of the spirit or soul during these hours, we know that 1t Is not engaged in business or pleasures such as occupy the waking time Two-thirds of our life are spent in the world, one- third away from the world. Sleep, there's fore, is unworldliness. In this the phe- nomenon of the sun plays its part By day, we look about us and see all the yari- ous activities of humankind; by night, a curtain drops over this earth, plotting out the sight of our fellows In the sunlight we are tempted to roam about, seeing new things, thinking new thoughts; under the dim stars, we find contentment within doors, refecting upon the events of the day. Then sleep shuts down its heavier curtain upon us-and the world fades away.
 Then it is, according to MT. Bigelow, that the soul finds refreshment-not by the article itself of sleep the biologists con- tend but in its abstraction from common thoughts and, possibly, it's intercourse with the higher, the more spiritual things of existence. Certain 1t is that we wake with another view and other thoughts. Matters which seemed an easy task by night assume rightful proportions in the clearer vision of morning. after the ex- periences of slumber. The sensuality of the day has gone, and our grasp upon life is keener and finer.
 Of all the barbarous punishments and tortures devised by the cruel ingenuity of the Chinese, the book says, none Is so terrible or so to be feared as that whereby an offender is done to death by being con- stantly deprived of sleep until death inc tervenes. It was in this way that the Ro- mans tortured Perseus, the last of the kings of Macedonia to take stand against them. When Napoleon Bonaparte sought to conquer Haiti Toussaint L'Ouverture, that great man, knew he could not with stand 90 GOO seasoned soldiers with the few thousand half-armed, haf-clad men who acknowledged his authority; yet, by SO dividing hds forces that were able to keep the French alarmed through the nights, within a month he had so deprived them of sleep that all but 1000 of them fell easy prey to the climate without his striking them a single blow. This policy has also been pursued by the Cuban patriots during the present war of independence with tho best results.
 Voitaire bears witness that he was able to accomplish things in dreams which werd quite without his waking thoughts and 1t is well known that Colerfdge's magnificent fragment, "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan," wholly unlike anything in the language. was dreamed out at much greater length, that portion which comes to us being all that the poet could remember. an inter~ ruption coming to him while engaged in the task of transcription after awakening.
 -kl.4 efnr1 by the author he infers that the process of spiritual regeneration goes on during sleep, and that, Nike the future. the actualites of the process are wisely withheld from our waking thoughts lest they should inter- fere with our freedom of action.