The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1899-06-16
THE SLEEP PROBLEM.

In these days Il rush and excitement
when the nervous system is too often
| 81 retched TO its utmost tension, and
when 2eurasthcnia il rampant every
| here, tine question of rest and sleep
must be considered. The mode Of
| living has so altered, even within the
past thirty Years and especially in
| TINS country, that the sleep problem
! j. = matter OF the first Importance.
| I'his being the ease, the fact that little
| i definitely known as to the cause of
| steep il decidedly curious. Sleep
! erhapa the most marvellous phe.
l. ImenOu III he w0rlG-uGy rightly
he termed IL mystery. But, as with
everything to which by long use we
have become accustomed, we regard
| il with Indifference. In some journals
and magazines in this country and in
| Great Britain instructive articles have
been of late contributed in regard to
sleep. DR.. Andrew Wilson. in the
April iss ue of Hdrper'$ Magazine,
/ .kes the popular view that it Is in
! tln Train cells that We ih;.ll probably
! I ri such explanation or sleep 81
| ,'iSpcr can afford. M,Jamr lie
! tanacaine, who has - IN ~se'sy p2b-
! sired a"H!e icw months AEr collected
and presented in an attractive form
/ the principal facts dealing with the
ca usation of sleep, says: The truth
! j. that although the problems nf sleep
| ave exercised some OF the greatest
| inteliects of ancient and mCdern times
| from Aristotle downward, all that we
| really know of sleep is due to the
labors OF a comparatively small num-
Der of workers. The vasomotor
| jheory of sleep is the one most widely
| accepted. Cerebral aLRmi;I is one of
| The most potent predisposing factors.
| Fluger contends that carbonic acid
plays very important part in the
causation of sleep. Nerve histologists
nave put forward the principal tneo-
| res with regard to sleep, OF which
| those advanced by Howell, of Johns
Hopkins, have perhaps obtained the
| most credence. Leonard Hill thus
| summarizes the facts which are known
concerning sleep: l. Respiration. (a)
The number per minute remains uh-
| altered, the movement becomes shall
| low aud thoracic in type; % the
| amount of inspired air per inmate is
lesseued by from une-falf to two
thirds; (c) the output OF co. is dimin-
| ished by one-half to two-thirds. 2.
| the limbs; (b) the venous system is
| augOrgeG; (c) the arteriai pressure
{, lis; (d) the pulse rate d'miuishes;
| and (e) the velocity of blood flow de-
crcases. 3. Temperature. The tenn
perature fails during the night. The
| production of heat is estimated to d.
| ninish by from half to two. thirds. 4.
Nervous system. (0) The blood flow
| through the brain is diminished; %
! the acidity of the corteX decreases; (cl
| the eXcitability of CONSCIOUSNESS to ex-
Lernal stimuli steadily decreases dur
| ing the first one to two hours of sound
| sleep. After that period the eXcit-
| ability rapidly becomes almost as
great as it is toward the end of sleep !;
and (d) consciousness alone seems to
| be abrogated during sleep. The nerves
\ and the special senses continue to
transmit impulses and produce reflex
movements. Cerebral au3mia is the
theory which has the most wide ac-
| ceptapce, but, as Leonard Hill re-
marks, such speculations do not carry
us far, and the causation of sleep
must still be regarded as metaphysi-
| cal. While, however, the cause of
sleep still continues to be enveloped
| in more or less mystery, of one truth
we are much too frequently cognizant
in the present age-that of insomnia-
possibly the worst misery to be imagi-
ued- Highly wrought nervous orgaui-
cations, produced by the high-pres-
sure living OF our times, are in this
country rather the rule than the ex-
ception. Therefore the absolute need
for a period of repose spent among
healthy, invigorating surroundings
which should be a sine qua non with
the fagged-out brain-workers of our
cities. This question is undoubtedly
one of the most serious confronting
| the rising generation, who dwell in
the busy centres of trade, and becomes
more and more menacing as the years
roll on