Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1899-08-19
MYSTERIES OF SLEEP
SOME QUEER WORKINGS OF INA
TURE'S SOFT NURSE"


One of the most remarkable facts to
be found in the history of sleep consists
in the utter inability to resist its onset
in cases of extreme fatigue Several re.
markable instances are given in which
persons have continued to walk onward
while sleep has overcome them. the au-
tomato centers of the brain evidently
controlling and stimulating the muscles
when consciousness itself had been
completely abrogated 1t is recorded
that at the battle of the Nile, amid the
roar of cannon and the fall of wrecllage,
some of the overfatigued boys serving
the guns with powder fell asleep on the
deck DR. Carpenter gives another in
stance of allied kind In the course Of
the Burmese war the captain of a frig-
ate actively engaged in combat fell
asleep from sheer exhaustion and slept
soundly for two hours within a yard of
one of the biggest guns. which was be
ing actively worked during his slum-
bers
1t is matter of common medical
knowledge that extreme exhaustion in
face of the severest pain will indrce
sleep Here the imperative demand Of
the hody--a demand implanted, as we
have seen, in the constitution Of cur
franes--asserts it's influence, and even
pain the ordinary conqueror of repCse
has in its turn to succumb One OF the
most extraordinary cases in which Tie
over, ulins power of sleep was ever e&-
emplihed was that of Damiens. con
demned for treason in Paris in l"1jT
He was barbarously tortured but re-
marked that the deprivation Of sleep
had been the greatest torture Of all 1t
was reported Chat he slept soundly even
in the short intervals which elapsed be
tween his periods of torture
Among the Chinese form Of punish
ment for crimes consists in keeping the
prisoner continually awake CT in arors-
ing him necessarily after short inter
walls Of repose. After the eighth day of
such sleerlessness one Grim nal besought
his cAptor to- put him e. ieatl ~ my
means thu could choose or invent. so
grqa! was his pain and torncut Geo to
the absenc of "natUre'a soft NOR
Persons er.>H~od in nochanical .t.or,
snch AS attcad;nE 2 machine in 3; fac
tory, have cft>n fallen asleep despite
the plain rec I'd cf pains ana pen Hes
attending sue II { reelection Of du.r TO
sar |. ,thing = the sc@se Of personal
dan"tr which as r;ainly kelt lIore
their eyes
Ore of the most interesting phases
connected with sleep is that in which a
determination. formed overnight, that
we should wake at a certain hour acts
true to the appointed time In certain
instanct' with which | am acquainted
the idea acts perfectly, in others 1t acts
occasionally. and in other cases again,
it fails completely The explanation #
this habit depends on what enc may
term dominant idea, OF an idee
fixo. as the French term it There is
something akin in this waking notion
to IT, "dominant idea with which a
hypnotist may impress his facile sub
iect If We substitute for the hypnotiat
the individual himself or lnHyhap the
idea of the fri nd who has been in
pressing upon h.in the necessity for
sounding the reyeille at given i. III
in the morning, we can discern the IA
tionale of the action with fair degree
of clearness.
The dominant idea in The shape of |
the necessity for awaking ut certain |
time is impressed on the brain ana is
probably transmit led to those automatic /
or lower centers which rule our me
chancal acts which are responsible t0r
the visions of the night and which arc
capable of carrying ont, either in the |
entire absence Of Consciousness or in the
exercise of a su conscious condition,
many complex tions. Through the |
hours of sleep the dominant idea re-
mains impressed on these lower centers
The head O, ;ie business sleeps on while |
the night Waterman is awake, and So
prompt to the time or shortly before Or
after it, the desired result is attained |
and the slumbering brain awakened |
to the full measure of its at -
That sleep is ruled by the nabits of
the individual is extremely evident An
instance is given in which person WHO ,
had taken passage on board a war hip |
was rudely awake led by the n ling |
gun. which startled him exec. d.Dgly
On succeeding mornings the :7n WoEc
him at first sharply and then mach
more quietly, until at LEI, TIN Ia slept
on without being disturbed at all in his
slumbers by the report 1t is also nota
BILE that when special habit of life has
become part and parcel OF the daily
routine sleep is liable to be disturbed !
by even the slightest appeal which or
dnarily wakes the individual in the
exercise of his profession, while noises
nj much more grievous character Tail .
to effect that result The doctor wales
uu the slightest agitation of his night
bell, while the click of the needle awakes
the tired telegraphist when loud noise
might fail
Sir Edward Codrington was serving
in the early days Of his n""N' -r"r!-
ences as signal lieutenant to Lore hood
at the battle CT Toulon. His duty was
that of watching for and interpreting
the signals made by the loc'- # Fig
ates. and in this capacity he r.. lail "a
ON deck for Is or 10 hours on # the
"a Exhausted with thestrain of watch
ing, he went below to obtain sleep, and
reposed soundly, undisturbed by any
ordinary noise. Yet whenever Il com
rade lightly whispered in his ear the
word "signal he at once awol.c. ready
for duty The cause of sleep IL as yet
matter of scientific debate In the pres