Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1899-05-19

Is Ruled by Habit.
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 wreckage,
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 frig-
ate actively engaged in combat fell
asleep from sheer exhaustion and slept
souudly for two hours within yard OF
one of the biggest guns. which was be-
ing actively worked during his SUM
bers
1t is a matter of common medical
knowledge that extreme exhaustion In
face of the severest pain will induce
sleep Here the imperative demand OF
the body--a demand implanted, as we
have seen. in the constitution of cur
frames-asserts its influence, and even
pain. the ordinary conqueror of repose.
has in its turn TO succumb One of the
most extraordinary cases in which the
overIuling power of sleep was ever ex-
emplifed was that of Damiens, con-
demned for treason in Paris in 1851
He was barbarously tortured, but re-
marked that the deprivation of sleep
had been the greatest torture of all. 1t
was reported that he slept soundly even
in the short intervals which elapsed be-
tween his periods of torture.
Among the Chinese a form Of punish
ment for crimes consists in keeping the
prisoner continually awake or in arous-
ing him necessarily after short inter
walls of repose After the eighth day of
such slesplessness one criminal besought
his captors to put him to death by any
means they could choose or invent, so
great was his pain and torment due to
the absence of natures soft nurse.
Persons engaged in mechanical labor.
such as attending a machine in fac
tory, have often fallen asleep despite
the plain record of pains and penalties
attending such dereliction of duty, to
saw nothing of the sense of personal
danger which was plainly kept before
their eyes.
One of the most interesting phases
connected with sleep is that in which
determination, formed overnight, that
we should wake at a certain hour acts
true to the appointed time. In certain
instances with which l am acquainted
the idea acts perfectly, in others 1T acts
occasionally, and in other cases, again,
it fails completely. The explanation of
this habit depends on what one may
term a dominant idea" or an idee
fixe, as the French term it. There is
something akin in this waking notion
TO the dominant idea" with which
hypnotist may impress his facile sub
ject If we substitute for the bypnotist
the individual himself, or mayhap the
idea of the friend who has been i'm
pressing upon him the necessity for
sounding the reveille at given hour
in the morning, we can discern the ra-
tionale of the action with q fair degree
of clearness.
The dominant idea in the shape of
the necessity for awaking at a certain
time is impressed on the brain and IS
or lower centers which rule our me-
chanical acts which are responsible for
the visions of the night and which are
capable of carrying out, either in the
entire absence of consciousness or in the
exercise of a subconscious condition,
many complex actions. Through the
hours of sleep the dominant idea re-
mains impressed on these lower centers.
The head of the 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 is awakened
to the full measure of its activity.
That sleep is ruled by the habits of
the individual is extremely evident An
instance is given in which person who
had taken passage on board warship
was rudely awakened by the morning
gun. which startled him exceedingly
On succeeding mornings the gun woke |
him at first sharply and then much |
more quietly. until at length he slept |
on without being disturbed at all in his |
slumbers by the report 1t is also nota- |
BILE that when a 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 |
dinarily wakes the individual in the |
exercise of his profession. while noises !
of much more grievous character fail |
to effect that result The doctor wakes |
on the slightest agitation of his night |
bell. while the click of the needle awakes |
the tired telegraphist when a loud noise |
might fail
Sir Edward Codrington was serving |
in the early days of his naval expert
ences as signal lieutenant to Lord Hood |
at the battle CT Toulon. His duty was
that of watching for and interpreting |
the signals made by the lookout frig- |
ates. and in this capacity he remained
on deck for IS or / 8 hours out of the \
at Erhnr,S+.od nj r., The strain of watch