Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1900-04-27
MYSTERIES OF SLEEP
SOME QUEER WORKINGS OF ana
TURE's SOFT NURSE

SOME QUEER WORKINGS OF INA
TuRE's SOFT NURSE
binary Conditions Why We Can
Awaken at . Set Time-How Sleep
IL 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-
Variable 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
completsN 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 a frig-
ate actively engaged in combat fell
asleep from sheer exhaustion and slept
Doundly tor two hours within q yard Of
ono Of the biggest guns. which wa be-
Ing actively worked during bis slum.
berh
It is a matter Of common medical
knowledge that extreme exhaustion In
lace Of the severest pain will induce
sleep Here tho imperative demand Of
the body demand implanted. a. We
have seen. in the constitution, Of our
frames-ssserts it's influence. and even
pain. the ordinary conqueror Of reposa
has in Its turn to succumh One Of tho
most extraordinary cases in which the
overHuiing power Of sheep was ever e.
empliAed. wal that Of Damiens, con-
deuaed for treason in Paris In 1857
was barbarously tortured. but re-
marked that the deprivation Of eleep
had been the greatest torture Of all It
was reported that he slept soundly even
in the short intervals which elapsed be.
tween his periods Of torture.
Among the Chinese q form Of punish
msnt.f for crimes consists in. keeping the
prisoner .6e1tfnuaI1y awake or in, aseus-
ing him necessarily after short inter-
vab Of repose. After the eighth day Of
such sleeplessness one criminal besought
his captors to put him to death by any
means they could choose or invent. 20
great was his pain and torment due to
the absence Of natures soft nurse"
Persons engaged in mechanical labor.
such az attending q machine in q fac
tory. have often fallen asleep despite
the plain record Of pains and penalties
attending such dereliction Of duty. TO
say nothing Of the sense Of personal
anger which was plainly kept before
heir eyes.
One 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
instances with which l am acquainted
the idea acts perfectly. in others it acts
occasionally, and in other cases. again,
it fails completely The explanation Of
this habit depends on what n may
term q dominant idea" or an idee
IKE. a. the French term it. There 10
something akin in this wakinginstion
to the dominant idea" with which q
hypnotist may impress his facile sub
ject. If we substitute for the hypnotist
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 a given hour
in the morning, W al discern the ra-
tionale Of tho action with q fair degree
Of c~learnesa
The dominant idea in the shape Of
the necessity for awsking at a certain
time is impressed on the brain and is
probably transmitted to those automatic
or lower centers which rule our me-
chanical acts which are responsible for
the visions Of the night and which are
capable of carrying ont, 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 centera
The head Of the business sleeps on while
the night Waterman is awake. and 80.
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 it's activity.
That sleep is ruled by the habits Of
the individual is extremely evident. An
instance is given in which a person who
had taken passage on board a 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-
bic that when a special habit Of life has
become part and parcel Of the daily
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