The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-04-03
IS NIGATM AREFATAL
PARENTS SHOULD NOT RE INDIE
 FERENT
To the Fright of Little Onss-It Often
 Results in Nervous Disease.


 The important question that has trou-
 bled the minds of more than one per-
 son as to whether or not nightmares are at times sufficient of themselves to produce death is receiving considerable attention at present at the haids of American physicians. Already this work has borne fruit in the shape of a paper by Dr. E. l.. Tompkins, a leading specialist on nervous diseases and af- fections in Washington
 This paper was entitled Children and Night Terrors," and gave some very in- teresting facts on this little known and imperfectly understood phenomenon Subsequently in an interview with the author of this paper, Post reporter propounded the above question of whether or not the fright produced by a nightmare was sufficient of itself to af- feet the heart and produce death In reply, Dr. Tompkns said:
 You understand that in medical sci ence the great majority of the rules and facts are Of a more or less tentative character, and, without committing myself to positive assertion, I think that I may safely say that in my opfn- l ion, and in the present state of knowl- edge, I do not believe that the bare fact of the nightmare itself is alone suffi- cient to cause death. Even if it was we would have no way of proving that q person found dead in his or her bed had been frightened to death by q night mare.
 Tt is quite possible for a person tor mented by nightmore to walk or run in their sleep and to fall from great heighths and be killed or for one to gorge himself with food, and for this undigested food to produce nlghtmore, and at the same time clog and impede the action of the heart to such an ex tent as to stop it from beating and thus cause the death of the person so affected. Such things are possible and probable but for bad dream to alone cause death I hardly think that such a thing is possible. What I mean is that the dream itself is very superficial and limited in its effect; it is merely the faint reflection of more serious dis turbance in another part of the body.
 'The bare fact that some one is dreaming that monster is trying to throttle him is not of itself sufficient to lower or accelerate the pulse in the slightest. but the real disorder, the un- digested food on the stomach pressing upon the heart and interfering with its action, and of which the horrible night more is but the faintest reflection, that, you may rest assured, will affect the pulse very materially,
 Nightmares, or night terrors, appear in their worst form in children, and it is then that one must exercise proper Judgment in their treatment for other wise they are liable to result in serious nervous disorders, epilepsy, etc. that will remain with the individual i throughout life Children of nervous parents, and others who are allowed to l eat whenever and whatever strikes their fancy, are frequently troubled with these night terrors in their worst { form.
 When bedtime arrives they are 1 afraid to retire and cannot sleep unless { the light is left burning. If the light is they lie almost parayzed with l fear, of what they can hardly define | llltIi |Slttp IS uduHltu with frightful nightmares, and I have {. known many such cases where the cill- | dren so affected would scream in their sleep, or run shrekfng from their bed rooms declaring that they were pursued by something dreadful.
 Now it so happens that physicians make the serious mistake of telling the parents that the child so troubled will 1utgrow these nightmares, while the parents frequently commit the unpar 1onable blunder of whipping their forcing them to bed or to sleep in q room without q light, all of which is utterly useless and positively injurious to the child As a matter of 'act children will not and do not out grow such things. The terrible dreams which they experience and the fear they nave of sleeping in the dark, or in cer- ain rooms, affects their minds and eads to serious nervous troubles in the grown person, and may eventually re- jult in insanity in the individual far 'dvanced in life. Far from outgroWng such things, al ome doctors have imagined and ad- 'ised, night terrors in children are sim ,ly the forerunners, the first symptoms, he beginning, 1 might say, of all man Ter of nervous complaints, and insanity hat is certain to bloom forth in one or { ther of the many forms of both when he child has reached maturity or mid le age. To whip a child for such a hing is the greatest folly imaginable, S it only makes matters worse The hing for a parent to do in such cases
 to set about effecting cure, for in his way only is it possible to forestaI nd prevent insanity in the individual Tn reply to your question as to neither or not frequent and repeated ightmares ever produce insanity, ould observe as much caution as in nswering the first question. I am not repared to say that such is the case. It l know one thing, and that is that ersons who have gone insane have of night terrors and fright Il nightmares long time before they lally reached the point of hopeless in- nifty,
 "The impression seems to have gained 'Ound in some quarters that a great ,al of insanity might be prevented if ose who feel it creeping upon them