The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-04-27
CAN MEN HIBERNATE?
Interesting Speculation Regarding .
Theme often Used I'm Tales.

Wichita Q<an.) Eagle.
If hypnotical Information is TO prove q
success all one will have to do will be TO
accumulate a sufficiency, put 1t out at in
terest, then be put 10 sleep until some
stated time, TO be wakened and go on with
life under advanced conditions 1t would be
a great thing to be able to come back TO
earth every hundred years or so and note
the progress of things. The trouble is that
a fellow would find a tremendous lot of de-
scendants claiming him as an ancestor.
Then as everybody would be alternating
more or less instead OF regularly dying the
world would not hold the living unless they
Weakened up just long enough TO look about,
eat meal or two and then go to sleep
again. But in a thousand years where could
be found storage for the sleepers?
Years ago NJ. Edmond About conceived
the story of case OF suspended animation
in which the subject resisted the process Of
decay and destruction for years, to be re-
stored at last 10 impetuous life. Stevenson
made use of the idea Of suspending the vi
tai processes after the alleged methods OF
the Hindu fakirs, and the practical advan-
tages of the scheme appealed 10 the dis
ciplined scientific imagination Of Mr.. IL G.
Wells.
The fancy of the novelist has forecast
some of the most important discoveries Of
science, and IL is possible that the pro-
longed suspension of life and subsequent
become a
OF the museum freaks VINO proclaim their
ability TO undergo this process, one. at
least, has defied detection Il he be a fraud.
He has been buried for various periods.
and his purpose TO repose for month
without breathing was in a fair way OF
achievement when he was drowned out by
a storm. IL we are 10 look upon simply as
clever trickster, then there Is the case
which has been reported from Nevada.
Two doctors, who have the confidence OF
the Western public and who have never
been known practical Jokers, affirm that
they did exactly what the Indian fakirs are
said 10 do. They hypnotized man, plugged
up his nOstrils and ear passages, bandagcd
his eyes and mouth and placed him I'm
dark and dismal cellar along with potatoes
and other vegetables. There the .lifeless
body remained for two mortal months,
resisting all the efforts OF. worms and damp
TO deprive il OF the power OF coming back
TO life.
Not only bears and some other animals
hibernate but also fishes. That flies mos
otitoes and other insects can become Of
fensively active after winters fOOdless
sleep is only too well known 20 the house
wife. Recently a trustworthy writer has
described the peculiar habits OF a people
in northern Russia They are miserably
poor and have hard time 10 feed then-
selves, even I'm summer. AS winter settles
down they enter their sodded huts and close
every aperture except the chimney Then
they roll themselves up I'm clothes and
blankets and lie on or about the stove and
sleep the long months away At regular
times one arouses and replenishes the Slow
burning fire. and when hunger assails one
he eats a little coarse bread and sleeps
again. This is short OF suspended anirna-
ton, but IL is also a long step In that d.
rection, since there Is no change in the air
OF the room throughout the winter III IA
reasonable 10 assume that men can svent,l-
ally undergo the experience OF SURVIVING
an almost foodless and inactive winter
They may even prolong life by such pro-
cess. According 20 recent English theory
quiet confinement IN bed Is calculated 10 r.
Juvenate system wasted by age.