Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-12-22
Can We Do Without Sleep?

Can We Do without sleep!
with the increase of mental power
and strength of character. the time al
lotted to sleep can be correspondingiy
decreased" declares Mr.. AXel Emil
Gibson in a comprehensive article writ
ten for the Medical Record on THE
Genesis of Sleep Cases are well
known of men of towering intellect,
such as Lord Coke, Sir William Jones,
Bismarck, Gladstone. lola, who rarely
exceeded the limit of six hours, and of
Goethe, Schiller, Napoleon, Balzac,
Humboldt, and Mirabeau, who mostly
contented themselves with four or five
hours of sleep out Of twenty-four.
There is good testimony that Jeremy
Taylor, Baxter and Bacon seldom al
lowed more than three hours of sleep
a day. Now comes DR.. Gibson, assert
ing that in the progress of humanity
toward complete diurnal and nocturnal
self-consciousness sleep is transient
phenomenon. serving as constant
means and a gradually eliminative i'm
pediment to that end. That is. the race
Of the future will not require sleep, and
the disposition to do without it is al
ready discernible.
DR.. Gibson reasons upon certain
postulates. 1t is an established fact
that the vital processes are governed
by a dual consciousness. seated in the
upper and the lower brain, alternating
in intensity during the hours of sleep
end waking. In one respect this
duality is in volitionai control of the
loGy and mind; in the other II attends
to the reflex, involuntary functionings
of the physical organism. During sleep
the latter are alone manifest, continu-
ing for the most part undisturbed, and,
in some RESPECTS. as in the deepened
rythmical breathing and the Increased
activity of the pores, with augmented
vigor. Cerebral anaemia produces un-
consciousness. the reflex. sympathetic
processes hold sway. These changes.
Or. Gibson believes. signalize reaction
and attempt to restore its equilibrium
with the waking government. which in
its turn seeks constantly to widen its
province. Sleep, then. is the temporary
reasceniency Of the automatic sub
conscious forces.
But recurrent recovery by these
forces must become less marked as the
race progresses. In the life-history of
our planet the vegetative consciousness
precedes the cerebral. To a certain
point only can vegetative life protect
itself. To survive in an alien environ
ment it requires devising, and in re-
Spouse to this demand has gradually
been evolved the cerebro-spinal sys-
TEN. This now powerful system has
he r,f
motion, protection, and support. and is
extending it's conquest to the internal
reflex economy-witness the semi
voluntary working Of the lungs, and,
exceptionally, the volitional movement
of the heart. This aggression by the
will, the unceasing pressure of the
cerebral consciousness upon the SYM
pathetic, the wear and tear of the con-
hict of culture and nature, makes sleep
imperative. The battle is intermit-
tent. and sleep is its armistice. Evo-
luton points to the victory on the Volt
tive side of our nature. As the strug-
gle proceeds and as the self-conscious
nature extends it's control over the SUBJ
conscious it will encounter less resis-
lance. the breathing spells will become
shorter. and will finally disappear al
together. Sleep. the occasion of it and
the necessity for it, will have been
eliminated. Such rest as may be taken
will be consciously administered.
DR.. Gibson introduces certain checks
to test the soundness of this reasoning
For instance lower animals whose
cerebral system is yet too undeveloped
to offer any telling resistance to the in
stinctual currents, do not require
sleep. The same fact is. recognizable in
developed human intellects
the Goethes and Napoleons-that en- !
croach upon the domain of sleep be-
cause in their case it is the vegetative
nature that is subdued and can make
no struggle. The listless. the inatten-
tive. and the weak-minded require the
most sleep. In such individuals the |
conflict Of the two nervous systems is
more nearly equal, with consequent |
loss Of grip upon the sense functions, |
which glide into condition Of inertia.
To the normally active mind, Of
course. fatigue and sleep follow upon
protracted attention and aggression.
This, however, in DR.. Gfbson,s opinion. I
does not mean that the Individual
should yield to, the first impulse pfl
sleep. fThe brain cells must be trained
s.siiSs7 s.- ~.