The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1906-10-11
TIE PHENOMENA OF SLEEP.
Curious Observations of Conditions
Under Its Influence.

UnOer lIlllucHCC.
Of all natural phenomena there is
none so mysterious as the nightly
lapse of consciousness we call sleep,
says a writer in Harper's. 1t is a
condition we are born with and into,
for as infants we sleep from eighteen
to twenty hours in the twenty-four.
No appetite is more imperative; for
while we may live for forty days
without food, mans limit of endur-
ance without sleep is only half that
time. In the lower animals 1T is
even more necessary to life, for they
die in from four to five days when
deprived of sleep.
There are various theories re-
specting sleep, the chief Of which are
known as the physiological, the
chemical, and the astrological
The old theory postulated conges-
ton of the brain, while the present
and generally accepted theory i'm
plies the opposite, namely, a reduced
supply of blood to the brain as COM
pared with the amount in the wax
ing state.
Among the chemical theories of
sleep is the theory of autointoxica-
ton resulting from acid-waste pro-
ducts Chiefly phosphoric acid) pro-
duced by the activity of the brain,
and which are thought to induce a
suspended action of the brain cells
until more or less elimination Of
these effete products takes place.
The astrological theory accounts
for sleep by the partial retraction Of
the treelike branches of the cortical
brain cells, so that the nerve cur
rents are broken or rendered ineffec-
tive for the production of conscious
ness. 1t is claimed that such con-
dition of the brain cells has been
found in animals which were sud-
denly destroyed while asleep.
Such are the principal theories of
sleep; while it has yet to be admit
ted, as DR.. Weir Mitchell observed,
that 1--WE are simply driven to be-
lieve that it is a state of the nerve.
cells-and why not of the nerves?--
in which they became functionally
actionless in variable degree,
Whether this is true also Of the other
cell structures of the body we do not
know; and sleep may be a universal
function, as would seem reasonable
to those who believe that plants
sleep. 1t is sure that the sleeping
brain contains less blood, or it cir
culates less, than the brain awake,
nd ic hn INIT Of rh
know"
Natural sleep has been defined as
mental rest produced by an appetite
resulting from fatigue. But the idea
that mental rest means mental mac
ton is hardly tenable, inasmuch as it
quite frequently happens that the
solution CT unsolved problems is the
first thing to appear in the conscious
ness on awakening, and thus the
mind must have been operative while
asleep.
1t is commonly supposed that the
greatest depth of sleep occurs about
the end of the first hour. This, how
ever, is not invariably the rule, ac
cOrding to my own observations in
the Cook County (Chicago) Insane
Asylum, made some years ago, when
I spent two successive nights in
hourly testing the depth of sleep by
light, sound and touch. A majority
of the ten cases l had under observa-
ton showed the greatest depth to be
at about 3 a. m. More recently Drs.
Sante de Sanctis and N. Neyros, at
the University of Rome, tested the
depth of sleep in four normal per-
sons by pressure upon the temple.
One of these showed the greatest
depth of sleep in the second and
fifth hours, while the others showed
the greatest depth between the first
and second hours.