Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1908-05-26

and fewer still could give an intelii
gent explanation OF the reason LOT
our sleeping. The problem has al
ways been wrapped in an obscurity
that no investigations have been ape
to illuminate or dissipate, and II Is
only within the past decade or 50
that anything like continuous effort
has been made by psychologists to I'M
ravel the mystery. To say that 1t Is
periodical phenomenon" is to al
ford little satisfaction to the inquir-
err since nearly all the phenomena Of
life may be said to be periodic. This,
however, has been the only explanar
ton vouchsafed by researchful science
till the advent of the French physician
Claparede as a student of the sleep
ing habit.
DR.. Claparede has shown that the
idea of sleep arising from anaemie. IN
the sleeper while the condition en-
dures is exploded by the fact that
even as we sleep our faculties strli
make more or less vague registra
LlOuS I'll SNCutc LdhlAS PAocN
us. We are all familiar with the SEN
sation of dreaming that we are IN
danger, and of hearing voices calling
out to US to save ourselves, when,
in fact, the cause of the alarm is
nothing more serious than the attempt
of some one to rouse us by knocking
vigorously ON our bedroom door.
The explanation of sleep can be
made only on chemical basis, the
mechanism being probably as mex
plicabls to science as the mystery OF
being. The chemical theory consid-
ers fatigue, the waste of tissue pro-
duced by the preceding days activity
as the efferent cause of sleep which
les of natural organic regeneration.
The toxic theory supposes that sleep
is due to an intoxication of the nerv-
Gus centres, owing to certain wastes
to which the blood is periodically sub
ject, and which is promoted by activi-
ty and the expenditure of energy. 1t
is shown, however, that abnormal &C.
tivity or overwork produces insomnia
and, consequently, that sleep is not
merely a cessation of the organic
functions, or a purely negative con
dition. 1t is, on the contrary, posi-
tive function of the body, just as IS
love or ambition, and must be duly
satisfied.
Jarv, wi ic
an inherent self-preservative mea Hire,
adopted by the body to enable it to
keep up the struggle for existence. 1t
is brought about daily in man. inst
as every year, toward autumn, there
is brought about i'll the mental econ
omy of the swallow the notion that
the cold weather is approaching and
that flight toward warmer climate is
due. Sleep is akin to the instinct OF
self-preservation, and man sleeps not
because he is exhausted, but because
he wishes to avoid becoming exhaust
ed
Sleep, more than any other instinct,
or at least as much, is governed by
the law VI lulClCSt, dliu
the fewer the interests awakened at
a given time the greater will be the
disposition to sleep. The Sleepiest
physician in the world, for example,
Is unlikely to refuse to attend a pa
tient in the middle of the night. Ne
groes and hoboeS are the drowsiest
people known, and they have also few
er interests to keep them awake.
Consequently, says DR.. Claparede,
sleep may be termed a kind of volun-
tary and deliberate psychic suicide,
since the object is to eradicate all
ones activity and interest in the
world around. 1t is found, for ex-
ample, that the peasants in certain
parts of Russia go to sleep during
the cold season in order that they
may not have to expend money upon
the extra food which activity during
cold weather would recessitate, fact
which would go to show that the func-
tion Is positive and not a passive
one, and indicating that it arises from
prudence or the instinct of self-pre-
servation.-New York World.