Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1908-06-12

| TRYING
TO EXPLAIN
SLEEP
DR.. Claparade Says that
1t Is a Kind of Psy.
chic Suicide" but All
Scientists Agree that
We Can't Get Along
Without 1t.


Few of us ever think why we sleep,
and fewer still could give an intelli-
gent explanation of the reason for
our sleeping. The problem has al
ways been wrapped in an obscurity
that no investigations have been able
to illuminate or dissipate, and it is
Only within the past decade or SO
that anything like a continuous effort
has been made by psychologists to I'M
ravel the mystery. To say that it Is
a periodical phenomenon" is to af-
ford little satisfaction to the inquir-
er since nearly all the phenomena o.
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 anaemia in
the sleeper while the condition en-
dures is exploded by the fact that
even as we sleep our faculties still
make more or less vague registra-
items of events taking place around
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 a chemical basis, the
mechanism being probably as mex
plicable 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
is consequently looked upon as a spec
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 SUBJ
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, a posi-
tive function OF the body, just as Is
love or ambition, and must be duly
satisfied.
The modern view is that sleep Is
an inherent self-preservative mea sure,
adopted by the body to enable 1t to
keep up the struggle for existence. 1t |
is brought about daily in man. Just
as every year, toward autumn, there
is brought abou: in the reLtal econ
omy Of the swallow the notion that
the cold weather is approaching and
that fight toward a warmer climate Is
due Sleep is akin to the instinct of
self-preservation, and man sleep; 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 of "momentary interest" and |
the fewer the interests awakened at |
a given time the greater will be the |
to sleep. The sleepiest |
physician in the world, for example, |
Is unlikely to refuse to attend a pa
lent in the middle of the night. Ne |
groes and ho5oes are the drowsiest |
people known, and they have also few
er interests to keep them awake.
Consequently, says DR.. Claparede,
sleep may be termed kind of volun-
airy and deliberate psychic suicide,
since the object is to eradicate all |
,ne's 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 |
he cold season in order that they |
nay not have to expend money upon |
he extra food which activity during
,old weather would necessitate, a fact
which would go 10 show that the func-
ION Is a positive and not a passive
me, and indicating that 1t arises from
prudence or the instinct of self-pre-
York World.
pnRTI AND CEMENT tNnIicrpv