The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-05-09

y
DRY Of deep Il propounded In An Expert
mental Study Of Sleep CThe Gorham Press.
BOSTON,, by DR.. Bonus S1Dfs. The expert
msnts, whiohwere carried out partly In the
physiological laboratory OF tho Harvard
Medical School. partly in the Sidis labora-
tory. wtre somewhat Uniform In proceed
urs. and We have already suggested . .
their scope was far from covering all inc
matters which promise TO reward experi-
mental s1amination-for instance. tho
phsnomena Of waking up and OF ssav,ns
of sleep and Of insomnia. However. . COZ.
adorable variety Of animals WA studied
by Dr.. sidis In regard to sleep producaon
frogs. guinea pigs. kittens. puppies ana
babiaA- OF .xre-!..=:.= O. nnen ena
women he 10 almost silent. though IN an
inquiry into human sleep, for that's
what ths book really 10. men md women
are Of moro Importance than frogs
guinea pigs. kittens, puppies or wen
babies; TO each OF these olaases . chapter
10 devoted. while there u scarcely . page
about men and women. The author e.
plains why he took puppies instead Of
dogs: Adult dogs are rather dincalt
to manage for sleep experiments because
Of the excitement into which they are
thrown and because Of their resistance
TO being handled by mon other than their
mastsrs.' Young babies may be LEES
difficult to manage for slcep expert
mentss than men and women, seeing That
they really only wake to eat; but tho
amount Of information obtainable from
the eeveral sources may be more or les
proportionste to the degree Of the difficulty
Of management.
Az for frogs. they perhaps have nothing
TO do with sleep. 1t Is uncertain whether
sleep il Q phenomenon Of frog lie At ali.
DR.. Sidis wa able to throw frogs into .
catalsptio state by turning them Q and
holding them down firmly or putting q
heavy weight on them In that attitude;
also by fastening q cloth over their eyes,
by sealing their eyes with collodion. n
by binding them. The supine attitude
added toiblindness was particularly e6ec-
tive; the frog remained as II frozen and
turned to stone. The fame Of q match
wa applied to him and he responded to
the pain stimuli very sluggishly. but did
not turn over. The respiratory and svel-
lOWIuk IuOV0II0uS WOW iV0AOob IVA
sixty to forty nine . minute Anesthet-
les gave poor results with frogs. While
under them they either reacted very
much like normal animals or when given
. somewhat larger dose soon died. 1
attempted to paint the skin Of . frog with
collodion to exclude stimulstions Of the
skin, but he died in commissions. When I
soaked their skins In ether or chloroform
I had the same results About these
deaths. which might perhaps have been
foreseen. DR.. Sidis adds explanatorily:
Evidently the skin absorbed the ohloro-
form or ether and produced undesirable
poisonous results. Since. how
ever, I did have success with my human
subjects under similar conditions !
thought I might have some favorable re-
suits in the oase Of guinea pigs
II hoes not appear that he immersed
the guinea pigs in ohloroform or ether.
but anssthetics taken in moderation were
moro successful with them than with frogs.
He also put the guinea pigs to sleep or
into q ~oataleptio state somewhat resem-
bling sleep-or author admits the doubt
by holding them down firmly on their
backs and closing their eyes. The an
cient experiment with the hon and tho
chalk line is not mentioned by DIR. Sidis,
but 1t seems to be near akin to some OF
his Whether the hen Is mesmerixed by
tho chalk line or by the brusqueness with
which she 10 suddenly pushed down hst
with her beak along 1t has BEEN disputed.
but scientific opinion seems to moline TO-
ward the shock Of the seizure and push
as the cause Of tho hypnotic state.
To kittens DR.. Sidis applied the same
method, holding them down on their
backs. restricting their movements fur
thor by wrapping "all their extremities'
in q cloth and closing their eyes. This
usually sent them Oh into something like
a doze, and II it failed a shook or fright
was found effective, .To brighten them
by shaking was the surest way Of putting
them into q more agreeable mood and
thus sending them of without delay into
a sound Sleep
With puppies the anne procedure
was employed. As a rule they did not
resist long though one puppy for
several days parked and struggled
and refused to be controlled. The most
that could be done was to wrap him
in the cloth. hold him firmly and haye
his mouth shut. Finally one day after
q hard tussle and a few severe shak-
ings l decided to leave him to himself,
To my great surprise the puppy became
quiet: his eyes grey perceptibfy narrower
and at last he fell asleep. He did not
open his eyes when l prioked his paws
Probably the .hard tusale and severe
shakings" had tired him out, and though
ne had resisted being forced into 'oata-
lepsy he took the first chance when he wa
left alone OF sinking into natural sleep,
This excited great surprise" in DR.. Sidis;
II may perhaps have excited at the same
time some misgiving in him az to the
amount OF light which the results Of his
seizures and repressions OF frogs. guinea
pigs, kittens and puppies were shedding
upon the nature Of sleep properly 90
called. and especially Of human sleep.
With newborn infants the same kind
Of treatment was used. their movements
being restricted and the syelids pulled
together. The effect Of shock does not
seem to have been tried. Indeed, the
most elaborate experiments upon them
apparently followed lines familiar In do
mestic laboratories FOR some time past,
Il oan induce sleep in the boy 1.-TWO weeks
old by the following procedure, which
Ia really another modification Of monotony
and limitation Of activity: I either rock
LIZ Co. q <sun. -hI~ ,ixt;~- -