The daily Alaskan., 1909-11-01
THE RIDDLE IT SLEEP
A Mystery That the Mind of Man
 Is Unable to Penetrate.
THE CAVERN OF MORPHEUS.

NAa VII N haNNNH Hf
 It Is Pitch Black as Far as Human
 Understanding Goes, For We Know
 No More E5out lt Than We Do About
 lts Twin Mystery, Death.
 When oIl is written. how little we know of sleep, It is a closing of the eyes, a disappearance, a wondering re- turn. In uneasy s'umber, in dreomless dead rest. iD horrid nightmare or In ccs,aslos or somUo'cDt fGucics the eyes are blinded. Che body is abandoned, while Che inner essence is we know not where. We have uo other knowledge Of sleep than we have of death, In de- Hrum 0r coma or trance, no less than In normal sleep and in dissolution, the soul is gone In these it returns, in that [. does not come again, or so we ign0rantIy ,hiuE
 Yet when reflect ou my death I for gc, .haO l have encountered it many times already and find myself none Che worse forget .hat l sleep. The fly has mo shorter existence than mans. We aUstIc about for few years with udIerous importance, as bouIefics buzz at Che window puues. They. too. may imagine themselves of infinite momeu. iu this universe we sharo with them. But this is to take no account of Che proguostics of sleep, There is something hidden something secret some unfa.h0mod mystery whose presence We feel but cannot verify: some DcrmcgJjvc thought in- sistcuGy moving in our hearts, some phoSplorcsccueo that glows We know not whence through our shadowy at- oms
 Neither sleep itself nor half It's prom iscs nor mysteries have been plumbed. It is tho mother of superstitious and Of miracles. Tn dreams we may search thc surface powers of the freed soul. Visions In Cho nigh, are not all haIlu- ciuaG0ns: voices In tho night are not an moeIsiDm. There is a prophet dwells within Che miUd-uot of the mind, but deeper rhruucd in 0bscuri.y.
 The brain cannot know of this holy presence nor of its life in sleep The brain rs mortal and untrustworthy, a phouogunu aud a camera for audible and paInah'c existence. Strike it blow in childhood so that it ceases its lubors and awake it by surgery after forty years and l, win repeat the iu- rnuIc action OF word 1t last recorded and win take Up it's task on the in- stauu making uo account of the inter- mediate ynnrs They are noDcyistcnt Co it. Yet .o Iha. hidden memory those diseased years arcuot blank. It knows, it has recorded though the brain has slept And in hypnotic or psychic trance. when th0t wonderful ruler is released from Che prison of the body, 1t can speak through tnc atom blcnt ma chfnerv of the flesh and tell of things man himself could not know because of his nau-yzoI brain This ruler is not asleep Iu sleep nor in dclirium is it do.trious. and iu death is it dead? Through an .hc ages it has been our sDhiny which wo have iutorrogatcd in vain. It joins not iD our laughter nor our tears. We have fgueiod it with lm- mobile. hr00d.ug features of utmost knowledge and wisdom and sorrow. It has asked us but ono question, nor from Che day of OcdfnUs unto today have We answered rightly, so that we die of our ignorance. It is Osiris liv- ing In us. It Is the unknown God to whom We erect our altars. the fire in thc tabernacle. the presence behind the veil. Not In normal w0kefulucss at least will if answer our queries, but in sleep sometimes ig will speak. And it may possibly bc that at last. after all these centuries. we are learning how Go question !. and in hypnotic trance and iu che fearful law of suggestion are discovering somewhat of Its mys- tcry and how to employ it for our worldly good Yet to It's essential se- crct we arc no closer than our fore fathers were.
 We may define dreams and night mare. coma and swoon and trance with what ..rms we win. search their physical reasons and learn to guide and guard. yot we know no more of them than of electricity. We may be- gin to suspect that tclcnothy and clair voy0uce and occult forces of the soul are not sunurstlrious fancics, and VIC may even omnlricaIly classify and study and direct them. Yet the soul itself is mo nearer our iuQuisition
 Though we should know of It's real fly. though our finite minds should fathom tha fuGulwIc. of what benefit would it be? Would it modify our be- Uefs OF our hopes TOUT faiths? Would lt dictate one action to our passionate lives? There would be no change in human nature and no reforms of the world. We arc the children of our fa- liners. and our children will tread the prehistoric paths. Dreams are our life, whotgor we wake or sleep We drOwsc thr0Ugh existence. 0w0Iing and dying and being reborn daily. ever torpescent and unamazcd, and our thousand slum-