El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-03-11

VvTHERE is your sleeper located
M What is it that goes to
Sleep when you lose con-
seriousness and pass over into the mys-
ferrous Land of Nod?
This question Just now is exciting the
serious attention of psychologists, At
Johns Hopkins hospital, In Baltimore,
a special study is being made OF II.
Even the government bureau OF educa-
ton has become sufficiently interested
to purchase a machine called ''sleep
balance" which viii determine to a
nicely the degree of soundness OF the
slumber of a person reclining upon IT.
In June of last year there died, at
Hackettstown, n j., one AlOnzo WISE,
who was known as the ~sleepless police
man" Fifteen years previously he had
been struck by lightning, and at first
deprived OF speech and hearing. These
faculties he soon recovered, but he
never slept again. At all events,
it was so claimed, and physicians
who became interested IN his case
never caught him mapping just before
his death, he said to his wife.
think | am going TO fall asleep.
Which he did-and never woke up
Extreme Case Of Chronic Insomnia
Undoubtedly, this was an extreme case
of chronic insomnia malady which, IN
chasing. is becoming steadily more com
mon. Unlike most other physical al
Elections. it finds its victims chiefly
among the intellectual and the cultured,
and sits. a grim specter, by the pillows
of the wealthy.
Dr. Lorand, an eminent psychologist OF
Carlsbad. has recently declared that
chronic insomnia is always associated
with disease of the thyroid gland. This
h
much to do with sleep, owing 10 the
control which 1t exercises over the CIR
culation Of blood in the BRAIN
On the other hand, disorder OF the
thyroid may give rise to chrome
sleepiness 1t is. for this reason lsays
Dr. LOrandl that many fat people are
inclined to be drOwsy. the organ beng
affected. The gland secretes drug
that Is of utmost Importance to the body
mechanism-so much so that children
born without # do not grow up and
are idiots Old-fashioned dropsy NOW
known as ''myxoedema"l is cured by
injections of an extract obtained from
the thyroid gland of the sheep. And
finally, it Is more than suspected that
the sleep OF the dreaded Sleeping
sickness is caused by incidental
changes of the thyroid, and not by the
blood-parasite of the disease directly
Apparently it is thought the influence
of the thyroid gland upon the blood
current that this little understood throat
organ governs sleep Long ago 1t was
ascertained that, when a person goes to
sleep. the blood flows out OF the brain:
so that. If one could look through a
small glass window set in sleeper
skull. one would see the brain shrink
and grow pale This. indeed, has been
ax,7af
beings who had suffered accidental N
Jury. But the same fact Is otherwise
and not less strikingly illustrated by
the 'Ssleep balance" already mentioned
Upon this Continuance the person sub
snitfing to experiment lies extended.
When he goes TO sleep, his feet sink
toward the ground. because the outflow
of blood from his brain makes the head
end of the balance lighter. On the other
hand if while awake, and prone on the
machine. he makes an effort to study
mathematical book, or something else
calling for intense mental application,
the flow of blood into the brain in
clines the head end downward.
Body Does Not SleeO.
A curious conclusion reached by the
psychologists through recent Observa-
lions is that the body never really goes
TO sleep. and that the brain, even IN
deepest Slunloer, retains d ceItSA1A ddAOUA1
of consciousness
So far as the body is concerned. it is
obvious that the heart goes on beating,
though more slowly; the lungs continue
to breathe. though taking in only about
one seventh OF the waking quantity OF
air. and the other organs keep on with
their work much as usual. As for the
brain. one notices that a person while
sleeping performs many rational acts
such for example, as pulling up the bed
clothes if the room grows cold, or
brushing off an annoying fly
It has long been a wideiy-accepted