The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1923-08-21
SECRET OF SLEEP
NOT YET SOLVED
All Scientists Know Is That II Re-
charges Brain.
NOISE ARCH ENEMY OF SLEEP

| or less complete uncOnSciOuSneSS and
that the average man Of fifty has been
asleep for seventeen years, says q
specialist in an article In the Central
China Post.
of life, and that If one could take a
pill or dose Of medicine instead OF
going to bed he would really have
added many years to his allotted span.
But the research for such substi-
| tute failed utterly and hopelessly.
There is no substitute for sleep. Not
one of the limitations Is even NEARLY
Es good"
L was discussing these experiments
and their author with a French doctor
at the top of high mountain in Swift
zerland recently. We began to speak
of sleep because some people who go
for the first time to great heights COM
plain that they are too wakeful All
around us were the great silent noun
tains, with their robes Of pine trees
and their crowns of snow.
The French doctor said:
For my part / always sleep best on
the mountains. The silence seems to
wrap itself around my BRAIN"
He lives in Paris in a noisy part of
the city
Noise Arch Enemy of Sleep.
| reminded him that people often
say that absence of a noise they are
used to wakes them up. But he shook
his head. That might happen, of
course but all the same, noise and
sleep are not good companions.
eve hear noise even when we are
asleep" he said land it hinders our
refreshment Noise is always a tax,
great or small, on human strength"
The American doctor who wanted
to abolish sleep found out exactly the
same thing. He discovered that the
same amount of sleep was more bene-
fetal in silence than in a noisy place.
BY some means or other noise uses up
the good which sleep does us.
What is that good? Hundreds of ex-
plantations of it have been given In
the past. We have been told that
sleeping man is like an engine In the
sheds, he is being cleaned and over.
hauled. But that explanation is not
the whole truth. The new knowledge
about sleep puts its value far higher
than kind of human polishing brush
1t was only when the brain itself
came to be studied that the real mean
ing of sleep was found. The brain
contains vast numbers of cells, each
of which is related to some part of
the body, just as an electric switch is
related to some lamp or bell The
whole power and strength of the body
depends on the brain cells.
What ls the Mystery Substance?
Up till short time ago we knew
very little about these strange struc-
lures. We were able to look at them
with microscope, and we could stain |
them with various dyes so that they |
showed up quite clearly against the
rest of the brain matter.
And then one doctor, more observant |
than his fellows, noticed a strange
thing. Sometimes the brain cells did |
not stain so well or so darkly as at
other times. The little, vital cells
we're pale and indistinct instead of
being clear and dark.
What had happened to rob them of
heir staining power? Evidently some
substance which the cells that stained
veil contained was absent from the
'ells that stained badly and indis-
inctly.
A great many people began to try
o find out what this mystery sub
lance of the brain was. All kinds of
TRANCE experiments were carried out.
For example, If the brain of hare
7hich had been coursed was exam
ned, the brain cells were empty of
ne mystery substance. The brain
ellis stained poorly and indistinctly.
The brains Of men worn out in bat
e, or killed In condition Of great
rain, were also empty. And II
ian had had no sleep for long periods,
Is supply Of mystery substance was
cry, very low.
Gradually the knowledge came that
lring all efforts, both Of mind and
,dy, we use up this strange substance
ltiI at last our brain cells are empty
1t. And then we can do no more.
Mess we can get new supply we
irish.
Sleep the Restorer. !
1t is sleep which brings the new
Ipply. 1t is sleep which fills the
ain cells afresh with their vital mys- v
ry substance. 1t is sleep which saves O
from utter exhaustion, and even {
ON death. BY no other means can
. make our brains fit to work again. o
And nature sleep is by far more USE
in this respect than the sleep of c
ugs.
Sleep Is thus the giver of life. Noise, n
itch causes even resting brain cells II
work, Is the enemy of sleep. s.
80 If you wish to give your children 90
3 greatest gift of all, see that the
om they sleep In is the quietest in
: house. See that you do not rouse
sm. not even to kiss them goodnight. j
And for yourself, try to shut out L
iSp and RI Uaf onOuuh TINA for h,