Evening star., 1926-05-09
How Many of Normal Hours of Slumber
Really Are Beneficial to the Sleeper?

sleep before l. o'clock is soundei
than that after midnight, as tn
beauty doctors all declare?
Is the sleeper who sleeps like .
log" as the old phrase puts II, NOR
recuperated and ready for the tasN>
of his day than he who tosses an
tumbles through part of the night?
These are some of the more obvious
questions. OF greatest popular intel
est, which DR.. Johnson and his assisi-
ants-George l.. Weigand, junior fel
low of Ohio State University. and D.
Thomas II. Swan. physical chemist
expect the sleep test 10 settle. Stii1.
they are only tall trees in the fores'
If conclusions that will. without dOubi
lie drawn from the records of the L.
slecperS.
The world Of science awaits the r"-
suits of the experiments with antlci
patton Of notable discoveries in NAM
fields. Physicians in general are said
TO he cIving the inquiry much atten
| tion, and many have offered To ="
| operate with DR.. Johnson and his aS-
sociates. They believe. th"se nedicH
men. that the results Will throw light
on many problems virtually connected
with the relation of sleep TO health
and its preservation.
The work was undertaken at III"
suggestion of a wealthy Pittsburgh
manufacturer. who established a L.
search fellowshinp at the institute las
June. agreeing to give $20,p00 a year
! for it's maintenance. One of the nlnpr
pha Ses. from d scientific point of view
which the inquiry Is TO take up is THAI
of finding out just what qualities an"
properties Il good bed should have.
on the evaluation of sleep sCientiS,~
/. up to the present have been divided
! into many camps. At one extreme ar"
/ those who agree with DR.. II. j.. Hcl-
| lingsworth. psychologist of note. VII"
claims sleeping is merely "a bad hal.
that over Il period of years could hc
trained out of humanity. At the
! other are the famous physicians ami
scientists who hold that sleep is na
lures way of Kidding the body OF
noXious and. under certain conditions.
fatal poisons which accumulate as
result of the burning of physical til
sues and cells in the chemistry of liz
ing.
Half way between these extremes
stand SaVantS and laymen who poiLl
To the fact that Napoleon conqueTcd
tIlt NOI ~ oli Si steep IdIibil Ol dht't't
three hours Il night and that Thoma~
Edison. perhaps the greatest of all il.
ventorS. has found four hours qu
ample. Napoleon. according to his oV
letters. thought nothing of going with
out sleep as long as necessity might
require i'll the crises of his Careor. /
is recorded that for As hours IefoHt
beginning the hard-won battle of T.,
lau he did not even lie down.
The experience of Napoleon and Edi-
son would seem to indicate that Sleep
can he "speaded up" so that god
sleeper may get as much benefit our
| of three hours as Il poor master of the
art-if such ii may be called-nich3
obtain. say, in seven. And. indeed. the
| finding Of scientists in recent expef;-
ments tends to confirm this view
pointing To the day. perhaps. when
''how to sleep" and So prolong wax
ing. active life. will he one of th"
things taught in schools and college
During an inquiry at George Wash
incton University. in which four ST
dents went without sleep for 60 hour
and two others for rs. it was motel
that the subjects slept for differeu'
periods when they were finally pern,,
ted to slip into the arms of Morpheu~
On0 slept hours, another 10. and
both, according to the doctors. re-.
cuperated in about the same deere.
In other words. the youth who slep'
s hours was Il speediei' more efficient
snooZer than his Comrade.