MAN NEVER SLEEPS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 61, 23 December 1935, Page 7

MAN NEVER SLEEPS.

VICTIM OF WAR WOUND. A man who lias not slept for 17 years has set the greatest doctors in the world a problem they cannot solve. He is Paul Kern, who was wounded in the head by a bullet in 1915. •Since that time, though he has tried every conceivable method of inducing sleep, he has never slept for a single moment. Here is the man’s own story as he told it to the “Sunday Chronicle,” London. “I am nearly 50. I have not slept for 17 years, but this does not greatly inconvenience me. In fact, I wonder at those people who have need of sleep. It is always strange for me to consider them. After I was wounded I was taken to aii Army hospital. Two. doctors, though worried about my condition, did not dare to perform an operation. . , “For three weeks I lay m hospital. That was the last occasion upon w hicli I even_ slightly experienced the sensation of sleep. Afterwards I was transferred from one hospital to another, but the doctors always shook their heads. They could do nothing. “At first it was a .very curious sensation to close my eyes and be unable to sleep. Although I could not sleep i yawned at frequent intervals, through the boredom and monotony of existence. Two or three times a week 1 lay in bed knowing that in spite ot the utmost weariness I was unable to sleep. “At night when not in bed I used to read or walk about in my flat. Foi a long time I walked about throughout the night and visited various night resorts. . . , “I do not drink, as a rule, but a short while ago. my friends gave me too great a quantity of spirits, and in the end they became tipsy, but I remained sober. “My eyes do not get their piopei share of rest, so occasionally I force myself to close them, but 1. do not “Many foreign medical authorities have written about me and visited me, and recently I received a variety ot letters, chiefly from women, who wanted to marry me. , “But I think it is far better to be alone than to be forced to be cheerful in the company of somebody else when I am not in the mood/’