CONCERNING SLEEP.

Bruce Herald, Volume XVII, Issue 1755, 4 June 1886, Page 6

CONCERNING SLEEP.

The immortal Sancho Panza says " While I am asleep I have neither fear nor hope 5 neither trouble nor glory ; and blessings on him who invented sleep — the mantle that covers all human thoughts ; the food that appeases hunger ; the drink that quenches thirat ; the fire that warms ; cbe cold that moderates heat, and, lastly, the general coin that purchases all things; the balance and weight that makes the shepherd equal to the king and the simple to the wise." Cervantes, like all great brain- workers, evidently understood the value, the comforts, the delights of sleep, which are not fully appreciated by any one until he suffers the pangs of wakefulness. One of the most exquiaite forms of torture devised by the tyrants of Europe and of modern China was to inflict death by preventing sleep. A case is somewhere recorded of a Chinese criminal who suffered for nineteen days before he succumbed. Food, drink, and raiment are moro easily dispensed with for a considerable period than is rest for the brain. Insomuia or inability to sleep is a common enough symptom of many nervous and mental diseases, and deprivation of sleep, if kept up long enough, invariably results in loss of reason. The poet Southey laid the foundation of that mental malady which clouded his later years by watching at night at the j bedside of. his sick wife after the con-

tinuous mental labours of the day. Many a mental wreck dates from such over-taxation of the brain. Wakefulness is generally owing to something that irritates the brain through the feelings. Prolonged or excessive intellectual effort, so long as the emotions are not stirred up, does not naturally produce loss of sleep, but rather prediposes to slumber. When tbe emotions, especially those of a depressing character, are aroused, the the brain is kept in a state of irritation, and sleep will not come, no matter how earnestly it may be sought. In fact, anxiety to sleep, like any other form of anxiety, hinders the obtaining of it. Worry is therefore worae than work, and wears out the instrument of the mind more rapidly than anything else. The hard-worked Boldier or sailor may sleep soundly in spite of noises or confusion, the roar of cannon or tempestuous winds, while the officer may remain sleepless, when tbe night is peaceful and everything would seem to favour rest of mind and body. Care and worry over duty unperformed or to be done effectually prevent the advent of slumber.