SLEEP WALKING.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17769, 22 May 1923, Page 2

SLEEP WALKING.

AMAZING FEATS PERFORMED BY SOMNAMBULISTS. (By J.H.Y., in the "Weekly Scotsman.") What strange, weird things have beep done by persons while asleep I Doctors and brain specialists have been puzzled by these extraordinary accomplishments, and candidly confess their inability to give a satisfactory explanation of them. The latest case to attract public attention was the tragic fate which recently befell the young daughter of an East Ham doctor, who left her bedroom in a state of somnambulism, tuie appears then to have walked downstairs, made her way to her father's surgery (a room she had never entered in her life before), where, while still in sleep, she drank something out of a cup she had taken with her. In the morning her mother found her dead on the floor.

These tragic facts were brought out at the inquest, when the girl's father told the coroner than his daughter had onbe before had an attack or sleep-walking, and was subject to fits. A verdict of death from syncope was retunhed, caJused by the shock or suddenly awakening from a state of somnanbulism. A peculiarly pathetic feature of the case was that the girl was to have been married a fortnight In fits of somnambulism the sleepwalker usually goes through actions that have occupied his (or her) mind previous to sleeping. Thus there is hardly anything that a sleepwalker has not been known to do. They have been known to walk along dangerous parapets and precipices without harm. Unhappily, they do not always manage to steer clear of danger. Accounts of somnambulists who have fallen out of windows are not infrequently met with in'the newspapers. Not long ago a lady was known to leave her bed while asleep, and to walk into the sea where she was drowned. Last summer an extraordinary Alpine accident occurred in Geneva. A young farmer, who was subject to somnambulism, walked out of his house in his night attire, and in his sleep climbed the mountain above the hamlet of Marbach. He fell over a precipice 320 ft high into a torrent, and was killed. Perched on a Spire. Generally speaking, however, one _is almost tempted to think that a. special providence guards and guides sleepwalkers in some of their Freakish and amazing escapades. How else can one account for the immunity-.from midden death of the young Ayrshire lad who actually had the temerity to scale the parish church steeple P Waking he would never have dared to think or such a mad feat; in his sleep he actually did it, without injury to himself, to the immense relief of some workmen who, on the way to their employment, were astonished to see someone perched on such a giddy eminence. Then there was a certain young Nimrod, who rose out of bed, dressed himself in riding costume, climbed down from his bedroom (a by no means easy accomplishment), and got astride a high brick wall which he spurred vigorously as if it had been a liorsel Another descended a deep well in his sleep, but returned immediately on touching the water. Water however, had no terrors for the Irish gentleman whose almost incredible case is. related % a well-known physician. This somnambulistic son of Erin not only entered water, but swam more .than two miles down a river, got ashore and' was subsequently discovered sleeping by the roadside, altogether unconscious of the extraordinary feat he had accomplished. The "Ghost" In the Kigging. A few years ago the watch on board one of the Atlantic liners complained to the captain that they were being nightly scared by a ghost which gilded up the companion ladder, darted swiftly into the rigging, and disappeared from sight, appearing again on deck in a few minutes, and then vanished below. The captain, suspecting a trick, directed the sailors to take the following plan: —When night came two of them were +1 'r»™>t on deck on either.side of the companion lac with a rope oUetciied between them, which they were to manipulate so as to trip up anyone wtio might come up *from oelow. Close upon midnight, when nothing was heard on board the great liner but the muffled, steady throb-throb of her giant engines, a rustling, ghostly sound disturbed the stillness, and a gaunt white figure appeared on deck, tripped over the rope, and fell heavily. The capain,, who was hard by, ran forward, and flashed a lantern in the face of the prostrate man. "Lord, preserve us I" he exclaimed, "if it isn't.poor old Mr Mc Andrews." McAndrews was an old bachelor, who of late years had developed somnambulistic propensities, and who was on his way out to friends in New Turk. It is needless to say that the utmost kindness was shown to him by all tor the rest of the voyage.

The Monk's Midnight Visit. • A strange experience, which almost ended in tragedy, once happened to a tourist in France: it vividly illustrates the irresponsibilities of somnambulism. The tourist had lost his way in a lonely part of the country, and. sought and found shelter in a Benedictine monastery. The worthy monks were lavish in their hospitality, and invited him to pass the nieht in the monastery. In due course he retired to rest, but the strangeness cf the situation _ hindered him from sleeping for some time. Towards nnunitjut, however, when he was just dozing on, he was star tied on Hearing suuining iootsieps in tae cornuor leading to his chamuer. Then he observed a iignt streaming beneath the cloor, anui a moment later tun uoor was soitly opened, and a tail monk entered, with a cancU'e in his left hand and ciasping in his right a formidablelooking knile. The traveller was then horrified, to see the inonii making straight for the bed on which he lay. slipping out of bed on the side tnat was iarthest from the door, and, crouching low, he awaited with beating heart the approach of the wouid-be assassin. The tali monk reacher the bed, and, glaring down upon it with fierce eyes, he lifted high the dreauful knife, and buried it thrice in the bedclothes. He then departed as he had come, to the intense relief of the scared traveller. In the morning the tourist made inquiries, and Uotind; that' the monk, whom the others addressed as Brother Matthew, had for some time been a sleep-walker, but not till ivery lately had the trouble taken the tragic turn that had so nearly cost the tourist his life.

As a matter of fact, terrible crimes hare occasionally been committed while the perpetrators of them were fast asleep. An instance occurred some years ago on the Continent. One night a washerwoman named Caret was awakened by a serere blow on the shoulder. Starting up in alarm, she was astonished to see her own son standing orer her with a knife in his hand. She was more astonished still to obserre that he was sound asleep. Although she jumped out of bed and called for help, the son managed to stab her fire or six times, and then he. calmly went back to his own room and gpt into bed.

totally unconscious of his terrible deed. Strange Instances of Painting. Even more strange in many respects are what might be termed the extraordinary intellectual achievements « sleep-walkers—achievements which were beyond their capacity when awake Lesions have been learned and difficult problems solved in sleep; sermons have been written, songs composed, and pictures nninted by somnambulists. There is the well-authenticated case of a young artist of considerable promise who was engaged on a picture for the forthcoming Academy. Night after night he would leave his bed, dress, go to his studio, and paint away at his canvas for hours at a time; and every morning he would be amazed at'the progress of his picture and the good work that had mysteriously been put into it. He had* no recollection whatever of having done the work himself, and refused to believe his mother when at last she ventured to tell him the truth.

In another remarkable instance a lady artist had been commissioned to paint a portrait of herself for one of her patrons, but the result was so disappointing that she. was driven to the point of despair. One night she left her bed, put. on her dressing gown, and, taking a mirror with her, went to her studio, where she worked with feverish haste for some hours. Her husband, awakening, missed her, and, going in search of her, found her in the studio, but was afraid to wake her. The following morning the lady was considerably astonished to find her task completed with a skill which she had never attained before. She had, as she said, when her husband told her the truth, painted far better in her sleep than awakel A Journalistic Coup.

A "mystery of journalism" aptly, describes what one can /confidently term the strangest of all somnambulistic achievements. An author had been requested to write an article on a very | difficult subject. He tried again an&r again, and each time with such poor result that he flung his manuscript into the fire.. At last he was obliged to confess to the editor that the task was beyond him. - A few days later he was amazed to receive a note from the editor thanking him, in most complimentary terms, for .the very.article he had been unable to writel Naturally, ho thought, the editor was indulging m a, bit ot "leg-pulling." But no. such thing. When he went to the office the mysterious article was produced, lnihis own handwriting, and, as he confessed, it was quite the best piece of work he had ever done. He had no recollection whatever of having written it, and there is no doubt that he must not only have written it, but posted it, m his sleep. '