AN OLD PROBLEM.

Western Star, Issue 930, 14 March 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

AN OLD PROBLEM.

An old problem of tbe psychologists has been revived by a letter to La Nature, written by a French business man, wbo mentions that for years he haa been in the habit of waking him* 'self at any hour of the morning he wished, simply by impressing upon his mind, before going to sleep, the fact that he must wake at that time, and saying further that he seldom varies five minutes from the moment which he had assigned himself. The New York Evening Post, in speaking of his letter, says that Napoleon I js related to have bad the same facul y, but adds that its existence has never been verified. "We imagine that this experience is not so rare as the Even* ing Post supposes, and that a person need not be a Napoleon to be favoured with this useful faculty, says the American Architect. We have a very distinct recollection of many instances in which we have ourselves tried the experiment with success, and. at one time, when it was necessary for a con* siderable period for us to wake ou certain days of the week at a very early Lour to take the first train to a piece where our services were then needed* we had an opportunity of eluding the circumstances under

which this peculiar species of selfcontrol is easily exercised. During this period we found no difficulty in waking regularly within about five minutes of the time necessary to enable ua to reach the train comfortably, although for a portion of the time this involved getting up long before daylight; but we discovered also that in order to wake with precision at the right moment, and to rest quietly until it arrived, it was necessary to look at our watch just before going to sleep. If we neglected this precaution, we were apt to sleep uneasily, waking first an hour or more before the proper time, and allowing ourselves in consequence only short naps afterwards, until the minute arrived for getting up. Whatever part of our mind it might have been that took charge of waking us, it seemed to begin its count of the hours from the time at which we composed ourselves to sleep, and if we did not inform ourselves of this, our conscious reckoning was correspondingly uncertain, and the effort to wake vague; but if we took a clear note of the time in the evening, we could sleep peacefully through the whole of the allotted interval, sure of being aroused at or very near its expiration. Another condition of waking we found to be through the occurrence of some extern nal event through which, as it were, the internal effort could tsko effect upon our senses. A very trifling circumstance —the flutter of a leaf outside the window, the chirp of a bird, or any of the unnumbered sounds of early morning—was sufficient, if it happened at the right time, to wake us by a sort of magnifying process, which at that moment gave the power of startling us by a noise which would at other times be unnoticed ; but without such sensible impression wo think we should not have waked. In fact, on one or two occasions, we remember to have been impressed with a dim consciousness of waiting for something to happen before waking, and a moment later a trifling sound would open our senses with a little shock. To the necessity of waiting for this impression, small, as it might be, we were disposed to attribute the variation of a minute or two either way from the exact moment assigned for waking, which might otherwise be kept with exact punctuality. _______