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Article NOTES ON SOMNAMBULISM. ← Page 3 of 9 →
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Notes On Somnambulism.
tAventy minutes , during which period the secretions were unusually abundant . These results clearly evidence that volition does not reside in the brain nor feeling in the spinal chord , since other substances were here substituted for them . " " It appears to methenthat the brain should be liable to
, , fatigue in common with the other organs . " " Possibly , Mr . Clairvoy , " I replied , " you may have experienced the mental exhaustion consequent on excessive study . There is a limit of continuance to deep thought , at Avhich the poAver of discrimination fades aAA ay , and our efforts produce nothing but confusion . The soul itselfhoAveverneeds no
, , repose , and therefore continues active during sleep , AA hilst the bodily organs are recruiting themselves . We ICUOAV , besides , that we may overtask any organ . A blacksmith , aiming a vigorous blow , may break his arm , if his hammer miss the object . At the same time , it is our will alone that gives strength to the muscles ; lifeless human tendons possess very little
strength , Avhich Avhue alive could support a hundredweight . The preternatural energy of the maniac endues Mm Avith strength far beyond that of healthy men . But to return to our topic . Sleep is the recreation of the senses and muscles after the exhaustion consequent on doing the Avork of the will during the day . It is supposed that while so engaged they
never groAV , and that , were it not for their renovation during sleep , they Avould gradually consume . Thus , total deprivation of sleep , as Dumas says , in his ' Crimes Celebres , ' was devised by Marsilius in the sixteenth century , ancl used at Rome as a torture . ' Two men , AVIIO were relieved every fifth hour , aAvoke the victim the moment they observed that he had the slightest
desire to sleep . ' He goes on to say , that out of a hundred sufferers five only resisted it , —there is no doubt that if continued it Avould result in death . It were hard to say Avhether the pains of lingering death from this cause , or from starvation , must be most fearful ; in the latter case , the fat , muscles , and brain are successively consumed by animal heat , or internal combustion , death ensuing when the fuel of the 'lamp of life ' is exhausted . In the former , the organs having no time for renovation , become unfitted to perform the functions of life . "
" I gather , then , " interrogated my companion , "that sleep is the rest of the brain and nervous system ?" " Certainly ; on which account the sleeper does not hear , since the tympanum is inactive , —nor taste nor feel , since the papillae of the tongue , palate , and skin have , so to speak , a
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Notes On Somnambulism.
tAventy minutes , during which period the secretions were unusually abundant . These results clearly evidence that volition does not reside in the brain nor feeling in the spinal chord , since other substances were here substituted for them . " " It appears to methenthat the brain should be liable to
, , fatigue in common with the other organs . " " Possibly , Mr . Clairvoy , " I replied , " you may have experienced the mental exhaustion consequent on excessive study . There is a limit of continuance to deep thought , at Avhich the poAver of discrimination fades aAA ay , and our efforts produce nothing but confusion . The soul itselfhoAveverneeds no
, , repose , and therefore continues active during sleep , AA hilst the bodily organs are recruiting themselves . We ICUOAV , besides , that we may overtask any organ . A blacksmith , aiming a vigorous blow , may break his arm , if his hammer miss the object . At the same time , it is our will alone that gives strength to the muscles ; lifeless human tendons possess very little
strength , Avhich Avhue alive could support a hundredweight . The preternatural energy of the maniac endues Mm Avith strength far beyond that of healthy men . But to return to our topic . Sleep is the recreation of the senses and muscles after the exhaustion consequent on doing the Avork of the will during the day . It is supposed that while so engaged they
never groAV , and that , were it not for their renovation during sleep , they Avould gradually consume . Thus , total deprivation of sleep , as Dumas says , in his ' Crimes Celebres , ' was devised by Marsilius in the sixteenth century , ancl used at Rome as a torture . ' Two men , AVIIO were relieved every fifth hour , aAvoke the victim the moment they observed that he had the slightest
desire to sleep . ' He goes on to say , that out of a hundred sufferers five only resisted it , —there is no doubt that if continued it Avould result in death . It were hard to say Avhether the pains of lingering death from this cause , or from starvation , must be most fearful ; in the latter case , the fat , muscles , and brain are successively consumed by animal heat , or internal combustion , death ensuing when the fuel of the 'lamp of life ' is exhausted . In the former , the organs having no time for renovation , become unfitted to perform the functions of life . "
" I gather , then , " interrogated my companion , "that sleep is the rest of the brain and nervous system ?" " Certainly ; on which account the sleeper does not hear , since the tympanum is inactive , —nor taste nor feel , since the papillae of the tongue , palate , and skin have , so to speak , a