A Dream of Discovery.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1629, 21 December 1912, Page 22

A Dream of Discovery.

It Is natural .to mail to dream of discovery. Sinco ho' has finished discovering tho land nnd tho ata ho has begun to make discoveries in other regions. Ho knows now tho planet upon which ho lives; ho is moro iillachcd to "tho earth than his forefathers were; ho would lilto to discover somo means which would inako him live longer upon it. Tho thought of tho olixir of lifo inspired tho alchemists of old, and it haunts ordinary men of today. So far lifo has been but littlo prolonged sinco tho timo of David, and, in despair of stretching tho allotted • span, men turn their attention to tho possibility of pressing into it a greater bulk of experience; nov.T was lil'o so dear. Already wo. aro beginning to sigh over tho time lost in Bleep, and oven boys at sohool break down beoauso they aro kept <>hort of it. It is a remarka.blo fact that groat men seem to roquivo lew sloop than is necessiry to tho common herd. They hnvo in a measure got command of sleep; they can. do with little, and can tako that littlo'at will. Wo all envy and would lilto to imitnto them. The great manufacturers cheat Nature's decrees by turning night into day. They work their men' by double shifts. Their fires aro not quenched by ntyht. Scionco lias found moans of inducing sloop. Any man can now bo thrown into a franco so d«op that ho will bo un-' conscious of tho most excruciating pain which tho torturer could devise. Would it bo so much moro wonderful if Bleep, instead of being induced; could bo banished—if somo drug <xmld bo found which would do' for tho human frame what sleep does, and do it without unconsciousness or cessation of energy? The effect would bo tho prolongation of life by perhaps a third. It would bo tho greatest discovery that ever was made—a gift of twenty years—but what fearful chaos it .wmild cause for the first year or so after tho drug bccamo choap! It would bo popular at once, hot because sloop is-not delightful, but- because the men who could do without it would inako so much money.. Tho rich people who regulato their lives upon tho 'theory that time is money would doublo their fortunes, and the poor, who are beginning to think that the.power- to work represents money, overy hour' havinj its equivalent in coin, would awake to tha liopo of doublo wages. Absence of sunl'gllt would, of course, complicate agriculture and the outdoor trades, yet powerful electric lamps might light the path of the plough as successfully as they light the path of tho motor-car. Would it bo possible to drivo a straight furrow? Wo do not know.

On tho other hand, it is not likely that a substitute for sloep would prove also a substitute for food. There is a sense in which tho prico of food would bo doubled, becnuse two dinners a day would beoomo necessary. Wo can well imagine tho outcry and tho arguments- which would complicate tho servant question! Not only would employers 1» asked to pay threepences and lick stamps' on a Sunday morning, they would have also to servo out a sufficiency of tabloids containing the new drug, and tho manufacture of "sleapettes," or "sweet restorers," or whatever they might bs called, would become one of tho staple industries of the country. The out-of-work question would, we fear, bo still further complicated. Probably tho law would have to forbid the sale of all substitutes 'for sleep to all niasterlcss men. Tho State could hardly undertake to provide paupers with twico the food now required. The education question would be oven more difficult than it is at present; tho feeding 'of school children would indeed burden the rates, and tho children of parents wlio-insistcd upon the permission of natural sleep would not will the scholarships. But nil the world is not enamoured of work; «ven money will not induce some men and somo women to put their brains or their backs into their tasks. Play would bo as ceajalces. as work. Tliero would bo no rest. from tho racket of amusement.- Satan's idle "hands" would ba carrying out his behests with double efficiency. Tho pressure .'wonld be incrcas-ed ou all sides for good and eril. . What view would the moralists take of tho now discovery? .When chloroform was first to ba had there were -a few oldfashioned patients who thought it their' duty to suffer as much as they could. In tho same way ire believe that a fewnatural conservatives would be found to maintain that the old way of losing eight hours out of tho twenty-four was tho bsst. These, however, would, we are sure, be soon ridiculed into silence. Sermons would soon bo preached upon tho sinful wasto of time indulged in by the.scum and the froth of society, by tho. drones of the world; 'only the "poverty-stricken" man and the lazy wastrel would daro to closa their eyes. No doubt new doctors would arise with a "natural sleep-cure," but fashionable euros last only three weeks, as a rule. What a horrible, noisy world it would be—a nightmare for a New Yorker! Will the strong tendency for introspection which oxists to-day result in any great discovery? It seems at first hardly likely. The human heart lias been not only explained, but exploited, with such complete thoroughness'of late. Something mora might be learned about that heart in tho past, at least, if wo oould only find some more diaries. Suppose that each generation since tlw Roman period had produced a I'epys. In the libraries of the world there are still discoveries to bs made. But "discoveries" in literature must, remain tamo indeed in face of tho possible discoveries of science. Now that what is usually called science and psychology seem to fee friends, there is no knowing what may happen. Doctors set us dreaming by talking about the "sympathetic system" of nerves, aud by hesitating to dismiss the theory that hypnotism may yet prove the powerful ally of medicine. Almost' all dreamers whose lot it has been to watch'pain havo found themselves wondering if any method will evor 1» discovered by which pain can be transferred—by mutual agreement. Would there be much vicarious suffering? As yet human nature has been spared the test. Not long ago tliero lived at Cambridge a charming old Quaker lady, who' was as frank as she was calm. When her friends confided their troubles to her sho would say, "My dear, I am sorry. There is nothing I wouldn't do to ease your distress excopt take it." Tho present writer was told by a man who had suffered from terribly acute headache that he liked, wlicn th-a pain was worst, to have his dog with him, "because ho looked as though ho would take it." It would bo a dreadful discovery, the one wo are thinking of; yet it is one which most people would havo mado at some poriod of their lives could wishing have mado it. Tho drug of which doctors dream in their less responsible moments which shall destroy all disease is ; . one much more likely t« bs discovered than one which might transfer pain. Such a discovery could b9 productive of nothing but good, one would think. Tho only doubt which suggests itself comes in when wo ask tho question: Is old age a disease? If it is, and we could destroy disease, wo should have mado death dependent on accident, and in doing, so we should probably destroy the energies of the world which gore I forward by means of risk. Who but a suicide would risk death here and now if it were not a ccrlainty pretty soon ? Extremes mwt. It is tho certainty that within his own realm of time and space the last fcriemy must triumph in the end, which gives us courage to faco him sooner than we must. Give us onco ft chance to avoid him altogether, and we could not faco him for any gain. If no one died except by accident, a degenerating world would live—and at last, we suppose, die— "by act of God," in cotton-wool.—London "Spectator." '