INSOMNIA.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 7, Issue 401, 17 October 1884, Page 6

INSOMNIA.

The immortal Sanho Panza says: " While I «m asleep I have neither fear nor hope • neither trouble nor glory ; and b.essings on him who invented sleep— the mantle that covera all human thoughts ; the fool that appeases hunger; the drink that quenches thirst ; the fire that warms • the cold that moderates heat, and, lastly, the general coin that purchases a-1 things ; the balance » and weight that makes the shepherd equal to the kiDg nnd 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 anyone until he suffers the pangs of wakefulnees. Qne of the most exquisite foims of torture devised by the tyrants of Europe and of modern China was to inflict death by preventing sleep. A case is somewhere k recorded of a Chinese criminal who suffered for nineteen days before he succumbed. Food, drink and raiment are more easily dispensed with for a comiderable period than is rest for the brain. Insomnia 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 1 esults 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 bedside of his sick wife after the continuous mentai labors 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 predispoaes to si umber. When the emotions, especially those of a depressing character, are aroused, the brain is kept inTa 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, worse than work, and wears out the instrument of the mind more rapidly than anything else. The hard-worked soldier 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 the night is peaceful and everything would seem to favor rest of mind and body. Care and worry over doty unperformed or to be done effectually prevent the advent of slumber.— St. iLouis 'Globe Democrat.' •'•-'