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SOMNAMBULISM. ISleep Walking and Sleep Writing—Sin- | gulnr Incidents. tFrom 'Chamber's Journal.When we pass from the phenomena of dreaming, and enter tlie domain of sleep walking, or somnambulism, a higher psychological curiosity is reached Here, we shall find it convenient to adopt some kind of classification, so varied are the forms in which the action presents itself Many cases are on record, for instance, in which the sleep action is a direct continuation of wakeful action, without any break i Coachmen, postillions and muleteers) are known to have continued driving even after they had fallen into a drowsy sleep, the muscles and nerves continue to act 111 a sort of automatic manner after consciousness had lapsed into slumber M Plater, the celebrated lutanist or lute player, one evening dropped asleep while playing, after partaking of an unusually liberal sup-! per, 1m* continued to “discourse sweet music,” correctly and tastefully until roused from his drowsy nap by the noise of his lute falling on the floor. A “reader” 111 a printing office fell asleep I while reading for tlie correction of j proof, hut continued reading down to 1 the bottom of that page In this case | the probability is that ins sleep only , went to the extent of drowsiness, at j any rate, when roused up, he could not remember the words which lie had just, been correctly reading. Sir John Moore, j during his ever memorable retreat to Corunna had to make forced marches | night and day, as the only mode of i averting capture by a vastly larger j French army; Ins poor tired soldiers ( often slept as they marched, or march-1 ed as they slept A traoly remarkable | manifestation of somnambulism is that ■ which ran he brought about by the 111- i fluence of other persons on the sleeper 1 External \oices and sounds can move ■ him to action even when his conscience | is asleep Dr Carpenter and other phy- [ siologi.-ts have recorded many instance's 1 of this kind A young naCul officer. | signal-heutenant to Admiral Lord Hood [ at Toulon, sometimes lt;unturned his anxiou- duties for eighteen or twenty hours at a -treteli, going to In- berth, and falling instantly to rdeep. In- iniml walt; ne\eitiieh's-so far awake on one1 partnulai -uhjee t that if a comrade, whispered ignal ’ ’ m In- ear it rou-ed him at once and irresn tihly A 1 young military officer voyaging witlij his regiment in a troop-slup, displayed a temlemy which some of the mis-1 chievoiif. wags around him took an unfair advantage of When lie was asleep in ln berth, they would whisper in his ear. giv mg him all the details of a duel, a shipwreck, or a battle, hi- mind unconsciously followed the narra-, tive, until he was roused to action by the climax, and awoke by | springing out of bed. Sleep-writing is j not the least noteworthy among these phenomena Indeed some of the in- j stances are inexplicable m the present j state of our knowledge, for things are' done with closed eyes while asleep,which j the person certainly could not have1 done with closed eyes when awake In I some cases, although the eyes are open,; ordinary vision does not seem to he; performed by them It would almost, appear as if we wore endowed with an additional sense, which only makes itself manifest m the somnanilmlistH state Be this as it may. the recorded examples are deeply interesting A young French eec Ic.siustic freipient' v rose in the middle of the night, went to a table took pen and ink, and . ■ to portions of sermons It was not n re j mechanic ul work, he would make fro-, qtiont corrections, to improve the grammar and syntax of his composition—changing, for instance, “ ce ilivm ' enfant into “ cet adorable infant,” and then into “ cet mfiuit adorable ” On one occasion, when watched by the Archbishop of Bordeaux, experiments I were made to ascertain what kind of' vision w'as being exerted. A sheet of writing paper was quietly' and cautious-1 ly substituted for that which the som-1 naniliulist had placed before him, he1 did not recognize the change, if the j two sheets were similar in size and' shape, an opaque screen was placed ( between his eyes and the paper, but he wrote on just the same In another | case a young poet, not hnving finished some stanzas before he w’ent to bed,1 rose in the night, went to his table, and | finished them—bo much to his satisfaction that he applauded his own genius ' and taste; in the morning he remembered nothing of the matter. Dr. Car-, penter mentions an instance of a man who wrote accurately in his sleep, placing his Words at good distance. apart, dotting, every i and crossing! every t. A yoting collegian got out of i bed asleep, lit a candle, sat down to a table, took pen-and - paper, wrote out some geometrical and algebraic problems, extinguished the light and went to bed again, his eyes closed all the time. On one occasion an Amsterdam banker requested a mathematical professor to work out a very intricate calculation for him, the professor sot his pupils to work, one of them wont to bed with his mind full of the subject; and in the morning was not a little surprised to find his table covered with ilieets of paper on which tho calculation was fully and satisfactorily developed. Tlie writing was in nis own hand; he had risen in the night and done it while asleep.
Newspaper Details
Marshall Messenger
Marshall, Illinois, US
Thu, Mar 02, 1876
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Los A.
CA, USA 02 Feb 2025
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