The Sunday Oregonian., September 21, 1913, SECTION SIX, Page 5, Image 71

SCIENTISTS
JVorh2a?Zoss cfCozzscj'ousneWcA Cc72sfriutes Sleep Is jSezng Ftzfyjoedtft'jsJjlcfe&t fecials.
LACK OF SLEEP 19 THE WORST
KOKM OF "TIURU DEGREE."
Absolute sleeplessness Is .fatal to
human beings In half the time that
starvation takes to kill.
The maximum time whlcn man can
live without sleep Is nine consecu
tive days and nights.
The Chinese punish some of the
higher forms of crime by keeping; the
connoted awake until they die. In
the majority of cases six days suf
fice. Nothing breaks down the human
physical and mental structure so
quickly as lack of sleep. "Third de
gree" torture by depriving the prison
er of sleep extracts the Innermost
secrete of his mind and leaves no
mark. It la more effective than the
grill and rack of medieval times.
BY GORDON LESLIE.
AS civilization becomes more and
more complex, sleep becomes
more and more elusive to many.
Man will steal and kill If driven to ne
cessity in order to pet food, but no
amount of plunder will win him sleep
if sleep does not come naturally. And
sleep is just twice as Important to
life as food a man can exist without
food for double the time that he can
exist without sleep.
So it is that scientists are endeavor
ing: to fathom the world-old-mystery
of sleep. Already these clever lock
smiths have opened the door of the
stronghold which has defied the apes,
end their keen analytical minds are
probing1 the secrets, beyond. That
their work will bring Insomnia under
control and so save the sanity and life
of many is assured. What further re
sults the solving: of the . mystery of
sleep will have is a question of the fu
ture. It Is quite possible that by sci
entifically arranged sleep man may be
able to dispense with some of the sleep
that is now vitally needful
Some people cannot sleep enough. In
somnia wastes their tissues and brain
power and threatens life. Other peo
ple sleep too much. Sleep over
powers them at any and all times in
the daqr and sometimes for weeks at a
stretch. This affliction is called nar
colepsy, and although It Is not as dan
gerous as insomnia, it is a disease that
renders its subjects listless and inert
and gradually saps their vitality.
Scientists have but recently turned
their attention to sleep. Dr. Boris
Sidls, the psychologist, declares that as
man spends one-third of his life in
sleep it is high" time that more was
known about sleep. Prom the earliest
times man has held sleep an inexpli
cable mystery. Many have been the
interesting explanations. Among the
ancients and even among some of the
wild tribes of the Pacific Islands today
sleep has been considered as a form of
temporary death.
Superstition Barred Research.
Sleep was held to be a condition
of the body with the soul on a vaca
tion, wandering in the celestial
realms and there holding converse
with the gods. It was thus that the
augury of dreams oecame first es
tablished, the fragmentary reminis
cences of those nocturnal meetings
in the spirit world. Some primitive
tribes believe that if a sleeper Is
awakened forcibly death will instan
taneously result for how can a body
QftZ TIM ESKJKCOM ES DQWAJ
Iff AttAUTOMOcilCE BUT MORE
SECQH D' AYENUH ELEVATED
JOHN PIERPOXT MORGAN, head of
the most powerful financial inter
ests in the world, has returned
from his vacation.
He got one week this year.
The Junior office boy in the Morgan
offices got three.
But if Mr. Morgan did happen to be
limited to only a week's holiday, he
rpent that in a true multi-millionaire
fashion. With hla family and some
mmmmm I FT He Has LMe
live without
sleep.
That we do not know more about
sleep today scientists ascribe partly
to the old superstition which held
sleep beyond the terrestrial sphere
and hence forbidden to prying, and
the fact that the most evident func
tions of life are manifested in the
waking hours. Man lived when he
was awake: he was as good as deaa
when he was asleep, so what use to
study sleep. Moreover the waking
hours were so busily occupied tnat
little time has been left the investi
gator to study sleep.
No scientist will prophecy tnat me
study of Bleep will do away with
sleep as a necessity, but the adoption
of a retrimen of sleep may serve to
bring more benefit out of less sleep
tnan the average person obtains.
Kverv once in a while will come a
report that some person has gone with
out sleep for 20 or perhaps 30 years
and Is still hale and hearty. But in
vestigation never bears out theBe re
ports. People are found who really
think they have gone without sleep for
veara at a time, but physicians ana psy
chologlsts declare that such a thing is
an Illusion. These people sleep and do
not know it.
The maximum time which a human
being can live without sleep is nine
days, but all depends on physical con
dition and environment. A- polar ex
plorer mirht exist for six days witnout
food and travel some distance over the
ice fields the first three days, provided
he obtained sleep and water. But with
out sleep he would perish In half the
time. To live nine flays without a wink
of sleep a man must exert little energy,
have plenty of food and comfortable
surroundings. It is generally con
ceded that a man can live twice as
long without food, provided he has
more sleep than normally to make
up for lack of the other bodily re
storative.
Sleep the Moat Important Function.
By finding that Bleep is more im
portant than food. Investigators be
lieve that many disorders of the body
and brain are brought on by lack of
proper sleep, just as acute Indiges
tion la usually attributable to Im
proper eating, and that sleep is the
mOBt Important function to loojt out
for In treating any disease.
Experiments have been and are be
ing conducted in an effort to get to
the bottom of the sleep question. Be
glning with crayfish, frogs, and dogs,
the investigators have carried their
work to human beings. Dr. Sldis has
made a series of experiments with
babies from a few days to a few years
old.
A torture which is attributed toj
Oriental origin which Is very ancient
and very cruel is enforced sleepless
ness. So insidious is this method of
extracting secrets from unwilling
prisoners that it Is still extant In the
world of modern crime. The har
assed subject bears no mark of the
abuse except a general debility and
perhaps, if It is carried too far, be
comes mentally deranged. But who
FROM EAST 2.5THTHET
OFTEN IH THE
friends, he made the cruise with the
New York Tacht Club's flotilla on his
steam yacht the Mermaid.
For years the American publlo has
been accustomed to think of the Cor
sair when the name Morgan was
coupled with yachting. But the days
of splendor for the Corsair, if not
passed, are very limited. This splendid
yacht is too large for everyday use, in
ta estimation, of the present head ol
soul, unless It be in I IIVWM S J,? M. .fl' 1 I nMSsB-S:.SAl- WMtSB t
Hth. fact that the most evident tunc- . jl M ftl Bl i II IKS -1SSLV WAtM 11 M I .
fedJH His Office Bm Got Sfeee Weeks
a..AJCT1w . M Ml' m J 7 J'.llsUi - jT jr- ,
THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, SEPTE3IBER 81, 1913.
PROBER MYSTERIES sf
can trace such things to the guilty
party?
In applying the sleepless "third de
gree" the subject is shut up without
anything more comfortable to recline
on than a hard floor. If rats inhabit
his place of confinement, so much the
better. Then by a variation of sounds
he is kept awake for perhaps two days
and nights. By this time he is very
weak, for little If any food is allowed.
Then comes the walking. When the
subject Is so fatigued that he sinks to
the floor content to sleep anywhere he
Is picked up and with a man on each
side made to walk, walk, walk. His
struggles are small and it is not neces
sary to use much violence to keep him
awake. If he faints, stimulants are
poured down his throat and then the
walking goes on until finally, his re
sistance broken down, his vision wildly
Impaired, despair drives his tongue to
give up what his mind wishes to with
hold. At the TTntverslty of Iowa five
members of the faculty volunteered to
become subjects for experiment. They
went without sleep 90 hours. Each was
constantly attended by one of the in
vestigators, who made a record of
temperatures and other physical con
ditions. The subjects were kept awake by
their own will power and the ever
present attendants. Toward the end
of the time one professor was so
deranged mentally that he saw gaily
plumed birds flying around his head.
The others were normal mentally,
but their attentive powers were low
ered. It was found that after going
without sleep for some time the brain
became unusually active and then
lapsed below normal Physically the
subjects showed loss of weight, sub
normal temperature and poor heart
action. It was estimated that for two
of the subjects It would have been
dangerous to continue the experiments
longer, but the others could have stood
the ordeal for at least two days more.
After the test the subjects fell into
a sound, untroubled, dreamless sleep,
which lasted about 36 hours. At the
end of this time they were all again
normal physically and mentally. It
was found in this way that after going
without sleep for a long period the
quality of the subsequent sleep was
better than usual that the subject ob.
tained better benefit than under normal
conditions.
Insomnia Interrupts Tisane Building.
Marie de Manaceine, a Russian sci
entist, has devoted several years to
the great financial dynasty. So she is
moored at the New York Yacht Club
anchorage in the East River and Is
only used on state occasions. So, for
the first time in a long while, the
annual cruise of the yacht club Is
taking place without the Corsair.
But to return to the matter of the
millionaire's vacation. It is interesting
to review the causes of the meager
holiday. Nobody thinks of J. P. Mor
gan without associating with the name
Independence enough to take as much
holiday as could be desired. But, as a
matter of fact, few salaried employes
are so closely confined to work as the
successor of the great financier. Cer
tain It is that none of Mr. Morgan's
subordinates have as little time to de
vote to their families, to their pleas
ures and to the pleasure of their
friends as J. P. Morgan, the son of his
father.
Since the death of his father In
Rome, Mr. Morgan ha3 had the great
responsibility of the vast Morgan in
terests entirely on his Bhoulders. It
is true that for several years before
his father's death he had taken over
the most of his father's work. But
there was always his great father to
fall back on in matters of particular
moment. But when that prop was
taken from under him he buckled down
to work harder than ever. Now he
works from sun to sun, and often, the
the study of sleep and insomnia. Out
of 167 cases of Insomnia, made up of
71 men and 96 women, she found
that 19 were due to neurasthenia, 19
to chronic gout, 17 to overwork, 10 to
alcoholism, 10 to dyspepsia and eight
to other diseases.
Insomnia Is generally interrupted
sleep, according to De Manaceine.
Her observations have shown that
when the power of sleep is weakened
It becomes light and fugitive so that
the slightest noise, the least impres
sion from without, awakens the
sleeper. Such sleep is hurtful since
the rebuilding of the tissues is inter
rupted when it has scarcely begun.
Although such patients in the aggre
gate get considerable sleep they are
awake so often that they get the opin
ion that they have not slept at all. In
somnia, if prolonged, is injurious to
health, especially to the brain. Psychic
derangement of a serious character
often results.
People who blush frequently are
liable to insomnia, according to the
Russian scientist. Blushing causes a
flow of blood to the head and diminu
tion of the amount of blood in the
brain is a requisite of sleep. It has
been noticed that In the heads of
chickens and dogs, amputated when
the animals are asleep, the brain
shows a paleness due to lack of blood,
whereas in heads taken off while the
animals are awake the brain shows
considerable blood.
An accident In Paris served to cor
roborate this theory. A man lost
part of his skull, exposing the brain,
but lived for several days. When he
was asleep a small amount of blood
showed In the arteries of the brain,
but when he awoke the flowing back
of the blood was visible.
Intense Joy or anxiety are causes of
Insomnia. Prisoners lose weight be
fore and during- their trials on account
of insomnia, but after they receive
sentence they usually sleep well and
regain their weight even though cor
poral punishment awaits them. On the
other hand several who have been ac
quitted of serious charges have been
unable to sleep well for several nights.
The Fallacy of Using; Drugs,
Many who cannot sleep resort to the
use of drugs. Narcotics do not produce
true sleep, but only a temporary in
terruption of consciousness. Habitual
use of such drugs leads to the loss of
power to sleep without them, and the
dose must be constantly augmented
until finally no amount will give the
lime For Pleasure
day is not finished for him until long
after other men are Bleeping.
For years in fact, since he joined
the yacht club in 1882 he has not
missed a cruise. This annual affair
has always been one of particular
pleasure for him, because of his fond
ness for the sea. After the elder Mor
gan died his son, shackled by the cares
of business, did not see how he could
spare the time for any vacation this
Summer. In other years since he en
tered the Morgan offices he had taken
a month, and sometimes longer.
As the weeks passed into months the
work of the head of the Morgan firm
became more exaotlng, and instead of
decreasing in volume it kept increas
ing. He despaired of taking any va
cation at all. The ether members of
the firm came to him at the beginning
of the Summer to arrange for a sched
ule of vacations so that an adequate
number of those in authority could be
on hand at one time. As senior part
ner, his wishes, of course, were to be
consulted first. '
Mr. Morgan disposed of this question
by explaining that he would not have
time to take any vacation at alL But
for this once the head of the firm was
not the boss of the establishment. His
partners told him very curtly that he
was going to take a vacation whether
he had time or not. There was more j
bickering between Morgan' and his
desired effect and the wasted subject
dies.
Not every interruption of conscious
ness is sleep, says De Manaclene. Be
sides the unconscious state sleep con
sists of a flowing of the blood from
the brain to the outer parts of the
body, .active nutrition or building up
of the body tissues and of the blood.
Sleep makes more red corpuscle in
the blood. I
The Russian scientist's theory of
sleep Is based chiefly on the blood ac
tion flowing to and from the brain.
Hot baths before going to bed help
the subject of Insomnia by causing a
dilation of the blood vessels of the
skin and drawing the blood from the
brain. In a like manner drinking a
glass of milk or taking some other
light. food draws the blood to the di
gestive organs and away from the
brain. Conversely, It Is true that a
cold bath awakens by driving the
blood to the brain, and a craving for
food will awake a person If nothing
else will.
Other scientists declare that this
blood action is secondary to psycho
logical phenomena which cause sleep.
In order properly to treat sleep dis
orders It Is necessary to know what
sleep Is. "Sleep Is due to absence of
outside stimulation to the receptor
nerves of the body which normally
keep the brain in activity,'' says Dr.
Isador H. Coriat, a Boston physician
who is conducting researches on the
subject.
As a result of a series of experi
ments which he has Just completed,
Dr. Coriat believes that Insomnia can
not exist If there is a complete relax
ation of the muscles of the body and
If all external disturbances are shut
out. He carried on his experiments
at night with his subject undressed
and In a comfortable bed In a dark
room. In the first experiment the
subject was told to relax all muscles
and remain as quiet as possible. An
electrical coil was switched on which
made a monotonous buzzing noise.
Sleep resulted in 15 minutes.
Why We Sleep In Church.
Then the doctor tried the experi
ment with the subject's ears stopped
up with cotton and without the buz
zing noise. Sleep resulted even more
quickly. With all light and sound
shut out but with some of the mus
cles of the body made tense by un
comfortable position, sleep did not
come. A galvanic current causes a
tightening of the muscles, and the
partners over this question than ever
would occur over a deal Involving
many millions of dollars. Finally, Mr.
Morgan gave in and consented to go
away.
But when he left the office he took
his secretary with him and informed
his subordinates that he would be gone
a week.
When he returned to his desk in
Broad street, after seven days' absence,
he took up his regular routine, which is
more confining than that of any of his
clerks. The "Jack" Morgan family lives
at East Island, Long Island Sound, in
the Summer. This island is just oppo
site Oyster Bay. The Morgans go down
to It about the middle of May and re
main there until the middle of October.
The financier reaches his office In
New York every morning at 10 o'clock.
To do this he has to get up shortly
after 7 o'clock. After a light breakfast
at home he hurries down to the East
Island pier and is taken out to the
Mermaid in a launch. As soon as he
gets aboard the Mermaid gets under
way. It is a little after 8 o'clock by
this time. The trip from East Island
to the anchorage In the East River
at the foot of Twenty-fifth street gen
eraly takes about an "hour and a half.
On the way down Mr. Morgan takes
very little time admiring the scenery
or commenting on the weather. When
he boards his yacht his crew gets a
1 doctor found ,that sleep did not result
when the current was passed through
the body and that a person already
asleep was instantly awakened by
the turning- on of such a current, al
though not enough force was used to
cause any pain.
By the use of an ingenious instru
ment Dr. Coriat learned that the
greatest depth of sleep Is reached
70 minutes from the time of first
becoming unconscious. According to
Dr. Coriat it is not the monotony of
a sermon or lecture that makes us
fall asleep, but because inattention
from lack of Interest causes the mus
cles to relax and this relaxation pro
duces sleep.
We fall asleep more easily In a
reclining position because this posl
tlon is more conducive to muscular
relaxation. All attentive processes
involve a certain tension on the
nerves of various muscles. When the
muscles are relaxed, the nerves are
relaxed, and the telegraphic nerve
system which conveys outside im
pressions to the brain is broken. Clos
ing the eyes shuts out other stimuli.
The nerve endings in the muscles and
skin are complex and numerous and
a great part of the impressions from
which we think and act are commu
nicated to the brain by these nerves.
Thus when the muscle nerves are
sending, the brain receiving station Is
active, and activity is not sleep.
Dreams take place "because the
brain or a part of it Is somewhat
active. In deep sleep the brain is
completely at rest ,and dreams do
not occur at all. 'Great fatigue tends
to wakefulness because the muscles
are knotted and mechanically refuse
to relax.
Just where sleep began in the evo
lution of life is still a question. At
first glance it would seem that sleep is
somewhat a modern function. The first
forms of life were one-celled organisms
so minute as to be invisible to the
naked eye in most forms. These crea
tures are still extant and under the
microscope they manifest unceasing
motility.
True Sleep and Apparent Sleep.
Going higher in the scale we find
species of life which seem to sleep and
yet do not. Worms are sensitive to light
rays and are active In light, and
Dassive when a deep shadow is thrown
over them, but this Is not sleep. It is
merely a dormant reaction due to the
absence of light which the lower forms
of life are -sensitive to if to nothing
else.
In man and the other higher animals,
the spinal cord has become a compli
cated mechanism, and the brain the
dominant organ of consciousness.
Worms have no brain and their actions
are unconscious. With the various re
ceptor organs nerves which convey
impressions becoming more numerous
and complicated, there arose rhythmic
states of activity alternating with
sleep.
Genuine sleep only exists In organ
Isms with such a developed nervous
system. In sleep the brain and spinal
cord alone are the seats of diminished
ATTER DINNER HE 0ZS
OVER THE PAPERS HE
VITK HlN
pleasant "good morning" and then he
goes into his cabin. All the way down
he Is busy with his secretary, and by
the time New York Is reached a great
deal of correspondence has been taken
care of.
Sometimes he comes down from East
Twenty-fifth street In an automobile,
but more often he and his secretary
take the Second-avenue elevated, and
It Is seldom that the attention of his
fellow-passengers Is attracted to him.
so unobtrusive is his demeanor and so
quietly and inconspicuously dresses.
Once he is at his desk, he buckles
down to work and he keeps at it until
1 o'clock.
VLEE
p
activity. The building up of the body
cells goes on night and day, but in
sleep loss is wasted than when awake
because of lmmottllty. To replace the
energy exerted by the body in the ac
tivities of dally life a constructive pro.
cess goes on continuously, the stom
ach and lungs acting as furnaces In
which food, water and air are the fuels.
All fuel which digestion and heart
action turn into energy at night goes
to store energy for the next day, except
a comparatively small amount, which
heats the body and keeps the breath
ing engine going.
But Dr. Coriat says that something
still more Important goes on while we
sleep. In the nerve cells there Is a
peculiar substance called Nissl bodies,
which are necessary to brain energy.
These Nissl bodies accumulate during
repose and disappear in activity, par
ticularly under conditions of fatigue.
In the brains of animals which have
been killed during or directly after
sleep, Nissl bodies are shown under
microscope with great clearness. It is
only in the fatigued cell or the cell
poisoned by toxic substances In various
diseases or through the influence of In
creased temperature in fever that theBe
Nissl bodies disintegrate and in some
Instances disappear. Thus Insomnia Is
often the result of high fever. As yet
no way has been discovered to Increase
artificially the creation of Nissl bodies.
Insomnia Is Just beginning to be
appreciated In Its bearing on 111 health,
according; to Dr. A. K. Bond, a Balti
more scientist. He declares that the
human body and brain were originally
moulded for sleep and not for waking,
and it is only through some higher de
velopment that we live and do not sleep
twice as much as we do.
Dr. Bond points out that the new
born baby sleeps all the time when it
is not eating and is only awakened by
the .necessity for food. The body and
brain become Increasingly sensitive as
the child grows older, and It sleeps
less and less until as an adult It sleeps
but one-third of the day. Thus being
awake is due to nervous excitation
which the body can stand to a certain
extent, but when Insomnia occurs the
strain is too much for the system,
which becomes the ready prey to dis
ease. Thought and will power often
drive the weary body away from slum
ber it requires until body and brain
are a hopeless wreck.
Dr. Bond believes that the whole
universe is based on different stages
of sleep. "The lowest form is the
mineral kingdom, which Is absolutely
inert," he says. "Then come the plants,
which live their lives In unbreakable
sleep, growing: and reproducing. Sleep
as we know It In man is a form less
sound than in plants and only Inter
mittent. Heaven is only a form of
complete and continuous wakefulness.
If science can discover a way to wake
man up so that he can go without sleep
entirely, our brain power will be as
much greater than at present as it is
greater than the lower forms of life.
"Once asleep there is a clearly clas
sified series of sensations that awak
ens us. Hunger and thirst will wake
a human being before anything else,
then come sound, light and touch. In
waking, the breathing first becomes
more rapid, and last of all conscious
ness returns. We may even get up and
walk around before we are fully awake,
and for some minutes the brain is be
low parity in comprehension."
Dreams are a peculiar state about
two-thirds of the way between wake
fulness and sleep. Uninfluenced by
outer happenings the brain plays.
This faculty has been made use of in
diagnosing diseases where the seat of
the trouble was hard to find. A man
dreamed continually that he had an
(Concluded on Page 7.)
TO Hl5 STUDY AND JWf$S
HAS EKOUCHT HQTlE
As soon as the lunch, which always
Is very light. Is finished, Mr. Morgan
resumes his work and he keeps at it
until 4 o'clock in the Summer months.
After dinner and an hour or so with
his family, he goes to his study and
pores over the papers he has brought
home with him until some member of
his family, generally Mrs. Morgan, Im
presses upon him that he has done
enough for the day.
In the Fall and Winter, when he is
at his Madison-avenue home, Mr. Mor
gan travels in the sut-way. Often he
has to hang to a strap, just the same
as some of his clerks, but he seldom
attracts any attention,
1