Sleep and Its DerangementsHammond, William A. (William Alexander)
Science
Sleep and Its Derangements
Hammond, William A. (William Alexander)
Sleep -- Physiological aspects; Sleep disorders
A young lady had, in her early childhood, contracted the habit of going to
sleep with her thumb in her mouth. She had tried for several years to
break herself of the practice, but all her attempts were in vain, for even
when by strong mental effort she succeeded in getting to sleep without the
usual accompaniment, it was not long before the unruly member was in its
accustomed place. Finally she hit upon the plan of covering the offending
thumb with extract of aloes just before she went to bed, hoping that if
she put it into her mouth she would instantly awake. But she slept on
through the night, and in the morning found her thumb in her mouth and all
the extract of aloes sucked off. During the night, however, she dreamed
that she was crossing the ocean in a steamer made of wormwood, and that
the vessel was furnished throughout with the same material. The plates,
the dishes, tumblers, chairs, tables, etc. were all of wormwood, and the
emanations so pervaded all parts of the ship that it was impossible to
breathe without tasting the bitterness. Everything that she ate or drank
was likewise, from being in contact with wormwood, so impregnated with the
flavor that the taste was overpowering. When she arrived at Havre she
asked for a glass of water for the purpose of washing the taste from her
mouth, but they brought her an infusion of wormwood, which she gulped down
because she was thirsty, though the sight of it excited nausea. She went
to Paris and consulted a famous physician, M. Sauve Moi, begging him to do
something which would extract the wormwood from her body. He told her
there was but one remedy, and that was ox gall. This he gave her by the
pound, and in a few weeks the wormwood was all gone, but the ox gall had
taken its place, and was fully as bitter and disagreeable. To get rid of
the ox gall she was advised to take counsel of the Pope. She accordingly
went to Rome, and obtained an audience of the Holy Father. He told her
that she must make a pilgrimage to the plain where the pillar of salt
stood, into which Lot’s wife was transformed, and must eat a piece of the
salt as big as her thumb. During her journey in search of the pillar of
salt she endured a great many sufferings, but finally triumphed over all
obstacles, and reached the object of her journey. What part to take was
now the question. After a good deal of deliberation she reasoned that as
she had a bad habit of sucking her thumb, it would be very philosophical
to break off this part from the statue, and thus not only get cured of
the bitterness in her mouth, but also of her failing. She did so, put the
piece of salt into her mouth, and awoke to find that she was sucking her
own thumb.
It might be supposed that the brain during sleep is not excitable through
the sense of sight. Many examples, however, are on record of dreams being
thus produced, and several very interesting cases have come under my own
observation. Among them are the following:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account