  THE NATURE AND CAUSE OF SLEEP. Definition of sleep — The invasion of sleep — The hypnagogic state — Depth and duration of sleep — Diagrammatic illustration of the phases of sleep — Modifications of physiological functions produced by sleep — Effect of sleep upon the processes of respiration, circulation, calorification, secretion, and nutrition — Consequences of the progressive invasion of the nervous system by sleep — Effect upon the organs of special sense — Effects observed in the muscular apparatus of the body — Condition of intellectual functions during the invasion of sleep — Does the mind ever sleep? — Arguments adduced by Sir William Hamilton and others to prove the continued activity of the mind during the sleep of the brain — Reasons for supposing that the mind may sleep — Variability of the depth of sleep — Experiments of KohlshÜter to estimate the degree of variation — Alternation of day and night considered as a cause of sleep — Diminution of sensation a cause of sleep — Illustrative observation by StrÜmpell — Fatigue a cause of sleep — Hypothesis of Obersteiner regarding the cause of sleep — Hypothesis of PflÜger — Production of artificial sleep by impregnation of the brain with narcotic substances — Analogous production of natural sleep by accumulation of cerebral waste-products — Observations regarding the duration of sensory impressions requisite for the excitement of conscious perception — Difference between syncope and sleep — Observations of Mosso regarding the state of the cerebral circulation during sleep — Cause of the change in the cerebral circulation during sleep — Molecular conditions necessary for the production of sleep — Somnolence — Sleeping Dropsy, or Maladie du Sommeil — Coma — Lethargy — Apparent death — Lucid lethargy. 1 INSOMNIA, OR WAKEFULNESS. Causes of insomnia — Affections of the organs of special sense — Effects of light — Effect of sound — Impressions upon the organs of smell and taste — Disturbances caused by a high temperature — Atmospheric and electrical disturbances — Effects produced by cold — Hibernation of animals — Disturbances of sleep occasioned by painful sensations — Disorders of the sympathetic nerves — Morbid states of the central nervous organs — Disorders of circulation and nutrition — HyperÆmia of the brain — AnÆmia and starvation of the brain — Effects of tea and coffee — Effect of alcohol — Inflammations, degenerations, and tumors affecting the brain — Excitement of the brain by diseased conditions of the blood.38 REMEDIES FOR INSOMNIA. Serious consequences of insomnia — Its relation to cerebral diseases — Treatment of insomnia by moderation and control of the cerebral circulation — Remedial agents — Nervous stimulants and nervous sedatives — Heat — Baths — Massage — Electricity — Counter-irritants — Food — Digitalis — Camphor — Musk — Valerian — Cannabis indica — Belladonna — Hyoscyamus — Stramonium — Phosphorus — Acids — Opium — Cold — Alcohol — Paraldehyde — Ether — Chloroform — Chloral — Butylchloral hydrate — Amyl nitrite — Opium and opiates — Bromides — Hops — Gelsemium — Conium.56 TREATMENT OF INSOMNIA IN PARTICULAR DISEASES. Insomnia in acute affections of the brain — In insanity — In chronic alcoholism and delirium tremens — In diseases of the heart and blood-vessels — In angina pectoris — In diseases of the respiratory organs — In asthma — In renal diseases — In diseases of the liver — In gastro-intestinal diseases — In febrile conditions — In rheumatism and gout — In lithÆmia — In syphilis — In disorders of nutrition — During pregnancy and after parturition — In spasmodic diseases — In childhood — In old age. 92 DREAMS. Physiology of perception and of dreaming — Definition of the act of dreaming — Revery — Production of illusions and hallucinations by drugs and by disease — Effects of hasheesh — Effects of acute disease — Association of ideas — Memory of past sensations — Dreams produced by excitement of the different organs of sense — Persistence of dream-impressions after waking — Experience of M. Baillarger — Of Professor Jessen — Belief of savages in the reality of dreams — Sensory dreams — Intellectual dreams — Repetition of dreams — Incoherence of dreams — Cause of the superior vividness of certain dreams — Duration of dreams — Dreams excited by morbid states of the body — Prophetic dreams — Their causes — Clairvoyant dreams — Hallucinatory dreams — Sir Edmund Hornby’s experience — Hallucinations — Case related by Dr. E. H. Clarke — Revelation through dreams — Revival of memory in dreams. 116 SOMNAMBULISM. Causes of somnambulism — Physiology of somnambulism — Varieties of the disorder — Maury’s classification — Classification of Ball and Chambard — Diagrammatic representation of their classification — Somnambulic lethargy — Illustrative cases — Somnambulic dreams — Night terrors — Somnolentia or sleep-drunkenness — Sleep-walking — Illustrative cases — Condition of the special senses in somnambulism — Relation of memory to the somnambulic paroxysm — Illustrative cases — Occasional recollection of incidents connected with the somnambulic dream — Resemblances between the somnambulic state and the condition of post-epileptic mania — Somnambulic visions — J. P. Frank’s case — Mesnet’s case — Somnambulic life — Its likeness with the double-consciousness of certain forms of epilepsy — Illustrative cases — General theory of somnambulism.166 ARTIFICIAL SOMNAMBULISM OR HYPNOTISM. Antiquity of the phenomena of hypnotism — Modern observations — Physical conditions favorable to the phenomena — Methods of inducing the hypnotic state — Duration of hypnotic sleep — Rudimentary states of hypnotism — Investigations of the Society for Psychical Research — Mind-reading — Physiological explanation of the process — Charcot’s observations on artificial somnambulism — Cataleptic variety of the hypnotic state — Lethargic variety — Somnambulic variety — Hypnotic clairvoyance — Exalted sensibility of the brain in hypnotic states — Susceptibility to suggestions from without — Phenomena of so-called spiritualism — Table-rapping — Planchette — Therapeutical employment of hypnotism — Metaphysical healing. 212 |
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