The philosophy of sleep / [Robert Macnish].

  • Robert Macnish
Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The philosophy of sleep / [Robert Macnish]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ed to sink when he was asleep, and swell out when he was awake. As for the lessened vascular ac- tion in the voluntary powers, this is rendered ob- vious by the lower temperature on the surface which takes place during the slumbering state. Moreover, in low typhus, cynanche maligna, and other affections attended with a putrid diathesis, the petechize usually appear during sleep when the general circulation is least vigorous, while the pa- roxysms of reaction or delirium take place, for the most part, in the morning when it is in greater strength and activity. In some individuals the stronger and more la- borious respiration of sleep is made manifest by that stertorous sound commonly denominated snor- ing. Stout apoplectic people—those who snuff much or sleep with their mouths open, are most given to this habit. It seems to arise principally from the force with which the air is drawn into the lungs in sleep. ‘The respiratory muscles be- ing less easily excited during this state do not act so readily, and the air is consequently admitted in- to the chest with some degree of effort. This, combined with the relaxed state of the fauces, gives rise to the stertorous noise. Snufling, by ob- structing the nasal passages and thus rendering breathing more difficult, has the same effect; con- sequently snuffers are very often great snorers. The less rapidly the blood is propelled through the lungs, the slower is the respiration, and the louder the stertor becomes. Apoplexy, by impairing the 3
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