An eye-witness relates that some
boys, completely exhausted by exertion, fell asleep amid all the tumult
of the battle of the Nile; and other instances are known of soldiers
sleeping amid discharges of artillery, and all the tumult of war.
Couriers are known to sleep on horseback, and coachmen on their coaches.
A gentleman who saw the fact, reported, to the writer of this article,
that many soldiers in the retreat of Sir John Moore, fell asleep on the
march, and continued walking on. Even stripes and tortures cannot keep
off sleep beyond a certain time. Noises at first prevent us from
sleeping, but their influence soon ceases, and persons rest soundly in
the most noisy situations. The proprietors of some vast iron-works, who
slept close to them, through the incessant din of hammers, forges, and
blast furnaces, would awake if there were any interruption during the
night. And a miller, being very ill and unable to sleep, when his mill
was stopped, on his account, rested well and recovered quickly when the
mill was set going again. Great hunger prevents sleep, and cold
affecting a part of the body has the same effect. These causes operated
on the unfortunate women who lived thirty-four days in a small room
overwhelmed by snow, and with the slightest sustenance, they hardly
slept the whole time.
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