Cumberland Evening Times from Cumberland, Maryland • Page 25

Gl fr al Ci til lit iU ar ba ca I tir th of we Jei foi ncl Till no: I Mr; In Unique Case of theHanVhoHasn't Slept forBYears What Specialists Say of Paul Kern, Who Declares He Goes for Months with Eyes Wide Open, Still Gains Weight and Remains Happy following article, prepared bj tht Budapest correspondent of thin newspaper, who Investigated the case of Paul Kern on the spot, is presented not as the nnal word in explanation oi the subject, but as a full report of Kent's astonishing condition as it is understood by reputable Vienna and Budapest specialists at the present Note. "I BUDAPEST. DO not want to sleep again. I have no de- ttre to be cured. Life full of interests and pleas- ores.

I am never bored. passing boon do not terrify me. I have my work and my friendships. Fate has taught me the secret of self-mastery and more real philosophy than the books in the world." Kern. This frankly expressed credo of a man who is perhaps the world's most amazing insomniac is the sequel to an episode of the World War.

It is the aftermath of a wound from a spent Russian bullet which whistled across the fields of Galicia and stopped it grazed the skull of the subject of this article. The annals of science contain no record of sleeplessness comparable to the case of Paul Kern. Even he a hypomaniac, as some doctors (ay he is, he still stands alone as tha roan who has had no natural sleep for fifteen years. This much seems to be certain: any relaxation which he had has been ctined while he walked, worked, stood, eat or danced. Uypomania is a condition which permits sleep of part of the conscious wind while other centers of the system of consciousness remain active.

While in this state the patient believes that he is completely awake, and cannot usually be convinced that he has really slept the very light sleep of hypomania. This sleep may be gamed anywhere and under almost any conditions. A mild case of hypomania is practically equivalent to absolute sleeplessness, since at no time is the patient deprived of the use of his or of his powers of locomotion. The chain of circumstances in Kern't which centered the interest of the medical and the lay public in this city upon the mystery of sleep to an unprecedented degree, leads back to June 24. 1915, when a Hungarian company attacked the Russian lines near Chlebovitze, a small village in Galicia.

The young company commander, Lieutenant Paul Kern, led the attack. Suddenly he felt a slight knock on the head. He lost his balance, Itaggered and fell. As he fell he saw small object fall to the ground before him. It was the bullet which had hit him.

He reached out, grasped it, put It In his pocket, and lost con- tciousness. Thirty-sii honrs later Lieutenant Jw. Paul Kern a. He Today. Ho Gained Thirty Since Uit St.pt, Fifteen Ago.

Nate Whit. Carnation in Lapel. Cell pf Purkinje laytr granule ctlii Cut Iranf vtrtdy Smattcell cdl layer Baste! cell. Adams GLAND AT AL -SLEEP Clara Drummond, the "Sleeping Beauty" of California, Whose Center of Consciousness Was Paralysed by Monoxide Gas. In Contrast to Paul Kern, She Slept 103 Lost Weight, and Died.

for man to venture forth from his cave at night. Finding the time heavy on his hands, he lay down, closed his eyes, and found the sensation agreeable. Hence, our modern habit of sleep. Paul Kern is stout and strong-looking. Since his injury he has added thirty pounds to an already ample frame.

He is an efficient nvfkcf, active and intelligent, and has shown absolutely no deterioration of mental CT physical powers during his fifteen years of wakefulness. On the other hand, scientific experiments have shown, that most persona lose weight during sleep. An interesting contrast to the. case of Paul Kern is that of the late Mrs. Clara Drummond, a 21-year-old bride, known to the public as the "Sleeping Beautv" of California.

Drummond, poisoned by carbon monoxide 'gas ta 1927, was treated for monoxide poisoning and passed into an jinnatural sleep, due to tht paralysis of her center of consciousness. No means known to doctors was capable of rousinsr her morp than mnmen- Very Interesting Network of Tiny Ganglia and Nerve of the Cerebral Cortex Which Control Our Con.ciou. Actions Shown Above, Reproduced from Gray's Anatomy. in This Complicated Hare Made Paul Kern a Unique Cue in Medical HUtory. THOU SHALT NOT SLEEP ArtUt'i Graphic Portrayal of the Manner in Which a Bullet Grazed Paul Center of Consciousness in the Cerebral Cortex During the Battle at ChleboTitze, Galicia.

The Way in Which Explain Prolonged Intemaia Set Forth on Page. This is the part of the brain in which is housed the center of consciousness. Instead of eliminating consciousness, the bullet, directly or indirectly, stimulated tht nerve cells of the body to perpetual action. At least, that is what some Budapest doctors believe. This may have happened directly.

The probability, however, is that it did not. It is difficult, on this basis, to dispose of the toxic poisons or their failure to induce fatigue. One very plausible explanation, found in the functions of the thyroid gland, which is situated at the front and sides of the neck. Investigations have shown that in newly-born infants the thyroid is undeveloped and incapable of distributing more than very small quantities of iodine to the tissues of the body. Consequently, a single cry often brings fatigue to the very young infant, and sleep is necessary to replenish the energy used ap in the cry.

OH FOR A BED! Extreme Normal Keactiun of numan After Being Deprived of Sleep. Five Stanford University Students Were Kept Awake for 80 in an Experiment Conducted to Solve the of Sleep. As the infant grows older, the thyroid develops, its iodine secretion becomes more powerful, and the child becomes capable of crying for long periods without fatigue. Any young father or mother can attest the truth of this statement. Since the iodine secretion from the tarily.

Finally, at the end of 103 days, she died. Her death cams, not from tha monoxide poisouftg, but froto tha strange sleep which followed. Paul Kern has made one discovery of economic importance during fifteen years of his sleeplessness. He wore out so many suits of clothes, so thyroid gland is capable, in the grow-" many pairs of shoes, and paid so much ing child, of building up tissues and of revitalizing neny cells, there is no reason, physicians argue, why a well- developed thyroid should not supply enough of the secretion to eliminate many of hours of sleep. Some doctors have gone so far as to say that sleep is just a useless habit outgrowth of the ages before civilization, when it was too dangerous for food and recreation, his salary was insufficient As a result, he tried to work during the night, as wall as during the day.

In spite of the fact that he never became sleepy, the strain of his jobs fatigued him, and he had to return to his one-job schedule to save his health. Now he has solved his problem by cutting' down his expenses in order to Trachea or Windpipe I OUR ENERGY MACHINE The Thyroid Gland, Which the Windpipe in the Neck, Distributes Through the Body an Iodine Compound Which Revitalizes the Centers of the Nervous System, Sleep Some Believe Over- Stimulation of Gland May Help Kern to Live Without Sleep. Kern was picked up by some Hungarian stretcher-bearers and brought to a field hospital. There hij, wound was dressed and the lacerated skin of his scalp sewed up. He recovered consciousness only to find himself suffering from terrific and unceasing headaches.

He could not get any sleep at night. i In desperation, Kern transferred during the same period the rest' of ns from the field hospital to Budapest, Ing the streets and night clubs of Budapest through the long hours of the night, are given up to examinations by eminent nerve, and brain specialises of Central Europe, who come from distant cities to look at him. Incidentally, after they look at Kern and try and diagnose his case, they go away much more mystified than they were in the first place. Kern frankly does not care whether they find a cure for him or not. As a matter of fact, he prefers tc remain as he is.

He says: "Sleep is a waste of time. Dreams are pleasant, I admit, but I can daydream when 1 rest my eyes." Why is it that Paul Kern needs no sleep? If It is true that he has stayed entirely awake for fifteen years, while America's New Passion Play on the Age-Old thence to various health resorts, and finally to Merano. After months of agony the headaches disappeared. Kern tried hard to sleep. He tried liquors, drugs and all kinds of sleeping potions, all to no avail.

He tried exercises and changes of air, but did not succeed even to the extent of making himself He finally gave up the struggle, and set out to find a solution for a brand new human to keep occupied twenty-four hours a day. He found position with the Social Insurance Company, a Government office where he still works from 9 to 2 each day His leisure hours, those he does not spend in a small cafe reading all the newspapers of the world, or haunt- have slept about 43.300 hours, how has he managed to do it and 'live? Science has no definite, answer to these questions. Eminent doctors admit that the case of Paul Kern is an anomaly, entirely without precedent in scientific history. Sleep is generally accepted condition produced by the accumulation of toxic products, which cause the exhaustion of oxygen in the centers of the nervous system. The result of sleep is said to be the revitalizing of the nervous system by elimination of the fatigue toxins.

The bullet which hit Paul Kern set In motion a chain of causation which finally resulted in the complete abolition of sleep as a factor in his life. The bullet grazed his cerebrum cortex. IH season, the stdry of the last weeks of Christ the advent of tne Lenten on earth is told in every civilized land, in song, story and pantomime. One of the oldest forms in which the story is told is the Passion Play, familiar to the clergy and laity for centuries. The This year a Passion Play was enacted at Bloomineton, Soldier, of Pil A QU thlS every detail of Biblical story l.

H. t. "as carried out; the costumes, scenery, and characteristics Lashing the Saviour in tha Passion Plav at of the original actors in the drama of the scourging and Bloemington, Illinois. ruc 0 Christ were followed witnessed Clara Koogle, Who Played the fart af the Mother Ctwmw. uunttmil evrln.

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