SLEEP

How long should a man sleep? The argument started at the dawn of creation and it is still debated. The ancients looked with scorn on the man who lay long abed, while Homer said, "It does not become a man of counsel to sleep the whole night." The University of Salerno in Roman days declared; "To sleep seven hours is enough for either a young man or an old one." In more modern times we have the famous dictum of Napoleon: four hours sleep for a man, five for a woman and six for a fool. Thomas Edison believes we shall have time enough to sleep when we die.

Recently the pendulum has been swinging the other way, for specialists tell us we should sleep as long as we can. Propagandists urge that the eight-hour law be applied to sleep as well as to labor, but still the answer to these rival claims remains unanswered.

As a rule college students have favored the shorter night plan. Some believe that they can study better in the evening than during the day, maintaining that there is so much to be done that it seems impossible to spare much time for sleep. Others actually find that they can sit up most of the night and still be fresh and vigorous.

For the majority of men considerable sleep is essential, just how much, must be learned from individual experience. During exciting periods it may seem a waste of valuable time to sleep, but continued abstinence has its deadening effect. Those who have robbed themselves too long appreciate the line form Wadsworth's sonnet on sleep.

"Without then, what is all the morning's wealth?"