The philosophy of sleep / by Robert Macnish, LL.D., author of "The anatomy of drunkenness," and member of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.

  • Macnish, Robert, 1802-1837
Date:
1845
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The philosophy of sleep / by Robert Macnish, LL.D., author of "The anatomy of drunkenness," and member of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    has any reference to the size of the brain may be safely looked upon as unfounded. That it has reference to the quality of the brain is more likely, for we find that carnivorous ani- mals sleep more than such as are herbivorous; ‘and it is probable that the texture, as well as form, of the brains of these two classes is materially different. This remark, with re- gard to the causes of the various proportions of sleep required by the carnivorous and herbi yorous tribes, I throw out not as a matter of certainty, but merely as a surmise which seems to have considerable foundation in truth. In proportion as man exceeds all other ani- nials in the excellency of his physical organiza- tion, and in intellectual capability, we shall find that in him the various phenomena of sleep are exhibited in greater regularity and per- fection. Sleep seems more indispensably re- quisite to man than to any other creature, if there can be supposed to exist any difference ‘where its indispensability is universal, and where every animal must, in some degree or other, partake of it; but, as regards man, it is certain that he sustains any violation of the