Arizona Silver Belt

A New Theory of Sleep.
Some discussion has been going on concerning Herr Rosenbaum's recently proposed theory of sleep—namely, that the anemic condition of the brain is due to an excess of water in the brain cells of that body. The supposition, as stated, is that sleep is essentially a matter of nervous action; and the direct cause is thought to be fatigue of the nerve cells which communicate with the heart and bring about some change in the circulation. The nerve cells are thus supposed to be full of water when sleep comes on; and this water during sleep passes into the venous blood as waste, and the nerve cells then receive nourishment from fresh arterial blood. Then when the process is entirely over the sleeper awakes.
According to this theory, sleep is not solely healthy because it rests the body and brain, but also because it invigorates them. It is also to be inferred from Rosenbaum's theory that the nerve cells and brains of infants who sleep so much must contain more water than is to be found in those of adults, and that the effectiveness of brain cells is in inverse ratio to the water contents—New York Tribune.