But this hesitation was only
momentary. I reflected that man is the veriest slave of custom, and
that many points in the routine of his existence are deemed
essentially important, which are only so at all by his having rendered
them habitual. It was very certain that I could not do without
sleep; but I might easily bring myself to feel no inconvenience from
being awakened at intervals of an hour during the whole period of my
repose. It would require but five minutes at most to regenerate the
atmosphere in the fullest manner, and the only real difficulty was
to contrive a method of arousing myself at the proper moment for so
doing. But this was a question which, I am willing to confess,
occasioned me no little trouble in its solution. To be sure, I had
heard of the student who, to prevent his falling asleep over his
books, held in one hand a ball of copper, the din of whose descent
into a basin of the same metal on the floor beside his chair, served
effectually to startle him up, if, at any moment, he should be
overcome with drowsiness.
Pages:
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79