Posted by bob b. on April 11, 1999 at 20:26:34:

In Reply to: Do you know of any famous Narcoleptics? posted by Kerry on April 07, 1999 at 03:34:53:

Kerry:

I would think that Thomas Edison was the classic example. You must realize that no one actually thought of this as an health thing. But Edison had a cot in his library in West Orange, NJ and was known to work long hours, but take naps at various times during the day to refresh himself.

I personally feel that narcoleptics have had a great hand in the history of the world and no one ever knew. I would say great disasters, train wrecks, military situations where guards fell asleep, educational situations where sleep interferred with classes. I once got a D in machine shop class which was a lecture and movies about the various machines used such as lathes, milling machines..it was at 2pm and they turned out the lights to show the movies...gone..Everyone got A's ..However, I did pretty good in the lab, except one time I fell asleep in the middle of cutting a taper and ruined the piece I had been working on for about 4 hours.

It would be hard to document, but I bet a close study would show lots of interesting backgrounds. Edison seems to exhibit more symptoms than most.

Follow Ups:

---