University of Wisconsin Students Risk Insanity by Going Without Sleep!

 

Jan. 7, 1900: I think I just found my new favorite kicker, “An Idiotic Idea.” It’s almost as good as “Created Two-Headed Dog,” but not quite. What is it with the University of Wisconsin? The faculty bans flirting … and the students give up sleep.*  "If those young men in Wisconsin succeed in carrying out their plan they will all be in their graves or in insane asylums by the time their efforts are finished. If Thomas A. Edison say he lives on four hours' sleep I should like to see proof," says Dr. Horatio C. Wood, head of the department for the study and treatment of nervous diseases at the University of Pennsylvania.  *Note:  My great-grandfather graduated from the UW in 1890 and my great-aunt was on the faculty for many years, so I feel perfectly entitled to make fun of what I know is a great institution.