Times may have changed, but the fascination of dreams remains. Many now-famous people have put forward theories of dream interpretation. Sigmund Freud thought that much of what we dream is in some way sexual. Another psychoanalyze, Carl Jung, recognized that man has other deep desires to drive him. In his fascinating book An Experiment with Time, Professor Dunne put forward the idea that all time is like a river, and that it can be navigated backwards or forwards in the vessel of dreams.
Sleep is the road to dreamland.
And these days, thanks to advances in medical science, we certainly know more about that than our predecessors. In more complicated dreams, however, where you're, say, in far-flung places, you're simply seeing the 'edited highlights'. Studies also have shown that it's possible to dream with your eyes open, which happens when the brain becomes overloaded with the toxins created by fatigue. In extreme exhaustion, the person will succumb to the need for sleep - but the dream will be cut short by an inbuilt desire to survive, for example, if they have started dreaming at the wheel. It's long been accepted that the ideal position for a good night's sleep is to he on the right-hand side.