The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1837-05-26
From Bla"kwoO'. hssszrs.
A CHAPTER ON DREAMS,
WITH ILLUSTRATIVE FACTS.


The subject Of dreams is one Of The
problems which continually attract and
Continually battle human investigation.
Every one dreams, yet no man solves the
phenomena. Every man is conscious
iha, the strongest imaginable deVIations
from the common things aud thoughts Of
life pass before him in sleep, We, the
most philosophical are still totally al loss
10 discover the cause, the instrument, or
the Law Of those most singular, exciting,
and perpe,ually recurring motions Of the
mind. All attempts 10 account Tor them
by peculiar actions Of the brain are idle.
Who can see or know the actual state Of
the organ! All attempts to account for
them by association nf ideas are equally
idle. VIVA, does any man know even
of the nature of that ASSOCIATION! Every
theory which hopes to drtrrmlne item
by external impulses has equally failed.
That external impulses will often hflu-
ence the dream l. notorious; but this
seems 10 occur only IN an imperfect
condition nf slum Ter, when the senses
arr qar,ly awskr. That bodily pain will
influence them also there is no doubt.
SulI This Is an imperfect condition, aud
on the verge Of waking. No theory hI,her.
to accounts for the simplest state Of the
dream-thaI in " hIch the mind, undIsIur.
bed By either bodily pam or external
impalse, follows It's own free course Of
enjoy men,; flies all around the world;
lives in the moon, the sun, the stars;
pIGnges in the depths uf ocean; gives
scrensdes under the wall Of China. or
sits under the perlumed groves of Ceylon.
NJ theory accounts for the existence Of
images 10 the full as vivid as those Of the
waking senses. and much more vivid than
those of memory, when the senses are
wholly closed, and the body represents
but mass OF helpless inacton. IL me-
m"ry is the sole agent, why is il that the
image of dreams have such superior
cIearnes! II Invention be the sole agent,
why us il that mullitudes who in their
waking hours have not the power Of
combining half dozen ideas together
in the shape Of story, and who would
no more think of fabucatIng an adventure
than they would oil fabricating a palace,
yes follow idea AFTER idea in all the wind.
ines Of story every night Of their lives,
and wander in the widest and most Curl
Gus adventure through every region of,he
globe!
In casting contempt Oh the usual
theprles. we have none of our own to
replace them. The subject seems to be
totally beyond human knowledge, and If
we are to derive any conclusion from il,
il IL as to its evidence Of the power which
the mind is capable of exercising when
the view Of external things is totally shut
Out, when the mind is as completely as
po-s bile left To its own working, and when
it, jelghls. pans and actions. aust pro-
CT Il almost wholly from It's own con-
slitulion.
Thus, if we fiud that the inactivity Of
the bodv in sleep has no effect on the
activity Of the mind, If IL does not abso-
lu,aiy contribute to it, what is tn prevent
Us from conceIvlug that still more ex-
trsme, state of inactivity, even death.
would only ire" and lnvigors'r the move
ment Of the mind in a superior degree!