Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1855-01-17
PHILOSOPHY AND PHYSIOLOGY o
Dreams, SOmnanbuIism, SC.


Dreams, SOmna3bulism, sc. ..r
The following article is abbreviated
from capital work published by Dewitt
IL Davenport. The work contains fifteen
chapters of instructive and amusing mat
ter, upon as many different subjects, and
is very aPtly entitled "Salad for the Soli-
tary.''
The Phenomena of dreaming which are
so remarkable, and in some respects so in
eXplicable, seem TO be a species of pastime
or relaxation of the mental powers during
the temporary repose of those Of the bo-
dy. This subject has engaged the curl
Gus speculation Of writer's of every age,
and various and conflicting have been the
hypothesis deducted concerning it,
Dreams seem TO have been the Civinely
appointed media OF communication in the
patriarchal age, and it was doubtless ow-
ing to these real events that Il superstitious
veneration of dreams has obtained in all
times among the nations Of the world.
The Greeks aud Russians divided the
action of the mind, in sleep, into classes -
the dream, the vision, the oracle, the in-
SonaniUDo, and the phantasm, Of which the
three first were supposed to be divinely
inspired. 10 such height had the super
stitious feeling with regard to dreams aris-
en- in Rome, in the age of Augustus Cae-
sar, that this monarch procured the pass
age of law, obliging all who had dream
ed any thing respecting the State, to make
it publicly known.
Dreams are said to be in part reflex
Of our waking thoughts, yet while the
imagination is allowed to indulge without
the restraint of reason, its widest freaks,
they present but rarely a true transcript
of reality. Says a recent writer on this
topic: dreams dispute with our waking
thoughts, the empire of the soul; and
though the world may hang about that
soul the fetters of avarice, or surround il
with the strong meshes of guilty habit
the body's torpor relieves it OF the checks
and controlling powers of its waking ac'
tiviLy, But over the pathway Of oul
dreams pass visions of evil as well as good
To the person of low principles, and life
conforming, they come in shapes tina
threaten and appal. Lean over the sleep
ing culprit, and watch his writings, as b,
listens to the accusations that come to hin
in his dreams; the dark deeds Of crime
and profigacy which memory bring W
before him in their horrid array; then turI
to the cradle of the infant, who smile
while sleeping, to the angels that hove
round and quad it. These dreams ar,
the exponents of the souls character, an,
let us look yell to our lives if we wou!c
have them pleasant"
We may here just mention, in passing
that Lord Brougham deduces an argu
ment from the phenomena of dreaming 10
the minds independence of matter, ant
!, capacity of existence without it. Thi
process of reasoning, however, has bee
deemed liable to objections, since, upo
, the same hypothesis. the souls of some c
the lower. animals. many of which ar
known also o-dream, may be immorts
also. Without noticing the several phil
Osophical theories suggested by this mys
terious condition of the mental function
we shall simply enumerate few brie
facts and opinions respecting dreams an
J, dreamers which we CLEAN from reliabl
sources. The clearness of some person
nocturnal impressions appear very remal
lkable, and even the reasoning and inyeu