The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1860-06-16
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and for the same reason one who has been
blind from his birth never dreams of visi-
BILE objects. Sensations produced by the
condition of the digestive apparatus have a
very marked influence on the phenomena OF
Dreams. When the functions of the digest
i've organs are properly performed. the
dreams. if affected at all from this cause,
are pleasant In their character; if however
| there exists any disturbance In this part Of
the system, the dreams are apt to assume a
painful character, usually rroportioned in
intensity to the amount of disturbance OF
the aIimentary canal. To this class of SEN
sations may be referred those dreams pro-
duced by the use of opium and Intoxicating
drinks, which in part at least act by the i'm
preston made upon the digestive organs.
Dreams induced by this latter cause are re-
markable for the extravaganza Of the
phantasmagoria they exhibit, frequently
presenting shapes Of the most fugitive
and fancifuI character. The dreamer Of
| ten seems endowed with such eastici-
ty that it appears as if he could easily
mount to and float upon the clouds above
him. De Quincy, in the Confessions of
an Opium EATER" has portrayed in the
most vivid manner the effect of that narcot-
ic in The production of dreams. Under
the connecting feeling of tropical heat and
vertical sunlights I brought together all
creatures. birds, beasts, reptiles, all trees
and plants, usages and appearances, that are
| found in all tropical regions, and assembled
them together in China and Hindostan.
From kindred feelings soon brought Egypt
and all her gods under the same law. l was
stared at, hooted at, grinned at, chartered at
by monkeys, by parroquets, by cockatoos.
l ran into pagodas, and was fixed for centu-
ries at the summit or in the secret rooms.
| | was the idol, l was the priest. l was
worshipped, was sacrificed. | fed from
the wrath of Brahma through all the forests
of Asia. Vishnu hated me, Seeva lay in
wait for me. l came suddenly upon Isis
and Osiris. had done deed, they said,
at which the ibis and the crocodile trembled.
l was buried for 1000 years in stone collins
with mummies and sphinxes, in narrow
chambers at the heart of eternal pyramids.
l was kissed with cancerous kisses by croc-
odiles, and lay COMPOUNDED with unutterable
Shiny things among reeds and Niotic mud -
In these halluciuations it will be observed
how completely ali ordinary ideas of time
and space are annihiiated. Indeed, De
| Quincy, in noticing this curious psyche
| logical phenomenon, says: "The sense of
space, and in the end the sense of time,
were both powerfully affected. Buildings,
landscapes, de-, were exhibited in proper
! tons so vast as the bodily eye is not fitted
to receive. Space swelled and was amplifi
ed to an extent of unutterable infnity.-
!. ThiaJ Ae.sA~ss a, did disturb me so much
as the expansion of time / sometimes
seemed to have lived for 70 or 100 years in
a single night Nor does it require the
Hold Of ~ rf,,1
indeed any thing beyond what ordinarily
occurs in n state of dreaming. to create
ideas of time and space apparently as in
congruous as those narrated by the opium
eater. The sleeper who is suddenly awak-
ened by loud rap does not begin and ter
inmate his dream with this simple occur
renee, but experiences long train of events
requiring hours and even days for their full
fllment, and which are all evidently occa-
stoned by the sound which awakens him,
and concentrated within the brief space OF
time it occupies. A person who was sud-
denly aroused from sleep by a few drops oil
water sprinkled in his face, dreamed of the
events of an entire life in which happiness
and sorrow were mingled, and which final
ly terminated with an alteration upon the
borders of an extensive lake, into which
his exasperated companion, after consid-
cradle struggle, succeeded in plunging him.
It is evident that the association of ideas in
this case which produced the lake, the al
tercation, and the sudden plunge, was oc-
casoned by the water sprinkled upon the
face, and the presumption is probable that
the whole machinery of an entire life was
due to the same cause. DR.. Abercromb bic
relates similar case of a gentleman who
dreamed that he had enlisted as a soldier,
joined his regiment, deserted, was appre-
hended, carried back, tried, condemned to
be shot, and was at last led out to execu-
ton. After the usual preparations gun
was fired, and he awoke with the report to
discover that the cause of his disturbance
was a noise in the adjacent room. Dreams
are often produced by the waking associa-
tons which precede them; thus the writer
had occasion to send letter to a relative
in neighboring city, and upon retiring to
rest dreamed that he was walking in the
principal thoroughfare of the city where his
correspondent resided, and accidentally
meeting him, held long conversation up
on subjects, however, in no way connected
with the one which gave rise to the cores
poudence. So, too, dreams may be char
acteristic of the peculiar idiosyncrasies oil
the dreams a miser viii dream of his gold,
philosopher of science, merchant of his
ventures, the musician of melody, and the
! lover of his mistress. Tartinia, distin-
guished violin player, is said to have COM
posed his Devils Sonata" under the in
spiration of dream, in which the devil ap-
peared to him and invited him to trial oil
skill upon his own instrument, which he ac-
lcep,ed, and awoke with the music of the
sonata so wildly impressed upon his mind
that he had no difficulty in committing it to
paper. In like manner Coleridge composed
his poem ''Kubla Kahn" in dream, oil
which the following is his account ''Iu
/ the summer of 1897 the author, then in i'll
f health. had retired to lonely farm house
: between Porlock and Linton, on the ExmooI
confines of Somerset and Devonshire. In
consequence of a slight indisposition an
anodyne had been prescribed, from the eff
. fects of which he fell asleep in his chair al
the moment he was reading the following
sentence, or words of the same substance