Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1869-10-29
a isrellanGuus.
DREAMS.

I The Phenomenon Of DreaR,s-A Acttcity o.
the Mental Facaities During SIeep-NoU
et Ideas on The Su5ject- Remarkable In
st1Hces, ctc., etc.
The New Yoik Ereajag Nail publishes a
very interesting article on Dreams, from
which We take The following extracts
DREAMING.
The mind, now liberated from the shack
les of it, earthly tenement, opens upon its
career of fancy. 1t annihilates space and
time. The earth is too narrow for its wan
derings and the infinite expanse Is alone ca
pable Of furnishing a field for It's rapid
fight
How strange is sleep when his dark spell
lies
On the drowsy lids of human eyes,
The years Of a life will float along
In the compass of pages song;
Aud the mountain peak aud the ocean S
Win scarce give food to bis passing eye.
The stage of dreaming is characterized BY
the perfect closure of one or more Of the
avenues Of special sense. When this &C.
ours, the harmony between the world and
ourselves Is broken. The mind is no longer
controlled by outward influences, but Is
struggling under the combined effects Of IL,
owD innate powers and imperfectly trans
mitted sensational impressions. We have
lost the means whereby the perception OF an
impression of our sense can be tested by
the co operating scrutiny Of any. DR.. Ab-
ererombie says that ia dreams the impress
sious which arise in the mind are believed
to have real and present existence; ana
this belief is not corrected, as 10 the waking
state, By comparing the conception with the
things Of the external word and that the
ideas Of images in the mind follow one an
Other, according TO associations over which
we have on control we cannot, as in the
waking state, vary the series or stop it at
our will. The wonderful clearness at times
OF the mind IN dreams, must have been oh
served by all who have given attention to
the subject. This lucidity is particularly
observed 10 imaginary conversation, public
speaking and composing, the memory of
which the individual seldom retains on
awskiug, but he is aStouished at the exuber-
ance Of his ideas as well as the ease with
which he expressed them. Daring sleep
the mental organ presents the same phe-
nomena as when awake, for IN dreams Ger
tain elements only are actively excited
those having reference to the object of The
dream m-but the more passive organs are
ready to change their state, as circumstance
may arise to change the character of the
dream. On being suddenly aroused, we are
generally conscious Of having dreamed, with
little or no recollection, however, Of the
subject. But when we awake gradually
the neces ssity for longer sleep having ceased
the senses recover their functions one az
ter another, until all are fully awake. To
such cases the dream IS most fully remem-
bered. To this general fact, however. there
are exceptions, for when suddenly aroused
either by intensity Of mental excitement, or
from external causes, we retain vividly the
strong impression then existing, because the
senses Of external relation are taken by sur
prise, and even though awakened. the train
Of thought cannot be in all cases so quickly
arrested. The mind is at all times subject
to its proper stimuli; butduring sound ,leep
that Of external relation is cut off by the tor
por Of the special senses, and it is therefore
less liable to be actively engaged than when
all Of It's sources of communication are omen
Combe says The senses themselves DO
not form IDEAS We do not, neither can
we, dream of what We possess no knowledge.
But memory may, on the impression Of a
sense, recall to mind a fact or circumstance,
and the imagination may take it up and
multiply it into a thousand forms aud invest
them with an endless variety Of fanciful ere
ationS, for
Lulled in the countless chambers of the brain,
Our thoughts are linked by many hidden
chain,
Awake but one, and, 10 what nyriads rise,
Each stamps his other as the image flies
Dr. Parr says ''In dreams we seem 70
reason, 70 argue, to compose, aud in all
these eircum stances, during sleep, we are
highly granted, and think we excel. II,
however we remember our dreams, our
reasonings We find to be weak, our argu-
ments iucenelusiye, and our compositions
trifiue and absurd The powerful INTEL
lect will reason just as correctly when asleep,
upon the premises given, as when awake !
but unfortunately the data are in many in
stances iadistiuct aud erroneous when the