Weekly Trinity journal., 1870-12-17
Curiositics OF Sleep.
COLLECTION OF SINGULAR DREAMS


As evidence against the view that the action
OF the brain is continuous during sleep. we may
adduce cases of apparently very long dreams
that have been completed, from beginning to
end, in n very few seconds and which have been
excited by external influences, The following
examples of such dreams prove how great is the
activity of tho brain during sleep, COMPARED
with the actual lapse of time.
person. who was suddenly aroused from
sleep by few drops of water sprinkled in his
face, dreamed of the events of an entire life in
which happiness aud sorrow were mingled and
which finally terminated with alteration on
the borders of an extensive lake. into which his
cxaspcratcd companion, after considerable
struggle, succeeded in plunging him.
DIR. Carpenter mentions the case OF a clergy
man falling asleep during the singing OF n psalm
before the sermon, and awakening with the con-
victon that he must have slept for Mt least an
hour, and that the congregation must have been
waiting for him but, on referring to his psalm
book, he consoled by finding that his slum-
bers had not lasted longer than the singing of
single line
Sir Benjamin Brode, in his Psychological
Inquiries" in 1854, mentions the following fact
of the late Lord Holland "0n one occasion
when he was much fatgued, while listening to n
friend who was reading aloud, he fell asleep and
had dream, the particulars Of which it would
take him n quarter of an hour or more to express
in writing. After he nwOke he found that he
remember ed the beginning of one sentence, while
he actually heard the latter part of the sentence,
Immediately following il ; so that the whole time
during which he had slept did not occupy moro
than few seconds
A lawyer found it necessary to ascertain the
exact age Of n client of his, who was also his
cousin. Their grandfather, who was rather an
eccentric person. had died when they were boys.
The lawyer often told his cousin that if the
| ara IN Al faih haH haa aIt tI,n
ton could have been readily obtained, and that
he had n dim recollection of having seen n record
kept by the old gentleman, and of there being
something peculiar about it which he could not
recall. Some months after the search had been
given up as hopeless he dreamed that their
grandfather came to him and said 90 You have
been trying to find out when ! was born.
Don't you recolleet that one afternoon, when we
were ishtng, read You some lines from an FL
zevir Horace, and showed You how | had made a
family record out of the book by inserting q
number of leaves at the end2 Now, as you
know, devised my library to the Rev. -.
was great fool for giving him books which he
will never read. Get the Horace and you win
discover the exact hour when ! was born"
The lawyer, deeply impressed with the dream,
started by the first morning train to visit the
clergyman, who lived in neighboring city,
found the Horace, and at the end were the pages
constituting the family record, exactly as had
been described in the dream. BY no effort of his
memory could he recall to his recollection the
incidents Of the fishing excursion.
The following case, in which II dream--n other
respects highly remarkable-occurred twice on
the same night, came under the notice of the
writer of this article in the year lS49 Our
readers may recOllect that in the year inst re-
corded, there was terrible case of murder
DR.. Webster, Professor of Chemistry in Harvard
College, being convicted of the murder of his
acquaintance-we can hardly say his fricnd-Dr.
Parkham. A lady-we will call her X Y-wclI
known in the literary world, aud then residing in
London, had, some years previously, paid long
visit to the United States, during which she be-
came intimately acquainted with DR.. Webster
and his family, who showed her much kindness
and attention. after her return to England she
continued to correspond with the family and
one day, in the early Autumn of l948, gentle
man related to Dr. Parkham called rpon her with
an Introduction from Professor Webster. On
that night she went to bed at her usual hour, but
soon experienced horrible dream She fancied
that she was being urged by DR.. Webster to as
sist him in concealing set of human bones in a
wooden box and she distinctly recollected that
there was a thigh bone, which, after failing to
break 1t in peices, they vainly attempted to iu-
sert, but IL was too long. While they were try
| ing to hide the box-as she fancied, under the
bed-she awoke in state of horror aud cold
perspiration. She instantly struck light and
| tried to dspel the recollection of her horrible
|
during which she had determ kedly fl xed her at
tention on the book, she put out the lights and
soon fell asleep. The same dream again occur
! red, after which she did not dare-although Il
woman of singular moral and physical courage
to attempt to sleep any more that night Early
upon the following morning she called upon the
writer and told him of her fearful experiences OF
the past night. Nothing more at that time was
thought of these dreams but shortly afterwards
the news reached England that Dr. Parkham
was missing that the last time he was seen
alive was entering the college gates and that
the janitor was suspected Of having murdered
him. tfa r.InH
On the writer mentioning this to X. Y, she at
once exclaimed Oh, my dream DIR. Webster
must be the murderer - The next mail but one
brought the news that the true murderer had
been detected, and that, at the very time when
X. US dream occurred, he must have been ac-
tually struggling to get the bones-the flesh
having been previously burned-into a wooden
box such she had seen; and that, after at-
| tempting in vain to break the thigh bones, be
had hidden them elsew here.-Harper's BdzaT.