The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1870-11-24
From Once a Nesk.
Dreams and their Causes.


nnon NJ, the mind at some previous perhaps ap-
narently forgotten-period, or produced at the
lime. during sleep, by bodily sensations. AT
srst sight it may seem that we have dreams
that can not possibly be referred to either OF
these exciting causes "but thorough lnvestl-
cation viii invariably reveal the existence OF
an association between the dream and some
snch ideas or events" In confirmation OF this
view he adduces several cases, some OF which
he has eollected from the well-known works OF
Abercrombie Enquiries Concerning the Intel
lectual Powers and the Investigation OF Truth
Macnish PHILOSOPHY ofSleep") J, Dendy ("Phl-
osophy of Mystery, and other British writers
while others are original and now nrst pup
lished. From the latter we borrow the 1ollow-
ing remarkable history, which in some respects
resembles the story told, by Sir Walter Scott 10
Abercrombie, regarding the recovery, by means
of dream, of lost documents necessary Tor the
successful prosecution Of law suit AlaWYer,
we'll known, to DIR. Hammond, found. 1T neces-
sary to ascertain the exact age OF client OF
his. who was also his cousin. Their grandfa,,
ther. who was rather an eccentric person, had
died when they were boys. The lawyer often
told his cousin that if the grandfather had been
alive the desired information could have been
readily obtained and that he had dim recol-
lection of having seen a record kept by the
old gentleman, and of their being some pecu-
liarity about it which he could not recall
Some months after the search had been gVen
ND as hopeless, he dreamed that their grand
father came to him and said: You have been
irving to find out when j. was born. Don't
YOU remember that one afternoon, When we
were fishing, read you some lines from an
EIzeyir Horace. and showed you how had
made family record out of the bookby insert
inr a number of blank leaves at the end?
Now. as you know, 1 devised my library to the
Rev. was a great fool for giving him
hooks which he will never read Get the
Horace and YOU will discover the exact hour
at which ]. was born" The lawyer, deeply
impressed with the dream, started by the trst
morning train to visit the clergyman, who lived
in a neighboring city; found the Horace" i;
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.
It NAV have occurred to some of our readers
to have experienced the same dream on two or
three consecutive nights, or several times IN tue
same night This repetition OF dream Is
popuarly regarded as indicating that 1t Is either
sent as warning, or that it has prophetic
character. DIR. Hammond tells Us that few
wears ago he read Schillers "0de to Laura .
as translated by Lord Lytton, beginning
4who and what gave me the wish to WOO thee'"
and admired it as striking piece of versifica-
tion, conveying some noted philosophical IDEAS
in a forcible and beautiful manner. The tol-
lowing night he had very VIVID 10 dream ?a OF
condition Of pre-existence in which he lmag-
ined himself to be- The connection between
the dream and the poem ne had been reading
was sufficiently we'll marked, and did not as
tonish him. He was, however, surprised 10
find that the next two nights he had exactly
the same dream
Dreams must be due either to impressions
made upon the mind at some previous perlod,
or that they are produced during sleep by bodi-
II sensations. Solomon says, "a dream cometh
through the multitude of business"
We shall now proceed to illustrate the latter
of the exciting causes mentioned. AbercIom-
bic, in his well known work, to which we nave
already referred, relates several very remark@-
bic cases of dreams induced by impressions
made upon the mind during sleep. In one
was simultaneously excited in the minds OF a
soldier and his wife, by the noise produced by
the falling of pair of tongs.
An officer on board q transport used to be
teased by his companions, who could procace
in him any kind of dream by whispering III his
ear. Once they conducted him through the
whole process of quarrel, which ended IN a
duel: and when the parties were supposed to
have met pistol was put into his hand, which
he fired. and the report of which awoke him.
On another occasion they found him asleep on
the top of locker in the cabin, when they
made him believe that he had fallen overheard,
and exhorted him to save himself by swimming
They then told him that shark was pursuing
him, and entreated him to dive tor his LIE, lie
instantly did so, and with so much force as to
throw himself from the locker upon the cabin
floor, by which he was awakened.
MANY cases are on record in which dreams
have been excited by other senses than that OF
hearing. A remarkable case, in which dream
was originated by the combined action OF the
senses of smell and hearing, is described in
the Journal of Psychological Medicine, for July,
1856, in which physician, who is compelled to
sleep at cheesemonger's house, in bedroom
filed with q strong odor of cheese, and swarm
inc with rats, dreamed, that for political of
fe1se he was incarcerated into huge cheese
which was attacked by an army of these ver-
min. that. as soon as they had effected an en-
trance fixed themselves on his naked body.
The sense of taste is so seldom exercised
during sleep, that it is rarely productive OF
dreams. The following case is tine most re-
markable one of the kind that we have met
with. A young lady who had contracted the
habit of sucking her thumb during sleep, tried
to break herself of the practice by covering the
offending organ with extract of aioes before
she went to bed. She slept well, but IN the
morning she found her thumb in her mouth
with ali the aloes sucked off. During the night
she dreamed that she was crossing the ocean in
a steamer made Of wormwood; that the plates,
dishes. chairs, etc., were composed of the same
material !: and that there was bitter smell all
over the Ship. There was so strong bitter
t,ste in her mouth, that on her arrival at Havre
she asked for glass of, water; but the attend
ant brought her an Infusion of wormwood,
which she gulped down. On her requesting
Paris physician to extract the wormwood from
her body. he told that the only remedy was OK