Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-09-28

in the interior produced in the material,
| which might be the same subs's nce as the
surface rocks, greatly increased rigid ty
in positions at grea depths below the sur
face. This part Of the inquiry The com.
mi tee propose TO make q primary object
in the calculation next to be taken
Dreams.
DREAMS are to our waking thoughts
much ike echoes TO music; but their re-
verberations are so partial. so varied, so
complex, tia. It Is almost ia vain that We
seek among the notes of consciousness for
the echoes of the dream. If we could by
any means ASCERTAIN on what principle our
dreams for given night are arranged, and
why one idea more than another furnishes
their cue, il would be comparatively easy
to follow out the chain of associations by
! which they unroll themselves afierward,
and To note the singular case and delicacy
whereby subordinate topics, recent y watt
ed across our minds, arr seized and woven
into the network Of the dream But the
reason why from among the five thousand
thoughts Of the day we revert at night
especially to thoughts number two three,
four, five, instead of thoughts number two,
three, four six, or any other in the list is
obviously impossible 70 conjecture. We
can but observe that the echo Of the one
note has been caught, and of the Others
lost, amid the obscure cavtrns of the mem
DRY. Certain broad rules, however, may
be remarked as obtaining generally, as re-
CARDS the topics Of dreams.
In the first place, if we have any present
considerable physical sensation or pain,
such az may be produced by a wound, or
fit Of indigestion, or hunger, or an unac.
customed sound, we are pretty sure TO
dream OF II in preference to any subject of
mental interest only. Again, if we have
merely slight sensation Of uneasiness
insufficient TO cause dream, il will yet be
enough TO color dream otherwise sug-
gested with disagreeable hue Failing
To have dream suggested to 1t by present
physical sensation, the brain seems TO re-
vert to the subjects Of thoughts Of the
previous day, or Of some former period Of
life, and to take up one or other Of them
as theme on which to play variations.
AS before remarked, the grounds Of choice
among all such subjects cannot be ascer.
tanned; but the prediction of Morpheus
for those which we have not In our wax
ing hours thought most interesting, is very
noticeable. Very rarely indeed do our
dreams take up the matter which has
most engrossed US for hours before we
sleep. A wholesome law Of variety comes
into play, and the brain seems to decide,
II have had enough of politics, or Greek,
or fox hunting, for this time. Now will
amuse myself quite differently" Very
often, perhaps we may say generally, it
pounces on some transient thought which
has flown like swallow across it by day
light, and insists on holding it fast through
the night. Only when our attention TO
any subject has more or less ,ransgressed
the bounds Of health, and we have been
morbidly excited about 1t, does the main
topic of the day recur to us in dreaming at
night; and that it should do 80, ought al
ways, imagine, TO serve as warning
that we haze strained our mental powers
little too far. Lastly, there are dreams
whose origin Is not in any past thought,
but In some sentiment vivid and pervad-
ing enough to make itself dumbly felt,
even in sleep. OF the nature of the
dreams 40 caused, we shall speak presently,
The subject Of dream being, as we
must now suppose, suggested to the brain
on some such principle as the above, the
next thing to be noted is, How does the
brain treat Its theme when it has got it ?
Does it drily reflect upon it, as we are
wont to do awaken Or does it pursue a
course wholly foreign to the laws of wax
ing thoughts? 1t does, conceive, neither
| one nor the other, but treats its theme,
whenever it is possible to do so, according
to certain very important, though OBJ
scure. law Of thought, whose action we
are too apt to ignore. We have been &C
customed to consider the myth-creating
power of the human mind as one specially
belonging to the earlier stages Of growth
Of society and Of the individual. 1t will
throw, think, rather curious light on
the subject II we discover that this in
stinct exists in every one Of us, and exerts
itself with more or less energy through
the whole OF our lives In hours Of wax
ing consciousness, indeed, II is suppressed,
or has only the narrowest range of exer-
else, IS the tendency, noticeable to all per-
sons not OF In the very strictcst veracity,
to supplement an incomplete anecdote
with explanatory incidents, or throw a
slightly known story into the dramatic
form, with dialogues constructed out Of
our ~n consciousness But such small
play CT the myth-making faculty is moth
ing compared to its achievements during
sleep. The instant that daylight and com
mon sense are excluded, the fairy.work be-
gins. At the very least, half our dreams
(unless greatly err) are nothing else
than myths formed by unconscious cere-
bration of the same approved principles
whereby Greece and India and Scandi
navia gave to us the stories which we
were once pleased to set apart as " my
thology" proper. Have we not here, then
evidence that there Is real law Of the
human mind causing us constantly to com
pose ingenious fables explanatory Of the
phenomena around us-a law which osly
sinks into allegiance in the waking hours
of persons in whom the reason has been
highly cultivated, and which resumes its
sway again over their well tutored brains
when they sleeps-Francis Poaoer COBB, IN
Mac Msllan's Magazine.
A Joke ON Greeley.
! A CORRESPONDENT tells the following
IA 4 :