The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-10-08
nightmare and Dreams.

There Is one curious and difficult inqui.
ry to which no satisfactory reply has yet
been given. 1t is in regard to the horrl.
bic phenomena of nightmare. Why Is 1t
that our dreams, when we sleep In an
easy position, and the organism is In
healthy action, are beautiful and agreca.
bic; but when we sleep in q cramped,
oppressive attitude, or are suffering from
indigestion, they are invariably ofa fright.
rul character, full Of deIormity or danger,
causing pain and terror2 OF this abstruse
and interesting problem the following
solution is suggested-a solution which,
II is believed, will be acceptable and con.
elusive to those familiar with the ultimate
principles Of physiological and psyche.
logical science. Ugly outward phenOm.
ena, reported in the brain, and there inter.
preted in relation TO what the exigency
requires Of the organism, produce dis.
tutDing and violent reactions in various
nervG.Centers These reactions, report.
ing themselves in the brain, arc there, by
the inverse action Of the law Of associa-
tion, taken 10 imply the presence, as out.
ward causes, OF the ugly and terrible phe.
nOmena ol which they had before been
consequences. liza piece Of tough beef in
the stomach causes from within Just such
n gangliOnic perturbation as would be
caused from without by muruerous deed
or a fall from precipice, Is 1t not quite
natural that the mind, deprived ol It's
usual verifying tests, should think itssub.
jective Interpretation Of the former on OBJ.
jectivG experience of the latter?
The CommOnest mistake in regard to
dreams is the belief that they enter the
mind from abroad. With fine fancy but
fictitious thought, apoet says
"Slecp is q traitor,
Who illls the poor deIencelOss eyes with black.
ness,
That he may let in Dreams"
They are evoked, not introduced. When
the inner play becomes, as it sometimes
does, so exciting and powerful as to strike
the springs oi vOlItiOn, and thus move the
muscles, we have SOmndHlbVLiSnl, which Is
a dream put into action. Arc not some
men sleep walkers all their days putting
dreams into actionsg The essenc6 OF a
dream, then, is that objects and
events, which are only ideally per.
ceived within the mind, are cred
tied rs having outward existence.
And in this inncrmoSt essence of the
thing, in this Outermo9t color of the phe-
nOmenon, is not our whole life full Of
dream? Pascal impressivcIy asks, in one
OF those pregnant paragraphs which often
fell from his pen, "If we were solitary
when awake, but dreamed in company,
and our dreams accorded with each other,
who doubts that we should believe mat
ters reversed? In fine, as we frequently
dream that We dream, piling one dream
upon another, it is quite possible that this
lie is only dream, on which others are
grated, from which We awake at death,
and during which we have the principles
OF the true and the good as little as
during natural sleep" How many
things, which for the time sway
and shape US, arc limited 10 our own
souls, pure localities destined never TO be
any part Of the veritabe world! 1t is one Of
the deep utterancCs of old Heraclitus that
they who are awake have world com.
mon among them; but they who sleep
arc retired each TO his own private
world" Nevertheless, literal and large
as the truth in this maxim is, it is still
with reference TO our moral experience
IN inverse statement; for the former cause
of it would express graVer truth, and
and one with u more comprehensive in.
ference. Consider it thus Our common
waking life is like a dream, because in
each man lives a special experience with
in world specially shaped and colorCd
by his dominant idiosynCrasiCs.-DNLln
UnirtrSity Magazine