Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1874-08-12
Dreams.


in the minds of different persons III -l-
gard TO their dreams; yet science and
observation have reduced the phenOM-
ena 10 fair standard and rule. sud
denly awakened out OF a sound sleep
a person Is generally impressed with
the viVidness of an important dream.
A brief period thereafter, and II Is dit
ticult TO relate what the dream was.
This arises from the fact that dreams
flash through the mind in the waking
moments, after the awakening cause
has tranSpired. Kent says that We can
dream more in a minute than we can
relate in IA day, and the rapidity of
thought in sleep is the reason why We
so imperfectly remember dreams.
DR.. AbercrOmbie relates the story OF
a man who dreamed that he had en-
listed as soldier, deserted from his
regiment, was arrested, condemned to
he shot, and marched ont to execution.
The gun was fired which was To take
his life, when he awoke, to learn that
the cause of his alarm was the falling
of book from IA shelf. De Quincy
SAYS that a sleeper who Is awakened by
a sudden rap, experiences long tram
of events between the rap anu MS
thorough consciousness, which would
require days for their enactment. Ii Is
impossible for the mind to appreciate
this unnatural transmiSsionOf thought,
and not one in thousand but Will be-
lieve they have been laborlng IN the
dream for hours. He recites an eXper-
iment tried by sprinkling drops OF
water upon the face of a sleeper who
was frequently alarming his household
by the revelations of his remarkable
and alarming dreams. When he came
down to breakfast, he said that new
life had been pictured 10 him-One fall
of vieissitude, of pleasure and sOrrow-
that he was finally drowned upon the
borders of a lake, by the treaehery of a
friend, who plunged him into the
waters-when he awOke. The incl
dents of this life, of friendships and
treachery, of death and water, had all
passed through his mind in the few
seconds between the sprinklIng and
his full awakened cOnclOusneSS.
Dreams are naturally the result of
recent events, and particularly if uu-
der excitemrnt. Coleridge composed
his poem of "Kubla Khan in a dream.
He fell asleep in his chair while read
ing of a palace built by kubla Khan.
He woke, sat down, and wrote three
hundred lines of the poem as they were
composed, or, rather, lived, by him In
his sleep. At that point he was called
ont to attend some business. When,
after an hours absence, he returned tO
his library, the incidents had passed
from his mind To such au extent that
be was unable To finish them i'll the
style first commenced,
Condorcet says that he had been
battled for days III mathematical cal
culation, which came clearly and dis
tinctly III a dream aftera day OF intense
labor. We know of an instance where
an accountant had spent fifteen days
examining his ledger for an error In his
balance sheet of 16 cents. Leaving his
Office after midnight,in the sleep which
followed, it came to him that an 8 cent
entry in long debter and creditor ac-
count had been placed III the wrong
column. The amount, changed to the
other side, balanced the books.
A lady known to Us insists that she
was visited in the night time by the
physical form of a deceased relative
with whom she held absolute conversa-
ton. She describes the entrance, the
| position, her own sitting up. the words
| of warning, the exit. her getting up tC
close the opened door, &c. Singularly
however, she did not call any other
member of the family, or follow the
ghost into the street. OF course 1t i
quite as easy for people to dream thai
they are awake as it is to dream OF any
other incident. Persons who have sucl
dreams can never be convinced that
[ they have dreamed at all. lt Will bt
quite sensible of them not TO relate
their dreams.
The senses and reasoning facultie:
are lost in sleep. Nothing but the i'm
aginatiOn remains. Hence, incOngrui
ties of dates-changing the past to tn,
Z future-making the long buried frien,
a natural companion, &c., are opposed
by no external objects To either checl
or balance the mind. When awake, i
told that the apple in our hand Is ;
gold chronometeT, our eye contradict
the assertion: but if in sleep we dream
that a tree is loaded with diamonds, o.
that distant friend Is by our side, ,rea
son does not come to our rescue to sug
gest impossibilities or the laws of na
ture interfere with the widest riot o
imagination. The laws of gravity, o
time, and of space, being suspended
there exists no obstacle i'll the mOmen
of dreams to our seeing cannon ball
dancing in the atmosphere, of our par
ticipation with Moses in his pil grlmag,
in the wilderness, or of our dining witt
distant or even dead friends. The fac
of dreams, and that the mind neve
rests, we know. Why the mind neve
rests, and why it is more active whel
asleep than awake, we do not know.