The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1876-05-18
DREAMS AND THEIR CAUSES.
Som Interesting Facts HndETheOries FOL
DrfauElerR

Dreaming was devoted to the latter sub
ject, with the exception of q brief re-
sumo of his former lecture on sleep by
way of introduction.
Sleep, he had shown, was the repOse of
the brain as the organ of consciousness,
and sound sleep the cessation of con-
sciOus activity. Heset aside as unsOund
the doctrine of Sir w. Hamilton, who
from the phenomena of dreaming had
argued the cOntinuOusness of conscious
ness during sleep. The brain, though a
unity, was a complex unity, and to diff
ferent parts different functions belonged.
Hence, according to the analogy of the
bodily functions, one part and its func-
ton may rest, while others are in action.
The partial activity of the brain was the
explanation of dreaming. Conscious &C
tiyity belongs to the hemispheres proper
of the brain. The parts below, in so far
as they are Independent, are concerned
in actions described as reflex, sensi-motor,
ETC., and these can go on as well during
sleep as in waking hours.
Diagrams Of the brain were referred to
in illustration. The brain was the organ
of consciousness, and it, therefOre-not
the ganglions of the nervous system, as
held by DR. Carpenter and others-was
the organ of sensation. The phenomena
of hemi-an8sthesia were cited in proof
For each class of impressions there were
special regions of consciousness in the
brain. The lecturer was even disposed
to localize attention and the higher in
tellectual faculties. The impressions re-
ceived were photographed on the brain,
and were capable of being revived. But
for this power of recalling them no
knowledge would be possible. Memory,
or IF
is the ultimate basis of our mental
furniture. Each piece of that furni-
ture has its function, like the letters
in a compOsitor's case. We have a
sight-memOry, an ear-memory, etc.
When thinking, or engaged in ideatiOn,
we are but recalling, as shown by Her
bert Spencer and Balm, our original SEN
satiOns and acts of cOgnitiOn. Some
move their lips when thinking, as though
summOning up the names for their
former sensations. Commonly the re-
production was very faint, but in some
instances it was nearly or quite as vivid
as the former sensation. 1t was so with
Goethe and other poets, with painters,
religious enthusiasts, and with those
called spiritualists. It was so in delirum
and mania, and there was always some
thing morbid in such cases.
The auditory phantoms of musical COM
POseTs and others are spoken of. The
impression made on taste and smell were
not often so wildly reproduced, but it
was otherwise with those of touch. The
relation between visceTic euphOria or dis
phOria was next illustrated, and the laws
of association of ideas, as laid down by
Laycock and confirmed by DR.. Carpen-
ter. The nature of this association will
l. H,,A I,o l.
known as well as the general laws, it will
be possible to read his thoughts. Here
the lecturer read a striking extract
from E. a. Poe &c Murders in the Rue
Morgue," vol. 1, p. 409), which was re-
ceived with loud applause. The forego-
ing principles were then applied to
dreaming. In accordance with the laws
laid down those portions of the brain
most continuous in action would require
the longest rest. Hence the centers of
attraction would sleep while the func-
tiOns allied to reflex actions would more
easily awaken.
The brain in sleep was compared to a
calm pool in which a stone causes rip
pies liable to interruption by other rip
pies similarly caused. So the nipples of
ideation get confused. But, again, the
circle on the pool may not be interrupted
! and then the ideation will be regular.
The current of the ideation may be CO.
herent or incoherent. The most vivid
association, which is commonly the latest,
dominates over the rest. DR.. Reid, the
metaphysician, dreamt of being scalPed
by an Indian. There was blister upon
his head. DR.. Gregory, through having
a hot-water bottle at his feet, deampt of
walking up the crater of Etna. A trou-
Il g
/ penis biting his foot, and a ringing in his
ears has caused dreams of marriage bells.
| The blue devils and other horrors seen
| by the victims of delirium tremens were
analogously explained. Visceral condi-
tions were shown to be most frequent
sources of dreams. The hungry dreams
of feasts, the thirsty of water, and the
| drOpsical of drowning. From the condi-
| ton of the digestive organs arose night
/ mare. Mental or bodily detection shows
itself in oppression of the chest, and this,
| vice versa, causes mental or bodily de-
preston by the law of association. We
feel a hideOUs animal sitting on us. The
| oppression leads to an effort at liberation,
| and we wake from nightmare with a
| scream. Bereavement makes us dream of
our lost ones, and we see them so wildly
that our dreams become real apparitions.
| IncOherent dreaming, in which currents
of ideatiOn get jumbled together, was
happily compared to the changes pro-
| duced by the shaken kaleidoscope.
It was remarked that there is never
anything absolutely new in our dreams;
we never dream of anything of which our
senses are wholly ignorant. The blind
do not dream that they see, nor the deaf
of music. Here letter is missing from
4 NLa Il 4 ig
awake, and the faculties which should
check it are asleep. Hence we are wont
to say that nothing surprises us in sleep.
The lecturer proceeded to shed light on
such facts as that problems have been
solved by mathematicians in their dreams
which had utterly baff1ed them when
| awake. So the poet Campbell excOgi-
tated in his sleep the celebrated sentence:
Z" For coming events cast their shadows
| before"
One beautiful illustration the lecturer
used. The brain, he said, might become
a palimpsqst, the effaced writing on which
often reappeared. Past impressions were
imperfectly rubbed out, and the present
written over it, but past memories would
revisit us in our dreams, if not in our
waking hours. OF the tenacity of mem
ory, a marvellous illustration was cited
| from Trevelyan's " Life of Macauley,"
who picked up, while waiting in a Cam
| bridge cofee-hOuse for a Post-chaise,
newspaper containing two pOetical pieces,
| one " Reflections of an Exile" and the
other a " Parody on a Welsh Ballad"
| Macauley looked them once through, and
never gave them q further thought for
| forty years, when he repeated them with
out the change of a single word.
Silver Coin Enough.
| Assurance is given by DR.. Linderman,
/ d;rnctnr of the mint that thnra need be