Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1877-09-07
Dreams.

/ What causes us to dream? Physicians
will answer a too hearty meal, overlooking
| the stomach, position, or srangeness Of To-
/ cation. n believer in dreams will answer
that dreams come from some spirit 10 warn
| him of good luck or i'll luck. In past ages
| kings and queens were ruled by dreams,
and dream Interpreters were in great de-
mand. We laugh at the idea, and yet in
| this, the nineteenth century, every bookstore
| has its stock of dream books, and lottery
tickets and real estate are sold on the strength
Of dreams. Men enjoying regulations as
keen business men have been known TO
| purchase largely or sparingly of goods as
dictated by dreams; women of sound
mind have kept their children from schools
because they dreamed of fire and out of
one hundred young ladies who may pass
the night in a strange room ninety OF them
will put their shoe under The pillow or
''name the bedposl," in order that tner
dreams may bring good luck.
1t would destroy many a pleasant ro-
nance and beliltle many a thrilling story
OF imag gnation il readers were convinced
that angels do not whisper to sleeping babes
and bring the smile which delights tie
mothers heat, and that The spirits of kind
friends do not warn the living (as they
sleep Of danger close at band or Of i'll luck
to come. The delusious Gf they are delu-
sions) are widespread and popular, and
nothing hut time and a higher Intellectual
standard will destroy them.
Having suffered serious injury not long
ago, and being in a city of strangers, the
writer was sent to public hos spital for
treatment. One day, after the pain of the
wound bad been greatly reduced and COM
Portable rest could be obtained, lie fell
aSleer. Ii was very quiet afternoon; the
ward was still and the sleep was heavy. A
dream came. / dreamed that l stood on the
banks Of liver and saw and heard the
swin waters breaking over rocks with a
great noise. Great trees, rails and logs
were carried down, and saw some of them
ground 10 splnters on The jagged rocks.
Leaning over the bank TO get better view,
/ lost my hold aud fell-no, awoke. A iel-
low patient in the ward was reading aloud
to friend who was worse off than either of
us. There was no other noise, aud conclud-
ing that his tones had shaped the current Of
my dream, 1 determined to make some ex-
pefimeuts. AT the other end Of the ward
was patient WHO had received a knife
wound. Limping over to him found him
snoring away in a sound sleep. Sitting
near his head and speaking in low but
distinct voice, repeated a part Of Poe's
Raven" commencing:
once upon a midnight dreary.
bad repeated only three lines when The
sleeper ceased 10 suore. At the ii nh line be
m owed little. At The tenth l saw perspi-
ration on his forehead, and he was nervous.
As finished the fifteenth he awoko with
sh out. He had had a terrible dream. He
dreamed that he was struggling in the wa
ter, swimming 10 reach boat, which kept
dancing on ahead Of him, always just out OF
reach. He was at length exhausted, and as
he found himself sinking he uttered a cry
aud awoke. Had my tones caused him TO
dream of ater, as the tones of the other
man had caused me TO dream? Hardly
prepared TO admit or Ueieve, 1 proceeded
TO another cot, occupied by a patient who
had been i'll of bilious fever, but who was
now convalescent and whose mind was
NAGdI. Ilt was SlEtIiuE NGIN QulGlly anu
evenly, as l told by timing his respira-
tions.
In tones no louder than before, and stand
ing within six feet of his head, / repeated
the celebrated war speech of Patrick Henry,
as learned it when a schoolboy. After
had uttered fifteen or twenty words the
sleeper moved his head ten words more
and his breathing was very irregular:
had moi spoken above two minutes when
be gave a sudden start and awoke; and it
was half a minute before lie could be con-
yinced that his dream was not real. He had
dreamed Of being ont on rapid, muddy
river in skif, and of losing his oars and
being carried over dam. To finish with
this experiment or theory, 1 may state that
out of twenty one persons tested at one
time or another, have found that nineteen
of them dreamed of water when one stood
near them and held conversation or repeat
ed verse or prose- II made no difference
whether they rested upon the back or side,
whether the head was low or high, or
whether the bed was strange or familiar.
In three instances the sleepers were enjoy
ing other dreams when I began speaking,
and these were put TO flight, and dreams of
water substituted. In each case also the
dreams were of troubled waters and peril
GUS adventures. 1t cannot be claimed that
there was any influence in peculiarity of
voice, for no less than six Of us were engag-
| ed in the experiments nor can it be argued
that the minds Of our victims were render
ed nervous and susceptible by bodily sick
ness, for in twelve cases we tested people
who were in perfect health. 1 have made
repeated tests outside of the hospital, and, f.,
while they were not perfectly satisfactory
| as a whole, they were so successful as to
convince any candid mind that the sound
OF a human voice, and perhaps the barking
of dog, or the neighing of horse, will
cause most sleepers TO dream of adventure
by water.
Within a day or two after our first ex-
pertinent, fell asleep in the forenoon, and,
according to previous agreement, the men
made another trial. An accordeon was
brought in and one of them played softly
| for three or four minutes, and then struck
out with lively tune. was not awaken
ed but there was movement of the head, 4,
a hand was lifted and it was not until the
music ceased that my respiration became
regular again. l dreamed of standing near
church in my native village, spot which
had neither seen or dreamed of for fifteen
years. The church building and its sur
roundings appeared the same as when 1
last beheld them. saw many people 60
ing into chnrcb, and recognized scores oi
them, seeing among the rest, a dozen or
more who had been dead for several years.
1t was summer, and as stood there sounds