, 1877-09-21

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had dropped and rolled into the yard.
Lanterns were brought out, An excite
ment raised, and of course the ring could
not be found, The mag was charged to
rise at early dawn and renew the search /:
and TO worry his mind still more. it was
hiDtCd that he would be arrested if he
could not find the jewel. His mind
could not have been more burdened, and
no greater inducement could have been
held out for him to rise in the night and
at least walk across the room. Yet as
soon as he fell asleep he began to snore
"like u trooper and he slept soundly
until long after daylight, and had no bad
dreams. He was greatly worried over the
loss of the ring as soon as he opened his
eyes, and when told that it was found his
relief of mind was correspoDdingly great.
Not long ago, aud for the first time in
my life, walked in my sleep. was
away from home at the house of friend,
and had no care on my mind. Nothing
was said during the evening about dreams
nor did we relate adventures or tell sto-
ries. Being weary, retired at an early
hour, and was asleep soon after touching
the bed. My friend had some writing to
do, and sat up after all the rest had re-
tired. About eleven o'clock I came down
stairs into the room where he sat, being
completely dressed and having no light.
He looked up and was about to make an
inquiry, when my fixed stare arrested his
attention. was not acquainted with the
house, having never entered it until that
evening; but passed through two rooms
in the dark, avoiding all obstacles, and
unlocked and passed out of the back
door. Securing lantern he followed me
as soon as possible, and walked close be-
hind me to the barn. l opened the barn
door, passed by three horses and
reached my own. looked into the man.
ger to see if the animal had been fed, and
then, apparently satisfied, retraced my
steps to the house. Other members of
the house had been aroused by this time,
so that there were other witnesses. As
soon as inside the door / locked it, then
pulled at the knob to make sure, and
then found my way to my room, threw
off my clothing and got into bed, to
know nothing of the affair until morning.
l could hardly credit their assertions; for
had attempted to dress aud visit the
barn before going to sleep, should GER
tainly have failed to even get out of the
house without arousing some one. had
not the faintest recollection of my walk
but there were four good honest people
who saw me make it. l had not worried
upon going to bed for fear that my horse
had not been fed-indeed had not given
him thought.
But to go back to the hospital and our
experiments. One Of our nurses, after
catching few minutes rest one after
noon, said that he had dreamed of seeing
a building on fire. The popular belief
among superstitious people is that to
dream of fire means swift news and bad
news. A dozen of US had been moving
round while the man slept, and we COM
pared notes to find out what had caused
the dream. A patient, in clearing his
spoon of rice, had raped it half dozen
times on the side of bowl, making
noise something like tire-bell. Settling
upon this as the cause of the dream, we
experimental upon eight or nine sleepers.
In three cases l tapped upon the stove
pipe with my knife, and caused dreams
of fire. The same dreams were caused in
two other cases by one rapping on the
window pane. One of the five dreamed
of standing in front of fireplace, one
Of climbing up ladder to help put out a
fire on roof, and the other three dreamed
of seeing houses on fire. These Ave were
residents of cities, where the quick,
ringing tones of fire-bells are often heard.
The others were residents of small towns
or of the country, seldom hearing the
sound. One dreamed of flying along
with great swiftness; another of riding
at great speed; another of seeing people
running; and the fourth could remember
nothing of his dream except that large
red birds were hyingover his head. The
conclusion, then,, is, that therattling of
window pane, the clatter of broken
blind-slat, or any one or half a dozen
every night noises, may cause the sleeper
to dream of fire. Not two weeks since
neighbor Of mine, coming home at
late hour at night, raped on the door
several times before he was able to waken
his wife, who is o sound sleeper. His
raps aroused her after moment, but
they caused her to dream of fire, and to
scream out as she awoke.
Almost every dreamer has at one time
or another dreamed Of being stabbed; of
Indians; that some one was in the room;
of some one bending over him; aud he
has awakened to find himself trembling
with excitement and his heart palpitat-
ing with fear. Position while sleeping or
late suppers, probably have good deal
to do with bringing about such dreams;
but in the course of our experiments we
found other causes. In two cases by
softly and slowly opening the door near
the sleeper we made him dream of ad-
venture. By seizing the corner Of his
bed-quilt and slowly dragging it off the
bod ma caIaad q man IN dranna that bur.