The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-03-29
NlGHT-cAPs VS.. DIGNITY.
Thoughts Suggested by the Consider
alton OF Physicians Anti Dream
Theory.

Thoughts Suggested by the Consider.
alton OF q Physicians Anti Dream
Theory.
lLondon Telegraph
One of the most prosaic explanations
ever given for the source of dreams is
that which physician has just put for
ward. He says they are caused by not
wearing night-caps. "When cold
weather sets in suddenly and is much
felt at night, the head which is uncov-
cred has the blood supplied to it driven
from the surface to the deep parts,
notably the brain-the results are light
sleep and dreams. The obvious rem
edy," he continues, "is to wear night
cap as long as the cold weather lasts.
This reasoning may be, no doubt,
sound enough from doctors point of
view, but the conclusion Is, neverthe-
less, not one that everybody will agree
with at once.
A night-cap is not an article of mys-
terry. No one can fill it with romance
or wonder; it has no capacity for such
properties Put Olympus into night
caps, and the divinities are dethroned
at once. Think of Junos awful eyes
Minerya's placid face set in plated
muslin. With Venus, of course, all
things are possible, and even night
cap might become her; but imagine the
foam-born Aphro9ite in such a head
dressl Greece would have racked in
two with laughter at the thought of
her with tapes ted under her chin.
Nor when we come to dress the gods
up Is the result less disastrous to rev.
erence. Mars, with his head in BAN
dana, is almost impossible to the most
vivid imagination: and as for Apollo's
golden curls, sack at least would have
had to be provided. And Jupite in
but this borders on impiety.
Nor if dignity is lacking do either
geniality or humor make good the de-
feet The sbonnet de mutt" is an un-
compromising thing and grim. 1t
adds terror to the burglars avoea-
tions, and Mrs. Caudle's head is as
sinister as the snakes of Medusa. When
the frills are stiff they menace; when
they are limp they waggle in ridicu-
lous manner. They mark the periods of
her upbraiding speech with corrobora-
tive gestures and fill up the pauses
with starchy eloquence all their own.
Upon a mans head the night-cap is the
outward and visible sign of defense
less, bare-legged, and altogether pre-
posterous condition. Whenever Leech
wanted to give laugh its keenest
point he drew night-capped man at
window, and all the rest was suggested.
Whether it was burglars or fire, it was
impossible to sympathize with the
sufferer, for no amount of anguish on.
ridicule cast upon it by the night-cap.
Now dreams have a solemn dignity of
their own, and to trace them all back to
such source seems as incosgruous as
to suggest that poetry is due to long
hair. Nor does it seem befitting to
attribute to this ludicrous head-dress
the power of extinguishing the brain.
It requires more potent agencies to
quiet that great magician-a Hermes'
rod or Prospero's wand. Shall we stop
dog from dreaming by wrapping up
its head? Will it give over chasing
dreamland cats, its nose and its busy
paws cease twitching in eager pursuit,
Or its voice be silent, if we tie night-cap
on to it? Babies are never without such
covering, yet they dream as often as
they go to sleep.
Again, there is no reason for suppos-
ing that Cyrus, of Persia, had cold head
when he dreamed SO splendidly that he
thrice grasped the sun; or Nero, in
Italy, when the manner of his awful
death grew up out of the dark before
his sleeping vision. We're Xerxes, or
Caesar, or Augustus, were Sophocles,
or Hannibal, or any of the great
dreamers of antiquity, living in the sun
niest of lands and sleeping virtually in
the open air, suffering from chill at
either extremity when they foresaw in
slumber the fate of, empires. and pre-
judged, asleep, the results of battles?
1t would be pity if we had to think
SO, for there much in dreams that ap-
peals to our human instinct for the
marvellous, and we do not wish to have
them all smothered under night-cap.