Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-12-30
STUDY OF INSANITY.
Examples of the Analogy Between
Dreams and Mania.
Froa SIC Pit.sburJ DsDctcA.

Froi Sic fittsbHrJ DispctcA.
The testimony so frequently given BY
those who have recovered from insanity
that the whole period of their disease now
appears TO toem as a dream would seem
10 snow that there is great similarity
between insanity and the state OF dream
ing. Some OF these people say that this
inc appears TO them a. happy dream;
others that IL was painful and gloomy,
even frightful as nightmare.
1t is true that in the insane the princi.
pal signs Of sleep are absent, as the clos
fng Of the external senses-the loss of
conscious nCss and the influence of the
will, all OF which are regarded as essen.
tiaI to dreaming. Yet, on the other hand
we know that we dream the more readily
the less profound our sleep is, and there
are certain states of sleep in which an in.
fuence is eXerted similar to the waking
state. This is seen in the soldier sleen.
ing while walking or riding. The dreamer
accepts the most absurd thoughts and
fancied scenes without surprise; so does
the insane man.
In dreaming all bodily sensations are
greatly exaggerated and have a powerful
effect upon the Imagination; so it is in
insanity. Thus in dreaming a confined
position in bed, pressure upon the arm or
breast, causes sensations of being put in
chains, OF danger or OF falling over prec1.
pices. A draught of air causes ideas OF
being at sea; warmth of the feet causes
ideas OF fatiguins marches, and even a
foot that wears No. A shoe will appear
SO heavy that it can with difficulty be
dragged along.
The person who is distressed by bodily
and mental trouble often realizes in his
dreams what reality has refused him ;
that is, happiness and fortune.
THE STARVING MAN
dreams of rich repasts and tables ladened
with the choicest food; the poor man
dreams of wealth. So it is in insanity,
The person attacked with mania almost
invariably is gloomy and depressed pre-
ceding the burst of mania; and often in
insanity these two states are seen to
alternate with one another. Thus the in
sane man will be transferred from the
depths Of dark despair to the heighths of
awake from a dream, fitful sleep and
pass into tranquil, dreamless sleep.
Here again the analogy is sometimes
seen, as cases occur where the mind re-
turns just before death. Thus the man
awekens from his dreamy, insane state
TO pass into the tranquil, drea less sleep
OF death. A gardener received a fright
from man dressed as a bear, and did
not speak for fitty-two years, but
appeared TO initiate bear with growls
and moving of his body. just before
death his mind returned and he spoke
nationally to those about him.
remember OF seeing man, who for
three years did not speak a word, sud
denly recover his reason a few days be-
tore his death. This man also FOR three
years did not eat voluntarily, but was
fed twice day during that period by the
stomach tube. Cases also occur in which
a kind of waking dream takes place dur
ing ordinary consciousness. Thus lady
suddenly, during conversation, would
stop and talk of something else. In the
course of a few minutes she would again
resume her former conversation at the
sentence and word at which she had
broken off. She was utterly unconscious
of the interruption. A lady in New York
suddenly became insane while working at
some fine EN- broidery. She remained in
sane for seven years, and as suddenly
became sane. She resumed her embroi-
derry as though she had only been absent
from 1t for an hour.
QUEER IDEAS.
We frequently read of persons having
dreamed of being dead and viewing their
own remains. and watching with tender
interest the carrying of said remains to
the last resting place. So some of the
insane think they are dead, and one
woman who had this idea constantly i'm
portuned those about her to have her
buried. A soldier in Germany thought he
had been dead ever since the battle of
AusterlitZ, in which ne was severely
wounded. When any one asked him how
he was he answered: "You ask how
Father Lambert is, but Father Lambert IS
no more. He was carried of by can
non ball at Austerlitz. That which you
now see is not him, but merely a clumsy
machine made to resemble him. Pray
make another" When he spoke of him
self he never said 81" but always SIT"
SO one dreams of being transformed into
bird or beast, and the Insane man
thinks he is q bird or beast, A man in
France thought he was wolf and killed
a numbe of people. When captured he
said 81 am really wolf, and the reason
why my skin Is not hairy like wolf is
that it is reversed and the hairs are in
side" To convince them of this he cut
his body to such an extent that he died
from his wounds.
The sensation OF being so light as to be
able to fly is quite common in dreams, as
is also the sensation of being so heavy as
to be unable to move, or the sensation
that our limbs will not move, no matter
how hard we try. This same thing has
been observed in the insane. Thus man
sometimes felt his body of such extra
ordinary weight that he could scarcely
stand upright, and at other times SO light
that it seemed as though he rose from
the floor and flew; besides, his body and
limbs seemed of such enormous size that
it was impossible for him to pass through
a door.
Thus it is seen that the sane mind
approaches nearest the insane state
during dreamy sleep, and we can better
the workings of an insane
mind by keeping this fact in view. Many
more examples might be given of the
aHalogyabetween dreams and insanity.
The examples given show us how closely
we ali come at times to the insane state.