Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-11-18
DREAMS, IDLE DREAMS.
Strange Tales That Capt.
vate the Credulous.
VISIONS OF LEARNED MEN.
Hidden Treasure Discovered by
Revelations toSleepers-Poetry
Composed During Slumber.

Composed During oi"Ai"oi'
M one but a professional fortune
teller would venture a statement as tc
when human beings first began to no
t;ca dreams and to affect their interpre.
+ot;on. In the traditions of the tribal
nations of the prehistoric age we find
mention of these visions OF sleep, as
we'll as in the chronicles of subsequent
neriods. All are familiar with the
Biblical accounts of the dreams oi
Joseph the ambitious, Pharaoh the
stubborn, and Nebuchadnezzar the
vegetarian. But the Jews were not the
only nation that took cognizance oi
these intangible matters. Superstition
is not circumscribed by government
boundaries, and when the old men OF
Athens or Rome dreamed dreams, or
their young men saw visions, it was
deemed as wonderful as though the TOR.
tunate individual had been an inhabit'
ant of Mamre or Babylon. Hippocrates,
the father of medicine, with the insight
of some old crons of the nineteenth CEN
fury, held dreams in high esteem in
cases of sickness. Galen, another cele-
brated apostle of physic, was also a
firm believer in the infallibility OF
visions. He was intended by his father
for a philosopher, but the impression
produced by dream turned his atten.
tion to medicine. In maturer years,
when he had been for some time the
medical adviser of Marcus Aurelius, and
when that emperor was about leaving
Rome for campaign against the north
ern barbarians, the same propensity
was brought into play. Galen has a
fondness for the pleasures Of the "eter-
nal city" that conld not be eradicated
by the most pleasing antcipatons of a
life in camp. but the emperor would
not consent to his remaining bshind
when that proposition was placed be-
fore him. Nevertheless the ingenuity
of the physician, aided by the supersti.
tion of the royal master, soon overcame
the difficulty A dream revealed the
fact that E,culapius, whom all doctors
must obey. willed that Galen should re-
main in Rome, and when Marcus
Aurelius departed for the north he left
behind the physician to oversee and
1. IA. Of h.o
Wise men of modern age have not
been less inclined to credulity than
those of more remote period. John
Wesley was of the opinion that what
are usually called divine dreams may
frequently be ascribed to angels, find
ing foundation for this belief in the
scriptural doctrine of the dual nature of
man. The unfortunate Condorcet re-
lates of himself that when engaged in
some profound and puzzling calcula-
tions he was often forced to leave them
uncompleted and retire to rest, and that
often the concluding steps were indeli-
bly impre ssed on his mind in dream
DR.. franklin also states that intricate
political questions were frequently made
clear to him while wrapped in slumber:
Ben Jonson, the careless but graceful
dramatist of the seventeenth century,
used to tell his friends, with profound
conviction, how dream warned him OF
the death of a favorite child. He was
visiting ct the home of Sir Robert Cot
ton, in Huntingdonshire, when one night
a vision of his eldest son, child in ten
der years, who was at that time in Lon.
don, appeared to him with the mark OF
a bloody cross on his forehead, as if it
had been cut with q sword. The dream
30 worried Jonson that he passed the re-
mainder of the night in much anxiety,
and early the following morning hurried
to lay the matter before his friend, Will
lam Camden. the antiquary, who was
stopping at the same house. Camden
endeavored to persuade him that it was
merely the result of apprehension con-
cerning his family, and that he should
not be detected. The dramatist, how
ever, still remained uneasy in mind, and
short time subsequently received a
letter from his wife informing him of the
death of the child in question. Jonson
afterward stated that in the vision the
boy appeared "of q manly shape and of
such growth as he might be at the time
of the resurrection" Stories of the pre-.
sentiments OF soldiers, in which they
have been warned of all approaching
danger, are familiar to all readers OF his
tory. Whether they are produced by
the continual liability to injury incident
TO the life of man. .at-arris, or owe their
existence to some other cause, is uncer-
tain: but that there have been cases in
which these presentments have existed
and been. verified is undeniable. And
the same may be said of dreams. During
the siege of Chic, in l43l, Genevan
named Grimani, who belonged to the
garrison in the town, dreamed that
huge serpent attacked and attempted to
swallow him. In the morning he relat'
ed this dream to several friends. They,
thinking this betokened violent death,
advised him not to 60 into the hight that
day, and accordingly, when sortie was
made during the forenoon, Grlmanl re
mainsd behind. Thinking TO view the
engagement, and at the same time asoio
danger, he concealed himself behind thu
ramparts, but curiosity getting the bet
ter of him, he stepped forward ant
glanced through a loophole. At tina
very instant shot from the enemy
gun pierced this aperture and lodged II
the brain of the luckless soldier. De
spite his caution his dream had met will
veri6cation.
When one speaks of the acq1iremen
of wealth through tho means of dream
it sounds as romant tic as the average nov
ell of the days of Captain William Kidd
put thot suph instancea dn 0ccur in FIJI
world of reality has been PRACTICAL!
demonstrated time and again. A younj
man Of Dordrecht, Holland, after inher