The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-04-09
soMNAMeuLlsM.

SoMNAMsULisM.
How Ono Of Theso slightly WANDERERS,
was Oired With Neatness and Dispatch.
A recent article in the London Pos
on the subject of somnambulism CALI
to my mind several little incidents with
somnambulistic tendencies in my own
experience.
This subject has, indeed, attracted INV
attention for some years, and it has at.
forded me great pleasure to investigate
it carefully.
Regarding the causes of dreams and
somnambulism there are many theories.
all OF which are more or less untenable,
My own idea, given of course in p,air,
crude way, is that thoughts originate q
the inside of the brain and then go at
once to the surface. where they have
their photographs taken, with the UNDER
standing that the negatives are to be
preserved. In this way the thought
may afterward be duplicated back to
the thinker in the form Of dream, and,
il the impulse be strong enough, mus
cular action and sOmnambulism NAV
result.
On the banks of Bitter creek some
years ago lived an open-mouthed man
who had risen from affluence by his
unaided effort until he was entirely free
from any incumbrance I'm the way of
His mind dwelt on this mat
Thoughts of manual labor fitted through
his mind, but were cast aside as inn
practicable. Then other means of &C
curing property suggested themselves.
These thoughts were photographed on
the delicate negative of the brain, where
1t IS a rule to preserve AL the negatives.
AT night these thoughts were reversed
within the think resort, if may be al
lowed that term. and muscular action
resulted. Yielding at last to the great
desire for possessions and property the
grouped his way to the
corral OF total stranger and selecting
choice mule with great, dewy eyes and
and real camers-hair tail, fled. On and
on he pressed. toward the dark, unccr-
tain west, till at last rosy morn clomb
the low. outlying hills and gilded the
gray outlines of the sage-brush. The
coyote skunk back to his home, but the
did not.
He awOke as day dawned, and when
ne found himself astride the mule of
another slight shudder passed the en-
ire length of his frame. He then fully
'ealized that he had made his debut as
| sOmnambulist. He seemed to think
hat he who starts out to be sOmnam-
,ulist should never turn back. So he
pressed on. while the red sun stepped
'ut into the awful quiet of the dusty
waste and gradually moved up into the
ky and slowly added another to those
llready filed away in the dark NAV of
lges.
Night came again at last, and with it |
'ther somnambulists similar to the first, |
My that they were riding on their own !
'easts. Some sOmnambulists ride their |
'wn animals, while others are content
o bestride the steeds of strangers.
The man on the anonymous mule
alted at last at the mouth of deep
anyOn. He did SO at the request of
ther sOmnambulists. Mechanically he
'ot down from the back of the mule
nd stood under a stunted mountain
inc.
After awhile he began to ascend the
rec by means of his neck. When he
ad reached the lower branch of the
rec he made a few gestures with his
,et by a lateral movement of the legs.
[e made several Intellectual efforts to
lex some pieces out of the horizon,
nd then. after he had gently oscillated
few times, he assumed a pendent and
position at right angles
18th the limb of the tree.
The other somnambulists then took
le mule safely back to the corral, and
he tragedy of the night was over.
The London Post very truly says that
here somnambulism can be proved
is q good defense in a criminal
,tion. 1t was SO held in this case.
Various methods are suggested for
'using the somnambulists, such as
ckling the feet for instance, but in all
y own experience l never knew of
more radical or permanent cure than
le one SO imperfectly given above.
might do in some cases to tickle the
ct of sOmnambulist discovered IN
70 act OF riding away on an anOny- .
Gus mule, but how could you success
lily tickle the soles of his feet while
is standing on them? In such cases
e only true way would be to suspend
e somnambulist in such a way as to
We free access to the feet from below
I'd at the same time give him a good.
ide horizon to kick at.-BiU Me- in
ticago News.