The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1890-10-02
the BRAIN in SLEEP.


Dreams Arc Not Aitugether LiInftof- 70
Plays OF Fancy.
Sleep is process of restoration and
read justment, and physicians well know
that the healing powers of nature assert
themselves most effectuaffy during tho
entire suppression of volitional control
characterizing a deep slumber. In
dreams, toosthe absence Oh direct sense:
impressions and vplitional interference
seems to favor an automa tic function OF
the brain, which, in that RESPECTS might
be defined as. a method OF mental di.
gestion. And just as the process of physic-
al digestion and assimilation eliminates
the superfuous elements of food, retain
ing only those needed for the special
purposes of organism, the brain, during
sleep, appears to deal special with
topics of direct concern for the personal
interests of the sleeper, and TO assert
and adjust the store Of empiric impress
sion 1.-THE mental ipgestd, as it were1,
after eliminating all unessential and in
consequential elements. Withal, the
suspense of conscious cerebrat!on by no
means implies an eclipse OF the intel
lectual faculties. Dreams are not linz
tied to plays of fancy; the brain in slum-
Der may deal with philosophical and
scientific speculations, or resolve moral
doubts which perhaps have puzzled the
mind for days, and it is common exper.-
ence that the distressing problems OF
practical life adjust themselves, as it
were, in sleep by more or less con-
scious process of the cere bral laborat- ry.
In short, there is no doubt that the in
stinet guarding the welfare of the in
dividual presides over dreams as it pre-
sides over the automatic functions Of
the physical organism. The very sus-
pension of the will-power, with its
passions and prejudices seems, in
deed, to enable an inner monitor
to decide vexing doubts in accordance
with the best permanent interests of tho
sleeper. The saving crisis OF dangerous
diseases which often supevenes in deep
=slumbeE MAJ -he-se explained by the cir.
cumstances that the complete repose Of
the volitional faculties enables the or
ganism to concentrate all its energies
upon a needed work Of repair and for
similar reasons the non-;nterference of
waking prciudices may give tho in
stinct of scif-preservation Il long desired
chance for removing banefuI delusion
as to our best interest in proposed mode
OF action, or as to the true character of
designing fellow men. Something or
other in the looks or actions OF marked
rascal may have suggested suspicion
of his secret motives, though at the
time collateral circumstances obscured
that misgiving, leaving a vague, unex-
planned uneasineSs as the direct result
of such experiences. But in sleep that
impression reasserts itself with force
free from the interference Of reiudice,
and for moment removes the mask of
false appearances; the sleeper receives
a warning. Similar warniHgs=often
correct the impressions of false hops.
Impending perils may cast a shadow
rersistently ignored in waking state,
while the mind is by the influence of a
self-deluding optimism-the wish that's
father to the belief IN the insfgnifcance
of the threatening danger. But in sleep
the voice of the monitor can not be 81
fenced by such illusions, and warning
forebodings often take the form OF dis
tinet visions, repeated with vividness
and frequency which at least can not
fail to influence the actions of the indi-
vidual, in spite of all waking sophism s.
Open Court