The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-12-14
MSAf4AWE%E3 EEEENTT
DREAMS || AND NIGHTMARES
Nightly Nsitations That May Come.
When Morpheus Is in
Possession.
The Phenomena Of Dreaming and
Of Delirium Are Much
the Same.
Inilncnce on tho Mind--Remarkable Cases
Cited by Observation-Disclosures
Causes of Nightmare.
written Tor THE HELENA INpErENpESr.l

to mention a disease which is not at som
period or other of its career an excltln'
cause OF morbid dreams.
In cases of insanity and other cerebra
affections the decisions of the dreams ar
frequently SO mixed up with those which
arise during the waking condition that tn
patient is unable to separate them ana tt
determine which are the consequence o.
sensations received when awake
and which are the results of dreams. Iht
careful examination of almost any insane
persons will also show that they incorpor
ate the fancies Of their dreams with the
realities Of everyday life. Indeed. the re-
lations of dreaming to insanity are SO IN
teresting and important MS to have at
tracted the marked attention of alienists
and psychologists.
A very little reflection will suffice to
convince the reader that the phenomena OF
dreaming and those of delirium are strlk-
ingly alike. In dreams we never distln-
puish the false from the real; the Judgment,
il exercised at all, acts in the most cratic
manner We are rarely surprised at the
occurrence Of the most improbable clrcum-
stances; our characters for the time being
often undergo a radical change and we per-
form imaginary deeds in our sleep which
are altogether at variance with our actual
disposition. The Authorizations of sleep we
accept as realities just as the insane 1ndl-
vidual believes in all the erroneous impress
sions made upon his senses. The dreaming
person is.' in fact, the victim of decisions
which, during the existence of his condi-
ton. have a firm hold on his mind n rem
der him in no essential particular different
from the one who suffers from unsound-
ness. The incoherence present in dreams
and the evident dependence of the various
images upon the suggestion OF previous i'm
ages are likewise phenomena of the insane
state.
Even in persons perfectly sane dreams
often produce a very powerful influence on
the mind. Most of US have, on %awaking,
felt pleased or disturbed from rejecting
upon the circumstances of a dream we have
had during the night, and occasionally
the impression has remained through the
entire day. With children the influence is
still more strongly shown. As Sir Henry
Holland remarks. the corrections from
reason and experience are less complete in
them than in adults. As a consequence
they not ~infrequently confuse their dream
visions with the facts of their lives and re-
gard the former as real events. The hallu-
clnaJ1OnD OF uF6aulb are also PROFESSIONALLY
continued through w~akefulness, and hence
some persons have, on awaking, seen the
images which had been present to them in
their sleep.
The celebrated Benedict de Spinoza was
once the subject of an illusion which had
its starting point in a dream. He dreamed
that he was visited by a tall, thin, and black
Brazilian diseased with the itch. He awoke
and thought he saw such a. image stand
ing beside him.
A distinguished physician, in referring to
such instances, says:
II have myself also very frequently seen
these phantasms. but am now less liable to
them than formerly. 1t has become my
custom when | perceive such images imme-
diately to open my eyes and direct them
upon the wall or surrounding objects. The
images are then still visible, but quickly
fade. They are seen whichever way the
head is turned, but l have not observed that
they moved with the eyes. The answers to
the inquiries which l make every year of
the students attending my lectures as to
whether they have experienced anything of
the kind, have convinced me that it is a
phenomenon known to comparatively few
persons. From among a hundred students
two or three only, and sometimes only one,
have observed it. This rarity of the phe-
is. however, more apparent thai
real. l am satisfied that many persons
would perceive these spectacles if they
learned to observe their sensations at the
proper times. There are, however, I'M
doubtedly many individuals to whom they
appear. and in my W case they now
fail to show themselves for sew
oral months at a time, although in my
youth they occurred frequently. lear Paul
the watching of the phan-
tasms which appear to the closed eyes as a
inducing sleep"
If such phenomena take place in persons
of healthy brains, the greater liability of
the insane to experience them will readily
be admitted.
The character OF dreams varies according
TO the type of insanity to which the patient
IL subject. In melanoholia they are ordi-
narily sad and depressing and leave a deep
and lasting lmpression; in expansive mono
mania they are gay and exciting; in mania
they give evidence of the extraordinary
mental excitement and activity of the SUBJ
leot, and in duration they are vague, fleet
ing and occur but seldom. Besides these
varieties, which may be called s~ymptomatic,
there are dreams that are essentially NOR
BID and these may all be embraced under
the term Of nightmare. This condition is
characterized by the existence during sleep
OF q sense of sutfocation, q feeling of pain
or construction i'll some part of the BODY
ana a dream of o painful character. Epi-
denies OF nightmare have been noticed and
sometimes these are of u peculiar form and
Hre confined to certain localities.
Thus vampirism. a belief which exists in
different parts of the world, is nothing Init
a kind OF nightmare.
In Aorlachia there is scarcely q hamlet
which has not several vukoalacks or VAN
plres II there are some, every family of
which has its yuEodlack, Just as every
Alpine family he's is ctetin. The creti1,
however, has a physical intirmity, and with
" II morbid state of the BRAN and nervous
system which DESTROYS his reason and pre-
vents approaching his degraded condition.
The ~yukodleels, on the contrary, appreci-
ates all the horror Of his morbid perception:
he fears and detestS il; he combats it with
MI his powef; he has recourse to medicine
to prayers, to division of a muscle, to the
amputation of II limb and sometimes even
to suicide. He demands that after his
death hIs children shall pierce his heart
with q pike and faaten bis corpse to the
Coffin SO that hig dead body, in the sleeo
OF death. mas not ba ahIe To follow tile in.
stlncts of the living body. The vukodlack
ia, moreover, often Il nan Of note, often the
Grief of the tribe. the judge. or the poet,
Though the sadness which is due to the
recollection of his nocturnal life The y1-
Lcuiack exhibits the most generous and
ioyable traits of character. 1t is only dur
ing his sleep. when he is visited with his
terrible dreams, that he ID q monster, die,
ging W the dead with his hands, feeding on
tne;r iiastl. and waking those around him
with his frightful cries. 100
The superstition is that during this stats
OF morbid dreaming the soul Of the sleeper