Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-04-11
WONDERS OF DREAMS.
Curious Facts About a Mystery That
Has Never Yet Been Solved.
VISIONS OF THE NIGHT.
What Lies Beyond the World That 10 Seen in
the Unexplored Territory Of Drsamland,
Where All Have Travelled, Though No One
Can Give . Good Account Of the Country.

ssTNHE FURTHER ONE PROGRESSES
Il through the region Of knowledge the
nearer one seems to approach to the wall which
shuts off the mysterious unknown" said dis
| ciple Of psychical science to . writer for The
STAR. "Curiously enough, one appears to come
most nearly to climbing the wall and investi-
eating the territory on the other side in what
we call dreams.
mo one has ever yet determined the precise
nature Of dream, and it il not likely that .
fair understanding Of the phenomenon will ever
be arrived at. for the simple reason that no
ones recollections Of his own dreams are relia-
BILE, and facts to work upon are, therefore,
lacking.
"There is plenty Of evidence, however, to
show that the condition of sleep removes the
barrier which exists in the waking state between
the two conscious beings that make up each
human individual. Who is there that is not
aware that he has within himself a dual entity?
But OF this will have more to say presently.
THE SHORT DURATION OF DREAMS.
Every one who has ever dreamed has OBJ
served how widely different il the estimate of
time passed while dreaming from the actual
time covered by the period during which the
dream has lasted. Turkish fable tells of an
intidel sultan of Egypt who used to laugh at
miracle declared in the koran to have been per-
formed by Mahomet. But, conversing one day
with learned doctor, the latter said that he
would quickly convince the unbelieving poten-
tate that thing so extraordinary might easily
be true if the latter would place himself in a
in tub. surrounded by a circle Of his minis
tiers and officers, was hidden by the wise man
to plunge his head into the water and draw it
up again.
THE sultan thrust his head into the water
and Immediately found himself at the foot of
mountain on the seashore. He began to rage
against the doctor for this piece of treachery
and witchcraft, but at length, perceiving it in
vain to be angry, he set himself to think on
proper methods for gaining livelihood in this
strange country. Accordingly he applied to
some people at work in a neighboring wood.
who conducted him to town that stood at n
little distance from the wood, where, after some
adventures, he married woman of great beauty
and fortune. He lived with this woman 80 long
that he had by her seven sons and seven daugh-
tiers. Subsequently he was reduced to great
want and was forced to adopt the occupation
Of a porter for . livelihood. One day as he was
walking alone by the seaside, being seized with
many melancholy reflections, he threw off his
clothes with design to battle. Upon his first
plunge he no sooner raised his head above the
water than he found himself in the tub, with the
great men Of his court about him and the
| Learned doctor at his side. They assured him
siA"e hO Adu uOt 5tl-teu lTOIu us place IN the
tub and that he had only dipped his head into
the water and Immediately taken it out again.
INDEFINITELY RAPID BRAIN PROCESSES.
"This curious fable gives a not inadequate or
| untrue example Of the manner in which i'm
pressions, by the succession of which one ordi-
narily estimates time, are often crowded to-
| gether In dream. Such thought impressions in
| the waking state can only succeed each other
at intervals limited by the delays of mechanical
brain processes; but in dream there seems to
| be no such retardation, and the processes may
therefore follow each other infinitely fast thus
| conveying to the perceptive faculty the notion
| OF an extended period of time. Under the in
| fuence of opium De Quincy had dreams, ac-
| cordlng to his own account, of ten, twenty,
sixty years duration-sOme even which seemed
| to exceed all limits of human experience. For
centuries together-all in a single hour-he was
| entombed in the pyramids, or shut up in sar-
cophagi In the cold embrace Of clammy croco-
diles, OF which reptiles he had an inexpressible
| horror.
'In one Of the histories Of Mahomet it is re-
| lated that the Angel Gabriel took the old boy
out OF his bed one morning to give him a sight
| OF all things In the seven heavens and in hell,
| which the prophet took distinct view Of and
after having held ninety thousand separate and
| lengthy conferences with the Deity was brought
| back again to his couch. All this was trans
| acted in SO brief time that Mahomet on his
return found his bed still warm and took up an
very instant the angel carried him away before
the water was all spilled.
| DREAMS OF A DRAMATIC CHARACTER
"There is a certain sort of dreams which may
be classed as of q dramatic character. They
lead up to a climax, just as a play might do.
| For example, the psychologist Maury was sick
| in bed and dreamed about the French revolu-
| ton. Bloody scenes passed before him. He
| spoke with Robespierre, Marat and other men
1 nf "a M ORA road haYnr <r;L
| condemned to death and carried through a
| great crowd Of people, bound to plank. The
guillotine severed his head from his shoulders
He woke in terror to find that rail over the
bed had got unfastened and had fallen upon
his neck like guillotine, and, as his mother,
who was sitting by him, declared, at that very
| moment
Take another instance from my own expe-
rience. had apparently very long dream,
| toward the end of which lost myself in a long
gallery of an extensive building. There came
toward me from the other end Of the gallery a
lady with a rustling train. In my dream re-
membered having been introduced to her in
some time past. As passed saluted her. but
| caught my foot In her train, at the same mo-
ment waking with a nervous spasm in that
| foot.
"A friend Of mine once in q dream had a
most disagreeable dueling experience. An in
suit was passed, the challenge followed, a meet
| ing was arranged, and in the encounter he was
wounded in the calf of the leg. He awoke and
a flea was biting him on the spot
| "All such dramatic dreams lead SO regularly
| and naturally to their conclusions that to i'm
agine the latter to be examinations merely acct
| dental Is out OF the question. Their only DOS
sible or conceivable explanation is that the
| conclusion suggests the cause. The flea bite
| creates the entire drama Of the duel in the
mind Of the dreamer, which ends with the
wound in the spot bitten. Likewise the fall of
| the rail over the bed, which summons I'D in an
instant the tragedy of the guillotine and the
reign of terror. In short, beyond the threshold
of consciousness which separates the waking
| life from the dream life thought impressions
| succeed each other with a swiftness apparently
| illimitable, and in the merest fraction Of mo-
ment We may, perhaps. 60 though the events of
years, as it seems. Other causes may give rise
to similar conditions. as when drowning per-
| son reviews his whole life in q minute or two
OF sutfocation, recalling in sequence and
| wildly the smallest events.
| WE ENCOUNTER DUB DOUBLE.
: ut is in dreams that ono encounters the
double OF his own self as an actor in the play Of
simulated life. He sees this other self pro-
jected as upon stage, and with it he is apt to
have most interesting dialogues. Funnily
enough the alter ego is apt to be the cleverer
| OF the two. Boswell tells Of one Of Dr. john
sons dreams, in which the philosopher was en-
| gagged with another in an argumentatiye con-
tention and found himself much vexed by the
| superiority Of his opponent The celebrated
| Van Goens relates a dream Of his own, in which
he thought that he was in the Latin class at
school, as of old. and anxious to retain his place
at the head of it The teacher on va ont 1. 7 81.