Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1892-12-02

near poetry as science will permit us to ap-
proach in explaining the phenomena of
thought going on during sleep. for the &C
complished lecturer proceeded to inform
his audience that dreams are all explain
able on physical grounds-there is nc mys-
terry about them saw that which springs
from blindness to facts"
After dividing dreams into subjective
and objective, and mixtures of both, he
went on to class among the first species
dreams produced by indigestion, pain or
fever, while objective dreams are those
started by noises or other events going on
outside the sleeper. This is a fair sample
of the ruthless way in which science dis
poses of superstition" Against the i'm
aginative view of the significance of
dreams men of science protest, and will
probably continue to protest as long as
there are any men of science left.
Perhaps the most practical lesson taught
at the Royal institution lecture was one
which may assist US to know which of our
dreams are signs that something is wrong
with our bodily organization. AS a rule,
said the lecturer, it is better not to dream
at all. Dreamlessness is usually a sign of
all round health. A child's dreams are
invariably signs of disturbed health and
should be regarded with anxiety. For
adults it is n good thing to know that we
may be sure chat our brains are being over
strained when our nightly dreams relate
to events of the day, and if we actually
seem in sleep to be continuing our daily
work, this is a danger signal which must
never be disregarded.
When we feel wearied in the morning
vorv iko1v ~ roc,,1fc fror, IL a %In< x,.o
have forgotten, and then the best thing to
any decided opinion as to the supernatural
meanings attributed to dreams we can at
least profit by these practical hints. Con-
sidered as products of bad digestion dreams
cannot be reasonably expected to tell us
anything of a useful character or to supply
us with any warning, except one directed
against the continuance of depraved diet.
etc habits. If it is true that the sleep of
health is dreamless, then it becomes diff
cult to believe that the only persons to
whom visions in sleep are vouchsafed
should be the victims of indigestion.
1t is always a puzzle for persons of an UNI
imaginative turn of mind to understand
how the future, which does not yet exist,
can be supposed to have any effect on the
present, and it must be admitted that
dreams of warning are much harder to be-
lieve in than the 'brain wave" and
Thought transference, which members of
the Psychical Research society take as
matters quite in the ordinary course of
things. There is a considerable mass of
testimony in favor of the power of the
mind to produce results at an
distance by some system of psychical te-
legraphy of which nobody has yet discov-
cred the secret.
A man who goes to sleep and dreams
that his brotheris being killed by a wild
tribe in central Africa. and who afterward
hears that he did meet with that fate at
the precise time when the vision occurred,
need not fly to any supernatural explana-
ton for the phenomenon. 1t is quite diff
ferent when a dream tells of something
which is to happen in a few months time.
In the latter case most people will prefer
to join with science in attributing the fact
either to a law of condolences or to a sim
pie delusion. We must do science the JUS
tice to admit that, if she increases the
gloominess of life in some directions, as by
her doctrine of the struggle for existence,
she decreases it in other respects, one of
which is by aiding in the gradual Danish
ment of any confidence in visions and
omens and "~weirdness" generally.-Lon-
don Telegraph.
Preachers and Medicine.
There is Il dissenting preacher in one OF
the eastern counties who is thoroughly
~conversant with the qualities of those
herbs and simples which old Women some.
times employ so effectively. The result is
that his skill is in constant request by his
n%eighbOrs. John Wesley was nc NEAL
physician, and even wrote a book on medi
cine. Ministers who possess the requisite
knowledge and skill, following in his steps
and despising Mrs. Grundy, might easily
render the healing art both profitable and
helpful to themselves and to others.-Na
tiOnal Review.