The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1892-12-31
WEAKNESS OF pRsAMs.
They Frequently Cause That Tired Fec
ing Which Comes In the Morning.

lecture which was recently delivered
on the subject at the Royal Institution
by DR. Il. w. Richardson. In the poets
view dreams are visitors from the ivory
gate or, as Shakespeare calls them,
children of an idle BRAIN" but sciencc
is more prosaic and teaches that dreams
may lie, after all, nothing more than
the common vibrations of terrestrial
media acting upon corporeal vibra'
torium" like the sound heard on n wire
in tension long after IL has been struck
by the musician. "All musical instru
ments dream" says DIR. Richardson,
after we cease to play on them;' and
if we bring the microphone into use VIZ
can near the dream. This is as nea
poetry as science will permit us to ap
proach in explaining the phenomena o.
thought going on during sleep; for the
accomplished lecturer proceeded to in
form his audience that dreams are all
explainable on physical grounds-ther
is no mystery about them save tina
which springs from "blindness t,
facts" After dividing dreams into
subjective and objective, and mix
lures of both, he went on to clas'
among the first species dreams pro
duced by indigestion, pain, or fever,
while objective dreams are those
started by noises or other events goins
on outside the sleeper. This is fail
sample of the ruthless way inEvhich
science disposes of Superstition"
Against the imaginative view of the
significance of dreams men of science
Y,t.ntagt nd ,,ri11 al 10,
protest as long as there are any men OF
science left. They quote the old lady
in the spectator" who believed that
the earthquake of Lisbon had some
mysterious but quite unexplained con-
nection with the fact that a few days
before she had happened TO spill some
salt at table. Yet, if we obey DR. Rich
ardson and abandon all confidence in
dreams as harbingers of the future,
what is to become of writers in fiction?
There is no plan for getting hero out
of n scrape so efiicacious as making
| somebody else dream that he requires
assistance and appear just at the nick
of time to render it. Again, if the au.
thor wants to prepare us gently for the
fact that some nice, but inconvenient,
character is going to perish, he does il
by letting him dream of his own ap-
| preaching dissolution after which a
! cloud Of unaccountable melancholy set
ties down on him until the PRESENT..
ment is fulfilled. 1t is kind of novelists
| to break the news Of an approaching
catastrophe in this sort of way, and il
they were taken to task, on scien.
tific grounds, they would probably
defend themselves by asserting that,
although presentiments often turn
out utterly mistaken, a percentage OF
them must, even on scientific grounds
J happen to be fulfilled, and they have
the right to seleot these lucky shot
and write about them. 1t might, per
haps, be useful step, if we desired tQ
Danish popular superstitions, to forbid
novelists in the future TO mention
dreams or visions or presentiments al
all; and, if the output of fiction dwin
died in consequence, it is not at ali
certain that this would be an occur
renee greatly to be deplored. Science
has already driven the fctionist up into
a corner by depriving him Of the sup
port which plot used to receive from
the introduction of timely specter
and il dreams are to go the way O,
ghosts, it is obvious that novel writer
will find the area of their imaginative
energy painfully circumscribed.
Perhaps the most practical lesson
taught at the Royal Institution lecture
was one which may assist us to ,tnow
which of our dreams are signs thai
something is wrong with our bodily
organization. AS rule, said the lee.
turer, it is better not to dream at all.
Dreamlessness is usually symptom OF
all-round health. A child's dreams are
Invariably signs OF disturbed health,
and should be regarded with anxiety.
For adults it is a good thing to know
that we may be sure that our brains
are being overstrained when our nightly
dreams relate to events Of the day, and
II we actually seem in sleep to be con.
tinuing our daily work this is danger
signal which must never be disregarded
When we feel wenried in the morning
very likely'it results from dreams that
we have forgotten, and then the best
thing to do is to take exercise. With
out cNming to any decided opinion as tc
the supernatural meanings attributed
to dreams we can at least profit by thest
practical hints. Considered as product,
of bad digestion dreams cannot be rea
sonably expected to tell us anything o.
a useful character or to supply us with
any warning, except one directed
against the continuation of depravec
dietetic habits If it is true that the
sleep OF health is dreamless, then it be
comes difficult to believe that the only
persons to whom visions in sleep are
youchsafed should be the victims of in
digestion. 1T is always puzzle for per
sons OF an unimaginative turn of mint
to understand how the future, which
does not yet exist, can be supposed t.
have any effect on the present, and it il
must be admitted that dreams of warn
ing are much harder to believe in thar
the brain waves and Thought trans
ferences" which members OF the Psy
chical Research society take as matters
quite in the ordinary course of things
There is a considerable mass of testi
mony in favor of the power of the mine
to produce results at an enormous dis
| tance by some system OF psychical teleg
raphy of which nobody has yet discov
cred the secret A man who goes t.
sleep and dreams that his brother i
being killed by wild tribe in Centra
Africa and who Rfterward hears tina
he did meet with that fate at the pre-
; else time when the vision occurred, neet
not fly to any supernatural explanation
OF the phenomenon. 1t is quite differ