The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1892-04-20
DREAMS.
Explanations and Incidents OF the
Phenomena of Dreamiand.

| often considered as q communication from
the spirit world, from the Deity, and occa-
sionally brought good or evil upon
the people OF q whole nation, or
changed course of government,
though the only foundation it ever had in
fact was in impressions on some sensory
nerve, as seeing, feeling, hearing, smelling
or tasting, generally feeling or hearing.
In sleep the nervous system is in a
| quiescent state and Inconsistencies OBJ
tsins, and, upon waking, we have but a
vague idea il any, of how long we have
slept, ii the sleep has been sound and per-
feet. Though the brain in perfect sleep
takes no cognizance OF any passing events,
as all avenues to that citadel are closed,
the vital functions of life are still main
tanned uninterrupted. The heart keeps
the blood in circulation by its regular
throbs, and the lungs furnish the oxygen
in interru pied respiration, while digestion
and assimilation proceed as IN waking
/ hours.
The brain is composed of many differ
ent parts, called organs, each performing
q function peculiar to itself and one that
J
all the body, each part does its own work,
and can do nothing else The heart pro-
! pells the blood, the lungs do the breath
! ing, eyes the seeing, ears the hearing, OIL
factory nerves the smelling gustatorv
nerves the tasting-so every part has its
own work, and can, by no possibility, do
the work or another part. This principle
| applies to the brain as we'll as to the BODY
! There is an organ OF memory, and it re-
| members all that is remembered, one of
reason that does all of that.
Dreaming Ia crossing the borderland
| between sleeping soundly and being fully
awake, and very narrow strip of land it
/ is, never requiring more than a few
/ seconds to cross, though days. even ages
! sometimes, seem TO have passed in one
i dream
/ Were the brain but one organ il would
/ have TO be asleep or awake as a whole,
and dreams could not occur.
! Dreaming is but thinking, and is gov
| erned by the same rules all thought is
governed by, though imperfect thinking
may be remaTkab e. Like all thought 1t
is excited by some suggestion coming
through the avenue of some one of the five
senses, and that suggestion or impression
made on the brain, that is TO say the
mind, is Immediately connected with
something that has made more or less of a
deep impression ON the dreamer. Thus
two gentlemen were sleeping in the same
room-one was conductor of passenger
train and the other a railroad bridge
builder.
A door was closed with bang, making
loud noise; each heard it and COM
tnenced TO dream, that 1t is TO think about
1t, and connecting it with their daily voca-
ton. The conductor dreamed that he had
run bis train upon the very bridge the
bridge builder was to visit on his train
the next morning and examine. He
dreamed the bridge broke and all went
down with terrible crash, which was
the noise he heard He heard the cries
OF the wounded, the groans of the dying
de thought he went to the nearest
telegraph office and telegraphed the acct
dent 10 the officers OF the road and most
seriously upbraided them for sending him,
and kept on in this train of thought till
he became witness in the suits for
damage
His friend, the bridge builder. dreamed
substantially the same dream, that the
bridge went down, manv were killed,
more wounded, he complained to the
officers who still kept trains passing over
the bridge when IL was considered weak.
and upon waking each told the other his
dream and both We're greatly surprised,
and soon both had dreamed the same
dream. BY hearing both stories, forgetting
the little vague details of the dream, but
remembering the statements all seemed
one.
Though this seemed so strange to them.
how plain and simple to student of the
brain and mind. One OF these was going
to inspect bridge supposed to be in
dangerous condition, which he was ex-
pected TO repair, he was going on the
train conducted by the other At supper
and before going TO bed they had talked
the matter over together, and retired with
that uppermost in their minds, and the
noise from the closing door suggested to
each the fail OF the bridge, that event sug-
Rested killing and wounding people, the
dead sinking, the living struggling in the
water, broken cars, wrecked bridge and
all else.
The writer once dreamed he was wad-
ing in cold water then he was boy again.
He dreamed a crawtish laid hold of his
toe which caused a start and "A scream He
awoke to see his mischlevous eight-vear-
old son. who had come to call him to
breakfast, standing at the foot of the bed
The latter had thrown the cover back, the
cold air upon his feet suggested the idea of
wading in cold water as be used to do
when a boy. a clothes pin with a stout
string 10 it, fastened upon his toe was the
crawfish, to the exceeding delight of the
little fellow who put it there. Waking
followed and not to exceed five seconds
had elapsed from the time the cover WAS
thrown back till the sleeper was entirely
awake, though hours seemed to have
passed wading. fishing and worrying that
lett much weariness
In dreams the dreamer never sees or
hears anything that he has not seen or
heard before. Dreams never create new
things or ideas, that which has been pre-
sented TO the mind before, passes in a
panoramic review before it again. In
short, 1t is remembering, is reVerIing to
1t. Tho dream NAV bring together a
heterogeneous tumble of the most widely
diverging facts and objects, or il may col
lect certain incidents together so plainly
that the dreamer can scarcely keep from
believing that some person has talked
with him in his sleep. The rapidity
OF the action of the mind while dreaming,
and the long space of time dreamers think
they have been dreaming, is accounted for
by the fact that sleep locks the mind up
from external surroundings, thus prevent
ing taking note of passing time. The first
part of the dream, for q second or two. !
may be about something that transpired
in the morning, the mind thon may Quick |
IL pass TO noon or 10 an event that took