The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-11-29
DREAMS SCIENTIFICALLY EXPLAINED.

Y L J.
what the actual sclentlnc view OF dream
ing now Is may be inferred from lecture
delivered on the subject at the Royal insti-
tuition by Dir. II. W. Richardson. In the
poets view dreams are visitors from the
ivory gate, or, as Shakespeare calls them,
children of an idle brain;' but science is
more prosuic and teaches that dreams may
be, after all, nothing more than the com
mon vibrations of terrestrial media acting
upon II corporeal vibrai orium," like the
sound heard on IL wire in tension long after
it has been struck by the musician.
All musical instruments dream" SAWS
Dr. Richardson, after we cease to play on
then," and If we bring the microphone into
use we can hear the dream. This is as
near poetry as science will permit us to mp
proach in explaining the phenomena of
thought going on during sleep, for the &C
complshed lecturer proceeded to inform
ms audience that dreams are all explain
able on physical grounds--thcrc is no mys-
terry about them save that which springs
from blindness to fncts."
After dividing dreams into subjective
anu 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 fair stumble
OF the ruthless way in which science dis
poses of superstition" Against the i'm
aSinaCive view of the Significance of
dreams men of science protest, and will
probably continue to protest us long as
there are any men of science left.
Perhaps the most practical lesson taught
ut the Royal institution lecture was one
which may assist us to know which of our
dreams are signs that something is wronu
with our bodily organization. AS a rule,
sad the lecturer, it is better not to dream
at all. Drcamlessness is usually Il sim of
all round health. A child's dreams are
invariably signs of disturbed health and
should be regarded with anxiety. For
adults 1t is Il good thing to know that we
may be sure that our brains are being over
strained when our nightly dreams relate
to events of tho day, and If we actually
seem in sleep TO be continuing our daily
work, this is n danger signal which must
never he disregartled.
When we feel wearied in the morning
very likely it results from dreams that we
nave forgotten, and then the best thing to
do Is to take exercise. Without cominl. to
any decided opinion rs to the supernatural
meanings attributed to dreams we can Mt
leaSt profit by these practical hints Con
sidered rs products of bad digestion dreams
cannot be reasonably expected to tell us
anything of II useful character or to supply
us with any warning. except one directed
against the continuance of deprayed diet
etlc habits. If it is true that the sleep of
heaith Is drcamless, 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 puzzle for persons of nm nm
nj ind IN,
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-
neve in than the "brain waven and
Thought transference," which members of
the Psychical Research society take rs
matters quite in the ordinary course OF
things. There is n considerable mass of
testimony i'll favor of the power of the
mind to produce results at an enormous
distance by some system of psychical te-
Biography of which nobody has yet discoy-
cred the secret.
~ man who goes to sleep and dreams
that his brotheris being killed by n villa
tribe in central Africa, and who afterwarl
hears that he did meet with that fate M
the precise time when the vision occurred.
need not fly to any supernatural expana.
tlon Tor the phenomenon. 1t is quite diff
ferent when n dream tells of something
which is to happen in IL few months time.
In the latter case most people will prefer
to Join with science in attributing the fact
either to law of condolences or to q sim
pie delusion. We must do science the JUS
tlce to admit that, if she increases the
Sloomness OF life i'll some directions, as bv
her doctrine of the struggle fer existence.
she decreases it in other respects, one of
which is by aiding in the gradual Danish
ment of any confidence in visions and
onens and ..weirduess'' penernllv~-