Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-12-10
DREAMS SCIENTIFICALLY EXPLAINED.
They Are Mental Vibrat .ons Caused by
Indigestion, Pain, Fever and Noise.

rhSy Are Mental Vibrations Caused by
Indigestion, Pain, Fever and Noise.
What the actual scicnti. view OF dream
ing now is may be inferred from lecture
delivered on the subject ~ The Royal insti-
tuition by Dr. +. " Iicl arGson In the
poet s view dreams are visitors from the
ivory gate, or, as Shakespeare calls them,
Children of IN idle brain;' but science is
| more prosaic and teaches hat dreams may
be, after all, nothing more than the com
| mon vibrations of terrest al media acting
upon a corporeal vibratorium," like the
| sound heard on wire in rension long after
it has been struck by the musician.
All musical instrume ats DREAM says
| DR.. Richardson, after we cease to play on
| them, and if we bring the microphone into
use we can hear the dream. This is as
near poetry rs science will permit us to ap-
proach in explaining the phenomena of
thought going ON during sleep for the ac-
complished lecturer proceeded to inform
his audience that dreams are all explain
able on physical grounds-there is no mys-
terry about them save 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
r 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 praC teal 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 organ cation. AS u rule,
said the lecturer, it is better not to dream
at all Dreamlessness S usually 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 a good thing TO know that we
= may be sure that our brains are being over.
: strained when our nightly dreams relatl
: to events of the day, and if we actually
seem in sleep to be continuing our daily
: work, this Is danger signal which mus;
{ ne er he disregarded.
= When we feel weari ID in the morning
!, very likely it results from dreams that We
: have forgotten, and then the best thing t
: do Is to take exercise. Without coming Il
: any decided opinion as to the supernatural
= meanings attributed 10 dreams we can al
le' st profit by these practical hints. Con
( sidered as products of lad digestion dreams
cannot be reasonably expected to tell u:
anything of useful cl aracter or 10 suppl,
: Us with any warning, except one directed
against the continuance Of dapraved diet
J, etc habits. If it is true that the sleep o
= health is dreamless ii en- il becomes diff
!. cult to believe that he only persons t.
/ u Y
- should be the victims Of indigestion.
1t is always puzzle for persons of an IN
imaginative turn of mind to understand
Il how the future, which does not yet exist
caa be supposed to have any effect on tn
: present, and it must be admitted tina
; dreams of warning are much harder to be
Eeve in than the brain wave" ant
" Thought transferenco, ;" which members O
the Psychical Research society take a
!. matters quite in the ordinary course O
:. things. There is a considerable mass O
testimony in favor of the power of tn
mind to produce results at an enormou
distance by some system of psychical te
Biography of which nobody has yet discov
| cred the secret.
A man who goes 20 sleep and dream
5, that his brotheris being killed by a viii
J. tribe in central Africl and who afterwar
ANsh'" btitA AG A4NA l4Lt-t Win bLs1J itlLt a
" the precise time when the vision occurred
r need not fly to any supernatural explains
n ton for the phenomenon. 1t is quite dill
IN ferent when a dream tells Of somethin
1t which is to happen il a few months time
x In the latter case most people viii prefe
a. to join with science il attributing the fac
IA either TO "A law of condolences or to a sin
s.. pie delusion. We nj lst do science the ju!
y- tice to admit that, if she increases tn
Is gloominess of life in some directions, as b
is her doctrine Of the struggle for existenc,
&c she decreases it in other respects, one {
b, which is by aiding in the gradual banisl
is meut of any confidence in visions an
,d omens and 'weirdne ss" generally.-LoT
don Telegraph.