The morning news., 1892-01-27
WHAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF.
Composed of Memory Pictures Stored
Like Photographic Neg Zstivss.

From the Washington star.
What dreams ara made of ia not at all
difficult to determine" said a psychologist
TO a Star writer. "They are composed of
/ the memory pictures which are stored away
In the brain from birth until death. In
| sleep one wanders amid scenes which are
4 the shadows Of actual views and land
| scapes beheld at one time or another In
waking moments The sights one wit
nesses and the people who move and have
their ghost>hke being in that mysterious
[ world Of fancy form q sort Of phantasma-
| goria. mid which the dreamer goes about,
! sometimes observing with interest or won
der and at other times engaging in conver-
| sations. It is all reflection of the waking
| life that is past, although occasionally COM
| binations OF old impressions give rise to new
and original thoughts. Not a few great
Ideas OF invention have sprung from visions
| Of the night.
The operations of the brain in sleep
afford to the psycho-physicist most inter-
| esting subject of study. Apparently one
always dreams while asleep, because the
brain can never stop thinking; but dream
life, being merely a reflection Of actual
waking existence, is naturally shadOwy aud
less vivid. The landscapes seen are usually
viewed IN sort of twilight; faces of per-
sons are in most cases blurred and indistinct.
w" ou1 ltiSiAs III MY own uTehtubt lhk6
up something 60 read, like q newspaper
article, and l find myself very much an
noyed at experiencing great difficulty in
perustng the subject matter, simply because
L am unable TO make it up with sufficient
rapidity as go along.
THE MECHANICAL PART OF THE BRAIN.
ut Is the mechanical part Of the brain
which is active during sleep. Al all events,
the intelligence does not seem TO be awake.
The faculty which we call the Judgment is
| of duty, and hence, one does not perceive
the absurdity of many dreams. Never
| theiess, one certainly does not
| lack PERCEPTION of the humorous
under such conditions l, myself. have
many time been reused from slumber by
my own laughter at some ridiculous occur
renee. My belief is that we frequently
take part in very interesting conversations
| while dreaming, and the extraordinary part
OF it is that we are obliged to perform both
parts in such a dialogue, or even more
when greater number than two people
| are speaking, although that Is rare. All
these things are purely speculative ques-
tlons, because in the nature of things we
can secure few reliable data on the subject
study OF the phenomena of dreams can
| be best performed when one Is in that
curious state between sleeping and waking
that is apt to arrive in the morning before
one gets out of bed One realizes then very
| often that one is dreaming, and while doing
so observes with interest whatever goes on.
The trouble is that the very exertol of this
conscious attention is apt to wake one up.
| Often have felt the utmost anxiety lest I
should awake before l had finished q par-
ticularly pleasant or amusing dream, but
the task Of trying to stay asleep under such
circumstances is a very difficult one.
Upon waking up after a night's sleep
one usually has the impression Of a very
brief time passed since he went TO bed.
This maY be simply for the reason that the
comparatively dim and shadowy dream
events have not left any vivid impressions
upon the memory. For all we can tell it
may be that the doings Of our sleepy mo-
ments seem during their progress TO occupy
an extended period. In exceptional cases
persons have imagined during compare
lively brief sleep that they have lived for
years. De.Quincey, the celebrated opium
eater, tells how in single night be passed
whole centuries shut up Inside OF Egyptian
tombs in company with clammy crocodiles
and in other equally unpleasant situations.
SOMETHING ABOUT BAD DREAMS.
~ have no doubt that In what we call
bad dreams we often undergo great deal
of very intense suffering. When l was a
little boy was much afflicted with them,
| and | finally became so accustomed TO them
| that came to realize their unrealitY in my
sleep. Then l did not mind them any
longer, and, being of an imaginative turn
of mind, l cultivated them with a view
to making them as horrible as possible.
| I got so at length that with me going to bed
wss almost as entertaining as going to the
| circus, inasmuch as l could conIure up
more wonderful spectacles than were ever
offered to the public by Barnum or Fore
paugh. curious point about my own
dreams is that, although am certainly a
person of most moral and proper behavior
In my waking moments. | am addicted
while asleep to committing the most aston
ishing improprieties.
IA person who suffers habitually from
Nightmares is apt TO be cause Of distress
to other people as well as to himself. Once
upon a tune was making a visit at the
house Of some friends in Perth Amboy, N.
j. In the middle of the night
was reused from a sound sleep by
most appalling yeIls of murder and rob-
bers. Jumping out of bed l started to the
rescue, but was unable to find the door OF
the room. Perhaps you have known what
it is to be lost in q strange room at
night. The one l occupied was not
trying to find my way out Of it, and
without success. No match was at hand.
Finally, having heard no more shrieks,
made up my mind that If there had been a
tragedy it was all over by that time, and,
despairing of discovering way out of my
apartment, | went to bed and asleep again d.
The next morning lear ned at the break
fast table that my host had merely had one
of the bad dreams to which he was accus-
toned. Iu such case tbiuk that a guest
ought to be warned beforehand"