The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1896-08-26
DREAM MYSTERIES.
MAY BE sHApowY MEMORIES OF PRE-
vous EXISTENCE.

Little Satisfaction Found In the Many
Explanations Given For the Formation Of
tho Phantasmagoria which Como 10 Us
- W. Sleep.
In thoughtful. we'll written article
ON dreams and Their Mysteries, in
The North American Review, Elizabeth
Bisland reminds us that we arc 30 ia
nniliar with the phenomena Of sleep
that the strangcst dreams come as no
surprise. She says, truly:
prove that you have the hypnotic
power to make man feel pain or pleas
ure without material cause; that You
can force him 10 believe himself a SOL
der, say, or woman, or that ne Ia
three feet high, or two persons ut once,
and he will cape upon this occult mas
fiery with awe and wild surprise-he
who every "a hours Of his life, with no
more magic potion than healthy fatigue,
with no greater wonder working weapon
than pillow, may create for himself
phantasmical delusions beside which all
mesmeric suggestions arc but the fat
test Of dull commonplace"
Because people are afraid of being
Thought superstitious with regard to
dreams there has been an unscientific
avoidance of the whole topic, which is
no less superstitious and puerile. the
consequence of which foolish revulsion
has been that one OF the most curious
functions Of the brain is still in period
of universal investigation-left unex-
aminod and unexplained Some dab
bling there has been in the matter, but
so far no tenable explanation has been
offered of those strange illusions of
sleep with which all mankind is famil-
lar. The results up TO this time of this
dabbling are for the most part of little
more value than the contents Of the
greasy, well thumbed ,dreambooks that
formed the only and dearly beloved III
brary of eighteenth century milkmaids
and apprentices. The greater portion 'of
such labor as has been bestowed ON the
subject has been mainly directed toward
efforts to prove the extreme rapidity
with which the dream passes through,
the mind, and that it is some triNis,l
outward cause at the moment Of rons-
ing from slumber, such as noise, a
light or the like, which wakes the
brain to this miraculous celerity of i'm
aginative creation
The general conviction that dreams
occur only at the instant Of the awaken
ing shows how little real attention has
been bestowed npon the matter, since
the most casual observation of "the dog
that hunts in dreams" would show that
he may be chasing the wild deer and
following the roe in the gray kingdom
of seeming without breaking his slum-
beTs. He will start and twitch and give
tongue after the phantom quarry he
dreams himself pursuing. But given the
truth Of any one Of these assertions, still
the heart Of the mystery has not yet
been plucked out, since it ia not ex-
planned why noise or CLEAN Of light
-auch as the senses are quite familiar
with In waking consciousness-shou
at the moment Of rousing cause the
brain to create with inoonceivable ra-
pidity a series Of phantasmagoria in
order to explain to itself the familiar
phenomena Of light or sound.
1t is broadly asserted by many that
the memory retains each and every ex-
perience which life has presented for its
contemplation, but this is hardly true.
1t makes to certain extent q choice
and chooses oftentimes with apparent
caprice To demonstrate the truth of
this, LET ono endeavor to recall the first
impression retained by his childish
mind, and it usually proves to be some-
thing extremely trivial
A lady, interrogated as to this, de-
clared her first clear memory was o
sense Of the comfort to her tired little
2-year-old body Of the clean Linen sheets
Of the bed at the end of the most perilous
and adventurous journey, and Of whose
startling incidents her memory had pre-
served nothing. Again this capricious
faculty will seize ON some few high
lights In vivid picture and reject all
the unimportant details As q rule,
however. 1t is the profound STRINGS of
the emotions which wake the memory
to activity. A woman never forgets her
first lover. A man to the end Of his Life
can recall his first triumph.
Miss Bisland believes that we inherit
many Of the memories that come TO NJ,
waking a. we'll a sleeping. Every ono
hes felt many times In his life . sense
Of familiarity with incidents that have
had no place In his own experience and
has found It impossible to offer any en-