The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-09-22

the Phantasmaeoria Which Come to u
as We Sleep.
In thoughtful. we'll written article
ON Dreams and Their Mysteries, > in
The North American Review, Elizabeth
Bisland reminds Us that we are so ia
miliar with the phenomena Of sleep
that the strangest 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 to believe himself a sol
der, say, or woman, or that he is
three feet high, or two persons at once,
and he will cape upon this occult mas
terry with awe and wild surprise-he
who every PA hours of his life, with no
more magic potion than healthy fatigue,
with no greater wonder working weapon
than a pillow, may create for himself
phantasmical delusions beside which all
mesmeric suggestions are 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-
amined 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
dabbllng are for the most part of little
more value than the contents of the
greasy, we'll thumbed dreambOoks that
formed the only and dearly beloved Ii
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 trivial
outward cause at the moment of rous-
ing from slumber, such as a noise, a
light or the like, which wakes the
brain to this miraculous celebrity 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 upon the matter, since
the most casual observation of 1.-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 sIum-
beers. 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 is not ex-
planned why noise or Il CLEAN of light
such as the senses are quite familiar
with in waking conSciOusn eSs-shOuld
at the moment of rOusing cause the
brain to create with inconceivable ra-
pidity a series of phantasmag6ria 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
but this is hardly true
1t makes to certain extent a choice
and chooses Oftentimes with apparent
caprice. To demonstrate the truth of
this, let one endeavOr to recall the first
impression retained by his childish
mind, and it usually proves to be some
thing extremely trivial
A lady, Intercepted as to this, de-
;lared her first clear memory was d
sense of the comfort to her tired little
3 year old body OF the clean linen sheets
IF 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 ali |
he unimportant details. As a rule, |
however, it is the profound STRINGS OF |
;he emotions which wake the memory |
20 activity. A woman never forgets her |
irst lover. A man to the end of his life |
AN recall his first triumph.
Miss Bislaud believes that we inherit |
many of the memories that come to US,
waking as we'll as sleeping. Every one
las felt many times in his life a sense
If familiarity with incidents that have
lad no place i'll mis- own experience and |
las found it impossible to offer any ex-
,lanation for the feeling. Coming sud
Ienly around turn of hill upon a
nay bound with keen sense of recog-
ition of its unfamiliar outlines. In the
midst of a tingling sense of emotion
ensation of the whole incident being
nere dull repetition will rob it of its
oy or pain. A sentence begun by
riend is recognized as trite and old be-
ore it is half done, though it refers to
matters new to the nearer. A sound,
u sensation, Will awaken feel
ngs having no connection with the oc-
aston.
In sleep the brain is peculiarly active
I certain directions, not being distracted
Y the multitude of impressions con-
family conveyed TO 1T by the live senses.
nd experiments with hypnotic sleepers
rove that some OF its functions become
l sleep abnOrmally acute and vigorous.
Why not the function of memory? The
Ossessions which during the waking