Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1899-10-25
THE BRAIN IN SLEEP.
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL CAUSES
THAT PRODUCE DREAMS.

, The Influence ON the Nerves by the
Stomach and the Food That 1t Con-
t,ins-Events That Occur In a Frac-
ton OF "a Second.
Dreams are generally 4 repetition of
thoughts ungUidcd by reason. Those
caused by internal action or brought
about by action within the body are
due entirely to the action and state or
tie stomach. which in turn is affected
by the quantity and quality OF food
consumed.
The first ends or feeders of the nerves
are located in the walls of the stom-
ach, and as the food is diGcSted they
draw up the nOurishmcnt ami distriD-
ute il throughout the nervous system
TO replace the waste that has taken
place during the day. If the stomach
Ice surchargcd with an abundance OF
heating food. too much nourishment is
forced upon the brain. causing an alb
normal filling of the channels, thereby
expanding them, bringing them in
touch with others and causing the mat
ter from one to overflow into or To mix
with the fluid of neighboring channels.
Whenever the nuid traverses Il chan
mel more or less fOrcibly the thought
which originated that passage i re-
produced more or less wildly; hence
insurcs the general mixing up OF
thoughts which originally had no con-
uection with each other.
An overloaded stomach also causes
n flow of blood To the brain, sent there
by nature to assist in assimilating the
extra nourishmcnt, and the overcharg-
ell blood vessels, pressing upon the
nerve channels near the brain, cause
even more turbulent disturbances. This
accounts for the. advice of so many
medical men that no considerable
quantity, especially OF animal food,
should be taken Immediately before
bedtime. The crossing, recroSSing and
touching of these thought channels
brought about in this way produce the
absurd mixtures of fancics that often
come to us when we sleep.
The stomach, too, is Il mill which
keeps on forever grinding, the walls
acting as the grindstoncs. When,
therefore, there is nothing between
them, or, in other words. when the
stomach is empty, one wall grinds up
on the other. causing an irriUltiOn of
the nerves which produces that pccul-
lar sensation of falling from some
great height.
To understand how external action
will affect the dream of Il sleeper it
must Ice borne in mind that those
dreams which seem to take hours, and
even days, in passing really occupy but
Il minute fraction of Il second. If,
therefore, we are awakened by some
loud, stridcut noise, say by the crack
in" of Il whip. then between the time
that the sound strikes the ear while
we are yet asleep and the time that
we are fully awake to realize what has
caused the sound few moments only
have elapsed, but those few moments
were sufficient to allow of n dream of
apparently several hours duration.
As an example: y milkman, driving
UP beneath an open bedroom window,
cracks his whip smartly. Immediate
Iy the thought produced by the sound
causes Il dream. The sleeper imagines
himself a soldier who has fallen into
the hands of the enemy. He is led out
to Ice shot. He stands blindfoldcd. with
hands tied. before the platoon of sol
dicrs. He hears the click. click, click
as the rifles are cooked. He hears the
word given. and the noise of the volley
rings out on his ears. Then he awakes
with start. To hear the rumble of the
mlkmau's wagon as lie cracked his
whip and drove off over some rough
cobblcstoncs.
y blow. Il cut or = sensation of pain
will operate in the same way and
& wakcn certain channels of thought
connected with pain just rs the noise
awol>C those connected with sound.
For instance. Il sleeper dreams that
lie * closed up in some close travelling
carriage and is being driven rapidly off
I'm an unknown direction 10y man who
has designs upon his purse and life.
He tries To shout. in vain he struggles
to get free and in the tusSle drives an
arm through the glass window of the
carriage. The hand is cut and bleed
ing 1t smarts fearfully, and he
awakcs to find that in his sleep he had
carclcSsly thrown out an arm, and his
hand has smashed some fine medicine
glass on Il stand by the bedside The
whole dream passed between the time
that the hand first struck the glass,
creating the sensation of pain. and the |
moment that the sleeper awolle to real
iZp tho fact ('hi,.a srn Iga.,rl