The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1900-10-30
THE BRAIN IN SLEEP.
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL CAUSES
THAT PRODUCE DREAMS


stomach and the Food That 1t Con-
tains-Events That Occur In a Frac-
ton of a Second.
Dreams are generally repetition OF
thoughts unguided by reason. Those
caused by internal action or brought
about by action within the body are
due entirely to the action and state OF
the stomach, which In turn is affected
by the quantity and quality Of food
consumed.
The first ends or feelers Of the nerves
are located In the walls Of the stom-
ach. and as the food is digested they
draw up the nourishment and distrib-
ute it throughout the nervous system
to replace the waste that has taken
place during the day. If the stomach
be surcharged with an abundance or
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 fluid traverses chan
mel more or less forcibly the thought
which originated that passage Is re-
produced more or less wildly; hence
insures the general mixing up OF
thoughts which originally had NO con-
nection with each other.
An overloaded stomach also causes
a flow Of blood to the brain, sent there
by nature to assist in assimilating the
extra nourishment, and the overcharg-
ed 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 fancieS that often
come to us when we sleep.
The stomach, too, Is a mill which
keeps on forever grinding, the walls
acting as the grindstones. 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 irritation Of
the nerves which produces that pecul-
lar sensation of falling from some
great height.
To understand how external action
will affect the dream Of sleeper 1t
must be borne in mind that those
dreams which seem to take hours, and
even days, in passing really occupy but
q minute fraction Of a second If,
therefore, we are awakened by some
loud, strident noise, say by the crack
ing Of 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 a few moments only
have elapsed, but those few moments
were sufficient to allow of dream of
apparently several hours duration.
AS an example: A milkman, driving
up beneath an open bedroom window,
cracks his whip smartly. Immediate
ly the thought produced by the sound
causes dream. The sleeper imagines
himself soldier who has fallen into
the hands of the enemy. He is led out
to be shot. He stands blindfolded, with
hands tied, before the platoon of sol
diers. 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
milkman's wagon as he cracked his
whip and drove off over some rough
! cobblestones.
| A blow, a cut or sensation Of pain
will operate in the same way and
@aken certain channels Of thought
connected with pain just as the noise
awoke those connected with sound.
For instance, sleeper dreams that
he is closed up in some close travelling
carriage and is being driven rapidly off
in an unknown direction by 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
awakes to find that in his sleep he had
carelessly thrown out an arm, and his
hand has smashed some fine medicine
glass on a 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 awoke to real
lie the fact.-Chicago Record.