The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-04-18
PHENOMENA OF. DREAMS.
Pigments OF Thocght During Sleep
Vanish In Waking Hours

Pigments OF Thocght During: Sleep
Vanish In Waking Hours.
Mental phenomena have OF late years
been subjected TO scientific invcstiga-
ton In what is known us modern phys
iological psychology. and an attempt
has been made to bring them under
the laws that apply to material things.
Many curious connections between the
mind and the body have been discov-
cred. but dreams seem to resist analy-
sis. 1t is impossible for nn outsider
to note the dreams of another person,
and the dreamers own report is apt
to be very indefinite, for he cannot
tell what he really dreamed. but only
what he thinks he dreamed. We all
have noticed how quickly IL dream
fades and is forgotten unless set down
ia writing promptly on waking.
a theory has been ndduced which
seems to connect the phenomena OF
dreaming with the gradual manner IN
, which human consciousness has risen
from the depths-from dead matter
perhaps-in the long history OF the
race. 1t Is that sleep submcrgcs us
sometimes as Il flood might submcrgc
Il continent. covering UP the lower part
OF our natures first AMI not blotting ont
our higher moral principles till the
last, ana thereby reversing the steps OF
the process through which man passed
III his development from 4 lower state
thus the first power an animal nc-
Quircs is the coordination OF its mus.
clcs and its will, the power TO make
prompt, decisive movements OF its
| II.
children during the first year or two of
their lives and is nearly the entire sum
OF the faculties of the lowest savage
In the state Of sleep this power IS lost
first, for sleepwnlking is entirely IN
unconscious action, the body acting ns
machine not under control of tho
VIII. AS the savage rises in the plane
OF life he acquires the rndimentary
| reasoning powers and becomes able to
estimate roughly the relation Of cause
and effect. This logical power is the
next faculty we lose as sleep rises froi:l
the depths over us.
| Every one must have noticed that IN
dreams things happen Mt random. We
find ourselves in strange places, and
| people appear and disappear on the
| While we are in this condition we arc
| still capable Of remorse If We do my.
thing wrong, and we feel fear or Joy
Our higher moral natures are still nc.
tive. Now, the conscience and the cS.
adjustment in the mind of n reason.
able standard Of ethics nre the last
things that grow up in the mind Of man
either in the race or IN the individual
Savages have but the rudiments OF
either. and only the man In whom the
conscience is developed can be called
civilized. In the final stage sleep rises
30 high as to cover up our moral nn-
lures. the peaks of which had projected
above the fog covering our logical pow
ers. In this condition we kill our best
friends In our dreams without the
slightest hesitation and are troubled
with no remorse, though we commit in
imagination frightful and unnecessary
crimes In mood Of placid Indifference.
It Is believed that the experience of
every one as to the character of
dreams, CT, rather, Of sleep, will con-
firm the reality Of the above stages
Nearly nll who have testified on the
subject agree that in "sleep thinking
their logical powers disappear first and
their moral natures afterward. If It
be really so and sleep is rehenrsa.
backward CT the great drama Cf hu.
man development. our nightly repnse
is q more snriov> mntter than we
thought 1t tc be and ought not to be
lightly entered into. If our dreams do
dimly shadow the stages Of life hietoFy
OF the race. 1t is only another proof
Of our common origin and our mys-
terious heredlties.-Hartford Times.