The Sunday globe., 1901-05-12

natural to suppose that the awakening
thought caught up chain of events in
the middle and carried them out to the
end. Do you catch my idea2 The last
/ events In the series, or those that you
remember and which you call a dream,
must have been suggested by others
which preceded them and must have oc-
| CURED even before that semi-conscous
state ensued While it might not be
natural TO suppose that a dream stopped
with the cessation OF thought as we sink
to sleep, it is unnatural to suppose that
the phenomenon we call dream should
begin with the beginning Of the semi
conscious state as we commence to wake,
for in many cases we are only cOgnizant
at the end of what must have been a long
dream"
Now, | will give you my theory. We
speak of going to sleep to rest the mind
and body. Now, what function of the
body and of the mind actually rest dur
ing the hours devoted to sleepH Just
one of each. Doesn't the circulation of
the blood continue through the night
just the same as in day The lungs per.
form the same operation as in wakeful-
ness; the liver go on with its seeretions
and the stomach produce digestion just
the same. You hear loud noise and
you dream Of an earthquake; light is
flashed before your eyes and you dream
of seeing contlagration. This proves
that the nerves do not rest, but are con-
stantly carrying distorted sensations to
the brain. No single organ of the
body rests with perhaps the exception of
the muscles, which are relaxed to some
extent. Every other organ and every
other function is just as busily engaged
during sleep as in the hours of wakeiul-
ness.
1t is just the same with the mind.
Every organ Of the brain, every function
of the mind, with one exception, goes on
during sleep Just as it does when the per-
son is wide awake. Me&ttai activity is
cent?: ,J5,ss nom birth to death, though
the operations of the mind are not always
recorded upon the tablets of memory.
Why is it, then that sleep reireshes both
the body and mindf Simply because the
will, the agent that directs all the func-
tions of both the body and mind, does
rest and is refreshed during the hours Of
slumber. The organs of the body or
mind do not tire; they are mere mechan-
isms that may wear out but will never
become weary. tits the directing agency,
the will power that becomes tired and
must have rest 1t is said, and said
truthfully, that "a change of work is as
good as rest and why2 Simply be-
cause the will, which has been intently
employed in one direction so long is re-
lieved by the change. Setyoursel down
TO write long article upon some subject
Your will directs your energies in one
channel; it calls upon your memory,
your Imagination and your powers of
logic to do their utmost in collecting
facts, fancies and arguments to be used
in the construction of the article, until
you say those functions are exhausted
and your pencil drops from your weary
hand. Your brain is weary, you say, and
needs rest You lay aside the article,
finished, and converse with your friends
or read some light literature, and the
WEAKNESS will wear off to an extent.
Why2 You think as many thoughts per
minute as you did while writing the
article, perhaps, but you are not tired by
them. The fact is, your brain was not
tired before, but your will power, because
of the intense application to your subject,
was exhausted. That is exactly what
occurs during your waking hours. Your
rested and refreshed by sleep.
"What has all this to do with dreamsl
just this Mental activity continues dur
| ing sleep. but thought is beyond the con.
| troll Of the will, and wanders whitherso.
| ever II chooses No matter how deep the
| sleep is the thoughts go on Just the same,
| but it is only when the person is semi
| conscious that the memory makes a rec
ord of the mental impressions, and it is
| for this reason that dreams are fragmen.
tary and that either the beginning or the
end of the series of event may be lost to
the recollection of the sleeper. Dream
ing, then, is a constant operation, and is
only continuation Of the waking
thoughts rendered free from control by
the unconscousness of the will power,
which is resting and recruiting itself in
slumber."
Then you do not attach any signif-
cance to dreams if they are but uncon-
trolled thoughts Of the brain2'
| On the contrary, | attach great sig.
niticance to dreams, though | have no
| good reason outside of my own expert.
| ence to do so. There are few important
events of ordinary every day life that are
not fOreshadowed by these nightly visi-
1 lOl D. NiluAt 1 uO nON shy lllhi Aut GNNnAn
are exactly portrayed to me in advance
of their coming, but that in their general
features they are detailed, so that when
they come they recall my dream so viv-
| idly that | can see the connection be
| tween the dream and the event. l rarely
dream Of what | have thinking been Of,
on retiring. Very few people do, l
| think, and the reason to me is plain.
The will during the day confines the
thought to certain subjects, aud as soon
as the will loses control over the thought
! they naturally seek any other subject
thdn those upon which they have been
exercised for so many hours.
81 have dreamed { persons aud things
of which have not thought for months.
and perhaps the next day some trifing
thing would call my attention to them,
and then slowly but surely would re-
call my dream Of the night before, which
had been perhaps all the morning try
ing to remember. Sometimes, as id this
case the dream is so faint as to reQure
the one furnished by the event to make
me remember it, and sometimes the
dream is so suggestive of the event that
l look forward to it as something that l
am sure will happen.
81 dreamed the other night of being in
a battle again with my old regiment in
the Army of the Potomac, but among all
the faces that surrounded me, | could
pick out but one that was familiar to me.
and that one belonged to a man whom
had not seen since the war and had only
heard OF incidentally several years ago as
being located in some OF the Western
territorties. The next day was called
to see a family on North Capitol street
professionally. 1t was new family |
had called on and, is my custom under