Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1905-06-27
MYSTERY OF DREAMS.
Tho Wonders the Brain Secs In tho
Fraction of u, Second. E%j


Fraction of ~, Second. ~
1T Is not unusual to hear. one sny that
lie has scen dreaming about something
all night, when possibly his dream &C.
cupicd only Il very short time. Many
attempts have been made to; measure
the time occupied IN IL dream, and rec
ords appear from time to time in the
papers showing that often elaborate
ones occupy but few seconds. The
following incident is told by gentle.
man who vouchcs for its accuracy:
lie was engaged one afternoon with
u clerk In verifying some long columns
of figures that had been cA,ic,l from
one book TO another. TL,Snumbers.
representing amounts IN dollars and
cents. were composed of six or seven
figures. Tho clerk would read. for in
stance, Fourteen. one forty-two,
twelve" making the umuunt of S14.-
1d212, and tile gentleman would M
swer, Check" to Indicate that the
copy was correct. Page after page had
been read as rapidly as The words
could be uttered. encI number rcceiv-
Ing the CHECK" The work was drowsy,
and 1t was with difficulty lie could
keep his eyes open.
Finally sleep ovcrcamc him. and he
drcameG--lrcnmcd of an old horse lie
hau been accustomed to drive twenty
hyc or thirty years ago. lie could not
recall any special INCIDENT, connected
with the dream except the locality, ana
the distinct sight of the horse anu of
the buggy to which lie had driven him.
He awokc suddenly and, us n number
was ended, called "Check." ,IIe.wns
conscious Of having slept and Of hav-
Ing dreamed and said to tile clerk:
Charlie, have been asleep. How
many of those numbers have miss
ed?" "Nonc," lie replied You have
checked every one" Close question.
Ing developed the fact that of the fig
ures $l4,1I2.12 he had heard the four.
teen and the twelve, but had slept and
dreamed during the time occupied in
rapidly uttcring the words zone forty.
two He tried by reading other num-
bers to measure the time and thinks II
could not have been more than half n
second
Another story is told of q man who
sat before his fire fl n drowsy .condi-
tlon. A drift blowing ncross. the
room set large photograph on the
mantel to swaying. A slender vase
was In front of 1t, and the man re.
members wondering. IN mood Of
whimsical Indifference, whether the
picture would blow forward and send
the vase to the floor
Finally Il gust of wind did topDlc the
picture. and 1t struck the vase. The
man remembers having been curi0usly
relieved In his state of drowsincss TINT
at last the ''old thing was going to full
and he done with it" ,ftS.T.
Presently. lie was in the midst of a
complicated business transaction in q
western city miles away. All the de.
tails of new and unlneard Of scheme
were coming forth from his lips, and a
board of directors was listening, The
scheme prOspered. He moved his fam.
lily west. Fragments of the Journey
thither and gllmpses OF the fine house
he bought came before his vision.
a crash woke him. The vnse had
struck the floor. He Ind dreamed an
linlived life covering years, and all in
the time 1t took for the vase which he
had seen topping before he fell asleep
to fall five feetv-and break.-Yo
Companion.