New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1905-05-24
Common Causes
g Of Dreams

"a most remarkable and puzzling affair
has just happened in our family,' said a
young man to his physician few days
ago. AN old aunt of mine living in a
two or three nights in succession that
she was being cut in two or had met
with some other dreadful accident
she was very much disturbed over
1t, thinking 1t must be a bad omen, but
as she did not believe in fortune telling
Ing or anything of that sort, she made
Of hers who was q specialist in nervous
diseases. Some Of her relatives smiled
when they heard of her intention, and
said her ere dreams as were due to nothing
ton easily durable by some simple house
hold remedy. and that she was making
altogether too much fuss over the matter
always extremely careful in her diet,
and having none of the symptoms of in,
Digestion this explanation did not satisfy
her. She went to the specialist, who pre-
scribed for her, and she came home in a
much more cheerful frame Of mind Now
comes the part of the story that puzzles
me-. The specialist sent for her son, and
warned him that perhaps his mother hao
a bad kind in a woman of her age were
sometimes a sign of impending death.
That very night she had an apoplectic
stroke, and died within a few hours.
How do you explain an occurrence of this
kind doctor?''
What do you think Of it yourself?'
asked the physician:
not at all superstitious, and yet I cannot
help thinking that now and again people
do receive in dreams warning of impend-
Ing calamity or approaching DEATH
1.-THE whole subject of Dreams" said
the physician, takes us into a region
that has not yet been fully explored. In
general, It may be said that dreams
we have seen and heard in our waking
hours, of impressions and ideas lately re
ceived and Of ideas more or less closely
associated with them. Probably most
dreams are caused by certain morbid or
uncomfortable states of the body during
sleep. The specialist who foretold the
this fact 49, = 'eN'
"But how could she tell him what state
her body was in during sleep. Appar-
ease"
"Such information is not always neces-
sary. 1t is a well-known medical fact
that often before the signs of disease
appear, morbid dreams occur-prodromic
and in some cases each disease has it's
own peculiar dream. Thus heart disease
is frequently accompanied by dreams Of
impending death; previous to attacks of
cerebral hemorrhage patients dream Of
experiencing some frightful calamity as
of being cut in two, which your aunt
nounced bysdreams Of terrifying char
acter, and these are also among the
signs of cerebral congestion. Dreams
about fire have sometimes, in women oc-
about blood and red objects are COM
mon in infammatory conditions. When
a person dreams of distorted forms there
is abdominal obstruction or his liver is
not in good order. And so with many
other diseases
But" said the young man, what is
1t. precisely: that starts one dreaming
in this fashion,"
stSorne bo6i1v can 60 fion away. which, II, q
imagination runs riot in that half-awake
condition in which dreams commonly &C.
cur. The reflective faculties of the mind
judgment, reason, volttion,- the powers Of
choice and control, are all in allegiance,
and so there is an unbridled sway of the
Imagination and an incoherent associa-
",rhis has been proved by actual ex-
pertinent. One scientist, practicing on
another, found that when the lips were
ter being torn from the lips; when tweez-
ers were made to vibrate near the ear,
there was dream of church bells, and
experience of us all Who has not had a
frightful nightmare because of an irdi-
gestible or heavy meal eaten late at
night !sht san.o 80 .,4eooa+.o
often due to imperfect ventilation Of the
bedroom. Ii the room is too hotwe
dream Of burning houses. The dreadful
sensation of falling from great height
may be due to nothing more than the in
voluntary movement of the foot. The
evolutionists. however, say that this com
mon dream is an unpleasant legacy from
our remote ancestors Of the ape family.
who were accustomed to sleep on the
branches of trees, and when they losT
their hold-as they did sometimes
consequences were SO serious as to make
the incident perpetual nightmare to
them and their descendants ever after ~
ward
"Physic1ans are occasionally resnon-
sible for bad dreams. ( "A man fell On
of the brain his physicians put a stronp
plaster on his head, and this gave fhe
patient considerable pain Toward
morning he fell asleep, and dreamed
very distinctly that he had fallen info
the hands of party of Indians Who Who
were scalping him. Here is another IN
stance of a more remarkable dream .nf
the same kind. An English general In
II I'd 2 s-aas