The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-14
DREAMS, IDLE DREAMS
scrryCE TURNS ITS SEARCHING
 EYE UPON THEM.
Many PeopIe Who Have Been Subject to UnpIeasant Mental Visions Take Steps to Prevent
 Them.
Kansas City Star.

 Kansas City star.t
 The specialists of pr. G. Stanley Halls famous brain study worKsnop at Clark University arc now busily nam mering away at dreams. James Ralpn Jewell, the psychologist in charge of this work, Is taking dream census among trusted individuals in various parts of the United States. and up to date the number of nocturnal Tisions reported to him runs high into the thousands. Many dream diaries ana dreambooks have also been turned over to him, and all of these data he is sitt- ing with very fruitful result.
 50 far as can be learned, no study of dreams from such a mass of data has ever been made before." said he. That bad dreams can be prevented is one of the most interesting observa- tions. An experiment which he has found successful in all cases attempt ed proves that the mind can train it. self to shut out what 1t has reason 10 fear will be the subject of dreams. In some cases such dreams have been pre- vented by the subjects merely think | ing of nothing" while counting sleep. | Others can best accomplish this men, | tai feat by turning their thoughts res- olutely away from the dreaded subject and by fixing attention upon totally ulncTcuI lOplC oNCi sO dreamland. Others prevent the appre- hended bad dream by reading some in- teresting story immediately before turning in for the night. One subject ! accomplishes the. desired result by counting or saying the letters of the alphabet after being tucked snugly in bed; another by saying certain | things" before embarking for the land | of Nod.
 Repeated dreams are found to be common to a majority of the subjects. considerable number of these persis- tent visions being nightmares and dreams of flying, in about equal mum l bers.
 Children's dreams are found 10 be mostly about animals and places, but after youth has passed persons and | events figure most. The psychologist discovers that there is a specific 'age of dreams" for most individuals, fall ing about the age of puberty and dawning youth.
 Our six most common dreams, mem toned in the order of frequency. are found to be nightmare, of falling, floating, smothering, flying and hover ing. The childs nightmare almost al- ways takes the form of some animal or monstrosity chasing the dreamer who is always unable to scream or move. Among youths the pursuing object Is usually some dreaded person, unless a morbid fear of some particular animal exists. Two young women subjects are always chased by cat or a horse. respectively, in their report ed night mares.
 Several subjects have been taught to cure themselves of nightmare simply by suggestion that they will not ex- perience 1t. Others have taught them- selves to recognize nightmare as being Nva1x A. hallucination. In the investigators opinion, nightmare Is a physical rather than a mental disturbance
 Over half of the dreams of floating thus far studied have definite local ity where the floating takes place, usu- ally some particular staircase in tho home. Many such dreamers are aware that the experience is not real, and consciously repeat 1t time after time for the pleasurable sensation which 1t produces. Also, those who fly in their sleep usually do so down the front staircase, but why this is the favorite disporting place for aerial dream gym nastics MT. Jewell Is not as yet able to explain. More than 90 per cent of his subjects have either walked or talked in their sleep, or have observed others doing so, and 15 per cent-alI Of them young women-frequently laugh or cry In their sleep. Six sing In their sleep. and two have simultaneously sung and played the piano while sleeping.
 The child in his dreams lives over again what he has seen, and per- haps read during the day. As we pro- gross in youth desires for money and property creep Into our dreams and we begin to make ourselves heroes in our vivid dream dramas. After youth the more important the event in our lives the longer the time before it begins to figure in dream life. For example. in bereavement the adult sell dom dreams of the dead for long time after their passing away, whereas the mass of the evidence collected by MT. Jewell shows that children's dreams reflect death almost at once Two thirds of his adult subjects report the intervals between the causes of their deeper emotions and the dream effects to have greatly heightened since child hood.
 The research Is going deeply into the causes of dreams Nightmare and many Of the dreams of flying, floating, etc., are found to be due largely to organic and muscular sensations. Cnil- dren are most apt to have nightmare when they are overtired; sometimes 1t is due to cramped position interfer- ing with circulation or respiration. Dreams of falling or flying are attri- buted by some observers distinctly to poor circulation, and can be prevented usually by medicine regulating heart action. Sudden concentration of the muscle controlling the stirrup bone of the ear is found. during sleep, to cause the sensation Of falling. Disturbances in the chest arising from the lungs, heart or stomach. may also cause this same dream. The rising and falling of our breathing muscles at such time communicate to the brain the same sensations as they would were we travelling through the air m great leaps.
 Dream places" are also under inves- tigation. Some of the most Interest," ing nocturnal visions are those in which subjects become familiar with places through dreaming of them, aI- though expressing certainty that they have never visited them. Thus, a Worcester woman of some thirty-five years has often dreamed of being in a large hotel, to whose location she has no idea. In the past several years she has explored many rooms of the hotel, sometimes through apartments which she has dreamed of before and which she recongizes. or, again through chambers as yet unexplored
 Puzzled by the large numbers of dreams of the end of the world re- ported from one section of the coun- try in particular, the psychologist