The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1910-07-28
ETERNAL MYSTERY OF DREAMS.
Many Theories in Explanation of Odd
Experiences in Sleep.

Hereward Darlington. in the New York
World.
In that mysterious borderland between
life and death which we call sleep we ex-
perience many OF the most remarkable
thoughts of our lives. Many of us would
be incapable OF imagining such wild
fancies as we ~involuntarily do in sleep.
some authorities, indeed, contend that we
are virtually mao each night; that the
similarity between dreams and insanity is
very close. When we remember the in
conference, the wildness, the absurdity of
some dreams, we are tempted to agree
with this; they resemble the rawlings of
the mailman.
Yet we must remember, too, that many
dreams have impaired information which
we could not have obtained or known in
the waking state. The bible is full of in
cidents of messages and visions occurring
during sleep; n cases are often heard
OF today in which telepathic or clairvo y
ant visions have been received during
sleep and woven into a dream. But of
course such cases are the exception. not
the rule.
Nearly every one who dreams at all
we all do, only we don't remember our
dreams-has experienced one or more Of
the following seven dreams:
l. The falling dream: dream of falling.
liz HylHB uTedIn, dream OF HylnS.
.. The dream Of inadequate clothing.
4. The dream of not being able to get
away from some beast or injurious per-
son or thing that is pursuing.
b. The dream Of being drawn irresistibly
to some dangerous place..
9. The dream that some darling wish
has been gratifed.
Z. The dream of being about to go on a
journey, and being unable to get your
things in your trunk, etc.
Here, then, are seven dreams which
nearly every one has experienced at one
time or smother. Since every one dreams
these dreams, there must be some reason
for it-some common law which acts upon
all alike. What may this be?
There are many causes for dreams. One
OF the commonest is this: The sensations
of the body send messages to the brain,
and these are woven into dreams. Thus,
If the bedclothes have fallen off and the
body is exposed, this will give the feeling
Of cold. Then we probably dream that we
are exploring the north pole with Cook
and Peary. Or, If we are clothed too
warmly, we dream we are being baked
alive by the inquisition, etc. The magma
ton seizes hu.u Of such fundamental sem
s%ations, dramatizes them, and weaves
them now into a beautiful romance, now
into a fearful nightmare. In our dreams
we are all actors:-"All the worlds a
stage, and all the men and women simply
players"
How about the terrible failing dreams?"
Many theories have been advanced to ex-
plain these dreams. The most rational is
probably the following. BY lying too long
In one position, the blood supply gets shut
off on the lower side of the body. Fol-
lowing this, all sensation in these parts
would be lost; we should no longer feel
the bed holding us up. Consequent upon
this, there would be the sensation hat
nothing was holding us-that we were in
space; that we were falling. In this way
most of those dreams are to be accounted
for.
there is a common belief that we should
die IL we ever struck the ground-ever
endeth such a fall. That is a superstition.
l have a case before me, as l write, of a
man who reached the bottom Of his fall,
saw himself smashed all to pieces, then
picked them up and glued them together
again! He seemed to himself to be a sort
of onlooker at the scene.