Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-08-21
7f6 6sHo rs w/,~f

it with a snap by touching spring Something OF
the impression has been made upon the
writer by the nrikisha men Of Japan. or the coolies
of China.
Sleep, oh gentle sleep, how have | frightened
thee! IS the question put by the King IN Shake
speare's play of Henry w. The complaint,
accompanied by eager inquiry as to the way OF
woong this comforter of distressed and tired souls.
has been made by countless multtudes No one
to the device of the Greek brigand who had himself
sleep by the sound of the gold he had robbed
from travellers, as it was dropped from the rot OF
his a carpet spread beneath. But one
who has had experience may testify that lying
quietly awake. with muscles and mind relaxed, IS
very little injurious to health. compared with the
fear of insomnia and the consequent loss OF self
control.
Dreams Better Known than Sleep
THE mental life peculiar to the physiological con-
dition of sleep is dreaming. And upon the
and laws of this mental life modern psychology has
thrown no little light Indeed we know much more
the physiology of sleep. Observation and expert
ment have shown how much of the stuff that
dreams made of comes from the most insignificant
and yet subtle indications OF the senses. And in
deed this st uf " for persons with active bodies and
minds during waking hours, is quite submerged
under the more important intellectual and practical
material of experience.
For example the nervous excit alton from the in
ternal organs of the chest and viscera, and the
changes in the circulation of the blood are COM
paratively potent in dream life. The impeded move
ments of the heart or lungs frequent cause Of
nightmare and of other dist urbing forms of dreams
Flying in dreams may be caused by our becoming
sensitive to the rhythm of respiration; and falling
from heights may be due to some slight temporary
paralysis Of those of the skin. joints. and
muscles which yield the sense of position and sup
port. Sensations of hunger, thirst fever in the in
ternal organs, uneasiness in the stomach and in
testines give rise to innumerabe forms of disagree
able dreams. The peculiar mental accompaniment,
the outfit of the dream, will depend upon the mental
habits the culture and the total experience of the
dreamer
The influence of stomachic and intestinal cond
tions upon dream life has been observed for
turies. The Pythagoreans nterdicted beans for
those who would have significant dreams; Artem-
donus advises interpreters of dreams to inquire
whether the dreamer to sleep after moderate
or an excessive meal; Philostratus that the
most skilful refuse to expound dreams following
near the god, to obt ain knowledge of his will by
temple dream, have customary been required to
fast. 1t is said that Mrs. Radcliffe deliberately
supped on indigestble substances in order to fur
nsh horrid phantoms for her " The Mysteries of
Udolpho''; and even that Dryden and Fuseli sue
ceeded in obtaining splendid visions by eating raw
flesh.
There is no scientific information to any cosmc
influences dreams To the influence OF the moon
has been ascribed from time mmemorial very fore
boding forms of dreaming, as well as lunacy and all
manner of diseases. l have myself made the
quaintance of highly cultured and self controlled
gentleman who was thrown into panic by finding,
on awakening, that the moon had been shining full
upon him while he was asleep. But in this case