The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-16
THE CAUSE OF DREAMS.

THE CAUSE OF DREAMS.
 Having discussed in my first paper the mysterious phenomenon sleep, l shall at this time confine myself more particular ly to the mystery of dreams.
 say the mystery" of dreams advised ly, for no one has ever been able to give their psychological cause or causes. Men, tai science has not pronounced its final word on the philosophy of dreams, and its deductions, while proximate, are yet inadequate.
 At an early period in the history of the world one finds that men believed dreams to be the agents of supernatural power or being, who employed them as warn ings of approaching disaster or to presage almost any kind of event that might come into the life. In the ancient my thology, the reader will remember, the cave of Somnus was filled with dream spirits which were sent forth by the god of sleep from time to time to make known his will to mortals and to accomplish re- suits that mere human ability could not achieve.
 Two gates, according to mythology, led out of the valley of sleep. One was wrought of ivory, the other was of poll ished horn. Dreams that passed through the gate of horn would come true; those that came to men through the ivory gate were intended to deceive the mortal sleep ar. But no matter what their purpose, there existed the well-nigh universal oon- ceit that all dreams came from the gods.
 Homer's frequent use of dreams in the Iliad and in tho Odyssey is a tacit asser- ton that at the time he wrote the people believed in their preternatural character. Cicero, among tho Romans, refers to tho warning dreams sent by the gods to Priam, and there can be no doubt that he believed them to have been caused by the divinity of sleep. Plutarch relates the dream of Calpurnia, wife of Julius Cae- sar, which, being 30 soon followed by the murder at ''the base of Pompey's pillar of the
 'The noblest man
 That ever lived in the tide of tfmes.S deepened the popular belief in the super naturalism of dreams
  brews again and again do we Ind dreams ascribed to Almighty Gods visitation of the soul in sleep. In the book of Job we read. "God speaketh once. yea twice. yet man perceiveth 1t not. In dream, in a ' vision of the night, when deep sleep fall eth upon men. in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men. and sealeth their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his purpose and hide pride from man." This language was ut tered by Elihu. Elsewhere in the same book we read of Eliphaz saying, ''Jow . thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received whisper thereof. In thoughts from tho visions of tho night, when deep sleep falleth upon man. fear cana upon me and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then . spirit passed before my face; the hair of my head stood up. It stood still. but could not discern the form thereof. An image was before mine eyes. there was silence, and heard a voice saying. Shah mortal man be more just than God'."
 There are many illustrations in the sa- cred Scriptures of Divine visitations being made to men in a state of sleep. Often thu vision was prophetic; sometimes 1t w4S . warning. and at othsr times 1t 9Eho to impart instruction. That this Enethod q eommunieating with mon was employed by the Almighty In the 6Astant past before any written revelation had been made, none can question who read the Dcs1ptures By what token the d. windy suggested dream or vision was imown to Do of God. and not @ Aae- beth said of the air-suspended dagger, "A false creation of the hest-oppressed brain," VIC have no means of knowing. IL is possible that dreams are sent to men today, even as they were of old. No one cen cay that they Ars mott but solence. of