New-York tribune., 1911-04-22
WHAT DREAMS MAY COME
Rambles in the Mysterious Land
of Sleep.
THE WORLD OF DREAMS; BY Have. Have.
lock Ellis Svo, PIP. XII, 2SS' Inc
Houghton Mffiin Company.

lock Ellis. Svo, PIP. XII, ~oo' i"0
Boughton Mlfiin Company.
Mr.. EIlis's study Of dreaming is
s,mple. readable introduction to the more
strictly scientific investigation or the
subject which has already filled many
tonnes. His material is chiefly taken
from his own dream experiences, or from
those Of personal acquaintances, the very
fact that he deals with dreams common
to us all and only here and there with
exceptional cases that have attracted the
attention of the specialists. giving MS
hook a wide and popular significance.
He combines the physical with the
mental element Of dreaming, traces the
connection between indigestion, cramped
position. disturbances OF breathing or
heart action. on the one hand. with. on
the other, memory, cerebral impulses
stimuli Of the emotions. the imagination
and memory First Of all he insists
upon the logic Of dreams. All dreaming
he says. is a process Of reasoning:
That our reasoning is had. often even
preposterous: that ii constantly Ignores thc
most elemental facts of waking lie, scarce
Iy affects the question. That artful con-
fusion of ideas and images which is the
most constant feature OF dream mecnan-
ism is nothing but process OF reasoiiIns' -
q nerDetual effort TO argue out harmonious
" the absurdly limited and inconsruous
data presented to sleeping consciousness.
Mr.. Ellis illustrates the strange quality
Of this dream logic with an experience
of his own. He dreamt that he stood
before the house OF the governor OF a
Spanish province That official emerged
from the building and began to address
his subordlnates In English. The real
reason for his use Of that language was,
of course. the dreamer's nationality. but
dream logic suggested that the governor
spoke English in order not to be under
stood by his men.
Vision IS the sense primarily active in
dreams, but vivid coloring Of the pictures
evolved is rare. Dreams Of taste and
odor and hearing depend closely upon
direct physical suggestion, an interesting
group Of phenomena connected with the
sensorv influences being furnished by
the premonitions Of physical disorders
and diseases sometimes experienced in
dreams. A physical disturbance, accord
ing TO Mr.. Ellis, may reach sleeping con-
sciousness many hours, or even days,
before it is perceived by waking con-
seriousness. This was already known to
Aristotle, who suggested that physicians
might employ these prophetic dreams in
diagnosing symptoms not yet perceptible
I'm the waking state. The traditional
prophetic" dreams. forecasting future
events. our author dismisses with brief
reference to their utter unreliability.
Cynics have observed that in our wax
ing state we often mistake physical
malalse for conscience. In our dream
existence this appears to be the rule.
Indigestion oppresses us in our sleep; IT
throws US into state of agitation and
terror. Dream logic explains: we have
committed a crime. "We do not-it
seems most reasonable to cOnclude-ex-
perience terror because we think we have
committed a crime, but we think we
have committed n crime because we ex-
perience terror" A strange phenomenon
Of these dreams of crime is the dreamer's
ready acceptance of the fact that he is a
criminal. He is intent on doing the job
shipshape and with dispatch and on
hiding the victim or destroying the evi-
dence Remorse does not bother him;
Many writer's on dreaming have referred
TO the facility ard prevalence Of murder in
dreams. sometimes as proof of the innate
WiCkcdncss of human nature made mani
fest in the uncOnstraint Of sleep. sometimes
as evidence OF an atavistic return TO the
modes of feeling Of our ancestors
Professor Nacke says in private letter:
what am amazed ct having perceived IL
in myself. Is the little known fact thai "A
persons character becomes worse IN dream
Ing.
The once prevalent impression that in
dreams memories flock past the mind
with incredible rapidity has been dis
proved by experiment. In sleep as well
as in our waking hours intense emotion
involves loss of the sense Of time
There is. moreover, an as yet unsolvcd
problem in the study OF dreams-that
namely, Of the hasty adjustment Of a
dream which may take place In the
moment of awakening. 1t is quite
possible that the waking memory we
have Of dreams does not in reality re-
semble the real dreams at all.
The author passes from dreaming to
insanity and from that 10 genius at the
end Of his delightful book. only stray
bits from which have been touched upon
here The reader must discover for him
self the dream logic of the following
rhymeG recipe. composed by an English