The Dickinson press., 1911-11-11
Dream FANTASIES
Cause and Effect In the Visions
That Come In Sleep.

That Come In Sleep.
A DREAMS CURIOUS SEQUEL.
Il Explained the Meaning Of the OF
Recurring Fancy That q Cat Was
cIawins the s~lumbsrsr's Throat.
Rapidly Of the Dream Process.
It was a personal experience Of a
singular character that first impressed
upon me, some years ago, the impor-
lance Of dreams as a subject for Sc
rious investigation, says n. Addington
Bruce In the Outlook. Until then I
had shared the opinion prevailing
among laymen-and, it would seem,
among most scientists also that
dreams are entirely fanciful and
meaningless. But my experience was
such I could no longer believe this.
To state it briefly, it involved the
recurrence of a most bizarre dream.
At least twenty times during a period
Of six months I had the same dream
namely, that a cat was clawing at my
throat. The stage setting and the mi
nor incidents might vary, but always
the central episode was the same. and
usually the fury Of the dream cats
onset was so great that it would
awaken me. Naturally this recurrent
dream puzzled me, so much sc that l
spoke about it:
Then one day the accident Of a
heavy cold that settled in my throat
led to a medical examination, which.
much to my surprise, revealed the
presence of a growth, requiring imme-
date treatment by the surgeons knife.
Some time afterward it suddenly &C.
Cured to me that since the removal
Of the dangerous growth I had not
once been. troubled by the cat clawing
dream. Its significance now began to
dawn on me.
L had suffered no pain, not even in.
convenience, from the growth in my
throat. In fact I had not consciously
been aware Of its presence. But I'm,
questionably the organic changes &C.
~companying it had given rise to sensa
lions which, slight though they were.
had made an impression on my sleep
ing consciousness sufficient to excite
it to activity. My recurrent dream
consequently was to be regarded as n
symbolic representation of the disor-
der in my throat-an attempt to inter.
pref it, to explain 1t. And, indeed.
| even in the dream, for all its fantastic
imagery and symbolism, the seat Of
the trouble was indicated plainly
enough as 1 could appreciate after the
surgeon had completed his labors.
An experience was reported by Al.
| fred Maury. one Of the earliest scien.
tifc Investigators Of the phenomena
Of sleep. who dreamed that he was
living in Paris during the Terror and
had been put on the prescribed list.
After many exciting adventures he
was captured, tried and sentenced to
execution. He saw himself dragged
through the streets amid a clamor1ng
| multitude and forced to mount the
scaffold and bare his neck to the fatal
! blow. In that instant as the guillo-
| tine knife descended he awoke to find
that a piece of the cornice Of his bed
had fallen and struck him IN the neck.
Testifying ven more impressively to
| the twofold action of the dream proc
ess and to its rapidity is a dream ex-
perience Of my own. In this dream
I was walking alone at night along a
country road. 1t was lined on both
sides by trees which. as I learned
from a man who presently Joined me
were laden with fruit. I picked some
pears and ate them as we walked and
| talked. The road seemed to overlook
q broad valley In which I saw a soil
tary light. My companion told me that
It was in his home and invited me to
pass the night with him. After a tir.
ing walk we reached the house, a
small two room cabin. He retired into
the inner room and I went to bed in
| the outer. l had not been long asleep
when, in my dreams, I was awakened
by the noise Of somebody running, and
the thought instantly flashed into my
mind that my host was making off
WILL Mys uuOuCy. ICdlJCu ny SAOut
ing, "Stop. stop!"
Then l vertically awoke and as ! did
so. distinctly heard On the pavement
below my window the sound Of bur
ried footballs and a voice crying ex
citedly, "Stop. stop!' At ice it was
| clear that these two words, penetrat.
ing to my sleeping consciousness, had
provided the necessary stimulus to set
up a dream process which. in the frac.
ton Of a second. had interpreted them
as best it could and had presented the
results of its Interpretation in the form
| of q curious little narrative Of noctur
nal adventure.
Dreams may be produced by the
use of artificial %irritants. One sleeper.
whose nose was lightly tickled with a
feather. had a horrible dream of a
mask Of pitch Being alternately ap-
piled to and drawn violently from his
face. Another. at whose feet a hot
water bag was placed, dreamed that