Omaha daily bee., 1915-12-26

the influence Of impressions made upon
him when he was asleep. He detailed a
person to make various experiments
upon his senses without informing him
In advance what he was about to do, and
to wake him after each test. His nose
and his lips were first tickled with a
feather. He dreamed that pitch plaster
had been applied to his face and later
torn away 30 violently as to bring with
It the skin from his face. A pinch at the
back Of the neck made him dream of a
blister and brought to his memory a
doctor who had attended him when a
child.
Psychologists often have to consider
the very common dream of person 60
ing about the streets and other public
places without clothing. Most people
have had this dream experience. 1t
probably arises from a sensation of cold
following an insufficiency OF clothing or
following the loss OF bed clothing. A
feverish condition followed by chill
might also produce this dream effect
When the skin is particularly sensitive
through illness the smallest impressions
may be perverted into hammer blows,
attacks from wild animals, etc.
Maudsley, in his most interesting chap
ters on sleep and dreaming in The Path
ology of the Mind, attributes many dream
causes to cerebral circulation (page S9).
When the brain is thinking, he explains,
there is a more active flow of blood
through It than when 1t is at rest, but
this flow must not be too active, or sound
thinking is impossible. An excessive or
a deficient flow of blood through the
brain is adverse to successful thought.
When these conditions are applied to the
brain at sleep we obtain interesting
dream results. Nightmares which awaken
one and then return again with sleep are
of this nature. Local fluctuations of the
circulation also may be the cause OF dis
turbed dreams. II is easy to conceive,
says Maudsley, that some trivial dis.
order Of an organ may affect temporarily.
through vaso-motor nerves the circula-
ton in the cerebral area in which 1t is
represented; the particular vascular area
will blush or become pale. as it were. in
sympathy with the state Of the organ.
The quality of the blood Is also an i'm
portant factor in dreams. Lack OF iron
in the blood or a defciently carbonized
blood win have the same effect upon the
sleeping brain as upon the waking mind.
Overwork is a well-known cause of
bad dreams. Physical and nervous ex-
haustion affect the brain centres and
react in sleep as they do when you
are awake. Moral shocks disturb the
brain cells and produce disordered sleep
consciousness.
AS scientists experiment more and
more with dreams, the more we work
away from the old superstitions and at
tain a correct pathological reason for
consciousness in sleep. The ancients
tried to draw prophecy and portent and
guidance from their dreams. We are be-
ginning to analyze and run to the doc
tor. II is a normal thing to dream-the
mind goes on with its curious working
when judgment drops its hand in sleep
and is no longer at the rudder Most
dreams seem to be nothing more nor less
than harmless reassociation OF impress
sions fitting before us like a moving pic
ture hlm gone mad. Those dreams
which tell us of physical disorder, we
are Just beginning to note. They usu-
ally are due to arrangements following
lack OF physical exercise and ordinary
watchfulness Of the functions Of elm
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