Omaha daily bee., 1915-12-18
The Bees Home Magazine page
Tricks Of Brain
and Wonders
of Mind
BY GARRETT p. sERvIss.


War gives strange giimpses into things
not necessarily connected with It. II
often places In the hands OF a surgeon
means OF knowledge which he could not
otherwise have acquired. A French SER
Reant received a wound IN the head
which affected tho brain In such n way
that at times he exhibited supranormal
powers Of perception. II his senses
had become more than human in their
reach.
Among the experiments tried with him
was this: Placed at a desk. with screen
before him which hid his hand. he was
asked 20 write letter. and. az no wrote,
the sheets ten IN number we're rapidly
removed go that each line wns written
on n different sheet the last sheet con-
tanning only the signature. Then he was
asked 10 read and correct the letter with
only the last sheet lying on the table
and SIN screened from his eyes. lie read
II correctly. and Inserted the emenda-
tione. and the punctuation marks. in
their proper places on the blank sheet,
just as II II had contained the entire
writing
a similar power Of mental vision seems
to have been possessed by Paul Morphy.
the phenomenal chess player. who could
play eight games at once. bllndfolded.
Morphy was born with the gift; the
French sergeant had Il accidentally
knocked .nto his head.
II would be a hasty conclusion that
a sufficient number OF properly directed
knocks on the skull might turn dolt
into n genius, and vet the mind does.
IN most men. aeem to be enclosed in an
obacure shell which reveals bright CLEANS
through its crack
Sometimes the mind appears TO take
advantage OF the hours OF sleep In order
to free Itself from its accustomed
shackles. The lightning auickness OF its
action at such times Ia startling. II
throws off time. and yet retains Its image
20 perfectly that the dreamer Is abso-
lutely deceived.
One OF the most interesting examples
OF the instantaneousness OF dreams 10
recorded OF himself by L. r. A. Maury.
4 distinguished French antiquarian and
historical writer. As he lay sleeping in
his bed curtain rcd fell and struck
him violently on the back on the neck,
awakening him with a start. During
that moment OF waking. which could not
have occupied more than two seconds
before consciousness was complete,
Maury had n dream In which he thought
he lived through the reign OF terror in
Paris was arrested and tried before the
revolutionary tribunal. was condemned
20 death and sent TO the guillotine. lie
felt the CULVER OF the descending knife
and the shock Ms It struck his neck
and then the dream vanished and he
awokel
II similar accident had suggested a
like train of thought. consisting OF
~ ngled memory and Imagination to a
person wide awake. he would have had
no sense OF the lapse OF any time except
that actually involved in the develop
ment of his reflections. but for the
dreamer. to whom the details flocked
immensely faster than they could have
been conceived by waking thinker,
there was sense Of slow passage OF
the time corresponding in length with
that which would have been required by
n the events themselves.
Just as the dream makes the persons
n who play part In It seem absolutely
!, actual 80 II reproduces the effect OF
/, the ordinary flow OF time without the
q, slightest apparent curtailment. Here Il
something worth thinking about-aI
N Image OF time can be made to appeal
4 exactly like real time; hour. a day
m week. year. can be condensed int
second. and the mind will perceive M
m differencel Might not the process be re
n versed and a second be expanded TO al
= age In the consciousness OF a differen
~, order of being than ours?
= In these things we see the origin Of the
speculations of certain philosophers
~ who maintain that there is no suci
ar thing as time. that II is a mere notion o
~ the mind and that In reality everything
- is simultaneous.
What the mind does in sleep is no
always merely telling itself stories, 70
m often very important work is performed
in dreams. having bearing upon every
day affairs. Coleridge composed tn
= most imaginative OF all his poems In
dream. Codoroet the great Frenc
mathematician, more than once had tn
conclusion Of some profound calculation
j on which he had vainly labored befor
retiring TO bed, presented TO him in
dream.
IS DIT. olynthus Gregory often employe
a in lectures TO his college classes idea
uT and even words and sentences which h
m. had worked out while asleep. There
ne at least one instance on recond OF III
Inn invention Of new word by a dreame
mt IL is recorded by Or, John Abererombt
OF who says that a gentleman dreamed th'
We he was enclosed with a crowd OF PEE
M pie IN a penthouse, where they wei
ay threatened with suffocsuon for lack
os fresh air. In his distress he cried on
ny I'll faut detoiter' (''Force off the roof9
iss As he uttered this cry he awoke. Nov
M there is a French word meaning roof
as hut no verb "detoiter." which woul
: mean TO take the roof off The stori,
ur OF warnings OF death and danger col
~s veyed by dreams are innumerable. b
np probably ilusory.