White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1930-10-03
Why We Behave
Like Human Beings
By GEORGE DORSEY. Ph. D.. LID.
To Sleep--Perchance to Dream

| y fOur-fOOted IrlenQS cream. Ere
sumably their dreams are as unique
as are their individual selves. / find
no explanation for my dreams that
does not take stock of my experience.
Dreams themselves are no more mys-
ferrous than is any other phase of ad.
iustment. Dreams and sleep are proc
esses of adjustment based on physio'
| logical processes. !.
1t is assumed that dreams have a
biologic function. ut Is the dream
that really keeps us asleep" says
Humphreys He cites the sleeper and
a lawn-mower outside. The sleeper
dreams he hears something else: if he
"heard' lawn-mower, he would have
to get up and go to work. He can
only consistently go to sleep by hear
ing noise as something else than the
sound of lawn-mower."
That explanation is too simple; 1t
covers too much ground. True, many
dreams seem to have the function Of
guarding sleep. But to say that the
dream keeps us asleep is as lucid as
to say that sleep causes dreams.
There are dreams and dreams, and
sleep and sleep. Some animals and
people are always dreaming; some
seem never more than half awake. But
inherent in life and human beings is
the necessity to "come to" when life
is imperiled.
When now l lay me down to sleep,
what do I lay down? Obviously, not
the same body that | carry to a Har-
vard-Yale football game. But the body
that carries me to the game may be
any one of $4,000 bodies in the Bowl.
When half of them groan the other
half cheer One particular body may
sob, another go into frenzy of de-
light; another may yawn and say,
"What a rotten camel"
The body I lay down may be so
tired it is dead to the world" and
beyond stimulus of smoke, though my
own bed-clothes are on fire from my
cigarette. / do not come to until fire
stimulates my skin. No dream kept me
asleep, nor did nightmare arouse me.
l may be very tired and yet awake
at the low gentle gnawing of mouse.
l curse the mouse and try to go to
sleep again. Why could I not have
dreamed of squirrels in the wood
gnawing nuts and have slept peaceful
ly on?
/ 1 have worked late and am tired.
I must be up and at work again with
in five hours: need every minute of
my sleep. I drop asleep, and come
to with a start. / have had a hor-
rible nightmare I can sleep no more
that night. can discover no excuse
for my nightmare: no fire, no mouse.
everything quiet.
Sleep is primarily relaxation-gen
eral dropping off Of the motor mech
anism. But activity keeps on, though
slowed down a trife in the digestive,
respiratory and circulatory systems.
The bodily functions continue; the mo-
| tor mechanism goes out of action, in
Guiding external receptors for outside
stimuli. Consciousness quits, the
mind stays on the job. Consciousness
is functioning of arcs of the cortex
Of the brain, where knowledge is
stored and sorted. When certain parts
of the cortex are injured-by disease
or wound-we lose control of some
thing as though we had quite forgot
fen. It may be use of part Of the mo-
tor mechanism, or the speech mech
anism, etc. But with the cortex out
Of action, we forget what we have
learned.
Reused from deep sleep with the
porter's admonition: Scotia get outa
here in five minutes" we make a mess
of dressing. Seems as though we have
forgotten which shoe goes on which
foot, and we blink at collar and tie
as though we had never seen such
things. We are not Gin possession of
all our faculties"
Hence, dreams mix things up. The
right shoe on the left foot. A shirt
means nothing. And we wake up the
next morning with the funniest
dream can't make head or tail Of II"
A dream may be anything. If AS
dream are wish-fulfillments, A APP
parently is Spanish castle builder
and keeps at it in his dreams. If AS
dreams are also sex, it Is because AS
mind dwells on sex. AS wishes and
sex enter into many lives, they are
likely to enter many dreams.
Sometimes the frankness Of our
dreams amazes us. Life is frank. With
the cortex out Of action, we lose the
guardian of our morals. The mind of
the dreamer rambles around aimlessly
and shamelessly For the same rea-
son scientists often solve problems in
chemistry, mathematics, etc., in
dreams; their mind was free from In
hibitions, it was not afraid to try out
new combinations.
We solve many different problems
of conflict just before we drop asleep,
or we drive them from our head long
enough to fall asleep. That problem