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Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made Of

Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made Of image
Parent Issue
Day
9
Month
September
Year
1880
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

The rmcstion whicli your conlributor asks in tho June Atlantic, "What cansos the rccürrenee of a certain kind vf dieaiu diirinp a certain period?" is not i ured. It woiild be easy lo Bayi "The recurrnee of similar conditions," but tluit is mercly restating the qucsüon. It is not probable that we f; li all ever have a complete seience of idearas, büeause wlion we bein 1 o observe and elassify we must be wide awake Qceams are oL toosubtle stufF. They ëatily, elude anolysis. Jlv own' ilivams, however, I can divicie into three classes, and 1 have a theory which lits tliEm exaotJy. It is this: Sleep comes down on us from above and submerjres our faculties in the order of Ihuir excellence. In drèanis of lbo f;rst class the artistic s(!iii?e is asleep, but all the other faculties aï awiiUe. In dreams of the second class the moral sense is submerged, and about all that remains active is the instinct of self-preservátion and a tierisli love of blood; both feeling-s which lie noar the foundation of our nature. ' In clreams of tlie tliird class hardly the .tiue of personal identity is loft; 'm fact, Ave art; asleep dowu to protopïasm. JLt is trnc Uolcrulgc eomposed Kubla Khan in a dreum, Ijut liis sleep was not Iiuii sleep; it was probably " seeondary coma," mduced by opium.' You cannot prove anything againét my theory by Colerldge. Was it not Cowper whö :iwoke tbrjlled with :i lyric Uo had colliposeil in sleep, whicli begtlli: " By henveiis. I'l! wroftk my poes I i p i 1ï ■ niï.i' iit ih.' pulo primrose?" Aiul il wm :m emially celebrated man who. un'der similar círoumstanoes, could recaí I but two versos of a poein to , youtji. These wcre: " Iloj-a, boys. I" ví, I ova, ïou gieal and (lngrous hobble lohoys." My first point, tlutl the constructivo imagina! on is the first faeully to go to sleep, Í think may be considèrcd establisbed. W! drcaiu (tot We makc eloquent speeches, or visit beautiful scones, out if we can reeall tliem they are destitute.of all proportion and fitness. In order to makii my ineaning clearer 1 wil! nstance :. specimen of each class of drearns, at the risk of inflicting a "garrulojis rdatioji of visions." Ttioy are given merelv us scientific Ilustratior.s of my theory that sleep comes down likc a clona and obscuras the higher faoulties iirst. 1 wowid prentise by saying that my dreams are never Migücstcd liy ti e, 'subjccls in which i )-ac hiH'ii iiitiTcsti'd wlii'ii awake. The folljviu bülonufs to tliu lirst-class. The eviiits are as distinctly impressed on rciv moHiory as if thi'y were real, l foimd myeëU ridinj loisureh' on horseback on the road frora the village to my father s farm, when I became aware of a briht light behihd me, and lookiug upya.rd saw a Jarge moteor, about one thonsand foei. in the air, moving slowly in the direction I was r'm. l'io-rntly a sniall ulderly man, also o Dorseback, joined me, and I iiended my pace to keep np with him. He told. me that he was from Boston; thpt he had fovoseo-ti the advent of the Tueteor, and in fáct h;l Fóllowed it by short cuts for si wr.d liun .lrcd miles. I n'ssi'l sur.nsc at tlicslowness of its motion, but he exi)lained that its velocifcy was only ap parent; that it had overtaken the earth with motion the same Ln rate :unl diveclion as the earth had; and that HuKijrh it seemed to be muviiür slowlv il was in roality going Vcry fast, I objected that when it caroe within the s)ln;n!if tlm earth's ! tion it must ful rapidly, undrr the. ' lluonce of gr&vitf, Ou this he lookod :U me beui'Voli-nUy, and said, half to himseif. "Ah, yes, the oíd NFewtonian error." I have scen many times since ' tlm same benijru expressiou on tlo faces ! of my Bo.-ton iricmls. whnu 1 feit that they were saying to themselve, "It ia intcrestiiij; to lind the old misconeoptions sur vi ving in the New York man," Mcanwhile we reached the foot of a sniall hill on niy fatlier's farm, where the meteor had stiuek the earth. There j wcre oéngtegated hore my father, the tenant of the fann, the village lawyer, a well known hOtse-Joofcey and .cviTal otliiTs. The Boston man said that he Wished to buy the meteor, and that he was authorized to oller ten thousand dollars for it. To tliis my father agreed, reniarkinnj that il wli a " migrhty good j tneteor, but no n-c to him." The j ant claimcd hatf of it as a natural product of the land; but the lawyer said I that it was crearry real estafo., and was referring to a oasr Ld point decided by the Court of Áppeals, when the ! ant pulled out hls lease and read the clau.se, "And the s:iid piinv of tlie : oud part, in addiiion to half of all crops ' of sanfpiii', trefoil and mnrdócks raised on sald farm, shall reeeive to his own use, behoot and beneiU one equal and undivided moiety of all the aereolites and meteoric stones that may fall pq .sniil farm dwing said term." The lawyer said, "'That settles it;" but the Bo:-tüii man sala, wHh a, de'ciáibn born of knowledge, "This s neither :ui aerealite oor a meteorie stone; it is a gríffbliÉh. The horse-jockey stepped forward solenjnjy, and laying bo'th bands on 1!' store burnt them badly. Drawing baclj hasiiiy. he remarkejd, " It is a Dfisty gríttoiith." Two subh authoritiea agreeing, the tenant made i no fmtlipi' claim. The Boston man fiUcl up ; check on a forrn eèpeoially pre pared for the parpóse, hoadod "Kci-.i oelestia paturte,' ana wedlspersedwU pleased, and glancingapWara Lor more griffolihs. What I wisli to enaphasize in this dream is that all my nstinctó of jusüce and respect for la w aod reaéoning poivers were awake. ThT6verence whiph the New York miml feels for thc Botton niiii I was :! cj in i'ii'l foive. Thát, li'iweviT, is ci f i r i - deejer instinots of 'ur nalgre, and prouably aevie'r bleeps. 1 uill give n ■! fen words :i poésible :i specimen of a (Iraftm ( khe secood c)á I was in the Waiting-rootu of a sniall railway station in Belgiutn. Opening the door, I steppcd directly into Utah. Btere I juinoil a party of mlninz prospectors, ponsisüng ol several dlvinity studontsj in ui ad vaneed stage ófintóxic-aüon, and a panther. We liogan tesring down the side of a mountain, the paather distinguishing hitnself by the energy witli which he wielded liis piek, his tail curling andqüiveringwith excitement. We nrere in seareh of a fvpsum bed, whieh we soouuncovered. t was securely boxed in rough hi'inloek boarda. Desiring to ow it wholly myself, I killed all ïny party by tho simple method of jamming ihe top of iny piek into their back as they were bent over exainininif the lind. By nstne my f uil strengt U I was oble lo doublé lliiMU up and drive thenl deep into the ground, thus dispatching thera quiekly and buryiru; them in oae ruó tion. I then took possessiou of the ooveted iyysnm bed, and a similar series of aSsnrditiea and crimes orowded on one another, till 1 awoke. What I relato this nonseose for is to show that in a dream of this class not only is my perception of distance bl&rred, but also my senaje of e(juity. 1 paid no attention to the fundamental principies of the mining code, though I liad had practical exporience of its absolute necessity as the only means of mg the sembhince of onlcr in i camp. I deeeived all my cornrades, inoluding the iuotlensive mul hard-working pfiather. Few men would be more averse to such a thing than I, and I can only plead that I was all asleep except thesavage instinctsof the primitiva man. In dreams of the third class, even these and the conseiousness of personal identity are at rest. Thcrc is Ioit only a vague conseiousness of existenco- probably about what the ruollusk feels when most awake. If th is claeeiücation does not fit the dreams of some people, I eau only say tttat their sleep is not trae sleep and t heir dreams are not truc, dreani?. What they cali sleep is probably abnoriual hypnoÜQ coma or imperfect lethargy, and what they supposc to be dreams are merely irregular, spasmodio mental action, uuworthy of strict scientilic classifioatidn, The most intímate rnnnection exists between the mind and the body, ;nul not unfrequcnüy some physical disorder or Ldiosyuorasy, of whose existonce we may not be aware ín our waking hours, niakes itself feit in sleep, when the is more susceptible of iuternal impressions. In a dreani the condition of the physical organizaron reflects itself in the activity of the nervous system, as surrounding object? are mirrored npon the rutlled surfaee of the waters beneath; and these distorted images may serve as the index of the state of the physical system. In these facts I thi'nk wc may find the cxplanation of tlie lirst class of visions metitioned by the contributor mg of recurren! dreanis. Why and whenuo the particular visions wkich he refers to I cannot teil, for " in sleep ever}' man has a world of his own." But I (hink that sucli iiulesoribftble impression? are frcqueiltly made uppU tho mind ín ohildbood, as we know that thOy oceur in delirium and insttnity. Froui my earliest years, during niy ohildhood, I was haunted by a sfcrange sensation in sloep, which Iealled "falling oiïfrom the World;" and often now, when fatlgUed in bod}' or mind, the impression returns. 1 am alone In spaoe, and feel myself falling faster and still f aster to some terrible unknown depth. I refer this sensation to a disordered state of the nervous system, consequent upon excitcincnt or fatigue. I trace a resemblanoe, a sequenoe, between tlie '.' vast, impalpable somethiog" "moviiiLT pnward in enormoo? airy billows," the " tall white-clothed ligare," and the "shapes of armed men approaching witli awlul, silent ireajl." The (irst visiou gradually resolves itsolf into the sccond, and tne second assumes tho outline of the third, as, in the Arabian Nights, the white, shapeless cloud at leagth tpok form and beoamè the huge genie. To li the limit of such fancies is to set bounds to the imagination, a task inipossihle. In the child of I citable temperament the mental 1 pressions during sleep are moro gro tesqué; hut thoso shadoWy shapei asSÜme more tleüuitc form in l;iler year.s. Coucörning the rftcurrence of a eertain dream during a number of years, to the exclusión of other forras of dreaming, I offer this explauation: A dream is-any mental actiou in sleep of whieh we are afterward eo'nscious. The more wild and fantastic the dream, the more vividly is it impressed upon the memory. The fact tliat it is thus impressed" leads to its reourrenoe, espeoially when the dreamer relates his visión to another person. The remliness with which a train of thought recurs to the mind is proportionate to the frequency with which il is recalled. Henee, these visions tend to reproduce the mselves. I think that the nocturnal iourneys inentioned by the conlnbutor are of frequent occurrence in the experfence of ni hers. I know a physician wlio to long daily rides in the practico of his profossion aills longer and more toilsomc nightly journeys. Kegularly, during the hours of sleep, ;is la; drives his horses over almost irapassable roads, his loud cries, urginsr them on, or holding them bark. gïTO evidence of the nature of his dreams. In niy own experienee, I fiml that a day of hard labor, physieal or mental, is qu'.te often followod by ciglits of driving over fearful roads, or of plowiug through stormv waters. In all these areams the sense of imminent danger or im])ondiug trouble is alvvays present, üur actual travels do not seem to aftect the case. Whence comes this sense of danger? lnilistinctness is a prevailinz eharseter I istic of pur dreams. . Certain features of the dream may stand out clearly from the rest, but in every visión there is a border-land of impenetrable mvstery. In every human mind obscunty awakens an iadefinablo i'ear; terror and dread overwhelm os when we wander through tlie dim and unexplored land of di'eams. Reason is not with us to dispel our reare, anü untu we awake we atruggle on, the prey of fancies whicli our own miinls have created. The dream that recnra most freqaently with me is :i very disagreeable, exhausting one. The is an old, dark, high building, with many long, winding corridors and steep, rickety stair-ways. Through these corridors, üp and down these stairways, stumbling, panting, breathless, I am chased by a hag who brandishe.s a long whip. She is ragged, with hideous teuth protruding trom her jaws; her dark hair s living; and shc pnrsues nut with a look of hate and uttering a gbbei"Í8h nol a word of whieh is inteligible, t.ï 11 1 wike in an agouy of exhaustion and terror; or rather I used t; do so. Sinee I grew np I httvi! learned lo realiza 1 1 1 : 1 1 il is "my droain,1' and eau wake myself, but can never resi.st the impulse to keep on iintil I have feaehed a certain door. I alw.-iys wake just as I throw mvself frant'cally against that; it hos never opened. Another dream is of llying, and is loss frequent; in its recui'renee thau the lirst one. The sensation 9 a delghtful one. The Bcene always begina in a country church-yard. I begin by llying over the church many timos; then invariably lly into a building nnükeaty 1 have ever i en, luit weil lulapted tor ifyitig; there are dontes lo fly up to, ranlted ifalleries, and mucli spuce. The fèel in r i , one ol perfect ooniplacency ;ii lindin.-; niv.-fli' a! these dizzy Keigbl thougo 1 alwavs feel that sonaetime I shall gureljr Cali, l was not a nervoiw cr tiaiid ehild at any Other time, but 1 have gpent honra of Buffering in the darkness from waking out of the chuches of the hag; and aain have wakened willi a thrill of delight, as though uaved from some fascinating peril, aftor the ilyin dreanis. About twiee a year I have the former, and about once in iwo years the latter, ilruam. 1 liave regarded thé ofl-repeated recurrence oï these dreamf as an diosyncrasy of my own, as I never beforo knew any one coníess to a similar experieuce. For about threo j'ears of my llfe, from eleven to foiirteun, I scarcely passeil a week without dceamiog twoor three linies that I was living a kind of divided lifö. 1 secnieit to know that I was In beil, and yet the ren1 1 was lloatIng about the room iiear theceillng in the forra of several globes of iiu;;uulescenoo. (F nse the abstract noun bocaltsc I was not ahvays conscious whetlmr the material wás motten metal, glasSi or simply pas.) The globes would circle round oach other; sometimes roll together like dewdrots, making a larger globe; at other times separate into a countless multitude. The eonviction was ahvays present with me that if the whole would roll into om; my soul would come back to me and all would be well; but I never carne to tlie point of réalizins tliis happy conáummation; I constantly avvoke in terror before the end eame. The senso was so perplexing and so vivid that for a tong time I absolutely dreadud the night- I knew the same dream would come. Then I think I had a year or two free from dreams of any kind. An illness something l'ke a brain fever timed the current of my life altogether; but wlien dreams came again tliey eame with provoking regularity. Í know to an inch the exact spot wln-re 1 Was always standing when a big black dog leapcd on mo, and I conld point out. 1 believe, the stoue over which, nigiit after night, I was accustomed to trip and fall most ignominiouily, withiu a yard of a írlendly door. That form of dreani, too, passcd. The third and last that 1 can cali at all regularly recurrent was even more perplexing, but more whimsieal. I was at Cambridge, having taken my derree. but remained in my collojfe rooms, readmg with private pupils, and holding the euraey of a church at a short custance from the place. I sup.pose the desire to settle down in „some more home-like way had ttiken full possession of me. I was then, two or throe times a week, in the habit of waking with the dream fresh In my brain that I had gonc to the toivn where my lady-love dwclt. and h:ul been in it two or three days without having called to sec her. Inoandi'.sceiil globes and black dogs wore "not a circumstance" to the trpüble caused by this negligeuóö. About three years of this last dream was enough for me: I banished that evil by mart J ing the lady. A late nnmber of some magazine- it seems to me that it was the l'omilar Science Monthl - contained a hint toward shaking olí' recurrcnt dreams of á painful charactr, wliii'h was boldly to meet, and even invitó, thc threatened dangeror disagreeable oecurrenee forniing the basis of the visión. As dreams usually come when wo ate near waking, vve are often snllieieiitly oonscious to exert a slight control over our ideas; henee, Ibelieve the suggestion practicable. I have beun troubled by two kinds of reenrrent dreams, which have been mitigated by just such a course. Uutil young mauhood I was the victim of imaginary falls, oocurring at intevMs ol a week or so. I tumbied over terrifle precipiees, ont of bállopns, and from the tops of trees lUcethose in California, but always, thoügii alighting with a shock, which eauSea a nötvovis starl, sinking into sonie soft material that arrestéd my progresa witliout íniuiy. Wheiher 1 slruck on roeks, turf or house-tops, I. ahvays full on my fi'ct, sanie gently to my waist, and pulled myself out with little dimcultv. I gradually acejuirod such a Cjoatroí OVél' my waniloring fancies that I was ablc to say, "i am asleep, and therefore this fall will not hurt me." Instead of struggling, I would aUow myself to take the inevitable plunge, and by idly Kulimitting to tlic foree of gravitation I oame to earth without a jar, or ohecked my flight in íhid-air. 'Dio other iorm of persistent drean) is of later oooutrenoe, and takes the form of Suoh a Hilit through space as would have delighted De Qmncey. I have made few altempts to check this dream a3 yet, beyond getting back to earth when I have had enoufh of it, and rousing myself when thcio is in it a suggestion of vértigo. At tirst it was starlling and awful, but after I had made sure of B safe return there was a kind of tremulous joy in thus casting loose from eartli and soaring ott' with the rush of a meteor into the solemn regions of chili and starlit space, passIng the great lighted globes that wlioel about the sim and oomets wandering in measureless orbits. The joy of rapM motion, like that feit in ruling in a locomotive cab, or coming down a gravity road, or plowing the billows in a trim yacht, is modified by tlie necessity of shooting along on my back, head first, so that I gut nothing but celestial retrospects; and my advance into the starry regiona is oooompanied hy the feeling that I may run my head against a big meteor, or drop apon Júpiter, Saturn, or into the horrilic crátera of the moon, like a meteor niyself. When in a tranquil waking or io,ing state I can repeat this dream by sheer force of iniagination. l'liysical causes and business perplexities Jargéty ihffueácí bar dreams; henee, the gentleman to whom this is uddruísed - I take it that the contributor is of the male "pcr.-uasion" - may mui uiac au iiiiAimy, 111 siuiuusí, iíilu suppérs', a liard bed, au u'ncomfoftable position (such as lyinjr npnn the bark), achins tcctli, or some such matters aro in part re.sponsiblo for the somber oharacter of his ilreams. I'a'm m;iy induce recurren t droams. Durinjj; a severo in llamnuitory disease I was dosed witli impiense quantitiep of opium, but tlio visions caused by the flrtlg were distorted by pain into such ;oepej of horror and occurrences of oöstress that thcir reality exhanstod me to the point of death. Onoo only 1 was permuten a pleasant dteam'; Aboundless and beautiful park extended on evory sidc, and in the mklst of it was set a marble palace, whose wings stiet'hed to an mmoasurable horizon and wore lost in distance. lts front glowed with the warmrod light of the setting son, evory one of its countluss Windows, as it roflected tho, luminary, shilling like burnislied gold. The entire sky was of the luie of red wine held to the Light, and in this rich erimson great stars blazed and Qashed liko diamonds and emeralds. The memory of that sceno is stronger than the memory of Niágara. The same exereise of the will llial ehecks a liad dream can sometimes s cure a good one. 1 have on several ocaasiona aroused mysi If from nnpleasan't dreatn-, and determined that the incidtüits gning wrong should tuke sucil and sucli a oonrse. Thcn, on my fallng aslcep again with this determination, events wonld come about much as I wished them. - Atlantic Monthly. - The contract has been given out for the monument to Oliyer and Oakea Ames. It will oost 880,000 and will lic put up at Shérman, Wyoming Territoijl , at a place about four hnndfod miles west "f Omaha, the highosl polat in thje Kocky Mountaini wtuch ia crossed bj the railroad. The monument sto be liiiv feel square iM the base, and sixtjj feel high, pvrauiidal in outliue, winli three slopes. The material will be Black Hilla granito. Tlier lare to i" tuo medí allions representing thu heada oí Olivqi and Oakea Ames. tae will face the casi and the othei the west, ata heigriit ol forty feet from the giound.

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Old News
Ann Arbor Democrat