SIGNIFICANT DREAMS. Explanations Offered by Science of Curious Phenomena. AGONISING DREAMS EXPLAINED. How Time and Space are Annihilated During Dreamy Sleep—Odd Warnings of Physical Ailments.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 362, 24 April 1889, Page 3

SIGNIFICANT DREAMS. Explanations Offered by Science of Curious Phenomena. AGONISING DREAMS EXPLAINED. How Time and Space are Annihilated During Dreamy Sleep— Odd Warnings of Physical Ailments.

Fkom time immemorial dreams havo been tho wonderland of walling hours. Hope and fcarjiave wrought them into thoir own * fabric* Superstition haa seized upon them and worked up a curious litual ot ' dreams that <?o by contraries,' of ' dreams of the morning ' light,' oi dreams with significances, ' some ot which seem natural while to a few of those apparently moat arbitrary, science herself has offered a certain amount of explanation. Dreaming- is an experience whicli may be called common to humanity, though it vanes so widely ia diflcrent individuals, that in a fo.\v exceptional cases it is absolutely unknown. Certainly dreams are often made of materials very inadequate to their finished results. Abercrombie rotates that during an alarm of a French invasion i-n Edinbuigh, 'it''had been arranged chat the first/intimation of the enemy's approach" was to be the -firing of a gun ftom the castle. A Certain gentleman, a zealous volunteer, retired to bed, dreamed that he -heard 'this 'gun,' wont ovft, and witnessed and joined in the^prWe'edincrg of the troops. At this junfct/dre he was awakened by his wife in a great Iright, &he having had a similar dream. It was ascertained that the falling of a pair' "of tong.s in an upper chamber wa& the common origin of tho dream ia the two minds already predisposed to the same line of fancy. Another instance is given of a person sleeping in o, room where a flat-iron was allowed to scorcl* a woollen garment. The sleeper dreamed that the house was burnt down, and that she could not escape because all her clothes were destroyed ! A gentleman, who, before retiring to sleep, had been reading a book of picturesque travels, dreamed that he was journeying across tbe Rocky Mountains. He was attacked by twoMcxiears, and after a gallant light was taken prisoner. His captors believed him to be the possessor of secret treasure, and in order to make him reveal its whereabouts put him to the torture of stripping hia feefc and holding them to a fire. Waking with a cry of agony he disi covered that his hot-water bottle had escaped from its flannel swathings and that the undue heat of his toes had conjured np all the rest of the tragic story, A French physiologist caused many ' curious experiments to be made on himself during '■deep. These experiments took the form of trifling physical Fensation3. which produced almost invariably a wonderfully exaggerated effect oh the .sleeping mind. Thus a feather tickling the lips was converted into the horrible punishment of a ma^k ot pitch being applied to the face. A bottle of eau de Cologne held to' his nose sent him into a dream of a perfumer's shop in Cairo. A pinch on the neck recalled the days ot Jiis boyhood and the old family physician applying a blister to that i region. I Oneauthoiity declare? that in a dream he made a voyage to India, spending several days, in Calcutta, continued his journey 'to Egypt, visited the cataracts and pyramids and held confidential interviews with Mohammed Aii, Cleopatra and Saladin, the whole journey apparently oc cupying several months ; but he had slept only an hour. Scientific writers admit that there is a type of dream in which coming physical di&ease or disaster is shadowed forth — some bodily sensation, perhaps too &lisht to be noticed by the subject -when awake, yet contriving to impress itself in some symbolic farm en the sleeping mind. The more striking, instances of, this soit may serve to explain How, in some leaser degree, certain 'symbols 'arc likely to attach themselves to 'certain paiufftJ sensations or conditions until at last they are»finally accepted as mysterious presages of .evil. Conrad Gesner ? the enainpnt naturalist, I?? i earned 'that' he was bitten on the left side .by a venomous snake. In a short time a ; sovero carbu,nclc appeared on the very spot, terminating his life in the space of three days. Another scientiiic man who dreamed of being bitten by a black cat also suffered in the same way. A learned Jesuit), author of many erudite theological^ works, saw, or>e night in his fleep, a man laying his hand upon his chest, who announced to him that he would soon die. He was then 'in perfect health, but was ohortly. carried oil by a pulmonary disorder. ' - " ' • A lady who ha i a dream in which she saw all objects dim and obscured by a mist, was soon after attacked by" a disease of the eye,- of which that •uas a 'symptom. A- dream of great fire, in which the sleeper himself seemed to be consumed, 'was followed soon after by an attack ot inflammation of tho brain. Apoplexy, epilepsy and similar diseases arc often preceded by frightful dreams, in which the sleeper finds himself scalped by Indians, thrown over precipices or torn to pieces by wild beasts. Such Miserable nights So 1 nil "of fearful dieame, and usly bights ! should be tieated as 'warnings' in^ the truest sense of that word — as sent l)y nature to foretell impending evils which skill' and wisdom may be able to avert. , ,Thus, if science had dispelled such old wives' fables as to dream of a marriage signified a death, or to dream of a cat meant to meet a foe, she has certainly added mysteries and terrors of her own to the subject. One learned man has actually tried to systematise these subtile piemonitions — to make them more available for use and guidance. In his opinion ' Lively dreams arc in general a pign of the excitement of nervous action. • Saft dreams aro a sign of slight irritation of the head ; often in nervous fevers announcing the approach of a favourable crisis. ' Frightful dreams are a sign of determination of blood to the head. ' Dreams about blood and red objects are signs of inflammatory conditions. • Dreams of distorted forms are frequently a sign of obstructions and diseases of the liver. • Dreams in which the patient imagines torture or injury of any limb indicates disease in that limb. ' Dreams about death often precede apoplexy, which is connected with determination of blood to the head.' An educated and very sensible lady had been through a rather fatiguing social day. On retiring to bed she soon fell asleep and presently dreamed that an old man clothed in black approached her, holding out an iron crown apparently of enormous weight. As he drew near she recognised the features of her father, who had been dead for many yoars. He addressed her thus : 'My daughter, during my lifetime I was forced to wear this crown. Death relieved me of tho burden, but it now descends to you.' He placed it on her head and gradually disappeared. Immediately sho felt a weight and tightness about her brow. Further, to add to her torture, the rim of the crown was studded on the inside with sharp points, which wounded her forohead so that the blood ran down her iace, Sho

awoke, agitated and excited, but otherwise quite well, and found thab she had "been asleep little more than half an hour. On falling asleep again the dream was repeated, with the additional circumstance thab the apparition of her father now reproached her for her unwillingness to wear the crown. When she awoke again she found fahe had been asleep for bhiee houi-s. Again she returned to bed, ' and the dream was repeated in broad daylight. She now arose and made her toilet. Going over the circumstances of her dream, she recollected having heard hey father say that during his youth, spent in a distant land, he had been subject to epileptic convulsions consequent upon an accident, and that; he had been cured by the operation of trepanning. On a sister entering her room she proceeded to narrate the picturesque vision which had, raturally, made such an impression on her memory. While thus engaged she suddenly gave a shriek, became unconscious and iell upon the floor in true epileptic convulsions, though the attack was bub] a .slight one., A r wcek afterward the dieam was repeated,, and was followed by another attack. Under 0 suitable treatment both dream and attack ceased to reeui.—' The Argosy.'