Sleeping and Waking Dreams.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 427, 11 December 1889, Page 6

Sleeping and Waking Dreams.

Professor Gairdner contributes to the ' Spectator ' a letter on ' Dreams and Will Power,' suggested by an article on ' Dreams ' in the previous number. The Professor recounts some of hia own experiences which occurred in 1845, during an attack of typhus fever, in the delirium of which he .dreamed many horrible things, the chief of which was that he was dead, that he was being dissected, and that he waa coffined and let down into the grave. All this he dreamed with a keen sense of reality, ' but without the amount of hoiror.and disgust that might have been expected.' Finally, he says, the last trumpet sounded, which appeared to bring the crisis, for after that moment ' everything seemed to change, and all was' delightful and e\en ecstatic' Not onlydid everything go smoothly, but he had almost unlimited pcwer to regulate and direct his own ' vision^ of bliss.' One of the most singular features of his condition was that, during the gronndswell of his imaginative activity, he actually believed he composed — ' even as to the wording of a good deal of it ' — the introductory chapter of a thesis on Death, upon which he had been engaged before being laid - down with fever. After all, however, such things are not uncommon to dreamers of dreams. There are the cases of Coleridge and De Quincey, who both not only dreamed, but composed things which are difficult, if not impossible, in work-a-day life. Hardly anything is impossible in dreams, and we don't see any particular reason why the 'Spectator' should doubt the veracity 'of Coleridge when he assures us that he composed in dream the curious poetic fragment of 'KublaKhan.' If 'we are such stuff as dreams are made on,' poetry, being of the substance of life, is as natural to the condition of sleep and dreams as to the socalled working day, which is as packed with' dreams as the pillowed head of night. The Professor's dreams are remarkable, but lack the grandeur of the dreams and visions of the poets, who are, after all, the gioab dreamers. What, but poetic dreams* are the ' Iliad,' ' The Divine Comedy, 'Hamlet,' 'Paradise Lost,' and 'The Pilgrim's Progress ?' To call them literary day dreams would not alter or deteriorate the greatness of their character aa the I product of a state of intellectual exaltation - a state altogether apart from the rude eating and drinking conditions of life. All states of dreaming are natural, as being -the result of specific causes. Nothing is so easy as to produce dreams. A red herring, toasted cheese, a bit of black pudding, for supper will produce their appropiiateand almost inevitably vulgar or stomachic visions. A passionate literary feast will produce higher dreams, which will in many cases simply be a prolongation of the thoughts and speculations incited by a particular book. An illustration of what the keen study of an author will croate in the form of dreams came under our knowledge some twenty years ago. A student and lover of Carlyle, an inti mate iriend of our own, had a wonderful dream. One morning, after a prolonged night of ' Sartor Resartus,' he found himself in Carlyle's 3tudy, but with no feeling of surprise. There is, in fact, seldom any feeling ol surprise in dreams. It may be said thab the Sage was not pre sent. After a little the door opened, when a drap<sd figure entered and walked forwaid to the desk, upon wMch lay a pile of manuscript. From the middle of this the figure took a good number of sheets and retired. Our friend remained in the chamber until the figure returned and replaced the sheets and finally disappeared ; and he wa3 still undisturbed and unsurprised, although he had all phe while a perfect knowledge of the identity of the mysterious visitor. Who was it? There was not the slightest doubt in his mind, and the visit seemed to him perfectly natural. That may be called a literary or spiritual dream, produced apparently by the study o* a particular book of a famous author.

Hiddlestone, the well-known cricketer, charged with embezzling a sum of £6,250 from the Department of the RegistrarGeneral, New South Wales, has been found guilty, and. sentenced, to ten years' imprisonment. The prospectus of the Colonial Securities Trust Agency, with a capital of £1,000,000, has been issued in London, and a company Jor the exploration of unknown parts of Australia has been registered, with a capital of £100,000.