Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 December 1895 — DREAMS AND THEIR CAUSE. [ARTICLE]

DREAMS AND THEIR CAUSE.

dome Explanation of Onr Carious Experiences Wliiie Sleeping. The causes and classification of dreams Is a subject that, although it has been discussed from time immemorial, seems to be as little understood, beyond a certain point, as it was ages ago. At the hypnotic congress, held in Paris recently, much time was spent in considering this question, and though some interesting theories were brought forth the savants were but little wiser when the discussion ended than when It began. A compatriot of Ibsen. Dr. Mourley Void, professor of the University of Christiania, gave the result of numerous experiments made upon himself and others who had lent themselves to the cause of science in. trying to ascertain the dividing line between the rolo played in dreams by the cutaneous and muscular senses and between the true images of the day and the phantoms of the night. You rarely dream, this savant says, that you are lying down, but generally that you are standing or sitting in a way corresponding to the position of the member which makes its impress sion upon the mind. Eor example, if one dreams that he is standing on tiptoe, it will be found that his toes are pressing hard against the footboard of the bed. Dreams of walking, running, dancing and the like are always pro duced by the position of the feet. Another of this doctor’s theories is that when we dream our minds to a certain extent become as they were when we were children. In support of this he says that when a dreamer with half-awakened sense sees bi 3 band before him he instinctively begins to count his fingers. This is because the dormant senses reduces the sleeper’s mind to a childish state of* feebleness, and It is In infancy that our first lessons in computation begin upon our fingers. The visual impressions of the day form another class of dreams. Dr. Mourley Void is of the opinion that happy days are followed by pleasant dreams, and vice versa. Everyone knows, however, that this is not always the case. At the conclusion of the learned Norwegian’s address one of the oldest of his listeners—one of the most celebrated physicians in Paris—remarked-to a colleague that if one has bad dreams It is because of indigestion or too much clothes on the bed or too little air in the room or because his wife snores or.because he Is lying in an uncomfortable position, and that with proper precautions there should be only pleasant dreams or none at all.—New York World.