Page:The Galaxy (New York, Sheldon & Co.) Volume 24 (1877).djvu/104

98 farmer, and then walked past three mile posts. Coming to an inn, and it being near night, I went in to engage lodgings. There was an ugly-looking man in the bar-room, and as I entered he called out:

"I say! did you kill him?"

I got up to go out, and he followed and struck me on the head, which caused me to awake. I had slept just three minutes, and the sound which aroused me was the rumble of an omnibus going by. I verily believe that my dream, while it seemed to cover a period of three or four hours, did not really occupy more time than taken by the omnibus to drive past—perhaps thirty or forty seconds. Many persons have been distressed in mind because dreaming of a bad accident, when the dream is simply the result of some harsh or disagreeable sound being conveyed to the ears of the sleeper.

More than one romancer has had his hero or heroine waken from sleep just in time to escape assassination, being warned in their dreams that the "heavy villain" of the story was stealing upon them. It is also generally believed by believers in dreams that presentiments of danger are whispered to sleepers who have friends on the other side of the mystic river. To test this theory I stole upon a sleeping patient, armed with a knife, and looking as fierce as anybody's "heavy villain" could be made to look, I skulked up to him, flourished the knife around his head and before his closed eyes until my arm ached, and neither was his sleep broken nor did he have a dream. The same experiment was tried with half a dozen others, and yet not one sleeper was influenced in the least.

That position has much to do with inducing bad dreams is admitted. One of the cases experimented on was that of a well man, who was a very sound sleeper. One could lift his arms, raise a foot, place a weight on his breast, and even turn him partly over as he slept, and he would not be aroused. It was seldom that he dreamed, but we found two or three ways to make him. When we lifted his arms up over his head he had bad dreams, generally of suffering personal injury. The same result was produced by placing a weight on his feet, or by taking the pillow from under his head, or by making any great change in the position assumed when sleep came. In any case where we could raise the arms we could bring bad dreams. Probably two sleepers out of five, especially during warm weather, sleep with their arms raised above the head, and this accounts for many of the dream stories.

I believe it is a popular error to suppose that the sleeper who rests on his back will have bad dreams. Out of eighteen patients in my ward at the hospital, all well enough to assume any position, six rested on their backs to sleep, and their dreams were as cheerful as the dreams of those resting otherwise. Indeed, I can name two children who, if not permitted to lie on their backs while sleeping, will at once be aroused by bad dreams. In preparing for sleep one assumes the most comfortable position possible; and while that position may be the right side for some, the left side for others, there are yet others who will rest on their backs.

Perhaps every reader holds the idea that dreams are induced by the events of the day, but the supposition is not altogether correct. If one has met with a loss, heard exciting news, or met with an adventure during the day, he may dream of it at night, but it does not follow as a rule. Selecting six of the patients, without hinting my real object to them, I gave them each a charge. One was to receive a reward for guessing a conundrum; another was to come to me for money at a certain hour and moment next day; another was to remember to tell a nurse something at a particular moment; and each charge was something to excite the mind and keep the patient fearful that he would neglect his errand. And yet not one of the six