1892.] on the Physiology of Dreams. 599 



Dreams are all explainable on physical grounds ; tliere is no 

 mystery about them save that which springs from blindness to natural 

 facts and laws. We make our dreams as we make our lives. They are 

 reflexes of that which we take into our organisation. 



Absence of dream in sleep is a sign, all other things being natural, 

 of sound health physically, mentally, and morally. 



Dreams occurring in childhood are, invariably, signs of disturbed 

 health, and should be regarded with anxiety. If they are subjective 

 they indicate derangement of body; if they are objective they tell 

 of some mischief to the developing mind. 



A night of dream relating to events of the day is a sure sign of 

 mental overstrain ; and the dream of continuation of mental work is 

 a sign of danger which should never be disregarded. It becomes 

 very quickly automatic in its course and injurious m its effect. 



Dreams are a cause of mental weariness extending into waking 

 hours, and when that fact is experienced the grand remedy is exercise 

 of body. Exercise calls into play the centres of motion which have 

 rested ; and whilst they, with new associations, are in play, the 

 mental centres rest and recuperate, the truest re-creation. 



It is an open question whether a dream ever leads to permanent 

 disturbance of mental equilibrium, that is to say insanity. Dr. Hack 

 Tuke has supplied me with a history which gives colour to an affir- 

 mative view of this question. I am uncertain on the point ; but I am 

 certain that every circumstance leading to dreams should be removed 

 from persons of unbalanced mind. 



To avoid wearying and wearing dreams, all objective influences 

 which excite the mental centres should be under control. Sleep, in 

 short, should be in the most noiseless atmosphere, where thieves 

 break not in and steal the repose. How shall a man sleep dream- 

 lessly who, by excitement of any kind for finding sleep, makes 

 those arteries on which his brain is built beat two beats to one, 

 hammering away at his senses and putting on them ten, fifteen, twenty 

 foot-tons of pressure from the heart, as if it were a good experiment 

 to find how quickly the delicate brain structure may be beaten into 

 a solidity which natural vibration shall fail to call into natural func- 

 tion ? 



In this temple of science it is our business to converse with the 

 universe, using experiment as our interpreter. If we cannot explain 

 we confess we are ignorant, and must remain ignorant until time and 

 circumstance bring insight. If we acquire knowledge we must speak 

 of it with so much understanding as is given to us to plane and square 

 and fit it into a shape that is understandable. Beyond this we cannot 

 pass. Pardon me therefore if I have ventured to-night to speak of 

 the " stuff" that dreams are made of on physical principles, and none 

 other. It is the spirit of our craft, and must be implicitly obeyed. 



[B. W. R.J 



