338 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



ing to go to sleep, get up at once, open the bed, air the 

 sheets, remove the night-clothing, and walk about the 

 room for a few minutes, rubbing the body briskly with 

 the bare hand at the same time. A tepid sponge bath, 

 followed by a vigorous rubbing kept up until really 

 tired, will conduce to sleep in many cases. Sometimes 

 a change of bed, or pulling the bed to pieces and ar- 

 ranging it again, is just the thing needed to bring sleep. 



10. One of the most effectual panaceas for certain 

 varieties of sleeplessness is going to bed at peace with 

 all the world, and with a conscience void of offense 

 toward God as well as man. 



Dreams.— This is a subject of much interest to those 

 suffering from nocturnal pollutions, for these occur- 

 rences are almost always connected with dreams of a 

 lascivious nature. 



In perfectly natural sleep, there are no dreams; 

 consciousness is entirely suspended. In the ordinary 

 stage of dreaming, there is a peculiar sort of conscious- 

 ness, many of the faculties of the mind being more 

 or less active, while the power of volition is wholly 

 dormant. Carpenter describes another stage of con- 

 sciousness between that of ordinary dreaming and 

 wakefulness, a condition *4n which a dreamer has a 

 consciousness that he is dreaming, being aware of the 

 unreliability of the images which present themselves 

 before the mindo He may even make a voluntary and 

 successful effort to prolong them if agreeable, or to 

 dissipate them if unpleasing, thus evincing a certain 

 degree of that directing power, the entire want of 

 which is characteristic of the true state of dreams." 



Can Dreams Be Controlled?— Facts prove that 

 they can be, and to a remarkable extent. Emissions 

 most frequently occur in the state described by Dr. 



