■ SLEKP A-Wn nilKAMS. 



75 



Anotrlior very oxtiuordinary ])liononioiion of sloop is tliis, 

 thai; durinuf tlic few soconds of waking a droam may take 

 placo which appears to extend over liours of active life. It 

 is nai'rated of a soldioi' tliat lie dreamt ho had deserted 

 the ranks, liad boon sc^archod for ami found, had up before 

 a court-martial, and condcmiiod to be shot. He had a vivid 

 picture of the place whore ho was to bo killed, and ho awoke 

 with the report of the guns. This report was actually a 

 signal gun, which, oansed all the rest of his dream. The 

 noise which made the droam appoai'od to end it and be its 

 consummation. 



T)r. lAloming compressed the carotid a,rtorios of some men, 

 and generally found that during tho few seconds that thoj 

 woT'o asleep they had apparently hours of active dreaming. 

 This is a marvellous illustration of rapidity of tliought. 

 Tho idea of time is ignored by tho half-awako brain. In 

 tho first instance, of course the dream occurred aftor the 

 gun-shot, but tho mind did not distinguish between past, 

 present, and fntnrc, and projected tho incidents backwards, 

 so to speak, instead of in their light sequence. I should 

 like to hoar a good explanation of this. It is because tho 

 method of waking may be the cause of dreams, that it is 

 useless to arouse any ono suddenly in oi-dcr to ascertain 

 what thoy are dreaming about. It has been pointed out 

 to mo, that when wo hold conversations with imaginary 

 people in our sleep, we do not know beforehand what answer 

 We shall got, and are sometimes surprised at it, although 

 we, of course, make tho answer as well as tho question, our- 

 selves. This is an instance of tho disconnected condition 

 of our thoughts, and also of tho rapidity with which they 

 change. 



Certain dreams arc very common ; ono especially, which 

 IS riu'ely (piito tho same in any two people, but is something 



