The mind works with wonderful rapidity during sleep. A person who is suddenly awakened by a loud noise may dream of many things in the short second before he awakens. A long story may spin itself out in his brain,—adventure, robbery, war,—until he is awakened by what he believes is a shot. A certain writer was suddenly aroused from a sound sleep by a few drops of water sprinkled on his face. He dreamed of the events of an entire life in which sorrow and happiness were mingled, of a fight on the banks of a stream into which an enemy plunged him. We can dream more in a minute of time than we can enact in a day. So, too, dreams are often characteristic of the peculiar life and thoughts of the dreamer. A miser will dream of saving money, a merchant of business deals, a musician of melody, etc. As a general thing our dreams are wanting in coherence. They do not seem true to life. They mix together things that are absurd and unconnected. We never dream of the past as a thing that is past, but as a reality. People that are long dead appear to us as living. Do Dreams Foretell the Future? It is a popular belief, and has been thru all ages, that dreams foretell for us what will happen. Many remarkable cases seem to prove this. All nations of antiquity believed in the divine nature of dreams. The Bible is full of allusions to dreams and most of the important events were revealed to men thru dreams. Jacob dreamed that he saw a ladder which reached into the sky and that angels were ascending and descending. His whole life was shaped by this vision. His son, Joseph, was called “The Dreamer” by his brothers. We all know the fascinating story of his dreams, his interpretations of the visions of the butler and the baker and his reading of Pharaoh’s dream which eventually obtained for him the position of ruler over Egypt. The Books of the Prophets and of Daniel are based on dreams. So are many of the incidents of the New Testament. Coming down to more modern times, we find that many intelligent men—writers, inventors, kings—believed in dreams. Franklin believed that he obtained a clearer insight into political events thru his dreams and often acted upon the inspiration he received while asleep. A celebrated doctor discovered a well-known remedy thru a dream. Tartini, a celebrated musician, is said to have composed his “Devil’s Sonata” under the inspiration of a dream in which the devil appeared to him and invited him to try his skill upon his favorite fiddle. When he awoke, the music was so firmly impressed upon his memory that he had no difficulty in writing it out on paper. The poet Coleridge is said to have composed his poem “Kubla Khan” in a dream. He had taken an anodyne for some slight indisposition, and fell asleep in his chair. When he awoke he retained the impression of over two hundred lines of verse which had come to him in his slumber.