Sleep and Its DerangementsHammond, William A. (William Alexander)
Science
Sleep and Its Derangements
Hammond, William A. (William Alexander)
Sleep -- Physiological aspects; Sleep disorders
Many cases of dreams indicating the nature of a malady which had not yet
developed itself are referred to by Macario.[86] The instance of Galen’s
patient, who dreamed that his leg had become converted into stone, and who
was soon afterward paralyzed in that member, has already been cited.
The learned Conrad Gesner dreamed that he was bitten in the left side by a
venomous serpent. In a short time a severe carbuncle appeared on the
identical spot, and death ensued in five days.
M. Teste, formerly minister of justice and then of public works under
Louis Philippe, and who finally died in the Conciergerie, dreamed three
days before his death that he had had an attack of apoplexy. Three days
afterward he died suddenly of that disease.
A young woman saw in a dream objects apparently confused and dim as
through a thin cloud, and was immediately thereafter attacked with
amblyopia, and threatened with loss of sight.
A woman, who had been under the care of M. Macario, dreamed at about the
period of her menstrual flow that she spoke to a man who could not answer
her, for the reason that he was dumb. On awaking she discovered that she
had lost her voice.
Macario himself dreamed one night that he had a severe pain in his throat.
On awaking he felt very well; but a few hours subsequently was attacked
with severe tonsillitis.
Arnold, of Villanova, dreamed that a black cat bit him in the side. The
next day a carbuncle appeared on the part bitten.
Dr. Forbes Winslow[87] gives several similar instances. A patient had, for
several weeks before an attack of apoplexy, a series of frightful dreams,
in one of which he imagined he was being scalped by Indians. Others dreamt
of falling down precipices, and of being torn to pieces by wild beasts.
One gentleman dreamed that his house was in flames, and that he was
gradually being consumed to a cinder. This occurred a few days before an
attack of inflammation of the brain. A person, prior to an attack of
epilepsy, dreamt that he was severely lacerated by a tiger; and another,
just before a seizure, dreamt that he was attacked by murderers, and that
they were knocking out his brains with a hammer.
A barrister, for several years before an attack of cerebral paralysis, was
in the habit of awaking from sleep in a condition of great alarm and
terror without being able to explain the reason for his apprehension. Dr.
Beddoes attended a patient whose first fit succeeded a dream of being
crushed by an avalanche.
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