In ancient times, dreams were taken as revelations from the gods. People believed that good and bad spirits can dwell in a sleeper's body and dream of informing him of different information, persuading him of certain actions, prefiguring events. But then it was already noticed that in dreams gods and spirits prefer to express themselves vaguely, sometimes symbolically, giving people the possibility to resolve the secret meaning of dreams. This was considered a difficult matter, accessible only to priests and professional dream interpreters.
The beginning of the scientific approach to the study of dreams refers to the end of the 18th century. One of the first more or less serious works on this subject - "Experience of building a theory of dream" by Dr. Nudov appeared in 1791. The author, by the way, gives a valuable observation, which served as a starting point for further research in the same direction: a sleeper, lying on his back with his mouth open, poured in his mouth a few drops of water, the sleeper turned on his stomach and began to produce swimming movements with his hands and feet, dreamed that he fell into the water and was forced to flee to the water.
Observations of this kind show that dreams can arise from accidental irritation during the sleep of certain senses. In this way, the way was opened for the experimental study of dreams. The French scientist Mory and the German scientist Weigand worked especially hard in this field, dedicating their lives to investigate the causes of sleep. In Russia, this subject was dealt with by V. M. Astvatsaturov; the latter studied the peculiarities of the content of dreams in diseases of various organs, and one of the first to use this method to recognize diseases.
There is no doubt that our thoughts and ideas constantly depend on the physical condition of our body. Our inclinations and passions also depend upon their general state, blood composition, and nerves. In short, our notions and visions of things depend largely on our temperament. The painful state of the body puts a sad and melancholy taste in our thoughts, and vice versa, excellent health gives rise to humorous and cheerful ideas. We treat the same subject and phenomenon differently, depending on the state of our body, stomach and nerves.
Temperature, instincts and inclinations are inextricably linked to the human being, and during awakening.
During sleep, the mind only slightly counteracts the influence of the physical side of our organization, and then temperament prevails, instincts prevail over logic and reason.
Therefore, often people of high morality, caste, there are voluptuous dreams, or very kind people dream of battles, bloodshed, and other atrocities.
Sleep brings people closer to the natural state and awakens wild and primitive instincts. During sleep, a person is removed from learning ideas and beliefs.
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