Hallucinations and allied mental phenomena / by Sir Lauder Brunton.

  • Brunton, Thomas Lauder, Sir, 1844-1916.
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Hallucinations and allied mental phenomena / by Sir Lauder Brunton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    PREMONITIONS. was Surveyor-General of Canada, told me that on one occasion he had a premonition that some misfortune would befall him unless he was at a certain place on a certain day. He left his occupation, and travelled 200 miles across the prairie to arrive at the place which he had in his mind. On his arrival he found that his premonition was perfectly correct, and that mis- fortune would have befallen him had he not been there. He did not tell me what the misfortune was, and naturally I did not ask him. It appears to me that this somewhat unusual phenomenon is but an exceptional form of a very ordinary occurrence. Very many people have the power of sleeping perfectly soundly, and yet awakening at an unusually early hour to catch a train. During all the hours of sleep, however deep it may seem to be, some part of the brain appears to remain awake and to keep a record of the passage of time. Before going to sleep the individual has before him the data (a) that his train will start at a certain hour, and that (b) unless he awakes in good time to reach the station (e) the train will start without him. In my friend’s case I think he must have had unconsciously before him, when he started on his tour over the prairies, certain data which would work out a definite result in a given time if he were not there to prevent it. During both the time of sleeping and waking these data were present to his mind, and as the problem approached solution he felt that he must needs go to prevent the result from being worked out. Some of the forewarnings that occur in dreams are, I think, of a similar kind. The poet says, “ For morning dreams presage approaching fate, And morning dreams as poets tell are true.” Now the dreams that occur in the morning on awakening are usually more or less closely associated with the thoughts that occupied the mind on going to sleep. In my own case, I find that if I am awakened in the middle of the night from a deep sleep, any dream that occurs at the moment of awaking has a starting-point in some occurrence several days back. Rain areas and pain areas.—Other premonitions may, I think, be due to atmospheric conditions. For example, my wife on one occasion was induced to travel back from France to Ireland by a very strong impression that her mother needed her, and to the great astonishment of her
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