PATHOLOGICAL DREAMERS.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 503, 10 January 1906, Page 8

PATHOLOGICAL DREAMERS.

Feenlljur Aoarrmtioni of Conduct aad ' X»ndeucte« to Fantaatis . Exaggeration!, ,n«MiM! | Students of psychological medicine will be particularly interested in some recent cases of pathological dreaming which Prof. A. Dick, of Prague, has been studying. Psychologists hare long recognized a similarity between dreams and the delusions of the insane or the waking delirium of the opium eater, says a New York exchange. Giic ceie occupying the attention of Prof. Dick is that of a man, aged 43, a goldsmith. During the ten years of his married life his wife has noticed that he often, during the day and night, spoke to himself, sometimes softly and sometimes loudly, as though he imagined himself to be among his fellow workmen. If spoken to he ceased at once, but gave no explanation except upon one occasion, when he said that various thoughts came to him against his will, which he had to speak out, although he knew that it was untrue. j Another case deals with a clerk, aged 18, who manifested peculiar aberrations of conduct in the form of petty embezzling and theft, and a tendency to fantastic exaggerations. His waking reveries or dreams were sometimes so realistic that he could not distinguish them from actual facts, : Metal* That Flow. ~' It is perhaps not generally known that one of the most important properties of metals employed in striking coins and metals and stamping and shaping articles of jewelry is that of Sowing under pressure, says the Youth's Companion. Standard silver is remarkable for this property, which precisely resembles the flowing of a viscous fluid. The flow takes place when the metal is subjected to roiling, stamping or hammering, and the particles of the metal are thas carried into the sunken parts of the die without fracturing, and a perfect impression if prod need. <

Xnt-Craaklnc ''> Kleotrtcltr. In St. Louis the nut-cracking industry gives employinent to a considerable number of persons, there being three plants in the city. The nutcrackers are driven bv electricity,each nut being fed individually into the crusher. xVfter the shells are cracked the nuts are winnowed by an air blast and the meat is picked from the crushed shell* by land, women and girls being §jnplu>cd for this part of the work.