THE DREAM-GOD,
OR
A SINGULAR EVOLVEMENT
OF
THOUGHT IN SLEEP.
BY JOHN CUNINGHAM.
NEW YORK:
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR BY
ANDERSON & RAMSAY.
28 Frankfort Street.
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1873, by
JOHN CUNINGHAM,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
TO MY FRIENDS.
Although requested by a number of you at varioustimes to write this condensed narrative of anevent in my life, associated with much misfortune,sadness and suffering which have continued forsome years, it was not until during a lonely periodof quietude at Brooklyn, N. Y., in the summer of1872, that I made the effort. I do not expect thepublic to give much credence or interest to the matter,but to you who know me I can trustingly givethe assurance that this little book is an unaffectedand truthful production. It is published as anaffectionate memorial to you of mutual esteem andfriendship.
JOHN CUNINGHAM,
of So. Ca.
April, 1873.
A SINGULAR EVOLVEMENT OF
THOUGHT IN SLEEP.
A REMARKABLE DREAM.
The peculiar and startling effect of morphineon a person unaccustomed to its administration,was happily illustrated in the instanceof a gentleman to whom, under its influence,(about three eighths of a grain,) thedream to be related occurred. This individual,(a South Carolinian resident on a plantation,)a few years ago, had lately received asevere and extensive burn, which confined himto his bed six months. An allusion by him ina casual conversation in the city of New Yorkrecently to the eventful dream and its circumstances,brought out a solicitation to him towrite its narrative, which in substance he heregives.
[6]One evening in midwinter, a few weeks afterthe accident, the almost exhausted sufferer,having taken the prescribed nightly dose ofmorphine, fell asleep.
THE DREAM-GOD.
PART I.
The sleep was serene, the mind active, andthe dream promptly and vividly supervened.A being in the form of a handsome and maturedman, full of esprit, in a white and easy-fittinggarment, with bright, broad and sweepingwings coming out from each side of hisback below the shoulders, appeared to the patientat his bedside, and announced to himthat he was the Spirit of Morphine, of a heavenlyand immortal nature, and that he hadcome to carry him on an aerial voyage overmany parts of the world; to show him manyattractive regions and things, to introduce himto various races, royal personages, distinguished