Historical dream account · English · original text

Lord Kelvin explains my power of flight

Mary Arnold-Forster (1861–1951)

Studies in Dreams (1921) · III. Flying Dreams; printed pages 42–43; original 1921 English edition

Dreamer identified by the source: Mary Arnold-Forster

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In my dream I was present at a party given in the rooms of the Royal Society in Burlington House. Lord Kelvin, Lord Rayleigh, Sir William Ramsay, my brother-in-law, Sir Arthur Rucker, and many others whom I knew, were there. They were standing together in a little group, and my brother-in-law asked me to explain to them my method of flying. I could not explain how it was done, only that it seemed to me much easier to fly than to walk. At his suggestion I made some experimental flights — circling round the ceiling, rising and falling, and showing them also the gliding or floating movement near the ground. They all discussed it critically as though they were rather "on the defensive" about the proceeding, looking upon it, I think, as a new and doubtful experiment, rather savouring of a conjuring trick. Then Lord Kelvin came forward and, speaking with that gracious manner that his friends so well remember, said that he felt the power of human flight to be less surprising, less baffling than the others seemed to think it. "The law of gravitation had probably been in this case temporarily suspended." — "Clearly this law does not for the moment affect you when you fly," he said to me. The others who were present agreed to this, and said that this was probably the solution of the puzzle. An assistant was standing behind the group of men, and in order to show them that flying is not really difficult, I took his hand, and begging him to have confidence in me and to trust to my guidance, I succeeded in making him fly a few inches from the ground.

Source & context

A historical sleep-dream account recorded in Mary Arnold-Forster’s original English Studies in Dreams (1921). Its figures, events and explanations belong to the reported dream, not verified waking events or present-day clinical advice. This is not a modern Synastry community submission.

Mary Arnold-Forster, Studies in Dreams (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1921), pp. 42–43. Original English historical dream account.

A source dateline, where supplied, identifies only the printed month/year. No single exact dream date or real contributor location is inferred. 1921 is this original English edition’s publication year.

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Public domain in the United States and United Kingdom — original 1921 English text ↗

Public Domain Mark identifies copyright status; it is not a new license grant. Published in 1921 in the United States; author died in 1951. No all-jurisdiction warranty.

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III. Flying Dreams; printed pages 42–43; original 1921 English edition

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b6ee3cece76db30a7cd2bfaa01a330c3791d626b4311de097a77b2ea22495fde
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9343d3780e67ab7cdf39c14275bb6708cf64eceb8a315876c6db8525205748f7

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