More discoveries are done indreams than the “world could dream of!” Do you know why? Dreams make use of ourfullest knowledge and experience. They can make use of the facts, which we arenot aware of knowing, when we are awake!
Dreaming allows us to tap the hiddenknowledge when we seek a solution to a problem. People want “to sleep on aproblem” before they make am important decision, since they are sure to findthe answer in their dreams.
The story of the Benzene ring isvery popular. Benzene is a clear, colorless, highly refractive and inflammableorganic liquid. It is derived from petroleum and is used in the manufacture ofa number of chemical products.
It is an organic compound with 6carbon and 6 hydrogen atoms, in it molecule. Carbon can form four chemicalbonds while hydrogen can form only one bond. The structure of benzene eludedthe scientist for a very long time–since they could not satisfy all thechemical bonds, when they imagined the structure of benzene along a straightline.
German Chemist Friedrich AugustKekule spent sleepless nights over this problem. One night he dreamt of asnake. It was going round and round for a while and suddenly grabbed its owntail in its mouth to form a ring.
The Solution dawned immediately onKekule that structure of benzene was in the form of a ring and not along astraight line. A Hexagonal diagram with a carbon atom in each vertex (attachedto a hydrogen atom) and alternate single and double bonds between the sixcarbon atoms satisfied all the rules correctly. Thus the puzzle of the benzenering was solved in a dream.
Russian chemist Dimitri Mandeleevfound his famous “Periodic Table of the Elements” in one of his dreams.
The American inventor Elias Howe hadworked hard for years to perfect the design of his sewing machine. But successcame only after he dreamt that he had been ordered on pain of death –to finishhis machine!
Dreams can work wonders—if only weknow how to utilize them.
Visalakshi Ramani