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SLEEP 
 
 WITH REFERENCE TO 
 
 SENSATION AND MEM OKI 
 
 1 For the soul never slumbereth, bnt is as the eye of the Eternal, 
 And mind, the breath of God, knoweth not ideal vacuity : 
 Ai night, after weariness and watching, the body sinketh into sleep, 
 But the mental eye is awake, and thou reasonest in thy dreams : 
 In a dream thou mayst live a lifetime, and all be forgotten in the morning." 
 
 Tupper. 
 
 BLANCHARD FOSGATE, M.D 
 
 P&gatrian to trjc Nsdj gotfe estate prison at Sufiurn. 
 
 10 
 
 r'- 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 GEORGE P. PUTNAM, 155 BROADWAY 
 
 , MDCCCL. 
 

 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by 
 GEORGE P. PUTNAM, 
 ) Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. 
 
 B. Craighead, Printer and Stereotifper 
 112 Fulton Street. 
 
6 9 *- 
 
 PREFACE, 
 
 In publishing the following Essay, the author is aware that the 
 philosophy of mind has been the theme of gifted intellects through 
 all civilized periods, and that, varied as its phases are, they have 
 each elicited the closest investigation. The work is therefore 
 submitted with great deference to the public. 
 
 The reader will bear in mind that the subjects of the several 
 chapters have not been examined with a view to their perfect 
 history or phenomena, but have been introduced, more especially, 
 with reference to the particular views proposed in the Introduction. 
 In each, the leading object has been to collect facts and analyse 
 combinations, the more clearly to elucidate, and the more 
 perfectly to illustrate the view taken of that portion of psychology 
 under consideration. 
 
 Auburn, N. Y., May, 1850. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 Introduction, -- - -17 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Nervous and Mental Action, - - - - ■ . - -25 
 
 Sensation and Perception, 25 
 
 Phantasm, - - - - ■ 27 
 
 Reflex Action, - - - - - - - -31 
 
 Consensual or Associate Action, ----- 32 
 
 Mental Action, 34 
 
 Deranged Mental Action, ------ 37 
 
 Rapidity of Mental Action, 41 
 
 CHAPTER H. 
 
 Sleep, - -50 
 
 Causes, ---------58 
 
 Induction, ---------58 
 
 Divisions, -.---.---62 
 Stages,- --------- 63 
 
 Lassitude, ------ --65 
 
 Slumber, ..-.. = --65 
 
 Dreaming, -------- 67 
 
 Torpor, - - - 91 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Page 
 
 Mesmerism, - - - - - - - - - -96 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Somnambulism, 112 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Incubus, 132 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Tkance, 146 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Catalepsy, - - 162 
 
 Conclusion, - - - - - - - - -172 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The phenomena of sleep have engaged the specula- 
 tive and philosophic consideration of psychologists 
 from the earliest periods. And although deep-search- 
 ing investigation has made no approximation toward 
 the fundamental fact of what sleep is, still a vast store 
 of knowledge has been accumulated, from which mate- 
 rial may be drawn to define its operations, and deter- 
 mine the laws by which this condition of our being 
 is governed. 
 
 The ultimate principles — or what sleep is, and what 
 may be its cause — being, through Infinite wisdom, 
 involved in obscurity so profound, that it can only be 
 dissipated by disclosing the mysterious fountains of 
 life, we pass to the consideration of its existence as a 
 component of our mental and physical being. The 
 phenomena of memory, as presented in connexion 
 with sensation during sleep, will also engage our espe- 
 cial attention. 
 
IS SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 We shall, in this Essay, endeavor to show, 
 That during sleep, the mental faculties are as active as 
 
 during wakefulness ; 
 That memory is no criterion by which to judge the 
 
 mind in sleep ; and 
 That the mind is dependent upon the integrity of the 
 
 organs of external sensation for a remembrance of 
 
 what transpires during this state. 
 
 To establish these propositions, it becomes necessary 
 to examine such of the pathological and normal phe- 
 nomena of our compound being as bear relation to the 
 subject. The mysterious as well as the more evident, 
 the complex and the comparatively simple states in 
 which our existence is involved, are made in some 
 degree the subjects of our inquiry. 
 
 The doctrine, that the mind is as active during our 
 sleep as when we are awake, has long been maintained 
 by some physiologists. A writer upon dreams in the 
 London Penny Cyclopaedia says, " It is a question, 
 whether sleep operates on the mind as well as on the 
 body ; whether while it suspends the action of the body, 
 it also, either through the body or otherwise, suspends 
 the action of the mind. This is a question on which 
 we cannot speak positively, and on which our opinion 
 can be determined" only by the greater probability of 
 the one side or the other." That the greater proba- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 bility is on the side of mental activity, we hope, in 
 the course of our remarks, most fully.to establish. 
 
 Whether memory is dependent on the integrity of 
 the organs of external relation, in the waking as well 
 as in the sleeping state, may be questionable ; but 
 many circumstances give plausibility to the suggestion 
 that it may be. Do we remember anything not 
 transmitted to the sensorium through the senses ? If 
 not, any mental operation, independent of sensational 
 organs for its primary stimulus, cannot be retained. 
 When the mind is so riveted upon an idea, that these 
 organs do not convey to the centre of perception 
 external stimuli, there will be no recollection of things 
 felt or seen, although they may have been-even power- 
 fully impressed. The fact that memory is a faculty of 
 the mind not fully comprehended, renders it a fit sub- 
 ject of speculation, and thus it may be as Dr. Reed 
 says, " when philosophers have piled one supposition 
 on another, as the giants piled the mountains in order 
 to scale the heavens, it is all to no purpose — memory 
 remains unaccountable ; and we know as little how we 
 remember things past, as how we are conscious of the 
 present." 
 
 In examining the phenomena of mind, with a view 
 to establish the proposition, ' that the mind is depend- 
 ent upon the integrity of the organs of external sensa- 
 tion, for a remembrance of what transpires during 
 
20 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 sleep/ it becomes necessary to present the psycho- 
 logical foundation upon which this conclusion is based. 
 We should remark, however, that with the doctrine of 
 essences, or ontology, we have little to do ; but that in 
 the science of mind, in its more limited acceptation as 
 regards its psycho-physiological phenomena, is to be 
 found the sphere of our observations. 
 
 The mind, then, in the field of our labors, we regard 
 as a unit, and as acting and being acted upon in one 
 direction, through sensation, by external influences ; 
 and in the other, by the innate powers of the organ 
 of its own manifestation. The brain, notwithstanding 
 the unity and immateriality of the mind, is so organized 
 that particular parts are designed as fit instruments to 
 reveal the properties of mind separately considered. 
 The faculty of perception, the flow of feeling, and the 
 power of thought, are elementary modes of organic 
 activity by and through whose agency we know our 
 position, exert our energy, and comprehend our rela- 
 tions. By a combination of these elements we are 
 enabled to realize the outward world, and to grasp the 
 results which arise from a contemplation of its phe- 
 nomena. It is to this intermediate, this connecting link 
 between the world of mind and the world of matter, 
 that our philosophy is confined. How matter is so 
 sublimated that the spirit principle is enabled to realize 
 it, or how mind is so 'conjoined to matter as to be cog- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 21 
 
 nisant of the operations connected with our material 
 being, are problems to be solved, if ever solved, in the 
 higher walks of metaphysical research. 
 
 External and internal sensations, and the powers of 
 reflection, are the stimuli to these elementary princi- 
 ples or their special organs. Of these several sources 
 of knowledge, we hold external sensation alone, as 
 contributing to the permanency of our mental acquire- 
 ments. It is at least doubtful whether the understand- 
 ing or reason contributes any knowledge whatever. 
 The facts acquired through sensation, are only com- 
 bined and arranged by reason, and the results are 
 brought into practical existence by the power of the 
 will. 
 
 In the process of recollecting, the reflective faculty 
 casts its stimulating influence through the mass of ideas 
 already accumulated by observation, until it falls upon 
 some one bearing relation to the subject in question, 
 when, by association, that particular catenation is 
 aroused, and in this manner the idea sought is quickly 
 brought to view. This rationale having relation to 
 ideas of outward existence alone, it may be asked, 
 whether the mind has no power of recalling into mental 
 being the memory of previous impressions from the 
 vast field of the emotions ? We answer, it has not. It 
 may create a new emotion, but cannot recall one 
 which has passed. When by the power of recollection 
 
22 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 we bring to view pictures of material objects not then 
 present to the senses, we merely bring up what was 
 previously deposited in the mind ; the idea of the 
 impression — not the impression itself; it is a re-presen- 
 tation — not a creation. This is a memory of the fact : 
 but through the reappearing of the idea, the feelings 
 may be stimulated in their activity, and an emotion 
 produced identical with the one caused by the impres- 
 sion on which the idea was originally formed, and 
 which may again be incorporated in the mental 
 process. This is not the memory of an idea, but the 
 creation of an emotion. An organ of feeling has but 
 one definite action ; and whenever excited, it is the 
 creation of a new emotion, not the memory of one 
 gone by. Its action can neither be induced nor 
 varied by any direct intellectual effort, but may be 
 indirectly stimulated through association with the per- 
 ceptions, as it requires a repetition of the same stimu- 
 lus to excite the emotion which originally induced it. 
 In the re-excitement of an organ of internal sensation, 
 we have its mode of action, which presents to the 
 mind an actual existence — the thing itself. Memory 
 is only a recall of ideas already formed — not a creation 
 of them. On the contrary, when recollecting, the 
 mind can re-assemble the ideas that originated in per- 
 ception of material impressions, in proportion to the 
 perfection of the ideas, and within the range of each 
 
INTRODUCTION. 23 
 
 individual capacity. In this recall of ideas without 
 reference to their origin, we recognise a distinct power 
 of the mind, operating through the organs of percep- 
 tion, which we consider to be memory. 
 
 Memory, as before stated, is a mode of activity of 
 the organs of perception stimulated by external sensa- 
 tion ; but recollection or voluntary memory, i. e. the 
 power of recalling into thought the memory of past 
 perceptions and their associate ideas, is an attribute 
 distinct from what may be termed passive memory, or 
 the mere remembrance of things unconnected with 
 collateral circumstances. That volition may again 
 and again bring up all these associations by an act of 
 recollection, is undoubtedly true, for they have become 
 the property of the mind, to be used as occasion may 
 demand. 
 
 To distinguish consciousness from memory, we 
 would say that the former does not depend upon the 
 latter for existence, because consciousness is ever 
 present, ever living. The consciousness of one period, 
 and the consciousness of another, are connected by a 
 variety of circumstances ; and it is an attribute of 
 memory, through these circumstances, to combine 
 these different periods of existence, making our lives 
 one harmonious whole. When by disease the memory 
 becomes impaired, it does not affect the consciousness. 
 In such instances, the sources of memory, not con- 
 
24 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 sciousness, are involved. In many cases of insanity, 
 the individual imagines himself to be another person ; 
 and through impairment of memory, it is probable that 
 identity, not consciousness, is lost : identity being the 
 result of memory and consciousness combined. We 
 are acquainted with a lunatic irrecoverably deranged, 
 who believes himself to be the Lord Mayor of London, 
 being originally from that city. But notwithstanding 
 his imaginary social elevation, he knows himself; he 
 answers to his name ; and in some particulars is aware 
 of his actual condition. The chain of his identity is 
 deranged and broken, but his consciousness is perfect, 
 because it is a resistless, ever-present fact, like a full 
 gushing fountain, springing unceasingly into existence. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 NERVOUS AND MENTAL ACTION. 
 
 To sustain the views proposed in our introduction it 
 becomes necessary briefly to treat of nervous and 
 mental action, of association, and in some measure of 
 deranged mental manifestation. It will be remembered, 
 however, that only a cursory examination of these 
 subjects will be made, and without special regard to 
 systematic arrangement, because the subjects are 
 treated of collaterally to the objects proposed. 
 
 Sensation and Perception. 
 
 For the mind to take cognisance of a fact or 
 circumstance external to the body, an impression 
 must first be made upon the nerve which produces a 
 sensation ; the perception is then awakened, and 
 consciousness is the result. Should attention be 
 directed to the perception, it then becomes the subject 
 of intellectual operation, ideas are formed, and memory 
 records the fact or circumstance. 
 
 Every perception of external relation creates an 
 idea in the mind which becomes memory, and under 
 2 
 
26 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 proper circumstances can be recalled and compared 
 with other perceptions present* Muller says, " we 
 know that every idea is a permanent, immutable 
 impression in the brain, which may at any moment 
 present itself anew if the mind be directed to it — if the 
 '■ attention' be turned to it, and that it is merely the 
 impossibility of the attention being occupied by many 
 objects simultaneously that causes each to be forgotten. 
 All these latent ideas must be regarded as impressions 
 on the brain which cannot be effaced. Lesions of the 
 brain may annul a part or all of these ideas." 
 
 Impressions upon the sensitive nerves are trans- 
 mitted in either a peripheral or centripetal direction, 
 according to the part impressed. If upon the root or 
 trunk, it is perceived at its extremity ; if upon the 
 fibrils, the impression is transmitted to the nervous 
 centre. An injury to the body of the ulnar nerve at 
 the elbow is referred to the extremity or the nervous 
 fibrils of the little finger, and is a familiar instance in 
 point. It is a well known fact, that persons having 
 lost their limbs, dream of sensations in the excised 
 parts as vividly as though the members were in situ. 
 The cause is either from an internal mental impression, 
 or from an external mechanical irritation, as by 
 pressure upon the nervous trunk. 
 
AND MENTAL ACTION. 27 
 
 Phantasm. 
 
 The reception of sensational impressions is, ac- 
 cording to Muller, a mode of action of the sensational 
 nerve. This corresponds with Combe's idea of certain 
 properties of mental organs being a mode of activity 
 with them. 
 
 When a sensational organ is excited, either by- 
 internal or external influences, the effect on the mind 
 will be identical. The nerves of sensation stand, as it 
 were, between the external impression and the internal 
 idea. The retina, for instance, can be, in very many 
 cases, excited as vividly by the inward influence as by 
 the outward producing phantasm. To the mind, in 
 such cases, facts only are presented, and to the organs 
 of sense, ideas. 
 
 There appears to be a nervous mode of action 
 existing between the external impression and internal 
 perception, having relation, on one hand, to the mind, 
 and on the other, to the sensitive nervous extremities. 
 When this mode is excited by an internal idea with 
 sufficient intensity, the organ, as of vision, is thrown 
 into its mode of action ; it actually sees the idea, 
 returning it as a simple impression to the mind, and if 
 this condition is not corrected by other mental powers, 
 there is partial alienation. Should the action occur in 
 sleep, a dream of the most vivid character will be 
 
28 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 induced. The idea is, as it were, reflected upon the 
 sensational apparatus, exciting in it actual impressions, 
 as observed by Spinosa, and attested by Muller, that 
 images seen in dreams are sometimes still visible, and 
 can be observed to disappear gradually to the waking 
 eyes. Dreams that present us with the most vivid 
 conceptions are those in which phantasms are produced. 
 The internal excitement having operated upon the 
 organs of sense, to produce the same result that 
 corresponding external stimulus would have done, the 
 memorial power is aroused the same as though we had 
 actually seen, or heard, or felt the impression. 
 
 Muller, in reviewing the phenomena of phantasm, 
 says, " The facts already mentioned prove that the 
 images seen in dreams, not the mere ideas of things 
 conceived in dreams, are phenomena of the same kind 
 as the phantasms. For the images which remain 
 before the eyes when we awake are identical with the 
 objects perceived in our dreams." 
 
 In the latter part of the eighteenth century, a 
 Prussian bookseller named Nicolai, gave the most 
 remarkable account of phantasm, which occurred in 
 his own case, to be found on record. He says, " I 
 saw, in a state of mind completely sound, and — after 
 the first terror was over — with perfect calmness, for 
 nearly two months, almost constantly and involuntarily, 
 a vast number of human and other forms, and even 
 
NERVOUS AND MENTAL ACTION. 29 
 
 heard their voices, though all this was merely the con- 
 sequence of a diseased state of the nerves, and an 
 irregular circulation of the blood. When I shut my 
 eyes these phantasms would sometimes vanish entirely, 
 though there were instances when I beheld them with 
 my eyes closed ; yet, when they disappeared on such 
 occasions, they generally returned when I opened my 
 eyes. I conversed sometimes with my physician and 
 my wife on the phantasms which at the moment sur- 
 rounded me ; they appeared more frequently walking 
 than at rest ; nor were they constantly present. They 
 frequently did not come for some time, but always 
 reappeared for a longer or shorter period, either singly 
 or in company ; the latter, however, being most fre- 
 quently the case. I generally saw human forms of 
 both sexes, but they usually seemed not to take the 
 smallest notice of each other, moving as in a market- 
 place, where all are eager to press through the crowd ; 
 at times, however, they seemed to be transacting 
 business with each other. I also saw, several times, 
 people on horseback, dogs, and birds. All these phan- 
 tasms appeared to me in their natural size, and as dis- 
 tinct as if alive, exhibiting different shades of carnation 
 in their uncovered parts, as well as in different colors 
 and fashions in their dresses, though the colors seemed 
 somewhat paler than in real nature ; none of the 
 figures appeared particularly terrible, comical, or dis- 
 
30 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 gusting, most of them being of an indifferent shape, and 
 some presenting a pleasing aspect." 
 
 Goethe, the celebrated German poet, possessed the 
 rare faculty of producing phantasms at will. < He says, 
 " When I close my eyes and depress my head, I could 
 cause the image of a flower to appear in the middle of 
 the field of vision ; this flower did not for a moment 
 retain its first form, but unfolded itself, and developed 
 from its interior new flowers, formed of colored or 
 sometimes green leaves. These were not natural 
 flowers, but of fantastic forms, although symmetrical 
 as the rosettes of sculptors. I was unable to fix any 
 one form, but the development of new flowers con- 
 tinued as long as I desired it, without any variation in 
 the rapidity of the changes. The same thing occurred 
 when I figured to myself a variegated disk. The 
 colored figures upon it underwent constant changes, 
 which extended progressively from the centre towards 
 the periphery, exactly like the changes in the modern 
 kaleidoscope." 
 
 In both these cases the objects were as actually seen 
 by the visual apparatus as though they had been 
 externally presented to the organ of vision. Through 
 the central excitement the retina was thrown into its 
 mode of action by the idea, and returned to the brain 
 the phantasm as a simple fact. 
 
NERVOUS AND MENTAL ACTION. 31 
 
 Reflex Action. 
 
 Another mode of nervous action, but having less 
 dependence on the brain than those just considered, is 
 termed reflex. This action is a peculiar function of 
 the spinal cord, and prolongs the natural movements 
 of muscles associated for certain definite purposes, as 
 of locomotion ; and when they are once set in opera- 
 tion, do, by so slight a degree of sensation that it 
 makes no impression on the sensorium commune, con- 
 tinue to operate in the direction of the impulse, until 
 changed by a mandate of the will, or arrested by 
 physical obstruction. 
 
 A good example of reflex and associate action occurs 
 in the act of swallowing. When a morsel of food is 
 carried so far back in the mouth as to impress the 
 sensitive nerves of the fauces, the muscles of deglutition 
 are immediately aroused, and not only act indepen- 
 dently of the will, but they require its strongest effort 
 to resist their movement if desired. 
 
 Now, such action being independent of volition, it 
 may, when once called into play, be continued by 
 causes that do not affect the brain ; and, consequently, 
 when a consecutive train of action is started, it may 
 be prolonged independently of the will. This state 
 may occur as well during sleep as in vigilance, for we 
 know that the action of the muscles of organic life is 
 
32 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 maintained in sleep by this process ; the blood is pro- 
 pelled by the heart, and respiration by the associate 
 action of the muscles of the chest. 
 
 The medulla oblongata is the seat of sensation and 
 reflex action. Without the cerebrum animals will fly 
 and walk, and yet appear as though asleep. Among 
 the experiments of M. Flourens, we find that " an 
 animal, in which the cerebral hemispheres have been 
 removed, is in a state of stupor, but presents, neverthe- 
 less, manifest signs of sensibility, and not merely of the 
 reflection of impressions. It no longer performs any 
 voluntary movements, but, when struck, it has all the 
 manner of an animal waking from sleep. In whatever 
 position it be placed it resumes the equilibrium. If 
 laid upon the back, it rises again ; if pushed, it walks. 
 If it be a bird, and we throw it up into the air, it flies ; 
 if it be a frog, it leaps when touched. The animal has, 
 doubtless, lost its memory, it no longer reasons ; but, 
 nevertheless, it feels, and the sensations excite in it 
 movements which are different from the phenomena 
 of mere nervous reflection. Cuvier very aptly com- 
 pares animals in this condition to a sleeping man ; he 
 also seeks an easy position — he feels." 
 
 Consensual or Associate Action. 
 
 Consensual or associate muscular action consists in 
 the contraction of a single muscle of a particular set 
 
NERVOUS AND MENTAL ACTION. 33 
 
 being followed by a determinate movement of the 
 others, independent of, and oftentimes contrary to the 
 will : one eye, for instance, cannot be changed in its 
 axis without being followed in the same direction by 
 the other. The following experiments illustrate this 
 mode of action. The first movement of the series is 
 perforce produced, and the associate movements follow 
 in consequence. " In a pigeon," M. Flourens " re- 
 moved both cerebral hemispheres ; loss of vision im- 
 mediately ensued, with general loss of power, which, 
 however, was neither considerable nor persistent. 
 The pigeon flew when it was thrown into the air ; 
 walked when it was pushed. The iris had its power 
 of motion in both eyes ; the animal was deaf, and it 
 did not move spontaneously, but had constantly the 
 manner of a sleeping animal, and, when irritated, it 
 resembled in its motions an animal just awaking. In 
 whatever position it was placed, it resumed its equi- 
 librium ; if laid upon the back, it got upon its feet 
 again ; water being put into its beak, it swallowed it ; 
 and it resisted attempts to open its beak." " He likens 
 the pigeon in this condition to an animal condemned 
 to perpetual sleep, but without the faculty of dreaming."* 
 " M. Hertwig removed the upper part of the 
 hemispheres in a pigeon ; sight and hearing were 
 
 * Mullens Physiology. 
 2* 
 
34 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 abolished, and the animal sat in one spot as if asleep. 
 He fed it : peas, if placed merely within the beak, 
 were not swallowed ; but if laid upon the tongue, they 
 were (owing to reflex action) ; the muscles were but 
 slightly enfeebled ; the bird stood firmly, and flew 
 when thrown into the air. This state endured for a 
 fortnight, when the hearing and sensibility in a great 
 measure returned ; this pigeon lived three months." 
 " A hen, in which he had cut off both hemispheres 
 nearly to the base of the brain, was found to be 
 deprived of sight, hearing, taste, and smell ; it sat 
 constantly in one spot, and was as if dead until 
 strongly roused, when it moved a few steps. The 
 animal lived in this state of stupor, without its senses 
 being restored, for three months."* 
 
 Mental Action. 
 
 Mental action does not consist of light, or sound, or 
 touch ; for none of these existences reach the brain : 
 but of ideas originating from the stimulus of perception 
 acting upon the mental organ. Out of ideas thus 
 created, the mind forms its images of fancy in harmony 
 with the leading or originating idea, modified by 
 individual temperament. Thus the idea excited by 
 music may associate in the mental process, the sombre 
 
 * Muller's Physiology. 
 
NERVOUS AND MENTAL ACTION. 35 
 
 light of a cathedral, the brilliant dazzle of the assembly, 
 or the red volcanic fires of the battle-field — not merely 
 as the strain may vary, but in harmony with the indi- 
 vidual mental character. 
 
 We seldom enjoy the delights arising from the gra- 
 tification of one sense, without ideas peculiar to 
 others being excited in the mind. This excitement is 
 awakened by arousing the memory, which at once 
 combines and associates the whole to produce the 
 mental result. 
 
 Ideas depend in a great degree for their perfection 
 upon the integrity of the senses, because the mind can 
 have no conception of light, for example, unless 
 memory can recall its influence ; and where the organ 
 of vision never existed, there is nothing of this influ- 
 ence to be associated in the mental operations, and so 
 it is with all the other special sensations. 
 
 The deaf do not dream of sounds, nor the blind of 
 sights, when deafness and blindness are congenital. 
 Where a sense has never existed there can be no idea 
 of its phenomena in the mind, and of consequence 
 there can be no memory regarding it. The most lucid 
 mental perceptions we experience, and those the 
 longest retained, arise from direct impressions upon 
 the organs of sense. To illustrate — we might have the 
 colors and form of the rainbow described by the most 
 profound philosopher that ever existed, and couched in 
 
3b SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 the language of an exuberant imagination ; and we 
 might have often seen its primary colors, and be per- 
 fectly familiar with the form of the arch ; yet its 
 gorgeous glow and sublime proportions as it appears in 
 the heavens, would be faintly portrayed to the mind ; 
 the whole conception would arise from an intellectual 
 operation, without the foundation upon which an idea 
 can permanently rest, and there would be very little to 
 place in the storehouse of memory : but let the organ 
 of vision once take an impression of the bow of promise, 
 and the idea springs from a source that will last as long 
 as the integrity of the mind endures. 
 
 When intellectual operations depend upon internal 
 impressions for their stimulus, as during sound sleep, 
 they are deprived of the imperishable quality imparted 
 by external sense ; but when they occur during the 
 stages of slumber or dreaming, they are remembered 
 just in proportion to the susceptibility of the senses 
 providing stimulus of action. 
 
 Dr. George Moore says : " The action and reaction 
 between mind and body are incessant, since there is 
 not a moment, either in our waking or sleeping expe- 
 rience, when the nerves are not agitated by ideas." 
 And Dr. Dendy says, that " mind is not the product of 
 organization, but it works by and through it ; and 
 therefore for its earthly uses, cannot be independent of 
 the qualities of matter." Although matter has its 
 
NERVOUS AND MENTAL ACTION. 37 
 
 influence upon mind, still the mental reaction is such 
 as to control its special organ, the brain, and even to 
 exert an extraordinary influence upon the whole animal 
 economy. If the mind is immaterial, it is necessarily 
 divested of inertness, the distinguishing quality of 
 matter, and must therefore be altogether absent from 
 the body during sleep, or its organ must be in ceaseless 
 activity. The mind being immaterial, both it and its 
 immediate organ are absolutely sleepless. 
 
 This idea is beautifully expressed in the following 
 stanza. Poetry has its philosophy, and we often find 
 the imagery of the poet imbued with the severest 
 reason : 
 
 " Though thy slumber may be deep, 
 Yet thy spirit shall not sleep ; 
 There are shades which will not vanish, 
 There are thoughts thou canst not banish." 
 
 Deranged Mental Operation. 
 
 Deranged mental operations depend more upon an 
 exalted condition of the propensities and sentiments, 
 than upon external appliances. When the mind is thus 
 excited, impressions received through the external 
 senses seem to impair the perception so much, that it 
 conveys to the reflective powers so little of objective 
 reality, that they are left to regulate their own opera- 
 tions by the internal workings of diseased organs. 
 
38 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 Actions flowing from such a state of mind, stamp 
 upon the individual the character of insanity. 
 
 Now in what does such a state of mind differ from 
 that of sound sleep? It differs in the circumstance, 
 that external relation is by sleep withheld from the 
 reflective faculties merely, while sleep continues, and 
 the organs of feeling are in a healthy condition, but for 
 a limited period permitted, as it were, to run at will, 
 free from the restraints of rigid reason. 
 
 Insane persons appear to be only momentarily influ- 
 enced in their mental manifestations by physical pain ; 
 but in sleep, it is a common cause of a connected train 
 of thought during a long dream. Dr. Gregory, having 
 applied a bottle of hot water to his feet, dreamed that 
 he made the ascent of Mount vEtna; and a blister 
 applied to the nape of the neck caused the patient to 
 dream of being scalped by Indians. From the circum- 
 stance that the thoughts of the insane are excited more 
 by internal than external sensations, we should con- 
 clude that the memory of a diseased is less active than 
 of a healthy brain. 
 
 Between dreaming and insanity, there is a singular 
 resemblance. The brain, when diseased, does, through 
 its exalted internal sensations, excite in the waking 
 mind the same irregularity of ideas which arise in 
 dreams when the regulating power — the external 
 senses — is withheld. In hallucination the external 
 
NERVOUS AND MENTAL ACTION. 39 
 
 is overpowered by the internal stimulus, but not 
 obliterated. 
 
 The hallucination of Tasso, as related by Manso, 
 Marquis of Villa, will illustrate this position : " Tasso 
 in his delirium believed that he conversed with familiar 
 spirits. One day, when the Marquis endeavored to 
 drive these ideas from his mind, Tasso said to him, 
 ' Since I cannot convince you by reason, I shall do so 
 by experience ; I shall cause the spirit, in which you 
 refuse to believe, to appear to your own eyes.' I 
 accepted the offer, says the Marquis, and next day, 
 when we sat by the fire conversing, he turned his eyes 
 towards the window, and looking with steadfast atten- 
 tion, appeared so completely absorbed, that when I 
 called to him, he did not answer. ' See !' said he, at 
 length, ' See ! my familiar spirit comes to converse 
 with me.' I looked with the greatest earnestness, but 
 could see nothing enter the apartment. In the mean- 
 time, Tasso began to converse with this mysterious 
 being. I saw and heard himself alone. Sometimes he 
 questioned, and sometimes answered ; and from his 
 answers, I gathered the sense of what he had heard. 
 The subject of his discourse was so elevated, and the 
 expressions so sublime, that I felt myself in a kind 
 of ecstasy. I did not venture to interrupt him, nor to 
 trouble him with questions, and a considerable time 
 elapsed before the spirit disappeared. I was informed 
 
40 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 of its departure by Tasso, who, turning towards me, 
 said, * In future you will cease to doubt.' ' Rather,' 
 said I, 'I shall be more sceptical, for although I have 
 heard astonishing words, I have seen nothing.' Smiling, 
 he replied, ' You have perhaps heard or seen more 
 than .' He stopped short ; and, fearing to impor- 
 tune him by my questions, I dropped the conversation." 
 Tasso was awake ; but having a diseased mental 
 organ, he was insane ; his external senses were intact, 
 but the intellectual being received impressions from 
 disordered organs of internal sensations ; and the 
 objects presented to his mind were paramount to the 
 words of Manso. He did not acknowledge external 
 stimuli, because his mind was too much absorbed with 
 the delusion. Here, also, a dissimilarity, as well as 
 resemblance between dreaming and insanity, is clearly 
 observable. In sound sleep, when the sensational 
 organs are inactive, mental occurrences are not 
 remembered. In this case, though Tasso did not 
 acknowledge a perception of realities, and was occu- 
 pied entirely by creations of his own fancy, still, the 
 nerves of sense were perfect, and had an influence ; 
 a remembrance of what passed in his mind was 
 retained from one paroxysm to another. " The subject 
 of the discourse," said Manso, " was so elevated, and 
 the expressions so sublime, that I felt myself in a 
 kind of ecstasy." Such elevation and sublimity are 
 
NERVOUS AND MENTAL ACTION. 41 
 
 to be obtained under circumstances of mental abstrac- 
 tion to a degree only found in dreaming, or in the 
 operations of a diseased brain. 
 
 Rapidity of Mental Action. 
 
 The astonishing rapidity with which the mind acts, 
 and the almost unlimited power of expansion with 
 which it is endowed under certain circumstances, is of 
 peculiar interest. The conditions best adapted to 
 develope its resources in these particulars, are probably, 
 
 First, cerebral congestion induced by drowning or 
 hanging. 
 
 Second, great personal danger. 
 
 Third, insanity ; and 
 
 Fourth, dreaming. 
 
 We believe that the greatest expansion of thought is 
 connected with the last condition, and the greatest 
 rapidity with the second. In the first, the mind appears 
 to be calm, but highly imaginative in its operations ; 
 and in the third to partake largely of the qualities of 
 the fourth, in many instances. 
 
 To illustrate, we will select a few instances as nearly 
 in point as possible. 
 
 Rapidity of mental action is often experienced on 
 occasions of great personal danger, and almost always 
 turns upon a review of the past life of the individual, 
 
42 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 in which incidents the most trifling are brought dis- 
 tinctly before the mind, which occurred at remote 
 periods, and each circumstance in the order of its 
 occurrence. This has often been experienced in falls 
 from elevated positions, as the roofs of buildings, which 
 could have occupied but a very few seconds of time 
 in the descent. An old sea-captain once related to 
 me, that during a fall from the rigging of a vessel, from 
 which he barely escaped destruction, he distinctly 
 remembered every act of his life, even the purloining 
 of fruit from the neighboring orchards, and the depre- 
 dations upon hen-roosts, as well as the maternal admo- 
 nitions inflicted for his juvenile delinquencies. 
 
 "I was once told," says the English opium-eater, 
 " by a near relative of mine, that, having in her child- 
 hood fallen into a river, and being on the very verge of 
 death but for the critical assistance which reached her, 
 she saw in a moment her whole life in its minutest 
 incidents arrayed before her simultaneously, as in a 
 mirror, and she had a faculty developed as suddenly 
 for comprehending the whole and every part." 
 
 Dr. George Moore relates the case " of a person who 
 had been hung and cut down on a reprieve, who being 
 asked what were his sensations, stated, that the pre- 
 parations were dreadful beyond expression, but that on 
 being dropped, he instantly found, himself amid fields 
 and rivers of blood, which gradually acquired a greenish 
 
NERVOUS AND MENTAL ACTION. 43 
 
 tinge. Imagining that if he could reach a certain spot 
 he should be easy, he seemed to himself to struggle 
 forcibly to attain it, and then he felt no more." 
 
 Dr. Binns says, " We are acquainted with a gentle- 
 man, who, being able to swim but little, ventured too 
 far out and became exhausted. His alarm was great ; 
 and after making several strenuous but ill-directed 
 efforts to regain the shore, he shouted for assistance, 
 and then sank, as he supposed, to rise no more. The 
 noise of the water in his ears was at first horrible, and 
 the idea of death, and such a death ! terrific in the 
 extreme. He felt himself sinking as if for an age, 
 and descent, it seemed, would have no end. But this 
 frightful state passed away. His senses became 
 steeped in light. Innumerable and beautiful visions 
 presented themselves to his imagination^ Luminous 
 aerial shapes accompanied him through embowering 
 groves of graceful trees, while soft music, as if breathed 
 from their leaves, moved his spirit to voluptuous repose. 
 Marble colonnades, light-pierced vistas, soft grass walks, 
 picturesque groups of angelic beings, gorgeously 
 plumaged birds, golden fish that swam in purple waters, 
 and glistening fruit that hung from latticed arbors, 
 were seen, admired, and passed. Then the vision 
 changed, and he saw, as if in a wide field, the acts of 
 his own being, from the first dawn of memory to the 
 moment when he entered the water. They were all 
 
44 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 grouped and ranged in the order of the succession of 
 their happening, and he read the whole volume of 
 existence at a glance ; nay, its incidents and entities 
 were photographed on his mind, limned in light, and 
 the panorama of the battle of life lay before him. From 
 this condition of beatitude, at least, these were the last 
 sensations he could remember ; he awoke to conscious- 
 ness, and consequently to pain, agony, and disappoint- 
 ment." 
 
 Dr. Clark said, " I was once drowned." # * * 
 " I saw my danger, but thought the mare would swim, 
 and I knew I could ride when we were overwhelmed. 
 It appeared to me that I had gone to the bottom with 
 my eyes open. At first I thought I saw the bottom 
 clearly, and then felt neither apprehension nor pain ; 
 on the contrary, I felt as if I had been in the most de- 
 lightful situation ; my mind was tranquil and uncom- 
 monly happy. I felt as if in Paradise, and yet I do not 
 recollect that I saw any person ; the impression of 
 happiness seemed not to be derived from anything 
 around me, but from the state of my mind. And yet I 
 had a general apprehension of pleasing objects ; and 
 I cannot recollect that anything appeared defined, nor 
 did my eye take in any object, only I had a general 
 impression of a green color, as of fields or gardens. 
 But my happiness did not appear to arise from these, 
 but appeared to consist merely in the tranquil — inde- 
 
NERVOUS AND MENTAL ACTION. 45 
 
 scribably tranquil state of mind. By-and-by I seemed 
 to awake, as out of slumber, and felt unutterable pain 
 and difficulty of breathing; and now I found I had 
 been carried by a strong wave, and left in very shallow 
 water on the shore, and the pain I felt was occasioned 
 by the air once more inflating my lungs and producing 
 respiration. How long I had been under water I can- 
 not tell ; it may, however, be guessed at by the circum- 
 stance ; when restored to the power oP reflection, I 
 looked at the mare, and saw her walking leisurely 
 down shore towards home, then about half a mile 
 distant from the place where we were submerged." 
 
 In the two instances last related, the actual period 
 consumed must have been exceedingly short ; and we 
 know that the mind, in its ordinary state, would have 
 required a lapse, commensurate in some degree with 
 the consideration of the objects presented. But in 
 these cases it certainly did not. Upon the authority 
 of Dr. Roget, " if the whole period of submersion has 
 not exceeded five minutes, efforts of resuscitation, if 
 properly conducted, will generally prove successful." 
 But submersion of a much shorter time than five 
 minutes produces all the appearances of death, and is 
 so, at least so far as memory is concerned. It is even 
 probable that the period of consciousness of external 
 relation is greatly short of this, from the fact, that in 
 
46 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 some instances there is no recollection of anything 
 after submersion. 
 
 The rapidity of mental action occurring in dreams, 
 where events, which in their actual development 
 would occupy hours, days, nay, even years, are com- 
 pressed and comprehended sometimes in a few minutes 
 or even seconds, is finely illustrated in the dream of 
 Count Lavalette. " One night," he says, "while I was 
 asleep, the clock of the Palais de Justice struck twelve, 
 and awoke me. I heard the gate open to relieve the 
 sentry, but I fell asleep again immediately. In this 
 sleep I dreamed that I was -standing in the Rue St. 
 Honore, at the corner of the Rue de l'Echelle. A 
 melancholy darkness spread around ; all was still. 
 Nevertheless, a low and uncertain sound soon arose. 
 All of a sudden I perceived, at the bottom of the street, 
 and advancing towards me, a troop of cavalry ; the 
 men and horses, however, all flayed. The men held 
 torches in their hands, the flames of which illuminated 
 faces without skin, and with bloody muscles. Their 
 hollow eyes rolled in their large sockets, their mouths 
 opened from ear to ear, and helmets of hanging flesh 
 covered their hideous heads. The horses dragged 
 along their own skins in the kennels, which overflowed 
 with blood on both sides. Pale and dishevelled women 
 appeared and disappeared alternately at the windows 
 in dismal silence ; low, inarticulate groans filled the 
 
NERVOUS AND MENTAL ACTION. 47 
 
 air, and I remained in the street alone, petrified with 
 horror, and deprived of strength sufficient to seek ray 
 safety by flight. This horrible troop continued passing 
 in rapid gallop, and casting frightful looks on me. 
 Their march, I thought, continued for five hours, and 
 they were followed by an immense number of artillery 
 wagons, full of bleeding" corpses, whose limbs still 
 quivered. A disgusting smell of blood and bitumen 
 almost choked me. At length, the iron gate of the 
 prison, shutting with great force, awoke me again. I 
 made my repeater strike ; it was no more than mid- 
 night, so that the horrible phantasmagoria had lasted 
 no more than ten minutes ; that is to say, the time 
 necessary for relieving the sentry and shutting the 
 gate. The cold was severe and the watchword short. 
 The next day the turnkey confirmed my calculations. 
 I, nevertheless, do not remember one single event in 
 my life, the duration of which I have been able more 
 exactly to calculate." 
 
 The expansive property of mind, when acting under 
 the double influence of a powerful imagination excited 
 by opium, and divested by sleep of restraints from 
 without, is finely drawn in the following extract from 
 the " Confessions of the English Opium Eater." 
 
 " Southern Asia is, and has been for thousands of 
 years, the part of the earth most swarming with human 
 life — the great officina gentium. Man is a weed in 
 
48 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 those regions. The vast empires, also, into which the 
 enormous population of Asia has always been cast, 
 give a further sublimity to the feelings associated with 
 all Oriental names or images. In China, over and 
 above what it has in common with the rest of Southern 
 Asia, I am terrified by the modes of life, by the man- 
 ners, and the barrier of utter abhorrence and want of 
 sympathy placed between us by feelings deeper than I 
 can analyse. I could sooner live with lunatics or 
 brute animals. All this, and much more than I can 
 say, or have time to say, the reader must enter into 
 before he can comprehend the unimaginable horror 
 which these dreams of Oriental imagery and mytholo- 
 gical tortures impressed upon me. Under the con? 
 flicting feelings of tropical heat and vertical sun-lights, 
 I brought together all creatures, birds, beasts, reptiles, 
 all trees and plants, usages and appearances, that are 
 found in all tropical regions, and assembled them 
 together in China or Indoostan. From kindred 
 feelings I soon brought Egypt and all her gods under 
 the same law. I was stared at, hooted at, grinned at, 
 chattered at, by monkeys, by paroquets, by cockatoos. 
 I ran into pagodas, and was fixed for centuries at the 
 summit or in the secret rooms ; I was the idol ; I was 
 the priest ; I was worshipped ; I was sacrificed. I fled 
 from the wrath of Brama through all the forests of 
 Asia : Vishnu hated me ; Seva laid in wait for me. I 
 
NERVOUS AND MENTAL ACTION. 4Q 
 
 came suddenly upon Isis and Osiris ; I had done a 
 deed, they said, which the ibis and the crocodile 
 trembled at. I was buried for a thousand years in 
 stone coffins, with mummies and sphinxes, in narrow 
 chambers, at the heart of eternal pyramids. I was 
 kissed with cancerous kisses by crocodiles, and. laid 
 confounded with all unutterable slimy things, amongst 
 reeds and Nilotic mud." 
 
 Cases of insanity also furnish many instances of this 
 peculiarity of mind. " All my imagination," says the 
 Rev. Robert Hall, in allusion to an attack of mania. 
 " has been overstretched. You, with the rest of my 
 friends, tell me that I was only seven weeks in confine- 
 ment, and the date of the year corresponds, so that I 
 am bound to believe you, but they have appeared to 
 me like seven years. My mind was so excited, and 
 my imagination so lively and acute, that more ideas 
 passed through my mind during those seven weeks, 
 than in any seven years of my life. Whatever I had 
 obtained from reading or reflection was present to me." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Gall says, " sleep is merely the inactivity, the 
 perfect repose of the brain in health. During this sus- 
 pension of the cerebral functions, the brain acquires 
 new force, and on awaking, its functions take place 
 rapidly." 
 
 Dendy says, " sleep expresses that condition which 
 is marked by a cessation of certain mental manifesta- 
 tions, coincident with the degree of oppression ; for it 
 is an error to say that the body sleeps ; it is the brain 
 only, perhaps I may say the cerebrum, or the fore 
 lobes ; for I believe the lower part of it (that which 
 imparts an energy to the process of breathing and 
 blood circulation) is never in a complete sleep, but 
 merely in a state of languor, or rather of repose, suf- 
 ficient for its restoration ; if it were to sleep, death 
 would be the result." And again, "sleep is, indeed, 
 the reality of another existence." 
 
 Sir Thos. Brown affirms " that we are somewhat 
 more than ourselves in our sleep, and the slumber of 
 the body seems to be but the waking of the soul. It is 
 
SLEEP. 51 
 
 the negation of sense, but the liberty of reason ; and 
 our waking conceptions do not match the fancies of 
 our sleeps." 
 
 Scaliger, an eminent Italian physician of the 15th 
 century, describes sleep to be " a rest or binding of the 
 outward senses, and of the common sense, for the pre- 
 servation of body and soul." This definition, in some 
 respects, is the most philosophical to be found ; for sleep 
 does, so far as we are able to comprehend, consist in 
 this binding of the "outward senses and of the com- 
 mon sense" as a leading characteristic of its phe- 
 nomena. 
 
 But Richerand has more nearly defined sleep than 
 any other philosopher. He says that "sleep is the 
 repose of the organs of sense and voluntary motion." 
 Had he limited this repose to the organs of sense, he 
 would have more nearly approximated the fact of what 
 sleep is, than by involving voluntary motion ; which 
 does not necessarily repose during sleep, as somnambu- 
 lism is a common occurrence, and change of posture is 
 usual with most persons. 
 
 To define sleep, qualities negative as well as posi- 
 tive must be embraced. Sleep is that condition of ex- 
 istence, in which the mind is separated from external 
 things ; and although the mind is uninfluenced by 
 circumstances from without, still it is not inactive, but 
 (as will afterwards appear) ceaselessly operative. The 
 
52 SLEEP PYSCHoLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 mind has sources of stimulus in the various internal 
 sensations, which, during sleep, influence and control 
 it, at least so far as their powers extend, with as much 
 vigor as during wakefulness. It is also modified, as 
 well as diversified in its operations, by the recollection 
 of things past, which have become the subjects of 
 memory. In short, we would say that perfect sleep 
 consists in the abeyance of the functions of the organs 
 of external sense — at least an ordinary activity of the 
 organs of internal sensation — a full perception by the 
 intellectual faculties of their appropriate stimuli, and a 
 loss of memory during its continuance. 
 
 Sleep is a part of the animal constitution, and has 
 its necessity in our organization. Sleepiness, ceteris 
 paribus, is in proportion to age. Infants pass most of 
 their time in sleep ; youth requires more than manhood, 
 and manhood more than old age. Variations of this 
 general law exist in idiosyncrasies and pathological 
 conditions which interrupt the normal condition. 
 
 Nutrition and sleep are intimately connected. In 
 the season of life when the growth of the body is most 
 vigorous, more sleep is requisite than when this period 
 has been displaced by one in which only the wastes of 
 the organization are to be repaired, and this also re- 
 quires more than when the recuperative energy has 
 given place to gradual decay. 
 
 The necessity for sleep does not depend upon the 
 
SLEEP. 53 
 
 amount of food consumed, but upon the quantity re- 
 quired for the purposes of nutrition. Many old per- 
 sons eat enormously ; notwithstanding they daily be- 
 come more emaciated, but are nevertheless in ordi- 
 narily good health, and pass but little time in sleep. 
 Analogous cases are common among the insane. 
 Their flesh wastes ; they sleep but little, and yet con- 
 sume, when unrestrained, almost incredible quantities 
 of food. 
 
 Lord Stanhope, in speaking of the causes of the 
 restoration produced by sleep, says that " the refresh- 
 ment which it produces is very different from that 
 which is derived from food, which may supply as large 
 a quantity of arterial blood. A person may live some 
 days without any food, and for a considerable time 
 with only a small quantity, but he cannot long exist 
 without sleep. The refreshment does not arise merely 
 from repose of the body or of the mind, for in some 
 persons the latter is always very active, and the for- 
 mer, though it may continue to be so for many hours, 
 is not revived by sleep, but feels languor, if not lassitude." 
 
 Probably on some occasion, every one has felt the 
 bad effects of sleeplessness on his physical powers. 
 In some instances of the disease popularly termed 
 "ship fever" (typhus), we have known patients to 
 sleep soundly, and on awaking, experience no relief 
 from the excessive weariness that oppressed them. 
 
54 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 But what was most remarkable, they were entirely 
 unconscious of having slept, and denied the fact, 
 although their attendants knew that this, even for 
 hours, had been the case. The physical being did sleep 
 most perfectly, but the influence of the disease coun- 
 teracted its ordinary beneficial effect. 
 
 Duration of sleep is influenced by many causes, and, 
 under certain circumstances, varies as much in one as 
 in different individuals. " Dr. Plot," as copied by Dr. 
 Binns, " relates the case of a poor girl, eight years old, 
 who, being beaten by a severe step-mother, and sent 
 hungry with some refreshments to her father in the 
 fields, could not refrain from eating part of them. Re- 
 flecting afterwards on the probable consequences of 
 her conduct, she proceeded no further on her way, but 
 retired to a neighboring wood, and there fell into a 
 profound sleep, being oppressed with fear and sorrow : 
 in this state she remained for seven days, and when 
 discovered, showed no symptoms of life, besides the 
 softness of her flesh and the flexibility of her joints. 
 Dan. Ludovicus, from whom Dr. Plot borrows this re- 
 lation, happening to be present, succeeded in his 
 attempts to recover this poor creature. The same 
 author has also preserved another instance of a sleeper, 
 in the circle of his own acquaintance. This is the 
 history of Mary Foster, of Amsterdam. She remained 
 in a profound sleep for fourteen days and nights, after 
 
an equal period of fear and anxiety, occasioned by her 
 falling casually into a well ; and the accident seems to 
 have produced in her a disposition to torpor ; for two 
 years after, she slept two nights and a day at Ut- 
 toxeter." 
 
 Constitutionally some individuals require but very 
 little sleep. Bonaparte, Pichegru, and Scipio may be 
 mentioned among many others, in whom the recupera- 
 tive energy of the system was sufficient to restore its 
 equilibrium in much less time than is ordinarily re- 
 quired. 
 
 It would appear from the result in cases where sleep 
 is too long withheld, that, primarily, the body receives 
 and sustains a deleterious shock, and the mind becomes 
 affected by the impaired physical condition. Sleep is 
 a phenomenon of the organs of external relation, es- 
 tablished for the resuscitation of the voluntary part of 
 our physical constitution, leaving the organic system 
 unchanged, except in its relation with the organs of 
 animal life. Irritability and intensity of mental action 
 increase with wakefulness, and unless subdued by sleep 
 they will goad the brain into disease, terminating in 
 madness. For 
 
 " Who can wrestle against sleep ? — yet 
 Is that giant very gentleness." 
 
 It is reasonable to infer, that the mind suffers because 
 
56 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 connected with a sleepless body — not because it does 
 not sleep, for it is immaterial and cannot rest. 
 
 When we come to speak of stimuli operating on the 
 nerves of external sense during the stages of slumber 
 and dreaming, we shall regard the fact, that some of 
 the nerves of sense have more intimate relation with 
 the organs of mind than others. The optic, for in- 
 stance, has its origin direct from the brain itself, and is 
 in more perfect communion with the intellectual being 
 than any other inlet to the mind. In truth it is the 
 
 " Window of the souk" 
 
 Cabanis says that the senses fall asleep in a regular 
 series of periods, each having its proper time, so that 
 some of them are passive, while others are still active. 
 And most physiologists agree with him that the organ 
 of sight is the first to sleep. Whether this be so, may 
 be questionable ; but it undoubtedly is the most im- 
 portant one to render inactive that sleep may follow, 
 and the only organ of sense subject to- the will ; conse- 
 quently, it is, through volition, closed to its natural 
 stimulus. But the closure of the lids does not preclude 
 the influence of light absolutely, for through the lids 
 an impression of light more or less strong, is transmit- 
 ted. Persons unaccustomed to sleep with a light in 
 their dormitory, find themselves much troubled to 
 obtain sleep under its influence ; and when obtained, 
 
SLEEP. 57 
 
 they are unusually disturbed by dreams more vivid 
 than are common with them under other circumstances. 
 The only reasonable method" to account for this result 
 is, that although their eyes are closed, still a sufficient 
 amount of light is admitted through the translucent 
 palpebra, to stimulate the mind with ideas of vision and 
 their associate operations. 
 
 Of all the senses, the influence of sight upon the 
 mind is the most difficult to control ; and it is the only 
 sense upon which volition directly operates. The other 
 senses (possibly of smell excepted) have their connex- 
 ion with the brain through the medulla oblongata, and 
 their impressions may fall on the mind in a modified 
 degree. It is doubtful whether we attempt to close 
 any other organ of external sense against its ordinary 
 stimulus. 
 
 The organ of hearing, if affected at all by volition, 
 is by the power of abstracting the mind from outward 
 impressions ; but to prevent the vibrations of sound 
 falling upon the tympanum is impossible by any effort 
 of the will ; therefore, whatever power we may possess 
 in regard to this sense, as well as smell, taste, and 
 touch, must depend upon the faculty of concentrating 
 the mind upon subjects unconnected with their im- 
 pressions. The ear probably transmits its impressions 
 to the mind much longer than any other external 
 organ. 
 
 3* 
 
58 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 Causes. 
 
 The cause of sleep, being involved in the great mys- 
 tery of our being, we again recur to the subject merely 
 to correct what we consider an error of some physiolo- 
 gists on this point. Their view is, that the cause exists 
 in venous congestion of the brain. This idea undoubt- 
 edly arose from the fact, that arterial action is de- 
 creased during sleep. Now we suppose this change in 
 the circulation to be an effect, and not a cause ; for if 
 admitted to be a cause, what power is there in the sys- 
 tem adequate to arrest its increase ? The greater the 
 congestion, the less power there must be in the econo- 
 my to relieve the engorgement ; and if, as they believe, 
 when it reaches a certain degree of accumulation, 
 nature, by its own struggles, relieves itself and the per- 
 son awakes, is it not very remarkable that there should 
 be no symptoms of congestion having existed? The 
 doctrine of stagnation of the blood, either in the brain 
 or about the heart or lungs, as either cause or effect of 
 any normal function, we believe to be -entirely hypo- 
 thetical. 
 
 Induction. 
 
 Gullen says that " if the mind is attached to a single 
 sensation, it is brought very nearly to the state of the 
 total absence of impression." 
 
SLEEP. INDUCTION. 59 
 
 According to Willich, " sleep is promoted by tran- 
 quillity of mind, by the absence of every stimulus to 
 the body, by silence and darkness around us, and by a 
 complete rest of the senses ; by gently and uniformly 
 affecting one of the senses ; for instance, by music or 
 reading ; and lastly, by a gentle external motion of the 
 whole body, as by rocking or sailing." 
 
 Wordsworth says sleep may be induced by " the con- 
 tinuous passage of a flock of sheep, the passing of a 
 herd of oxen, a flight of birds, and even the ocean," 
 his " grand monotonous idea." 
 
 " If I could arrest," says Catlow, " the attention of 
 any of my audience, so that he would think of nothing 
 but what I was doing at the moment, I could prick 
 him with pins without his feeling it. And if the act of 
 attention were continued too long — longer than is 
 compatible with the individual constitution of the mind, 
 I could suspend the sensibilities altogether, and produce 
 sleep — which varies according to the impressions on 
 the senses through which I isolate or monopolize the 
 attention." 
 
 " I have," we find in Macnish's Philosophy of Sleep, 
 " often coaxed myself to sleep by internally repeating 
 half a dozen times, any well-known rhyme. While 
 doing so, the ideas must be strictly directed to this 
 particular theme, and prevented from wandering ; for 
 sometimes during the process of repetition, the mind 
 
60 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED, 
 
 takes a strange turn, and performs two offices at the 
 same time, being directed to the rhyme on one hand 7 
 and something else on the other ; and it will be found 
 that the hold it has of the former is always much 
 weaker than of the latter. The great secret is, by a 
 strong effort of the will, to compel it to depart from 
 the favorite train of thought into which it has run, 
 and address itself solely to the verbal repetition of 
 what is substituted in its place. If this is persevered 
 in, it will generally be found to succeed ; and I would 
 recommend all those who are prevented from sleeping 
 in consequence of too active a flow of ideas, to try the 
 experiment. It has been already remarked, the more 
 the mind is brought to turn upon a single impression, 
 the more closely it is made to approach to the state of 
 sleep, which is the total absence of all impression." 
 
 Gardener's directions, as advocated by Dr. Binns in 
 his " Anatomy of Sleep," are that the person " turn on 
 his right side, place his head comfortably on the pillow, 
 so that it exactly occupies the angle a line drawn from 
 the head to the shoulder would form, and then slightly 
 closing his lips, take rather a full inspiration, breathing 
 as much as he possibly can through the nostrils. This, 
 however, is not absolutely necessary, as some persons 
 breathe always through their mouths during sleep, and 
 rest as sound as those who do not. Having taken a 
 full inspiration, the lungs are then to be left to their 
 
SLEEP. INDUCTION. 61 
 
 own action — that is, the respiration is neither to be 
 accelerated nor retarded too much ; but a very full in- 
 spiration must be taken. The attention must now be 
 fixed upon the action in which the patient is engaged. 
 He must depict to himself that he sees the breath pass- 
 ing from his nostrils in a continuous stream, and the 
 very instant that he brings his mind to conceive this 
 apart from all other ideas, consciousness and memory 
 depart ; imagination slumbers ; fancy becomes dor- 
 mant ; thought ceases ; the sentient faculties lose their 
 susceptibility ; the vital or ganglionic system assumes 
 the sovereignty ; and as before remarked, he no longer 
 wakes, but sleeps. For the instant the mind is brought 
 to the contemplation of a single sensation, that instant 
 the sensorium abdicates the throne, and the hypnotic 
 faculty steeps it in oblivion." 
 
 Sleep may be induced by attentively listening to the 
 click of a clock, and by attempts to repeat the alphabet 
 backwards, not an easy task to those unaccustomed to 
 it. But although so many rules for the benefit of the 
 sleepless have been promulgated, still it will be found 
 that each individual requires a formula adapted to his 
 own particular temperament, and which, from necessity, 
 he will ultimately discover for himself. 
 
 Essentially, there 'is no difference between these 
 several suggestions. They all depend upon some plan 
 whereby the mind is ultimately brought to a single idea, 
 
82 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 monotonous in character, and there steadily held, until 
 sleep is induced by a normal act of our constitution. 
 The mind undoubtedly always arrives at just such a 
 crisis, whether we will it or not, before sleep takes pos- 
 session of the sensational organs, and then it is again 
 free to rove through its diversified operations. 
 
 Divisions. 
 
 Various distinctions have been made in the nature 
 of sleep, based upon preconceived theories of its cause ; 
 and they are treated of under the heads of natural and 
 morbid : — but this division is dependent upon the proxi- 
 mate cause — not upon its natural phenomena. The 
 exercise of the voluntary muscular texture, and the 
 action of the mental organs, when carried to that de- 
 gree of fatigue which induces sleep, is termed a natural, 
 and that prostration arising from the use of narcotics 
 terminating in sleep, is called a morbid condition : — but 
 the veiled essence of sleep is the same, whether induced 
 by natural and healthy means, or produced by morbid 
 influences. In either case, the external phenomenon 
 of sleep is involuntary abstractedness to surrounding 
 objects, whose ordinary influences are not, for the time 
 being, transmitted to the sensorium, but the recollection 
 of them may, nevertheless, act with great power upon 
 our sleeping existence. 
 
SLEEP.— STAGES. 63 
 
 Stages of Sleep. 
 
 To present a more perfect view of the phenomena 
 of sleep, it will be necessary to examine its several 
 stages in detail, and from the facts presented, to draw 
 such conclusions as the premises will justify. 
 • Ordinarily, sleep presents a succession of stages ; but 
 before we proceed to examine them separately, we will 
 remark that we may continue for a considerable period 
 in either of them. The weary, listless sensation pre- 
 ceding slumber, may be prolonged by resistance, or 
 shortened by acquiescence. Slumber will be long in 
 anticipating a more perfect state when sleep is induced 
 as a luxury before exhaustion has rendered it necessary. 
 The stage of dreaming is often extended to several 
 hours when the more perfect condition is not required 
 or is interrupted. The stage of torpor extends from a 
 natural, healthy period, to days, weeks, and even to 
 months. But when sleep has been resisted as long as 
 nature will permit, we imperceptibly glide through the 
 preceding stages, and fall into that of forgetfulness, or 
 torpor, even against our will. This is often the case 
 with sailors, when the vessel is insufficiently manned, 
 or when vigilant service has been demanded for many 
 days in succession, requiring long watches, and per- 
 mitting but short intervals for rest. Impenetrable 
 sleep will overtake them while on duty, and a state of 
 
64 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 torpor from which they cannot be aroused at the pro» 
 per time, will occupy the hours allotted to their rest. 
 
 Captain Edward Marshall, of the packet ship Europe, 
 related to me the following circumstances, which 
 occurred on board his ship on her voyage, a few years 
 since, from Liverpool to New York. The vessel had 
 sustained a violent storm for fifteen consecutive days^, 
 while in St. George's Channel, when she made the port 
 of Cork in distress. The ship had a full complement 
 of men, but owing to the necessity of tacking every 
 three or four hours, the crew was kept on duty almost 
 without intermission. The sailors at length became so 
 exhausted, that they would fall asleep while at their 
 posts, and the difficulty of arousing them was very 
 great. The master, in speaking of himself, said, that 
 before they made port, whenever he laid his arm upon 
 the gunwales to rest, he was almost certain to fall 
 asleep, to prevent which he was obliged to take every 
 precaution ; yet notwithstanding, he was occasionally 
 aroused from an unconscious state by coming in contact 
 with portions of the ship. Through exhaustion and 
 the impossibility of remaining awake, on arriving at 
 Cork, his effective men were reduced to five in num- 
 ber, and these could have sustained the incessant de- 
 mands upon their vigilance but for a short time longer. 
 
SLEEP. LASSITUDE SLUMBER. 65 
 
 The order in which the stages of sleep arise is. 
 Lassitude, 
 Slumber, 
 Dreaming, 
 Torpor. 
 
 Lassitude. 
 
 Lassitude is that sensation of heaviness, weariness, 
 or listlessness, which precedes and invites to a recum- 
 bent bodily posture. After the hours intended by na- 
 ture for active pursuits are spent, an inward sense of 
 weariness arises, warning us that a period of rest is 
 necessary; and this feeling of weariness, drowsiness, 
 or lassitude, is the forerunner of a more perfect condi- 
 tion of quiescence, in which the wearied body may 
 recover its impaired energies. 
 
 Slumber. 
 
 Slumber is that condition, when the mind is less 
 connected than usual by the organs of external sensa- 
 tion with surrounding objects, and when volition is 
 occupied in producing a more complete separation, by 
 withdrawing the attention from external influences. 
 When this condition is well marked, the mind is dis- 
 tinctly employed in producing a still deeper degree of 
 sleep by withdrawing itself from the perception of ex- 
 
66 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 ternal influences. So long as the external senses con- 
 nect the mind, however imperfectly, with external 
 objects, this state may be said to exist. The feeling 
 of sleepiness may be very considerable, but the mind is 
 regulated in its action until some of the channels of 
 sensation are closed. When this takes place, it is no 
 longer perfectly controlled by the perception of external 
 influences, and having lost that bond of union which 
 establishes harmony of action, it is left to the uncon- 
 strained operations of the imagination. But the senses 
 are not all subdued at once, and sight, taste, smell, 
 hearing, and touch fail in the order here given. Mor- 
 phia taken in small doses will produce slumber, and 
 under its influence, the operation of the mind in willing 
 the resistance of the senses to their appropriate stimuli 
 is readily experienced, but it is continually baffled by 
 the irregularity of mental action produced by the drug. 
 So long as all the senses convey the impression of their 
 stimuli, no matter how feeble, so long will this stage 
 continue : but when the eye is involuntarily sealed to 
 the impression of light, the mind has lost its hold on 
 one point of the circle which bound its action in a per- 
 fect course, and here it begins to 
 
 " Weave the stuff that dreams are made of." 
 
 The mind, now liberated, as it were, from the 
 shackles of its earthly tenement, opens upon its career 
 
SLEEP. DREAMING. 67 
 
 of fancy. It annihilates space 'and time. The earth 
 is too narrow for its wanderings, and the infinite ex- 
 panse is alone capable of furnishing a field for its rapid 
 flight. 
 
 " How strange is sleep ! When his dark spell lies 
 
 On the drowsy lids of human eyes, 
 
 The years of a life will float along 
 
 In the compass of a page's song; 
 
 And the mountain's peak and the ocean's dye 
 
 Will scarce give food to his passing eye." 
 
 Dreaming. 
 
 The stage of dreaming is characterized by the per- 
 fect closure of one or more of the avenues of special 
 sense. When this occurs, the harmony between the 
 world and ourselves is broken. The mind is no longer 
 controlled by outward influences, but is struggling 
 under the combined effects of its own innate powers 
 and imperfectly transmitted sensational impressions. 
 We have lost the means whereby the perception of an 
 impression of one sense can be tested by the co-operat- 
 ing scrutiny of another. 
 
 Dr. Abercrombie says, that " in dreams, the impres- 
 sions which arise in the mind are believed to have a 
 real and present existence ; and this belief is not cor- 
 rected, as in the waking state, by comparing the con- 
 ception with the things of the external world ; and that 
 
<38 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 the ideas or images in the mind follow one another, 
 according to associations over which we have no con- 
 trol ; we cannot, as in the waking state, vary the series, 
 or stop it at our will." 
 
 The wonderful clearness, at times, of the mind in 
 dreams, must have been observed by all who have 
 given attention to this subject. This lucidity is par- 
 ticularly observed in imaginary conversation, public 
 speaking, and composing, the minutiae of which the 
 individual seldom retains on awaking ; but he is asto- 
 nished at the recollection of the exuberance of his ideas, 
 as well as the ease with which he expressed them. 
 This mental clearness depends upon the passive condi- 
 tion of the external senses, which modifies the impres- 
 sion of external things that would otherwise divert and 
 divide the attention. In this stage, volition is ready 
 for action, but the mental operations are not sufficiently 
 intense to call it into play ; and the mind is not con- 
 trolled by the influences of outward circumstances. 
 
 We conceive that every portion of the mental organ 
 is at all times in action ; but that the degree differs as 
 regards its various parts, and that their activity is 
 regulated by existing circumstances. The organs 
 which approach the passive state, exert some influence 
 in moulding the operations of such as are actively en- 
 gaged, so that although the whole are not at any one 
 time occupied by a single subject, yet there is no part 
 
SLEEP. DREAMING. 69 
 
 which does not experience in a degree its peculiar 
 mode of activity. 
 
 During sleep, the mental organ presents the same 
 phenomena as when awake ; for in dreams certain 
 elements only are actively excited — those having refer- 
 ence to the subject of the dream ; but the more pas- 
 sive organs are ready to change their state, as circum- 
 stances may arise to vary the character of the dream. 
 
 On being suddenly aroused, we are generally con- 
 scious of having dreamed, with little or no recollection, 
 however, of the subject. But when we awake gradu- 
 ally — the necessity for longer sleep having ceased — the 
 senses recover their functions one after another, until 
 all are fully awake. In such case, the dream is most 
 perfectly remembered. To this general fact, however, 
 there are exceptions, for when suddenly aroused, either 
 by intensity of mental excitement, or from external 
 causes, we retain vividly the strong impression then 
 existing, because the senses of external relation are 
 taken by surprise, and even though awakened, the train 
 of thought cannot be in all cases so quickly arrested. 
 The mind is at all times subject to its proper stimuli ; 
 but during sound sleep, that of external relation is cut 
 off by the torpor of the special senses, and it is, there- 
 fore, less likely to be actively engaged than when all 
 its sources of communication are open. 
 
 From this view of sleep, it may be said, we live in a 
 
*70 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 state of divided consciousness. When the externa. 
 senses are in abeyance, our mental existence is clearly 
 distinct from that of wakefulness, and vice versti. But 
 when the senses are partially impressible, then our 
 existence is one of transition. This is the period of 
 remembered dreams. 
 
 If it be true, as Combe remarks, that " the senses 
 themselves do not form ideas," yet they do inform 
 the mind of external relations or circumstances out 
 of which ideas are produced. It is not pretended that 
 the mind in dreams does not, or cannot recall ideas of 
 external qualities of bodies, but the ideas which are 
 formed relative to them are the result of internal 
 faculties : — and so it is with the perception of an im- 
 pression of any one of the senses — in truth, an im- 
 pression of one may call up ideas which were originally 
 dependent on any one or all combined. 
 
 We do not, neither can we, dream of what we 
 possess no knowledge. But memory may, on the im- 
 pression of a sense, recall to mind a fact or circum- 
 stance, and the imagination may take it up and multi- 
 ply it into a thousand forms and invest them with an 
 endless variety of fanciful creations : — for 
 
 " Lulled in the countless chambers of the brain, 
 Our thoughts are linked by many a hidden chain ; 
 Awake but one, and lo ! what myriads rise, 
 Each stamps his image as the other flies." 
 
SLEEP. DREAMING. *71 
 
 The sense of hearing, or impressions made upon the 
 auditory nerve, are most intimately connected with the 
 propensities and sentiments ; and the sense of sight, 
 or impressions transmitted by the optic nerve, are more 
 nearly allied to the intellectual operations. The men- 
 tal operations, during sleep, are longer controlled or 
 influenced by hearing than by seeing, and dreams are 
 consequently connected more with the animal than 
 the intellectual constitution in their fundamental ele- 
 ments. 
 
 Indefiniteness — a something wanting — is a general 
 quality of mental action in sleep, of which the mind is 
 conscious when it attempts to recall a dream. Combe 
 says, that " in most individuals, the mind has no power 
 of calling up, into fresh existences, the emotions ex- 
 perienced by means of the propensities and sentiments, 
 by merely willing them to be felt ; and hence we hold 
 these faculties not to possess memory. The ideas, 
 however, formed by the knowing and reflective facul- 
 ties, can be reproduced by an act of recollection, which 
 powers are, therefore, said to have memory." This 
 view may account for the imperfect remembrance 
 we have of some dreams which immediately precede 
 ' the state of complete wakefulness, when, in fact, sleep 
 has been prolonged almost by an effort of the will. 
 For if it requires the sense of vision — which is pro- 
 bably the first to sleep, and the last to emerge from 
 
72 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 it — to excite the perceptive and reflective faculties, it 
 may solve the problem of imperfect memory of what 
 passes in the mind during sleep. Many of the least 
 distinct remembrances we have of our dreams, with a 
 perfect consciousness, however, of their existence, as 
 well as their almost purely intellectual character, are 
 those in which the individual was engaged in composi- 
 tion or declamation. Another reason for this indis- 
 tinctness is, that he may have been vacillating between 
 the stages of dreaming and torpor, lying as it were on 
 the confines of each, which would produce confusion 
 in the memory, — remembering what transpired in the 
 one, and forgetting what occurred in the other. 
 
 Dr. Parr says, " In dreams we seem to reason, to 
 argue, to compose ; and in all these circumstances 
 during sleep, we are highly gratified, and think we 
 excel. If, however, we remember our dreams, our 
 reasonings we find to be weak, our arguments incon- 
 clusive, and our compositions trifling and absurd." 
 Now these views are applicable to minds of just the 
 capacity for mental energy in the waking state, which 
 he has described when they are asleep. The powerful 
 intellect will reason just as correctly when asleep, upon 
 the premises given, as when awake ; but unfortunate- 
 ly, the data are in many instances indistinct and erro- 
 neous when the mind is debarred the influence of those 
 
SLEEP.— DREAMING. *73 
 
 means through which facts are presented, and the 
 judgment regulated. 
 
 " For if our conscious waking thoughts 
 Weave out so few and worthless ends, 
 Much more a tangled woof is wrought 
 When dream with dream commingling blends; 
 The toilsome scenes of weary days, 
 By night lived o'er, at morn we see 
 Made monstrous in a thousand ways, 
 Like fabled shapes on tapestry." 
 
 But when the premises are properly grasped, we are 
 presented with dreams in geometry, poetry, music, and 
 in truth with mental subjects as varied as the objects 
 of thought, and not inferior to products of the mind in 
 wakefulness. The imperfection of memory also, in 
 sleep, is a prolific source of error in regard to what 
 the actual powers of the mind are in this condition. 
 
 As an example of the intellectual capacity of a mind 
 in sleep, endowed by nature and cultivated by study, 
 take the poem of " Kubla Khan," which is the rehear- 
 sal verbatim of a dream of the poet Coleridge. 
 
 " In Xanadu did Kubla Khan 
 A stately pleasure-dome decree \ 
 Where Alph, the sacred river, ran 
 Through caverns measureless to man, 
 Down to a sunless sea." 
 
 4 
 
74 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED, 
 
 " So twice five miles of fertile ground 
 With walls and towers were girdled round : 
 And here were gardens bright with sinuous rills, 
 Where blossom'd many an incense-hearing tree ; 
 And here were forests ancient as the hills, 
 Infolding sunny spots of greenery. 
 But oh that deep romantic chasm which slanted 
 Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover 1 
 A savage place ! as holy and enchanted 
 As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted 
 By woman wailing for her demon-lover ! 
 And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething, 
 As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing, 
 A mighty fountain momently was forced : 
 Amid whose swift half intermitted bursts 
 Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail, 
 Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail : 
 And 'mid those dancing rocks at once and ever 
 It flung up momently the sacred river. 
 Five miles, meandering with a mazy motion, 
 Through wood and dale the sacred river ran, 
 Then reached the caverns measureless to man, 
 And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean : 
 And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far 
 Ancestral voices prophesying war." 
 
 We have no power to set up a particular train of 
 thought, that is to say, volition is either impotent, or 
 subserves the bidding of the organs most highly excited. 
 But the power of judging is probably as good as when 
 awake, for it decides only upon the premises presented 
 
SLEEP. DREAMING. 15 
 
 in either case, and during sleep and in dreams the pre- 
 mises are usually scanty and at fault. When Dr. 
 Johnson, in referring to a dream in which he had a 
 contest of wit with another individual, said, "Now one 
 may mark here the effect of sleep in weakening the 
 power of reflection ; for, had not my judgment failed 
 me, I should have seen that the wit of this supposed 
 antagonist, by whose superiority I felt myself de- 
 pressed, was as much furnished by me as that which I 
 thought I had been uttering in my own character/' 
 We apprehend that the error of judgment and weaken- 
 ing of the reflective powers arose from a lack of all the 
 circumstances in the case being presented to his mind. 
 Certainly he had lost identity, because in his dream he 
 furnished argument for another person without com- 
 prehending that he was doing so, and therefore, a just 
 conclusion could not be arrived at. But the feeling of 
 chagrin or mortification which he experienced, was a 
 legitimate result of his judgment founded on the pre- 
 mises. 
 
 Dr. Binns, to whom we are largely indebted for 
 examples, in his chapter on dreams says, " Magnenus 
 forgot, or rather did not know, that the same organs 
 which are in activity during the day, continue their 
 work during the night, while the external senses are 
 seeking that repose which the exertions of the morning 
 render imperative." The perpetual activity of the 
 
16 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 mind is here clearly stated, and in our view correctly, 
 but that it is confined to the operations of the day pre- 
 ceding sleep is by no means the case. But when the 
 mind has been intensely excited upon a particular sub- 
 ject preceding sleep, it seems as though the same sub- 
 ject, modified and oftentimes richly embellished, in 
 harmony with the mental constitution of the individual, 
 is prolonged during sleep. A beautiful illustration is 
 to be found in the recital of the toils and privations in 
 the deserts of Africa by Mr. Moffat : " We continued," 
 he says, " our slow and silent march. The tongue 
 cleaving to the roof of the mouth from thirst, made 
 conversation extremely difficult. At last, we reached 
 the long wished-for water-fall ; but it was too late to 
 ascend the hill. We laid our heads on our saddles. 
 The last sound we heard was the distant roar of the 
 lion ; but we were too much exhausted to feel anything 
 like fear. Sleep came to our relief, and it seemed made 
 up of scenes the most lovely. I felt as if engaged in 
 roving among ambrosial bowers, hearing sounds of mu- 
 sic, as if from angels' harps. I seemed to pass from 
 stream to stream, in which I bathed, and slaked my 
 thirst at many a crystal fount flowing from mountains 
 enriched with living green. These pleasures continued 
 till morning, when we awoke speechless with thirst, 
 our eyes inflamed, and our whole frames burning like 
 a coal." 
 
SLEEP. DREAMING. 11 
 
 In this case the dream may have depended in part 
 upon internal sensations, but the intense excitement 
 probably produced phantasms which impressed it so 
 vividly upon the memory ; for although he had not yet 
 reached the water, his imagination was bathing his 
 thirsty soul in " many a crystal fountain." 
 
 " The minds of sleeping persons," the Elder Cyrus 
 says, "strongly manifest their divine origin ; for when 
 they are free and released from corporeal influences, 
 they foresee much that is to be." We would say, that 
 freedom from external relation often confers a scope 
 of action, ordinarily irregular and indefinite, which sur- 
 passes in imagery, variety, rapidity, and comprehension, 
 any train of thought the same individual can originate 
 in a state of wakefulness. The velocity with which 
 the mind traverses space and time is almost incon- 
 ceivable — in truth we are unable to grasp the rapidity 
 with which it operates ; for when we reflect upon the 
 subjects presented in our most vivid dreams, — circum- 
 stances essential, collateral, and accidental, are multi- 
 plied ad infinitum, until we are lost in the exuberance 
 of thought which composed the vision. 
 
 The dreams of De Quincy, the " English Opium 
 Eater," show this wonderful power of the mental facul- 
 ties when divested of the restraining influence of out- 
 ward impressions. Probably every person has at some 
 period of his life experienced this expansion of mind 
 
78 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 which he well remembers ; although he retains only an 
 undefined remembrance of the ideas. But when he 
 reflects upon the subject, he is astonished with the 
 vastness of the thoughts that floated through his mind, 
 and he is constrained with the poet to exclaim 
 
 " Yea, in the strangeness of my vision, I 
 Seemed to soar on wings." 
 
 The mental faculties may be as severely exercised 
 when we are asleep as when awake. The intensity of 
 action in either case depends upon the exciting cause. 
 If the cause during sleep originate in the brain, or if it 
 proceed from external influences, the mental operations 
 thence take their course, sometimes consistent, as when 
 the senses are partially intact, or inconsistent when 
 they are in abeyance. 
 
 Phrenologists say, that the propensities and senti- 
 ments are excited by perceptions of the knowing and 
 reflective faculties. This has reference to the waking 
 state. But in sleep, the order is reversed. The intel- 
 lectual powers receive their stimulus principally from 
 internal sensations produced in the organs of feeling. 
 
 Dreams may be considered as simple and complex. 
 They are simple when the mind only is in action, and 
 complex when the physical obeys the dictates of the 
 mental being. 
 
 When the first shades of sleep descend upon us in 
 
SLEEP. DREAMING. 
 
 consonance with our wishes, and the perception of ex- 
 ternal circumstances is vague and undefined, the mind 
 is free to revel in all the delights of fancied happiness, 
 or despond under the weight of imaginary affliction. 
 This condition depends measurably upon our reflec- 
 tions previous to our falling into sleep ; and although 
 the mind takes on a pleasurable or painful train of 
 thought in the commencement, it is not even probable 
 that it will continue in it for any length of time, be- 
 cause one idea will lead to another, from some cause 
 associated with circumstances which may be of an en- 
 tirely different character from the one by which it was 
 induced, and which, as the controlling influences of 
 perfect sensational impressions are obstructed, will lead 
 from pleasure to pain — from a sentiment of love to a 
 feeling of revenge. In this way, the mind may be car- 
 ried through all the various combinations of its ulti- 
 mate elements. This mental process constitutes sim- 
 ple dreaming. 
 
 To illustrate the associate action of the mind in 
 sleep, we will transcribe the dream of Professor Maas, 
 of Halle, and his analysis of its phenomena. The pro- 
 fessor says that " I dreamed once that the Pope visited 
 me. He commanded me to open my desk, and care- 
 fully examined all the papers it contained. While he 
 was thus employed, a very sparkling diamond fell out 
 of his triple crown into my desk, of which, however, 
 
80 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 neither of us took any notice. As soon as the Pope 
 had withdrawn, I retired to bed ; but was soon obliged 
 to rise, on account of a thick smoke, the cause of 
 which I had yet to learn. Upon examination I dis- 
 covered that the diamond had set fire to the papers in 
 my desk, and burned them to ashes." 
 
 Jn explanation he observes, that "On the preceding 
 evening I was visited by a friend, with whom I had a 
 lively conversation upon Joseph the Second's suppres- 
 sions of monasteries and convents. With this idea, 
 though I did not become conscious of it in the dream, 
 was associated the visit which the Pope publicly paid 
 to the Emperor Joseph, at Vienna, in consequence of 
 the measure taken against the clergy ; and with this 
 again was combined, however faintly, the representa- 
 tion of the visit which had been paid me by my friend. 
 These two events were, by the sub-reasoning faculty., 
 compounded into one, according to the established rule, 
 that things which agree in their parts also correspond 
 as to the whole : hence the Pope's visit was changed 
 into a visit made to me. The sub-reasoning faculty 
 then, in order to account for this extraordinary visit, 
 fixed upon that which was the most important object 
 in my room, namely, the desk, or rather the papers it 
 contained. That a diamond fell out of the triple crown 
 was a collateral association, which was owing merely 
 to the representation of the desk. Some days before, 
 
SLEEP.— DREAMING. 81 
 
 when opening the desk, I had broken the glass of my 
 watch, which I held in my hand, and the fragments fell 
 among the papers : hence no further attention was paid 
 to the diamond, being a representation of a collateral 
 series of things. But afterwards, the representation of 
 the sparkling stone was again excited, and became the 
 prevailing idea ; hence it determined the succeeding 
 association. On account of its similarity, it excited 
 the representation of fire, with which it was confound- 
 ed ; hence arose fire and smoke. But, in the event, the 
 writings only were burned, not the desk itself; to which, 
 being of comparatively less value, the attention was not 
 at all directed." 
 
 In treating the subject of dreams, one class of philo- 
 sophers believe the mind to be under the influence of 
 good and evil spirits, and that as one or the other of 
 these invisible attendants gains ascendency, the 
 person will experience happy or distressing dreams. 
 Gall, in his reduction of the mind to its ultimate 
 elements, has shown that these spirits are to be found 
 in the animal econom}^, and are the activity of the 
 organs of the mind itself. "Almost all physiologists," 
 he says, " agree, that, in dreaming, animal life is par- 
 tially active. They are right, and yet they deny the 
 plurality of organs ! But dreams cannot be conceived 
 without the hypothesis of this plurality. 
 
 " When in sleep particular organs of .animal life be- 
 
 4* 
 
82 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 come active, the sentiments and ideas which depend 
 upon them must necessarily be awakened ; but, in this 
 case, the activity is independent of the will. 
 
 " When one organ only is active, the dream is sim- 
 ple : the object of our love is embraced, harmonious 
 music is heard, we fight our enemies, accordingly as 
 one organ or another is performing its functions." 
 
 The action of the organs of veneration and benevo- 
 lence, combativeness and destructiveness, in combina- 
 tion with other fundamental elements of the mind, will 
 account for many of the singular associations during 
 sleep; and in the language of the fair Poetess will 
 show, that 
 
 " It is Thought at work amidst buried hours, 
 It is Love keeping vigil o'er perished flowers, 
 Oh ! we bear within us mysterious things, 
 Of Memory and Anguish unfathomed springs, 
 And Passion, those gulfs of the heart to fill, 
 With bitter waves which it ne'er may still." 
 
 When the mental action is sufficiently intense in the 
 dream, the faculty of speech is brought into play, and 
 by an increased intensity, locomotion is added. This 
 constitutes complex dreaming. Volition, the result of 
 the activity of the intellectual organs, obeys those 
 powers of the mind in operation, and therefore, when 
 dialogue is the character of the dream, if the intellec- 
 
SLEEP. DREAMING. 
 
 tuai excitement is sufficiently intense, vocal action 
 follows ; and in like manner, when change of place is 
 desired, volition plays the same part with the organs 
 of locomotion — -causing somnambulism. 
 
 Sleep-talking and sleep-walking occur in the stages 
 of dreaming and torpor. When they occur in the 
 former stage, the person retains the circumstances on 
 awaking ; but when in the latter, there is no remem- 
 brance of them. Volition is developed in proportion, 
 and acts in obedience to the mental organs in action ; 
 and memory is unfolded in a like ratio to the impressi- 
 bility of the sensational apparatus. 
 
 An instance combining these phenomena was fami- 
 liar to the author. The subject, a merchant's clerk, 
 was of a sanguineo-nervous temperament — irritable and 
 timid. It was a favorite amusement with his fellow- 
 clerks, to commence a conversation with him (as soon 
 as he was sufficiently asleep not to be easily aroused), 
 relative to robbers breaking into the store- house. From 
 his timorous disposition, this subject was undoubtedly 
 on his mind when he retired to rest, and therefore 
 could, by skilful management, readily be made the 
 theme of his thoughts in sleep. By this management, 
 he could be induced to converse, leave his bed, dress, 
 go into the street and combat any person who should 
 oppose him in the feigned character of a robber. On 
 awaking he could relate nearly the whole transaction. 
 
84 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 In this case the mental action was intense, and voli- 
 tion was perfect in a corresponding ratio. The audi- 
 tory organs, which were the principal avenues to the 
 mind, were but little impaired, and as he could be 
 readily aroused by concussion, the sense of touch was 
 also in a tolerable state of integrity. In most instances 
 of this character, the senses are apparently obliterated ; 
 the individual is not easily aroused, and memory seldom 
 retains any of the circumstances. 
 
 Not long since, a person in the stage of torpor leaped 
 from the second story window of a hotel in this city ; 
 alighting on the stone pavement, he considerably 
 sprained his ankle. After running about twenty rods 
 he came in contact with a lamp-post to which he 
 clung, and from which he was taken in a state of 
 sound sleep, being unconscious of his situation. On 
 awaking he had no remembrance of what had oc- 
 curred. The injury, had it been transmitted to the 
 brain, was sufficient to change the character of his 
 thoughts, and to arouse him from sleep. This, how- 
 ever, did not occur till some time afterwards. Volition 
 was as perfect in this case as in the former, but 
 memory was not, volition depending upon the intensity 
 of mental action, memory upon the' integrity o£ the 
 special senses. 
 
 Sensational hallucinations and waking dreams do 
 not properly belong to the subject of sleep ; they are 
 
SLEEP. DREAMING. 85 
 
 a species of monomania, and probably arise from 
 organic derangement. When the mind is so riveted 
 upon one subject as to exclude all others from its 
 notice, it has escaped from the control of the judg- 
 ment, and is in a state of at least partial insanity. 
 Revery is of this character, but of short duration. It 
 is a species of madness. These conditions occur in a 
 state of insomnolence, and have little in common with 
 the phenomena presented in sleep. 
 
 The occasional premonitions communicated in 
 dreams — " in visions of the night when deep sleep 
 falleth upon man" — is a mystery, which as yet has 
 not, and never may be unravelled. 
 
 Lord Stanhope relates the following singular instance 
 of this description. — " A Lord of the Admiralty, who 
 was on a visit to Mount Edgecombe, and who was 
 much distressed by dreaming, dreamed that, walking 
 on the sea-shore, he picked up a book, which appeared 
 to be the log-book of a ship of war, of which his brother 
 was the captain. He opened it, and read an entry of 
 the latitude, longitude, as ' well as of the day and 
 hour, to which was added, 'our captain died.' The 
 company endeavored to comfort him, by laying a 
 wager that the dream would be falsified by the event ; 
 and a memorandum was made in writing of what he 
 had stated, which was afterwards confirmed in every 
 particular." 
 
86 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 We also introduce the following letter of the Hon. 
 Mr. Talbot to the same effect. " In the year 1768, 
 my father, Matthew Talbot, of Castle Talbot, county 
 Wexford, was much surprised at the recurrence of a 
 dream three several times during the same night, which 
 caused him to repeat the whole circumstance to his 
 lady, the following morning. He dreamed that he 
 had arisen as usual, and descended to his library, the 
 morning being hazy. He then seated himself at his 
 secretoire to write, when, happening to look up a long 
 avenue of trees opposite the window, he perceived a 
 man in a blue jacket, mounted on a white horse, 
 coming towards the house. My father arose, and 
 opened the window : the man advancing, presented 
 him with a roll of papers, and told him they were 
 invoices of a vessel which had been wrecked, and had 
 drifted in during the night on his son-in-law's, Lord 
 Mount Morris's, estate close by, and signed ' Bell & 
 Stephenson.' My father's attention was only called 
 to the dream from its frequent recurrence ; but when 
 he found himself seated at his desk on the misty morn- 
 ing, and beheld the identical person whom he had seen 
 in his dream, in the blue coat, riding on a grey horse, 
 he felt surprised, and opening the window, waited the 
 man's approach. He immediately rode up, and draw- 
 ing from his pocket a packet of papers, gave them to 
 my father, stating they were invoices belonging to an 
 
SLEEP.— DREAMING. 87 
 
 American vessel which had been wrecked, and drifted 
 in upon his lordship's estate ; that there was no person 
 on board to lay claim to the wreck, but that the invoices 
 were signed ' Stephenson and Bell.' I assure you, my 
 dear sir, that the above is most faithfully given, and 
 actually occurred ; but it is not more extraordinary 
 than other examples of the prophetic powers of the 
 mind or soul in sleep, which I have frequently heard 
 related. — Yours most faithfully, 
 
 " William Talbot. 
 "Alton Towers, Oct. 23, 1842." 
 
 There are many dreams recorded and remembered 
 with dread as having been supernatural visitations, 
 foreboding evil, and which should have been regarded 
 with more seriousness, and attended to with greater 
 vigilance. 
 
 Lord Jocelyn gives in his " Six Months with the 
 Chinese Expedition," the following dream of Captain 
 Anstruther. " This officer was a particular favorite 
 with the whole force, and in his frequent walks into 
 the country around Tinghae, when performing his 
 military duties, had apparently made himself a great 
 friend with the country people, for whose amusement 
 he used to sketch likenesses, much to their astonish- 
 ment. The night but one previous to his capture, the 
 artillery camp was aroused by screams proceeding 
 from his. tent, and when some of his brother officers 
 
88 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 traced the sounds to his quarters, he was found asleep, 
 but upon being awaked, said, that he had been dream- 
 ing that the Chinese were carrying him off, tied arms 
 and legs to a pole, and gagged, within sight of the 
 camp. This is curious, as from what we were able 
 afterwards to discover, through the means of a paid 
 agent, it was nearly the case, and he was borne within 
 half a mile of the very tents." 
 
 The circumstances connected with this dream divest 
 it in a great measure of its supernatural character. 
 The subject of it was an officer of the British army, 
 and regarded as a deadly enemy of the people with 
 whom he held intercourse. The dream related to 
 himself especially, and being perfectly conversant with 
 their character for stratagem and treachery, he stood 
 in constant fear of them. He also knew the manner 
 of securing their victims was precisely what occurred 
 in his dream, and his mind in sleep was aroused to a 
 contemplation of the subject in its worst aspect. The 
 dream could hardly have been other than it was ; but 
 the horrors of the imaginary scene should have led him 
 to take precautions against its realization. 
 
 We extract from Dr. Binns's " Anatomy of Sleep," 
 which the curious in such matters will find rich in 
 material upon these subjects, this case : — A young 
 man named John Gray, residing at Cinderford, who told 
 his mother, before he went to the Crump Meadow coal- 
 
SLEEP. DREAMING. 89 
 
 pits, at which he worked, that he dreamed the preced- 
 ing night (Sunday, January 14th, 1844), that, while at 
 work, a large stone fell upon and killed him. The 
 mother made light of the dream. Not so the dreamer, 
 who went reluctantly to work, and not until he had 
 returned twice to wish her good-bye. The dream was 
 fulfilled. An immense block of stone fell upon, and 
 crushed him to death." 
 
 Many years ago, when our family resided on the 
 banks of the Mohawk, long before the thunder of the 
 steam water-paddle echoed along the shores of the 
 Hudson, or the shrill whistle of the locomotive startled 
 the silence of glen and mountain ; when the river in 
 the summer was crossed by ford or ferry, and in 
 winter upon the often treacherous ice ; early in the 
 spring, before the river had broken up, my father, on 
 the eve of departure for New York, dreamed that he 
 was in an ice-house, striving to get out by climbing 
 up its slippery contents. The dream was barely 
 related, and then forgotten. The succeeding day, on 
 horseback, he commenced his journey, and was obliged 
 to cross the river. The ice by evaporation having 
 lost much of its strength, he was precipitated into the 
 stream below. Timely assistance, however, rescued 
 him from the impending danger, but the accident and 
 the dream were ever after coupled in his memory. 
 
 This dream was the result of mental association 
 
90 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 during sleep, and was perfectly natural under the 
 circumstances, but none the less a premonition of 
 danger. Had it aroused the reflective powers when 
 awake as strongly as it did during sleep, the accident 
 would probably have been avoided. 
 
 It is curious to observe how thoughts of the waking 
 hours may be prolonged and modified in sleep. As an 
 instance we will relate what occurred in our own case, 
 on the night succeeding our writing the remarks on 
 mysterious and prophetic dreams. 
 
 Not long since, I was examining the Croton water- 
 works in New York city, including some pits which 
 were open in the streets where the great iron trunks 
 were exposed ; and on the occasion just alluded to, my 
 mind was in part occupied with this subject. On fall- 
 ing asleep, I dreamed that in passing one of the pits, 
 I jumped down upon a tube about three inches in 
 diameter, for the purpose of inspecting the work more 
 minutely ; but when in this position, on casting my 
 eyes below, an awful chasm presented itself, crossed 
 in various directions by huge iron water tubes, but the 
 bottom was invisible. However, the depth was ninety 
 feet. In what way this information was imparted is 
 indistinct, but such appeared the awful depth under 
 my slippery footing. I could just fairly reach the 
 surface above, but could lay hold of nothing, and there- 
 fore attempted to leap to the top. I failed, and in fall- 
 
SLEEP.— TORPOK. 91 
 
 ing lodged upon the place just left. This fall will 
 never be forgotten, so long as excessive fright com- 
 mingled with horror can leave an impression on my 
 mind. I then thought to cry for help, but dared not, 
 lest my feet should slip and precipitate me down the 
 dark chasm beneath. After reflecting long upon my 
 perilous situation, I commenced feeling around the 
 platform surrounding the top, and finally succeeded in 
 fastening my fingers in a crevice between the planks, 
 by which means I drew myself up. The dream ordi- 
 narily would have ended here, but my mind now 
 turned upon the subject which had occupied my atten- 
 tion the preceding evening until a late hour. I thought 
 in my dream that what had just transpired was a pro- 
 phetic dream, and to what it might point my reflec- 
 tions were directed, as well as to what would be the 
 best course to elude the impending danger. During 
 these reflections I awoke excessively exhausted. In 
 this instance, in a dream I dreamed that I was dream- 
 ing. It was a singular mental phenomenon, and of 
 rare occurrence, but not alone on record. 
 
 Torpor. 
 
 The stage of torpor begins when the external senses 
 are in abeyance. It has been supposed by many psy- 
 chologists, that during sound sleep the mind is dormant. 
 
92 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 This view is based upon the fact, that as there is no 
 memory of thought during this period, it must of 
 consequence be in a state of quiescence. 
 
 Torpor, or sound sleep, is that condition of the 
 system which most strongly resists the return of the 
 senses to their normal functions on the application of 
 external stimuli ; and when aroused, the memory retain- 
 ing no knowledge of the interval elapsed — regarding 
 it as a blank in our conscious existence. It is imma- 
 terial by what means this condition is induced ; 
 whether it be a normal sequence of our constitution, 
 the administration of narcotics, or by influences of the 
 character of which we are ignorant. It exhibits only 
 the phenomena of organic life ; all consciousness 
 regarding the ordinary influences of external objects 
 is lost, and all memory of having existed during its 
 continuance obliterated. 
 
 From the recorded cases of protracted sleep, let us 
 extract one from Macnish, illustrating the peculiar 
 characteristics of this stage. 
 
 " The case of Mary Lyall, related in the 8th volume 
 of the ' Transactions of the Royal Society of Edin- 
 burgh,' is one of the most remarkable instances of ex- 
 cessive somnolency on record. This woman fell asleep 
 on the morning of the 27th of June, and continued in 
 that state till the evening of the 30th of the same 
 month, when she awoke, and remained in her usual 
 
SLEEP. TORPOR. 93 
 
 way till the 1st of July, when she again fell asleep, and 
 continued so till the 8th of August. She was bled, 
 blistered, immersed in the hot and cold bath, and 
 stimulated in almost every possible way, without 
 having any consciousness of what was going on. For 
 the first seven days she continued motionless, and 
 exhibited no inclination to eat. At the end of this 
 time she began to move her left hand ; and, by point- 
 ing to her mouth, signified a wish for food. She took 
 readily what was given her ; still she discovered no 
 symptoms of hearing, and made no other kind of bodily 
 movement than of her left hand. Her right hand and 
 arm, particularly, appeared completely dead, and bereft 
 of feeling ; and even when pricked with a pin, so as to 
 draw blood, never shrank in the least degree. At the 
 same time she instantly drew back her left arm when- 
 ever it was touched by the point of a pin. She con- 
 tinued to take food whenever it was offered to her. 
 For the first two weeks, her pulse generally stood at 
 50, during the third and fourth week, about 60, and on 
 the day before her recovery, at 70 or 72. Her breath- 
 ing was soft and almost imperceptible, but during the 
 night-time she occasionally drew it more strongly, like 
 a person who has first fallen asleep. She evinced no 
 symptoms of hearing, till about four days before her 
 recovery. On being interrogated, after this event, 
 upon her extraordinary state, she mentioned that she 
 
94 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 had no knowledge of anything that had happened ; 
 that she had never been conscious of either having 
 needed or received food, or of having been blistered ; 
 and expressed much surprise on finding her head 
 shaved. She had merely the idea of having passed 
 a long night in sleep." 
 
 Whether we are to regard the retraction of the 
 arm when pricked as the result of volition, or whether 
 the prick merely excited a reflex action, may be ques- 
 tionable. She certainly exhibited sensation, but with- 
 out perception there could be no volition. Food, when 
 put into her mouth, was swallowed readily ; but she 
 could not recollect it. Deglutition may be accom- 
 plished independently of the will, owing to reflex 
 action, as was shown in the experiments of Hertwig 
 and Florens, who found that animals would swallow 
 substances placed upon the tongue, after the superior 
 portion of the brain had been removed. All the 
 sensibility she evinced, until about the fourth day 
 before her recovery, was probably of this character. 
 At this period she had perception through the auditory 
 apparatus, and consequently, when she awoke, " she 
 had merely the idea of having passed a long night in 
 sleep ;" she had an indistinct recollection of having 
 existed for that period. 
 
 There are many extraordinary instances of pro- 
 tracted sleep recorded, but they all present the peculiar 
 
SLEEP. TORPOR. 95 
 
 characteristics of the stage of torpor, and give addi- 
 tional evidence of the views here set forth. 
 
 Another singular state of existence, which still 
 further illustrates the mental as well as physical con- 
 dition during sound sleep, may be observed in the 
 artificial induction of torpor through the influence of 
 animal magnetism, which we shall consider in the 
 next chapter. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 MESMERISM. 
 
 Animal Magnetism, as connected with the phenome- 
 na of sleep, is not only interesting as a matter of 
 metaphysical speculation, but of great importance in 
 the illustration of our subject. In truth, sleep is 
 always the same in principle, though differing in de- 
 gree, let the inducing cause be what it may ; and that 
 condition which the disciples of Mesmer term Mag- 
 netic sleep, is but its most profound state, or the stage 
 of torpor. 
 
 The phenomena presented by the power of the 
 mesmerizer in opening a passage to the mind in this 
 isolated condition, displaying its integrity in a light 
 so clear that we perceive its condition and power of 
 action to be as perfect during sleep, while the external 
 senses are sealed to their natural stimuli, as when it 
 receives its impressions through their media, — are truly 
 wonderful. It acknowledges an unusual channel of 
 communication when its ordinary ones are closed, and 
 as the sequel will show, is ever perfect, and ready to 
 reply to impressions when correctly made. 
 
MESMERISM. 9T 
 
 The manipulations of the mesmerizer conduct the 
 mind and body through all the stages of sleep — from 
 lassitude to slumber, and from slumber to a death-like 
 trance, when, answering to no ordinary stimuli, the 
 senses are apparently obliterated, the functions of 
 intellectual existence sealed up, while only those of 
 organic life remain, and the subject to all appearance 
 but one remove from death itself. This is emphatical- 
 ly a state of sound sleep. Are the mental faculties 
 during this inexplicable condition dormant ? Speak 
 to the subject, no reply is elicited: apply the knife to 
 the dermoid texture, no sensation is acknowledged : 
 present to the eye an illuminated body, no influence 
 is excited. The natural avenues to the mind are closed, 
 and it is unapproachable through ordinary means. 
 
 The power to set aside this mysterious condition 
 lies with the agency that produced it, and through its 
 influence, to reveal a mental state during sleep, which, 
 without its assistance, must have remained among the 
 things unknown. 
 
 The magnetizer, in operating upon the mental state 
 of his subject, fixes his own mind intensely on some 
 object with which the magnetized is unacquainted, 
 and makes inquiries relative to it. He receives for 
 answer a true description. This is probably a re- 
 flection of his own mind. But he does not always 
 receive a correct reply. This may be owing to an 
 
98 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 imperfection in the mind of the magnetized, who may 
 not be able to comprehend the subject ; and because 
 there is probably no power of creation, but only of 
 eliciting what already exists. The questions are not 
 invariably replied to, and reasons are sometimes as- 
 signed for withholding replies. This is not a reflec- 
 tion of the mind of the manipulist, but a distinct act 
 of volition, involving the reflective faculties." It is 
 antagonistic to, and not in harmony with the will of 
 the mesmerizer. The manipulist possesses the power 
 of directing the mind of the magnetized to a particu- 
 lar subject, but without the power of controlling its 
 operations. It is apparently dependent as to the selec- 
 tion of a subject for consideration ; but afterwards 
 acts upon it independently. In such case the indi- 
 vidual presents his own mental characteristics. Should 
 discretion be the prominent feature of his mind, his 
 answers will be in harmony with sound sense ; but if 
 he is gifted with strong powers of imagination, his 
 replies will partake largely of his own fanciful crea- 
 tions. The magnetizer appears to hold the same con- 
 trolling influences through his mysterious communica- 
 tions, that surrounding objects do through the special 
 senses, — the regulating power of the mind ; but the 
 result of the mental operations as manifested through 
 the will is independent. 
 
 One of Dr. Elliotson's cases illustrates this mental 
 
MESMERISM. 99 
 
 independence of the magnetic state very explicitly. 
 In the Doctor's solicitations for a song, his subject 
 exhibited great impatience at his importunity, but upon 
 his earnest request "she at length complied, and sang 
 a ballad in a rather sweet voice, breaking off, however, 
 in the middle with an impatient expression, " How 
 tiresome you are ! There, I forget it." "After some 
 minutes, she resumed, and finished the song." 
 
 Dr. George Moore, in his " Body and Mind," relates 
 the case of a boy with a headless supplemental trunk 
 growing from the abdomen, which on being touched, 
 the sensation was acknowledged by, or in other words, 
 referred to the corresponding part of the perfect body. 
 In this case it appears that the percipient principle of 
 one mind acted for the sensations of another body. 
 There are numerous cases of mesmeric record, where 
 a like mental phenomenon is exemplified in separate 
 bodies. For instance, when the sense of taste is in- 
 tensely excited by highly flavored substances placed 
 on the tongue of the mesmerizer, the same impression 
 is perceived by the mesmerized, and so of the impres- 
 sions of all the other senses. The books on mesmer- 
 ism abound in examples of this kind. 
 
 Not long since we attended an exhibition of animal 
 magnetism, and were appointed one of a committee to 
 prevent or discover collusion between the parties, and 
 we must frankly acknowledge that nothing of the kind 
 
100 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 could be detected ; in fact, we were perfectly convinced 
 that there was no attempt made at deception. At this 
 exhibition there were two subjects— a young man 
 about eighteen, and a young woman about twenty 
 years of age. These subjects were thrown into the 
 mesmeric sleep at the same time, and retained under 
 its influence for about three hours. In these cases, 
 the mental faculties, so far as the subject of thought 
 was concerned, were under the control of the mes- 
 merizer, but the precise mode of mental manifestation 
 was independent of him. In their answers to interro- 
 gatories, either written or verbal, they both replied at 
 the same time in phraseology differing entirely, but 
 expressing the same ideas. The locomotive power of 
 one was subject to his will ; and in her case, the volun- 
 tary muscular organs could be relieved of their rigidity 
 by degrees. The arms would be perfect!)' - rigid after 
 the mind was restored to external relation, and the 
 hands would remain clenched while the flexor muscles 
 of the arm and fore-arm were perfectly relaxed ; a 
 condition which our present knowledge of physiology 
 does not account for, but which could be tested by the 
 senses of touch and sight, beyond the possibility of 
 deception. Was there not a faculty here developed, 
 resembling that located in the claws of birds which 
 sleep roosting, and which some suppose to be inde- 
 pendent of the will, when the animal has taken its pos i- 
 
MESMERISM. 101 
 
 tion for the night? These cases also exhibited the 
 phreno-magnetic phenomena in an extraordinary de- 
 gree. The application of the finger to an organ of 1 
 one subject would instantly be manifested by the acts- 
 of the other, sometimes in vocal expressions, and at 
 other times in change of posture, understood as the 
 phrenological language of attitude. 
 
 Since witnessing this exhibition, we have attended 
 many others of pretty much the same character. We 
 have more lately examined a clairvoyant case. The 
 subject was a young man about twenty-five years old, 
 of a retiring disposition, unassuming manners, and a 
 temperament bordering on the phlegmatic. He was 
 said by the mesmerizer to be a good example of the 
 clairvoyant faculty. He was easily brought under the 
 magnetic influence, and entered readily into conversa- 
 tion with the mesmerizer, who requested him to go to 
 California and describe what he could there see. His 
 descriptions of the country, climate, and mineral trea- 
 sures, were merely a rehearsal of the current news- 
 paper articles of the day touching this all-absorbing 
 subject. As these precious scenes were passing before 
 his mind, his imagination began to give color and 
 extension to his ideas, and the golden regions were 
 rapidly stretched along the Rocky mountains, reach- 
 ing far up the Oregon. Mountains glittering with 
 gold, and valleys to their river bottoms, were shining 
 
102 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 with their precious stores. From this extensive field 
 of observation, he was brought back by his mesmerizer 
 to the contemplation of objects immediately before 
 him, with the request to describe what he then saw. 
 The scene had evidently changed. From barely 
 rehearsing, in part, his own golden visions, probably 
 the great sum of his daily thoughts, he was constrained 
 to deal with things within the compass of his own 
 observation, and it cost great effort to convince the 
 audience that he possessed, without the use of ordinary 
 sense, a tolerable knowledge of surrounding objects. 
 But to give perfect satisfaction that he was in a com- 
 pletely abnormal state, a dentist extracted a large 
 molar tooth without disturbing in the least the calm- 
 ness of the patient. On awaking, he remembered 
 nothing of these circumstances. 
 
 The question now arises, did the subject see when 
 he described surrounding objects, or was it a reflection 
 of the mind of the mesmeriser? See, he certainly 
 could not, because his eyes were closed, and the pupils 
 were permanently dilated ; but he assuredly did by 
 some means perceive the objects, otherwise he could 
 not have described them. Whether in this particular 
 it was a reflection of the mind of the mesmerizer, or 
 whether it was identical with an ordinary occurrence 
 of somnambulic sleep, is difficult to determine. His 
 
MESMERISM. 103 
 
 descriptions of California were undoubtedly drawn 
 from his own mind. 
 
 During this exhibition, his conductor again required 
 him to change the scene of his observations, and it was 
 thence transferred to the spirit land. The first object 
 he there saw, was a near relative of the magnetizer 
 who had been dead some years, but whose memory, 
 from peculiar circumstances, was strongly impressed 
 upon his mind. Of this person he gave an apt descrip- 
 tion. He also saw his own mother, on having his 
 attention so directed, who also had been dead a long 
 time ; of her too he gave a good description. In the 
 former instance, he presented a counterpart of the 
 mind of the manipulist, but in the latter he must have 
 drawn upon his own memory, because his mother was 
 unknown to the lecturer. The description of the 
 deceased relative of the mesmerizer in the one case, 
 most fully confirms the opinion that he simply reflected 
 the mental operations of the mesmerizer ; and the 
 description of his own mother, an entire stranger to 
 the lecturer, proves that he drew upon his own memory 
 alone ; while his imagination arranged the whole so as 
 to appear a present reality. Throughout the exhibition, 
 the power of the mesmerizer in directing the attention 
 of this patient to particular subjects, but without the 
 power of controlling him relative to them, was entirely 
 conclusive. 
 
104 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 Now to say, that, because the statements of the 
 clairvoyant are correct in regard to circumstances 
 with which we are acquainted, we are bound to be- 
 lieve them equally so in regard to such as are beyond 
 the reach of human knowledge, is unphilosophical ; 
 because we should attempt to apply analogical reasoning 
 to that branch of philosophy which is itself the source 
 of all reason. Analogy is merely the means whereby 
 the reason assists itself in determining properties sub- 
 ordinate to its own powers. 
 
 From among the many experiments showing the 
 influence of animal magnetism on the sensitive appara- 
 tus, we will copy a surgical case which occurred in 
 hospital practice. " James Wombell, 42, a laboring 
 man, had suffered for a period of about five years with 
 a painful affection of the left knee joint. He was ad- 
 mitted into the hospital at Wellow, in Nottinghamshire, 
 and it was decided that amputation should take place 
 above the knee joint, and it was accordingly done 
 while the patient was under the influence of mesmeric 
 sleep ! On the 1st of October this wonderful operation 
 was thus performed, as given in the words of the mes- 
 merizer, one Mr. W. Topham, a lawyer of the Middle 
 Temple, London : I again mesmerized him in four 
 minutes. In a quarter of an hour I told Mr. W. 
 Squire Wood (the operator), that he might commence. 
 I then brought two fingers of each hand gently in con- 
 
MESMERISM. 105 
 
 tact with Wombell's closed eyelids, and there kept 
 them still further to deepen the sleep. Mr. Wood, 
 after one earnest look at the man, slowly plunged his 
 knife into the centre of the outer side of the thigh, 
 directly to the bone ; then made a clear incision round 
 the bone to the opposite point, on the outer side of 
 the thigh. The stillness at this moment was some- 
 thing awful. The calm respiration of the sleeping 
 man alone was heard, for all others seemed suspended. 
 In making the second incision the position of the leg 
 was found to be more inconvenient than it had appeared, 
 and the operator could not proceed with his former 
 facility. 
 
 " Soon after the second incision, a moaning was 
 heard from the patient, which continued at intervals 
 until the conclusion. It gave me the idea of a troubled 
 dream, for his sleep continued as sound as ever. The 
 placid look of his countenance was never changed for 
 an instant : his whole frame rested, uncontrolled, in 
 perfect stillness and repose : not a muscle or nerve 
 was seen to twitch. To the end of the operation, 
 including the sawing of the bone, securing the arteries, 
 and applying the bandages — occupying a period of 
 more than twenty minutes — he lay like a statue. 
 With strong sal volatile and water, he gradually and 
 calmly awoke, and when asked to describe what he had 
 felt, thus replied : ' I never knew anything more 
 
106 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 (after his' being mesmerized) and never felt any pain at 
 all ; I once felt as if / heard a kind of crounching.' 
 He was asked if that was painful ; he replied ; ' No 
 pain at all. I never had any ; and knew nothing, till I 
 was awakened by that strong stuff.' The ' crounching' 
 was the sawing of his own thigh bone. The first 
 dressing was performed in mesmeric sleep, with similar 
 success, and absence of all pain." 
 
 In the London Penny Cyclopaedia we find the 
 following case — Vide article Somnambulism. 
 
 " Madame Plantin, aged 64, living at No. 151 Rue 
 Saint Dennis, consulted M. Cloquet, April 8th, 1829, 
 respecting an open cancer which had existed for several 
 years in her breast, and which was complicated with a 
 considerable enlargement of the right axillary ganglions. 
 M. Chapelain, her physician, who had mesmerized her 
 for some months, with the view of dissipating the 
 disease, could effect only a profound sleep, in which 
 sensation appeared suspended, but intellect remained 
 perfect. He suggested to M. Cloquet to operate upon 
 her in the mesmeric sleep- waking. M. Cloquet, having 
 judged the operation indispensable, consented, and it 
 was fixed for the following Sunday, April 1st. The 
 two previous days, she was mesmerized several times by 
 Dr. Chapelain, who prevailed on her, when in the state 
 of sleep-waking, to bear the operation without fear, and 
 brought her even to converse about it calmly ; although, 
 
MESMERISM. 107 
 
 when she was awake, she could not listen to the pro- 
 posal for horror. 
 
 " On the day fixed, M. Cloquet arrived at half-past 
 ten in the morning, and found the lady dressed, in an 
 arm-chair, in the attitude of a person calmly asleep. 
 She had returned about an hour from mass, which she 
 had habitually attended at that time of the day. Dr. 
 Chapelain had thrown her into the mesmeric sleep on 
 her return. She spoke with perfect calmness of the 
 operation which she was about to undergo. All being 
 ready she undressed herself, and sat upon a common 
 chair. 
 
 "Dr. Chapelain supported her right arm. The left 
 was allowed to hang at her side. M. Pailloux, internal 
 student of the Hopital Saint Louis, had the charge of 
 presenting the instruments and applying the ligatures. 
 The first incision was begun at the arm-pit, and carried 
 above the breast as far as the inner side of the nipple. 
 The second was begun at the same point, and carried 
 under the breast till it met the first. M. Cloquet 
 dissected out the enlarged ganglions with care, on 
 account of their proximity to the axillary arteries, 
 and removed the breast. The operation lasted ten or 
 twelve minutes. 
 
 " During all this time, the patient conversed calmly 
 with the operator, and gave not the least sign of sensi- 
 bility ; no movement occurred in the limbs or features ; 
 
108 BLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 no change in the respiration or voice, no emotion even 
 in the pulse was discernible ; this patient remained 
 uninterrupted in the same state of automatic indiffer- 
 ence and passiveness (etat d'abandon et d'impassi- 
 bilite automiques), in which she was some minutes 
 before the operation. There was no necessity to re- 
 strain her, we had only to support her. A ligature was 
 applied to the lateral thoracic artery, which was opened 
 in removing the ganglions. The wound was closed 
 with sticking-plaster and dressed, and the patient was 
 put to bed, still in the same state of sleep-waking ; and 
 was left in this state for eight and forty hours. An 
 hour after the operation a slight haemorrhage occurred, 
 which proved of no importance. 
 
 " The first dressing was removed on Tuesday the 
 14th ; the wound was washed and dressed afresh ; the 
 patient showed no sign of pain ; the pulse was undis- 
 turbed. After this dressing, Dr. Chapelain awoke 
 the patient, whose sleep-waking had lasted from one 
 hour before the operation, i. e. two days. The lady 
 seemed to have no idea, no conception of what had 
 passed ; but on learning that she had been operated 
 upon, and seeing her children around her, she expe- 
 rienced a very strong emotion, to which the mes- 
 merizer put an end by immediately sending her to 
 sleep again." 
 
 Double consciousness — another completely abnormal 
 
MESMEKISM. 109 
 
 state, to which in the course of our concluding remarks 
 we shall again recur, — is often induced by animal 
 magnetism ; and when so induced, is called independent 
 clairvoyance. The individual, in this condition, is as 
 perfectly conscious, has as clear an understanding of 
 surrounding objects, and is as self-possessed as under 
 ordinary circumstances ; but on coming out of it, he 
 retains no remembrance of what has taken place. 
 When the same state of mind is again induced, what 
 had transpired in a former state of the same kind, is 
 again present to him. 
 
 A little girl about twelve years old, when in this 
 state, in her lively intercourse with her relatives and 
 companions, on attempting to run quickly across the 
 room, hit her head against a stove pipe, which gave her 
 some pain. On being restored she could recollect 
 nothing about it ; but on a future occasion, being in 
 the same state, she was requested to see how fast she 
 could run, to which she replied that she had tried that 
 once, had hit her head against the stove pipe, and 
 should not do it again. 
 
 The phenomena of double consciousness can be 
 maintained for an indefinite period. We find in 
 Prof. W. H. Rogger's " Facts in Mesmerism," an 
 instance extended to three weeks, and in other books 
 on Animal Magnetism, cases of a much longer period 
 are recorded. 
 
110 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 In many instances, the individuals, on being restored 
 to the natural state from any of the conditions induced 
 by mesmerism, have an indistinct remembrance of 
 what has transpired. Upon close investigation of all 
 the phenomena, it appears that memory depended upon 
 an imperfect state of sleep at the time, the influence 
 having in part subsided. In other cases, the magnet- 
 izer, by so willing, fastens the transactions upon their 
 memory. Here also we apprehend that his influence 
 induced at the time a more perfect state of sensation, 
 and by this means a remembrance of occurrences is 
 retained. 
 
 Great diversity of mental character is exhibited by 
 the influence of animal magnetism. In one subject it 
 exalts the natural quality of mind almost beyond the 
 power of conception ; in another, it so perfectly be- 
 calms the thoughts, that the individual borders on 
 fatuity ; while in others, the ordinary temperament is 
 quite unaffected ; and in some, the thoughts and feel- 
 ings of the mesmerizer are reflected as in a mirror — 
 the mesmerized having apparently lost his own identity. 
 
 Physically considered, in some constitutions it 
 produces merely a state of sound sleep ; while in others 
 it superadds convulsions. In some cases it is the 
 exciting cause of catalepsy ; and in every instance its 
 influence is exerted on some portion of the nervous 
 system. We have witnessed in one case, catalepsy of 
 
MESMERISM. Ill 
 
 muscle ; in several, paralysis of muscle ; and in very 
 many instances, muscular rigidity , but in no case did 
 the same individual ever exhibit more than one of 
 these conditions. This variety of symptom is probably 
 the result of constitutional idiosyncrasy. 
 
 Let the essential principle be what it may, animal 
 magnetism holds a controlling power over both mind 
 and body. The few examples of its influence we have 
 cited in this chapter, are given — not to decipher what 
 this mysterious agent is — but to show how intimately 
 memory and sensation are associated ; and how abso- 
 lutely dependent the memorial faculty is upon the 
 integrity of the organs of special sense for its deve- 
 lopment. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SOMNAMBULISM. 
 
 Somnambulic sleep is one of the most extraordinary 
 and unaccountable anomalies of our nature. The 
 almost endless variety of mental and physical combi- 
 nations it presents ; the adaptation and precision of 
 action to effect a definite purpose ; and the apparent 
 power to overcome obstacles to its accomplishment, 
 not only strike the mind with amazement, but involve 
 it in an inexplicable labyrinth of doubt and un- 
 certainty. 
 
 The vast number of cases recorded in this depart- 
 ment of our subject, should afford abundant material 
 from which to determine the laws regulating its opera- 
 tions. But upon critical examination, few of them 
 offer more than undefined and imperfect sketches of 
 its phenomena; and for a philosophical inquiry, fur- 
 nish but a slight foundation on which to rest a theory. 
 
 In considering somnambulism, the questions arise, is 
 the subject cognisant of surrounding objects ? — and if 
 so, by what means ? — so that the relation of mind and 
 
SOMNAMBULISM. ] 13 
 
 body may be defined, as well as the causes which 
 propel their operations. 
 
 The mind, in somnambulic, is circumstanced the 
 same as in ordinary sleep, so far at least as regards 
 its causes of excitement ; but its activity is infinitely 
 more intense. Sleep walking and sleep talking occur 
 in the stages of either dreaming or torpor, and are 
 governed by their laws. In all perfect cases of som- 
 nambulism, the mind is as ignorant of the external 
 relations of the body as it is during sound sleep, so 
 far as knowledge is derived through the organs of 
 special sense ; and therefore we conclude that it can 
 have no memory of either the mental or physical 
 acts during the paroxysm. But it will be recollected, 
 that, when speaking of dreams being remembered in 
 part, and in part forgotten, the physical condition 
 was in a state of transition, — vacillating between 
 dreaming and torpor. And so it is with regard to 
 somnambulism ; a part of the acts are remembered, 
 sometimes as a dream ; and a part forgotten, according 
 to the stage of sleep in which it occurred. 
 
 " Hortius mentions a young nobleman, who was ob- 
 served by his brother to rise in his sleep, put on his 
 cloak, open the casement, mount by a pulley to the 
 roof of the citadel of Brenstein, where he was, tear a 
 magpie's nest to pieces, wrap the young ones up in his 
 cloak, return to his room, place the cloak with the 
 
114 SLEEP PYSCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 birds in it near him, and go to bed. In the morning 
 he told the adventure as a dream, and was astonished 
 when shown the magpies in his cloak, and, when led 
 to the roof, to behold the remains of the nest."* In 
 this case the object in view was paramount, the senses 
 in a measure impressible, the perception of their im- 
 pressions clear, and consequently the circumstances 
 were remembered. 
 
 By what means does the mind discover that the 
 physical acts have in some cases been erroneous, as in 
 the instance of the individual shortly to be cited, who 
 corrected errors he committed in writing musical airs ? 
 The inference is, that the same state here existed that 
 we find in mesmeric sleep, both of which, with the 
 information we at present possess, are inexplicable; but 
 that neither the errors nor corrections were made 
 through the assistance of vision, the experiments con- 
 clusively determine. 
 
 To illustrate, let us take some of the cases recorded 
 in the " Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine — London." 
 " This somnambulist was a young priest in a Catholic 
 seminary ; the witness and reporter of the facts, the 
 Archbishop of Bordeaux, who used to go into his 
 chamber after the priest was gone to sleep, and observe 
 his proceedings. He sometimes arose from his bed, 
 
 * Binns' Anatomy of Sleep. 
 
SOMNAMBULISM. 115 
 
 took paper, and wrote sermons. After finishing a 
 page, he read (if the act was properly reading) the 
 whole aloud ; and, if necessary, erased words, and 
 wrote his corrections over the line with great accu- 
 racy. I have seen the beginning of one of his ser- 
 mons which he had written when asleep ; it was well 
 composed, but one correction surprised me : having 
 written at first the words 'ce divin enfant,' he had 
 afterwards effaced the word divin, and written over it 
 adorable. Then perceiving that the ce could not stand 
 before the last word, he had dexterously inserted a t, 
 so as to make the word cet. 
 
 " The witness, in order to ascertain whether he 
 made use of his eyes, put a card under his chin, so as 
 to intercept the sight of the paper which was on the 
 table ; but he continued to write without perceiving it. 
 Wishing to know by what means he judged of the pre- 
 sence of objects which were under his eyes, the wit- 
 ness took from him the paper on which he was writing, 
 and substituted others repeatedly. He always per- 
 ceived this by the difference of size, for when a paper 
 of exactly the same shape was given to him, he took it 
 for his own, and wrote his corrections on places cor- 
 responding to those on the paper which had been taken 
 away from him. The most astonishing thing is, that 
 he could write music with great exactness, tracing on 
 it at equal distances the five lines, and putting upon 
 
116 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 them the clef, flats, and sharps. Afterwards he marked 
 the notes, at first white, and then blackened those 
 which were to be black ; the words were written under, 
 and once happening to make them too long, he quickly 
 perceived that they were not exactly under the corres- 
 ponding notes ; he corrected this inaccuracy by rub- 
 bing out what he had written, and putting the line 
 below with the greatest precision." 
 
 This somnambulist had a clear mental perception of 
 the results of his operations, but he could not have 
 seen them, because an opake body was interposed 
 between the organ of vision and the object. Is there 
 any evidence that he even felt the paper upon which 
 he wrote or the pen held in his hand ? The experi- 
 ment of changing the paper for one of a different size 
 is not conclusive, for he possessed the power of per- 
 ceiving, without the intervention of sight, and probably 
 also without the sense of touch. 
 
 " One of Gassendi's somnambulists used to rise and 
 dress himself in his sleep, go down to the cellar, and 
 draw wine from a cask : he appeared to see in the dark 
 as well as in a clear day ; but when he awoke either in 
 the street or in the cellar, he was obliged to grope and 
 feel his way back to his bed. He always answered his 
 wife as if awake, but in the morning recollected nothing 
 of what passed." The sense of touch did not guide 
 the wanderer here, because the moment this faculty 
 
SOMNAMBULISM. 117 
 
 was restored to the mind by wakefulness, it was 
 scarcely sufficient to conduct him back; "he groped 
 his way." All the other senses are as perfectly closed 
 as sight and feeling. The somnambulist does not hear, 
 but he perceives sounds, and replies to their influence. 
 The blast of a trumpet may be blown upon him and 
 he hears it not ; but the gentle vibrations of a whisper, 
 when in harmony with his train of thought, may be 
 perceived. 
 
 " Pigatti says that Negretti sat down to eat a bowl 
 of salad which he had prepared. It was taken from 
 him, and some strongly seasoned cabbage put in its 
 place ; this he eat without perceiving the difference, 
 as he did also some pudding which was presently sub- 
 stituted. At another time, having asked for wine, he 
 drank water which was given to him. He sniffed 
 ground coffee for snuff, which he had demanded." 
 Again, as related by the Archbishop of Bordeaux, the 
 subject " asked for a glass of brandy to warm him ; as 
 there was none at hand, they gave him water, but he 
 detected the deception, and again demanded brandy. 
 He drank a glass of strong liquor, and seemed refreshed ; 
 but, without awaking, lay down, and continued to 
 sleep soundly." Again, Castelli, a sleep-walker, " was 
 found one night in the act of translating from Italian 
 into French, and looked for words in a dictionary as 
 usual, being asleep. His candle being extinguished, 
 
IIS SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 he found himself to be in the dark, groped for a candle, 
 and went to light it again at the kitchen fire." " Ber- 
 trand thinks that Castelli did not really experience the 
 want of light, because the room was, as we are informed, 
 actually illuminated at the time by other candles." 
 * * * " When any one conversed with him on a 
 subject on which his mind was bent, he gave rational 
 answers." In the case of Castelli, the senses appeared 
 to be intact when they were impressed in regard to 
 the subject-matter of his thoughts," but in all other par- 
 ticulars they were closed. He neither heard nor saw, 
 but he perceived light and sound when their influences 
 were in harmony with his own thoughts. 
 
 Dr. Binns says, " In the capital of the island of Syra, 
 there is a young man from a town on the borders of 
 the Black Sea, aged eighteen years, tall in stature, and 
 of robust constitution, who went to Syra about twelve 
 months ago to follow his studies at the Gymnasium. 
 It frequently happens, that almost immediately after 
 falling asleep, he gets up and makes remarkable decla- 
 mations. Sometimes he recites very long speeches 
 from Xenophon with perfect correctness, although 
 when awake he cannot remember more than a few 
 lines. One night he wrote the theme he had to deliver 
 the next day. In the morning, having overslept him- 
 himself, he was vexed at not having time to prepare 
 himself for his tutor, but great was his astonishment 
 
SOMNAMBULISM. 119 
 
 at finding on his table his stipulated composition, 
 written with his own hand, folded, and ready to be 
 given in. The professor was surprised at finding it 
 so well done, and still more so when the young scholar 
 became embarrassed, and unable to answer certain 
 questions put to him on the subject. Doubts were 
 entertained as to its being his own work ; but a com- 
 panion who slept in the same room with him, came 
 voluntarily forward, and declared that in the night he 
 saw his fellow-student seated at the table writing, and 
 calling upon his father to assist him in composing his 
 theme. When in a state of somnambulism he plays 
 at cards, and uniformly wins. This is attributed to 
 his having the faculty at that time of knowing what 
 cards are in the hands of the rest of the party. When 
 in this state, also, he has been taken by his companions 
 to a tavern ; and when, after eating and drinking with 
 them, he awoke, he was greatly astonished at finding 
 himself where he was. It appears that in this somno- 
 lent state his sense of feeling is entirely suspended, 
 while all the other senses are alive and active. At 
 first the slightest touch would wake him ; but now he 
 is totally insensible to any violence, even that which 
 would in others, or in himself, when awake, cause pain. 
 In general, on coming out of this state of somnambu- 
 lism, he is so weak and languid as to faint away. One 
 fact is more extraordinary than the rest. One day, 
 
120 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 when in his dormant state, he announced that three 
 persons whom he named were coming to see him ; in 
 an hour after, these three persons entered his room." 
 
 Here are fallacious appearances of sensational in- 
 tegrity. The error consists in confounding the per- 
 ception of an object with the transmission of it by the 
 senses. He neither saw, nor heard, nor felt ; but he 
 knew he was writing, speaking, and eating by other 
 means than through the ordinary channels of informa- 
 tion. He had knowledge independent of external sen- 
 sation, and held control over his actions ; but on reco- 
 very he had no remembrance of what had transpired. 
 When " he awoke he was greatly astonished at finding 
 himself where he was." 
 
 In all these cases, we think there is abundant evi- 
 dence of the absence of external sensation ; but that 
 the mind perceives external relation in a certain 
 degree, there can be no doubt. The perplexing circum- 
 stance is, that while one quickly perceives the differ- 
 ence between brandy and water, another drinks water 
 and supposes himself refreshed with wine. One, with- 
 out perceiving the lights burning in his presence, is 
 immediately aware of the extinguishment of his own 
 candle, and " gropes his way when in an illuminated 
 apartment to relight it." 
 
 Mesmerism is analogous to this peculiar condition 
 of mind and sense. The difference is, that in somnam- 
 
SOMNAMBULISM. 121 
 
 bulism it is spontaneous, and the mental faculties 
 acknowledge no impression but what is in harmony 
 with their train of thought : while, in mesmeric sleep, the 
 mind is directed — not controlled by the mesmerizer. 
 And as before stated, w T hen examining the subject of 
 animal magnetism, there is probably no power of 
 creation in the case, but the mind presents its peculiar 
 character when left to its own powers. If the percep- 
 tion is obtuse when awake, in sleep it may exhibit the 
 same qualities ; and be quite likely, from want of atten- 
 tion, to drink water for wine, or sniff ground coffee for 
 snuff when offered. 
 
 Not unfrequently fatal accidents happen during the 
 perambulations of the sleep-walker. They generally 
 occur just as the person is emerging, either sponta- 
 neously or otherwise, fx-om the somnambulic state. This, 
 however, is not universally the case. The fate of the 
 sailor, Jack Sutton, a sleep-walker on shipboard, repre- 
 senting the principal personage in a celebrated ghost- 
 story, is an exception. He walked overboard while in this 
 state in the night, and was lost. Accidents may also 
 occur when the somnambulic state is imperfect; the 
 influence of external as well as internal causes may so 
 perplex the individual, that he is confounded, and lost 
 from this circumstance. But when suddenly aroused 
 to a realizing sense of his condition, and finding him- 
 self in extraordinary situations, such as when awake 
 
122 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 he would not venture upon, self-possession is lost, and 
 he is precipitated from his often giddy heights. 
 
 Dendy says — " In a Gazette of Augsburg I have 
 read this sad story : ' Dresden was the theatre of a 
 melancholy spectacle on the 29th ult. As early as 
 seven in the morning, a female was seen walking on 
 the roof of one of the loftiest houses in the city, appa- 
 rently occupied in preparing some ornaments as a 
 Christmas present. The house -stood as it were alone, 
 being much higher than those adjoining it, and to draw 
 her from her perilous situation was impossible. Thou- 
 sands of spectators had assembled in the streets. It 
 was discovered to be a handsome girl, nineteen years 
 of age, the daughter of a master-baker, possessing a 
 small independence bequeathed to her by her mother. 
 She continued her terrific promenade for hours, at 
 times sitting on the parapet and dressing her hair. The 
 police came to the spot, and various means of preser- 
 vation were resorted to. In a few minutes the street 
 was thickly strewn with straw, and beds were called 
 for from the house, but the heartless father, influenced 
 by the girl's stepmother, refused them. Nets were sus- 
 pended from the balcony of the first windows. All 
 this time the poor girl was walking in perfect uncon- 
 sciousness, sometimes gazing towards the moon, and 
 at others singing or talking to herself. Some persons 
 succeeded in getting on the roof, but dared not 
 
SOMNAMBULISM. 123 
 
 approach her, for fear of the consequences if they 
 awoke her. Towards eleven o'clock she approached 
 the very verge of the parapet, leaned forward, and 
 gazed upon the multitude beneath. Every one felt 
 that the moment of the catastrophe had arrived. She 
 rose up, however, and returned calmly to the window 
 by which she had gone out. When she saw there 
 were lights in the room, she uttered a piercing shriek, 
 which was re-echoed by thousands below, and fell dead 
 into the street.' " 
 
 By practice, some individuals may accommodate 
 themselves to any enterprise within the laws of nature. 
 Gall, in alluding to this subject, says, " Some persons 
 think that somnambulism is a completely extraordinary 
 state, because somnambulists execute during their sleep 
 things which they could not accomplish awake : they 
 clamber on trees, roofs, &c. All astonishment ceases 
 as soon as we reflect upon the circumstances in which 
 we do the boldest things, and upon others in which we 
 cannot. Any one in a balcony, furnished with a balus- 
 trade, could look down from a very high tower, and 
 without resting against this balustrade. We walk 
 without tottering upon a plank placed upon the parapet. 
 To what will not boys accustom themselves in their 
 rash sports ? What do not mountaineers in their pur- 
 suit of the chamois, rope-dancers, tumblers, and others 
 perform ? But take the balustrade from the balcony, 
 
124 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 let us but discover an abyss to the right and left of 
 the plank, and we are lost. Why ? Is it because we 
 are not in a condition to walk upon the plank ? No. 
 It is because fear has destroyed our confidence in our 
 powers. Now let us judge of the somnambulist. He 
 sees distinctly what he is about to do, but the organs 
 which would warn him of danger are asleep ; he is 
 therefore without fear, and executes whatever his 
 bodily powers allow him successfully to attempt. But 
 wake him : instantly he will perceive his danger, and 
 give way. 
 
 Our view of the rationale of somnambulic sleep 
 differs materially from that just quoted. The somnam- 
 bulist perceives, he does not see whatever he is about 
 to do with the visual organs of the insomnist, because 
 observations show his eyes to be either closed, or 
 rigidly set and staring ; in which case, even when 
 awake, he cannot see. Neither does he perceive objects 
 through the other external senses as when awake, 
 because they also are closed, as experiments prove, to 
 the common stimuli applied in the ordinary way. The 
 mind in this condition has an external relation sui 
 generis, corresponding in some degree with our normal 
 existence, and subject to the ordinary governing prin- 
 ciple of the normal state. The mind, under any cir- 
 cumstances, requires a paramount object to accom- 
 plish extraordinary undertakings, and when this object 
 
SOMNAMBULISM. 125 
 
 is sufficient to absorb and direct the attention solely to 
 its accomplishment, we can pursue a path, sufficiently 
 capacious to receive our footsteps, without the assist- 
 ance of balustrades to insure our safety. Just so with 
 the somnambulist ; the object with him is single and 
 paramount, and when the immutable laws of nature 
 are not infringed, he is just as safe as the most experi- 
 enced aeronaut in his undertaking. It is not because 
 a part of his mind is asleep, but because the organs 
 unnecessary to the accomplishment of his purpose are 
 passive, or subdued by the extraordinary activity of 
 those engaged. We might further assign in evidence 
 of mental sleeplessness, the fact, that change of cir- 
 cumstances alters in some instances the object and 
 intention of the somnambulist, for when Signor Augus- 
 tin — an Italian nobleman and celebrated somnambulist 
 — " came below, one of us made a noise by accident ; 
 when he appeared frightened, and hastened his steps," 
 — " and sometimes he ran as if he were pursued, if the 
 least noise was made by those standing round him," — 
 and "upon hearing a noise which the servants made 
 in the kitchen, he listened attentively, went to 
 the door, and held his ear to the key-hole."* In 
 this state the mental action is far more powerful to- 
 wards the accomplishment of a single purpose than 
 
 * See Pritchard on Insanity. 
 
126 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 during wakefulness, because when awake the attention 
 is divided by the multiplicity of surrounding objects. 
 
 In many cases of somnambulism, the mind seems 
 not to participate with the body. The somnambulist 
 receives the first impulse from the will ; after which, 
 locomotion is continued by the influence of reflex and 
 associate action. Dr. Dendy, in alluding to the fact 
 that the soldiers, in the retreat of Corunna, slept while 
 marching, very philosophically observes that " These 
 soldiers did not walk in their sleep, but slept in their 
 walk." The case of the individual, related in a former 
 chapter, who leaped from the hotel window, and was 
 found clinging to a lamp-post, apparently unconscious 
 of his situation, was of the same kind. The mind 
 required a change of place, and the locomotive appara- 
 tus was started by volition. There was no return 
 sensation indicating the change. The mind required 
 none ; for by its own constitution it inferred that the 
 change was made, because it had willed it, and there- 
 fore became satisfied ; and locomotion, once induced, 
 may be continued by the power of reflex action, which 
 is not dependent on the mind, but requires merely the 
 stimulus of its own regular series of motion to continue 
 in operation until arrested by the will, or overcome by 
 physical resistance. Had not the lamp-post intervened, 
 he would undoubtedly have progressed until he came 
 in contact with some other insurmountable obstacle. 
 
SOMNAMBULISM. 121 
 
 The consideration of sleep-talking belongs to this 
 branch of our subject, because the rationale of its 
 phenomena is identical with that of sleep-walking, 
 though a much lower degree of mental intensity suffices 
 to induce it. Those individuals familiarly denominated 
 sleeping preachers, are of this kind ; and the following, 
 which Dr. Berkley, the narrator, calls a case of double 
 consciousness, is of considerable interest.* 
 . "Mrs. N. B., a married woman, aged 39 years, has 
 been subject to neuralgia of the face for about 17 
 years. She is otherwise a healthy woman. Five or 
 six years ago the disease became very violent, and 
 assumed a strictly periodic type, returning every two 
 weeks — at which time she suffered the most excruciat- 
 ing agony in the course of the fifth pair of nerves of 
 the right side of the face. After suffering two or three 
 hours in this way, she not unfrequently becomes sick 
 at the stomach, and would vomit and purge. All these 
 symptoms after a while subsiding, she would become 
 entirely insensible to all external impressions. In this 
 situation she would commence preaching in a loud and 
 clear voice, and continue from two to three hours. 
 She would then sink down as if she had fainted, and 
 in fifteen or twenty minutes awake without the least 
 knowledge of what had transpired. 
 
 * Amer. Jour. Med. Science, 1847. 
 
128 SLEEl' PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 " She had these periodic spells of preaching for five 
 or six years, every two weeks regularly, never having 
 missed but two or three times. The case having 
 attracted much attention, Dr. B. was induced to visit 
 the subject of it during one of her attacks, and gave 
 the following account of what he observed. He 
 arrived at nine o'clock A.M., and found Mrs. B. sitting 
 in an arm-chair, suffering all the agony of a severe 
 attack of facial neuralgia of the right side, though 
 somewhat different from most cases of that disease. 
 There was no twitching of the muscles, great tumes- 
 cence of the vessels of the face and neck, muscles of 
 the neck very rigid, eyes very red, excessive intole- 
 rance of light, so much so that she could scarcely bear 
 to elevate the eyelids. 
 
 " She says she feels an almost insupportable weight, 
 like an incubus, upon her head ; there is an abundant 
 secretion of saliva, which is altogether from the right 
 side of the mouth. I talked with her about an hour, 
 or as long as she was capable of talking. I found her 
 a very intelligent woman ; she wished to know if there 
 was nothing that would relieve her. I asked her if she 
 had undergone any medical treatment. She said she 
 had ; that several eminent physicians had given her 
 medicine. She had been cupped, her head shaved and 
 blistered, ointment of veratria applied to tne course of 
 the nerve, and all the noted antiperiodics given in sue- 
 
SOMNAMBULISM. 129 
 
 cession without the least benefit. She thought that 
 under the tonic treatment she had got worse. 
 
 " She continued to get worse and worse from the 
 time I went into the room until about eleven o'clock, 
 when her eyes closed, and she became perfectly insen- 
 sible to external impressions. In this situation she 
 commenced talking. 
 
 " She was placed in the sitting posture, in a large 
 room where a great number of strangers had collected. 
 When she first commenced talking, she appeared to be 
 choked with a frothy saliva, but she soon cleared her 
 throat, and preached for two hours and ten minutes, in 
 a clear and distinct voice — sufficiently loud to be heard 
 a hundred yards. Sometimes her appeals would be the 
 most pathetic and eloquent I ever heard. The first 
 warning you have that she is about to conclude, is the 
 free spitting up of this frothy saliva. As soon as that 
 appears, she falters and falls over. She continues 
 insensible for fifteen or twenty minutes, all the time 
 spitting up this saliva, when she awakes by yawning 
 like a person who had been asleep, and looks about 
 with a vacant stare. She soon, however, regains her 
 senses, and looks like another person, and knows no- 
 thing of what has transpired. 
 
 " The most remarkable circumstance connected with 
 this case is, that she can neither see, hear, nor feel 
 during all the time she is preaching. She is not dis- 
 6* 
 
130 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 turbed by any noise that may be made, and if pricked 
 by any sharp instrument, does not flinch, and her eyes 
 are closed during the whole time." 
 
 Dr. Berkley relates this as a case of double con- 
 sciousness, but we do not consider it as such, because 
 there was no connexion between the pathological con- 
 dition and its preceding homogeneous attacks, although 
 the patient did exhibit a periodic abnormal state. For 
 an individual to possess double consciousness, there 
 must be a corresponding identity in each state of the 
 same kind. The mental peculiarities of the abnormal 
 states must be in as perfect harmony with each other 
 as those of the natural : and the two states must not 
 only present a character totally distinct, but each must 
 be connected with the pi-eceding states of the same 
 kind, so that either condition has a separate and dis- 
 tinct consciousness connecting its alternate fragments 
 into a perfect whole. In fact, the subject, to be doubly 
 conscious, must present, alternately, the mental cha- 
 racteristics of separate and distinct individuals. 
 
 The case, however, is important, in that it furnishes 
 additional evidence of the dependence of memory upon 
 sensational integrity. In the further consideration of 
 the subject in its connexion with memory in our con- 
 clusion, we shall present a case exhibiting the peculiar 
 features of double consciousness. 
 
 The mind in somnambulism is always conscious. It 
 
SOMNAMBULISM. 131 
 
 may or it may not perceive external relation, but the 
 physical phenomena show conclusively that the mental 
 being is at work. It will appear, when examining, in 
 our concluding remarks, the memorial power, that the 
 mind may be cognisant of surrounding circumstances, 
 and yet retain no remembrance of them, because sen- 
 sation — -the foundation upon which memory rests — is 
 wanting. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Sleep, with an overpowering influence, wraps us 
 into forgetfulness of ourselves. It envelopes in its 
 sombre drapery, the votaries of pleasure and the sub- 
 jects of sorrow. A helpless — inanimate — unconscious 
 submission is yielded to its dominion, and a solemn 
 calm rests alike upon all. It dispenses to the fatigued 
 frame — refreshment ; to the diseased body — a balm ; 
 and to the care-worn, a short oblivion of their woes. 
 
 Is this neutrality of our hopes and fears and passions 
 undisturbed ? Does this power, controlling our sensi- 
 bilities, shield us from harm ? Do we remain unmo- 
 lested in this defenceless condition, regaining bodily 
 activity and mental energy ? Or is this state also sub- 
 ject to evils ? Alas ! it is ; for dreams do come, that, in 
 their varied structure, harass the inmost soul with 
 dread, and 
 
 " On his nightmare through the evening fog, 
 Flits the squab Fiend o'er fen, and lake, and bog." 
 
 Incubus and nightmare are terms applied to a disease, 
 
INCUBUS. 133 
 
 deeply interesting both to the physician and to the 
 patient. To the physician, because no satisfactory 
 explanation of its phenomena has been given, all being 
 mere speculation not founded on facts, neither support- 
 ed by correct pathological reasoning : and to the 
 sufferer, for it seizes him under circumstances frightful 
 in themselves, occurring mostly at dead of night, when 
 assistance is least easily obtained, and he being ren- 
 dered totally helpless. 
 
 It makes its attack on the system in that stage of 
 sleep when the external functions are impaired, and 
 the imagination is free from those restraints imposed 
 upon it in the state of wakefulness by the judgment. 
 The mind, roving through various scenes and producing 
 effects only experienced in dreams, and best described 
 by reference to them, arrives at a condition in which 
 fear is the most prominent emotion. The dreamer 
 often believes himself shipwrecked, and left to the 
 fury of the winds and waves ; or he is fast approach- 
 ing the brink of a dread precipice, without the power 
 to turn aside, and over which he must unavoidably 
 fall ; or he is pursued by wild beasts intent on de- 
 vouring him, and through all, he feels spell-bound 
 and unable to help or defend himself: he struggles with 
 all his power to be released from this frightful situation, 
 but apparently to no purpose, until at last when he 
 considers his destruction inevitable, a sudden bound 
 
134- SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 frees him from his condition, and a dream is disclosed, 
 which he believes to have been the cause of his suf- 
 ferings. 
 
 The effects produced by a paroxysm of incubus are 
 very great. Immediately after recovery, the pulse is 
 a little quickened ; a tremor of the abdominal muscles 
 is experienced, and extreme lassitude is felt throughout 
 the whole frame. A want of energy characterizes this 
 state ; and as the first shades of sleep again descend 
 upon him, he very perceptibly feels the approach of 
 the disease a second time, but under different circum- 
 stances. From a lack of energy to change his position 
 and shake off the predisposition now formed, he remains 
 quiet, perfectly conscious of the advancing symptoms 
 which are gradually stealing over and strengthening 
 upon him, until the power of voluntary motion is again 
 suspended, and he is in a condition differing from the 
 first, inasmuch as he is conscious of his situation. 
 He now attempts to change his position, but without 
 success, and it is only after repeated trials that he suc- 
 ceeds in accomplishing his object. The same lassitude 
 continues as after the first attack, and the second will 
 be followed by a third with the same symptoms, and 
 the third by a fourth, and so on until his exertions are 
 sufficient to throw off the disease, by producing an 
 action throughout the whole voluntary muscular 
 texture. 
 
INCUBUS. 135 
 
 There is no particular position necessary for the 
 occurrence of this disease. It makes its attacks in any 
 position that a person can lie in, and the sitting posi- 
 tion is not exempt from its effects. 
 
 This disease may be divided into the first and second 
 paroxysms, or that which is accompanied by a dream, 
 and the succeeding attacks in which we comprehend 
 our situation. 
 
 In addition to the feelings described in the first par- 
 oxysm, there is the sensation of a load upon the chest, 
 and some fancy it a monster attempting to suffocate 
 them. From this paroxysm very little information can 
 be obtained ; the person on awaking attributes all his 
 sufferings to the dream which he considers the cause 
 of his distress. 
 
 It is by attending strictly to the phenomena of the 
 succeeding attacks, that a knowledge of the pathology 
 of the disease can be obtained. In these attacks many 
 faculties of the mind are active, and restrained to their 
 proper course by the judgment. This is displayed in 
 the exertion to move one part of the body and then 
 another alternately, knowing that if we succeed, relief 
 will be obtained. Neither is the memory dormant, for 
 when previously we have been told that some of the 
 senses are not impaired, and that we can exercise cer- 
 tain muscles, we are sure to make the trial. A person 
 laboring under the second paroxysm, if the room be 
 
136 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 sufficiently light, can see whatever comes directly in 
 front of him ; he can hear the breathing of his bed- 
 fellow, and is conscious of conversation when it takes 
 place in his presence ; he has the sense of touch, for he 
 is aware of his contact with the bed-clothes, and also 
 of irregularities in their position under him ; he can 
 move his under jaw with ease perpendicularly, but has 
 no power to produce a lateral motion ; he knows that 
 he breathes, but with much difficulty ; he has the power 
 of natural voice, but not of speech, and volition is 
 perfect, but the organs of locomotion are not obedient 
 to its mandates. 
 
 These are the facts upon which we are to determine 
 its pathological character, and upon which we are to 
 build our hope of success in removing the obscurity 
 hitherto surrounding the location and cause of this 
 disease. 
 
 The remote causes of this affection are violent men- 
 tal agitation — fear — also great fatigue of body, and in 
 truth whatever wearies the mind or body beyond their 
 healthy endurance. But • the most prolific cause is 
 overloading the stomach before retiring to rest. The 
 proximate cause consists in one part of the system 
 requiring a greater amount of nervous power than is 
 naturally appropriated to it ; and as the extremities of 
 the nerves cannot provide the deficiency, this extra 
 quantity must be supplied from some other part ; con- 
 
INCUBUS. 13 1 
 
 sequently the part from which the deficiency is made 
 up is left in an unnatural condition, and thus results 
 this affection. 
 
 This disease we consider to be purely nervous. The 
 attendant dyspnoea and congestion are its consequent, 
 and not the cause, as has been believed and supported 
 by pathologists. But before proceeding further, we 
 would remark, that the nervous function is subject to 
 the strangest anomalies connected with our system: — 
 that its various uses are continually merging into light : 
 — that previous to the late discoveries of distinct func- 
 tions connected with different filaments and the regu- 
 larity of the origin of each set of nerves, and that their 
 property depends upon the part from which they are 
 derived, the subject was enveloped in comparative 
 obscurity. The discoveries lately made in the pheno- 
 mena of reflex and associate action, have served to 
 dissipate, in some degree, the uncertainty in which the 
 physiologist has been involved. It is by carefully 
 regarding these discoveries, in connexion with the 
 phenomena presented by the disease, that its pathology 
 can be determined. 
 
 The anterior column of the spinal marrow and the 
 nerves arising therefrom, are the seat of incubus. This 
 being the case, the nerves of feeling, arising from the 
 posterior column ; of respiration, arising from the 
 lateral column ; of vision and hearing, originating 
 
138 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 from the brain ; and the brain itself ; are not involved 
 in the disease. We are now able to account for its 
 various phenomena. 
 
 The faculty of the mind in reasoning, the active 
 state of the memory and volition, are qualifications 
 belonging exclusively to the brain, and are not the 
 subjects of this disease. 
 
 The sense of touch is the peculiar property of the 
 filaments originating in the posterior column of the 
 spinal marrow, and therefore is not operated upon by 
 this affection. 
 
 The act of respiration is continued, but somewhat 
 impaired, being very laborious. The muscles perform- 
 ing this operation are supplied with three sets of 
 nerves, all differing in their functions ; one set from 
 the anterior column, being the nerves of voluntary 
 motion, and combined with another set from the 
 posterior column, conveying sensation ; and a third 
 set from the lateral column, being those of respiration. 
 The first set, which is the seat of the disease, may be 
 regarded as the cause of the dyspnoea. The process of 
 breathing is effected by the nerves of respiration in 
 conjunction with those of volition, the first not being 
 sufficient to the perfect performance of this office 
 without the co-operation of the last. If from any 
 cause the voluntary muscular action is suspended, the 
 motion of the thorax is diminished, and an intolerable 
 
INCUBUS. 139 
 
 sense of pressure and suffocation is the result. From 
 this circumstance the name of the disease originated, 
 viz. incubus, from the Latin, signifying one who lies 
 upon. The tremulous motion experienced in the abdo- 
 minal muscles, after the paroxysm, we conceive to be 
 caused by an irregular return of nervous influence to 
 them. 
 
 All the muscles of the face are subject to the will, 
 but are unaffected by the disease, and the countenance 
 expresses great anxiety. These muscles, with many of 
 the neck, are supplied by the portio dura, which is 
 a nerve of respiration, expression, and volition in the 
 muscles to which it is distributed. This accounts for 
 our being able to move the lower jaw in a perpendi- 
 cular, but not in a lateral direction ; the muscles of 
 the face and throat being competent to produce this 
 motion without the assistance of those of mastication, 
 these latter being supplied with a branch from the fifth 
 pair, and of these muscles the pterygoideus externus 
 is that which causes the lateral movement ; over these 
 muscles of the jaw we have no control. 
 
 To account for the faculty we possess of seeing 
 objects that are in a line perpendicular to the face 
 during the paroxysm, and only those in that direction, 
 requires our attention to the functions of the various 
 parts of which the organ of vision is composed. 
 
 It will be readily perceived, that as the optic nerve 
 
140 SLEEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 arises from the brain, its functions cannot be impaired ; 
 but when we consider that the situation of the globus 
 oculi during sleep excludes the light, both from the ele- 
 vated position of the pupil and the closure of the pal- 
 pebrse, and in addition to these, the inactive condition 
 of the voluntary muscles during the paroxysm of 
 incubus, we are perplexed to solve the problem 
 Medical philosophy, however, furnishes the clue by 
 which to unravel the mystery. 
 
 The muscles of the eyelids are supplied with 
 nervous twigs from the portio dura, and hence are 
 not under the influence of the disease. But how shall 
 we account for the phenomena, when it is known that 
 the pupil is raised above the margin of the elevated 
 lid ? The ball rises from the relaxation of the supe- 
 rior oblique, and this muscle is furnished with a dis- 
 tinct nerve, which arises from the summit of the 
 column that originates the nerves of respiration; con- 
 sequently the disease does not affect this muscle. Now 
 all the motions of the superior palpebra are accompa- 
 nied with an opposite movement of the superior 
 oblique, as when the lid falls the eyeball rolls upwards, 
 and vice versa. Their actions are attendant upon each 
 other, and are both voluntary and involuntary. The 
 nerves of respiration endow their muscles with this 
 double quality. Their movements only open the eye 
 and bring the pupil in the most anterior direction, but 
 
INCUBUS. 141 
 
 further command over the organ they have not. The 
 recti muscles give the various directions to the eye, 
 but they receive their nerves from the motor division, 
 and are solely for voluntary motion, consequently 
 under the influence of the disease ; so that, although 
 we cannot roll the eye in its orbit, yet we can see 
 whatever comes directly in front of us. 
 
 The sense of hearing is conveyed to the sensorium 
 by the portio mollis, a nerve originating in the brain. 
 But the function of this apparatus would avail nothing 
 without the action of the muscles connected with the 
 internal structure of the ear. These muscles are 
 furnished with branches from the fifth and seventh 
 pair of nerves ; and as the seventh pair are nerves of 
 muscular motion to the face and neck, we may safely 
 conclude that the same influence is exerted on these 
 muscles producing the necessary action for conveying 
 sounds. 
 
 The larynx receives its nerves in four branches from 
 the par vagum, which is the principal nerve of respira- 
 tion, and by these we are endowed with natural voice, 
 which we are capable of exercising when under the 
 influence of this disease ; but of the faculty of speech 
 we are deprived, the tongue being furnished with its 
 nerves of voluntary motion from the anterior column 
 of the spinal marrow, being the twelfth pair of Mr. 
 Charles Bell. 
 
142 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 The action of the heart continues. This centre of 
 the circulation, so necessary to the continuance of life 
 under all circumstances, is supplied with branches 
 from the par vagum, and when its functions are de- 
 ranged in this disease, it is from sympathy with the 
 lungs. The motions of the heart are less under the 
 influence of that portion of the brain manifesting the 
 passions or feelings than the lungs are, and it becomes 
 disturbed, not from its dependence upon the brain, but 
 from its association with respiration ; and as before 
 stated, the derangement of respiration is caused by a 
 suppression of nervous influence to the voluntary 
 muscles of the thorax and abdomen. 
 
 Rest, in general, retards the healthy pulse, but when 
 the stomach is oppressed with a heavy meal, and the 
 person falls asleep, the pulse becomes much quickened. 
 As the powers of volition subside, those of organic 
 action increase, and the action of the heart and 
 arteries is augmented by the aggravated operations 
 of the stomach. This being the case, incubus can- 
 not be the effect of stagnation of the blood, for it 
 invariably occurs under some extra irritation. The 
 theory that this is a disease of congestion, is entirely 
 hypothetical. The symptoms indicating such a state 
 of the vascular system are neither sufficiently nume- 
 rous nor well marked to have any weight in fixing it 
 as the proximate cause. What congestion there may 
 
be is more easily accounted for as an effect than a 
 cause of this disease. 
 
 Incubus differs from coma, inasmuch as in the latter 
 there is neither consciousness of surrounding circum- 
 stances nor volition ; and in asphyxia, consciousness is 
 apparently lost, volition is suspended, and there are no 
 perceptible respiratory or arterial actions. There is 
 no suspension of volition during the paroxysm of night- 
 mare ; the endeavors of the victim to escape the 
 sufferings are vehement. It differs from revery, as 
 well as catalepsy, in being intercepted by the action 
 of the voluntary muscles, excited either by the will 
 or by the application of external force. After a 
 paroxysm of nightmare, the ideas and sensations are 
 distinctly remembered ; but on recovery from the for- 
 mer affections, there is no remembrance of what 
 passed during their continuance. They leave a blank 
 in the memory of existence. 
 
 It is our settled conviction that death never is an 
 effect of this disease, because, when the painful sen- 
 sations acquire a certain degree of severity, the reflex 
 power will come into play and end the disease. We 
 know from experiment that motion intercepts its 
 progress, and we also know that the voluntary muscles 
 universally come into action previous to dissolution, 
 unless it supervenes upon typhus, where the irritability 
 of the system is worn out, or upon the effect of elec- 
 
144 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 tricity, or the exhibition of some of the virulent poisons, 
 as hydrocyanic acid ; and as before remarked, this action 
 of the voluntary muscles, by equalizing the nervous 
 influence, ends the paroxysm, or in other words, the 
 disease destroys itself. 
 
 The course of treatment to be pursued in this 
 affection is prophylactic. The principal indication is, 
 to keep the nervous influence as equally balanced as 
 possible. This is to be accomplished by preventing 
 undue excitement in the thoracic or abdominal viscera. 
 Food should not be taken in large quantities immediate- 
 ly before retiring to rest, because when the stomach is 
 engorged, it requires, under all circumstances, a greater 
 amount of nervous influence than is appropriated to its 
 natural process of digestion, but more particularly in 
 the state of sleep, for then digestion proceeds more 
 rapidly, and the action of the voluntary organs having 
 ceased, the whole current of nervous power expended 
 on them in wakefulness, is drawn to the stomach with 
 go much avidity that they are left without a sufficient 
 amount to be acted upon by the will, and thus arises 
 this affection. 
 
 To those habitually afflicted with this malady, we 
 would recommend an alarm watch, set to awake them 
 at short intervals, and kept at such a distance from their 
 beds, as to oblige them to leave it whenever it required 
 resetting. The voluntary action thus produced will 
 
INCUBUS. 145 
 
 be sufficient to equalize the nervous influence. For 
 the digestive process decreases in proportion to the 
 return of voluntary action. 
 
 In conclusion : first, this disease is purely nervous : 
 secondly, it is consequent upon a deficiency of nervous 
 power in one part of the system, occasioned by a 
 greater demand for it in another part ; and lastly, it is 
 confined to that division of the nervous texture de- 
 signed entirely for voluntary motion, leaving all other 
 functions of the organization in their normal con- 
 dition. 
 
 Note. — With the exception of some unimportant alterations and 
 corrections, the preceding remarks on Incubus were published by» 
 the author in Vol. XV. of the Amer. Jour. Med. Sciences for 1834. 
 Our apology for republishing it is, that it forms a portion of the 
 general subject under consideration, and from further experience 
 (for we have suffered from its attacks since our earliest remem- 
 brance), the conviction that the views then expressed were patho- 
 logically correct, has been greatly strengthened. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 It is not our intention to examine the causes of 
 trance, much less to give a detailed history of this 
 singular affection ; but for the purpose of showing the 
 connexion between sensation and memory, it becomes 
 necessary to present its leading physical features, and 
 •to exhibit, as far as may be, the condition of mind 
 during its continuance. 
 
 Physically considered, it presents the ordinary 
 appearance of the body after dissolution ; and exhibits 
 the mind either in an unconscious state as regards 
 external relation, or a susceptibility to surrounding 
 circumstances. 
 
 We find the symptoms admirably detailed by Mac- 
 nish in his Philosophy of Sleep. He says : " During 
 its continuance, the whole body is cold, rigid, and 
 inflexible ; the countenance without color ; the eyes 
 fixed and motionless ; while the breathing and the 
 pulsations of the heart are, to all appearances, at an 
 end. The mental powers, also, are generally suspended, 
 and participate in the universal torpor which pervades 
 
TRANCE. 14*7 
 
 the frame. In this extraordinary condition the person 
 may remain for several days, having all, or nearly all, 
 the characteristics of death impressed upon him." 
 
 To communicate its phenomena more particularly, 
 we will relate several cases, as nearly to the purpose 
 as may be. 
 
 A young woman, who for a long time had been con- 
 fined with a nervous derangement, gradually failed, 
 until at last, as was supposed by her attendants, she 
 died, but in fact had only fallen into trance, from which 
 she recovered after the burial service was nearly com- 
 pleted, and the coffin lid was about to be nailed down. 
 During the whole period she was cognisant of her 
 condition by the senses of hearing and touch. 
 
 "It seemed to her," she said, "as if she was in a 
 dream, and that she was really dead; yet she was 
 perfectly conscious of all that happened around her in 
 this dreadful state. She distinctly heard her friends 
 speaking, and lamenting her death, at the side of her 
 coffin. She felt them pull on her dead clothes and lay 
 her in it. This feeling produced a mental anxiety 
 which is indescribable. She tried to cry, but her soul 
 was without the power, and could not act in her body. 
 She had the contradictory feeling, as if she were in 
 the body, and yet not in it, at one and the same time. 
 It was equally impossible for her to stretch out her 
 arm, or to open her eyes, or to cry, although she con- 
 
148 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 tinually endeavored to do so. The internal anguish 
 of her mind was, however, at its utmost height when 
 the funeral hymns were begun to be sung, and when 
 the lid of the coffin was about to be nailed on. The 
 thought that she was to be buried alive was the one 
 that gave activity to the soul, and caused it to operate 
 on her corporeal frame."* 
 
 Dr. Duncan of Edinburgh relates the case of a 
 " female who was about to be interred alive. She 
 heard the conversation of the persons present, endured 
 the horrors of seeing her own body prepared for the 
 grave, of being laid out, and the toes tied together, and 
 the chin and jaws enveloped in a bandage ! but, when 
 her agony reached a certain point, the spell was broken, 
 she shouted, and was saved. "f Dr. Duncan considered 
 this a case of catalepsy, but Dr. Binns, more correctly, 
 thinks it one of trance. 
 
 In these two extraordinary cases of trance, it is 
 evident that the several senses were keenly alive to 
 external impressions. 
 
 Let us now take an instance where the patient was, 
 so far as can be determined, unconscious of all 
 about her. 
 
 "Mrs. Godfrey, sister to the great Duke of Marl- 
 borough, had been for a long time ill, in consequence 
 
 * Psychological Magazine. f Binns's Anatomy of Sleep. 
 
TRANCE. 149 
 
 of anxiety brought on by the recent death of the duke ; 
 but, one Sunday, fancying herself better than usual, 
 determined to rise, and go to chapel. Probably from 
 unaccustomed exertion, or absolute debility, as she was 
 dressing for that purpose, she fell down, and to all 
 appearance expired. The screams of her attendant, 
 and a lady who was in the room with her, brought 
 Colonel Godfrey to their assistance, who, probably 
 having seen persons similarly attacked, directed that 
 she should be immediately put to bed, and that two 
 persons should sit up constantly with her, till positive 
 symptoms appeared of dissolution. The opinion of the 
 physician was that life was extinct, and his friends 
 entreated Colonel Godfrey to allow her to be interred ; 
 but he resisted all their persuasions, continuing firmly 
 to adhere to his first resolution, until the Sunday 
 following, when exactly at the same hour as the syn- 
 cope, asphyxia, or trance, had attacked her on the pre- 
 ceeding Sunday, signs of returning animation were 
 perceived in the body, and she awoke just as the 
 church-bell was ringing for service, which so perfectly 
 eradicated, says the authoress, every trace from her 
 memory of her insensibility, that she blamed her 
 attendants for not waking her in time to go to church, 
 as she had proposed to do. Colonel Godfrey, taking 
 advantage of her unconsciousness of what had occurred, 
 gave orders that she should by no means be made 
 
150 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 acquainted with what had happened, lest it should 
 make a melancholy impression on her mind ; and it 
 is supposed that to the day of her death she remained 
 ignorant of the infliction." 
 
 There are many singular instances of anomalous 
 states on record, which, by different psychologists, are 
 treated of under various denominations of disease. 
 ]\icolai read to the Royal Society of Berlin in 1799, a 
 Memoir of Spectres, in which we find the following 
 case. He says, "My much-lamented friend, Moses 
 Mendeljohn, had, in the year 1792, by too intense 
 an application to study, contracted a malady, which 
 abounded with particular psychological apparitions. 
 For upwards of two years he was incapacitated from 
 doing anything; he could neither read nor think, 
 and was rendered utterly incapable of supporting any 
 loud noise. If any one talked to him rather in a lively 
 manner, or if he himself happened to be disposed to 
 lively conversation, he fell in the evening into a very 
 alarming species of catalepsy, in which he saw and 
 heard everything that passed around him, without 
 being able to move a limb. If he had heard any lively 
 conversation during the day, a stentorian voice repeat- 
 ed to him, while in the fit, the particular words or syl- 
 lables that had been pronounced, with an impressive 
 accent, or loud emphatic tone, and in such a manner 
 that his ears reverberated." 
 
TRANCE. 151 
 
 Nicolai relates this case as a " species of catalepsy," 
 and Dr. Binns says, " It is, more correctly speaking, 
 one of trance." We think it was not catalepsy, 
 because the senses received and conveyed impressions, 
 and the memory retained them. It was not trance, we 
 apprehend, because none of the symptoms of that mor- 
 bid state accompanied it ; he was not even thought to 
 be dead. It could not have been incubus, which it 
 very nearly assimilated, for the causes are incompati- 
 ble with the pathology — it did not supervene on sleep, 
 and its phenomena were not limited to circumstances 
 present, but revert to what had already transpired. 
 Such a case, full of interest to the psychologist, we 
 conceive to be one of hallucination, associated with 
 excessive irritability of the auditory nerve, and belong- 
 ing to neither class in which it has been placed. The 
 instance of a lady who was in the habit of ejaculating 
 " Oh Christ !" on every trifling occasion, to be related 
 when examining catalepsy, is of the same character ; 
 and both, in a psychological point of view, bear con- 
 siderable resemblance to the case of Tasso. 
 
 On this occasion we feel constrained to digress 
 somewhat from the psychology of our subject, for the 
 purpose of giving a few instances in which persons 
 have been buried alive while in this state. There is, 
 probably, no single idea so replete with horror, as that 
 of being interred before life is extinct ; and yet the not 
 
152 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 uncommon practice of burial, ere the sun has twice 
 set upon the lifeless body, is witnessed without any 
 emotion, ©r even a thought that this may by possibility 
 be the unhappy result. This custom is so reprehensible, 
 that in the absence of affection, duty, or respect for 
 the cast-off earthly tenement of a divine emanation, 
 the law should specify the time to elapse between 
 death and sepulture when positive evidence of dissolu- 
 tion is absent, to save from the horrors of a living 
 tomb. Every individual is deeply interested in this 
 subject, for so long as the present custom is allowed, 
 each and all of us are liable to suffer the agonies of 
 a death so dreadful. 
 
 It may be asked, if we are liable to deception in 
 regard to the presence of the vital principle, by what 
 means shall it be tested beyond the possibility of error ? 
 The answer is, that in the absence of organic lesion, 
 decomposition is the only positive evidence that life 
 has departed ; for as soon as life is extinct, chemical 
 affinity is busy in re-arranging the particles of the life- 
 less mass. And still, great circumspection is required 
 in determining when this change has taken place, be- 
 cause the odor of gases continually escaping from the 
 body may possibly be the cause of error in decision. 
 It appears from late experiments and observations, that 
 flaccidity of the iris after death may be used as a test. 
 "M. Rippault proposes to apply the circumstance of 
 
TRANCE. 153 
 
 the iris becoming flaccid after death as a means of 
 distinguishing between real and apparent death ; for 
 in the former case he finds that the pupil loses its cir- 
 cular form when the globe of the eye is compressed in 
 two opposite directions ; but, on the contrary, retains 
 its round form so long as life and the power of vision 
 remain."* But as this may prove erroneous, we repeat 
 that the only reliable test is that of chemical decom- 
 position. 
 
 We present a few cases of premature interment : — 
 "Upon our arrival in Dublin, my mother and myself 
 were very kindly received by Dr. Walker. The 
 doctor, at this time, was writing a treatise against the 
 Irish custom of burying the dead within a few hours 
 after their decease. When my mother heard on what 
 subject he was writing, she related to him the story of 
 Mrs. Godfrey, and as soon as she had concluded it, 
 she promised, that if she should be in the same kingdom 
 with him when he died, she would attend to the corpse, 
 and take care that it was not entombed whilst there 
 was the least probability of return to life. * * * 
 The sequel of the story is, that, some time after, Dr. 
 Walker fell ill of fever, and Mrs. Bellamy, one 
 afternoon, sending to inquire after him, the servant 
 returned, and informed her, that he had died during 
 
 * American Journal Med. Sciences, 1847. 
 7* 
 
154 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 the night, and that they were going to bury him : she 
 added, that as they were about to shroud the body, the 
 orifices which had been made in the arms for letting 
 blood, had bled afresh. For reasons which are stated, 
 neither Mrs. Bellamy nor her mother could go to the 
 doctor's that night, and they therefore sent the servant 
 in a coach, directing, if the body was interred, to 
 have it taken up at all costs, for they had learned that 
 Mrs. Walker had been persuaded by her sister to leave 
 the house, and retire with her to Dunleary. The 
 servant, while on her way, either from apprehension 
 or love of company, contrived to take several persons 
 with her, and, on arriving at the doctor's, found the 
 body had been interred immediately after she had left, 
 lest the disease of which he had died should be infec- 
 tious. She also learned that, Mrs. Walker being a 
 dissenter, the body had been interred in the Anabaptist 
 burying-ground, at the other end of the town. She 
 proceeded therefore in search of the sexton, still 
 accompanied by her friends, but as they could not find 
 his house, they clambered over the gate, and got round 
 the grave, where the servant alleged she heard a 
 groan. About daybreak, by means of some laborers 
 who informed them where he lived, they found the 
 sexton, who, after considerable hesitation, disinterred 
 the body ; and, on opening the coffin, — ' I shudder 
 while I relate the horrid scene,' says the authoress, — 
 
TRANCE. 155 
 
 ' they found the body now totally deprived of life, but 
 observed that the doctor had endeavored to burst it 
 open, had turned upon his side, and the arms had bled 
 afresh ! The family, however, hearing of the circum- 
 stance, the body was ordered to be re-interred, and the 
 affair was hushed up." * 
 
 Also from the same work, " An inhabitant of the 
 Commune of Eymet (Dordogne)," says the Presse, 
 " being attacked with a constant inability to sleep, 
 applied to a medical man, who ordered him a sleeping 
 potion. He soon fell asleep, but the next day, remain- 
 ing in the same state of repose, his family got alarmed, 
 and some one attempted to bleed him. No blood fol- 
 lowing the lancet, a more minute examination was 
 instituted, and it was declared that he was dead. He 
 was buried, but some time after it was suspected that 
 the potion might have caused his apparent death. The 
 coffin was in consequence opened, and the body was 
 found turned completely round. The man had been 
 buried in a trance, and had evidently attempted to 
 force himself from his horrible prison." 
 
 " Singular and distressing affair: — A highly respect- 
 able gentleman of Baltimore city, who transacted a 
 mercantile business on the wharf, was taken sick and 
 died, as was supposed, a short time since. Being a 
 
 * Dr. Binns's Anatomy of Sleep. 
 
156 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 native of an adjoining city, his wife and friends desired 
 to inter his remains there, and his body was accordingly 
 placed in a coffin and conveyed to that city. When 
 the coffin arrived, it was opened in order to transfer 
 the remains to a more suitable one, which had been 
 prepared for the final interment. When the lid was 
 removed, the body was found lying upon the face, 
 which upon examination was bruised. A moisture 
 was observed upon the skin, and on a close examina- 
 tion, it was found that the vital spark had not as yet 
 fled. AH the restoratives that the best medical skill 
 could advise, were used, and the man was actually 
 revived and lived for two days afterwards, before the 
 ' spirit departed unto him that gave it.' No doubt 
 was entertained here of the decease, and the feelings 
 of relatives and friends at such a discovery cannot be 
 for one moment imagined."* 
 
 The St. Louis Republican for December, 1843, con- 
 tains the following : " Rescue from a living grave : — A 
 young lady, belonging to a Jewish family in this city, 
 died on Tuesday of a nervous disease, and yesterday 
 her friends started with her remains for interment. 
 According to a Jewish custom, the body is taken to 
 the grave-yard in a square box, in the same covering 
 in which the deceased person has expired, and there 
 
 * Philadelphia Ledger, June, 1847. 
 
TRANCE. 157 
 
 in a house appropriated for that purpose, the female 
 friends of the family unrobe the body, wash it with 
 cold water, and anoint it for its last resting-place. 
 
 "While performing this ancient custom upon the 
 body of this supposed inanimate corpse, a healthful 
 warmth evaporated from it, and evident signs of life 
 became manifest ; the fact was announced by the 
 females, physicians were sent for, and the sorrowful cer- 
 tainty of death which overshadowed the countenances 
 of friends, gave place to a gleam of hope. On the ar- 
 rival of the physicians, the certainty of her being alive 
 was established and means taken to fan the spark into 
 health." 
 
 Again, "In October, 1830, a servant girl, who had 
 retired to bed in apparently perfect health, was found 
 the following morning, as it was supposed, dead. A 
 surgeon who was sent for, pronounced her to be cer- 
 tainly dead, and stated that she had probably been so 
 for some hours. A coroner's inquest was summoned 
 for four o'clock of the same day to inquire into the 
 cause of death, and directions were given that a post- 
 mortem inspection of the body should be made in the 
 meantime. The reporter of the case was requested to 
 give his assistance. Accompanied by the surgeon who 
 had been consulted, he went to the house about two 
 o'clock for the purpose of making the inspection. The 
 deceased was found lying on the bed, in an easy pos- 
 
158 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 ture, on her left side, her body forming somewhat of a 
 semicircle. The countenance was pallid, but so per- 
 fectly placid and composed as to give her the appear- 
 ance of being in a deep sleep. The heat of the body, 
 although she must have been dead eight or ten hours, 
 was not in the least diminished. The room was care- 
 fully searched, but nothing in the shape of poison, nor 
 any other means of self-destruction, could be discovered. 
 Every article of apparel lay round, as might be supposed 
 to have been left by a person going to bed in perfect 
 health as usual. The heat of the body not diminishing, 
 a vein was opened, and various stimuli applied, but 
 without producing any signs of resuscitation. The 
 respiratory and circulatory process had ceased ; no 
 artery could be felt pulsating. Two hours had now 
 elapsed since their arrival, and the parties still hesi- 
 tated to perform the inspection, when a message was 
 sent to them stating that the jury were waiting for their 
 evidence. The inspection was then commenced, but 
 on removing the body for the purpose, the warmth and 
 pliancy of the limbs were such as to give the examiners 
 the idea that they were inspecting a living subject. 
 The internal cavities were so warm that a very copious 
 steam issued from them when they were laid open. All 
 the viscera were healthy, there were no signs of dis- 
 ease ; nothing appeared to account for death, and from 
 what they saw, the inspectors regretted that they had 
 
TRANCE. 159 
 
 not postponed the examination until the signs of death 
 had been completely manifested. For obvious reasons, 
 the name of the place where this extraordinary case 
 occurred, and the name of the reporter, were suppressed. 
 He had evidently communicated the details in a fit of 
 remorse for his precipitancy."* 
 
 The Paris Constitutionnel, 1846, states that the cases 
 of premature interments prevented by fortuitous cir- 
 cumstances amounted in France since the year 1833, 
 to ninety-four. Of these, 35 persons awoke of them- 
 selves from their lethargy at the moment the funeral 
 ceremony was about to commence; 13 recovered in 
 consequence of the affectionate care of their families ; 
 7 in consequence of the fall of the coffins in which they 
 were inclosed ; 9 owed their recovery to wounds in- 
 flicted by the needle in sewing their winding sheet ; 5 
 to the sensation of suffocation they experienced in their 
 coffins ; 19 to their interment having been delayed by 
 fortuitous circumstances; and six to their interment 
 having been delayed in consequence of doubts having 
 been entertained of their death. 
 
 Dr. Struve, in an essay on the art of recovering 
 suspended animation, makes the following re- 
 marks : — " The Earth-bath is not only useful for 
 persons struck by lightning, but may also be benefi- 
 
 * London Medical Gazette. 
 
160 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 cially applied in other cases of apparent death. Its 
 efficacy is partly owing to the proportionate warmth, 
 and partly to the invigorating vapors of the earth. 
 It is a common practice among miners, when one of 
 their companions is suffocated by mephitic air, and 
 drops down lifeless, to bury him in the ground to his 
 neck, and at the same time to sprinkle his face with 
 cold water. If in very frosty weather it were practi- 
 cable to dig the ground, the earth-bath would afford an 
 excellent and novel process for the resuscitation of those 
 apparently destroyed by cold. The following anecdote 
 on this subject deserves attention. 
 
 " A beggar arrived very late at night, and almost 
 frozen to death, at a German village ; and observing 
 the school-house open, he resolved to sleep there. 
 The next morning, the school-boys found the poor man 
 sitting motionless in the- room, and hastened, affrighted, 
 to inform the schoolmaster of what they had seen. 
 The villagers, supposing the beggar to be dead, in- 
 terred him in the evening. During the night, the 
 watchman heard a knocking in the grave, accom- 
 panied by lamentations ; he gave information to the 
 bailiff of the village, who declined to listen to his tale. 
 Soon afterwards the watchman returned to the grave, 
 and again heard a hollow noise, interrupted by sighs. 
 He once more hastened to the magistrate, earnestly 
 soliciting him to cause the grave to be opened; but 
 
TRANCE. 161 
 
 the latter, being irresolute, delayed this measure till 
 the next morning ; when he applied to the sheriff* who 
 lived at a distance from the village, in order to obtain 
 the necessary directions. He was, however, obliged 
 to wait some time before an interview took place. 
 The more judicious sheriff severely censured the 
 magistrate for not having opened the grave on the 
 information of the watchman, and desired him to 
 return and cause it to be opened without delay. On 
 his arrival the grave was immediately opened ; but, 
 just Heaven! what a sight! the poor wretched man, 
 after having recovered life in the grave, had expired 
 for want of air. In his anguish and desperation, he 
 had torn the flesh from his arms. All the spectators 
 were struck with horror at this dreadful scene." 
 
 Should the views of our German author relative to 
 the influence of the earth-bath be correct, what a 
 warning have we in the instance before us, to be 
 doubly cautious in submitting the body to a process 
 that may again reanimate its slumbering energies, only 
 to consign it to the unimaginable terrors of a living 
 tomb ! 
 
 When, in our concluding remarks, we come to con- 
 sider memory in its connexion with, and its depend- 
 ence upon external sensation, the psychological appli- 
 cation of trance will more fully appear. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CATALEPSY. 
 
 It is not our purpose to give a detailed account of 
 catalepsy : this would be foreign to the objects of this 
 work ; but we shall treat it only as a collateral branch 
 of our subject. The distinction, however, between 
 catalepsy and other affections likely to be mistaken 
 for it, will be examined and pointed out. 
 
 The physical diagnostic of catalepsy is a wax-like 
 flexibility of the voluntary system, so that in whatever 
 position the body or limbs may be placed, if within 
 the base of sustentation, it will be retained while the 
 paroxysm continues. £|?he psychological condition is 
 marked by an entire disassociation of the mind with 
 external things. The result of such a combination is 
 perfect rest of the locomotive apparatus, absence of 
 external sensation, loss of consciousness of surrounding 
 objects, and obliteration of memory for the time being. 
 
 There is a large class of nervous affections which 
 in some particulars resemble catalepsy, and are so 
 often confounded with it, that its pathognomonic 
 character is not unfrequently lost sight of. Trance, 
 
CATALEPSY. 163 
 
 incubus, epilepsy, hysteria, re very, and several other 
 anomalous affections, are frequently regarded as cases 
 of this disease. fi 
 
 For instance, " A lady, the mother of an adult family, 
 and inclined to obesity, had acquired the reprehensible 
 custom of exclaiming upon the most trifling occasion, 
 oh Christ ! — and it happened one day, sitting alone at 
 work as was her custom, she dropped her thimble, and 
 in stooping to pick it up overbalanced herself, and 
 nearly fell on her face, when she uttered the words oh 
 Christ I On regaining her seat, she felt that the blood 
 had flown to her head, and put up her hands to her 
 eyes, and closed them to relieve herself. On opening 
 them, she saw, immediately sitting before her, a figure 
 like a human creature ; but, instead of hair growing 
 from each side of the head, long fleshy strings knotted 
 here and there like stems of parsley, depended to its 
 shoulders and chest ; and as it leaned the head upon 
 the hands, the elbows* of which rested on its knees, it 
 rocked itself backwards and forwards, exclaiming every 
 time it stooped, oh Christ ! She became instantly 
 transfixed, and remained in that position probably half 
 an hour, when the servant entered and found her limbs 
 rigid, and her eyes wide open, and staring as if at some 
 object before her. Her screams procured assistance ; 
 and active remedies being employed, she recovered her 
 senses, and related what we have just mentioned. For 
 
164 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 a long time afterwards, we believe for five or six years, 
 at the same hour every day, if sitting down, she was 
 seized in the same manner, and saw the same horrible 
 apparition before her." 
 
 The case of this " lady," given in the books as cata- 
 lepsy, we conceive to be an instance of hallucination, 
 induced by cerebral congestion, somewhat resembling 
 the character of that with which the poet Tasso was 
 afflicted, but associated with involuntary muscular 
 contractions. It was not catalepsy, because conscious- 
 ness, sensation, and memory were present, and the 
 muscular system was rigid. 
 
 " Dr. Gooch met with a case, supervening on puer- 
 peral melancholia, in a female debilitated by repeated 
 miscarriages. The trunk, as she lay in bed, was raised 
 to an obtuse angle, and retained this painful posture; 
 the limbs remained in any position in which they were 
 placed ; and if set on her feet, the slightest push threw 
 her off her balance, nor did she make any effort to 
 regain it. The eyes were open, and the pupil, though 
 dilated, contracted on the application of a strong light. 
 She had three of these attacks, each of which lasted 
 several hours, and recurred at intervals of one or two 
 days." These symptoms correspond with the essen- 
 tial character of catalepsy, and it was undoubtedly a 
 genuine instance of the disease. 
 
 A case of catalepsy, induced by Animal Magnetism, 
 
CATALEPSY. 165 
 
 an account of which we published in the " American 
 Journal of the Medical Sciences," in 1842, we here 
 transcribe. 
 
 The subject was a female, sixteen years of age, san- 
 guineo-nervous temperament, in good health, who had 
 passed the change of puberty without derangement of 
 constitution, and is competent to perform the amount 
 of labor that falls to the lot of persons in an humble 
 station in society. 
 
 Lest the imputation of sustaining the many wild va- 
 garies of Animal Magnetism should be attributed to this 
 article, it will be necessary to remark, that such is not 
 its object. The permanent existence of that subject 
 of research must stand or fall on its own merits ; but 
 the admission of individual facts, established by con- 
 currence of a plurality of the senses, and which are 
 necessary to elucidate important phenomena, is the 
 province of true philosophy. 
 
 Its influence in this instance* was to produce the 
 diagnostic symptoms of complete catalepsy. The 
 patient, after having submitted to the manipulations of 
 the magnetizer for the space of fifteen minutes, was in 
 a state of sleep so deep, that all the stimuli that could 
 with safety be applied to the senses, did not disturb 
 the profundity of her slumbers. The needle was ap- 
 plied to the dermoid texture, torpedoes were repeatedly 
 discharged within a few feet of the organs of audition — 
 
166 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 lights were presented to the apparatus of vision — the 
 vapor of ammonia inhaled in respiration, and gene- 
 ral concussion applied to her whole system, without 
 eliciting any acknowledgment. During this condition, 
 her extremities could be placed in any position, which 
 their waxlike flexibility would maintain ; and an erect 
 posture was secure without extraneous support, when 
 the feet were so placed as to bring the centre of gra- 
 vity within the base of sustentation. The respiration 
 resembled that of ordinary sleep, and the arterial action 
 was a little excited. The eyelids, when separated, 
 exhibited the globus oculi under the control of the infe- 
 rior oblique muscle ; and upon removing the fingers, the 
 lids would immediately close. The lower jaw retained 
 the position in which it was placed by force. 
 
 These unequivocal cataleptic symptoms were suc- 
 ceeded by a development of the integrity of the mental 
 organs, while separated from surrounding objects by 
 the obliteration (for the time being) of the external 
 senses. During this state, questions were submitted 
 to her by the manipulist, and were replied to, some 
 correctly, but the greater portion otherwise, although 
 all the answers had reference to the subject of inquiry, 
 showing conclusively, that several of the fundamental 
 elements of the mind were not influenced by the 
 disease. 
 
 During one experiment, it was observed, after she 
 
CATALEPSY. 16 7 
 
 had been under this influence for an hour, that the 
 wax-like flexibility of her arms was subsiding. Thom 
 relates an instance of the removal of a paroxysm of 
 catalepsy through the influence of music. An experi- 
 ment was now resorted to by means of a large accor- 
 deon played near the back of her head, but without 
 apparent effect. After she was liberated from this 
 condition, she at first retained no recollection of any 
 circumstance whatever ; but on having her mind 
 called to the subject of music, she remembered to have 
 heard it, seemingly at a great distance. How this 
 sound was communicated to the sensorium is an 
 enigma, unless the peculiar condition in which she 
 was had very much subsided, or that there is an influ- 
 ence in the "concord of sweet sounds" over this 
 disease. 
 
 These experiments were instituted for the purpose 
 of obtaining facts to establish the laws governing the 
 phenomena of Animal Magnetism, and have been con- 
 tinued in this particular case, for the elucidation of 
 the disease developed by its influence. 
 
 Catalepsy does not extend its morbid influence to 
 that portion of the brain that provides nervous excite- 
 ment to the system of organic life ; if it did, the func- 
 tions of respiration and circulation would cease during 
 the paroxysm, and life be extinguished. Neither does 
 its power obliterate for the time the action of the 
 
168 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 intellectual organs ; for how could these be manifested 
 when all the symptoms are upon the patient in their 
 greatest perfection ? The power of articulation 
 shows that the organs through whose agency the 
 mental operations are conveyed by the faculty of 
 speech are still supplied with nervous influence, and 
 are under the control of the will, consequently not 
 influenced by the disease ; and the source of that 
 nervous power which is bestowed on the muscles 
 during locomotion, and which is subject to the will, is 
 also independent of its morbific action. 
 
 The exciting cause of cataleptic symptoms may arise 
 from mental or physical, social or general irritations. 
 Catalepsy is only the symptom of a disease. The cause 
 of the repeated attacks of this affection undermines the 
 health, and ultimately destroys life. The disease being 
 a secondary symptom of an irritation which is acting 
 with continued injury to the system, only showing 
 itself when it becomes of sufficient intensity to develope 
 this peculiar condition, is uninterruptedly bearing upor 
 the health of the patient. In the case under considera- 
 tion, it has been repeatedly induced without the least 
 injury. The reason is obvious ; — the exciting cause 
 being entirely removed, the system is left in as perfect 
 a state of health as before the experiment. 
 
 The proximate cause of the pathognomonic muscu- 
 lar phenomena arises in an equal distribution of 
 
CATALEPSY. 169 
 
 nervous' power conferred on the voluntary muscles of 
 animal life. The nervous influence necessary to the 
 rectitude of these organs is regularly transmitted ; but 
 as there is a disconnexion of the intellectual faculties 
 and physical condition, volition is not directed to 
 them, consequently they do not perform those. offices 
 for which they were intended ; they are equipoised by 
 this nervous stimulus. When external force is applied, 
 as in bending the arm, the balance of power is merely 
 overcome ; and upon withdrawing the force, the power 
 is again equally balanced, presenting in the limb the 
 diagnostic symptom of the disease. When the will 
 acts upon these muscles in their normal condition, it 
 changes or overcomes this equal distribution of the 
 nervous influence, and they perform those movements 
 directed by the intellect. During sleep, the voluntary 
 muscular system is in the relaxed state to which it 
 was resigned when sleep was taking possession of the 
 system ; but the phenomenon in question is unpre- 
 meditated, and seizes suddenly upon those organs 
 subject to- its influence, leaving all other parts in the 
 accomplishment of their natural functions. 
 
 The pathology consists in the entire separation of 
 the intellectual faculties from the requirements of 
 physical existence. The functions of the external 
 senses by which we are connected with surrounding 
 
 objects, and through whose agency the mind recog- 
 
 8 
 
1/70 SLEEP PYSCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 nises external relations, are by the action of the dis- 
 ease closed to all impressions. The intellectual power 
 of volition, which excites the muscles to act in obedi- 
 ence to the dictates of the mind, is stationary ; because 
 the mind is disconnected with the external world. 
 This condition annuls the power of making muscular 
 efforts, because it has annulled the desire of willing, 
 for as the mind perceives not the situation of the body, 
 it does not comprehend its wants, and therefore can- 
 not will the action of the organs of external life. 
 
 Catalepsy is confined to the voluntary motor and 
 sensitive divisions of the nervous system. The intel- 
 lectual operations are indirectly influenced by the 
 closing of the channels of sensation. 
 
 If the mind is not dormant when the body is under 
 the influence of this disease, why does it not manifest 
 itself through the vocal organs, as when replying to 
 the interrogations of the magnetizer ? Simply be- 
 cause the disease has shut it in from the perception of 
 external influences ; and however perfect it may be 
 in itself, the external world can have no bearing upon 
 it ; its desire of external communication through the 
 organs of speech is not excited. 
 
 It may be asKed, through what channel the mag- 
 netizer communicates his ideas to the magnetized, if 
 the functions of the external senses are in abeyance ? 
 The reply would be speculative ; but that they are not 
 
CATALEPSY. 1*71 
 
 transmitted in the usual modes in all cases, is shown 
 from the fact, that should another than the magnetizer 
 propound the question, the sound would fall on the ear 
 without producing an impression ; and the accurate 
 perception in the sensorium of the quality of many 
 substances, when placed in the hand, that during a 
 natural state could only be determined by the eye, is 
 opposed to the inference that the communication is 
 made through the ordinary means. 
 
 Animal magnetism produces in some constitutions 
 merely a condition of sound sleep, while in others it 
 superadds convulsions ; in this case it was the exciting 
 cause of catalepsy, and in every instance, its morbific 
 force is exerted on some portion of the nervous system. 
 Irritation in the alimentary canal will sometimes pro- 
 duce cataleptic symptoms; so also will the more 
 direct nervous irritation of animal magnetism : but 
 although this peculiar phenomenon may depend upon 
 either of these causes, it is no less genuine in its cha- 
 racter, and no less a proper subject of pathologic inves- 
 tigation, 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 To establish with greater certainty the doctrines, 
 that the mind is absolutely sleepless ; and that we are 
 dependent on external sensation for a remembrance of 
 what passes in the mind in somnolency ; it becomes 
 necessary to take a cursory survey of our preceding 
 observations. In this, however, we shall not recapitu- 
 late in detail the facts on which those doctrines are 
 founded, but only consider their general bearing, and 
 by the introduction of other circumstances corrobora- 
 tive, endeavor to confirm our propositions. 
 
 Sleep is a phenomenon of that part of our existence 
 by which we are connected with the external world, 
 and during sleep the mental operations proceed, though 
 modified by its influence. During this state, the mind 
 is restricted in its operations to the stimulus afforded 
 by the activity of the innate powers of the cerebral 
 organization, and as one consequence of this activity, 
 the memory of past events is brought to view. We 
 arrive at this conclusion from those states of mind in 
 which we perceive that by-gone circumstances are 
 recalled and associated in the mental process. And 
 
CONCLUSION. 1*73 
 
 although, in these operations, the mind is brought to a 
 remembrance of what has passed, the memory is not 
 impressed with the thoughts which occupy it while 
 external sensations do not contribute their stimuli to its 
 operations. To this conclusion we come, from those 
 states of being in which we know that the mind was 
 active while the senses were dormant, and there was 
 no remembrance on awaking of what then transpired. 
 From the facts that the mind is active without the stimu- 
 lus of external sensation, but that without this stimu- 
 lus there is no memory, and that the perception can 
 be as readily stimulated by the internal as external 
 sensations, we conclude that it is exclusively through 
 the activity of the organs of perception that the 
 memorial faculty is manifested, and that these organs 
 mUst be approached through the special senses to 
 develope this mental power. 
 
 If ceaseless activity of the mental organ exists not 
 only during sleep, but in every condition short of dis- 
 solution, why should not one train of thought be re- 
 membered equally well with another ? The reason is, 
 that perfect sleep disconnects the external world and 
 mind, and any mental operation not based in concur- 
 rent outward relation, cannot be recollected. 
 
 Memory, we repeat, is a mental element manifested 
 through the activity of the organs of perception. It 
 is requisite, however, that these organs receive their 
 
174 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 stimulus from certain sources, otherwise the memorial 
 faculty will not be impressed. When they receive 
 their stimulus from external objects, this faculty is 
 developed. When they receive their stimulus from 
 the propensities or sentiments, the resulting mental 
 operations are not remembered. From this circum- 
 stance, we apprehend, phrenology has concluded that 
 the animal organs are not possessed of memory ; but 
 whether they are or not, they do not (as will after- 
 wards appear) stamp the result of their stimulus in- 
 delibly upon the mind. 
 
 Universal experience teaches that what we see or 
 hear, we remember better than what we imagine or 
 read about, because memory is much clearer and more 
 durable when its objects are perceived through the 
 external senses, than when it is merely a deduction of 
 the mind, or in other words, when it is only an intel- 
 lectual impression. 
 
 The perceptive faculty has three sources of stimulus; 
 viz. through the media of internal and external sensa- 
 tions, and the powers of reflection. The thoughts 
 which follow the impressions of the first, when uncon- 
 nected with the second, are not remembered ; and those 
 flowing from the last, under similar circumstances, are 
 imperfectly retained ; but the perception of impressions 
 received through the organs of external sense, developes 
 the memorial faculty in its fullest power. 
 
CONCLUSION. 1*75 
 
 Through perverted or imperfect sensations, percep- 
 tion is so modified, that dreaming and insanity singu- 
 larly harmonize. The perceptions being in consonance 
 with the state of the impressions transmitted, the per- 
 ception of actual existences is imperfect, and memory 
 fails to recall and associate the past with the present 
 in accordance with reality : — hence some of the incon- 
 gruous results of the mental operation during these 
 states. 
 
 In old age the organs of sense lose their nice pro- 
 perty of receiving impressions perfectly ; consequently 
 the perceptions are indistinct and the memory of re- 
 cent occurrences is defective, but the remembrance of 
 circumstances which occurred in times long past, when 
 the senses were intact, is comparatively fresh in the 
 mind. The mental operations that depended upon the 
 internal impressions of those times are forgotten, and 
 only those in which the external senses largely con- 
 tributed, are retained. If memory, as advocated by 
 Dr. Combe, be a mode of activity of the knowing or 
 perceptive organs, and if this activity can be stimulated 
 by the will, then we may possibly account for this 
 peculiar feature of advanced age. Early impressions 
 having been made upon organs in good condition to 
 receive and transmit them accurately to the perceptive 
 faculties, a corresponding effect was there produced. 
 Now volition is little impaired by age, and through this 
 
176 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 power the mind can at will recall mental perceptions ; 
 but the perception of impressions made through im- 
 paired organs of communication, is so feeble from 
 the imperfection of the instruments employed, that 
 owing to this feeble perception there is but little for 
 the will to act upon, and consequently, early percep- 
 tions are readily recalled, while those of recent occur- 
 rence are indistinctly remembered. 
 
 A visitor's remarks upon the venerable statesman, 
 John Q. Adams, then 81 years of age, appear appro- 
 priate to our subject. 
 
 " I found him," he says, " much reduced in strength 
 and activity, from what he was a year ago, before the 
 alarming illness he had last Fall. He was also much 
 overcome by the heat, which was quite severe at the 
 time. But his general health is comfortable, his spirits 
 cheerful, and his intellectual powers bright and vigor- 
 ous. He has a great deal of company, being an object 
 of such wide-spread interest both to our own country- 
 men and to foreigners. His memory of historical 
 events, which has always been so remarkable a feature 
 of his mind, is apparently as minute and exact as it 
 ever was. Nor is his familiarity with passing events 
 apparently diminished, though he himself observes that 
 there are now but few classes of occurrences that 
 attract his attention sufficiently to fasten themselves in 
 his memory." 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Another reason why early impressions are better 
 remembered, is, because the mind instinctively reverts 
 from scenes of age to youth, when the whole constitu- 
 tion was better fitted for the enjoyment of existence. 
 In reflecting upon those periods, the individual expe- 
 riences more happiness than by turning the mind upon 
 scenes to which the hand of time has set the price of 
 experience. 
 
 " Even so in sweet treachery, dealeth the aged with 
 himself, 
 
 " He gazeth on the green hill-tops, while the marshes 
 beneath are hidden, 
 
 " And the partial telescope of memory pierceth the 
 blank between, 
 
 " To look with lingering love at the fair star of 
 childhood." 
 
 A short time since, when in attendance upon my 
 aged mother, whose mental state was, to all appear- 
 ance, the counterpart of a shattered and nearly worn- 
 out physical constitution, — both the mere shadow of a 
 past reality — we endeavored during a paroxysm of 
 apathy, to arouse her attention or memory by direct- 
 ing her mind upon various topics, but without success, 
 when I inquired whether she remembered the time 
 when I was weaned, a period of over thirty years since. 
 Her haggard and apathetic expression at once changed, 
 as though a fresh gleam of light and joy had broken in 
 
178 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 upon her soul. Her ready reply was, " I well remem- 
 ber that time," and for the instant, intelligence again 
 beamed in her countenance, though, through wasted 
 physical powers, the external manifestation was quickly 
 obliterated ; whether it as suddenly vanished from her 
 mind is even beyond conjecture. 
 
 Dr. Thomas Brown says, that " memory, judgment, 
 and imagination, may be put to sleep With opium." 
 Now, in our opinion, this doctrine is erroneous, and 
 the error arises from the fact, that on awaking from the 
 narcotic torpor, there is no remembrance of thought 
 during its continuance. The sleep induced by opium, 
 although to all appearance profound, is nevertheless 
 followed by great mental and bodily fatigue. If the 
 dose is insufficient to cause an obliteration of external 
 sensation, the mental activity is not only augmented, 
 but is remembered, and much weariness is experienced 
 on recovery ; ?nd when the quantity is adequate to 
 produce sound sleep, the mind runs on at a still more 
 rapid rate ; for upon resuscitation, the exhaustion is 
 great in proportion to the degree of sleep induced. 
 
 In sound sleep, consciousness and memory are sus- 
 pended, so far as regards external relation ; but the 
 weariness and exhaustion which follow the torpor in- 
 duced by opium, are irrefutable evidence that Dr. 
 Brown's conclusion is erroneous, for without undue 
 cerebral excitement, the mind and body would have 
 
CONCLUSION. 1 79 
 
 emerged from its influence refreshed, instead of being 
 enfeebled. 
 
 During sleep, memory may be inactive from ab- 
 sence of external stimuli, and the judgment deranged 
 through the operation of sensations unconnected with 
 outward relations ; but the imagination is often stimu- 
 lated into its wildest fancies by the former, while the 
 restraining influence of the latter is withheld. All the 
 mental faculties are modified in their activity by sleep, 
 because by it a different relation is established. When 
 the mind is sound and the body awake, impressions 
 from without have the controlling influence , but when 
 asleep, the intellectual operations are stimulated by 
 internal influences, or impressions from the affections 
 or feelings — consequently, a different result must be 
 expected. 
 
 It appears at least probable, that intellectual opera- 
 tions induced by internal causes, are not, under any 
 circumstances, the objects of memory to so great a 
 degree as those produced by external objects. Certain 
 it is that during that stage of sleep in which the exter- 
 nal senses are in abeyance, we know that, from internal 
 causes, there is excessive action in the mental organ, 
 without leaving any impression upon the memory. 
 For example, we refer to voluptuous orgasms in sleep, 
 in which, should the excitement be so exalted as to 
 arouse any of the senses, memory retains the circum- 
 
180 BLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 stance as a dream ; but when the exaltation does not 
 reach that pitch, the mind has treasured nothing of the 
 occurrence. Yet in such instances, the evacuation is 
 incontestable evidence that mental action did exist, 
 and that the mind was not asleep. Vigorous activity 
 of a propensity or sentiment will stimulate the intellec- 
 tual faculties to originate mental pictures to gratify the 
 original desire ; and in these cases the mental opera- 
 tions are not only diversified, but intense — involving 
 the greater part of the mental powers. 
 
 In the Medical Repository for January, 1816, there 
 is a remarkable case of double consciousness, and one 
 of the very few instances recorded as such, that bear 
 its diagnostics. To some it may possibly present an 
 objection to our views, and therefore we copy it. 
 
 "When I was employed," says Dr. Mitchell, "early 
 in December, 1815, with several other gentlemen, in 
 doing the duty of a visitor to the United States Mili- 
 tary Academy at West Point, a very extraordinary 
 case of double consciousness in a woman, was related 
 to me by one of the professors. Major Elicott, who 
 so worthily occupies the mathematical chair in that 
 seminary, vouched for the correctness of the following 
 narrative, the subject of which is related to him by 
 blood, and an inhabitant of one of the western counties 
 
 of Pennsylvania : — Miss N possessed, naturally, a 
 
 very good constitution, and arrived at adult age, with- 
 
CONCLUSION. 181 
 
 out having it impaired by disease. She possessed an 
 excellent capacity, and enjoyed fair opportunities to 
 acquire knowledge. Besides the domestic arts and 
 social attainments, she had improved her mind by 
 reading and conversation, and was well versed in pen- 
 manship. Her memory was capacious, and stored 
 with a copious stock of ideas. Unexpectedly, and 
 without any forewarning, she fell into a profound 
 sleep, which continued several hours beyond the ordi- 
 nary term. On waking she was discovered to have 
 lost every trace of acquired knowledge. Her memory 
 was a tabula rasa, — all vestiges, both of words and 
 things, were obliterated and gone. It was found 
 necessary for her. to learn everything again. She 
 even acquired, by new efforts, the art of spelling, read- 
 ing, writing, and calculating, and gradually became 
 acquainted with the persons and objects around, like 
 a being for the first time brought into the world. In 
 these exercises she made considerable proficiency. 
 But, after a few months, another fit of somnolency 
 invaded her. On rousing from it, she found herself 
 restored to the state she was in before the first parox- 
 ysm ; but was wholly ignorant of every event and 
 occurrence that had befallen her afterwards. The 
 former condition of her existence she now calls the 
 old state, and the latter the new state ; and she is as 
 unconscious of her double character, as two distinct 
 
182 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 persons are of their respective natures. For example, 
 in her old state, she possesses all her original know- 
 ledge ; in her new state, only what she has acquired 
 since. If a gentleman or lady be introduced to her in 
 the old state, and vice verscL (and so of all other mat- 
 ters), to know them satisfactorily, she must learn them 
 in both states. In the old state, she possesses fine pow- 
 ers of penmanship, while in the new, she writes a poor, 
 awkward hand, not having had time or means of be- 
 coming expert. During four years and upwards, she 
 has undergone periodical transitions from one of these 
 states to the other. The alternations are always 
 consequent upon a long and sound sleep. Both the 
 lady and her family are now capable of conducting the 
 affair without embarrassment. By simply knowing 
 whether she is in the old or new state, they regulate 
 the intercourse, and govern themselves accordingly." 
 In this case of double consciousness, the mind was 
 impressed in both states through external sensation, 
 and from this circumstance, she should have retained 
 that which occurred in either state at any time ; but 
 although this was not the fact, still whatever was im- 
 pressed during either the old or new state, was readily 
 recollected when the corresponding state returned, and 
 there being no connexion between the states, there is 
 nothing to invalidate our theory, because this is an 
 instance in which the change extended indiscrimi- 
 
CONCLUSION. 183 
 
 nately to all the mental powers. Memory itself was 
 involved in the derangement, and therefore we find a 
 perfect duality of identity. 
 
 Eliza Bullard — our patient — aged fifteen years, by 
 birth a French Canadian, of a bilio-nervous tempera- 
 ment, was suddenly seized with convulsions, which 
 continued at intervals for about six weeks. The 
 paroxysms occurred many times a day, each lasting 
 from a few minutes to two or three hours. The mus- 
 cular contractions were occasionally so violent, that 
 the back of the head and soles of the feet were brought 
 nearly in juxtaposition. 
 
 For about two weeks of this period, when her volun- 
 tary muscular system was in the most rigid condition, 
 she would sing one or two hymns so loud and clear, 
 that they could be distinctly heard at ten or twelve 
 rods from her dwelling. After singing, she usually 
 commenced praying in an under tone. The words 
 could be heard by attentive listening. Religious 
 thoughts and exercises occupied her mind during the 
 paroxysm. Several times we tried to resist the lower 
 jaw in its movements, when articulating the words of 
 the hymn, but it felt like grasping a piece of machinery, 
 driven by a resistless motive power : the motion 
 could not be impeded. After the paroxysm had sub- 
 sided, she remembered nothing that had passed, and was 
 much affected when informed of her musical perform- 
 
ki'l SLEEP rSl'CHOLOGlCALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 ance. She could always be relieved of the spasm in 
 about three fourths of an hour, by placing far back on 
 her tongue two drops of Croton Oil. This case we 
 relate, merely as an additional illustration of mental 
 activity, independent of external sensation and without 
 memory. 
 
 The senses may be intact, the motor apparatus 
 subject to the will, and yet the mind perceive not the 
 movements of the body, although the inception of the 
 act arose in the brain. When one of a series of move- 
 ments is started, the whole catenation may be com- 
 pleted by the mere influence of reflex action, without 
 a mental perception. " In 1834, Maria Pau was 
 admitted into the hospital at Bordeaux, her left hand 
 and arm covered with deep and bleeding gashes, its 
 tendons projecting, and the bones broken. She had, 
 in her sleep, gone into a loft to cut wood with a hedg- 
 ing bill ; thinking she was cutting the wood, she had 
 hacked her forearm and hand until she fainted away, 
 and fell bathed in her blood. She had felt no pain, but 
 merely had a sensation as if the parts were pricked 
 with pins." The case of the individual who leaped 
 from the hotel-window, previously related, is of the 
 same character. In the leap his ankle joint was se- 
 verely sprained, but it made no impression upon his 
 mind. A series of actions somewhat resembling these, 
 may be observed in certain animals of the lower 
 
CONCLUSION. 185 
 
 orders. Neither brain nor nerve can be found in the 
 polype, but it moves by irritability, and exists without 
 sensation or consciousness. 
 
 Now if these views are philosophic, a part of the 
 external senses may be impressible, and yet convey no 
 impression to the mind, but still guide the locomotive 
 operations. Under such circumstances, the mind is in 
 the same condition, so far as the influence of nerves is 
 concerned, as though they were entirely inactive, and 
 therefore does not disturb the theory, that memory of 
 what occurs during sleep depends upon perception of 
 external relation through the sensitive organs. For if 
 the locomotive power resides in the spinal cord, and if 
 locomotion occurs during sleep, and if the mind does 
 not perceive through the nerves of sense the move- 
 ments of the body, there justly can be no perception, 
 although there may be sensation, and in this case, we 
 apprehend, there is no memory of occurrences con- 
 nected with our existence : and as before stated, ' there 
 are many cases of somnambulism in which the mind 
 seems not to participate.' The somnambulist receives 
 the first impulse to action from the will ; after which, 
 locomotion is continued through the force of reflex 
 and associate or consensual action. 
 
 It would further appear that memory is dependent 
 upon the organs of external sensation, from the fact 
 that it is not only observed in ordinary sleep, the 
 
186 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 mesmeric state, somnambulism, catalepsy, in some 
 instances of insanity, but in trance also. When treat- 
 ing of this last condition, two cases were related which 
 are here applicable. The case of Mrs. Godfrey, with- 
 out sensation, and no remembrance of the circumstan- 
 ces ; and the case of the young woman, taken from the 
 " Psychological Magazine," who felt her attendants pull 
 on the dead clothes, and heard them sing the funeral 
 hymn, and on recovery had a perfect remembrance of 
 all that occurred during that dreadful period. 
 
 It may be remarked, that the reason why in the for- 
 mer instance there was no memory, was because the 
 patient was unconscious. Our view is, that the mind 
 is never asleep — never in abeyance — never uncon- 
 scious. When the external channels of information 
 are closed, it receives no knowledge from without, and 
 is then only conscious of influences from within. The 
 affections or feelings are now its stimulus of action, 
 and mental operations having their excitement in the 
 activity of these organs, which, with Combe, we believe 
 not to possess memory, the mental operations are not 
 retained. Even in the apoplectic coma, which may 
 be so profound that the patients cannot by any means 
 be aroused from their lethargy, it is no uncommon oc- 
 currence to hear them muttering about circumstances 
 connected with their business-affairs, and on recovery, 
 retain no remembrance of having even dreamed during 
 
coNclusioK; 187 
 
 the paroxysm ; but they were conscious of internal 
 influences, otherwise there would have been no mani- 
 festation of thought. 
 
 Memory, therefore, we conceive to be connected 
 with the activity of the organs of perception, and when 
 they are stimulated by external impressions, this 
 faculty is fully developed. When the same organs are 
 excited, either by the influence of the propensities or 
 intellectual operations, as in sound sleep, and in some 
 cases of trance, the memorial power is in abeyance ; 
 but when they are stimulated by that nervous mode of 
 action inducing phantasm, their relation is precisely 
 the same as if really impressed by physical objects. 
 
 We are aware that some circumstances seem to 
 present objections to these views. But when we con- 
 template the proportional decline of memory and sensa- 
 tion, as age advances, and also take into consideration 
 the fact that, judgment and volition are unimpaired by 
 the same cause, and that we can at will recall the 
 memory of long past events as perfectly and with as 
 much facility, as at any former period; and when we 
 perceive the same phenomena exhibited in the with- 
 holding the transmission of surrounding influences in 
 sleep with its analogous states ; we can scarcely come 
 to any other conclusion, than that external sensation 
 and memory are most intimately connected, and that 
 
188 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 the mind is dependent in proportion to the integrity of 
 the organs of objective communication, for its remem- 
 brance of what occurs during sleep. 
 
 THE END, 
 

 
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