AND BODILY STATES UPON THE IMAGINATION. 235 



that we fancy oirselves to be lying in the chamber in which we are 

 actually reposing, and surrounded by the furniture which really oc- 

 cupies our apartment. In such cases, there is some difficulty in dis- 

 tinguishing between a dream and the waking state ; and we dream, 

 if I may so express myself, that we are awake — at least we are 

 unable to distinguish, from the identity of circumstance, between 

 the waking and the dreaming state. Such a state is extremely com- 

 mon with some persons, and with myself it is a frequent occurrence : 

 I dream that I am in my own bed, in my own room, under all the cir- 

 cumstances which would surround me were I awake and so situated; 

 and it is not till some unpleasant event takes place — such as the 

 fancied entrance of robbers — or change in the character of my 

 dream, that I am convinced, by waking, that I was not so before. — 

 1 am convinced that these are the sort of dreams which produce 

 somnambulism ; and I am, also, certain, in such cases as I have 

 deduced, that somnambulism does result from such dreams ; though 

 in most instances they have passed from the memory of the affected 

 person.* Under the influence of such dreams as I have mentioned, 

 the sleep walker would go to any part of his room, and take from 

 his desk pens and paper, write, and perform other actions, since the 

 accurate imagination of his dream pictures to him surrounding ob- 

 jects precisely as they are then disposed. It appears necessary to 

 this explanation, that the senses should, before retiring to rest, have 

 taken cognizance of the situation of surrounding objects, with which 

 memory would furnish the Imagination during sleep. The priest 

 read what he had written during his sleep, and corrected his com- 

 position. This is an extremely curious point ; but it does not ap- 

 pear improbable, that he would recollect what he had written in his 

 fit of somnambulism, though his senses certainly afforded him no 

 evidence of it — precisely as we remember the actions of a dream as 

 long as the dream lasts. 



It is from this cause that somnambulists generally meet with no 

 accident in ascending to perilous situations during iheir sleep ; as 

 in the case of the young nobleman in the citadel of Brenstein, who 

 ascended the tower for the magpie's nest. The surrounding locali- 

 ties are so correctly presented to the mind, that the person ascends 

 with safety to the roofs of houses, or crosses torrents and bridges 

 which, during the waking state, he would be afraid to do — the pas- 



* The young nobleman, of Brenstein, did, however, recollect his dream, 

 and it was precisely the same as the action he had performed during the 

 somnambulatory state, which he had not been aware of, but only related his 

 dream. 



