234 ON THE EFFECTS OF CERTAIN MENTAL 



wards he marked the notes, at first white, then blackened those 

 which were to be black. The words were written under; and 

 once happening to make them too long, he quickly perceived they 

 were not exactly under the corresponding notes ; he corrected this 

 inaccuracy by rubbing out what he had written, and putting the 

 line below, with the greatest precision.* 



These cases, with numerous others which I could adduce from 

 authentic record and from personal observation, prove that the senses, 

 properly so called, do not, in such instances at least, minister to the 

 activity of the imagination. How this is fed, is a matter concealed 

 by a veil too thick for us to penetrate. There may be more things 

 in heaven and earth than are dreamt of even in our philosophy ; but, 

 with due deference to the Magnetizers of France and Germany, we 

 can hardly believe that hearing dwells in the tips of the fingers, or 

 sight in the region of the stomach. It is plain that the general and 

 vulgar opinion denies the operations of the senses generally in the 

 phenomena exhibited by sleep-walking ; at least, though the eyes are 

 open, they are supposed to be unable, to be incapable, of exercising 

 their accustomed properties. Such was the opinion of Shakspeare, 

 in the dialogue between the gentlewoman and physician, on the 

 somnambulism of Lady Macbeth, — '^ You see her eyes are open !" 

 " Aye ! but their sense is shut." 



We must at once conclude, from the perusal of the cases I have 

 selected to illustrate this part of my subject, that the Imagination 

 alone was active in producing all the phenomena which those cases 

 present. The sense of vision did not in any measure assist the fancy, 

 since the eyes were not only completely closed, but opaque bodies, as 

 in the cases of Devaud and the priest, were placed between them 

 and the paper upon which their themes, sermons, or music was 

 transcribed. It at once strikes us as extraordinary, and almost im- 

 possible, that, without the assistance of sight, a person should be 

 enabled to write, with as much accuracy as though this sense was in 

 full operation ; and to make all the alterations, corrections, and ad- 

 ditions which a second perusal of a composition invariably requires. 

 These cases of somnambulism can only be explained by supposing 

 that the objects, about which their attention is engaged, are pictured 

 to the Imagination in precisely the same order as they actually exist 

 around them. It is a common circumstance, in ordinary dreams, 



• L. A. Muratori, delta Forza ddla Fantasia umana, Venezia, 1766 — 

 Rejlessloni sopra il Somnambolismo, di Francisco Soave. — Dictionary of Practi- 

 cal Medicine, Art. Sonmambulism. 



