588 Dr. B. W. Richardson TApril 29, 



and in the end I liave come to a classification which, although it 

 may be imperfect, is perhaps more nearly perfect than any that has 

 gone before or been recorded in physiological literature. The clas- 

 sification, easily remembered, is set forth under three heads : — 



1. There is a dream which is the effect of an external vibration 

 acting upon the sleeper. In this dream there is always an outside 

 object telling upon the sensorium. We might call it the dream of 

 Queen Mab, in which, as you remember, the sleej)er is always assailed 

 by the busy Fairy tickling " the parson's nose as he lies asleep," or 

 some other sense of some other sleeper. It is best to describe this 

 as the objective dream, the dream in which an external movement 

 or thing excites the phenomena. 



2. There is a dream in which, without provocation of an external 

 kind, something progressing in the body of the sleeper himself pro- 

 vokes the phenomena. This I call the subjective dream, because it is 

 dependent on changes in the subject who dreams. 



3. There is another dream, in which the phenomena are lighted 

 up partly by external vibrations conveyed to the sleeper, and partly by 

 conditions belonging to the sleeper himself which favour the external 

 interference or exalt its influence. This I would call the compound 

 dream. 



The objective dream is not uncommon, and is, as a rule, most 

 distinctive. It is a dream produced by vibration started from the 

 outside of the body. It is a dream through a sound or through an 

 impression on a sensitive open surface. It is never, I believe, 

 through the sight, a fact probably due to the circumstance that the 

 closed eyelids shut out imjjrcssions of sight. This, however, is not 

 all, for I once knew a person who slept with his eyes open, and 

 although he dreamed, he never dreamed as if he had been led to 

 dream from the sight of an object. I have seen, also, a somnambulist 

 with the eyes wide open, but I could never find afterwards that she 

 had seen any object during the sleep, and I am sure it is a mistake 

 to assume that, guided by sight, somnambulists pick their course over 

 obstacles that lie in the way. They put out their hands as if to 

 touch, but they neither see nor hear in the sleep, although they some- 

 times perform, automatically, feats which convey the idea that their 

 faculties are awake and on the alert. ^ 



We are all more or less familiar with the phenomenon of the 

 objective dream. Some experience it from slight causes, and in 

 nearly all the physiological experiments conducted to ascertain the 

 time and duration of dreams the action of an excitement on the 

 sensitive surface of the skin, or on the sense of smell, or on the sense 

 of hearing, has been traceable. Thus the effect of pressure on the 

 body produced by weight, or by pressure on the limbs from the weight 

 of the body itself during sleep, has been found to induce dreams of 

 struggle and wrestle, as if for liberty. The presence of odours has 

 produced excitement, leading sometimes to the most pleasant, some- 



