The Rev. James Wills on Dreams. 1 9 



idea of some object is presented, during the entire suspension, both of the cor- 

 rective of actual sight, and of the discriminative power of the reason, nothing 

 remains to distinguish it from the reality of the object which it represents : in the 

 darkened chamber of the brain the shadow becomes a reality. Dream of any- 

 thing, and it appears before you ; of a place, and you are there. And thus may 

 be explained the fantastic groupings and transitionary scenes which move over 

 the dim-lighted stage of sleep. It is easy to conceive how any ideal image may 

 bring with it the idea of locality, or suggest further images which will, in like 

 manner, shift the scene and courses of passive thought. Fixed attention — 

 always necessary to maintain a correct apprehension of the succession of ideas, 

 and maintain the current of connected thinking — requires the energy of waking 

 purpose. There is no power in operation to prevent that lapse of memory, by 

 which these improbable transitions pass unheeded. Ideas move on like the 

 figures in the magic lantern, which are lost to sight as they pass, — the incon- 

 gruity is unperceived, not merely from want of judgment, but of memory, — the 

 end has forgotten the beginning of the dream. 



In the nearly unlimited mixture of the objects and incidents of daily life 

 there is generally no object or circumstance which may not form portion of 

 numerous accidental combinations. And hence it is, that any idea which can 

 occur may lead into countless tracks of mental wandering, and the wildest con- 

 fusion of place or incident. The laws of occurrence are known by experience, 

 and this customary knowledge is the law of waking reason; in most minds kept 

 clear by external perception, by pui'pose, and the heedful attention of all those 

 powers of reason (in whatever they may consist), which guide the slightest move- 

 ments of life. "When these controlling conditions are understood to be suspended, 

 it is easy to apprehend how the consequences so far explained must follow. 



If the operations of the brain in dreams were, as might antecedently be 

 assumed, uniform, my task would now be ended so far as respects the mere 

 theory of dreams. But such is not the case. Allowance is to be made for 

 occasional instances which seem, as they are stated, to be exceptional. And 

 — what more concerns the purpose of this inquiry — there are connected with 

 the subject some curious incidents which connect it with the general theory 

 stated in the preceding essays. I may commence with the latter, as having most 

 importance, as well as most of common interest. 



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