The Eev. James Wills on Dreams. 29 



product of these acts, consist very mainly in the current of verbal and rhythmical 

 suggestion, or the similar association of notes and time, most reconcilable with 

 the theory of dreams. It is also easy to conceive the peculiar state of mind under 

 the possession of some dominant inspiration which may give its modulation, or 

 particle of meaning, to the strain. But, with all allowance, I cannot but suspect 

 that a little retouching and somewhat of exaggeration must be allowed for, 

 unless something more than sober philosophy will grant, be ascribed to the in- 

 spiration of youthful poets when they dream. 



I have only now to add, that I am not without some humble trust that the 

 explanations of this part of my inquiry into the laws and processes of the human 

 understanding will be found agreeable to the known phenomena ; and also fairly 

 consequent upon the results formerly obtained in the essays already before the 

 Academy. 



Two further topics, which will admit of a joint discussion, remain to com- 

 plete the inquiry which I have undertaken. The illustration of the main prin- 

 ciple which I have endeavoured to explain, in its several applications to reasoning 

 and moral sentiment, will require but a single exposition; as the process of asso- 

 ciation in either may be shown to follow the same law. However various or 

 opposite may be the results of human thought, or of the operations of mind, as we 

 approach elementary processes, a surprising uniformity will be observed. All 

 that concerns man may fall into two great divisions,— the mind and the objects 

 with which it is or should be engaged. The first lies within a narrow compass 

 of inquiry ; the second may be infinite,— yet has also its strict laws, which, so 

 far as they lie within our compass, are the laws of reasoning and probability. 



