DREAMS AND ILLUSIONS. 257 



unpleasant situation by uttering with great difficulty 

 some inarticulate sound, which acts as a shock, and I 

 thus obtain the mastery of my body, for the nerves of 

 speech and the muscular movements of articulation 

 also fail to answer to my will. If this occurs when I 

 am alone, the struggle is severe, and there is a violent 

 shock to the whole body before its equilibrium is re- 

 stored and the motor function of the brain resumes 

 its office. 



It is therefore manifest that the stimulating 

 function of the brain is dormant in sleep and dreams, 

 but its automatic, psychical function persists; it 

 sometimes happens that the stimulus of the will is 

 awakened before the stimulus of motion, and that 

 the brain may be aroused to consciousness for some 

 moments before it has resumed its normal functions 

 as a stimulating organ, which were attenuated and 

 relaxed in sleep. The abnormal condition of paralysis 

 proves and confirms this fact. 



Let us now ascertain the cause of the various 

 psychical and physiological conditions which aim at 

 and often succeed in presenting to the mind a mere 

 representative sign as a substantial and real image. 

 What is the cause of the apparent reality of dreams ? 

 The image is clearly a psychical phenomenon, con- 

 taining a sensible element of which we are conscious; 

 the fundamental faculty of the perception is exerted 

 on it as on a real object, and the immediate results 

 are precisely identical. The reader will remember 



