DREAMS. 



d, and particularly those of the preced- 

 ing day. 2. The state of the body, par- 

 ticularly the stomach and brain; and, 3. 

 Association. That dreams are, in part, 

 deducible from the impressions and ideas 

 of the preceding day, appears from the 

 frequent recurrence of these, especially 

 of the visible ones, in our dreams : in 

 genera], ideas, that have not affected the 

 mind for some days, recur in dreams only 

 from the second and third causes. That 

 the state of the body affects our dreams, 

 is evident from the dreams of the sick, 

 and of those who labour under indiges- 

 tions, spasms, and flatulencies ; and a lit- 

 tle observation will shew that we are car- 

 ried on from one "thing to another in our 

 dreams partly by association. In proof 

 of what we have advanced, we may ob- 

 serve, 1st.- That the scenes which pre- 

 sent themselves in dreams are taken to 

 be real, and we suppose ourselves pre- 

 sent, and actually seeing and hearing 

 what passes, which is occasioned by there 

 being no other reality to oppose to the 

 ideas which offer themselves; whereas, in 

 the common fictions of the fancy, while 

 we are awake, there is always a set of 

 real external objects striking some of our 

 senses, and precluding a like mistake 

 there. Again, the trains of visible ideas, 

 which occur in dreams, are farmore vivid 

 than common visible ideas, and may there- 

 fore be more easily taken for actual im- 

 pressions. 2dly. There is a great wild- 

 ness in our dreams ; for the brain, during 

 sleep, is in a state so different from that 

 in which the usual associations were form- 

 ed, that they can by no means take place 

 during vigilance. The state of the body 

 suggests such ideas, among those that 

 have lately been impressed, as are more 

 suitable to various kinds and degrees of 

 pleasant and painful emotions, excited in 

 the stomach, brain, or other part. Thus 

 a person who has taken opium sees either 

 gay scenes or ghastly ones, according as 

 the opium excites pleasant or painful sen- 

 sations in the stomach. Hence it will 

 follow, that ideas will rise successively in 

 dreams, which have no such connection 

 as take place in nature in actual im- 

 pressions, nor any such as is deducible 

 from association;' and yet, if they rise up 

 quickly and vividly, one after another, as 

 subjects, predicates, and other associates 

 use to do, they will be affirmed of each 

 other, and appear to hang together. Thus 

 the same person appears in two places at 

 the same time ; two persons, appearing 

 successively in the same place coalesce 

 into one : a brute is supposed to speak ; 



any idea, qualification, office, &c. coin- 

 ciding in the instant of time with the idea 

 of one's self, or of another person, ad- 

 heres immediately, 8tc. &c. 3dly. We do 

 not take notice of, or are offended, at these 

 inconsistencies, but pass on from one to 

 another. For the associations, which 

 should lead us thus to take notice, and 

 be offended, are, as it were, asleep ; the 

 bodily causes also hurrying us on to other 

 and new trains successively. But if the 

 bodily state be such as favours ideas of 

 anxiety and perplexity, then the incon- 

 sistency, and apparent impossibility, oc- 

 curring in dreams, are apt to give great 

 disturbance and uneasiness. It is to be 

 observed, likewise, that we forget the 

 several parts of our dreams very fast in 

 passing from one to another; and that 

 this lessens the apparent inconsistencies, 

 and their influences. 4thly, It is common 

 in dreams for persons to appear to them- 

 selves to be transferred from one place to 

 another, by a kind of sailing or flying mo- 

 tion. This arises from the change of the 

 apparent magnitude and position of the 

 images excited in the brain, this change 

 being such as a change of distance and 

 position in ourselves would have occa- 

 sioned. Whatever the reasons be, for 

 which visible images are excited in sleep, 

 like to the objects with which we con- 

 verse when awake, the same reasons will 

 hold for-changes of apparent magnitude 

 and position also ; and these changes, in 

 fixed objects, being constantly associated 

 with motions in ourselves when awake, 

 will infer these motions when asleep. But 

 then we cannot have the idea of the vis 

 inertix of our own bodies answering to 

 the impressions in walking ; because the 

 nerves of the muscles either do not ad- 

 mit of such miniature vibrations in sleep, 

 or do not transmit ideas to the mind in 

 consequence thereof; whence we appear 

 to sail, fly, or ride. Yet sometimes a per- 

 son seems to walk, and even to strike, 

 just as in other cases he seems to feel the 

 impression of a foreign body on his skin . 

 5thly, Dreams consist chiefly of visible 

 imagery. This agrees remarkably with 

 the perpetual impressions made upon the 

 optic nerves and corresponding parts ot 

 the brain during vigilance, and with the 

 distinctness and vividness of the images 

 impressed. 6thly, It may be observed, 

 that many of the things which are pre- 

 sented in dreams appear to be remem- 

 bered by us, or, at least, as familiar to 

 us ; and that this may be solved by the 

 readiness with which they start up, and 

 succeed one another in the fancy. 7thlv. 



