RECAPITULATION AND PATHOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS. 219 



Jum, also, may be considered to be : but the Medulla Oblongata and Spinal 

 Cord must be in complete functional activity. The same is the case in pro- 

 found Coma, resulting from effusion of blood, or from narcotic poisons, but not 

 affecting the j)ower of breathing or swallowing. It may be frequently ob- 

 served, that the sleep is not so profound as entirely to suspend the conscious- 

 ness of the individual ; and that various movements of an adaptive character 

 are performed, tending to relieve uneasiness resulting from various causes. 

 In this condition it seems not improbable, that the sensory ganglia are in some 

 degree awake, and that the movements are of an instinctive nature ; the 

 mind of the individual not being sufficiently active to discern the cause of the 

 uneasiness, or to employ his intelligence in the removal of it. Whenever 

 Dreaming takes place, it is evident that the Cerebrum is in a state of partial 

 activity. The state of Dreaming, and many forms of Insanity, have consider- 

 able analogy with each other ; especially in the absence of the power, which 

 is so characteristic of the well-regulated mind of Man, of controlling and regu- 

 lating the current of thought. One idea calls up another, according to their 

 previous associations ; and the most incongruous combinations are frequently 

 the result ; but it will generally, if not always, be found, that the ideas them- 

 selves have been previously in the mind, and that no entirely new train of 

 thought is started. Of the degree in which, when the mind is thus closed to 

 the external world, the hidden stores of Memory are opened to its search, 

 many very curious instances are recorded. 



296. The state of Somnambulism appears to be nearer to that of wakeful 

 activity of the whole mind, than is that of Dreaming. In the latter condition, 

 the individual is unconscious of external objects ; for, if they produce an effect 

 upon him, it is in modifying the current of ideas, frequently in some very 

 ludicrous manner : and he does not form any true perception or idea of their 

 nature. But in Somnambulism, his senses are partly awake, so that impres- 

 sions made upon them may be properly represented to the mind, and excite 

 there the ideas with which they are connected ; moreover, the Cerebellum is 

 also awake, so that the movements which the individual performs are per- 

 fectly adapted to their object ; indeed it has frequently occurred, that the 

 power of balancing the body has been so remarkably exercised in this condi- 

 tion, that sleep-walkers have traversed narrow and difficult paths, over which 

 they could not have passed in open day, when conscious of their danger. In 

 ^Somnambulism, as in Dreaming, there is an evident want of voluntary control 

 over the thoughts ; their succession is more influenced, however, by impres- 

 sions received from without, than it is in dreaming ; and hence the mind may 

 sometimes be easily guided into a particular train, by properly directing the 

 impressions made upon the sensory organs. It may be remarked, however, 

 that impressions which do not in some degree harmonize with the train of 

 ideas, are not received by the mind ; or, at any rate, they are not applied to 

 the correction of the erroneous notions which possess it. But there are many 

 different shades in the condition of the mind, between Dreaming and Som- 

 nambulism, the individual being, in some cases, much less conscious of ex- 

 ternal objects than he is in others. In some instances it appears as if the 

 mind was so wholly engrossed in a particular train of thought, that it could 

 not be affected by any new sensations, so that there is even an unconscious- 

 ness of those which produce pain ; this has its parallel in the waking state. 

 A very remarkable characteristic of the state of Somnambulism, is the com- 

 plete isolation which commonly exists between the trains of thought which 

 then occupy the mind and its operations during the waking hours ; so that 

 in neither state is there a remembrance of what passes in the other. There 

 is usually this difference, however ; that the mental operations which take 

 place in Somnambulism are, like those of dreaming, frequently suggested by 



