WHAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF. 279 



extreme caution, tact, and delicacy in their performances. From a 

 long list of interesting examples, tending to prove the power of the 

 sensory masses of the brain to guide the body in the absence of 

 normal power of thought and will, we may select the following. 

 Complete idiots, such as cretins of the first degree, spend their 

 whole time, says Dr. Carpenter, basking in the sun or before the fire, 

 but they nevertheless pass regularly, when excited by hunger, to the 

 sources of their food-supply. A man whose history is given by 

 Dr. Rush, being violently affected by losses in trade, was instantly 

 deprived of his mental faculties. He took no notice of anybody or 

 anything, nor did he express a desire to eat, but simply received his 

 food when placed in his mouth. He was dressed in the morning, 

 led to his chair, where he remained all day with inclined body, and 

 eyes fixed on the floor. For five years he remained thus, but re- 

 covered suddenly and completely. 



A sailor who had sustained an injury to his head lived in much the 

 same condition for about a year. The fractured bone being raised, he 

 recovered ; but the whole period intervening between his injury and 

 the operation was a complete blank to his mind. The most notable 

 case of this kind, showing the likeness of the purely sensorial state of 

 life to the dream and also giving the transition-stage connecting 

 the sensory state and the intelligent life of every day thus linking 

 the dream with waking life, was that of a young woman who, pre- 

 viously in good health, fell into a river, lay insensible for six hours, 

 and in ten days' time lapsed into a fit of stupor. From this she 

 recovered in four hours, only to find that the power of speech 

 and the senses of taste, smell, and hearing were in total abeyance. 

 Sight and touch aroused no ideas, though automatically responsive 

 movements attended the operation of these two senses. Her vision 

 at short distances was quick, and her general sensibility exceedingly 

 acute. Friends and relations were unrecognised, and she ate, without 

 a sign of disgust, the most nauseous substances. She made no effort 

 to feed herself, but when the spoon had a few times been conveyed to 

 her mouth she automatically continued the act of feeding. Gradually 

 she appeared to acquire ideas, and formed imitations of flowers from 

 paper with which she was supplied ; and this process of educating 

 her mind as if she were still a child proceeded until she was able to 

 do worsted work. Ultimately ideas connected with her past experiences 

 began to dawn upon her. A picture of a troubled sea agitated her 

 from the dull remembrance of her unpleasant association with water ; 

 and the sight of a young man to whom she had been attached gave her 

 pleasure, whilst she became fretful when she did not see him at the 

 accustomed times. Thereafter she took notice of her surroundings, 

 began to articulate a few words, and exhibited in due course normal 

 symptoms of emotion when she knew that her lover was paying atten- 



