MAURY ON SLEEP AND DREAMS. 387 



functions during this transition state. Take the instance 

 of slumber supervening on a dull book, an easy arm- 

 chair, a warm fire, and other appliances of repose. 

 The somnolent himself is conscious of the early changes 

 the apprehension becoming dull, the page before 

 him dim or partially lost to sight, the head nodding, 

 the book tottering in his hands. Out of this state he 

 may be momentarily aroused by some sound or excite- 

 ment from without, or even by the loss of that muscular 

 instinct or balancing power, as we may call it, which 

 belongs to the waking state. He is startled by the book 

 dropping from his hands, or the sudden fall of the 

 head, but speedily lapses again into somnolency, ending 

 in more perfect sleep. Here the consciousness of 

 change ceases to himself; but in this gradation of state, 

 and even in what may be deemed the soundest sleep, 

 an observer without, if "diligent in his watch, will detect 

 many curious changes going on ; due to the influence 

 of passing dreams, of nervous sensations from the action 

 of the vital organs within, and even from bodily posture. 

 These are the changes to which M. Maury's methods of 

 observation, already mentioned, especially apply. They 

 are abundantly furnished by those nights of broken 

 and disordered sleep which must be counted among 

 the ills of man, though too often only the penalty paid 

 for his luxury or other faults of life. 



The most interesting part of such inspection is what 

 may be termed the disseverment of the Will from the 

 organs habitually acted upon by it. This is often 

 strikingly testified during the passage from perfect 

 sleep to the waking state. The sensibility is awakened 



c c 2 



