O F S L E E P. SEPT. XVIII. $. 



were ideas ufually connected with the fweetnefs, 

 immediately follow in the train ; and I believe a\ 

 material lump of fugar prefent before my fenfes ; 

 but in my \vaking hours, if the fweetnefs occurs to 

 my imagination, the ftimulus of the table to my 

 hand, or of the window to my eye, prevents the 

 other ideas of the hardnefs and whitenefs of the 

 fugar from fucceeding ; and hence I perceive the 

 fallacy, and difbelieve the exigence of objects cor- 

 refpondent to thofe ideas, whofe tribes or trains are 

 broken by the ftimulus of other objects. And 

 further in our waking hours, we frequently exert 

 our volition in comparing prefent appearances with 

 fuch, as we have ufually obferved ; and thus cor- 

 rect the errors of one fenfe by our general know- 

 ledge of nature by intuitive analogy. See Sed. 

 XVII. 3. 7. Whereas in dreams the power of voli- 

 tion is fufpended, we can recollect and compare 

 our prefent ideas with none of our acquired know- 

 ledge, and are hence incapable of obferving any 

 absurdities in them. 



By this criterion we diftinguifh our waking from 

 our fleeping hours, we can voluntarily recollect our 

 fleeping '. ideas^when we are awake, and compare 

 them with our waking ones ; but we cannot in our 

 fleep voluntarily recollect our waking ideas at all. 



8. The vaft variety of fcenery, novelty of combi- 

 nation, and (iiftinctnefs of imagery, are other cu- 

 rious circumftances of our fleeping imaginations. 

 The variety of fcenery feems to arife from the fupe- 

 rior activity and excellence of pur fenfe of vifion; 

 which in an inftant '^infolds to t]ie mind extenfive 

 fields of pleafurable ideas | while the other fenfes 

 collect their objects flowly, and 'with little combina- 

 tion ; add to this, that the ideas, which this organ 

 prefents us with, are more frequently connected 

 with our fenfation than thofe of any other. 



9. The 



*' */ ^- V. , ?', -v &% , 



