510 THE TREATMENT OF DISEASES. 



much satisfaction, and remarked that he felt much better. Nevertheless he did not 

 awake, and returning to bed, slept tranquilly the rest of the night. 



Another case is recorded of a young man, a servant, who rose every night in 

 his sleep, descended to the cellar, drew some wine from a cask, and drank it. 

 Frequently he went out into the streets, and sometimes even wandered into 

 the country. 



A gentleman of very nervous temperament on one occasion dreamt that his place 

 of business was on fire. He got up in his sleep, dressed himself, and walked a dis- 

 tance of over a mile to his office. He was aroused by being stopped by the private 

 watchman, who was at first under the impression that he had caught a burglar. 



In relation to the activity of the senses during somnambulism there is great 

 diversity of opinion among those who have studied the affection. This is doubt- 

 less due to the fact that somnambulists differ as regards the use they make of 

 their senses, some availing themselves of the aid they can derive from these 

 sources, whilst others do not appear to employ them at all. Let us take an 

 example or two. One night a student was found, in the sonmambulic condition, 

 translating a passage from Italian into French, and looking out the words in the 

 dictionary. Now, in this case, one would suppose that he was using the sense of 

 sight, and yet undoubtedly sleep-walkers do wonderful things without the aid of 

 their eyes, and in many instances they are known to have acted as though they 

 saw in a room which was perfectly dark. Thus a lady during her sleep was seen 

 by her husband to go into a dark closet adjoining their bedroom, open a trunk, 

 and begin to arrange the contents. It contained clothing of various kinds, which 

 had been put into it the day before without being sorted. She classified all the 

 articles, such as stockings, handkerchiefs, shirts, &c., without making a single 

 mistake, and without the possibility of being assisted by light sufficient for ordinary 

 eyesight. Another case is recorded of a young lady who was accustomed to rise 

 from her bed in a state of somnambulism, and to write in complete darkness. A 

 remarkable feature was that if the least light, even that of the moon, entered the 

 room, she was unable to write. She could do so only in the most perfect obscurity. 



It has been maintained that somnambulism is a condition closely allied to reverie 

 or absence of mind. When we are strongly pre-occupied with any subject, the 

 objects around us make no impression on our senses or 011 our mind. Archimedes, 

 while meditating on a discovery, was an entire stranger to all that was going on 

 around him. On one occasion whilst so engaged, Syracuse was taken by the enemy, 

 but he was not diverted from his thought either by the chant of victory of the 

 conqueror, or by the cries and groans of the wounded and dying. A person 

 intently engaged in reading will often answer questions without suffering his train 

 of thought to be interrupted. When he has ceased his study, he is surprised when 

 told that he has been conversing. When we are walking in the street and thinking 

 of some engrossing circumstance, we turn the ri<*ht corners, and find ourselves where 

 we intended to go without being able to recall any events connected with the act of 

 getting there. During a state of reverie the mind pursues a train of reasoning often 

 of the most fanciful character, but still so abstract and intense, that though actions 

 may be performed by the body, they have no relation with the current of thought, 



