REPOSE, OR SLEEP. 103 



mental exercise is to be carried on. In the 

 mean time, the actor in this strange scene pur- 

 sues his course more like some automaton than 

 a human being ; his eyes are open, obstacles 

 are seen and overcome, all needful articles are 

 taken from their place, used, and restored ; but 

 those who watch the movements and operations 

 of the somnambulist are either not seen, or if 

 imaged on the retina, are not recognised by the 

 eye of the mind. If undisturbed, the patient, his 

 work having been accomplished, returns to betl, 

 reflects upon the past as a dream, and is thun- 

 derstruck on finding th-e operations of that 

 dream real performances. A sudden shock 

 will break the spell, but instant consternation, 

 and mental inquietude afterwards, often result 

 from such a mode of procedure. Sometimes 

 actions are done by the somnambulist which at 

 once bring self-consciousness. A servant girl 

 has been known to rise, descend into the 

 kitchen or wash-house, take off her night- 

 dress, wash it in cold water, even during 

 winter, and immediately put it on again. The 

 shock always roused her. A state very analo- 

 gous to that termed somnambulism occasionally 

 occurs in the daytime, in which there is the 

 same insensibility to external impressions. The 

 mind is abstracted. Often the memory be- 

 comes preternaturally vivid ; mental taste ap- 

 pears to have suddenly acquired a new im- 

 pulse and a new direction ; strains of music 

 are sung with singular correctness and sweet- 

 ness, or a language, unfamiliar as a medium of 



