DKEAMS AND DELUSIONS. 97 



dreams are frequently inferred simply from his facial ex- 

 pression, his voice-sounds, his actions or movements. As 

 regards other animals, there are not a few birds that talk 

 more intelligently than whole races of man, and whose talk 

 gives us a certain amount of assistance in determining the 

 presence of dreams, while in other animals we have the 

 same sort of bodily movements, of facial expressions, of 

 gestures or attitudes, or of voice-sounds, from which we 

 infer in man the existence of dreaming. Thus in both cases 

 we have vocal cries and muscular startings, as well as other 

 sounds and movements. 



All the evidence we possess entitles us to infer, I think, 

 that the dreams of other animals resemble in their character 

 those of man ; that in these dreams fancy is more or less 

 vivid or morbid ; that eccentricities, incongruities, aberra- 

 tions of the imagination necessarily occur ; that the nature 

 of the imaginary incidents may be either pleasurable or the 

 reverse. We are warranted in going further and in sup- 

 posing that, inasmuch as dreams occur among domesticated 

 or captive animals, they are likely to occur equally in wild 

 ones, whose sleep is peculiarly liable to disturbance for in- 

 stance, in those much persecuted by man or hunted by each 

 other ; and that, considering the precarious nature of their 

 lives, the character of their dreams is probably more or less 

 fearful, frightful, or terrifying. Moreover, it is quite proper 

 to add, that habitual dreaming, in which morbid imagina- 

 tion habitually gives rise to morbid fear, is likely to pave 

 the way to genuine or insane delusion, and to various forms 

 or degrees of delusional insanity. 



Pierquin and Guer, Elam and other authors, describe 

 somnambulism as occurring in certain animals. It is even 

 said to be common, and to be most so in sickly, nervous, 

 timid, ill-used animals, in whom sleep is most apt to be 

 disturbed. There is here a further development of U7icon- 

 scious and involuntary bodily movement, a series of actions 

 resembling those of the waking state, in a condition closely 

 resembling it. There is, moreover, apparent vision; the eyes 

 are open, though the animal does not appear to see material 

 objects. The phenomena include puroosive action : fearless- 



VOL. II. H 



