SOMNAMBULISM. 317 



wrongly interpreted, or even ludicrously associated. Thus the effects 

 of cold air, or of evaporation on the skin, may be construed into the 

 touch of an imaginary person or ghost. Many other delusions may 

 be thus explained. 



Lastly, internal conditions of discomfort may produce perfect or 

 imperfect impressions, and so give rise to dreams; and may, like ex- 

 ternal impressions, be rightly or wrongly interpreted in the dreaming 

 state. 



That kind of dreaming, in which the individual performs actions, 

 and even speaks, as if awake, without the co-operation of the will, is 

 known as somnambulism. In this state, the movements and conver- 

 sation are determined by the ideas of the dream ; but attention to other 

 ideas or impressions, and memory, are entirely suspended; whilst 

 the reasoning is limited, and the control of the pure will over the 

 mental processes is also abrogated. The mind is absorbed in one cur- 

 rent of ideas alone. The regular marching of soldiers in sleep, when 

 much fatigued, and the answering of questions, by persons in a state 

 of slumber, are examples of the lighter forms of somnambulism. In 

 the more marked forms, chiefly occurring in hypochondriacal or hys- 

 terical individuals, the dreamer performs the most dangerous acts, fol- 

 lows the most perilous paths, and the most unfrequented ways, which 

 he would be unable to do if awake, totally unconscious of any danger. 

 He can see and hear, can dress and undress, opens doors and boxes, 

 and, on awaking, has no recollection of what has happened. In this 

 peculiar state, the body may be altogether insensible to pain, the ear 

 to sound, and the eye to light, however powerful the action of these 

 stimuli. Impressions are not perceived by the senses, BO long as the 

 attention of the individual is directed to some other subject or object ; 

 but the sensibility of any one sense is much heightened, when the mind 

 is occupied exclusively with ideas solely connected with that sense. 

 Sounds, which in the waking state would hardly be noticed, now ap- 

 pear to produce powerful impressions. In the same manner, the sen- 

 sibility of the skin, when the attention is directed to it, is greatly ex- 

 alted; and so on with the other senses. Cases are even recorded, of 

 individuals performing every action suggested; such as fighting, sw'm- 

 ming, or hunting; some will imitate drunken men; others will work 

 out the most difficult problems, or go through a train of reasoning; 

 speeches have been made, verses composed and committed to writing; 

 in fact, the attention of a somnambulist can often be directed, at the 

 will of an observer, to any given object or subject. Although, on 

 awaking, he has no remembrance of what has taken place, yet, on re- 

 lapsing into a similar state, the ideas previously expressed, and the 

 acts performed, may be resumed and continued. Persons who exhibit 

 this extreme degree of somnambulism, have been said to have a double 

 consciousness, one memory when awake, another when dreaming. 

 (Wigan.) In some individuals, this state may be artificially induced ; 

 but it is generally a natural phenomenon. 



The so-called magnetic sleep or hypnotism, which sometimes occurs 

 spontaneously in nervous persons, but which is more frequently in- 

 duced by the operations of so-named animal magnetism or mesmerism 



