DREAMING. 625 



and it may not be till after this has occurred more than once that 

 the person settles into sleep. Some always experience this on 

 first losing themselves, and then go to sleep for the night." Aris- 

 tides dreamt that a bull attacked him but only struck his knee; on 

 waking a small boil was there. Dr. James Gregory, having ap- 

 plied a hot bottle to his feet on going to bed, dreamt that he was 

 walking up Etna and finding the ground insufferably hot. One with 

 a blister on his head, dreamt that he was being scalped by Indians. 

 One in a damp bed, that he was being dragged through a stream. 

 A gouty man, when beginning to feel his pain in his sleep, may 

 dream he is on 'the rack before inquisitors. The sound of music 

 may excite delightful dreams. M. Giron de Buzareingues made 

 some curious experiments on this point, and directed at pleasure 

 the character of his dreams. In his first experiment, having allowed 

 the back of his head to be uncovered during sleep, he thought 

 he was at a religious ceremony in the open air : the custom of 

 the country in which he lived being to keep the head covered 

 excepting on some rare occurrences, among which was the per- 

 formance of religious ceremonies. On waking, he felt cold at 

 the back of the neck, as he frequently had when present at the 

 real ceremonies. He repeated the experiment in two days, with 

 the same result. In a third experiment he left his knees un- 

 covered, and dreamt that he was travelling at night in the dili- 

 gence, and all travellers know, he observes, that it is chiefly at 

 the knees they feel cold when travelling by that conveyance at 

 night. x 



When sleep has not been profound, and persons have muttered, 

 I have amused myself with speaking to them and getting answers 

 from them. Dr. Beattie mentions a man '< in whom any kind of 

 dream could be induced, if his friends, by gently addressing him, 

 afforded the subject matter." y 



u Dr. Macnish, 1. c. p. 28. 



x Dr. Magendie's Journal de Physiologie, t. viii. 



y "Dissertations Moral and Critical. London, 1783. 4to. p. 217." 



Though the nature of dreaming is evident, some writers are so little advanced 

 as to be ignorant of it, and have no other than the most antiquated notions. Mr. 

 Colquhoun, as we shall see, p. 691. infra, supposes that, in dreaming, the soul is 

 struggling to act without the body ! and Lord Brougham, conceiving that the mind 

 acts better the more " the influence of the body is withdrawn," says that dreams 

 throw a strong light upon the " subject, and seem to demonstrate the possible dis- 

 connection of mind and matter," and illustrate " the mind's independence of 



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