642 SLEEP-WAKING. 



" In 1686, Lord Culpepper's brother was indicted at the Old 

 Bailey for shooting one of the guards and his horse. He pleaded 

 somnambulism, and was acquitted, on producing ample evidence 

 of the extraordinary things he did in his sleep. There is a some- 

 what similar story of a French gentleman, who rose in his sleep, 

 crossed the Seine, fought a duel, and killed his antagonist, with- 

 out recollecting any of the circumstances when awake." 



The next, as well as the cases mentioned at p. 633. illustrates the 

 occasional great acuteness of sleep-wakers. " A young man named 

 Johns, who works at Cardrew, near Redruth, being asleep in the 

 sumpter-house of that mine, was observed by two boys to rise and 

 walk to the door, against which he leaned : shortly after, quitting 

 this position, he walked to the engine shaft, and safely descended 

 to the depth of twenty fathoms, where he was found by his com- 

 rades soon after, with his back resting on the ladder. They 

 called to him to apprise him of the perilous situation in which he 

 was, but he did not hear them, and they were obliged to shake 

 him roughly till he awoke, when he appeared totally at a loss to 

 account for his being so situated." P 



In the following cases a partial increase of mental power took 

 place, as is sometimes noticed in insanity and common dreams: 



" A story is told of a boy who dreamed that he got out of bed, 

 and ascended to the summit of an enormous rock, where he found 

 an eagle's nest, which he brought away with him and placed 

 under his bed. Now the whole of these events actually took 

 place ; and what he conceived, on awaking, to be a mere vision, 

 was found to have had an actual existence, by the nest being 

 found in the precise spot where he imagined he had put it, and 

 by the evidence of spectators who beheld his perilous adventure. 

 The precipice which he ascended was of a nature that must have 

 baffled the most expert mountaineer, and such, as at other times 

 he could not have scaled." <i 



Gassendi tells of a man who often rose and dressed in his 

 sleep, went into a cellar and drew wine, appearing to see in the 

 dark as well as in the day ; but, when he awoke either in the 

 cellar or street, was obliged to grope his way back to bed. He 

 often thought there was not light enough, and that he had risen 



Isis revelata, vol. i. p. 316. P Dr. Macnish, p. 166. 



* Dr. Macnish, 1. c. p. 170. 



