72 



" SLEEP AND DKEAMR. 



monts at random. In madnoss, tlioy Ioho tlioir control, 

 and thoughts arc ponrod out in ahnndant and wild confusion. 

 This gift of" inhibition," as it is called, is much allied to 

 the passive form of "will," and it seems to mo that in .sloop 

 its effect on thoughts is paralyzed. Oiii' sleeping ideas 

 aro rarely orderly or consecutive. They arc not linked 

 together by cause and effect as in our waking hours. Wo 

 reason, but wo alter our premises in tho wildest mannci', 

 and the conclusions we arrive at aro ridiculous. We do 

 not see that they are so, booauso tho sense of humour, 

 which I venture to define as a keen appreciation of cause 

 and effect, is absent in sloop, or almost so. 



For example, T remember di'caming that the day of judg- 

 ment had come, and I was waiting in a garden with some 

 friends to hoar the awful verdict. In the path of the garden 

 was a round trap-door. We were told that this led down to 

 the bottomless pit, and we had to jump over it. If we suc- 

 ceeded, wo were saved; if not, not. This dream was voiy 

 vivid, and I was in mortal torroi,' ; but it never struck me. 

 that tho whohi thing was ludicrous. My sense of bathos 

 was for tlio time completely gone. Most people have similar 

 experiences ; in fact, we aro for the time mad, and our 

 thoughts ramble at their pleasure, without their keeper — 

 the will ; and when, at waking, they aro gathered into leash, 

 and put in order, wo often do not know that they have been 

 busy at all. The workings of tho mind are not corrected 

 and altei'cd by tho impulses from the outer world, which 

 modify their action in the daytime. The disorder of dreams 

 seems to mo capable of partial exjilanation on the theory I 

 have ali'oady mentioned at some length, viz. : tho withdrawal 

 of stimuli. It is curious how wo forget what we have hc.v.u 

 dreaming about. Peophi have nightmare, scream arul kick, 

 and obviously .suffer in their minds; yot if you ask them at 



