74 



■ SI.KKI' AND DIJUAMK. 



mind is very often iicfciv(! in siciep is an oxpcrionce ol' most 

 of US, cspocifilly just ,is we are falling of!'. We often see 

 hings more clearly then, and fr'ora. a more unbiassed stand- 

 point than we do in full waking honrs, and ideas flash into 

 the mind that are arrived at in the daytime only by laborious 

 thought. There is a elassioal illustration of this in the 

 fourth chapter of the Book of Job ; and the thoughts that 

 came into his mind then were so distinct that they appeared 

 to bo uttered by a spirit that passed before him. There is 

 another celebrated instance. One of the most extraordinary 

 and beautiful poems in our language was composed during 

 sleep. I refer to Coleridge's " Kubla Khan." * 



The explanation I oJTei' of these cases is, that the fancy 

 and imagination (which appear to bo connected in some way 

 witli rapidity of thought) are loosened from the controlling 

 and sometimes deadening influence of the will, and are not 

 modified by impressions of sight and soxind and feeling, as 

 in the daytime!. 



These instanoes, and there iiro ])lcnty mori!, show tlnit 

 during sleep the thoughts are active enough. It is natural 

 that ])eople should think during the night of events that 

 have happened in tlie day, iind these fire woven very often 

 into our fancies. A remark made by the late Dr. Sym- 

 monds, in an article on Sleep, struck me as being good : that 

 dreams cannot distinguish between realities and memories ; 

 and the memories become more vivid because the constant 

 irTuption of the thoughts and feelings is stopped. In the 

 daytime concentration on one topic, by excluding these 

 disturbing influences, causes a day-dream, which may bo 

 exceedingly vivid, and may, perhaps, account for many of 

 the so-called apparitions that have boon recorded. 



* Traill's " Life of Colciidgo," ]). (il. 



