RLEKl' AND DREAMS. 



81 



of 40 lbs. on his chost {.Plate X.). Dr. Crornon scorns to 

 ontortain no donbt as to the perfect reliability of tlioso 

 symptoms. I may stato that tho above position oan be 

 assumed with a little practice. I have remained supported 

 on two chairs for some minutes, and hn.vo whilst in that 

 condition borno a man's weight for a second on my chest 

 without bonding my body.* 



Mesmerism is witliout doubt something moro than a moro 

 fancy ; Charcot's results in Paris prove this, without other 

 testimony. It throws light, I think, on tho cause of sleep, 

 and seem explicable on tho theory of concentrated attention. 

 Tt requires further investigation, not so much credulity, and 

 not so much a priori scoffing. 



Tho artifioiiil sleeps produced by opium, cannabis indica, 

 bromides, etc., is often of an extremely agi'eeablo character. 

 Do Quincey, the great l<]nglisli oyiium cater, has given 

 graphic descriptions of his luippy intoxication, and declares 

 that his favourite drug possesses the keys of Paradise. Tn 

 Dumas' " Monte Ohristo " it says, speaking of hatchig, a 

 similar drug : " Taste of this, and the barriers of tho im- 

 possible disappeai', the fields of tho infinite arc thrown 

 open, and you walk, free of heart and free of spirit, in the 

 boundless realms of reverie." Opium seems to dull all 

 tho afferent norves, all those 1 mcaji which c'arry imi)ulses 

 to i;ho brain, but loaves tho functions of tho cells them- 

 selves only partially interfered with. It is difficult to say 

 why it so often causes pleasant dreams and sensations. 



Tu mndndoH, 1 should like to recall tho chief theories 

 1 have attempted to keep in view, viz. : 1st. That sleep 



* I'rnf. llamsay Icindly fiskod mo to a private mcsmoriti seance at TJni- 

 versity CollogB on May Jird, 18R(). Thn action oi' tho " sonsitivos " under 

 Mr. Vitioro's iullnonoe was much the same as at the above. 



