MAN 
it is (aid, he was induced to afcribe this ftrange 
produftion to the operations of an infernal agent ; 
but his tutor, willing to fcrutinize the affair to 
the bottom, alTigned him another exercife, ftill 
more arduous than the former, and took proper 
fteps for obferving his proceedings during the 
night. The young gentleman, on being fo fe- 
verely taflced, experienced the fame inquietude he 
had formerly done : he went to bed penfive and 
dejefted, pondering on the tafic of the fucceffive 
day; and, after fome time, fell afteep. Shortly 
after, his tutor, who continued to obferve him 
from a private corner, was furprized to lee him 
rife, and advance very deliberately to a table; 
where taking pen, ink, and paper, he fat down 
very methodically to thinking. It feems that his 
being afleep only ferved to quicken the powers of 
his imagination; for he quickly difpatched the 
tafk affigned him, put his chair afide, and returned 
to bed in order to finifh his fleep. 
The ridiculous hiftory of Arlotto is well 
known; who performed fuch a number of fingular 
aftions during his fleep, tliat a whole volume is 
filled with an account of them. He was an Ita- 
lian Francifcan friar, extremely rigid in his man- 
ners, and remarkably devout and inftruftive in 
his daily converfation : however, during his fleep, 
he a6led a very different charafter, and was often 
detefted in the moft atrocious crimes. He once 
aftually attempted a rape in the night; and awak- 
ing next morning, was furprized to find himfelf 
in the hands of iuftice. His brethren of the con- 
vent watched him v/hile he v/ent very deliberately 
into the chapel, and there attempted to commit 
facrilege: they fometim.es permitted him to carry 
the chalice and the veftments av/ay into his own 
chamber, and the next morning amufed themfelves 
with the poor man's confternation at being in- 
formed of his nofturnal adventures. But, of all 
his fleeping tranfaftions, that feems the moft ridi- 
culous, invv'hich he was called to pray for the foul 
of a perfon departed. Ariotto having performed 
this folemn oflice with all due reverence, retired to 
jeft in a chamber provided for him; but he had 
no fooner fallen afleep, than he began to refied, 
that the dead body had got a ring on one of 
the fingers, vv^hich he wiftied to approprkte to 
himfelf: accordingly he left his bed, nakea as he 
v/as; and entering a room full of women, en- 
deavoured to feize the ring with great compo- 
fure. In confequence of this exploit, he was car- 
ried before the court of inquifition, and accufed 
of witchcraft ; for v/hich he Vv'ould probably have 
been condemned, had not his peculiar charafter 
accidentally come to the knowledge of the inqui- 
fitors. 
From thefe inftances it would appear, that the 
imagination is equally a£live by night as by day ; 
and that it often involuntarily intrudes where it 
is leaft commanded or defired. While awake, 
and in health, this bufy principle cannot much de- 
ceive us; it miay raife a thoufand phantoms before 
us, build fchemes of happinefs, or fhudder at 
ideal mifery ; but the fenfes are all alive and found 
to evince it's falflty. Our eyes fliew us that the 
profpefl is not prefent ; our hearing and our touch 
depofe againft it's reality; and our tafte and fmell- 
ing are equally vigilant in detefting the impofl- 
tion. Reaion, therefore, at once determines on 
the caufe; and the fleeting intruder, Imagination, 
is reftrained, or baniflied from the mind. But it 
is otherwife in fieep : the fenfes being as much as 
poflible at reft, having loft their peculiar funftions;, 
tlie imagination is then left to riot at large, and to 
lead the underftanding captive. Every incurfive 
idea then becomes a reality; and the mind being 
deftitute of every power that can correct the illu- 
fion, receives them, for truths. 
Flavino- mentioned the fenfes as corredlno; the 
errors of the imagination, it naturally follows, that 
we fhould examine the fenfes themfelves, as far as 
they relate to our perceptions; to which objeft we 
fhall principally confine ourfelves. 
The eyes, by which we enjoy the fenfe of vifion, 
are very early form.ed in the human embryo: in 
the chicken alfo, they are the firft double organs 
that make their appearance, and are more promi- 
nent than any other parts. In viviparous ani- 
mals, it is true, and particularly in Man, they are 
not fo large, in proportion, as in the oviparous; 
but ftill they are more quickly expanded than the 
remainder of the fyftem. The fame remark ap- 
plies to the organ of hearing: the little bones 
which compofe the internal parts of the ear are 
entirely formed before the other bones, though 
much larger, have acquired any part of their 
growth or folidity. FTence it appears that thofe 
parts of the body which are furnifned v/ith the 
greateft quantity of nerves, are the firft in forma- 
tion: thus the brain and the fpinal marrow are 
the firft" perceptible parts in the emibryo; and in 
general it may be faid, that wherever the nerves 
throv/ out their ramifications, there the parts are 
fooneft begun, and moft complcatly finiflied. 
On examining the eyes of a child fome hours, 
or even days, after it's birth, it will immediately 
be perceptible that it is incapable of ufing them. 
The humours of the organ not having acquired a 
fufiicient confiftence, the rays of light ftrike but 
confufedly on the retina, or expanfion of nerves 
at the back of the eye. It is not till a month after 
they are born, that children fix their eyes on ob- 
jefts; for, before that time, they turn them indif- 
criminately every where, without appearing to be 
affefted by any. At fix or feven weeks old, they 
plainly difcover a choice in the objefls of their at- 
tention ; they fix their eyes on luminous objefts; 
and are attrafled by the moft brilliant colours. 
Hitherto, hov/ever, they only feem to fortify the 
organ for feeing diftinftly; but they have ftill 
many illufions to correft. The firft great error in 
vifion is, that the eye inverts every object ; and 
till children learn the real pofition of bodies by 
the fenfe of feeling, every objeft appears turned 
upfide down. A fecond error in the vifion of in- 
fants arifes from the double appearance of ob- 
je6ls; becaufe a diftin6l image of the fame objefl 
is formed on the retina of each eye. This error 
alfo can only be correfted by the touch; and 
though in reality every objeft we fee appears in- 
verted and djouble, yet the judgment and habit 
have fo often correfled the fenfe, that v/e no longer 
fubmit to it's impofition, but behold every objeft 
in it's juft pofition, the very inftant it appears. 
Hence, if we were deprived of feeling, our eyes 
would deceive us, both v/ith regard to the pofition 
and number of objefts. 
To render it evident that v/e fee objefts in- 
verted, we have only to obferve the manner in 
which images are reprefented, tranfmitted through 
a fmall aperture in a darkened room; when all the 
images from v/ithout are delineated on the wall 
in an inverted pofition: for, as all the rays 
v/hich pafs from the different parts of the objefl 
