Sleep and Its Derangements

ength, that but few psychological points remain to be considered in the present discussion. What I have to say, therefore, in regard to the physiology

We all know how fatigued we are, and how indisposed to exertion the brain is, after a night of continued dreaming, and we can easily imagine what would be the consequences if such a condition were kept up night after night. To say that we really do dream not only every night, but every instant of the night, in fact always and continually when we sleep,

o my mind, very philosophical and logical. After insisting that, sleeping

the man is not, any more than the bed or earth he lies on, for to be happy or miserable without being conscious of it seems to me utterly inconsistent and impossible. Or if it be possible that the soul can, while the body is sleeping, have its thinkings, enjoyments, and concerns, its pleasure or pain, about which the man is not conscious of nor partakes in, it is certain that Socrates asleep and Socrates awake is not the same person; but his soul when he sleeps and Socrates the man, consisting of body and soul

s without dreaming, and that he once knew a scholar who had no bad memory, who told him he had never dre

to men who never dreamed. Plutarch[68] alludes to the case of Cleon, who, in living to an advanced age, h

red to me that she never had had but one dream in her life, and th

in is in a state of complete repose there can be no mental manifestation, and that all intellectual phenomena are the results of cerebral activity. Another cause for their belief is the fact that they make no distinction between dreaming and thinking, whereas it is very evident that the two are not to be placed in the same category. Thinking is an action which requires cerebral effort, and which is und

ficulties, and is contrary to all the teaching of physiology. The full discussion of this question would be out of place here; I will, therefore, only state that this work is written from the stand-point of regarding the mind as no

liged, however, to admit that "when the organs of the body are benumbed by sleep, the mind appears to be in a particular state; it seems

ief parts. The laws which govern it are, however, the same which always regulate it. The body upon which their power is primarily exercised

r fallacious. It is well known that dreams are excited by strong impressions made upon the senses, or by irritations arising in the internal organs. Thus Baron Trenck relates that when confined in his dungeon he suffered the pangs of hunger almost continually, and that his dreams at night were always of delicate meats and sumptuous repasts, spread before him on luxuriously-furnished tables. The mere excitation of waking a sleeping person is generally sufficient to give rise to a dream. Maury, in his very int

ed in our waking moments. Thus, before the discovery of America no Europeans ever dreamed of American Indians, for the reason that nothing existed within their knowledge which could give any idea of the appearance of such human beings. It is possible that Columbus and his companions may have dreamed of the continent of wh

d at some previous period, or produced during sleep by bodily sensations. These impressions

a "dog-cart ambulance," a vehicle which he declared was the best ever made for the transportation of sick or wounded men. On awaking, all the particulars were fresh in my mind, but I could not for some time perceive why I had had such a dream. At last I recollected that the morning before a gentleman had given me a very full description of Prospect Park, in Brooklyn. The friend of whom I dreamed has charge of the construct

ously, and which have long since apparently passed from our recollection. A very striking

s of his lawsuit to be inevitable, and he had formed his determination to ride to Edinburgh next day, and make the best bargain he could in the way of compromise. He went to bed with this resolution, and, with all the circumstances of the case floating upon his mind, had a dream to the following purpose. His father, who had been many years dead, appeared to him, he thought, and asked him why he was disturbed in his mind. In dreams men are not surprised at such apparitions. Mr. R. thought that he informed his father of the cause of his distress, adding that the payment of a considerable sum of money was the more unpleasant to him, because he had a stray consciousness that it was not due, though he was unable to recover any evidence in support of his belief. 'You are right,

in the dream, a very old man; without saying anything of the vision, he inquired whether he remembered having conducted such a matter for his deceased father. The old gentleman could not at first bring the circumstance to his recollection, but, on me

tion of having seen a record kept by the old gentleman, and of there being some peculiarity about it which he could not recall. Several months elapsed, and he had given up the idea of attempting to discover the facts of which he had been in search, when, one night, he dreamed that his grandfather came to him and said: "You have been trying to find out when J-- was born; don't you recollect that one afternoon when we were fishing I read you some lines from an Elzevir Horace, and showed you how I had made a family record out of the work by inserting a number of blank leaves at the end? No

tation or re-embodiment of thoughts which have formerly, in some shape or oth

itten on a separate piece of paper, into a hat, shaking the whole, then taking them out, one by one, as they come, and seeing what kind of medley the heterogeneous compound will make when thus fortuitously put together. For instance, I had, on the above day, taken a walk to the canal along with a friend. On returning from it, I pointed out to him a spot where a new road was forming, and where, a few days before, one of the workmen had been overwhelmed by a quantity of rubbish falling upon him, which fairly chopped off one of his legs, and so much damaged the other that it was feared amputation would be necessary. Near this very spot there is a park, in which, about a month previously, I practiced throwing the stone. On passing the Exchange, on my way home, I expressed regret at the lowness of its situation, and remarked what a fine effect the portico would have were it placed upon more elevated ground. Such were the previous circumstances, and let us see how they bear upon the dream. In the first place, the canal appeared before me. 2. Its situation is an elevated one. 3. The portico of the Exchange occurring to my mind as being placed too low became associated with the elevation of the canal, and I placed it close by on a similar altitude. 4. The gentleman I had been walking with was the same whom in the dream I

affords an excellent example of the dependence of dreams upon actual events, and sh

ing diamond fell out of his triple crown into my desk, of which, however, neither of us took any notice. As soon as the Pope had withdrawn I retired to bed, but was soon obliged to ri

e to this dream, Professor Maas relates the f

hed rule-that things which agree in their parts also correspond as to the whole; hence the Pope's visit was changed into a visit paid to me. The subreasoning faculty, then, in order to account for this extraordinary visit, fixed upon that which was the most important object in my room-namely, the desk, or rather the papers which it contained. That a diamond fell out of the triple crown was a collateral association, which was owing merely to the representation of the desk. Some days before, when opening the desk, I had broken the crystal of my watch, which I held in my hand

view of dreaming as that enuncia

mind, ever active, must make use of the store which memory retains; but as its motor influence is likewise organically impeded, it cannot independently dispose of

a sleeping man are all made up of the

agined or received by the individual when awake. Sometimes ideas are reproduced in dreams exactly as they have occurred to us in our waking moments, and this may take place night after night with scar

nce, and made a deep impression on my mind. I had just read Schille

ave to me the w

m of a condition of pre-existence, in which I imagined myself to be. The connection between the dream and the poem I had been reading was sufficiently well marked, and did

well known to the ancients. Thus Lucius Accius,[77] a poet who live

pant homines, cogi

tes, agitantque casi

Minus mi

; that circumstances which have pleased us are recalled to our minds; that objects are presented to u

eam in which there appeared to her the image of Neptune she had seen at Bai?, "Hence you may perceive,"

ream present

rms appear so

rine, no god th

ast its own d

sleep the body

nactive mass t

ay affects, at

es proud states,

rts, forced lines,

lds, and deaths o

ay litigious

e drowsy bench

wd of cringing

ols and kindly t

his wealth, ne

woods his horn t

am wild scenes o

her snares; the

cry, in sleep,

ches their old g

ch the courtier had assassinated his master. "You could not," exclaimed the tyrant, "have dr

et not strong enough to cause sleep to be interrupted. In such cases the imagination seizes the imperfect perception and weaves it into a tissue of incongruous fancies, which, however, generally bear a more or less definite relation to the character of the sensorial impression. Man

re related by A

gnals calculated to arouse the country. The gentleman to whom the dream occurred was a zealous volunteer, and, being in bed between two and three o'clock in the morning, dreamt of hearing the signal gun. He imagined that he went at once to the Castle, witnessed the proceeding for displaying the signals,

carried back, condemned to be shot, and at last led out to execution. At this instant a gun was fired,

a very extra

ion they found him asleep on the top of a locker in the cabin, when they made him believe he had fallen overboard, and exhorted him to save himself by swimming. Then they told him that a shark was pursuing him, and entreated him to dive for his life. He instantly did so, and with so much force as to throw himself from the locker upon the cabin floor, by which he was much bruised, and awakened of course. After the landing of the army at Louisburg, his friends found him one day asleep in his tent, and evidently much annoyed by the cannonading.

in his sleep, and that his emotions are then very readily excited by any pitiful story that may be told him. Up

due to an impression conveyed to the brain through the ear. The dream also illustrates the point previ

. "I, too, once had a watch," he said; "but see what I am now." With these words he threw aside the large cloak he habitually wore, and I saw that his ribs were entirely bare of skin and flesh. He then took my watch, and, inserting it between his ribs, said it would make a very good heart. Continuing his conversation he told me that he had resolved to blow up the vessel the next day, but that as I had been the means of supplying him with a heart he would save my life. "When you hear the whistle blow," he said, "jump overboard, for in an instant afterward the boat will be in atoms." I thanked him, a

ws how a dream may be set in

, and the street very narrow. It was summer-time, and during the day the cheesemaker had unpacked a box or barrel of strong old American cheese; the very street was impregnated with the odor. At night, jaded with my professional labors, I went to my dormitory, which seemed filled with a strong, cheesy atmosphere, which affected my stomach greatly, and quite disturbed the biliary secretions. I tried to produce a more agreeable atmosphere to my olfactory sense by smoking cigars, but

charged with a political offense, I was doomed to be incarcerated in a large cheese. And although this curious prison-house seemed most oppressive, it formed but part of my sufferings; for scarcely had I become reconciled to my probable fate than to my horror an army of rats attacked the monster cheese, and soon they seeme

ratory; on the other the smell of burning cloth caused me to dream of a laundry, and of one of the women ironing a blanket, which she scorched with a hot iron. A lady

, just before going to sleep, read in the evening paper an account of the capture of an English gentleman by Italian brigands. He dreamt that while crossing the Rocky Mountains he had been attacked by two Mexicans, who, after a long fight, had succeeded in taking him alive. They conveyed him very hurriedly to their camp, which was situated in a deep gorge. Here they told him that unless he revealed to th

On one occasion she dreamed that she was transformed into a bear, and was being taught to dance by being made to stand on hot plates of iron. On another, that the house was on fire

ty, frequently had the lancinating pains give rise to dreams in which

isease included the head and face. The pain was not severe,

ing me imbedded in a solid cake of ice. In order to facilitate his operations, the Turk sponged my head with boiling water, and then, finding the use of the pincers rather slow work, shaved the hair off with a red-hot razor. He then rubbed an ointment on the naked scalp, composed of sulphur, phosphorus, and t

nts were in part due to the fact that I had, two or three days previously, been reading

and myself, to which fuller reference will presently be made, show that strong excitations made upon it are transmitted to th

irs, tables, etc. were all of wormwood, and the emanations so pervaded all parts of the ship that it was impossible to breathe without tasting the bitterness. Everything that she ate or drank was likewise, from being in contact with wormwood, so impregnated with the flavor that the taste was overpowering. When she arrived at Havre she asked for a glass of water for the purpose of washing the taste from her mouth, but they brought her an infusion of wormwood, which she gulped down because she was thirsty, though the sight of it excited nausea. She went to Paris and consulted a famous physician, M. Sauve Moi, begging him to do something which would extract the wormwood from her body. He told her there was but one remedy, and that was ox gall. This he gave her by the pound, and in a few weeks the wormwood was all gone, but the ox gall had taken its place, and was fully as bitter and disagre

sight. Many examples, however, are on record of dreams being thus produced, and several

him. So great was the light that he hastened to escape from the pain which it caused in his eyes. In the efforts which he made he struck his head against the b

hands they were searching his drawers and trunks. He related his dream the following morning, and was told by his mother that she had go

ury[83] in his remarkable work to which reference has already been made. I propose,

of hypnagogic (?πνο?, sleep, and ?γωγε??, leader) hallucinations has been given, i.e. hallucinations which lead to sleep. Previous to M. Maury's investigations, the phenomena in question had attr

e constitution, and are generally predisposed to hypertrophy of the heart, pericarditis, and cerebral affections. This may be true

invariably produce them, as do also cafe noir and champagne, which, by causing headache and insomnia, strongly predispose him to the hypnagogic hallucinations. On the contrary, calmness of mind, rest, and country air lessen his liability to them. From the inquiries made of others by M. Maury, the results of his own experience, as well as from my own observations, I am well convinced th

or even a shorter period being sufficient. Thus he lay down, and the attention which had been fully aroused soon became weakened; images appeared, and these partially reawakened the attention, and the current of his thoughts was resumed, to be replaced again by hallucinations, and this continued till he was fully asleep. As an example, he states that on the 30th of November, 1847, he was reading aloud the Voyage dans la Russie Méridionale, by M. Hommaire de Hell. He had

y a congested condition of the cerebral vessels, and that thus, according to the views I have set forth relative

ause which increased the quantity of blood in the brain, or retarded the flow of blood from this organ. Thus, a glass of

eries of experiments to be performed upon himself when asleep, which afforded very satisfactory resul

ostrils. He dreamed that he was subjected to a horrible punishment. A mask of pitch was applie

struck with a pair of scissors. He dreamed that he heard the ringing of bells; t

r's shop. This excited visions of the East, and he dreamed that he was in Cairo in the shop of Jean

strils. He dreamed that he was at sea (the wind was blowing in t

. He dreamed that a blister was applied, and this recalled the

into the house, and were forcing the inmates, by putting their feet to the fire, to reveal where their money was. The idea of the robber sugge

t used many times. He dreamed of different subjects, but heard a sound like the humming of bees. Several days after, the experiment was repeated with the words Azor,

h was perceived by the brain. Then the words chandelle, haridelle, were pronounced many times in rapid succession in his ear.

is forehead. He dreamed that he was in Italy, that he wa

before his eyes. He dreamed of a tempest and lightning, which suggested the remembran

ormed analogous experiments on others, and had them practiced on myself, and have rarely failed in obtaining decided results. They strongly inculcate the truth of

e visitation of demons, and other fanciful causes. Bishop Bull[84] declares that he knows from his own experience that dreams are to be ascribed "to the ministry

an who, some time after receiving a severe injury of the head by which a considerable portion of the skull was lost, came under my professional care. Standing by his bedside one evening, just after he had gone to sleep, I observed the scalp slightly rise from the chasm in which it was deeply depressed. I was sure he was going to awake, but he did not, and very soon he became restless and agitated, while conti

e condition of wakefulness, when the functions of the brain are at their maximum of energy. This view is further supported by a consideration of the state of the brain in sleep and wakefulness, the condition of dreaming being, in a measure, an intermediate one