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leading us to compare the present life, which is so rapidly passing over us, with the paramount importance and overwhelming interest of the life which is to come.

§ II.

OF THE USE OF REASON-IN CORRECTING THE IMPRESSIONS OF THE MIND IN REGARD TO EXTERNAL THINGS.

THIS Subject leads to an investigation of great and extensive interest, of which I cannot hope to give more than a slight and imperfect outline. My anxiety is, that what is attempted may be confined to authentic facts, and the most cautious conclusions; and that it may be of some use in leading to farther inquiry.

We have seen the power which the mind possesses of recalling the vivid impressions of scenes or events long gone by, in that mental process which we call conception. We have seen also its power of taking the elements of actual scenes, and forming them into new combinations, so as to represent to itself scenes and events which have no real existence. We have likewise observed the remarkable manner in which persons, events, or scenes, long past, perhaps forgotten, are recalled into the mind by means of association;-trains of thought taking possession of the mind in a manner which we often cannot account for, and bringing back facts or occurrences which had long ceased to be objects of attention. These remarkable processes are most apt to take place when the mind is in that passive state which we call a revery; and they are more rarely observed when the attention is actively exerted upon any distinct and continued subject of thought.

During the presence in the mind of such a representation, whether recalled by conception or association, or fabricated by imagination, there is probably, for the time, a kind of belief of its real and present existence. But, on the least return of the attention to the affairs of life, the vision is instantly dissipated; and this is done by reason comparing the vision with the actual state of things in the external world. The poet or the novelist, it is probable, feels himself, for the time, actually imbodied in the person of his hero, and in that character judges, talks, and acts in the scene which he is depicting. This we call imagination; but were the vision not to be dissipated on his return to the ordinary relations of life, were he then to act in a single instance in the character of the being of his imagination, this would constitute insanity.

The condition of mind here referred to does actually take place; namely, a state in which the visions or impressions of the mind itself are believed to have a real and present existence in the external world, and in which reason fails to correct this belief by the actual relations of external things. There are two conditions in which this occurs in a striking manner; namely, insanity and dreaming. Considered as mental phenomena, they have a remarkable affinity to each other. The great difference between them is, that in insanity the erroneous impression being permanent affects the conduct; whereas in dreaming, no influence on the conduct is produced, because the vision is dissipated upon awaking. The difference, again, between the mind under the influence of imagination, and in the state now under consideration is, that in the former the vision is built up by a voluntary effort, and is varied or dismissed at pleasure; while in dreaming and insanity this power is suspended, and the mind is left entirely under the influence of the chain of thoughts which happens to be present, without being able either to

vary or dismiss it. The particular chain or series seems, in general, perhaps always, to depend upon associations previously formed; the various elements of which bring up one another in a variety of singular combinations, and in a manner which we often cannot trace, or in any degree account for. The facts connected with this branch of the subject form one of the most interesting parts of this investigation.

There are some other affections which come under the same class; but insanity and dreaming are the two extreme examples. In dreaming, the bodily senses are in a great measure shut up from external impressions; and the influence of the will upon bodily motions is also suspended, so that no actions in general follow. We shall afterward see that there are exceptions to this; but it is the common state in dreaming. In insanity, on the other hand, the bodily senses are awake to impressions from without, and bodily motion is under the influence of the will; hence the maniac acts, under his erroneous impressions, in a manner which often makes him dangerous to the community. There is an affection which holds an intermediate place between these two extremes, and presents a variety of interesting phénomena. This is somnambulism. It differs from dreaming in the senses being, to a certain degree, awake to external things: though that power is suspended by which the mental impressions are corrected by the influence of the external world. Thus, the somnambulist often understands what is said to him, and can converse with another person in a tolerably connected manner, though always with some reference to his erroneous mental impressions. He acts, also, under the influence of these; but the remarkable difference between him and the maniac is, that the somnambulist can be roused from his vision, and then the whole is dissipated. There are cases, indeed, in which the hallucination is more

permanent, and cannot be at once interrupted in this manner:-these of course come to border on insanity.

There is still a fourth condition connected with this curious subject; namely, that in which a person awake, and in other respects in possession of his rational powers, perceives spectral illusions. This, we shall see, is allied in a singular manner to the affections now referred to.

The subject therefore, divides itself into four parts, which will form the separate topics of the following observations:

1. Dreaming.

2. Somnambulism. 3. Insanity.

4. Spectral Illusions.

The causes of these remarkable conditions of the mental functions are entirely beyond the reach of our inquiries; but the phenomena connected with them present a subject of most interesting investigation.

I.-DREAMING.

The peculiar condition of the mind in dreaming appears to be referable to two heads :

1. The impressions which arise in the mind are believed to have a real and present existence; and this belief is not corrected, as in the waking state, by comparing the conception with the things of the external world.

2. The ideas or images in the mind follow one another according to associations over which we have no control; we cannot, as in the waking state, vary the series, or stop it at our will.

One of the most curious objects of investigation is to trace the manner in which the particular visions

or series of images arise. When considered in this view, a great variety may be observed in dreams. Some of those which we are able to trace most distinctly appear to be the following:

1. Recent events, and recent mental emotions. mingled up into one continuous series with each other, or with old events, by means of some feeling which had been in a greater or less degree allied to each of them, though in other respects they were entirely unconnected. We hear, perhaps, of a distressing accident; we have received some unpleas ant news of an absent friend; and we have been concerned in some business which gave rise to anxiety a dream takes place, in which all these are combined together; we are ourselves connected with the accident; the absent friend is in our company; and the person with whom the business was transacted also appears in the scene. The only bond of union among these occurrences was, that each of them gave rise to a similar kind of emotion; and the train was probably excited by some bodily feeling of uneasiness, perhaps an oppression at the stomach, at the time when the dream occurred. Without this, the particular series might not have taken place at all; or some of the elements of it might have occurred in a totally different association. The absent friend might have appeared in connexion with old and pleasing recollections, combined perhaps with persons and events associated with these, and without any reference to the painful intelligence by which the attention had been directed to him. We meet a person whom we have not seen for many years, and are led to inquire after old friends, and to allude to events long past. Dreams follow, in which these persons appear, and other persons and occurrences connected with them; but the individual, whose conversation gave rise to the series, does not appear in it, because he was not connected with the

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