undergoes many singular modifications. Thus,
persons who talk in their sleep, may, by
conversation, be brought to remember a dream
within a dream; and it is very common, in
the higher stages of somnambulism, for a
person to recollect what happened in the
preceding fit, and be unconscious of any interval
having elapsed between them. A somnambulist,
at Berlin, in one of her paroxysms,
wandering in her sleep, was guilty of an
indiscretion which she had no recollection of in
her waking hours; but, when she again became
somnambulic, she communicated all the
circumstances to her mother. During the
next convalescent interval, they again escaped
her memory. The case is related, by Treviranus,
of a young student who when he
fell asleep began to repeat aloud a continuous
and connected dream, which began each
night precisely where it left off the preceding
night. This reminds us of the story of the
drunken Porter, who in a fit of intoxication
left a parcel at a wrong house; when he became
sober he could not recollect where he
had left it, but the next time he got drunk he
remembered the house, and called and recovered it.

In persons disposed to somnambulism,
dreams of a very striking and exciting nature
call into action, in the early stage of this
affection, the muscles of the voice before those
which are implicated in the movement of
rising and walking; and it is worthy of notice
that the muscles, upon which the voice is
dependent, are very numerous and exquisitely
delicate; the result of which is, that they are
affected by all mental emotions. Hence, the
tones of the voice truly indicate the character
of certain passions and feelings, for which
reason, on the stage, the intonation given by
the actor, whether it be the distressed cry of
a Belvidera, or the pathetic singing of an
Ophelia, will carry along the sympathies of
the audience, albeit, the exact words may
not be understood. A particular tone of
voice causes, without reference to words, a
corresponding feeling, just as the vibration of
one instrument will harmonise with the vibration
of another; but this is not all, the voice
is the first organ which is affected by any
excitement of the brain. It betrays the
wine-bibber having drunk to excess while
he is yet perfectly rational; it is, therefore,
by no means surprising that persons in
their sleep when excited by dreams, should
moan, mutter, or even speak articulately. In
this state, the mind seems to struggle, in its
connection with the body, to give utterance to
its emotions; and it is reasonable to believe
the greater the intensity of the dream-conception,
the clearer will be the articulation of
the voice, and the greater, also, the precision
of the somnambulic movements. Hence,
apparently, it is only in very profound sleep that
persons will rise, dress themselves, walk
about, &c.; while, in less profound sleep,
their vivid dreams only agitate and make
them restless. One of the most interesting,
and indeed affecting, cases on record, is that
of Laura Bridgman, who, at a very early age,
was afflicted with an inflammatory disease,
which ended in the disorganisation and loss of
the contents of her eyes and ears; in
consequence of which calamity she grew up
blind, deaf, and dumb. Now, it is quite
certain that persons who have once enjoyed
the use of their senses, and then lost them,
have very vivid dreams, in which they recal the
impressions of their earliest infancy. So was it
with the blind poet, Dr. Blacklock; and so also
was it with Laura Bridgman, and it is a very
interesting fact that she, being unable to
speak, when asleep used the finger alphabet.
This she did sometimes in a very confused
manner, the irregularity of her finger-signs
corresponding with that defective articulation
which persons give utterance to, when they
murmur and mutter indistinctly their dream-
impressions. It was, be it observed, when
she was disturbed in her sleep that she ran
over her finger alphabet confusedly, like one
who, playing on a stringed instrument, has
not the attention sufficiently fixed to give
precision and expression to the performance.
The minstrel, described by Sir Walter Scott,
with his fingers wandering wildly through
the strings of his harp, resembles poor Laura
giving utterance, thus imperfectly, to her
bewildered dreams.

When the somnambulic state becomes
more intense, the voluntary muscles of the
limbs are excited into action; the somnambulist
rises; dresses himself; and in pursuing
his dream-imagery, wanders about, or
sits down steadily to execute some task,
which, however difficult in his waking hours,
he now accomplishes with facility. The condition
of the body in a physiological point
of view becomes now a solemn mystery: the
eyes are open, but insensible to light; the
portals of the ears, also, but the report of a
pistol will, in some cases, not rouse the sense
of hearing; the sense of smell, too, is frequently
strangely altered, and that of taste
likewise becomes perverted, or, perhaps,
entirely suspended. The sensibility of the
surface of the body is often remarkably impaired;
and, for the time, partially, or entirely
abolished. In the case of a female somnabulist
described in "The Philosophy of Natural
History," by Dr. Smellie, he tells us that,
when she was in one of her paroxysms, he
ran a pin repeatedly into her arm—but not a
muscle moved, nor was any symptom of pain
discoverable. Here we may observe an important
and interesting fact, that, as a general
principle, in proportion as the mind concentrates
its powers and energises itself within,
the sensibility of the body diminishes. The
soldier, in his excitement on the battle-field,
feels not his wounds; he will faint from loss of
blood before he knows that he has been " hit."
The unconsciousness of danger is often the
best protection against it. On looking down