Elements of the philosophy of the human mind. By Dugald Stewart. Rev. and abridged, with critical and explanatory notes, for the use of colleges and schools. By Francis Bowen ...

2014 DREAMING.
By means of this supposition of a partial sleep, any apparent exceptions which the history of dreams may afford to the
while the mind is under no control. The somnambulist is, therefore, really
insane, and,. as such, the law does not hold him responsible for his deeds.
To remove the check which the will has over the thoughts is like taking
aw.ay the balance-wheel from a watch, which then runs down with a hurried and irregular motion, no longer taking note of time. Every thinker
perceives this effect, if he abandons himself to a fit of reverie, when the
most heterogeneous ideas chase each other in quick succession through the
mind, without coherency or method, and leaving hardly a trace on the
memory. Startle him from this state of dreamy abstraction, and he looks
round bewildered, and requires a moment of effort, before he becomes
conscious of his situation, and of the presence of surrounding things. Except the depression of spirits, he feels, for an instant, as Lear did, when
wakening to a gleam of sanity, as the clouds which had obscured his intellect were for a moment parted. How admirably are the bewilderment
of mind, and the effort to recall and fix the attention upon the bystandels,
here depicted! It is the struggle of the will to regain its supremacy.
" Pray, do not mock me:
I am a very foolish, fond old man,
Fourscore and upward; and, to deal plainly,
I fear I am not in my perfect mind.
Methinks I should know you,. and know this man;
Yet I am doubtful: for I am mainly ignorant
What place this is; and all the skill I have
Remembers not these garments; nor I know not
W~here I did lodge last night. Do not laugh at me;
For, as I am a man, I think this lady
To be my child Cordelia."
In most cases of recovery, the patient retains no memory of what has occurred, or what he has clone during his madness; or, if any recollection remains, it is dim and perturbed, like that of a dream. Memory being dependent on attention, and that again on the will, this is precisely what we
should expect when the power of volition is suspended. In cases of partial
mania, the will loses its control over a particular thought, or set of ideas,
which then occupy and harass the mind, being invested with a factitious
importance, and leading to the most insane acts. A sane person, if an
unpleasant thought or recollection comes upon him, can resolutely put it
aside, and fix his attention upon other objects. But if he be nervous and
imaginative, irresolute of will, and defective in the power of attention, the
unwelcome visitant - especially if it be of a gloomy or exciting character,