The  next  singular  circumstance  in  dreaming  is,  that  strange
appearance  of  reality  which  attends  all  our  thoughts  and
conceptions.  In  our  moments  of  waking,  we  may  form  ten
thousand  imaginations  in  the  mind,  paint  unnumbered  scenes,
and  sport  ourselves  with  figuring  imaginary  objects  and  ad-
ventures, and  never  for  a  moment,  be  deluded  with  any
sense  of  their  reality.  But  in  our  dreams,  our  most  airy  and
fantastick  figures  have  a  real  existence,  our  chimeras,  gor-
gons  and  hydras  live,  the  wildest  fictions  are  realised,  we
take  part  in  the  most  hazardous  adventures,  sail  in  the  air,
are  tossed  in  tempests  upon  the  ocean,  tumble  from'the  tops
of  houses,  and  escape  with  difficulty  from  volcanoes,
earthquakes  and  inundations.  Whence  do  these  airy  ima-
ginations derive  their  impression  of  reality?  May  it  not  be
that  the  same  actions  and  alterations  are  produced  in  our
bodily  organs  of  perception  as  if  these  objects  and  scenes
were  really  present,  and  that  the  reason  and  judgment, in  such
cases,  are  too  torpid  and  inactive  to  correct  the  delusions  of
imagination?  In  proportion  to  the  feebleness  of  reason  among
mankind  are  they  prone  to  mistake  their  fantasies  for  reali-
ties. ,  This  is  one  reason  why  an  unenlightened  audience  is
more  easily  excited  and  transported  out  of  themselves  by
the  bold  figures,  and  glowing  pictures  of  the  orator  and  the
actor,  than  that  which  is  enlightened.  Hence  too,  when  rea-
son, in  cases  of  insanity,  is  entirely  tossed  from  her  throne,
the  maniac  becomes  the  sport  of  every  wild  illusion.
