Curry, who suffered from this symptom to
such a degree that he distinguished every object in a completely
darkened room with perfect ease. In somnambulists, however, the eyes are
generally closed or violently turned up; and in the rare cases in which
they are open, they evidently see nothing. It is, besides, well
established that people thus affected have continued to read, to play on
instruments, and even to write after they had fallen sound asleep, and
without ever opening their eyes. The sensitiveness of the retina could
here not avail much. A case is mentioned of a father who rose at night,
took his child from the cradle, and with wide open eyes carried it up
and down the room, seeing nothing, and in such a state of utter
unconsciousness that his wife, walking by his side, could safely draw
all his secrets from him without his becoming aware of the process or
remembering it the next morning. At the age of forty-five he ceased to
walk in his sleep, but, instead, had prophetic dreams which revealed to
him the occurrences of the following day and later future events.
(_Heer, Observ._) Gassendi (_Phys._, l. viii. ch. 8) mentions a young
man, living in Provence, who rose in his sleep, dressed, drew wine in
the cellar, wrote up the accounts, and in the darkest night never
touched objects that were in his way. If he returned quietly to his bed,
he slept well, and strangely enough, recalled everything he had done in
the night; but if he was suddenly aroused in the cellar or in the
street, he was seized with violent trembling and palpitations of the
heart. At times he saw but imperfectly; then he fancied he had risen
before daybreak, and lit a lamp. The _Encyclopédie Méthodique_ reports
the case of a young priest who wrote his sermons at night, and with
closed eyes, and then read each page aloud, correcting and improving
what he had written. A sheet of paper held between his eyes and his
manuscript did not disturb him; nor did he become aware of it if the
latter was removed and blank paper was substituted; in this case he
wrote the corrections precisely where they would have been inserted in
the text. Macnish mentions ("On Sleep," p. 148) the curious case of an
innkeeper in Germany, a huge mass of flesh, who fell asleep at all times
and in all places, but who, when this happened while he was playing
cards, nevertheless continued to follow suit, as if he could see what
was led. In 1832, when he was barely 50 years old, he literally fell
asleep, paralysis killing him instantly during one of these attacks of
sleep. The same author mentions somnambulists who in their sleep walked
to the sea-shore and swam for some distance without being waked, and the
case of a Norwegian who during his paroxysms took a boat and rowed
himself about for some time. He was cured of his affection by a tub full
of water, which was so placed that he had to step into it when leaving
his bed. In Scotland a peasant discovered from below the nest of a
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