Castelli, a young somnambulist and a student of pharmacy, performed many astonishing acts during his paroxysms. One night he was found in the somnambulic condition, translating a passage from the Italian into French, and searching out the words in a dictionary. Prichard[117] assumes from this fact that he must have seen the words. He states further, that somnambulists have been known to write and even to correct their compositions, and to do other acts which could not possibly have been performed without sight. While it is certainly true that somnambulists have done all these things, it is equally certain that they have often performed them without the aid of their eyes. In the case of Castelli, a candle was on the table, which some one who saw him extinguished. He immediately arose, and lighted it, although there was no occasion for his doing so, as the room was well lit with other candles.[118] These he had not observed, but was only cognizant of the one which he probably did not see, but which was in relation with him through some more subtle channel. Many somnambulists are known to have acted as though they saw in rooms which were perfectly dark. A gentleman informs me that his wife frequently walks in her sleep, and performs many somnambulic acts in entire darkness. On one occasion she went into a dark closet, and, opening a trunk, began to arrange the contents. It contained clothing of various kinds, which had been put into it the day before without being sorted. She classified all the articles, such as stockings, handkerchiefs, shirts, etc., without making a single mistake--and without the possibility of being assisted by light sufficient for ordinary eyesight. Bertrand[119] refers to the case of a young lady who was accustomed to rise from her bed in a state of somnambulism and to write in complete darkness. A remarkable feature of this instance was, that if the least light, even that of the moon, entered the room, she was unable to write. She could only do so in the most perfect obscurity. In the case of the young lady, the particulars of which, with my experiments, I have related, the sense of sight was certainly not employed, nor were the other senses awake to ordinary excitations. On the other hand, it is evident that some somnambulists make use of their eyes and their other organs of sense in the ordinary way, when the excitations made upon them are in relation with the train of thought or ecstatic condition which prevails. Macario,[120] in reference to this point, says: