Sleep and Its DerangementsHammond, William A. (William Alexander)
Science
Sleep and Its Derangements
Hammond, William A. (William Alexander)
Sleep -- Physiological aspects; Sleep disorders
Not long since I dreamed that I stood upon a very high perpendicular
table-land, at the foot of which flowed a river. I thought I experienced
an irresistible desire to approach the brink and to look down. Had I been
awake, such a wish would have been the very last to enter my mind, for I
have an instinctive dread of standing on a height. I dreamed that I threw
myself on my face and crawled to the edge of the cliff. I looked down at
the stream, which scarcely appeared to be as wide as my hand, so great was
the altitude upon which I was placed. As I looked I felt an overpowering
impulse to crawl still farther and to throw myself into the water below. I
imagined that I endeavored with all my will to resist this force, which
appeared to be acting by means altogether external to my organism. My
efforts, however, were all in vain. I could not control my movements, and
gradually I was urged farther and farther over the brink, till at last I
went down into the abyss below. As I struck the water I awoke with a
start. During my imaginary struggle I thought I experienced all the
emotions which such an event if real would have excited, and I was
painfully conscious of my utter inability to escape from the peril of my
situation. Here were circumstances such as, according to Mr. Stewart,
demonstrate the activity of volition, but at the same time show its
inability to act upon the body. But clearly they show no such thing, for
the imaginary volition was to refrain from crawling over a precipice which
did not exist, and over which, therefore, I was not hanging. Such an act
of the will if real, could not in the very nature of the real conditions
of the situation have been carried out--the volition was just as imaginary
as all the other circumstances of the dream.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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