A gentleman awoke in the middle of the night, and, calling his wife, told her he had dreamed that a large fortune had been left him by a miner in California. He then went to sleep again, but in the morning again repeated the dream to his wife, and said that “there might be something in it.” She laughed, and remarked that she “hoped it might prove true.” About the time the California steamer was expected, the gentleman was observed to become very anxious and excited, and was continually talking of his expected fortune. At last the steamer arrived. He then began asking the postman for letters from California, went several times a day to the post-office to make like inquiries, and finally went aboard the steamer and questioned the officers on the same subject. Then he was sure the letter had miscarried, and would sit for hours in the most profound melancholy. He was now recognized by his family as a monomaniac, and strenuous efforts were made to cure him of his delusion, but they were unsuccessful; and although now apparently sane on other subjects, he still holds the erroneous idea which was first given him in his dream of several years ago. A young lady was brought to me in July, 1868, who had been rendered insane by a dream which took place a few months before I saw her. She went to bed one night in good health and spirits, though somewhat fatigued in consequence of having skated a good deal the previous afternoon. In the morning she told her mother she had committed the “unpardonable sin,” and that there was consequently no hope of her salvation. She based her idea on a dream she had had, in which an angel appeared to her, and sorrowfully informed her of her sin and her destiny. When asked to tell what her sin was, she refused to do so, saying it was too shocking and atrocious to talk about. She kept to her delusion, and soon settled into a sort of melancholic stupor, from which it was impossible entirely to rouse her. Under the use of arsenic, and the acid phosphate of lime of Prof. Horsford, she gradually recovered her reason. The manner in which prodromic dreams are excited is very simple. The ancients and some modern writers have regarded them as prophetic; but the true explanation does not require so severe a tax on our powers of belief. In the previous chapter, it was shown that very slight impressions made upon the senses during sleep are exaggerated by the partially awakened brain. The first evidence of approaching paralysis may be a very minute degree of numbness--so minute that the brain when awake and engaged with the busy thoughts of active life fails to appreciate it. During sleep, however, the brain is quiescent, till some exciting cause sets it in uncontrollable action, and dreaming results. Such a cause may be the incipient numbness of a limb. A dream of its being turned into stone, or cut off, or violently struck, is the consequence. The disease goes on developing, and soon makes its presence unmistakable.