Cabanis[98] gives Cullen the credit of being the first to point out the similarity between the phenomena of dreaming and those of delirium, and himself enters at length into the full discussion of the several questions involved. A very little reflection will suffice to convince the reader that the two conditions are strikingly alike. In dreams we never distinguish the false from the real; the judgment, if exercised at all, acts in the most erratic manner; we are rarely surprised at the occurrence of the most improbable circumstances; our characters for the time being often undergo a radical change, and we perform imaginary acts in our sleep which are altogether at variance with our actual dispositions. The hallucinations of sleep we accept as realities just as the insane individual believes in all the erroneous impressions made upon his senses. The dreaming person is, in fact, the victim of delusions which, during the existence of his condition, have a firm hold on his mind and render him in no essential particular different from the one who suffers from mental unsoundness. The incoherence present in dreams, and the evident dependence of the various images upon the suggestion of previous images, are likewise phenomena of the insane state. Even in persons perfectly sane, dreams often produce a very powerful influence on the mind. Most of us have, on awaking, felt pleased or disturbed from reflecting upon the circumstances of a dream we have had during the night, and occasionally the impression has remained through the entire day. With children this influence is still more strongly shown. As Sir Henry Holland[99] remarks, the corrections from reason and experience are less complete in them than in adults. As a consequence, they not infrequently confuse their dream-visions with the facts of their lives, and regard the former as real events. The hallucinations of dreams are also occasionally continued during wakefulness, and hence some persons have, on awaking, seen the images which had been present to them in their sleep. The celebrated Benedict de Spinoza[100] was once the subject of an illusion which had its starting-point in a dream. He dreamed that he was visited by a tall, thin, and black Brazilian, diseased with the itch. He awoke, and thought he saw such an image standing beside him. Muller,[101] in referring to such instances, says: