eamed of
spending a winter at Hudson's Bay, and of suffering much distress from
intense frost; and found, when he awoke, that he had thrown off the
bed-clothes in his sleep, and exposed himself to cold. He had been
reading, a few days before, a very particular account of this colony.
The eminent metaphysician, Dr. Reid, relates of himself that the
dressing of a blister, which he had applied to his head, becoming
ruffled, so as to produce pain, he dreamed that he had fallen into the
hands of a party of North American Indians, who were scalping him. These
were dreams suggested by sensations which, were conveyed from the
surface of the body, through the nerves, until corresponding impression
was produced on the mind. Upon the same principle, very strong
impressions received during the day may modify and very materially
influence the character of our dreams at night. Dr. Beattie states that
once, after riding thirty miles in a very high wind, he passed a night
of dreams which were so terrible, that he found it expedient to keep
himself awake, that he might no longer be tormented with them. "Had I
been superstitious," he observes, "I should have thought that some
disaster was impending; but it occurred to me that the tempestuous
weather I had encountered the preceding day might be the cause of all
these horrors." Other and less obvious causes are in constant operation.
A change in the weather--in the electrical state of the atmosphere--and
its barometrical pressure--the temperature of the bedroom--arrangements
of the bed-furniture--the adjustment of the bed-clothes--nay, the
position of the sleeper, particularly if he cramp a foot or benumb an
arm, will at once affect the entire concatenation and issue of his
dreams.

Furthermore, impressions may be made on the mind during sleep, by
speaking gently to a person, or even whispering in the ear. We
ourselves, when in Italy, could on one occasion trace the origin of a
very remarkable dream to our having heard, in an obscure and
half-conscious manner, during sleep, the noise of people in the streets,
on All Souls'-night, invoking alms for the dead. Dr. Beattie knew a man
in whom any kind of dream could be produced if his friends, gently
addressing him, afforded the subject-matter for his ideas. Equally
curious is the circumstance that dreams may be produced by whispering in
the ear. A case of this description is recorded by Dr. Abercrombie:

"An officer, whose susceptibility of