to be felt, must be agitated by the Wind. Such being the State and Texture of our Body, there is no Difficulty in comprehending how, whilft awake, we come by the Ideas of luminous, fonorous, fapid, odoriferous, and tactile Bodies. The Emanations of thefe Bodies, or even their Parts, by their Allifion against our Nerves on the Surface of the Body, fet them in Motion; and as a String, ftretched to its utmost Length, if pinched in any one Part, vibrates all over; fo likewise the Nerve fhivers from one End to the other, and this Tremor of the inward Extremity is followed, and, as it were, accompanied with the Sensation correfpondent to it.

But when, precluding all the Avenues of our Soul from fenfible Objects, we fink into the Arms of Sleep, whence proceed thefe new Appearances which present themfelves to us, and fometimes with a Power and Vivacity, whereby our Paffions are raised to a State very little different from that of Vigilancy? How is it that I see, and hear, and all my Senfes are engaged, without any of the Organs of Senfation?

Let us here carefully distinguish the several Particulars, which are ufually confounded. In what Manner are the Organs of the Senfes the Caufe of Senfations; is it

as immediate Principles? Is it immediately by the Eye that the Soul fees, and by the Ear that it hears? Not at all; the Eye and the Ear are affected, but the Soul is not advised of it till the Impreffion reaches to the internal Extremity of the optic or auditory Nerve; and, if this Impreffion happens to be so obftructed by the Way, as not to communicate itself to the Brain, the Impreffion is loft to the Soul: Thus, and it fhould be well obferved, being one of the fundamental Principles of our Explanation of Dreams, it is fufficient for communicating Reprefentations to the Soul, that the internal Extremities of the Nerves be put into a Vibration.

It is the more readily conceived, that this internal Extremity is the most impreffible, the Ramifications, in which it terminates, being of an extreme Tenuity, and placed at the very Source of that Fluid which penetrates them, flows and ferpentifes through them, and must there be much more active, than after its long Journey through thofe infinite Meanders, by which it is carried to the Surface of the Body. Hence it is that arife all the Acts. of Imagination during Vigilancy, and nothing is more known, than that in Perfons of a certain Habit of Body, or who are given up to intenfe Meditation, or agi D 3 tated

tated by violent Paffions, these Acts of Imagination are equivalent to Senfation, and even hinder its Effects; though otherwife the Impreffion, in itself, be very far from faint. Thofe are the Dreams of waking Men, and there is a perfect Analogy betwixt them and the Dreams in Sleep; both the one and the other depending on that Series of inward Concuffions at that Extremity of the Nerves, which terminates in the Brain; the whole Difference, is, that whilft awake, we can check this Series, break the Concatenation, alter the Direction, and fuperfede it, by cal ling in real Senfation; whereas Dreams are independent of our Will, and it is without the Verge of our Power either to continue an agreeable Illufion, or difperfe an hideous Phantom. The Imagination in a waking Perfon is a policed Republic, where the Voice of the Magiftrate appeafes Confufion, and restores Order; the Imagination in Dreams is the fame Republic in a State of Anarchy; and ftill the Paffions make frequent Attempts against the Legiflator's Authority, even whilft his Prerogative is in its full Force, and he is in a Capacity of afferting his Rights.

There is a Law of Imagination which Experience demonftrates beyond all Difpute, and this is the laft Principle previous

to

to the Explication of Dreams. This Law is, that Imagination connects the Objects in the fame Manner as prefented to us by the Senses; and that any subsequent Recollection of them is likewife according to this Connection. This is fo common, that it would be fuperfluous to dwell on it; we, for the first Time, fee a Stranger at a Play, in fuch a Box, near fuch and fuch Perfons ; if the next Day our Imagination, either of itself, or, at our Call, recollects the Idea of that Stranger; at the fame Time, it exhibits the Theatre, the Place where the Stranger fat, and the Perfons we faw about him; and, if at the End of a Year, ten Years, or more, according to the Strength of our Memory,' we happen to fee him elsewhere, at Sight of him, his Idea will be accompanied with the whole Affemblage of the abovemened Objects. It is likewife in Confequence of this Law of Imagination, that Languages are learned, and, in general, all that Part of our Knowledge which is acquired by Memory. I would know the Hebrew Word for Heaven; I am told it is Schamajim; I repeat two or three Times within myself Heaven, Schamajim; I have it. These two Words will henceforth go. Hand in Hand; and Imagination will, at Command, produce them together. Such D 4

then

then being the Manner in which Ideas become connected in our Brain, it is not at all furprising that firange and heterogeneous Combinations fhould be formed there; but it is what neceffarily demands our Attention, as thereby the apparent Oddness and Extravagancy of our Dreams is cleared up. And it is not only two Objects which be come thus connected, but ten, a thousand, the immense Affemblage of all our Ideas, there not, being one which was not received annexed to fome other, and this to a Third, and fo on; that, in setting out from any one Idea, you may fucceffively arrive at all the others, and by Ways not traced fortuitoufly, as they feem to be, but determined by the Manner and Circumftance of the Entrance of that Idea into our Soul. Let us fuppofe our Brain a Wood cut into a thousand Walks; you are in one of them, that is, you are taken with fuch a Senfation, or fuch an A&t of Imagination; if you give yourself up to it, either voluntarily, as whilst awake; or neceffarily as in Dreams, from this Walk you are carried into a Second, thence into a Third, according to the Cut of them ;. and your Route, however irregular in Appearance, depends on the Place whence you began your Walk, and the Difpofition of the Wood; fo that from

up

any