DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70266#0297
SLEEP-WALKERS AND DREAMERS,’ 263
up, and soon after was cataleptic. In less than a quarter of
an hour the fit went off, and she awoke as out of a profound
sleep, not knowing what had passed; but by observing the
looks of so many about her, that she had been in a fit, she
was greatly confused, and -wept the rest of the day.
Narcotics were used, and her disorder, though it returned
every winter, seemed to abate; in 1/45, the cataleptic fit
did not precede the other, nor were her senses so totally sus-
pended, which she attributed to the use of preparations of steel.
(The cold bath w’as made use of, without success; on which
this writer observes, that, though it be esteemed a specific
against walking in the sleep, it must also have been ineffec-
tual, with respect to the man mentioned by Adrianas Alma-
mis, because in his fits, he would swim over the river Seine,
without waking).
The physician who relates this extraordinary case, appeals
for the truth of the facts, to several of the faculty, who were
witnesses of them at his request, declaring, that in his
opinion, no single testimony was sufficient to render them
credible; so sudden and total a suspension, and restoration
of the sensitive faculties; the great vivacity of imagination,
and the facility of producing voluntary motion during the
fit, being wholly unaccountable from any principles hitherto
known.
Gent. Mag. 1/47, p. 158.
A SLEEP-WALKER.
A remarkable instance of a sleep-walker was well authen-
ticated, during the course of the month of August 1806.
Between eleven and twelve o’clock, a boy who serves the
bricklayers in Maidstone, got out of bed in his sleep, went
through a casement, and walked over the ridges of several
houses, after which he returned, and came in at the same
window, where he awaked in great terror, occasioned by a
up, and soon after was cataleptic. In less than a quarter of
an hour the fit went off, and she awoke as out of a profound
sleep, not knowing what had passed; but by observing the
looks of so many about her, that she had been in a fit, she
was greatly confused, and -wept the rest of the day.
Narcotics were used, and her disorder, though it returned
every winter, seemed to abate; in 1/45, the cataleptic fit
did not precede the other, nor were her senses so totally sus-
pended, which she attributed to the use of preparations of steel.
(The cold bath w’as made use of, without success; on which
this writer observes, that, though it be esteemed a specific
against walking in the sleep, it must also have been ineffec-
tual, with respect to the man mentioned by Adrianas Alma-
mis, because in his fits, he would swim over the river Seine,
without waking).
The physician who relates this extraordinary case, appeals
for the truth of the facts, to several of the faculty, who were
witnesses of them at his request, declaring, that in his
opinion, no single testimony was sufficient to render them
credible; so sudden and total a suspension, and restoration
of the sensitive faculties; the great vivacity of imagination,
and the facility of producing voluntary motion during the
fit, being wholly unaccountable from any principles hitherto
known.
Gent. Mag. 1/47, p. 158.
A SLEEP-WALKER.
A remarkable instance of a sleep-walker was well authen-
ticated, during the course of the month of August 1806.
Between eleven and twelve o’clock, a boy who serves the
bricklayers in Maidstone, got out of bed in his sleep, went
through a casement, and walked over the ridges of several
houses, after which he returned, and came in at the same
window, where he awaked in great terror, occasioned by a