And hence
M. Formey, who adopts the opinion of Wolfius, concludes, that those
dreams are supernatural, which either do not begin by sensation, or are
not continued by the law of imagination.[82]
The opinion is as old as Aristotle, who asserted, that a dream is only
the [Greek: Phantasma] or _appearance_ of things, excited in the mind,
and remaining after the objects are removed.[83] The opinion of
Lucretius, translated in our motto, was likewise that of Tully.[84] Locke
also traces the origin of dreams to previous sensations. "The dreams of
sleeping men," says this profound philosopher, "are all made up of the
waking man's ideas, though for the most part oddly put together."[85] And
Dr. Hartley, who explains all the phenomena of the imagination by his
theory of vibrations and associations, says, that dreams are nothing but
the imaginations or reveries of sleeping men, and that they are
deducible from three causes--viz, the impressions and ideas lately
received, and particularly those of the preceding day, the state of the
body, more especially of the stomach and brain, and association.
Pages:
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206