Sensational hallucinations and waking dreams do not properly belong to the subject of sleep; they are a species of monomania, and probably arise from organic derangement. When the mind is so riveted upon one subject as to exclude all others from its notice, it has escaped from the control of the judgment, and is in a state of at least partial insanity. Revery is of this character, but of short duration. It is a species of madness. These conditions occur in a state of insomnolence, and have little in common with the phenomena presented in sleep. The occasional premonitions communicated in dreams - "in visions of the night when deep sleep falleth upon man" - is a mystery, which as yet has not, and never may be unravelled.

Lord Stanhope Relates The Following Singular Instance Of This Description

"A Lord of the Admiralty, who was on a visit to Mount Edgecombe, and who was much distressed by dreaming, dreamed that, walking on the sea-shore, he picked up a book, which appeared to be the log-book of a ship of war, of which his brother was the captain. He opened it, and read an entry of the latitude, longitude, as well as of the day and hour, to which was added, 'our captain died.' The company endeavored to comfort him, by laying a wager that the dream would be falsified by the event; and a memorandum was made in writing of what he had stated, which was afterwards confirmed in every particular."

We also introduce the following letter of the Hon. Mr. Talbot to the same effect. "In the year 1768, my father, Matthew Talbot, of Castle Talbot, county Wexford, was much surprised at the recurrence of a dream three several times during the same night, which caused him to repeat the Whole circumstance to his lady, the following morning. He dreamed that he had arisen as usual, and descended to his library, the morning being hazy. He then seated himself at his secretoire to write, when, happening to look up a long avenue of trees opposite the window, he perceived a man in a blue jacket, mounted on a white horse, coming towards the house. My father arose, and opened the window: the man advancing, presented him with a roll of papers, and told him they were invoices of a vessel which had been wrecked, and had drifted in during the night on his son-in-law's, Lord Mount Morris's, estate close by, and signed 'Bell & Stephenson.' My father's attention was only called to the dream from its frequent recurrence; but when he found himself seated at his desk on the misty morning, and beheld the identical person whom he had seen in his dream, in the blue coat, riding on a grey horse, he felt surprised, and opening the window, waited the man's approach. He immediately rode up, and drawing from his pocket a packet of papers, gave them to my father, stating they were invoices belonging to an

American vessel which had been wrecked, and drifted in upon his lordship's estate.; that there was no person on board to lay claim to the wreck, but that the invoices were signed 'Stephenson and Bell.' I assure you, my dear sir, that the above is most faithfully given, and actually occurred; but it is not more extraordinary than other examples of the prophetic powers of the mind or soul in sleep, which I have frequently heard related. - Yours most faithfully,

"William Talbot. "Alton Towers, Oct 23, 1842."

There are many dreams recorded and remembered with dread as having been supernatural visitations, foreboding evil, and which should have been regarded with more seriousness, and attended to with greater vigilance.

Lord Jocelyn gives in his "Six Months with the Chinese Expedition,"' the following dream of Captain Anstruther. "This officer was a particular favorite with the whole force, and in his frequent walks into the country around Tinghae, when performing his military duties, had apparently made himself a great friend with the country people, for whose amusement he used to sketch likenesses, much to their astonishment. The night but one previous, to his capture, the artillery camp was aroused by screams proceeding from his tent, and when some of his brother officers traced the sounds to his quarters, he was found asleep, but upon being awaked, said, that he had been dreaming that the Chinese were carrying him off, tied arms and legs to a pole, and gagged, within sight of the camp. This is curious, as from what we were able afterwards to discover, through the means of a paid agent, it was nearly the case, and he was borne within half a mile of the very tents'"

The circumstances connected with this dream divest it in a great measure of its supernatural character. The subject of it was an officer of the British army, and regarded as a deadly enemy of the people with whom he held intercourse. The dream related to himself especially, and being perfectly conversant with their character for stratagem and treachery, he stood in constant fear of them. He also knew the manner of securing their victims was precisely what occurred in his dream, and his mind in sleep was aroused to a contemplation of the subject in its worst aspect. The dream could hardly have been other than it was ; but the horrors of the imaginary scene should have led him to take precautions against its realization.

We extract from Dr. Binns's "Anatomy of Sleep," which the curious in such matters will find rich in material upon these subjects, this case: - A young man named John Gray, residing at Cinderford, who told his mother, before he went to the Crump Meadow coalpits, at which he worked, that he dreamed the preceding night (Sunday, January 14th, 1844), that, while at work, a large stone fell upon and killed him. The mother made light of the dream. Not so the dreamer, who went reluctantly to work, and not until he had returned twice to wish her good-bye. The dream was fulfilled. An immense block of stone fell upon, and crushed him to death."

Many years ago, when our family resided on the banks of the Mohawk, long before the thunder of the steam water-paddle echoed along the shores of the Hudson, or the shrill whistle of the locomotive startled the silence of glen and mountain; when the river in the summer was crossed by ford or ferry, and in winter upon the often treacherous ice; early in the spring, before the river had broken up, my father, on the eve of departure for New York, dreamed that he was in an ice-house, striving to get out by climbing up its slippery contents. The dream was barely related, and then forgotten. The succeeding day, on horseback, he commenced his journey, and was obliged to cross the river. The ice by evaporation haying lost much of its strength, he was precipitated into the stream below. Timely assistance, however, rescued him from the impending danger, but the accident and the dream were ever after coupled in his memory.

This dream was the result of mental association during sleep, and was perfectly natural under the circumstances, but none the less a premonition of danger. Had it aroused the reflective powers when awake as strongly as it did during sleep, the accident would probably have been avoided.

It is curious to observe how thoughts of the waking hours may be prolonged and modified in sleep. As an instance we will relate what occurred in our own case, on the night succeeding our writing the remarks on mysterious and prophetic dreams.

Not long since, I was examining the Croton waterworks in New York city, including some pits which were open in the streets where the great iron trunks were exposed; and on the occasion just alluded to, my mind was in part occupied with this subject. On falling asleep, I dreamed that in passing one of the pits, I jumped down upon a tube about three inches in diameter, for the purpose of inspecting the work more minutely; but when in this position, on casting my eyes below, an awful chasm presented itself, crossed in various directions by huge iron water tubes, but the bottom was invisible. However, the depth was ninety feet. In what way this information was imparted is indistinct, but such appeared the awful depth under my slippery footing. I could just fairly reach the surface above, but could lay hold of nothing, and therefore attempted to leap to the top. I failed; and in falling lodged upon the place just left This fell will never be forgotten, so long as excessive fright commingled with horror can leave an impression on my mind. I then thought to cry for help, but dared not, lest my feet should slip and precipitate me down the dark chasm beneath. After reflecting long upon my perilous situation, I commenced feeling around the platform surrounding the top, and finally succeeded in fastening my fingers in a crevice between the planks, by which means I drew myself up. The dream ordinarily would have ended here, but my mind now. turned upon the subject which had occupied my attention the preceding evening until a late hour. I thought in my dream that what had just transpired was a prophetic dream, and to what it might point my reflections were directed, as well as to what would be the best course to elude the impending danger. During these reflections I awoke excessively exhausted. In this instance, in a dream. I dreamed that I was dreaming. It was a singular mental phenomenon, and of rare occurrence, but not alone on record.