scaffold, yet he never met with
any accident, and would answer questions put to him as if he were awake.
In like manner, we are informed that Dr. Haycock, the Professor of
Medicine at Oxford, would, in a fit of somnambulism, preach an eloquent
discourse; and some of the sermons of a lady who was in the habit of
preaching in her sleep have been deemed worthy of publication.

We remember meeting with the case of an Italian servant, who was a
somnambulist, and who enjoyed the character of being a better waiter
when he was asleep than when he was awake. Every book on the subject
repeats the anecdote which has been recorded of the blind poet, Dr.
Blacklock, who, on one occasion, rose from his bed, to which he had
retired at an early hour, came into the room where his family were
assembled, conversed with them, afterward entertained them with a
pleasant song, and then retired to his bed; and when he awoke, had not
the least recollection of what he had done. Here, however, on the very
threshold of the mystery, we meet with this difficulty--were these
persons, when they performed the actions described, partially awake, or
were they really in a state of profound sleep? In solving this problem,
we shall proceed to consider some of the phenomena of somnambulism,
premising only that if we avail ourselves of cases which the reader may
before have met with, it is to throw light on what we may, perhaps, call
the physiology of this very curious affection.

There can be no doubt that somnambulism is hereditary. Horstius
mentions three brothers who were affected with it at the same period;
and Dr. Willis knew a whole family subject to it. It is considered by
all medical men as a peculiar form of disease. It seldom manifests
itself before the age of six, and scarcely ever continues beyond the
sixtieth year. It depends, physically, upon the susceptibility or
delicacy of the nervous system; and on this account females are more
liable to it than males; and in youth it manifests itself more
frequently than in mature age. It is caused mentally by any violent and
profound emotion; as well as by excessive study, and over-fatiguing the
intellectual faculties. Some persons walk periodically in their sleep;
the fit returns at stated intervals--perhaps two or three times only in
the month. It has been also observed--although we by no means vouch for
the fact--by an eminent German physician, that some persons walk at the
full, others at the new moo