the room will, for example, suggest to the
sleeper, if his slumber is not too deep, a dream dominated by the image
of fire, the idea of a burning building. Permit me to cite to you two
observations of M. Tissie on this subject:

"B---- Leon dreams that the theater of Alexandria is on _fire_; the
flame lights up the whole place. All of a sudden he finds himself
transported to the midst of the fountain in the public square; a line
of _fire_ runs along the chains which connect the great posts placed
around the margin. Then he finds himself in Paris at the exposition,
which is on _fire_. He takes part in terrible scenes, etc. He wakes with
a start; his eyes catch the rays of light projected by the dark lantern
which the night nurse flashes toward his bed in passing. M---- Bertrand
dreams that he is in the marine infantry where he formerly served. He
goes to Fort-de-France, to Toulon, to Loriet, to Crimea, to
Constantinople. He sees lightning, he hears thunder, he takes part in a
combat in which he sees _fire_ leap from the mouths of cannon. He wakes
with a start. Like B., he was wakened by a flash of light projected from
the dark lantern of the night nurse." Such are often the dreams provoked
by a bright and sudden light.

Very different are those which are suggested by a mild and continuous
light like that of the moon. A. Krauss tells how one day on awakening he
perceived that he was extending his arm toward what in his dream
appeared to him to be the image of a young girl. Little by little this
image melted into that of the full moon which darted its rays upon him.
It is a curious thing that one might cite other examples of dreams where
the rays of the moon, caressing the eyes of the sleeper, evoked before
him virginal apparitions. May we not suppose that such might have been
the origin in antiquity of the fable of Endymion--Endymion the shepherd,
lapped in perpetual slumber, for whom the goddess Selene, that is, the
moon, is smitten with love while he sleeps?

I have spoken of visual sensations. They are the principal ones. But the
auditory sensations nevertheless play a role. First, the ear has also
its internal sensations, sensations of buzzing, of tinkling, of
whistling, difficult to isolate and to perceive while awake, but which
are clearly distinguished in sleep. Besides that we continue, when once
asleep, to hear external sounds. The creaking of furniture, the
crackling of the fire, the rain beating against the