rity to be mental, it must be communicated from the almighty Fountain of goodness, who gives to man a reasonable soul, and who thus becomes the author of all the natural obliquities and perversions of spiritual manifestation;-a consequence too blasphemous to be tolerated.

On the other hand, we believe every gift of God to be good, and the soul of man, as emanating from him, to be pure and holy;—it becomes prone to evil by its alliance with materiality with that fallen nature upon which the riality—with influence of sin has been soprominently impressed; and then its manifestations assume the tinge of the material medium appointed for their expression; and individual peculiarity is accounted for upon the same principle with the distinctive attributes of other animals. The only difference is this, that man has within him a spiritual presiding principle, and that all his animal propensities are subjected to its influence; and therefore he is responsible for every act, and thought, and feeling, and expression.Originally he had power to choose the good, and refuse the evil; and although now he has lost that power in his own strength, and sin reigns in his mortal body, and his mental manifestations are debased,-yet a remedy has been provided in the atoning sacrifice of Christ, and in

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the promised aid of the Holy Spirit. Now all these varied influences-animal peculiarity, difference of social relation, education, opportunity, custom and habit, advantages of religious instruction, the abandonment or the reception of moral sanctions, the acceptance or the rejection of the proffered offers of mercy, and the degree in which the heart is under the guidance of religious motive and principle-will sufficiently explain the diversities of present character.

But if so, these diversities have been shown to consist not in variety of spiritual essence, but of the material medium through which its manifestations are made;-and this again explains the infinite variety of its morbid actions.

CHAPTER VII.

Phenomena of sleep, and its morbid states;-its physiological laws; its morbid conditions;-waking dreams or reveries;-nightmare ;-dreams.

THE next stage of our inquiry, in proceeding from the more simple to the more complicated results, will be to glance a little at the physiological phenomena of sleep; but more particularly to consider its morbid states.

It would be right, were it possible, to define, in the first instance, in what consists simple, natural, healthy sleep, before we proceed to describe its pathological conditions, in order that the exact amount of the latter might be estimated by contrasting them with the former: but here, again, we find a limit placed to our investigation; for it is an inexplicable boon provided for the weary and the wayworn by the beneficent Creator, and so essentially interwoven

with the constitution, as to be inseparable from its well-being, and to form a vital action, the precise nature of which is unknown. Its influence is a fundamental law impressed upon animal life; and all bow to its agency; but we know not why. It is the offspring of life, and, like its parent, is difficult, perhaps impossible, to be defined; and we must be contented with the scanty information we can obtain of its natural phenomena, and of the many deviations. from its healthy state. In fact, it is far easier to say what it is not, than to describe wherein it consists.

It is, however, important to remark, that it is not a state of absolute quiescence; for many organs of the body will continue to act on during sleep; and, indeed, will be possessed of a greater degree of activity than is customary, precisely because the intellectual function is less employed. Thus, all the processes on which the continuance of life depends, go on uninterruptedly the beating of the heart, and the heaving of the chest, are visible and tangible; the process of digestion is even more completely performed during sleep, than in the waking state, because more nervous energy can be then accumulated about the stomach than can be spared for the individual wants of this

organ at a period when it is distributed among a variety of active functions. But let it be asked, whence is this continued supply of nervous energy derived? If from the brain, it surely must be one of those organs which does not enter into complete repose during sleep; and, admitting this, we shall be prepared to account for many of the disturbed phenomena of that process.

The brain continues its unwearied action during sleep; but many of its intellectual manifestations are laid aside, or are so obscured by this state as not to be cognizable. It should seem that as an intellectual organ it was more liable to exhaustion, than as a merely corporeal agent; and that, therefore, sleep had been provided more particularly for the repose of the intellectual brain; and this opinion is supported by the fact, that fatigue is induced much earlier when bodily exertion is accompanied by mental effort or emotion; more especially if that emotion be of a depressing character. A consequence of this law is, that in sleep the brain ceases to be the servant of the mind, or spiritual principle, and is no longer obedient to the will. For, as wakefulness may be defined to be a state of the brain in which the exercise of its functions is submitted to the will, with a