The
marvelous manifestations of somnambulism are still among the more
surprising phenomena with which science has to deal. That a
person deeply immersed in thought should walk and talk while
apparently unconscious, excites no surprise, but that anyone
should when fast asleep perform a series of complicated actions
which undoubtedly demand the assistance of the senses is
marvelous indeed. Often he will rise in the night, walk from room
to room, go out on porticoes, and in some cases on steep roofs,
where he would not dare to venture while awake. Frequently he
will wander for hours through streets and fields, returning home
and to bed without knowledge of anything having transpired.
The state of the eyes during somnambulism varies considerably.
They are sometimes closed, sometimes half-closed, and frequently
quite open; the pupil is sometimes widely dilated, sometimes
contracted, sometimes natural, and for the most part insensible
to light.
Somnambulism seems to be hereditary. Willis cites an example in
which the father and the children were somnambulists, and in
other cases several individuals in the same family have been
afflicted. Horstius gives a history of three young brothers who
became somnambulistic at the same epoch.
Pages:
1703
1704
1705
1706
1707
1708
1709
1710
1711
1712
1713
1714
1715
1716
1717
1718
1719
1720
1721
1722
1723
1724
1725
1726
1727