Phænomenon of Dreaming. 153

if these Authors had accounted for thisP ®nomenon by the agency of living invi-te fieings } they would have concludedat Waking spectres were also formed and^presented by. them ; since they thoughte ams i possession or ecstasy , and apparitions,proceeded from the same cause, and werebe. solved the same way.

XLIII. As to what is urged next, that^ese spirits must be ignorant, absurd, idle,^ e ak, Gfc. otherwise our dreams would note so trifling and inconsistent; a little conside-ra don will shew us, that they are not such,may yet represent our dreams as such.heir knowledge surely is furprizingly great,^ith regard to our nature and constitution.Phey must understand, not only how spirita< ^ s on matter, since they themselves so act011 ou r organs (h ); but also how matter acts

on

(^) I have all along supposed, that impressions are firstis ^ ° n sensol 7 w hen we dream; and that the foulth percipient of the representations, by means oftVe 6 lrn P re ® 0ns J fust as it is of external objects, whilear§ ^ awa ^ e » like impressions. The reasons for thisSiled'^^ 5 the authority of those writers , whom I have°st this subject, they all suppose motion and ma-terial