INTERESTING CASE OF SOMNAMBULISM.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3122, 19 February 1879, Page 1

INTERESTING CASE OF SOMNAMBULISM.

The following interesting case of somnambulism is giren under the head of " SomMmbaliam," in the Frenoh " Bncyclopsedia," and appears there as a narra< tive communicated immediately bjr aa archbishop of Bordeaux:—" At the sane seminar j with the archbishop was a yoang ecclesiastic, who used to rise erery night in his sleep and write out either sermons or pieces of music. In order to stody his condition, the archbishop betook himself sereral nights to the chamber of the yoang man, where he made the following obserrations:—' He used to rise, to take paper, and to write. Before he wrote music he would tsAj|:a slick and tale the lines with it. Ift -wrote the notes, together with the words corresponding to them, with .perfect -correctness; or, when he had written the words too wide, be altered.' them. The notes that were to be black he filled in after he bad completed the whole. After finishing a sermon, he read it aloud from beginning to end. If any passage displeased birn, he erased it, and wrote the amended passage correctly, ot ex 'thel other. On one occasion he had to substitute the word " adorable "into '* divine," but he did not omit ■ to' alter, the preceding " cc " ' into "cet" by adding the letter "t" with exact precision to the'word first written. To ascertain whether he used his eyes, the archbishop interposed a sheet of pasteboard between* the writing and his face, lie took not the least notice, but went on writing as before. The liinita« tion of his perceptions to what he was thinking about was. rery curious. A bit of aniseed cake that he had sought for he ate approvingly ; but when, on another occasion,'a piece of the same cake was put into his mouth, he spat it out without observation. The following instance of the dependence of his perceptions upon, or rather their subordination to, his preconceived ideas is truly wonderful. It is observed that he always knew when his pen had ink in it. Likewise, if they adroitly changed his papers when he was writing, he knew if the sheet'substituted was of a different size from the former, and in that case he appeared embarrassed; but if the fresh sheet of piper which was substituted for that written on was ex* actly of the same sixe with the former, he appeared not to be aware of the change, and he could continue to reed off the composition.from the blank sheet of paper as fluently bb when the manuscript itself lay before him—nay, more, he would continue his corrections and introduce the amended passages,, writing upon exactly the place on.the blank sheet which would hare been occupied in the written page."