Some more phenomena of sleep and dream : paper read to the Psychological Society of Great Britain / by the President, Mr. Serjeant Cox.

  • Cox, Edward W. (Edward William), 1809-1879.
Date:
[1877]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Some more phenomena of sleep and dream : paper read to the Psychological Society of Great Britain / by the President, Mr. Serjeant Cox. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    But what is the mental condition of sleep ? That is the question for Psychology. To make this intelligible and to show how it bears on the Psychology of Dream, I must very briefly describe the structure of the brain, which is the thing that sleeps. The Soul, or whatever you are pleased to call the Conscious Self, does not sleep, but only its material organ. The brain is a duplex structure, that is to say, we have two brains, as we have two arms, legs and eyes, and each brain is in itself a distinct and perfect machine—as perfect as is each arm and each eye. The eyes, ears and other organs of the senses, all of which are duplex also, are in their normal condition so admirably adjusted to each other that we are not conscious of the duplex impression made upon the sense nerves. So in their healthy condition do the sense nerves act in perfect unison and thus convey to the Self the consciousness of one action or impression only. I will explain it thus, referring still to the analogous mecha- nism of the double organ of sight, because it is most familiar to you. We have two eyes, on each of which a separate image of the object is impressed. But the two eyes do not receive precisely the same picture, as you may satisfy your- selves in a moment by looking at any object with one eye only—then closing that eye and looking at the same object with the other eye. It will be found that the position of the pictures is changed and you see more with the one and less with the other. But when you look at it with both eyes at once, although two different pictures are impressed upon the two eyes, the mind perceives only one picture. Nor is this all. The picture perceived by the mind is not precisely the picture impressed on either eye, but a new picture constructed of both. The stereoscope is a practical adaptation of this mechanism of vision. It does before the eyes what the nerves of vision accomplish behind them. [167]