pressions are of a temporary or of a durable character. If the whole field is illuminated, the visions are as clear as in daylight, and might often be considered as reality. The imagination shines upon individuals and countries, and the dreaming soul finds itself in distant times and places. In short, it is in this that the common cause of all these various phenomena must be sought for. As it is extremely difficult for the unformed infant mind, either of individuals or of nations, to separate the subjective images of the senses from the objective reality, which requires a higher development of the human mind and a more extended knowledge, I shall endeavour to lay before the reader the various explanations, views, and theories, which have been founded on these subjects. If, therefore, it is clear from the foregoing that a dream is a condition of the inner senses, and on the whole of the same nature as visions and magnetic sleep-walking, a faithful and comprehensive history of dreams ought, therefore, to throw considerable light on all these and similar conditions. The natural philosopher has, therefore, to distinguish and investigate whether dreams proceed immediately from the mind (vonTikov, pavтaσTikòr of Aristotle), or from the body and the organs of the senses (alonτikov). For this purpose it is necessary to observe all phenomena connected with dreams. To these belong-the language of dreams, with its meaning; the imagery, allegories, and symbols of dreams; the occasional poetic inclination; irony; insight into future things, and prophetic divination; the production at will of dreams in distant persons, and mutual exchange of dreams. These conditions may all be equally observed in magical visions and in somnambulic phenomena, which must, therefore, naturally be subject to the same laws. As in ancient times these various forms of dreams were considered equally prophetic with the predictions of soothsayers, and were even called Dream-prophecies (in Denmark they they are still called First-sight), it will be necessary to review these various phases of the dream with an historic eye; and lastly, to consider various views of the ancients regarding it, as well as soothsaying in general. The language of dreams is particularly remarkable; for the images of dreamers are not always known and easily understood appearances; they are often startling symbols whose meaning it is difficult to express in common words, and which the dreamer himself is seldom able to unriddle; on which account it was customary in ancient times, and particularly in the Temples, to have interpreters of dreams. From this arose the science of expounding dreams (oneirocritica, oneiroscopia). It is, however, the language of poets and prophets; that is, the object and the image are one; and it seems that the primitive language and the language of God to man was symbolic. The language of dreams is the same in the most dissimilar men and nations; the prophet and the seer, the true poet, the magnetic clairvoyant, and the prophetic dreamer, more commonly use this language than that of common intercourse. In it lies such a fulness of meaning, and combination of times and objects, that the most comprehensive prose is unable to give its full expression. As the instinctive life of the feelings was of old much more common than at present, when the outward senses are more distracted with occupations of the mind, so do we find that symbols and hieroglyphics were more common; as among the Indian seers, the Israelitish prophets, the Greek oracles, and in the old picture-writing of the Egyptians, and the votive tablets of the Temples. It is similarly connected with art. This was also symbolic in its architecture; for art is but the expression of the inner genius which inspires the soul of the artist, or the imagination of a people, and is intimately connected with religious feelings. The expression of art is, therefore, but the true language of the seer, and therefore mostly as symbolic in meaning; as, for instance, the Ark of the Covenant, which arose by divine inspiration, and then expanded into the Temple of Solomon; till at length Christian architecture, in universal freedom and purity, as it were, cast off all the oppressive weight of earthy matter, and with its pointed arches, vaulted roofs, and towering spires, strives upwards towards heaven, as if to receive the glorious power descending from above. As the language of symbols is natural to the human mind, so is nature a collection of symbols, and an open, significant book, from which man may read; for nature speaks through the elements, powers, and creations, as a divine revelation,-a living language full of meaning; and nature at first was placed in perfect harmony with the mind of man. At first she surrounded man with a significant power; the human mind was guided by a sure and governing inclination, and was not as now left to deceitful and easily misled reflection. Religious perception was not at first the result of reflection on the being and all-presence of the Almighty, who did not appear to man in the plenitude of wisdom and love, of power and holiness in ideal attributes ; but as the Lord, having power over all things. The close, intimate relation with the Divinity and nature, was, therefore, calculated to produce a common language, and therefore this language must, according to the constitution of nature and the soul, have been a symbolic language of pictures. All things were reflected upon man as upon a mirror, and man explained to himself their meaning. "The first human beings," says Jacob Böhme, "found everything easy; the mysteries of nature were not so hidden from them as from us, as fewer sins were upon the earth. It was from this cause that Adam, who had passed from the wonders of Paradise to the wonders of this world, was originally the centre of all worldly things; who not only knew the natures, properties, and species of all animals, but also of all plants and metals, and therefore gave names to all things-to each one according to its properties, as if he had formed a part of all things and had proved their powers." The desires grew as the senses were led astray by outward excitements, and the inner silent communion with nature was gradually extinguished: in regarding the outward flowers, and in tasting the fruit of the tree of knowledge, the inner eye became blind to the symbols and mysteries of nature, and the divine and symbolic language faded from the memory of man, as the former paradisaical nature now only bore thorns and thistles: that is, instead of regarding the inner life of the kernel, he now only saw the rough outward shell; and as nature and the divine voice grew silent, so did his ear become deaf and his eye blind. Every act of nature," says Hamann, was to the first men a word, the sign, emblem, and pledge of a new, secret, inexpressible, but at the same time closer union and community with the divine energy and idea. With this word present in the mouth and heart, language was as natural and easy as life itself. God therefore instructed man in his speech,-the one origi nal language." Although it does not come within our province to enter here into the religious question of the Fall, yet no one can readily deny that in the primeval state man stood in direct connection with nature, which to a certain extent may be likened to that in which the soul now stands to the body; no one can doubt that the earth was then moved by a much more energetic life than now, and that man was more strictly in communion with it than at present; that he was simple, and less separated in body and spirit, and possessed a more comprehensive and reflecting mind than the present seeking, but everywhere confined and faulty intellect it is from this that we must draw the above conclusions, and that we are also able to regard the ancient mythologies in a true light: hence it may not be out of place to make some further observations as to the systems of magic, and their mysterious character may be by that means more easily explained. : If originally mankind was more allied to nature and the Divinity, language must necessarily have been more simple and expressive; there must have been " one tongue" among races living together under the same influences. With time and increase wants were created; men were scattered mentally as well as locally, and became strangers to each other in their habitations and strivings; and those who felt themselves spiritually attracted, for this very reason, associated the more intimately together. It was therefore probable that men were impelled by their natural instincts to take possession of those countries which were most adapted to their natures and inclinations. It is remarkable that according to history there were three principal directions in which the descendants of Noah dispersed, and in perfect accordance with the characters and inclinations of his three sons. The descendants of Shem retained Asia; those of Japhet scattered themselves over the north and west; and southward the children of Ham. As the community of interests was thereby scattered, was also language, and mental adaptation for religion. Although Noah had possessed the original faith to a great degree, yet his sons were of lesser capacity to receive it; and how much would not these divine feelings be scattered and changed as their descendants became modified by the various influences of the earth. The descendants of Shem remained in their chosen habitations in Asia, their manners and forms of government were less changed, and, therefore, more of the wisdom of their ancestors was retained by them than by the world-wide scattered children of Japhet, or by those of Ham, who have been followed even to the present day by Noah's curse, that "they should be servants of servants unto their brethren." In those words used by Noah, "Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant; God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant," will be found the whole course of the future history of the human race. "Shem's form," says Jacob Böhme, was transmitted to Abraham and Israel, when the word of the covenant was revealed. Japhet's form was perpetuated by the wisdom of nature, and from it descended the heathens. As Shem's descendants looked upon the light of the covenant, Japhet's descendants therefore lived in the habitations of Shem, as the light of nature is comprehended in the laws of grace. Ham's progeny became animal man, on whom was the curse, and from whom the Sodomites and other perfectly animal nations arose, who neither regarded the light of nature nor the light of grace in the covenant." These remarkable words are prophetic of the true course of history. Shem's children retained the word of the Spirit in their minds and language more perfectly than the others, and the mysteries then founded in the whole of Asia retained their power and vitality for thousands of years. But when these gradually lost their pristine purity through the want of mutual intercourse and encouragement, and by the always increasing adherence to the earthly element of the unchanged habitations, when the true perception of the glory and majesty of God gradually faded away and was transmuted into the heathenish spirit of star-worship, it was then that God singled out the race of Abraham from this people, who was destined to preserve and transmit the true knowledge and love of God to all times and peoples, through his children, who should multiply like the sea sands. "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice," said the Lord, who had rescued him from the oppressive influence of heathenish practices |