Dr. Abercrombie, in his work on the Intellectual Powers, has recorded
several instances of remarkable dreams.--Among them is the following
extraordinary instance of the power which may be exercised over some
persons while asleep, of creating dreams by whispering in their ears. An
officer in the expedition to Lanisburg, in 1758, had this peculiarity in
so remarkable a degree, that his companions in the transport were in the
constant habit of amusing themselves at his expense. It had more effect
when the voice was that of a friend familiar to him. At one time they
conducted him through the whole progress of a quarrel, which ended in a
duel, and when the parties were supposed to be met, a pistol was put
into his hand, which he fired, and was awakened by the report. On
another occasion they found him asleep on the top of a locker, or
bunker, in the cabin, when they made him believe he had fallen
overboard, and exhorted him to save himself by swimming. They then told
him a shark was pursuing him, and entreated him to dive for his life;
this he instantly did, but with such force as to throw himself from the
locker to the cabin floor, by which he was much bruised, and awakened of
course. After the landing of the army at Lanisburg, his companions found
him one day asleep in the tent, and evidently much annoyed by the
cannonading. They then made him believe he was engaged, when he
expressed great fear, and an evident disposition to run away. Against
this they remonstrated, but at the same time increased his fears by
imitating the groans of the wounded and the dying; and when he asked, as
he sometimes did, who were down, they named his particular friends. At
last they told him that the man next him in the line had fallen, when he
instantly sprang from his bed, rushed out of the tent, and was roused
from his danger and his dream together, by falling over the tent ropes.