Historical dream account · English · original text
Throwing a Stone Across the Canal
Robert Macnish (1802–1837)
The Philosophy of Sleep (1834) · Printed page(s) 48, 49; Second edition, Glasgow: W. R. M‘Phun, 1834; original English; account canal-stone
Dreamer identified by the source: Robert Macnish
Read in your language or share a constellation ↗
I lately dreamed that I walked upon the banks of the Great Canal in the neighbourhood of Glasgow. On the side opposite to that on which I was, and within a few feet of the water, stood the splendid portico of the Royal Exchange. A gentleman, whom I knew, was standing upon one of the steps, and we spoke to each other. I then lifted a large stone, and poised it in my hand, when he said that he was certain I could not throw it to a certain spot which he pointed out. I made the attempt, and fell short of the mark. At this moment, a well known friend came up, whom I knew to excel at putting the stone; but, strange to say, he had lost both his legs, and walked upon wooden substitutes. This struck me as exceedingly curious; for my impression was that he had only lost one leg, and had but a single wooden one. At my desire he took up the stone, and, without difficulty, threw it beyond the point indicated by the gentleman upon the opposite side of the canal.
Source & context
An original-language historical author's own sleep-dream account, not a new community submission or an independently verified waking event. Editorial title is a navigation label.
Robert Macnish, The Philosophy of Sleep (1834), Second edition, Glasgow: W. R. M‘Phun, 1834; original English, printed page(s) 48, 49.
Publication year is not an exact dream date. No unprinted date, modern contributor location or dreamer age is inferred.
Public domain — original English text ↗
Wellcome explicitly marks this scan Public Domain Mark and states commercial reuse is allowed. PDM identifies public-domain status rather than granting new rights. The original English author died in 1837; no modern translator or later edition prose is used.
Source locator and text provenance
Printed page(s) 48, 49; Second edition, Glasgow: W. R. M‘Phun, 1834; original English; account canal-stone
The original text and redactions are preserved. The page title is an editorial navigation label.
One complete bounded own-dream scene. Adjacent theory excluded; original English preserved. Page furniture omitted, spacing normalized and the exact small formatting/OCR repairs documented in the frozen replay ledger. Editorial navigation title and themes added.
Wellcome supplies one flattened OCR line. The exact bounded Unicode character span, raw span hash, original page images and repair replay are in the round-7 REPLAY_LEDGER. Line 1 does not claim that the whole book is this dream. HTML entities and spacing normalized; only the original Glasgow 1834 edition is used.
- Account text SHA-256
- 7641f887f99ffc35d68d1aa0f1e6d39cbc1b8e040d538b8d9d5096f8782cb39f
- Source file SHA-256
- 0db82e60709094dc916674699e1fb3512f2d54ddeb0ceea0d7575f5a4a488c26
Content notes
- Disability in dream
Connections in the Loom
Titles, theme labels, illustrations and map connections are editorial navigation aids. They are separate from the account’s words and do not establish connections between real people.