[1] We have no doubt, that in presenting this inimitable sketch of the lamented Sands, we are conferring an original favor upon a large majority of our readers; while the few to whom it will not be wholly new, will thank us for reviving it in their recollection. It was first published in 'The Talisman,' a New-York annual for the year 1829, at which time this costly species of 'butterfly literature' had attained but very limited circulation. When we remember that it was while writing an article for the Knickerbocker, to which he was to have been a regular contributor, that the right hand of our departed friend suddenly forgot its cunning, and his well-stored mind its rich and varied resources, something of selfish sorrow mingles with our regret, that he was so early called away.
Eds. Knickerbocker.
[2] The Floral Games of the Middle Ages.
[3] See 'Knickerbocker,' Volume V., for an able series of articles on 'Life,' by Dr. Samuel L. Metcalf.
[4] 'Half-drawing down.' From the control of the sleeper's mind over his muscles, this most expressive gesture of the Æsculapian fraternity was but an 'opus infectum.'
[5] The stronger the exercise of the will, the more perfect is the effect produced.
[6] This experiment every urchin has repeatedly made, to his own edification and the annoyance of his family.
[7] Those in a somnambulistic state communicate with, and can receive impressions from, the operator alone.
[8] No better confirmation could be had of the fact, than the patient's own asseveration.
[9] All who have ever visited the 'ward of the incurables,' in any of the insane asylums of our Atlantic cities, will be forcibly struck with the graphic picture presented in this spirited sketch.