One of the drawbacks of the Corean mind is that it is often carried away by an over-vivid imagination.  In this, they reminded me much of the Spaniards and the Italians.  Their perception seems to be so keen that frequently they see more than really is visible.  They are much given to exaggeration, not only in what they say, but also in their representations in painting and sculpture.  In the matters both of conversation and of drawing, the same ideas will be found in Cho-sen to repeat themselves constantly, more or less cleverly expressed, according to the differently gifted individuality of the artist.  The average Corean seems to learn things quickly, but of what they learn, some things remain rooted in their brains, while others appear to escape from it the moment they have been grasped.  There is a good deal of volubility about their utterances, and, though visibly they do not seem very subject to strong emotions, judging from their conversation, one would feel inclined to say that they were.  Another thing that led me to this suspicion was the observation that the average Corean is much given to dreaming, in the course of which he howls, shouts, talks and shakes himself to his heart’s content.  This habit of dreaming is to a large extent due, I imagine, to their mode of sleeping flat on their backs on the heated floors, which warm their spines, and act on their brains; though it may also, in addition to that be accounted for by the intensity of the daily emotions re-acting by night on over-excited nervous systems.  I have often observed Coreans sleep, and they always impressed me as being extremely restless in their slumbers.  As for snoring, too, the Coreans are entitled to the Championship of the world.

The Coreans are much affected mentally by dreams, and being, as we have already seen, an extremely superstitious race, they attach great importance to their nocturnal visions.  A good deal of hard cash is spent in getting the advice of astrologers, who pretend to understand and explain the occult art, and pleasure or consternation is thus usually the result of what might have been explained naturally either by one of the above-named causes, or by the victim having feasted the previous evening on something indigestible.  Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that the Corean mind is seldom thrown off its balance altogether.  Idiocy is not frequent, and lunacy is uncommon.

Insanity, when it does exist, generally exhibits itself under the form of melancholia and dementia, and is more frequently found among the upper than among the lower classes.  With the men it is generally due to intemperance and excesses, and is occasionally accompanied by paralysis.  Among the women, the only cases which came under my notice were of wives whose husbands had many concubines, and of young widows.  Suicide is not unfrequently practised among the latter; partly in consequence of the strict Corean etiquette, but often also caused by insanity when it does not