every morning and night. Instead of submitting to the sceptre of sleep, they amuse themselves with creating a thousand visionary scenes. Though broad awake, their judgment does not exercise the slightest sway, and fancy is allowed to become lord of the ascendant. Poets are notorious castle-builders, and poems are, in fact, merely waking dreams-at least their authors were under the hallucination of such dreams while composing. Milton's mind, during the composition of Paradise Lost, must have existed chiefly in the state of a sublime waking dream; so must Raphael's, while painting the Sistine Chapel; and, Thorwaldson's, while designing the triumphs of Alexander. In waking dreams, whatever emotion prevails has a character of exaggeration, at least in reference to the existing condition of the individual. He sees every thing through the serene atmosphere of imagination, and imbues the most trite circumstances with poetical colouring. The aspect, in short, which things assume, bears a strong resemblance to that impressed upon them by ordinary dreams, and differs chiefly in this, that, though verging continually on the limits of extravagance, they seldom transcend possibility. CHAPTER XV. SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS. other words, the brain, in a certain state, perceives a ternal bodies; and any cause which induces that are, gives rise to a like perception, independently of the usual cause the presence of external bodies thenselves. The chief of these internal causes is inflammation of the brain: and when the organs of the perceptive faculties are so excited-put into a state similar to that which follows actual impressions from without-the result is a series of false images or sounds, which are often so vivid as to be mistaken for realities. During sleep, the perceptive organs seem to be peculiarly susceptible of such excitement. In dreaming, for instance, the external world, is inwardly represented to our minds with all the force of reality: we speak and hear as if we were in communication with actual existences. Spectral illusions are phenomena strictly analo gous; indeed, they are literally nothing else than involuntary waking dreams. In addition to the occasional cause of excitement of the perceptive organs above alluded to, there is another, the existence of which is proved by numerous facts, though its mode of action is somewhat obscure 1 allude to a large development of the organ of Wonder. Individuals with such a development are both strongly inclined to believe in the supernaturality of ghosts, and peculiarly liable to be visited by them. This organ is large in the head of Earl Grey, and he is said to be haunted by the apparition of a bloody head Dr Gall mentions, that in the head of Dr Jung Stilling, who saw visions, the organ was very largely developed. A gentleman who moves in the best society in Paris, once asked Gall to examine his head. The doctor's first remark was, 'You sometimes see visions, and believe in apparitions.' The gentleman started from this in astonishment, and said that he had frequent visions: but never till that moment had he spoken on the subject to any human being, through fear of being set down a ab der produces the necessary excitement of the perceptive . Of the various faculties with which man is endowed, those which bring him into communication with the material world, constitute an important class. The organs of these faculties termed perceptive-are situated in the middle and lower parts of the forehead. Their function is to perceive and remember the existence, phenomena, qnalities, and relations of external objects. Individuality takes cognizance of the exist-surdly credulous. How a large development of Wonence of material bodies; Eventuality, of their motions or actions; Form, of their shape; Size, of their magnitude and proportions; Weight, of the resistance which they offer to a moving or restraining power; Colouring, of their colours; and Locality, of their relative position. Time and Number perceive and remember duration and numbers; Language takes cognizance of artificial signs of feeling and thought; and Order delights in regularity and arrangement. In ordinary circumstances, the mode of action of these organs is this. If any object-a horse for example-be placed before us, the rays of light reflected from its surface to our eye, form a picture of the animal upon the retina or back part of that organ. This picture gives rise to what, for want of more precise language, is called an impression, which is conveyed by the optic nerve to the cerebral organs already mentioned; and by them, in reality, the horse is perceived. The eye and optic nerve, it will be observed, do no more than transmit the impression from without, so as to produce that state of the internal organs which is accompanied by what is termed perception or sensation. When the horse is withdrawn, the impression still remains, to a certain extent, in the brain; and though the animal is not actually perceived, we still remember its appearance, and can almost imagine that it is before us. This faint semi-perception is called an idea, and differs from sensation only in being less vivid. The brain is more highly excited when it perceives a sensation, than when an idea only is present; because, in the former case, there is applied, through the medium of the senses, a stimulus from without, which, in the latter case, is not present. If, however, the brain be brought by internal causes to a degree of excitement, which, in general, is the result only of external impressions, ideas not less vivid than sensations ensue; and the individual has the same consciousness as if an impression were transmitted from an actual object through the senses. In We read in history of people being attended by familiar spirits; such was the case with Socrates in ancient, and with the poet Tasso, in modern times their familiar spirits were mere spectral illusions At Bisaccio, near Naples,' says Mr Hoole, in his account of the illustrious author of the Jerusalem Delivered, Manso had an opportuuity of examining the singular effects of Tasso's melancholy, and often disputed him con. cerning a familiar spirit which he pretended conversed with him: Manso endeavoured in vain to persuade his friend that the whole was the illusion of a disturbed imagination; but the latter was strenuous in maintaming the reality of what he asserted, and to convince Manso, desired him to be present at one of the mate rious conversations. Manso had the complaisance to meet him the next day, and while they were engaged in discourse, on a sudden he observed that Tasso kept his eyes fixed on a window, and remained in a manner immovable; he called him by his name, but received no answer; at last Tasso cried out. There is the friendly spirit that is come to converse with me; look! and you will be convinced of all I have said." Manso heard him with surprise; he looked, but saw nothing except the sunbeams darting through the window; he cast his eyes all over the room, but could perceive nothing; and was just going to ask where the pretended spirit was, when he heard Tasso speak with great earnestness, sometimes putting questions to the spirit, sometimes giving answers delivering the whole in such a pleasing manner, and in such elevated expressions, that he listened with admiration, and had not the least inclination to interrupt him. At last the uncommon conversation ended with the departure of the spirit, as appeared by Tasso's own words, who, turning to Manso, asked him if his doubts were removed. Manso was more amazed than ever; he scarce knew what to think of his friend's situation, and waived any farther conversation on the subject.' The visions of angels, and the communications from above, with which religious enthusiasts are often impressed, arise from the operation of spectral illusions. They see forms and hear sounds which have no existence; and, believing in the reality of such impressions. consider themselves highly favored by the almighty. These feelings prevailed very much during the persecutions in Scotland. Nothing was more common than for the Covenanter by the lonely hill side to have what he supposed a special message from God, and even to see the angel who brought it, standing before him, and encouraging him to steadfastness in his religious principles. Much of the crazy fanaticism exhibited by the disciples of Campbell and Irving, undoubtedly arises from a similar cause; and it is probable that both of these individuals see visions and hear supernatural voices, as well as many of their infatuated followers. Various causes may so excite the brain as to produce these phantasmata, such as great mental distress, sleeplessness, nervous irritation, religious excitement, fever, epilepsy, opium, delirium tremens, excessive study, and dyspepsia. I have known them to arise without the apparent concurrence of any mental or bodily distemper. I say apparent, for it is very evident there must be some functional derangement, however much it may be hidden from observation. An ingenious friend has related to me a case of this kind which occurred in his own person. One morning, while lying in bed broad awake, and, as he supposed, in perfect health, the wall opposite to him appeared to open at its junction with the ceiling, and out of the aperture came a little uncouth, outlandish figure, which descended from the roof, squatted upon his breast, grinned at him maliciously, and seemed as if pinching and pummelling his sides. This illusion continued for some time, and with a timorous subject might have been attended with bad consequences; but he referred it at once to some disordered state of the stomach under which he imagined he must have labored at the time, althongh he had no direct consciousness of any such derangement of this organ. The same gentleman has related to me the case of one of his friends which attracted much notice at the tune it happened, from the melancholy circumstance that attended it. It is an equally marked instance of hallucination arising without the individual being conscious of any physical cause by which it might be occasioned. It is as follows: C. jocularly that he had seen his wraith, and that, as a natural consequence, he would soon be a dead man. The person addressed laughed heartily, as did the rest of the company, but the result turned out to be no laughing matter; for, in a very few days, Mr C. was attacked with putrid sore throat, and died; and within a very short period of his death Mr H. was also in the grave. Some of the most vivid instances of spectral illusion are those induced by opium. Several of the English Opium-Eater's' visions were doubtless of this nature. Dr Abercrombie relates a striking instance of the kind which occurred to the late Dr Gregory. He had gone to the north country by sea to visit a lady, a near relation, in whom he felt deeply interested, and who was in an advanced state of consumption. In returning from the visit, he had taken a moderate dose of laudanum, with the view of preventing sea-sickness, and was lying on a couch in the cabin, when the figure of the lady appeared before him in so distinct a manner that her actual presence could not have been more vivid. He was quite awake, and fully sensible that it was a phantasm produced by the opiate, along with his intense mental feeling; but he was unable by any effort to banish the vision.'* Indeed, any thing on which the mind dwells excessively, may by exciting the perceptive organs, give rise to spectral illusions. It is to this circumstance that the bereaved husband sees the image of a departed wife, to whom he was fondly attachedthat the murderer is haunted by the apparition of his victim-and that the living with whom we are familiar, seem to be presented before our eyes, although at a distance from us. Dr Conolly relates the case of a gentleman, who, when in danger of being wrecked near the Eddystone lighthouse, saw the images of his whole family. These illusive appearance sometimes occur during convalescence from diseases. In the summer of 1832, a gentleman in Glasgow, of dissipated habits, was seized with cholera, from which he recovered. His recovery was unattended with any thing particular, except the presence of a phantasmata-consisting of human figures about three feet high, neatly dressed in pea-green jackets, and knee-breeches of the same color. Being a person of a superior mind, and knowing the cause of the illusions, they gave him no alarm, although he was very often haunted by them. As he advanced in strength the phantoms appeared less frequently, and diminished in size, till at last they were not taller than his finger. One night, while seated alone, a multitude of these Lilliputian gentlemen made their appearance on his table, and favored him with a dance; but being at the time otherwise engaged, and in no mood to enjoy such an amusement, he lost temper at the unwelcome intrusion of his pigmy visiters, and striking his fist violently upon the table, he exclaimed in a violent passion, Get about your business you little impertinent rascals! What the devil are you doing here?' when the whole assembly instantly vanished, and he was never troubled with them more. Mr H. was one day walking along the street, apparently in perfect health, when he saw, or supposed he saw his acquaintance, Mr C., walking before him. He called aloud to the latter, who, however, did not seem to hear him, but continued moving on. Mr H. then It generally happens that the figures are no less visiquickened his pace for the purpose of overtaking him; ble when the eyes are closed than when they are open. the other increased his also, as if to keep ahead of his An individual in the west of Scotland, whose case is pursuer, and proceeded at such a rate that Mr II. found related in the Phrenological Journal, † whenever he shut it impossible to make up to him. This continued for his eyes or was in darkness, saw a procession move some time, till, on Mr C. coming to a gate he opened before his mind as distinctly as it had previously done it, passed in, and slammed it violently in Mr H.'s face. before his eyes. Some years ago, a farmer from the Confounded at such treatment, the latter instantly neighbourhood of Hamilton, informed me, with feelings opened the gate, looked down the long lane into which of great horror, that he had frequently the vision of a it led, and, to his astonishment, no one was visible. hearse drawn by four black horses, which were driven Determined to unravel the mystery, he went to Mr C.'s by a black driver. Not knowing the source of this ilhouse; and what was his surprise when he learned lusion he was rendered extremely miserable by it; and, that he was confined to his bed, and had been so for to aggravate his unhappiness, was regarded by the igseveral days. A week or two afterwards, these gentle-norant country people, to whom he told his story, as men chanced to meet in the house of a common friend, when Mr H. mentioned the circumstance, and told Mr Inquiries concerning the Intellectual Powers, p. 357. Vol. ii. p. 111. A re having been guilty of some grievous crime. This vi- are eager to press through the crowd; at times, however, they seemed to be transacting business with each other. I also saw, several times, people on horseback, dogs, and birds. All these phantasms appeared to me in their natural size, and as distinct as if alive, exhibiting different shades of carnation in the uncovered parts. as well as in different colours and fashions in their dresses, though the colours seemed somewhat paler than in real nature; none of the figures appeared particularly comical, terrible, or disgusting, most of them being of an indifferent shape, and some presenting a pleasing aspect.' Perhaps the most remarkable visionary, of whom we have any detailed account, was Blake the painter. This extraordinary man not only believed in his visions, but could often call up at pleasure whatever phantasms he wished to see; and so far from their being objects of annoyance, he rather solicited than wished to avoid their presence. He was in the habit of conversing with angels, demons, and heroes, and taking their likenesses; for they proved most obedient sitters, and never showed any aversion to allow him to transfer them to paper His mind;' says Mr Cunningham, 'could convert the most ordinary occurrences into something mystical and supernatural.' Did you ever see a fairy's funeral, madam?' he once said to a lady who happened to sit by him in company, never, sir! was the answer. 'I have,' said Blake, but not before last night. I was walking alone in my garden, there was great stillness among the branches and flowers, and more than common sweetness in the air; I heard a low and pleasant sound, and knew not whence it came. At last I saw the broad leaf of a flower move, and underneath I saw a procession of creatures of the size and color of the green and grey grasshoppers, bearing a body laid out on a rose leaf, which they buried with songs, and then disappeared. It was a fairy funeral.'' On being asked to draw the likeness of Sir William Wallace, that hero immediately stood before him, and he commenced tak Considering the age in which Bayle lived, his notions of the true nature of spectral illusions were wonderfully acute and philosophical. Indeed, he has so well described the theory of apparitions, that the modern phrenological doctrine on this point seems little more than an expanded version of his own. A man,' says he, 'would not only be very rash, but also very extravagant, who should pretend to prove that there never was any person that imagined he saw a spectre; and I do not think that the most obstinate and extravagant unbelievers have maintained this. All they say, comes to this: that the persons who have thought themselves eye-witnesses of the apparition of spirits had a disturbed imagination. They confess that there are certain places in our brain that, being affected in a certain inanner, excite the image of an object which has no real existence out of ourselves, and make the man, whose brain is thus modified, believe he sces, at two paces distant, a frightful spectre, a hobgoblin, a threatening phantom. The like happens in the heads of the most incredulous, either in their sleep, or in the paroxysms of a violent fever. Will they maintain after this, that it is impossible for a man awake, and not in a delirium, to receive, in certain places of his brain, an impressioning his portrait. Having drawn for some time with the almost like that which, by the law of nature, is connected with the appearance of a phantom.' In one of Shenstone's Essays, entitled 'An Opinion of Ghosts,' the same theory is clearly enunciated. It is worthy of remark, that the phenomena of apparitions are inconsistent with the prevalent theory that the brain is a single organ, with every part of which each faculty is connected. Were this theory sound, the same cause that vivifies the perceptive faculties must also vivify, or excite to increased action, the propensities, sentiments, and reflecting powers. This, however, is by no means the case. The case of Nicolai, the Prussian bookseller, which occurred in the beginning of 1791, is one of the most remarkable instances of spectral illusion on record. 'I saw,' says he, in a state of mind completely sound, and-after the first terror was over-with perfect calmness, for nearly two months, almost constantly and involuntarily, a vast number of human and other forms, and even heard their voices, though all this was merely the consequence of a diseased state of the nerves, and an irregular circulation of the blood.' When I shut my eyes, these phantoms would sometimes vanish entirely, though there were instances when I beheld them with my eyes closed; yet when they disappeared on such occasions, they generally returned when I opened my eyes. I conversed sometimes with my physician and my wife of the phantasms which at the moment surrounded me; they appeared more frequently walking than at rest; nor were they constantly present. They frequently did not come for some time, but always reappeared for a longer or shorter period either singly or in company, the latter, however, being most frequently the case. I generally saw human forms of both sexes; but they usually seemed not to take the smallest notice of each other, moving as in a market-place, where all same care of hand and steadiness of eye, as if a living sitter had been before him, Blake stoped suddenly and said, 'I cannot finish hin-Edward the first has steped in between him and me.' That's lucky,' said his friend, for I want the portrait of Edward too." Blake took another sheet of paper and sketched the features of Plantagenet; upon which his majesty politely vanished, and the artist finished the head of Wallace.'* The greater part of his life was passed in beholding visions and in drawing them. On one occasion he saw the ghost of a flea and took a sketch of it. No conception was too strange or incongruous for his wild imagination, which totally overmastered his judginent, and made hum mistake the chimeras of an excited brain for realities. What is called the Second sight originated, in most cases, from spectral illusions; and the seers of whom we so often read, were merely individuals visited by these phantoms. The Highland mountains, and the wild lawless habits of those who inhabited them, were peculiarly adapted to foster the growth of such impressions in imaginative minds; and, accordingly, nothing was more common than to meet with persons who not only fancied they saw visions, but, on the strength of this belief, laid claim to the gift of prophesy. The more completely the mind is abstracted from the bustle of life; the more solitary the district in which the individual resides; and the more romantic and awe-inspring the scenes that pass before his eyes, the greater is his tendency to see visions, and to place faith in what he sees. A man, for instance, with the peculiar temperament which predisposes to see, and believe in, spectral illusions, is informed that his chieftain and clan have set out on a dangerous expedition. Full of the subject, he forces their images before him-sees them engaged • Cunningham's Lives of the British Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, vol. ii., Life of Blake. in fight-beholds his chieftian cut down by the claymore of an enemy-the clansmen routed and dispersed, their houses destroyed, their cattle carried off. This vision he relates to certain individuals. If, as is not unlikely, it is borne out by the event, his prophecy is spread far and wide, and looked upon as an instance of the second sight; while, should nothing happen, the story is no more thought of by those to whom it was communicated. In some instances, it is probable that the accidental fulfilment of an ordinary dream was regarded as second sight. The belief in fairies, no doubt, had also its origin in spectral illusions. In the days of ignorance and superstition nothing was more easy than for an excited brain to conjure up those tiny forms, and see them perform their gambols upon the greensward beneath the light of the moon. The dimensions of the figures which are exhibited in spectral illusions vary exceedingly. Sometimes they appear as miniatures, sometimes of the size of life, at other times of colossal proportions. The same differences apply to their colour. In one case they are pale, misty, transparent; in another black, red, blue, or green. Sometimes we have them fantastically clothed in the costume of a former age, sometimes in that of our own. Now they are represented grinning, now weeping, now in smiles. White or grey Ghosts,' says Mr Simpson ⚫ result from excited Form, with quiescent Colouring, the transparent cobweb effect being colourless. Pale spectres, and shadowy yet coloured forms, are the effect of partially excited Colouring. Tall ghosts and dwarf goblins, are the illusions of over-excited Size.' The jabbering of apparitions arises from an excited state of that part of the brain which gives us cognizance of sounds. This explanation seems highly probable, or rather quite satisfactory. There are points, however, which it is likely no one will ever be able to explain. Why, for instance should the disordered brain conjure up persons and faces rather than trees and houses? why should a ghost be dressed in red rather than blue, and why should it smile rather than grin? These are minutiæ beyond the reach of investigation at least in the present state of our knowledge Mr Simpson, in the second volume of the Phrenological Journal, has published a case of spectral illusion, which, for singularity and interest, equals any thing of the same kind which has hitherto been recorded. The subject of it was a young lady under twenty years of age, of good family, well educated, free from any superstitions fears, in perfect bodily health and of sound mind. She was early subject to occasional attacks of such illusions, and the first she remembered was that of a carpet which descended in the air before her, then vanished away. After an interval of some years, she began to see human figures in her room as she lay wide awake in bed. These figures were whitish or rather grey, and transparent like conneb, and generally above the size of life. At this time she had acute headaches, very singularly confined to one small spot of the head. On being asked to indicate the spot, she touched, with her fore-finger and thumb, each side of the root of the nose, the commencement of the evebrows, and the spot immediately over the top of the nose, the ascertained seats of Form, Size, and Lower Individuality. On being asked if the pain was confined to these spots, she answered that some time afterwards it extended to the right and left, along the eyebrows, and a little above thein, and completely round the eyes, which felt as if they would burst from their sockets. On this taking place the visions varied. The organs of Weight, Colouring, Order, Number, and Locality, were affected, and the phantasmata assumed a change corresponding to the irritated condition of these parts. The whitish or cobweb spectres assumed the natural colour of the objects, but they continued often to pre sent themselves, though not always, above the size of life.' Colouring being over-excited, began to occassion its specifie and fantastical illusions. Bright spots, like stars on a back ground, filled the room in the dark, and even in day-light; and sudden, and sometimes gradual, illumination of the room during the night took place, so that the furnitnre in it became visible. Innumerable balls of fire seemed one day to pour like a torrent out of one of the rooms of the house down the staircase. On one occasion, the pain between the eyes, and along the lower ridge of the brow, struck her suddenly with great violence-when, instantly, the room filled with stars and bright spots. On attempting, on that occasion, to go to bed, she said she was conscious of an inability to balance herself, as if she had been tipsy, and she fell, having made repeated cfforts to seize the bed-post; which, in the most unaccountable manner eluded her grasp by shifting its place, and also by presenting her with a number of bedposts instead of one. If the organ of Weight situated between Size and Colouring, be the organ of the instinct to preserve, and power of preserving equilibrium, it must be the necessary consequence of the derangement of that organ to overset the balance of the perOver-excited Number we should expect to produce multiplication of objects, and the first experience she had of this illusion, was the multiplication of the bed-posts, and subsequently of any inanimate object she looked at.' son. For nearly two years, Miss S. L. was free from her frontal headaches, and-mark the coincidence-untroubled by visions or any other illusive perceptions. Some months ago, however, all her distressing symptoms returned in great aggravation, when she was conscious of a want of health. The pain was more acute than before along the frontal bone, and round and in the eyeballs; and all the organs there situated recommenced their game of illusion. Single figures of absent and deceased friends were terribly real to her, both in the day and in the night, sometimes cobweb, but generally coloured. She sometimes saw friends on the street, who proved phantoms when she approached to speak to them; and instances occurred, where, from not having thus satisfied herself of the illusion, she affirmed to such friends that she had seen them in certain places, at certain times, when they proved to her the clearest alibi. The confusion of her spectral forms now distressed her. (Order affected.) The oppression and perplexity were intolerable, when figures presented themselves before her in inextricable disorder, and still more when they changed-as with Nicolai-from whole figures to parts of figures-faces and half faces, and limbs-sometimes of inordinate size and dreadful deformity. One instance of illusive Disorder, which she mentioned, is curious; and has the farther effect of exhibiting (what cannot be put in terms except those of) the derangement of the just perception of gravitation or equilibrium. (Weight.) One night as she sat in her bed-room, and was about to go to bed, a stream of spectres, persons' faces, limbs, in the most shocking confusion, seemed to her to pour into her room from the window, in the manner of a cascade! Although the cascade continued, apparently, in rapid descending motion; there was no accumulation of figures in the room, the supply unaccountably vanishing, after having formed the cascade. Colossal figures are her frequent visiters. (Size)' In the fifth volume of the Phrenolagical Journal, page 319, a case is mentioned where the patient was tortured with horrid faces glaring at her, and approach ing close to her in every possible aggravation of hor | appearances always followed the motion of the eyes; and, secondly, that the objects which were the best de fined and remained the longest visible, were such as I had no recollection of ever having previously seen. For about twenty-four hours I had constantly before me a human figure, the features and dress of which were as distinctly visible as that of any real existence, and of which, after an interval of many years, I still retain the most lively impression; yet, neither at the time nor since have I been able to discover any person whom I had previously seen who resembled it. they were always as minute as pins, or even pin-heads, and were in great confusion and numbers.' She described the pain which accompanied her illusions, viz. acute pain in the upper part or root of the nose, the seat of the organ of Form, and all along the eyebrows, which takes in Individuality, Form, Size, Weight, Order and Number.' In the same volume, page 430, Mr Levison relates, that on asking an individual who saw apparitions, whether or not he felt pain at any part of his head, he answered, that every time before he experienced this peculiar power of seeing figures, he invariably felt pain in and between his eyes, and, in short, all over the eyebrows.' It does not appear, how-pearance of this stationary phantom, I had a very sinever, that pain is universally felt in such cases in the lower part of the forehead. Dr Andrew Combe informs me that, so far as he has observed, the pain, when it does exist, is more frequently in the exciting organ, generally Wonder. Spectral illusions constitute the great pathognomonic sign of delirium tremens. In this disease they are usually of a horrible, a disgusting, or a frightful nature; the person being irresistibly impressed with the notion that reptiles, insects, and all manner of vermin are crawling upon him, which he is constantly endeavoring to pick off that he is haunted by hideous apparitions -that people are in the room preparing to murder and rob him, and so forth. In the following case, with which I have been favored by Dr Combe, the illusive appearances were of a more pleasing kind than generally happen. In a case,' says he, of delirium tremens in an inn-keeper, about whom I was consulted, the spectral illusions continued several days, and had a distinct reference to a large and active cerebullum, (the organ of Amativeness) conjoined with Wonder. The man refused to allow me to look at a blister which had been placed between his shoulders, because he could not take off his coat before the ladies who were in the room! When I assured him that there was nobody in the room, he smiled at the joke, as he conceived it to be, and, in answer to my questions, described them as several in number, well dressed, and good-looking. At my request he rose up to shake hands with them, and was astonished at finding them elude his grasp, and his hand strike the wall. This, however, convinced him that it was an illusion, and he forthwith took off his coat, but was unwilling to converse longer on the subject. In a few days the ladies vanished from his sight.' Spectral illusions are more frequently induced by fever than by any other cause. Indeed, the premonitory stages of most fevers are accompanied by illusive appearances of one kind or another, such as luminous bodies, especially when the eyes are shut, hideous faces, streaks of fire, &c.; and in the advanced stages, they are not uncommon. A medical friend has informed me, that when ill of fever in Portugal, he was terribly harrassed by the vision of a soldier, whose picture was hanging in the room. Removing the picture failed to dissipate the illusion, which did not disappear till he was conveyed to another apartment. Dr Bostock, while under a febrile attack, was visited by spectral illusions of an unusual kind. The following are the particulars of his case, as described by himself: 'I was laboring,' says he, under a fever, attended with symptoms of general debility, especially of the nervous system, and with a severe pain of the head, which was confined to a small spot situated above the right temple. After having passed a sleepless night, and being reduced to a state of considerable exhaustion, I first perceived figures presenting themselves before me, which I immediately recognised as similar to those described by Nicolai, and upon which, as I was free from delirium, and as they were visible about three days and nights with little intermission, I was able to make my observations. There were two circumstance which appeared to me very remarkable; first, that the spectral During one part of this discase, after the disap gular and amusing imagery presented to me. It appeared as if a number of objects, principally buman faces or figures on a small scale, were placed before me, and gradually removed like a succession of me dallions. They were all of the same size, and appeared to be all situated at the same distance from the face. After one had been scen for a few minutes, it became fainter, and then another, which was more vivid, seemed to be laid upon it or substituted in its place, which, in its turn, was superseded by a new appearance. During all this succession of scenery, I do not recollect that, in a single instance, I saw any object with which I had been previously acquainted, nor, as far as I am aware, were the representations of any of those objects, with which my mind was the most occupied at other times, presented to me; they appeared to be invariably new creations, or, at least, new combinations of which I could not trace the original materials.'* The following very curious instance, is not less interesting: the subject of it was a member of the English bar. In December, 1823, A. was confined to his bed by inflammation of the chest, and was supposed by his medical attendant to be in considerable danger. One night, while unable to sleep from pain and fever, be saw sitting on a chair, on the left side of his bed, a female figure which he immediately recognised to be that of a young lady who died about two years before. His first feeling was surprise, and perhaps a little alarm; his second, that he was suffering from delinum. With this impression, he put his head under the bed-clothes, and, after trying in vain to sleep, as a test of the soundness of his mind, he went through a long and compli cated process of metaphysical reasoning. He then peeped out and saw the figure in the same situation and position. He had a fire, but would not allow a candle or nurse in the room. A stick was kept by his side to knock for the nurse when he required her at tendance. Being too weak to move his body, he endeavored to touch the figure with the stick, but, on a real object being put on the chair, the imagmary one disappeared, and was not visible again that night. The next day he thought of little but the vision, and expected its return without aların, and with some pleasure. He was not disappointed. It took the same place as before, and he employed himself in ob servations. When be shut his eves or turned his head, he ceased to see the figure; by interposing his hand he could hide part of it; and it was shown, like any mere material substance, by the rays of the fire which fell upon and were reflected from it. As the fire declined it became less perceptible, and as it went out, invisible. A similar appearance took place on several other nights; but it became less perceptible, and its visits less frequent, as the patient recovered from his fever. He says the impressions on his mind were always pleasing, as the spectre looked at him with calmness and regard. He never supposed it real; but was unable to account for it on any philosophical principles within his knowledge. In the autumn of 1825. A.'s health was perfectly * Bostock's Physiology, vol. ill. p. 204. |