Body: | On hallucinations: a History and Explanation
Alexandre J. F. Brierre De Boismont
(Doctor)
1859 AD
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Introduction:
In 1857 AD, Alexandre J. F. Brierre De Boismont, doctor, viewed
hallucinations as the product of the human mind and cured by cold baths and
cold water torture. "hallucinations complicated with mental diseases: Do
the hallucinations depend upon the organic changes super-induced by the
mental disease? Are they associated with the psycho-cerebral excitement
which has produced the insanity? In a word, are they physical or moral? The
distinction is often very difficult, yet the nature of the hallucinations
and their immediate connection with the cause of the insanity, justify us
in thinking that they often arise from moral causes." Suggesting that both
insanity and hallucinations are entirely products of the mind and not the
body is a stunning contradiction to chemical psychiatry today, but this
view was actually the historically majority view. In regard to large
numbers of people experiencing the same hallucination, Boismont notes that,
"in our opinion, decides the question in favor of moral causes. In fact,
epidemic hallucinations, such as vampirism, ecstasy, and the visions
observed in the different forms of plague, are not susceptible of any other
explanation. In these cases, the hallucinations are transmitted by means of
the ideas which exist in society, or have been inculcated by education and
by the force of example" Boismont had over 305 cases of hallucinations and
concluded that the body was not the cause, but the mind: "clearly prove the
influence of moral causes in the production of hallucinations. The
following details cannot leave any doubt on this point. Out of 190 cases
collected by other writers, or by ourselves in 115, the circumstances which
favored the production of the hallucinations were meditations carried to
the state of ecstasy, the prevalent notions of the period in regard to
religion, philosophy, politics, superstition, &c., imaginative works,
concentrations of the thoughts, mental struggles, particular passions, a
preoccupied state of mind, troubles, remorse, grief, excessive study, love,
hope, jealousy, and anger." In curing hallucinations he practiced:
"reasoning with the patient, the use of ridicule or the douche, will
succeed in banishing the false sensation" Practicing at the very end of the
Humoral medical era, he wrongly attributed part of the success to cooling
off the "melancholy blood" of the brain. "The principal physical agents
which are used in the treatment of hallucinations, consist of general and
local blood-letting, of prolonged general baths, either by themselves or
combined with the douche, with the bath of irrigation, or with purgatives;
occasionally emetics, narcotics, and anti-spasmodic; and lastly, external
revulsions, by means of blisters, moxas, and setons." After almost 150
years of treating the insane with "the fall of water", he was just another
witness to how the "douche" cured the mentally ill. "We have substituted
for the douche, continued irrigation. The water is allowed to fall, for
hours together, in a thin stream, or in a number of streams like those from
a watering-pot, on the head of the patient while seated in the bath. The
effect produced by this continued sprinkling has, first, the advantage of
keeping up a constant cooling effect on the organ which is congested,
without causing those injurious results which have been laid to the charge
of ice. In the second place, it harasses the patient, so that he will often
ask for pardon. What others have stated, as regards the instantaneous
action of the douche, we have also observed from the use of continued
irrigation. After this treatment has been persevered in for some hours, the
patients have begged of us to remove them from the bath, admitting they
were previously deranged, that what they had said was nonsense, but that
now they were completely cured". Although Boismont's etiology of
"melancholy blood" was junk Hippocratic science, he clearly understood that
people could be tortured into sanity. In fact, Boismont's methods would
clearly "cure" a sizeable number of those currently under psychiatric care.
This should not surprise us, since insanity is not a bodily disease, but a
conscious choice made by those who are either wanting to escape life
responsibility or situation, or gain some material or emotional benefit.
His overall assessment of water torture was this: "We have, however, found
such beneficial results from the use of irrigation, that we constantly
employ it; and the cures we have affected by combining it with baths of
considerable duration, have been so numerous and rapid, that we consider we
have rendered an important service to the therapeutics of mental diseases
in pointing out the circumstances under which this treatment should be
pursued. The facts which we have just related can scarcely leave a doubt as
to the efficacy of physical agents". He gives an example of a man suffering
from hallucinations who just happened to also refused to work. This man was
restored to perfect health and his job through water torture. Obviously the
man was lazy and simply used the hallucinations as an excuse to receive
Obama-welfare and get the handicap parking permits for the Wal-Mart mall.
He was water boarded 6 times and started working again! It is important to
note that one of the key problems with most mental patients is that they
are often very lazy. Amazingly, Datura stramonium, which is a poison that
acts as a hallucination, was also claimed to cure insanity when given over
days or weeks in increasing doses. "Seven were cured, and three experienced
only a temporary amendment. The cures were accomplished in from four to
seven days to a month, by means of graduated doses of the sweetened extract
of stramonium". The multitude of cures of this poisonous drug, can be none
other than the placebo effect in the mind of the insane. This underscores
that insanity is not a bodily illness but actions in the control of the
mentally ill. Boismont was way ahead of his time because he understood
this: "Drugs may sometimes cure hallucinations; not by means of their
therapeutic action, but by breaking the chain of ideas which possess the
mind of the patient." The drugs prescribed in chemical psychiatry today
likewise do not cure insanity. (On hallucinations: a History and
Explanation, Alexandre J. F. Brierre De Boismont, 1859 AD)
"Example 134. A., aged forty-two, a carpenter, had drunk freely and
was of an impatient and excitable disposition. He was brought to the
Bicetre, 18th June, 1839, suffering from various hallucinations. He was
treated by the application of cuppings to the neck, baths, with affusions,
foot-baths, and lemonade. Afterwards, he was ordered to work, but this he
obstinately declined doing. The douche was given to him several times, and
he promised he would work, but failed to do so. On the 12th of September,
M. Leuret, who was now in attendance, questioned A. as to whether he
intended to work. This he refused to do. A. was immediately conducted to
the bath, and placed under the douche. M. Leuret then interrogated him, and
desired him to relate what had happened to him since he had been in the
Bicetre. After having listened for some time to all the statements of A.,
M. Leuret spoke to him as follows : "Now, A., I am going to tell you what I
think of all you have told me : there is not a word of truth in anything
you have mentioned ; all you have been telling me is sheer nonsense, and it
is because you are insane you have been placed in the Bicetre." Here A.
replied: "Monsieur Leuret, I am not insane; I cannot help seeing the
persons who are under my bed and in the subterranean passages, because they
are there. You maintain that all I have been saying is nonsense: I wish it
was so, but I know what I see and hear. After what you have said, is there,
then, no hope of my getting out of this place ?" "You will go out, but on
one condition. Listen to what I am going to tell you. You will only go out
when you are no longer insane, and this is what you must do in order to
show you are not: you must no longer look at the sun or the stars; you must
not imagine that there are subterranean passages beneath your bed, because
there are none; you must not believe in the voices which come from these
passages, because there are neither voices nor persons speaking in these
passages, nor do they exist . In addition to this, you must never refuse to
work, whatever may be the kind of labor you are ordered to do. If you wish
me to be satisfied with you, you must be perfectly obedient, because all
that I require of you is perfectly reasonable. Will you promise me that you
will not think any more of your follies? Will you promise me not to speak
of them again ? " " If you wish me to speak no more about these things,
because you say they are follies, I will not speak of them." " Promise me
you will think of them no more." The patient had some difficulty in
deciding on this point, but being strongly urged replied: "No, sir, I will
not think of them." "Promise me you will work every day, when you are
desired." The patient hesitated, and answered reluctantly. " Since you have
several times been silent on this point, and as I cannot depend upon your
promises, you will have the douche, and I shall continue to give it you
every day until you come and ask me to allow you to work, and until you
admit of your own accord that all you have said is mere nonsense." The
douche was given; it became extremely distressing to him, and he soon gave
in. "you wish me to work; I will do so. You wish me not to think about what
I have told you, because it is all imaginary; I will not do so. If anybody
asks me about those things, I will say, ' They were not true, they were
follies which I had got into my head.'" "Will you go and work to-day ?"
"Since you compel me, I must go." "Do you go willingly?" "I will go,
because you compel me." "You ought to say, that you perceive it is to your
advantage to go and work. Will you go willingly, yes or no ?"
(Hesitated-the douche.) After a short interval: " Yes, sir, all I have
said to you is nonsense; I will go and work." " Have you been insane ?" "
No, I have not been insane." " Have you not been insane ?" " At least I
believe not." (Douche.) " Have you been insane?" "Am I mad because I have
had imaginations, because I have seen and heard it?" "Yes." " Well then,
sir, it was insanity. There were neither the men, the women, nor the
companions I spoke of, because they originated in insanity." "When you
imagine you hear anything of this kind, what do you say ?" "I say that it
is nonsense, and I will not listen to it." " I wish you would come tomorrow
and thank me for having rid you of these insane ideas." " I promise you I
will work, and thank you for having relieved me of my ideas." "I wish you
would go and work to-day." "I promise you I will go." On the evening of the
same day, A. received a douche for not having gone to work during the day.
September 13. This morning, A. went to M. Leuret and thanked him for having
freed him from his insane ideas. He awaited the hour of work in order that
he might be allowed to go out. Since yesterday, he has neither seen nor
heard anything. September 14. A. laughs at his previous notions. M. Leuret
tried to entrap him, but A. always eluded these attempts, remaining
convinced that his ideas had been erroneous. For several days M. Leuret
renewed these attempts; but always with the same result. September 25.
There can be no doubt that A. is effectually cured. This man, previous to
the last mode of treatment, was thin and melancholy, now he is stout and
looks happy. He sleeps tolerably well. He is on good terms with everybody,
"he had believed he saw. he had believed he heard" ; such were the terms in
which he expressed himself, when questioned about his hallucinations. A.
requests to be allowed to go out; this is granted him on October 3rd-that
is to say, twenty days after the long interview of September 12. "The cure
of A.," says M. Leuret, "is undoubtedly owing, first, to the douche, and
next to the pains which I took to make him speak upon all the subjects of
his delirium, and to compel him to answer me rationally. It is necessary
not to appear satisfied until there is, or appears to be, no reservation in
what the patient says. If I had been content with A.'s evasive answers, the
patient would have dissimulated, and probably I should never have
succeeded. I did not humor his self-esteem; I required him to pronounce the
name of madman, in order, if possible, to render the idea of insanity
inseparable from that of his disease, giving to this its proper name, so
that he might reject it. " I often lay traps for those lunatics who seem
reasonable after the douche ; I return to them, pretend to regret the
objections I had made to them, and the pain I had caused them ; if they
give way, I then point out to them how they have failed, so that they may
be constantly on their guard. (On hallucinations: a History and
Explanation, Alexandre J. F. Brierre De Boismont, 1859 AD)
"In the popular mind to hold beliefs or experience sensations not
shared by others was considered the hallmark of insanity long before formal
psychiatry separated them as delusions and hallucinations, as in Lavater's
Of ghostes and spirits (1572) and later in Ferriar's (1813) and Hibbert's
(1824) Apparitions. Hence the term alienation meaning estrangement from the
reality of other men was anciently synonymous with madness : 'deluded
imagination' wrote William Battie (1758) is the 'essential character of
Madness' and 'precisely discriminates this from all other animal disorders
. . . that man alone is properly mad, who is fully and unalterably
persuaded of the Existence or of the appearance of any thing, which either
does not exist or does not actually appear to him'. Yet strangely the first
full psychiatric survey of this subject was Boismont's Des hallucinations,
1845 (Paris) which is quoted here from the abridged translation of the
second edition of 1852 enriched by 'many manuscript notes and alterations'
which Boismont prepared for the third edition of 1862 and placed at the
disposal of his English translator (an American edition was issued in
Philadelphia 1855). Boismont considered 'no question in the psychological
history of man more curious than that which relates to the subject of
hallucinations . . . their occurrence in various diseases, and especially
in mental affections, renders their study of the highest importance'. In
his introduction he gave credit to Arnold for the first 'nearly correct
definition' under the group 'Ideal insanity' and to Esquirol for separating
illusions from hallucinations and defining them in their modern sense. He
discussed the theories which had been propounded, from the organic in terms
of functional or structural changes in the organs of sense (Erasmus Darwin)
to psychological theories in term of revived ideas (Hibbert) or double
mental processes or 'duality of mind' (Wigan); and divided hallucinations
into ten groups according to whether they occurred alone - even in 'a
sound state of mind' - or in combination with various types of insanity,
organic diseases of the nervous system and deliria of various kinds.
Despite Boismont's scholarship and impressive clinical material his book
contained little to advance the understanding of hallucinations. While he
detailed the conditions in which hallucinations occur as symptoms he
nevertheless gave them the status of a disease sui generis and considered
their treatment equivalent to treating the underlying or accompanying
disease. This he divided, as the extract shows, into 'physical' and 'moral'
treatment with which he tried to break 'the chain of ideas which possess
the mind' and 'exterminate' them if possible. He reasoned that as
hallucinations were errors of judgment treatment should be directed at mind
and body simultaneously - these being 'the two constituent principles of
man' - and should be a mixture of 'intimidation' and 'forceful
persuasion' to make patients relinquish their mad ideas. 'Tranquillised' by
physical means the patient was made amenable to 'moral' measures of which
the cold douche to the head was the most effective. Thus Boismont in the
middle of the nineteenth century 'combated' hallucinations in the same
manner and in the same type of patients as Blair [q.v.] did in 1725 and
with apparently equally gratifying results. One further point of interest
both for the socio-medical and psychiatric historian is that patients of
different social class still received different treatment. Oxenbridge
[q.v.] in the seventeenth century treated a well-to-do and a poor woman
according to their means; Arnold (1782) remarked that 'Chains should never
be used but in the case of poor patients'; and Thomas Monro in evidence
before the 1815/6 Select Committee when asked 'Would you treat a private
individual patient at your own house, in the same way as has been described
in respect of Bethlem ?' answered 'Certainly not'. Boismont found that
'Educated persons, who have been accustomed to reflect, will not so readily
give up the ideas which possess them. Serious consequences might result
from telling them they were mad, especially if it is attempted to compel
them to admit the fact' - the essence of his technique described here."
(300 years of Psychiatry, Richard Hunter, 1963, p 1039)
On hallucinations: a History and Explanation, Alexandre J. F. Brierre De
Boismont, 1859 AD
(1798-1881)
MD Paris, leading French psychiatrist
On hallucinations: a history and explanation . . . Translated from the
French by Robert T. Hulme, 1859 London, Renshaw (pp. 455) pp. 397--423
THE TREATMENT OF HALLUCINATIONS
Until of late years the treatment of hallucinations in France had not
attracted the special attention of medical men. This was the natural
consequence of the universal opinion that they were merely a symptom of
insanity. It should be borne in mind that, since a hallucination is
generally a complication of some one of the different forms of insanity,
what we shall say with regard to the treatment will often apply to both
disorders.This distinction is particularly perceptible in the means which
are employed against the false idea. In the important works of Ferriar,
Hibbert, Esquirol, and Jacobi, on hallucinations, there is no chapter
devoted to their treatment. The French author assures us that they do not
require any particular method; he adds, however, that they ought to be
taken into our serious consideration when deciding upon the moral and
intellectual treatment of the insane and the therapeutic agents which are
to be used. The English authors have not been more explicit, nor does the
German philosopher suggest anything new in this respect. Such was the state
of the science when M. Leuret, having carefully considered what had been
done previously, declared that hallucinations, which had hitherto been left
entirely to the resources of nature, were amenable to treatment, and
capable of being cured, and that this desirable result could be easily
obtained by resolutely opposing and continually pursuing them until they
gave way .. .
The treatment of hallucinations may be arranged under two heads - the
first comprising the physical, the second the moral means.
Physical Treatment
SECTION I.-PHYSICAL TREATMENT.
The intimate connection which exists between the two constituent principles
of man, shows that each may be affected in its turn, and that it is
therefore necessary to make use of such therapeutic agents as are
applicable to both of them. Let us take some examples : a person gives
himself up to the immoderate use of fermented liquors, and becomes subject
to hallucinations; sometimes confinement is sufficient to effect a cure,
but frequently it is also necessary to have recourse to opium, bleeding,
baths, &c. Another person imagines he sees the devil, and reasoning with
the patient, the use of ridicule or the douche, will succeed in banishing
the false sensation. Generally speaking, it will be necessary to have
recourse to both these modes of treatment, in consequence of the reciprocal
action of the two principles. A person experiences some great misfortune,
which he attributes to one of his enemies; soon afterwards the figure of
the latter, of some fantastic form, makes its appearance; he no longer
sleeps; his blood, to use a common expression, becomes heated ; the
secretions and excretions are deranged. In this case, ought not the
employment of physical remedies to precede that of moral agents? What
reason teaches us, experience confirms.
The Academician Nicolai was subject to congestions, which required the
employment of leeches, but which he had neglected to make use of, and the
consequence was, he was constantly surrounded by all kinds of phantoms. He
is then bled, and the phantoms disappear.
Example 127. A lodging-house keeper, with a strong constitution and
sanguine temperament, who from time to time gave way to drink, was brought
to the establishment of Madame Marcel de Sainte Colombe, of which I was at
the time the medical attendant. His countenance was inflamed, his eyes
bright and wild. He told me in the most excited manner that his aunt had
let a part of his house to some exhibitors of wild beasts-this was not
true-which had greatly annoyed him. "One of them." he said, " insulted my
wife on three different occasions ; this exasperated me, and I threw myself
on the scoundrel; but he changed himself into a horse, and gradually
diminished to my sight; but this did not hinder me from killing him."
The man was very violent, and it was necessary to place him in a
strait-waistcoat; I had his head shaved, thirty leeches applied along the
course of the fagittal suture, and on the next day he was placed in the
bath. At the end of two days he was better. To the use of these means was
added that of purgatives alternately with the baths. Eight days after his
admission he had quite recovered the use of his faculties.
Under the head of Hypochondriasis we have reported the case of a teacher of
German, who imagined he was under magnetic influences, and that a
magnetizer had been placed in his abdomen. In order to divert his ideas,
and at the same time cure the intestinal disorder, I applied two large
blisters to his legs. His countenance, which had hitherto been melancholy,
soon assumed a more happy expression; he ceased to talk about his erroneous
sensations, and by directing his attention to intellectual occupations, his
cure was completed.
One of our lunatics persuaded himself that several men had entered his room
for the purpose of ill-treating him. Enraged at this idea, he defied them,
and called out loudly for his knife, in order to destroy his persecutors.
The treatment consisted of purgatives and baths. A month after his entrance
he was restored to his family, cured.
Mademoiselle C. became insane after a disappointment in love. She
continually saw her lover about her; she saw him in the heavens and in the
clouds, and bestowed upon him the most endearing names; he spoke to her,
and she replied. Every day this lady was placed in the bath, where she
remained four, five, and six hours at a time, receiving the water on her
head in the form of continued irrigation ; on the fourth day she had no
longer any hallucinations, and at the end of a week she was quite
recovered.
Bleedings are useful under some circumstances, but they should not be
excessive. Without referring to the serious consequences mentioned by
Pinel, and the truth of which all who have had charge of the insane will
confirm,' experience proves that the bleeding may be carried on until the
patient faints, without producing any alteration in his ideas.
Example 128. A physician who had hallucinations of sight and hearing,
requested Esquirol to bleed him. For a long time Esquirol refused; but at
length, overcome by his importunity, he consented. Scarcely had the patient
been left, when he tore off the bandage, and filled a chamber utensil and a
tin basin with his blood, besides a considerable quantity which fell on the
floor; feeling faint, he laid himself on his bed, the blood still flowing
from him. When assistance arrived, he was bloodless. He was ultimately
restored, but had become blind. In spite of his anaemic condition and the
loss of sight, his insanity remained unaltered. The hallucinations
preserved the same character, they were as vivid, and lasted just as long
as they had done previously. Esqnirol: Det Mdladiet Mentalet, vol. i. p.
183.
t Van Helmont: Demens Idea, 39 oper. p. 175.
The cure of hallucinations has sometimes been effected by violent means,
which were a disgrace to humanity, but of which, nevertheless, there are
numerous examples related by authors.
Example 129. A carpenter of Anvers imagined that during the night he saw a
number of horrible spectres. The terror which they caused him was so great,
that he became insane. He was taken to the tomb of the virgin St. Dymphrea,
who had the reputation of curing the possessed. The carpenter remained
there for the space of a year, and was submitted to the various modes of
treatment which were made use of in mania. But at the end of that time, as
the money for his maintenance was not paid, he was sent home tied in a
cart. During the journey, the invalid having broken his chains, jumped from
the vehicle into a deep piece of water by the roadside. With some
difficulty his conductors succeeded in rescuing him, and placed him half
dead in the vehicle. This cured him, and he lived for eighteen years
afterwards, quite recovered from his insanity, triumphed, says Ferriar,
over his resolution, by administering to him an emetic along with his food.
(An emetic or a purgative will sometimes banish the hallucinations.)
A lunatic believed he had swallowed the devil, and he still remained in his
stomach. For several days he refused to obey the calls of nature, for fear
the devil should recover his liberty.
The use of baths, combined with the douche or continued irrigation,
deserves especial notice. In the hands of M. Leuret, the douche has more
than once convinced the hallucinated of the false nature of his ideas.
Other practitioners have not been so successful.
Under certain regulations, this method provides us with useful resources.
If the hallucination is of recent date, if the invalid is timid and
fearful, the impression produced by a column of water may instantly change
the nature of his ideas. Should the false sensations continue after the use
of persuasive and other gentle means in a person who has been accustomed to
have his wishes fulfilled, and who is endowed with a moderate amount of
energy, then, in such a case, the application of the douche may effect a
cure. The circumstances are not so favorable when the hallucination occurs
in a person of energy and determination, and has lasted for a long time. It
is the same where it is complicated with insanity, especially in melancholy
monomania with a tendency to suicide. The hallucinations of mania, of
dementia, and of general paralysis will seldom be treated successfully by
means of the douche. In a certain number of cases, the use of the douche
will aggravate the symptoms instead of benefiting them.
We have substituted for the douche, continued irrigation. The water is
allowed to fall, for hours together, in a thin stream, or in a number of
streams like those from a watering-pot, on the head of the patient while
seated in the bath. The effect produced by this continued sprinkling has,
first, the advantage of keeping up a constant cooling effect on the organ
which is congested, without causing those injurious results which have been
laid to the charge of ice. In the second place, it harasses the patient, so
that he will often ask for pardon. What others have stated, as regards the
instantaneous action of the douche, we have also observed from the use of
continued irrigation. After this treatment has been persevered in for some
hours, the patients have begged of us to remove them from the bath,
admitting they were previously deranged, that what they had said was
nonsense, but that now they were completely cured.
Example 130. A young female who had become hallucinated after her
confinement, imagined she saw before her a large figure clothed in white,
which followed her everywhere. Her medical attendant applied leeches to the
neck, and ordered her several baths. This treatment produced no amendment;
the patient became more violent, and fears were entertained she would throw
herself out of the window. She was then brought to my establishment. As
soon as she arrived she was taken to the bath. The water was allowed to
fall on her head for two hours. At the end of that time I visited her. "
Sir," she said, " let me come out of this ; the water which falls on my
head like a shower of rain is unbearable. You have done it because I was
out of my mind; I know it; but, thank God, I am now in my right senses. Do
not leave me here any longer." Before granting her request, I asked her
what had become of the figure in white. " It exists no longer," she
replied; "it was an illusion produced by my milk fever." The lady having
replied rationally to all my questions, I took her to her apartment, and in
eight hours she was restored to her friends.
Things do not always turn out so fortunately, and we have often known the
erroneous impressions to return after a momentary cessation. In other
cases, the false sensation disappears, but the insanity remains. We have,
however, found such beneficial results from the use of irrigation, that we
constantly employ it; and the cures we have affected by combining it with
baths of considerable duration, have been so numerous and rapid, that we
consider we have rendered an important service to the therapeutics of
mental diseases in pointing out the circumstances under which this
treatment should be pursued.
The facts which we have just related can scarcely leave a doubt as to the
efficacy of physical agents; in the majority of the cases, they act by
quieting the symptoms of excitement. It is because sufficient attention has
not been paid to this period of the disease that such contradictory
opinions have been maintained. When the excitement has passed away, either
owing to the use of remedies or from the lapse of time, then the greatest
advantages are to be derived from moral treatment.
Before entering upon this part of our subject, it is necessary to say a few
words on the Datura stramonium, which was proposed some years back by Dr.
Moreau of Tours, the medical attendant upon the insane at the Bicetre. This
medicine was employed in the case of hallucinated persons, who, if they
could not be termed incurable, were in a more or less hopeless condition.
Seven were cured, and three experienced only a temporary amendment. The
cures were accomplished in from four to seven days to a month, by means of
graduated doses of the sweetened extract of stramonium, beginning with one
decigramme (1.5432 grains) night and morning, increasing the dose, in the
course of five, eight, or fifteen days, to three decigrammes, made up into
a drink, of which a tablespoonful was taken every hour. At the end of
twenty-four hours the doses were greatly increased, one decigramme of the
extract being administered every hour, until its physiological effects were
evident. According to Dr. Moreau, these generally showed themselves after
the administration of three decigrammes. Great care is required in the
administration of large doses of the Datura. The patient should never be
left, in order that the effects of the remedy may be watched, and not
allowed to pass beyond the normal limits. Journal det Connaissancet
Medicale t Pratiques, p. 134. Fev. 1842. Analyse de M. Bouchardat.
The necessity of these precautions show that this remedy can only be used
with great reserve. Another objection is, that the remedy has not produced
the same fortunate results in the hands of others as it did with M. Morean.
Some years ago, M. Mitivie attempted to treat hallucinations by means of
electricity. M. Baillarger subsequently reverted to the use of this agent:
it was found, however, to be exceedingly painful and difficult in its
application, and was therefore abandoned.
Drugs may sometimes cure hallucinations; not by means of their therapeutic
action, but by breaking the chain of ideas which possess the mind of the
patient.
Example 131. A student of Berlin, who had always enjoyed good health,
returned home one evening in a state of great alarm ; his countenance was
pale, his eyes had a wild expression, and he declared he should die in six
and thirty hours. He went to bed, sent for a clergyman to reconcile him to
God, and wrote his will. These serious symptoms alarmed his companions.
Hufeland was requested to visit the invalid, but his reasonings had no
effect upon him. This celebrated physician then ordered a large dose of
opium, and so produced a deep sleep, which lasted until the fatal period
had passed. On his waking up, the day and the hour was shown to the
patient, and it was thus proved to him he had been under the influence of
his imagination. When the young man had become thoroughly convinced, quiet
in his mind, and restored to his usual state, he related that, as he was
leaving the town at the close of the day, he saw a death's head, and heard
a voice, which said to him, "You will die in six and thirty hours."
The principal physical agents which are used in the treatment of
hallucinations, consist of general and local blood-letting, of prolonged
general baths, either by themselves or combined with the douche, with the
bath of irrigation, or with purgatives; occasionally emetics, narcotics,
and anti-spasmodic; and, lastly, external revulsions, by means of blisters,
moxas, and setons. Many other remedies have been extolled, but we consider
it would be useless to enumerate them. Manual labor is often a very useful
auxiliary. Persons are sometimes brought into asylums whose insanity seems
to depend upon insufficient nutrition. Should this be the cause of the
hallucination, a nutritious regimen must be prescribed. Lastly, it is most
important carefully to examine all the organs of the body, and to ascertain
that their functions are properly performed.
SECTION H.-MORAL TREATMENT.
When the excitement has been subdued, the employment of moral means-which
consists essentially in giving rise to fresh impressions, reawakening the
affections, and in directing the attention to new objects-may be
productive of the greatest good. The choice of these different means must
necessarily vary according to the education, the disposition, and the kind
of insanity of the hallucinated. Means which will succeed in a person of
intelligence will be useless in one of moderate understanding. The artisan
cannot be addressed in the same terms as the man of education. A woman is
accessable to consolations which would have no influence on the opposite
sex. The employment of moral means requires intelligence, a knowledge of
mankind, great tact, and, at the same time, a large amount of perseverance.
Knowing how largely the ideas are concerned in the production of
hallucinations, it is easily understood that we must revert to them in
order to cure the false sensation which torments the hallucinated.
After a judicious course of medicine has tranquilized the patient, but the
hallucinations are not changed, although he talks less about them, then it
is that the medical man should avail himself of all the resources he is
acquainted with to combat the idea, to weaken and erterminate it, sometimes
by direct, sometimes by indirect means, but almost always by a happy
mixture of kindness and firmness.
Let us apply these principles to a particular case.
Example 132. Mademoiselle Claire, aged forty, a brunette, tall, thin, and
of a nervous temperament, had always enjoyed good health. She had never
shown any symptom of insanity, when it was perceived that for the last
eight months her ideas had become somewhat defective. The monthly periods
were irregular. Two years previously she had had a profuse uterine
hemorrhage, brought on by fatigue. She was placed in my charge in 1838.
When I questioned Mademoiselle Claire, she told me she had committed every
imaginable crime. " I am," she said " the beast mentioned in the
Apocalypse, which is to appear in 1840. God has forsaken me. Satan has
appeared to me; he has entered into my body, and will compel me to traverse
the whole of Paris." There was no evil in the world of which she was not
the cause. Any remonstrance only made her cry out that she was lost . When
I endeavored to show her that it was hardly possible she could have
committed such crimes, she would reply, that if she had not already
committed them, she should do so. Her appetite was good, her functions were
properly performed; she was thin, and of a yellow tint; her breath was bad,
and the tongue white; her sleep was short, and broken by shrill cries,
which resounded through the house. The cries were produced by visions of
hell and the devil, by the threats which the evil spirits held out to her,
and by the fear of eternal misery.
Mademoiselle Claire avoided me whenever she saw me; for, although I
manifested great interest in her, I often rallied her on the singularity of
her ideas. "How is it possible," I said, "that a lady with your correct
notions can suppose you have seen the devil ?" Then I would leave, after
having endeavored to infuse a doubt in her mind.
At other times I would content myself by observing, "all my arguments are
useless; they fail to convince you. Those who have attended upon the insane
have long been aware that to hope to convince a lunatic is to be as bad as
the patient himself. " But I am not insane." Then she would follow me, and
endeavor to prove the truth of her sensations. I would go away laughing,
without saying anything more. Sometimes I would exclaim against her
pretensions of having committed so many crimes: it must arise either from
pride or insanity. Again she would bring forward arguments to show me she
was in possession of her reason. I would listen to her or make no answer,
according to the state in which I found her.
To subdue the physical excitement, I ordered her some baths, and gave her
cooling drinks. Her hallucinations continued without any cessation,
although she avoided speaking about them for fear of my laughing at her.
One night she was alone with my daughter, at that time ten years of age.
"Do you not see the flames which are coming out of my mouth?" she cried. "
They surround me-I am lost!" My daughter, laughing, told her she was
talking nonsense. She sighed, and from that moment spoke no more about the
flames.
Mademoiselle Claire had intervals of repose, after which the hallucinations
would seize her anew. At those times advice and remonstrance had no effect
upon her: only, when she was too much harassed, she became less
communicative and dissembled.
As Mademoiselle Claire was at the critical time of life, I proposed a
blister on her arm, to which she consented. Amongst her other delirious
propensities, she had the habit of making a general confession to the
person with whom she conversed. I attributed the derangement of the
intellect in this case to the change of life, and I told the patient my
opinion in this respect. "None of your relatives," I said, "have been
insane. Your reason has never been disturbed previously; all your illness
depends upon this critical time."
Mademoiselle Claire, although she would not admit she was insane, was fully
aware that she was a great sufferer, and, like many others, said she should
never get better. I perceived that the idea I had suggested made an
impression on her mind ; and from that time I continually referred to it,
combining it with other moral resources which I had at my command.
I bestowed great attention upon her; I praised her understanding and her
judgment, and at the same time expressed my surprise that a person so
happily organized should give way to such ideas. I often laughed at her
about her devils. "You may laugh," she said, "but for all that they exist."
Then she would laugh herself at the jokes I had passed upon her. These
conversations were agreeable to her. I called her self-esteem into play ; I
engaged her attention, and appealed to her good sense. This plan, which I
perseveringly followed, ultimately produced a happy diversion in her ideas.
When there was a marked improvement, I allowed her to go out and visit her
friends. These visits sometimes made her melancholy. The persons whom she
had seen were lost. These lamentations happened especially when she had
passed through the public gardens, and had seen the luxury and brilliant
dresses of the company. The city seemed to her the modern Babylon, with all
its iniquities. By degrees her ideas became less melancholy ; she went out
more frequently, and, when she was out, occupied herself with the affairs
of life.
These results were not obtained without alternations from better to worse.
Thus Mademoiselle Claire, after having been lively, would again become
melancholy, and refuse to go out. Her amendment was especially
characterized by the desire which she showed of being employed. She
commenced working for several hours in the day. Her cries occurred at
longer intervals ; she no longer avoided society, and would enter into
conversation for a considerable time.
Two months after her admission she had a relapse; she was constantly in
tears, groaned and declared the devil was going to take her away, because
she had received the communion while laboring under mortal sin.
Nevertheless, she continued to improve, and we watched with, the greatest
interest the struggle between the reason and insanity, but with every hope
that the first would be triumphant.
Mademoiselle Claire was at this time in a state indicating that the false
idea was shaken to its foundation. She smiled when we joked her about it,
and she determined to go to church; but when she arrived at the entrance
she declared she could not pass in, for she felt as if fastened to the
spot; and as no reasonings could induce her to enter, she returned. By
degrees she became more and more tranquil, applied herself to needlework,
and now frequently visited her friends and relations.
At the end of four months, Mademoiselle Claire was able to write and work,
and in two months more this lady's convalescence had so far advanced, that
I persuaded her to leave, there being no longer any doubt of her getting
well. Mademoiselle Claire offered some objections; she was much excited on
the morning of her departure, and was fearful her disease would return.
When she had passed the door and had entered the carriage, she felt better
and seemed more happy.
We subsequently watched with the greatest interest the mental condition of
Mademoiselle Claire. Her letters informed us that she had been to church,
and that she felt quite well. Five years after her health continued
perfectly good.
This case, which we have selected from several others, is sufficient to
enable the reader to appreciate our method of treatment. With the exception
of some baths and a blister, no use was made of physical agents; but I am
fully convinced that the moral treatment, which I followed with
perseverance for several months, powerfully contributed to the restoration
of the reason.
An unforeseen event, the sudden comparison of what actually exists with the
belief of the patient, is sufficient, under some circumstances, to destroy
the hallucinations.
The governor whose case is detailed at page 77, exclaimed, on seeing the
Cossacks in the Jardin des Plantes, "Enough-I am cured!" Another patient
of Esquirol awaited the coming of the Messiah. After a long conversation,
she made a written agreement with her medical man, in which she engaged to
admit she was insane if the Messiah did not come on the 25th of March. On
the day fixed the Messiah did not appear. The patient performed her promise
with a good grace, returned to her ordinary habits, and the restoration of
her reason was completed in a very short time.
Example 133. A lady affected with melancholia after her lying-in, began,
after a long struggle between sanity and insanity, to believe she had been
guilty of crimes for which she was to be publicly executed, that her infamy
had occasioned the death of her husband, and that his spirit haunted her.
It was her custom every evening to fix herself at the window, and to gaze
on a white post, which seemed to her to be the ghost of her husband.
Several weeks having passed without change or amendment, her husband
thought it would be better that he should see her; for, although he had
been told that her removal from home was essential to her recovery, he
reasonably imagined that the best way of proving himself to be alive was to
show himself. He was told that, even if he did show himself, his wife might
persist in believing him to be a ghost; but he was obstinate, and the
medical attendants gave way to him. The effect, as afterwards stated by the
husband, was very striking. "As soon as I entered the drawing-room where
she usually spent the day, she ran into a corner, hid her face in her
handkerchief, then turned round, looked me in the face, one moment
appearing delighted that I was alive, but immediately afterwards assumed a
hideous expression of countenance, and screamed out that I was dead and
come to haunt her. This was exactly what Dr. had anticipated, and for some
minutes I thought all was lost.
Finding that persuasion and argument only irritated and confirmed her in
her belief, I desisted, and tried to draw off her attention to other
subjects. It was some time since she had either seen me or the children. I
put her arm under mine, took her into the garden, and began to relate what
had occurred to me and them since we parted. This excited her attention ;
she soon became interested, and I entered with the utmost minuteness and
circumstantiality into the affairs of the nursery, her home, and her
friends. I now felt that I was gaining ground ; and when I thought I had
complete possession of her mind, I ventured to ask her, in a joking manner,
whether I was not very communicative for a ghost. She laughed. I
immediately drew her from the subject, and again engaged her attention with
her children and friends. The plan succeeded beyond my hope. I dined, spent
the evening with her, and left her at night perfectly herself again." This
happy result was permanent; and whatever general objections may be made to
such trials, it is impossible not to be deeply impressed with the fact that
they sometimes succeed. Conolly: Oput cit. p. 402. We witnessed a precisely
similar case in the establishment of M. Esquirol.
The method of M. Lenret must necessarily be noticed here; for, although we
have already pointed out its principal features, we consider that an
example taken from his work is necessary to make it thoroughly understood.
Example 134. A., aged forty-two, a carpenter, had drunk freely and was of
an impatient and excitable disposition. He was brought to the Bicetre, 18th
June, 1839, suffering from various hallucinations. He was treated by the
application of cuppings to the neck, baths, with affusions, foot-baths, and
lemonade. Afterwards, he was ordered to work, but this he obstinately
declined doing. The douche was given to him several times, and he promised
he would work, but failed to do so.
On the 12th of September, M. Leuret, who was now in attendance, questioned
A. as to whether he intended to work. This he refused to do.
A. was immediately conducted to the bath, and placed under the douche. M.
Leuret then interrogated him, and desired him to relate what had happened
to him since he had been in the Bicetre.
After having listened for some time to all the statements of A., M. Leuret
spoke to him as follows :
" Now, A., I am going to tell you what I think of all you have told me :
there is not a word of truth in anything you have mentioned ; all you have
been telling me is sheer nonsense, and it is because you are insane you
have been placed in the Bicetre."
Here A. replied:
" Monsieur Leuret, I am not insane; I cannot help seeing the persons who
are under my bed and in the subterranean passages, because they are there.
You maintain that all I have been saying is nonsense: I wish it was so, but
I know what I see and hear. After what you have said, is there, then, no
hope of my getting out of this place ?"
" You will go out, but on one condition. Listen to what I am going to tell
you. You will only go out when you are no longer insane, and this is what
you must do in order to show you are not: you must no longer look at the
sun or the stars; you must not imagine that there are subterranean passages
beneath your bed, because there are none; you must not believe in the
voices which come from these passages, because there are neither voices nor
persons speaking in these passages, nor do they exist . In addition to
this, you must never refuse to work, whatever may be the kind of labor you
are ordered to do. If you wish me to be satisfied with you, you must be
perfectly obedient, because all that I require of you is perfectly
reasonable. Will you promise me that you will not think any more of your
follies? Will you promise me not to speak of them again ? "
" If you wish me to speak no more about these things, because you say they
are follies, I will not speak of them."
" Promise me you will think of them no more."
The patient had some difficulty in deciding on this point, but being
strongly urged replied:
"No, sir, I will not think of them."
"Promise me you will work every day, when you are desired."
The patient hesitated, and answered reluctantly.
" Since you have several times been silent on this point, and as I cannot
depend upon your promises, you will have the douche, and I shall continue
to give it you every day until you come and ask me to allow you to work,
and until you admit of your own accord that all you have said is mere
nonsense."
The douche was given; it became extremely distressing to him, and he soon
gave in.
" you wish me to work; I will do so. You wish me not to think about what I
have told you, because it is all imaginary; I will not do so. If anybody
asks me about those things, I will say, ' They were not true, they were
follies which I had got into my head.'"
"Will you go and work to-day ?" "Since you compel me, I must go."
" Do you go willingly ?" " I will go, because you compel me."
" You ought to say, that you perceive it is to your advantage to go and
work. Will you go willingly, yes or no ?" (Hesitated-the douche.) After a
short interval: " Yes, sir, all I have said to you is nonsense; I will go
and work."
" Have you been insane ?" " No, I have not been insane."
" Have you not been insane ?" " At least I believe not." (Douche.)
" Have you been insane?" "Am I mad because I have had imaginations, because
I have seen and heard it?"
"Yes." " Well then, sir, it was insanity. There were neither the men, the
women, nor the companions I spoke of, because they originated in insanity."
"When you imagine you hear anything of this kind, what do you say ?" "I say
that it is nonsense, and I will not listen to it."
" I wish you would come tomorrow and thank me for having rid you of these
insane ideas." " I promise you I will work, and thank you for having
relieved me of my ideas."
"I wish you would go and work to-day." "I promise you I will go."
On the evening of the same day, A. received a douche for not having gone to
work during the day.
September 13. This morning, A. went to M. Leuret and thanked him for having
freed him from his insane ideas. He awaited the hour of work in order that
he might be allowed to go out. Since yesterday, he has neither seen nor
heard anything.
September 14. A. laughs at his previous notions. M. Leuret tried to entrap
him, but A. always eluded these attempts, remaining convinced that his
ideas had been erroneous. For several days M. Leuret renewed these
attempts; but always with the same result.
September 25. There can be no doubt that A. is effectually cured. This man,
previous to the last mode of treatment, was thin and melancholy, now he is
stout and looks happy. He sleeps tolerably well. He is on good terms with
everybody, "he had believed he saw. he had believed he heard" ; such were
the terms in which he expressed himself, when questioned about his
hallucinations. A. requests to be allowed to go out; this is granted him on
October 3rd-that is to say, twenty days after the long interview of
September 12.
"The cure of A.," says M. Leuret, "is undoubtedly owing, first, to the
douche, and next to the pains which I took to make him speak upon all the
subjects of his delirium, and to compel him to answer me rationally. It is
necessary not to appear satisfied until there is, or appears to be, no
reservation in what the patient says. If I had been content with A.'s
evasive answers, the patient would have dissimulated, and probably I should
never have succeeded. I did not humor his self-esteem; I required him to
pronounce the name of madman, in order, if possible, to render the idea of
insanity inseparable from that of his disease, giving to this its proper
name, so that he might reject it.
" I often lay traps for those lunatics who seem reasonable after the douche
; I return to them, pretend to regret the objections I had made to them,
and the pain I had caused them ; if they give way, I then point out to them
how they have failed, so that they may be constantly on their guard. Since,
however, my object in this kind of contest is not to punish, but to cure,
it must be fully understood that I take care that these stratagems are
strictly proportioned to the intelligence of the patients upon whom I use
them." (Leuret: Du Traitement Moral de la Folie, p. 186, 1 vol. in-8.
Paris)
This interesting case, of which we have given the most important
particulars, seems to us a strong argument in favor of the opinion we have
previously expressed, as to the difficulty of applying indiscriminately the
treatment of M. Leuret to the cases which occur in private asylums.
Educated persons, who have been accustomed to reflect, to compare, and to
have their wishes fulfilled, will not so readily give up the ideas which
possess them. Serious consequences might result from telling them they were
mad, especially if it was attempted to compel them to admit the fact.
Three years ago we were consulted by a clergyman, whose mania consisted in
believing he was a bishop. While under the douche he seemed to recognize
his error, and was permitted to leave the Bicetre. These were his own
words: " I was convinced I was in error, because there was no other means
of escaping from the punishment of the douche, and my protestations were
useless in a place where the medical man is all-powerful. The receiving of
the douche in no way convinced me that what I said was not true." In our
own practice we have had recourse to intimidation, and behind our backs the
patients would say, "We give way because there is nothing else to be done
against violence, but we are fully convinced of the truth of our ideas.")
We will only make one more observation, which is, that it is not always
without danger that we can force a patient to recognize his error.
Example 135. A man, named Vincent, imagined he was so tall that it was
impossible for him to pass out of the door of his apartment; his medical
man recommended that force should be used. The recommendation was followed,
but it was attended with a fatal result; for, in passing through the
doorway, Vincent cried out that they were lacerating him and breaking his
bones. The impression was so strong that he died some days after,
reproaching his attendants with having been his murderers. Marcus Donatos:
Hist. Med. Var. lib. ii. cap. 1.
It is, therefore, a fact, which is now added to science, that
hallucinations may be treated with success. So far our opinion is in
accordance with that of M. Leuret, but we differ as to its mode of
execution. We do not consider that the treatment of hallucinations should
be confined to the employment of moral means; sometimes it is necessary to
have recourse to physical agents, sometimes to moral influences, and
sometimes to a combination of both these means. By the employment of this
mixed treatment, in accordance with the etiology and symptomatology of
hallucinations, we shall obtain a number of permanent cures,
which may not have the brilliant appearance of those effected by the method
of M. Leuret, but which will at least have the advantage of not wounding
the sensibilities of the patient.
In our previous examination we have divided the hallucinations into several
classes. It is evident that the treatment we have now pointed out will
require to be modified in accordance with the circumstances under which the
hallucinations are developed, and the special diseases with which they are
associated. Lastly, there are many cases which will require a different
plan to be pursued.
FIRST DIVISION-MORAL CAUSES.
CHAPTER XI.
CAUSES OF HALLUCINATIONS.
When considering the causes-before passing to those sources of
hallucinations which are capable of being appreciated, that is to say, to
the secondary causes-it must be borne in mind that a hallucination is
composed of two distinct elements, the sensible sign, and the mental
conception. These are mysteriously united, like the body and the soul, and
are a perfect emblem of man's nature. The hallucination which is the
material embodiment, a daguerreotype of the idea, is only the bodily
portion, while the mental conception is the psychical portion. It is by
defining these two elements that we must endeavor to seek for the cause of
this singular phenomenon.
We have seen that fevers and many other diseases favor the production of
hallucinations; but, at the same time, hallucinations also occur in persons
of sound mind, and who are in good health. These, and such cases as the one
which follows, can only be explained by a particular condition of the
nervous system.
* The causes of hallucinations so closely resemble those of illusions that
we have not considered it necessary to separate them.
** The primary cause of this and all other phenomena will always escape us.
It is this which constitutes the difference between the finite and the
infinite, toward which we constantly tend, often in spite of ourselves, but
which all oar endeavors after knowledge will never dissipate in this life.
Example 101. Madame the Viscountess A., whom I attended for many years, was
one day conversing with me about the apparitions recorded in the
Scriptures, and in which she fully believed. "An event," she said,
"happened some twelve years back, which satisfied me of the existence of
those visions to which science gives the name of hallucinations. I received
a letter from my son-in-law, the Count 0., informing me of the severe
illness of my daughter, who was many leagues away from me. The letter
contained nothing which led me to anticipate a fatal termination. On
entering my room-it was about nine o'clock in the morning- thinking
upon the state of my daughter, I heard a voice, in a feeling tone, utter
these words : ' Do you love me /' I felt no surprise, and immediately
replied in a loud voice, ' Lord, Thou knowest that I place my whole trust
in Thee, and that I loce you with all my soul.' The voice then added, 'Do
you (jive her to me?' I felt a thrill of dread pass through me, but
immediately recovering myself, I replied, ' However painful may be the
sacrifice, Thy holy will be done !' I then sank on my couch in a state of
great depression. The next day a second letter from my son-inlaw informed
me of my dear child's death."
The Viscountess was a person endowed with an excellent understanding, a
devout Catholic, but without bigotry or fanaticism. The hallucination took
place in broad daylight, when she was in excellent health, and when her
thoughts were concentrated on the illness of her daughter. Bred up in the
Christian faith, and having recourse to prayer in all her afflictions, she
felt no surprise at the voice she heard. When Madame A. related this
anecdote to me, twelve years had passed away, but her belief in the reality
of the event was as firm as on the day of its occurrence. This instance is
to us a most convincing proof of the way in which the apparitions of the
Middle Ages are to be explained, and of the erroneousuess of that system
which regards hallucinations as an invariable indication of insanity.
In a medical point of view, the nervous and circulatory systems undoubtedly
perform a very important part in the production of hallucinations ; but the
difficulty is, how do they act ? We ore entirely ignorant of this even in
the ordinary operations of the mind. 'We only know that various stimulants,
acting on the blood and on the nervous system, give greater brilliancy and
vivacity to the ideas, which simply means that there is a greater influx of
blood to the brain. We are neither acquainted with the agent which produces
this excitement, where it operates, nor what are the changes which it
produces. Must we not then admit a predisposition-that unknown
something-which in one person gives rise to apoplexy, in another to
inflammation, and in a third to softening of the brain, or some other form
of disease ?
Thus, then, under the influence of a moral or physical cause, is produced
an excited state of the nervous and vascular systems, which give rise to
hallucinations, without, however, its being possible to establish an
intimate connection between the two series of events.
Having determined the part which is performed by the organic element, we
next enter upon the consideration of' the mental, where we must ultimately
se"ek for the cause of the singular phenomena of hallucinations. Such an
inquiry is beset by insurmountable difficulties, unless we first establish
certain data to guide us in our inquiry. Thus we shall devote a first
chapter to the examination of the action of social and individual
influences, and of moral and physical causes, in the production of
hallucinations ; and in a second, we shall endeavor to penetrate more
deeply into their mode of formation, by examining them in relation to
psychology, to history, to morality, and to religion.
The causes of hallucinations should not be confounded with those of
insanity, as was formerly the case. It is true, the majority of the insane
are subject to hallucinations; but it is equally certain, that they may
occur by themselves. Even when the hallucinations are combined with
insanity, it is not always difficult to recognize their origin. Lastly,
they may be conveniently classed into those which coexist with a sound
state of mind, and into those which are accompanied by disease.
FIRST DIVISION-MORAL CAUSES.
Hallucinations constantly appearing in mental diseases, & priori, the
division into moral and physical causes ought to be equally applicable to
them.
A circumstance, however, which we have pointed out in our Memoirr. sur
I'Influence de la Civilization, in our opinion, decides the question in
favor of moral causes. In fact, epidemic hallucinations, such as vampirism,
ecstasy, and the visions observed in the different forms of plague, are not
susceptible of any other explanation. In these cases, the hallucinations
are transmitted by means of the ideas which exist in society, or have been
inculcated by education and by the force of example, that is, by a true
moral contagion, just in the same way as thousands of men will fly to arms
at the command of a celebrated general, or as a multitude will massacre a
defenseless wretch, hurried away by the ravings of a madman.
The two-fold action of the moral on the physical shows that hallucinations
are amenable to the common law ; but their nature, the part in which they
take place, alike indicate the predominance of one of these influences;
thus, at the commencement, we stated that a preoccupied state of the mind,
the prolonged concentration of the thoughts upon one subject, were
conditions highly favorable to the production of hallucinations. The
examples which we have taken from poets, philosophers, and the founders of
religious creeds, have proved this to be the case: at the same time, we
have strongly insisted on the difference between these hallucinations and
those which are observed in insanity.
Men who, from a defective education, are constantly in a state of
over-excitement, whose organization has become exceedingly susceptible, and
in whom the imagination is left without restraint, are subject to
hallucinations. Certain imaginations, says a modern writer, are necessarily
superstitious; they are generally the most fertile and the most exalted;
they prefer fable to reality; and attached by their instincts to the
impossible, or at least to the ideal, they find nature too poor for them.
They delight in the sombreness of the forest, for it is the abode of
phantoms and of genii. The poetic imagination of the ancients encountered
such beings in open day; and beneath the influence of their brilliant
climate it created phantoms and spirits, and the laughing dryad of the
wood. The same thing happens to persons whose minds are always filled with
chimeras and fantastic creations.
This love of the marvelous, which justifies the saying, that man is ice to
wisdom, but fire to folly, seems to us a fruitful source of hallucinations.
When a man has passed ten, fifteen, or twenty years of his life in
dreaming, it requires but a slight concentration of the mind upon his
favorite subject for its image to become intensified, and suddenly
transformed into a hallucination.
The marvelous histories and the tales of terror which were so long the
accompaniments of childhood, prepared the mind, when it is naturally
sensitive, to become the recipient of all the extravagant creations of the
age. But it is said that in the present day this system is completely
changed, and children arc brought up with a feeling of contempt for these
ancient superstitions. This argument might hold good when speaking of
colleges and schools; but those who make use of it, forget the attendants
to whom the child is entrusted during its earliest years, and the nursery,
with its follies and its tales of horror, in the midst of which the child
grows up. I shall content myself with quoting the example of the poet
Robert Burns. " I owed much," he says, " to an old woman who resided in the
family, remarkable for her ignorance, credulity, and superstition. She had,
I suppose, the largest collection in the country of tales and songs
concerning
devils, ghosts, fairies, brownies, witches, warlocks, spunkies, kelpies,
elf-candles, dead-lights, wraiths, apparitions, cantraips, giants,
enchanted towers, dragons, and other trumpery. This cultivated the latent
seeds of poetry; but had so strong an effect on my imagination, that to
this hour, in my nocturnal rambles, I sometimes keep a sharp look-out in
suspicious places ; and though nobody can be more skeptical than I am in
such matters, yet it often takes an effort of philosophy to shake off these
idle terrors."
Darkness, obscurity, the silence of night, and solitude contribute largely
to the development of that feeling of terror which is so unadvisedly
infused into the minds of children. They soon perceive hideous forms, which
regard them with threatening looks, and the vacant room is peopled with
assassins, thieves, demons and monsters of every kind.
This effect of darkness is clearly shown in those who are delirious. At
6rst, their wanderings only occur when the room is darkened, or when they
close their eyes; at those times they see a number of horrible figures, who
mock or threaten them. When they open their eyes, or when the room is
lighted, these phantoms disappear.
Long imprisonment, or complete solitude, are conditions which may give rise
to hallucinations. M. Le'on Faucher relates that a prisoner informed MM. de
Beaumont and Tocqueville, that during the first months of his solitude he
was often haunted by visions for many successive nights-an eagle seemed
to perch itself on the foot of his bed. In 1840, in the penitentiary at
Philadelphia, there were ten or twelve cases of hallucinations, and from
1837 to 1841 eighty-six prisoners became insane. What can speak more
forcibly than this simple statement of facts.* M. Gosse also states that
nearly all the persons in a penitentiary in Switzerland became subject to
hallucinations under the influence of solitary confinement.*
* De la Reforme da Pritota.-Revue da Deux-Mondet, Fevrier, 1841.
We have already related the history of Benvenuto Cellini; the following is
the account which Silvio Pellico, who was confined at Spielberg, gives of
the effect it had upon himself: " During those horrible nights my
imagination became so excited, that, although awake, the prison-walls
seemed to resound, with groans or with suppressed laughter. In my childhood
I never believed in sorcerers or spirits; but now these sounds filled me
with terror. I could not 'Understand it, and I asked myself whether I was
not at the mercy of some malignant and mysterious power.
" Often, with a trembling hand, I took the light and looked if any one was
beneath my bed. . . . Seated at my table, I imagined some one pulled my
dress; then, that an invisible hand had pushed away my book, which I saw
fall upon the ground ; subsequently, that some one had come behind me, and
was endeavoring to blow out the light. I would jump up, look around me, uud
walk about with an air of defiance, wondering whether 1 was sane or insane.
" Each morning these phantoms vanished, and as long as daylight lasted, I
felt so insensible to all these terrors, that it seemed to me impossible
that I could be troubled with them again. But at sunset my fears returned,
and each succeeding night reproduced the extravagant visions of the
preceding.
"These nocturnal apparitions, which during the day I regarded as foolish
illusions, became transformed at night into frightful realities, "f
Some of the companions of the unfortunate Silvio Pellico had the same
sensations.
When the mind is thus prepared to experience these illusions,
* Bibliotherlw. de Geneve, No. 86. p. 255. Fevrier, 1843. f Silvio Ptjllico
: Met Pritons, traduction tie M. Antoine Latonr, p. 127. Paris : 1840.
any accidental circumstance, such as an unusual noise, a particular
disposition of the lights and shadows, some accidental arrangement of the
drapery of the room, may bestow upon them all the appearance of a reality;
such things have, in fact, laid the foundation of a number of marvelous
tales. Sir Walter Scott, not long after the death of Byron, was engaged
during the darkening twilight of an autumn evening in perusing one of the
publications which professed to detail the habits and opinions of the
distinguished individual who was now no more. As he had enjoyed the
intimacy of Byron to a considerable degree, he was deeply interested in the
publication, which contained some particulars relating to himself and other
friends. A visitor was sitting in the apartment, who was also engaged in
reading. Their sitting-room opened into an entrance hall rather
fantastically fitted up with articles of armor, skins of wild beasts, and
the like. It was when laying down his book, and passing into this hall,
through which the moon was beginning to shine, that Sir Walter saw, right
before him, and in a standing posture, the exact representation of his
departed friend, whose recollection had been so strongly brought to his
imagination. He stopped for a single moment, so as to notice the wonderful
accuracy with which fancy had impressed upon the bodily eye the
peculiarities of dress and posture of the illustrious poet. Sensible,
however, of the delusion, he felt no sentiment save that of wonder at the
extraordinary accuracy of the resemblance, and stepped onwards towards the
figure, which resolved itself as he approached into the various materials
of which it was composed. These were merely a screen, occupied by great
coats, shawls, plaids, and such other articles as usually are found in a
country entrance hall. *
* Walter Scott: Opus rit. p. 38.
Example 102. Ferriar relates that a gentleman "was benighted while
traveling alone in a remote part of the Highlands of Scotland, and was
compelled to ask shelter for the evening at a small lonely hut. When he was
to be conducted to his bed-room, the landlady observed, with mysterious
reluctance, that he would find the window very insecure. On examination,
part of the wall appeared to have been broken down to enlarge the opening.
After some inquiry, he was told that a peddler, who had lodged in the room
a short time before, had committed suicide, and was found hanging behind
the door in the morning. According to the superstition of the country, it
was deemed improper to remove the body through the door of the house, and
to convey it through the window was impossible, without removing part of
the wall. Some hints were dropped that the room had been subsequently
haunted by the poor man's spirit.
" My friend laid his arms, properly prepared against intrusion of any kind,
by the bedside, and retired to rest, not without some degree of
apprehension. He was visited in a dream by a frightful apparition, and,
awaking in agony, found himself sitting up in bed with a pistol grasped in
his right hand. On casting a fearful glance round the room, he discovered
by the moonlight a corpse, dressed in a shroud, reared erect against the
wall, close by the window. With much difficulty he summoned up resolution
to approach the dismal object, the features of which, and the minutest
parts of its funeral apparel, he perceived distinctly. He passed one hand
over it-felt nothing-and staggered back to the bed. After a long
interval, and much reasoning with himself, he renewed his investigation,
and at length discovered that the object of his terror was produced by the
mooubeams forming a long bright image through the broken window, on which
his fancy, impressed by his dream, had pictured with mischievous accuracy
the lineaments of a body prepared for interment."*
* Ferriar: Opns cit. p. 24. We have elsewhere insisted upon the characters
which separate illusions from hallucinations ; this distinction most not he
forgotten.
These remarks clearly prove the influence of moral causes in the production
of hallucinations. The following details cannot leave any doubt on this
point. Out of 190 cases collected by other writers, or by ourselves in 115,
the circumstances which favored the production of the hallucinations were
meditations carried to the state of ecstasy, the prevalent notions of the
period in regard to religion, philosophy, politics, superstition, &c.,
imaginative works, concentrations of the thoughts, mental struggles,
particular passions, a preoccupied state of mind, troubles, remorse, grief,
excessive study, love, hope, jealousy, and anger.
All these causes are not of equal importance, and we shall therefore dwell
most upon those which have the greatest influence, and amongst which we
rank education, religious belief, the dominant ideas of the age, and the
different kinds of civilization, &c.
Education, whose influence we have already referred to in the production of
depressing ideas, those fertile sources of physical and moral disorders,
may, says M. Cerise, give rise to many false ideas, and under such
circumstances there may be ignorance, error, and prejudices; but not
necessarily a state of disease. Thus the idea of a man's head, which is
associated with the sensational impression produced by the moon, or of a
giant's tomb with that of a mountain, are notions more or less poetical,
and are perfectly harmless to those who entertain them. It is, however,
very different when the impression associated with the idea is extended to
the sensational and mental emotions; when, for example, the idea of a
frightful spectre is associated from childhood with a particular stone, or
a birch-tree, as is the case in some country places.* These erroneous ideas
are sources of terror and alarm to those who entertain them.
* Cerise : Det Fonctions et drt Maladies Nervcuset, p. 463. Paris :
The false ideas connected with the sensational and mental emotions,
continues the same writer, are those which at all times have had the most
marked influence upon hallucinations. Consider how many-popular traditions
and superstitions are derived from the ancient forms of worship. When we
remember that every age has witnessed some form of superstition, such as
magic, astrology, sorcery, divination, omens, the raising of spirits,
auguries, auruspices, necromancy, cabalism, oracles, the interpretation of
dreams, pythonesses, sibyls, manes, lares, talismans, the presence of
demons in flesh and blood, incubi, succubi, familiar lemures, vampirism,
possession, lycanthropy, spirits, ghosts, spectres, phantoms, lutins,
sylphides, fairies, goblins, the evil eye, enchantments, &c., one cannot
refrain from mourning over the facility with which man falls into error,
and one is almost induced to believe he was destined to pass his life
surrounded by illusions, if we did not trace them to the influence of his
education and his neglect of moral and religious principles. ,
We shall confine our observations to some of those causes which have
predominated in Europe-such, for instance, as the belief in the power and
corporeal nature of demons, in sorcery, in possession, in lycanthropy, in
ghosts, vampires, spirits, &c.
The religion of the ancients, which peopled every part of nature with
divinities, genii, or demons, and other supernatural beings, naturally led
to a belief in the power and embodied nature of spirits. In this respect
the doctrines of Plato exercised an important influence, and ruled in the
school of Alexandria. Even when its disciples were converted to
Christianity, they clung to the genins of Plato, and endeavored to
reconcile it to the exact and rigorous philosophy of Christianity. Hence
amongst the learned arose abstract and philosophical discussions, errors
and heresies. Amongst the mass of the people, who could neither read nor
write, this influence showed itself in another form. They could only
comprehend such portions of Christianity as were associated with a material
form; this they adopted to the letter, and thus the j r nciple of evil
became invested with hideous forms, which were transferred to the
literature and architecture of the period. The hallucinated of those days
were pursued by black devils armed with horns, provided with cleft feet and
a long tail, just as in a former age Orestes was tormented by the
Eumeuides, and terrified by the hissing of serpents.
Such was the origin of those hallucinations which universally prevailed for
several ages, and which still exist in some countries at the present day,
especially in Lapland, and of which examples are by no means uucommon in
France, as Esquirol, M. Marcario, and we ourselves can testify.
To believe in demons and their assumption of corporeal forms was, at the
same time, to admit compacts and relations with them, and their power over
man, or, in other words, sorcery, possession, and lycanthropy. This belief
in the intervention of demons in human affairs was the source of great
moral disorders, which were only increased by the use of the stake and the
scaffold. Men, women, and even children persuaded themselves that they had
assisted at a witches' meeting, that they were in communication with the
devil, and had seen persons enter into unholy compacts with him. Every one
pursued the subject according to the bent of his own mind, and soon the
foolish fancies of persons weakened by disease or misfortune became
repeated on all sides. Judges and ecclesiastics believed in such
declarations, and condemned thousands of unhappy victims to their appointed
punishment. Even so late as 1664, the good Sir Matthew Hale pronounced the
sentence of death upon miserable women accused of witchcr.ift. Sir Thomas
Browne himself, who stripped the veil from a number of vulgar errors, when
examined at the trial, declared " that the fits were natural, but hightened
by the power of the devil cooperating with the malice of witches."*
* See the account of Sir T. Browne, in No. XIV. of the Family Library
-Livet of British Physicians, p. 60.
Spinello, the forerunner of Milton, was the first who in those barbarous
times invested Lucifer wiih some traits of terrific grandeur ; yet this
innovation of his genins did not hinder him from remaining constant to the
opinions of his age ; his reason wandered after he had finished the picture
of the fallen angels: he imagined he was pursued by the demons he had
represented, and died in the midst of his fears.
In 1651, Dr. Pordage, an Englishman, regarded as real occurrences visions
which were produced by an over-excited state of his brain. He and his
disciples, Jane Leade, Thomas Bromly, Hooker, Sabberton, and others, saw a
vision of great magnificence on the occasion of their first meeting
together. The powers of hell passed in review before them, seated in
chariots, surrounded by dark clouds, and drawn by lions, bears, dragons,
and tigers. These were followed by the inferior spirits, who were provided
with the ears of a cat or a griffin, and with deformed and distorted limbs.
It made no differeuc to the disciples of Pordage whether their eyes were
open or shut-the visions were equally distinct. " For," said their
master, "we see with the eyes of the spirit, not with those of the body."
This case is an example of a number of persons seeing the same
hallucination.
Towards the end of the sixteenth century, Dr. Lee declared, apparently with
a sincere conviction of its truth, that he was on terms of intimacy with
most of the angels. His cotemporary, Dr. Richard Napier, the father of the
well-known inventor of logarithms, believed that he received most of his
prescriptions from the angel Raphael.
At that time there were, in fact, few medical men who could accomplish a
cure without the intervention of some supernatural means. Certain causes
peculiar to England served to depress the public mind. The writers of that
country describe the melancholy tendency of the rigid Puritans of the
period ; their occupancy of old family seats, formerly the residence of
hospitality and good cheer, which in their hands became desolate and
gloomy, and the dismal stories propagated by the discarded retainers to the
ancient establishments, ecclesiastical and civil, contributed altogether to
produce a national horror unknown in other periods of her history.*
The following cases which we have selected will serve to illustrate the
opinions of this period, and have also some other points of interest
attached to them.
"In this year (1459), in the town of Arras, and county of Artois, arose,
through a terrible and melancholy chance, an opinion called, I know not
why, the religion of Vaudoisie. This sect consisted, it is said, of certain
persons, both men and women, who, under cloud of night, by the power of the
devil, repaired to some solitary spot, amid woods and deserts, where the
devil appeared before them in a human form, save that his visage was never
perfectly visible to them-read to the assembly a book of his ordinances,
informing them how he would be obeyed-distributed a very little money and
plentiful meal, which was concluded by a scene of general profligacy; after
which each one of his party was conveyed home to her or his own habitation.
"On accusations of access to such acts of madness, several creditable
persons of the town of Arras were seized and imprisoned, along with some
foolish women and persons of little consequence. These were so horribly
tortured, that some of them admitted the truth of the whole accusations,
and said, besides, that they had seen and recognized in their nocturnal
assembly many persons of rank-prelates, seigneurs, and governors of
bailliages and cities-being such names as the examinators had suggested
to the persons examined, while they constrained them by torture to impeach
the persons to whom they belonged. Several of those who had been thus
informed against
* Ferriar : Oput cit. p. 109.
were arrested, thrown into prison, and tortured for so long a time, that
they also were obliged to confess what was charged against them. After
this, those of mean condition were executed and inhumanly burnt, while the
richer and more powerful of the accused ransomed themselves by sums of
money, to avoid the punishment and the shame attending it. Many even of
those also confessed, being persuaded to take that course by the
interrogators, who promised them indemnity for life and fortune. Some there
were, of a truth, who suffered, with marvelous patience and constancy, the
torments inflicted on them, and would confess nothing imputed to their
charge ; but they, too, had to give large sums to the judges, who exacted
that such of them as, notwithstanding their mishandling, were still able to
move, should bunish themselves from that part of the country."
Monstrelet winds up this shocking narrative by informing us, " that it
ought not to be concealed that the whole accusation was a stratagem of
wicked men for their own covetous purposes, and in order, by these false
accusations and forced confessions, to destroy the life, fame, and fortune
of wealthy persons."*
The facts connected with the possession of the nuns of Loudun are too well
known to render it necessary that we should enter into the details; but in
the description of one of these apparitions, we perceive all the
characters' which belong to a hallucination. One of the nuns saw, during
the night, a phantom surrounded by a red light. It approached her, and she
recognized the ghost of her deceased confessor. He spoke to her; she
answered him, and he then disappeared, promising to return the next night.
The following night the spectre did not fail to show itself. They conversed
together for some time on religious subjects. All at once, she said, the
phantom changed its form to that of Qrandier; with its person it also
changed its conversation, and spoke to her of love. " It caressed her; she
resisted it, and cried out, but no one came to her assistance; she
trembled; she entreated; she became faint, and calling on the holy name of
Jesus, the spectre vanished."* Such was the real origin of the possession.
» Chronique de Monstrelet, t. iii. fol. 24, edit, de Paris, 1572. Walter
Scott: Oput cit. p. 202.
We can readily understand that the principle of imitation would have great
influence over the susceptible imagination of women, and that the visions
would soon spread to the other nuns.
The result of this possession was the condemnation of the unfortunate
Urbain Grandier, who was burnt alive on Wednesday, the 18th of August,
1634, for the crimes of magic, witchcraft, and sorcery.
The origin of lycanthropy reaches back to the earliest ages of paganism. In
this illusion the unhappy lunatics believed they were changed into
were-wolves. Sometimes the pretended transformation was accomplished by
means of drinks or poisonous unctions. It was more especially during the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries that this singular illusion spread
through Europe. These were-dogs and were-wolves abandoned their houses to
dwell in forests; they allowed their nails, their hair, and their beard to
grow. Their ferocity arrived at such a pitch, that they would mutilate, and
sometimes destroy and devour children who might have the misfortune to come
in their way.
Wierins has reported a singular trial which took place at Besancou in 1521.
It was a case of lycanthropy, and certainly it leaves no doubt of the
insanity which existed on the one side, or of the ignorance on the other.
The inquisitor who examined into the affair ordered the three accused
persons to be brought before him ; they were named Pierre Burgot, Michel
Verdun, and the gros Pierre. All three confessed that they had given
themselves to the devil, and that after they had anointed themselves, they
had wolves for their wives. Burgot acknowledged he had killed a young boy
with his wolf's paws and teeth, and that he should have eaten him if the
country people had not pursued him. Michel Verdun confessed that he had
killed a young girl who was gathering peas out of a garden ; and that
himself and Burgot had killed and eaten four others. He mentioned the time
and place, and the age of the children whom he had devoured. He added that
they made use of a powder to kill them.
* Ch. Lauze : Essai Medico-hittorique tur lei Pouedeet de Loudun, pp.
12-13. Paris: 1S39.
f J. Gariuet: Ojtut cit. p. 118.
These three were-wolves were condemned to be burnt alive.*
Example 103. A mason, in the autumn of the year XII., fell into a deep
melancholy without any known cause. During the night he had strange
visions, and in the morning would secretly steal away to secluded places.
On the twelfth day of his attack he refused all nourishment; but two days
afterwards he devoured with extreme voracity the food which was offered to
him; he howled like a wolf, and was several times in a kind of fury, with
an inclination to bite. On the fourteenth day, towards night time, he again
escaped into the country, where he recommenced his howlings, but which
ceased upon the repeated affusion of cold water. This singular disease
appeared to terminate on the eighteenth day with a violent attack of fever,
which lasted twenty-four hours. His complete recovery seems to have been
accomplished by the unaided resources of nature, f
It is curious to find in our own times, amongst the Abyssinians, a
superstition very similar to this, which prevailed amongst the inhabitants
of Europe during the Middle Ages. Like them, they believe in a zoological
metamorphosis, which is the exact counterpart of lycanthropy. Thus the
class of potters and black smiths are generally regarded as having the
power of metamorphosing themselves into hyenas and other wild animals, and
to be able to produce disease by their looks. But, instead of being brought
to the stake, like the were-wolves of the Middle Ages, they are feared, and
live in peace.*
* Bottiger altcstn spnren der WoUowuth in der Griechischen mithologie,
nebst Zutsatzen von Sprengel, in dessen Beitrageu zur Gesch. der Med.-
Froidrcieh, Litnrargtsch. pp. 23-27.
f Matthey: Nouvellet Recherchet tur let Maladiet de I'Etprit, p. 96.
The mystical ideas from whence most of the superstitions we have alluded to
are derived, were exceedingly favorable to the production of
hallucinations. As these superstitions were uuiversal and their truth never
questioned, their powtr was unlimited. The minds of men were directed
towards heaven ; but, governed by the nature of their feelings and ideas,
some delivered themselves up to the most asoetic penitence-fasts,
chastisements, solitude, and the fear of hell engendered by their frightful
visions. There were others, on the contrary, who gave themselves up to all
the emotions of an ascetic contemplation ; these had raptures, ectasies,
and communications with celestial spirit,-;. For the same reason, amongst
pagans, those who had depressing thoughts, arising from a bilious
temperament, were pursued by the furies and the infernal deities; while
those with elevated ideas, which belong to the sanguine temperament, saw
sylphs, fairies, and the deities of Olympus.
This ancient and universal belief in spirits, which showed itself amongst
the Greeks in the communications which were supposed to take place with
fauns and sylvan deities, with naiads and demons; amongst the Romans, with
nymphs; amongst the Eastern nations, with genii and gnomes; and amongst
Christians, with fays, sylphs, angels, and devils, were the sources of
those numerous hallucinations which are described in various works. It is
to these superstitions that we owe those tales of the souls which were in
torment, coming to claim the prayers of the living; of spirits making
revelations, or announcing the approach of death, or who have revisited the
earth in consequence of compacts they had made when living; and of the dead
returning to suck the blood of their victims.
* Pearoe : Retidence in Abyssinia.
It is certain that a vast number of apparitions have occurred which
coincided with no important epoch, and which were not even followed by any
remarkable event: these, therefore, have been forgotten, while those which,
by chance, have been realized, have been carefully kept in remembrance.
Such is the story told in Beaumont's World of Spirils, one of the most
interesting of its kind. The heroine of the event, which took place in
1G62, was the daughter of Sir Charles Lee. No reasonable doubt can be
placed on the authenticity of the narrative, as it was drawn up by the
Bishop of Gloucester, from the recital of the young lady's father.
Example 104. " Sir Charles Lee, by his first lady, had only one daughter,
of which she died in childbirth; and when she was dead, her sister, the
lady Everard, desired to have the education of the child, and she was by
her very well educated till she was marriageable, and a match was concluded
for her with Sir William Perkins, but was then prevented in an
extraordinary manner. Upon a Thursday night, she, thinking she saw a light
in her chamber, after she was in bed, knocked for her maid, who presently
came to her ; and she asked, ' Why she left a candle burning in her chamber
?' The maid said, she ' left none, and there was none but what she had
brought with her at that time.' Then she said it was the fire; but that,
her maid told her, was quite out, and said she believed it was only a
dream; whereupon she said it might be so, and composed herself again to
sleep. But about two of the clock she was awakened again, and saw the
apparition of a little woman between her curtain and her pillow, who told
her she was her mother, that she was happy, and that by twelve of the clock
that day she should be with her. Whereupon she knocked again for her maid,
called for her clothes, and when she was dressed, went into her closet, and
came not out again until nine, and then brought out with her a letter
sealed to her father; brought it to her aunt, the Lady Everard, told her
what had happened, and declared that as soon as she was dead it might be
sent to him. The lady thought she was suddenly fallen mad, and thereupon
sent presently away to Cheluisford for a physician and surgeon, who both
came immediately; but the physician could discern no indication of what the
lady imagined, or of any indisposition of her body; notwithstanding, the
lady would needs have her let blood, which was done accordingly. And when
the young woman had patiently let them do what they would with her, she
desired that the chaplain might be called to read prayers; and when prayers
were ended, she took her guitar and psalm-book and sat down on a chair
without arms, and played and sung so melodiously and admirably that her
music-master, who was then there, admired at it. And near the stroke of
twelve she rose and sate herself down in a great chair with arms, and
presently fetching a strong breath or two immediately expired, and was so
suddenly cold as was much wondered at by the physician and surgeon. She
died at Waltham, in Essex, three miles from Chelmsford, and the letter was
sent to Sir Charles at his house in Warwickshire, but he was so afflicted
with the death of his daughter that he came not till she was buried; but
when he came, he caused her to be taken up and to be buried with her mother
at Edmonton, as she desired in her letter."*
The reflections which this case suggests seem to us to afford a natural
explanation of the event; the imagination of a sensitive girl would be
highly excited at the thoughts of approaching death. The exaltation of the
nervous system, in an organization which was probably delicate, arrived at
such a pitch as to cxtermiimte life. As regards the revelation, rational
minds will only see a happy coincidence, for without this accompaniment the
story would never have been told.
In the north of Scotland, and in some parts of Germany, the inhabitants
still believe in a spectral apparition which appears
* Hibbert: Ofut rit.
before the death of a person, giving warning of the event He sees his
double-a figure which resembles him in hight, in features, in manners,
and in dress. We have already alluded to this phenomenon, which the Germans
term deutroacopia,*
The following anecdote is told of the celebrated Duke of Buckingham.
Clarendon relates that the ghost of Sir George Villiers, the duke's father,
appeared no less than three times to an officer of the wardrobe, to inform
him of the fate which awaited his son; but this man's situation was too
mean to warrant his going directly with the important intelligence to the
favorite. He therefore neglected the warning till the third time, and then
he went to a gentleman to whom he was well known, Sir Ralph Freeman, one of
the masters of the requests, who had married a lady nearly allied to the
duke, and prevailed with him to apply to his grace to grant the officer of
the wardrobe an opportunity of speaking with him privately on a subject of
the utmost consequence to his grace. The man gave sufficient information,
which he had gotten from the ghost, relative to Buckingham's private
affairs, to satisfy the duke that he was no impostor; and the duke was
observed to be very melancholy afterwards. But to what all this warning
tended, except to create uneasiness at some impending calamity, it is
impossible to conceive, since the hint was too dark and mysterious to
enable him to provide against the danger, f
An apparition which made some noise about the beginning of the seventeenth
century, that of Desfontaines, seems to have originated in a fainting fit,
connected with the remembrance of a friend.
Example 105. M. Bezuel, a young student of fifteen, had contracted an
intimacy with a younger lad named Desfontaines. After talking together of
the compacts which had been made between persons, that in case of death the
spirit of the deceased should visit the survivor, they agreed to form such
a compact together, and signed it with their blood in 1696. Soon after this
they were separated by Desfontaine's removal to Caen.
* Walter Scott: A Legend of Montrose, chap. xvii. Note, " Wraiths." f
Brinlie: Jlietnnj of the Dritish Empire, vol. ii, p. 209.
In July, 1697, Bczuel, while amusing himself in haymaking near a friend's
house, was seized with a fainting Ot; after which he had a bad night.
Notwithstanding this attack, he returned to the meadow next day, when he
again fainted. On the third day he had a still more severe attack. " I fell
into a swoon ; I lost my senses; one of the footmen perceived me and called
out for help. They recovered me a little, but my mind was more disor, dered
than it had been before; I was told that they asked me then what ailed me,
and that I answered, I have seen what I thought I should never see. But I
neither remember the question nor the answer. However, it agrees with what
I remember I saw then-a naked man in half length; but I knew him not.
" Shortly after, when mounting a ladder, I saw at the bottom of it my
school-fellow, Desfontaines. At this sight I had another fainting fit; my
head got between two steps, and I again lost my senses. They helped me
down, and sat me on a large beam which served for a seat in the Place des
Capucins. I sat upon it, and then I no longer saw M. de Sorteville nor his
servants, though they were present. Perceiving Desfontaines near the foot
of the ladder, who made me a sign to come to him, I went back upon my seat,
as it were, to make room for him; those who saw me, but whom I did not see,
though my eyes were open, observed that movement.
" Because he did not come, I got up to go to him ; he came up to me, took
hold of my left arm with his right hand. and carried me thirty paces
further into a bye-lane, holding me fast.
"The servants believing that I was well again, went to their business,
except a stable-boy, who told M. de Sorteville that I was talking to
myself. M. de Sorteville thought I was drunk. He came near me, and heard me
ask some questions and return some answers, as he told me since.
" I talked with Desfontaines nearly three-quarters of an hour. 'I promised
you,' said he, 'that if I died before you, I would come and tell you so I
was drowned in the river of Caen, yesterday, at this hour. I was walking
with such and such persons. The weather was very hot; the fancy took us to
go into the water; I grew faint, and sunk to the bottom of the river. The
Abbe Meniljean, my school-fellow, dived to bring me up. I took hold of his
foot; but whether he was afraid or had a mind to rise to the top of the
water, he struck ont his leg so violently that he gave me a blow on the
breast, and threw me again to the bottom of the river, which is there very
deep.'
" Desfontaines," continues M. Beznel, " was taller than when I had seen him
alive. I always saw him half-length, and naked, bareheaded, with his fine
light hair, and a white paper upon his forehead, twisted in his hair, on
which there was a writing, but I conld only read ' In, &c.' "
These spectral impressions were repeated more than once, with
conversations. The accidental death of the young man was ascertained very
quickly. The celebrated Abbe' de St. Pierre, who pnblished this aneedote,
guarantees its being authentic, but couBiders it may be explained by
natural causes. It is very probable that Bezuel's fainting was the cause of
the apparition. " I know," says Ferriar, "from my own experience, as well
as that of others, that the approach of syncope is sometimes attended with
a spectral appearance, which I believe is always a recollected image. One
circumstance that should be borne in mind, is the obstinacy with which a
morbid impression is preserved, long after the restoration to health. A
gentleman fancied, during the delirinm of a fever, that a considerable
estate had been bequeathed him; the impression continued long after his
recovery, and he was not undeceived without much trouble and difficulty."*
* Ferriar-. Oput cit. p. 118.-Journal de Trevoux, vol. viii. 1724.
The recollection of the figure and the voice of an intimate friend may be
the cause of a hallucination. Of this kind seems to have been the
celebrated apparition of Ficinus, to Michael Mercato, mentioned by
Baronins.
Those illustrious friends, after a long discourse on the nntare of the
sonl, had agreed, whoever of the two should die first, should, if possible,
appear to his surviving friend, and inform him of his condition in the
other world.
"A short time afterwards," says Baronins, "it happened that while Michael
Mercato, the elder, was studying philosophy, earljin the morning, he
suddenly heard the noise of a horse galloping in the streets, which stopped
at his door, and the voice of his friend Ficinns was heard, exclaiming, '
0, Michael! O, Michael! those things are true.' Astonished at this address,
Mereato rose and looked out of the window, when he saw the back of his
friend, dressed in white, galloping off, on a white horse.
" Mercato called after him, and followed him with his eyes, till the
appearance vanished. Upon inquiry, he learned that Ficinns had died at
Florence, at the very time when this vision wr.s presented to Mercato, at a
considerable distance. This npparition, which created a considerable
sensation on account of the elevated position of the persons concerned in
it, may be accounted for in the following manner: In studying the reveries
of Plato, the idea of his friend, and of their compact, had been revived*
and had produced a spectral impression, favored by the solitude and silence
of the morning."*
Ought we always to refer to the influence of mysticism, and to regard as
hallucinations of sight and hearing, events which seem to have been the
means of the sudden conversion of individuals, who, up to the time of their
occurrence, had been uubelievei-s 1 Looking at such matters in a religious
light, we are unable to participate in this opinion; we believe that God
has at times chosen to make use of supernatural means to recall men to him
who have fallen away ; to think otherwise would be to reject the authority
of Scripture.*
* Ferriar: Opus cit. p. 100. De Apparilionibut Mortuorvm oivis et fiaeto
fnctit. Lips. 1709.-Baronii Annalts. This story was told to Baronins by
the grandson of Mercato, who was Prothonotary of the Chureh, and man of the
greatest probity, as well as of general knowledge.
Example 106. Colonel Gardiner had spent the evening in some gay company,
and had an unhappy assignation with a married woman, whom he was to attend
exactly at twelve. The company broke up about eleven, and not judging it
convenient to anticipate the time appointed, he went into his chamber to
kill the tedious hour, perhaps, with some amusing book. But it accidently
happened that he took up a religious book, which his mother or aunt,
without his knowledge, had slipped into his portmanteau : it was called The
Christian Soldier, or Heaven taken by Storm. Guessing by the title of it
that he would find some phrases of his own profession spiritualized in a
manner which he thought might afford him some diversion, he resolved to dip
into it; but he took uo serious notice of anything it had in it; and yet,
while this book was in his hand, an impression was made upon his
mind-perhaps God only knows how-which drew after it a train of happy
consequences.
He thought he saw an unusual blaze of ligtt fall upon the book which he was
reading, which he at first imagined might happen by some accident in the
candle ; but lifting up his eyes, he saw, to his great amazement, the Lord
Jesus Christ upon the Cross, surrounded on all sides with a glory ; and at
the same time he seemed to hear a voice utter these words : " Oh, sinner !
did I suffer this for thee, and are these thy returns'?" This apparition
produced so profound an impression upon the mind of the Colonel,
* There is an important distinction to make in regard to mysticism. Taken
in a general sense, it is not a disease of the mind ; it rests upon
undoubted truths, and provides for an actual want. Mysticism is beautiful
and great, but it requires to be regulated. Without some check, it falls
into exaggerated and erroneous opinions.
that he forsook his previous mode of life and became a religions character.
*
To this instance, which has been quoted in favor of a divine interposition,
has been opposed another vision which occurred in the seventeenth century
to one of the most powerful enemies to Christianity, and of which the
effect was to encourage him to publish the book in which his dangerous
tenets were contained.
Example 107. " My book, De Veritate, prout distinguihir a Bevelatione
Vcrisimili Possibili et ti Falso," says Lord Herbert, " having been begun
by me in England, and formed there in all its principal parts, was about
this time finished; all the spare hours which I could get from my visits
and negotiations being employed to perfect this work, which was no sooner
done but that I communicated it to Hugo Grotins, that great scholar, who,
having escaped his prison in the Low Countries, came into France, and was
much welcomed by me and Monsieur Tieleners, also one of the greatest
scholars of his time, who, after they bad perused it, exhorted me earnestly
to print and publish it.
" The favorable opinion of these two great persons encouraged me ; but, on
the other hand, I hesitated, in consequence of the opposition I knew it
would meet with. Being thus doubtful, in my chamber, one fair day in the
summer, my casement being open toward the south, I took my book, De
Veritate, in my hand, and kneeling on my knees, devoutly said these words :
' O, thou eternal God, Author of the light which now shines upon me, and
Giver of all inward illuminations, I do beseech Thee, of Thy infinite
goodness, to pardon a greater request than a sinner ought to make ; I am
not satisfied enough whether I shall publish this book De Veritate; if it
be for Thy glory, I beseech Tbee give me some sign from heaven ; if not, I
shall suppress it.'
I had no sooner spoken these words, but a loud, though yet
* Hibbert : Opus cit. p. 324.
gentle, noise came from the heavens-for it was like nothing on
earth-which did so comfort and cheer me that I took my petition as
granted, and that I had the sign demanded; whereupon, also, I resolved to
print my book.
" This, however strange it may seem, I protest before the eternal God is
true; neither am I any way superstitiously deceived herein, since I did uot
only clearly hear the noise, but in the serenest sky that ever I saw, being
without all cloud, did, to my thinking, see the place from whence it came.
"*
Dr. Ireland, in his View of (he Deistical Writers, throws no doubt on the
statement of this nobleman. We cannot help being struck with the
inconsistencies of the human mind in reading such a narrative : here is a
man who is preparing to send forth a book against revelation, and entreats
the Deity to favor him with a special revelation. It seems to us logically
incorrect to establish any comparison between this case and that of Colonel
Gardiner.
When man is under the dominion of superstition and fear, there are no ideas
so extravagant but what they may become to him as realities. One of the
most singular forms of insanities of this kind is that which is known under
the name of vampirism, and of which traces are met with in the stryges of
the Talmud. This species of epidemic prevailed at the commencement of the
18th century in several parts of Hungary, Moravia, Silesia, and Lorraine.
The country people who were attacked by it, believed that after death the
souls of their enemies appeared to them under different forms ; some of
them dreamed that these malignant spectres seized them by the throat,
strangled them, and sucked their blood. Others believed that they actually
saw these malignant monsters.
The various states of ecstasy of which we have already spoken, and which
were characterized by all kinds of celestial visions, originated in
modifications of these mystical ideas acting upon an excited imagination.
It is to this influence we must refer the apparitions and sounds which
occurred to the Convulsionists, the Secourists, the Ecstaties of Cevennes,
the Possessed of Loudnn, and ilic Convulsionists of Cornwall and the
Shetland Isles, &.C.
* Hibbert: Oput cit. p. 227.-Autobiography of Lord Herbert of Cherbury.
In pointing out the ideas which have had the greatest share in producing
hallucinations, we have called attention to certain superstitious notions
which prevailed during the Middle Ages ; but, in order to appreciate the
influence of this era of strange decep tions, of wonderful dreams, of
fantastic but magnificent and immortal fictions, it is indispensable to
take a general review of the strange, the terrible, and the benignant
beings with which the world had already been peopled.*
The barbarians not only brought with them death and spoliation, they also
inculcated their religious opinions in the minds of the inhabitants. For
the first time the Roman people heard of Ilimenberg, that celestial city
which was only to be reached by traversing the arc of the heavens; of
Nifleim, a subterraneous world, watered by poisonous rivers; of the wolf
Feuris, who had strength sufficient to shake the universe ; of the serpent
Yormongodour, who encircled the earth with its folds; of Grasvitnir,
wlio.se very breathings produced terror; and of the colossal Eskthirnir, a
deer with gigantic horns, the source of the primitive fountain from whence
flowed all the rivers of the earth. The Hun, the offspring of a diabolical
intercourse, who was regarded as a man-eater, gave rise to the fable of the
Ogre.
Men-to whom antiquity had bequeathed its centaurs and minotaurs, its
satyrs, fauns, pans and oegypans, beings who were still encountered in
solitary places-when they listened to
* Ferdinand Denis: Le Monde Knchantr. cosmographie, ou histoire naturelle
et fantastique du nioyen-age. Paris : 1842. Bekker: Lt Monde Enchants, 4
Tola. Amsterdam.
similar tales, could not arrest the career of their imagination, and they
became surrounded on all sides by supernatural beings.
All at once these ancient forms disappeared, and the superstitious of the
barbarians became merged in the paradise and the hell of the Christians,
while the voice of Mohammed spread fresh marvels over another portion of
the world.
The doctrines of Scripture, wrongly interpreted, caused a terrible
perturbation in the latter years of the ninth century ; men were confounded
with fear, and thought the end of the world was approaching. We must
contemplate the formidable images of the eleventh and twelfth centuries to
form a just notion of the terror which was spread over Europe.
The forms of Christian belief which were developed under the influence of
these depressing ideas, and the agony which was inspired by the fear that
the destruction of the world was at hand, were extremely favorable to the
formation of those demoniacal opinions, whose rapid extension is explained
by the causes we have already alluded to.
Natural history did its part towards increasing these errors of the
imagination, and in enlarging the realms of fiction. The existence of the
phoenix, of fabulous vultures, of winged serpents, were taken for truths;
while the bones of the mastodon were looked upon as the remains of giants.
The air was filled with terrible dragons, basilisks, and flying serpents.
The caverns of the earth contained monsters with eyes of flame. The seas
were the abode of the great Kraken, of the monk, and of the bishop of the
seas. The Talmud increased these fantastical conceptions, by declaring the
existence of cherubims, of spectral serpents, and of stryges, a kind of
vampire which sucked the breath of infants. The discovery of America gave a
new direction to men's thoughts. Adventurers willingly encountered a
multitude of perils in search of the Eldorado, of the terrestial paradise,
and of the fountain of perpetual youth.
The vast forests of Malabar were peopled by singular creatures, who united
in their extraordinary organization the religious reveries of India to
those of Europe. Falsehoods, says Fijoo, the Voltaire of the Spaniards, are
like serpents, they multiply without end. Compelled to retire before the
advancing' tide of science which arose in the sixteenth century, the
traditions of the Middle Ages found a last retreat in the New World, where
all the divinities of the earth are to be met with.
Such were the sources of that mixture of the marvelous and the terrible, of
faith and ignorance, which, during the long period of the Middle Ages,
formed the code of the human race, giving rise to a number of
superstitions, which produced real hallucinations, of which there are
traces in every page of history. At the snme time, it may be understood why
they are not to be considered as indications of insanity. The persons who
were subject to them only participated in the general opinions of the age.
Their imagination, strongly excited by these doctrines, whose truth was
never questioned, and by the tales which were told in support of them, led
them to see what others only imagined they had seen. The impulse thus given
was communicated to all; but still the conversation and actions of these
persons had no taint of insanity. The error originated in society, and not
in the individual.
To complete this portion of our subject, it is necessary to trace the
causes of hallucinations which existed in the different forms of
civilization. What has been previously stated, shows that they would
reflect the religious beliefs, the passions, the prejudices, and manners of
the times. Thus, on reading the history of the apparitions which occurred
to the Greeks and Romans, they are found to vary in accordance with the
doctrines which were held by their philosophers upon the subject; and it
was these opinions which, in the course of time, prevailed amongst the mass
of the people. In nearly all the ancient nations, the hallucinations
partook of a religious character. The importance assigned to dreams
in Egypt, in Greece, and by the Romans, explains the frequent occurrence of
apparitions, of warnings, and of communications with supernatural powers,
with which the histories of these nations abound. This kind of
hallucination frequently showed itself in the Lower Empire. Julian, who was
one of the emperors most celebrated for his philosophical attainments,
beheld the genins of the Empire in the deepest affliction a few days before
his engagement with the Persians.
During the ninth century, the emperor Basil, of Macedonia, inconsolable for
the loss of his son, had recourse to the prayers of a celebrated pontiff.*
He saw the image of his beloved son magnificently clothed, and mounted on a
superb horse ; the youth rushed towards his father, threw himself in his
arms, and disappeared, f
In the East, nearly all the apparitions consisted of good or evil genii,
occupied in guarding treasures and palaces ; of angels sent by Mohammed to
console the believer, or to warn the evil-doer of the punishment which
awaited him. In India, where man's life was one continual system of
worship, of which the least infraction was punished with severe penalties,
the hallucinations were of a religious character, modified by the climate
and the religious tenets.
Lastly, in regard to the action of moral causes in the production of
hallucinations, some special influences remain to be noticed, the study of
which presents more than one point of interest.
Fear, always essentially the same, but which varies in its form according
to the age, has produced-especially since the period of the revolution in
1789-a numerous body of hallucinated persons, who believe themselves
pursued by their enemies, by the police, or even by the public executioner.
Example 108. A clerk in a public office stated that his stores had been
robbed; he fell into a low, despondent condition, and declared that the
officers of justice were in search of him; he saw the gendarmes surround
his house, the scaffold prepared, and the executioner in attendance to put
him to death. He was taken out in order.to convince him that no such scene
existed, except in his imagination ; but it was useless"; he still
continued to see the scuflbld and the gendarmes. To escape this imaginary
death he committed suicide.
*Theodore Santabaren : Abbe, Arrheveque tlet Zuchaites. f Euselxj Salvorte
: Olius eit.-Les Grammat. in vita Basil, imp. 20. Brewster : Opus cit. p.
67.
Example 109. Clergeand, who was condemned to death as a poisoner by the
court of Assize at Perigueux, when he entered his prison, was seized with a
kind of giddiness, and knew no one. A hallucination, which only left him on
the Wednesday morning, made him mistake one of the keepers for the
executioner; he was constantly under the idea that this man was going to
kill him. At night, however, Clergeand recovered his senses; he became
tranquil, and hope returned to him. *
Hallucinations, like insanity, arise from remorse, more frequently than is
commonly supposed. The account of the death of Manoury, the surgeon, is a
convincing proof of this; it serves also to explain the condition of many
criminals.
Example 110. Manoury, who was the enemy of Urbain Grandier, was chosen, on
April 26, 1634, to examine and ascertain whether, according to the
statement of the prioress, the accused had any part of his body which was
insensible. He fulfilled this mission with the greatest barbarity, and one
cannot even think of the sufferings of the unhappy man without a thrill of
horror. f He had, however, reason to repent of his cruelties, for, "
returning one night from visiting a patient on the outskirts of the town,
accompanied by his brother and another person, he suddenly cried out, 'Ah!
there is Grandier! What do you want with me ?' He trembled violently, and
was seized with a frenzy, from which his companions could not recover him.
They took him to his house, talking perpetually to Grandier, whom he seemed
to have before his eyes ; they got him to bed, still trembling and in the
same state of frenzy. Daring the few remaining days of his life he remained
in the same state. He died with the idea that Grandier was present, and
endeavored to keep him away, uttering all the time frightful exclamations."
* Gazetlr des Tribunanx, 2 Mai, 1844.
t See the excellent episode of the torture of Urbain Grandier in the
Cinq-Mars de M. de Vigny.
Sully relates that the solitary hours of Charles IX. were rendered terrible
by a repetition of the cries and groans which assailed his ears during the
massacre of Saint Bartholomew.*
" Charles," says the illustrious minister, " hearing, on the night of that
day, and during the whole of the next day, the account of the slaughter of
so many old men, women, and children, called apart Master Ambroise Pare",
his principal surgeon, to whom he was greatly attached, although of the
proscribed religion, and said to him, ' Ambroise, I don't know what has
come over me during the last two or three days, but I find both my mind and
body greatly depressed ; I feel as though I had a fever; and whether
sleeping or waking, the slaughtered bodies, with their hideous and
blood-stained countenances, are always before me. I wish they had not
included the imbecile and the innocent."
When the mind is burdened by a great crime, monomania is close at hand. Not
unfrequently accusing voices terrify the guilty person, and he becomes
insane.
Example 111. In 1623 or 1624, one Fletcher, of Rascal, a town in'the North
Riding of Yorkshire, a yeoman of good estate, married a young woman who had
been formerly kind with one Ralph Raynard, who kept an inn within half a
mile from Rascal, in the high roadway between York and Thirske, his sister
living with him. This Raynard continued in unlawful lust with the said
Fletcher's wife, who, not content therewith, conspired the death of
Fletcher, one Mark Dunn being made privy, and hired to assist in the
murder, which Raynard and Dunn accomplished upon May-day, by drowning
Fletcher, as they came all three together from a town called Huby; and
acquainting the wife with the deed, she gave them a sack therein to convey
the body, which they did, and buried it in Raynard's back field or croft,
where an old oak-root had been stubbed up, and sowed mustard-seed upon the
j)lace, thereby to hide it. So they continued their wicked course of lust
and drunkenness, and the neighbors did much wonder at Fletcher's absence;
but his wife did excuse it, and said that he was but gone aside for fear of
some writs being cerved upon him. And so it continued until about the 7th
day of July, when Raynard, going to Topcliffe fair, and setting up his
horse in the stable, the spirit of Fletcher, in his usual shape and habit,
did appear unto him, and said, " Oh! Ralph, repent, repent, for my revenge
is at hand." And ever after, until he was put in the gaol, it seemed to
stand before him, whereby he became sad and restless; and his own sister,
overhearing his confession and relation of it to another person, did,
through fear of her own life, immediately reveal it to Sir William
Sheffield, who lived in Rascal, and was a justice of pence.
* Collection det Memoirt relatift a I'Hittorie de France, 2" eerie, vol. i.
p. 245.
They were all three apprehended, and sent to the gaol at York, where they
were all three condemned, and so executed accordingly near to the place
where Raynard lived, and where Fletcher was buried. *
The death of Cardinal Beaufort is represented as truly terrible. The
consciousuess of having murdered the Duke of Gloucester is said to have
rendered Beaufort's death one of the most terrific scenes ever witnessed.
Despair in its worst form appeared to take
* Webster : On Witchcraft, p. 296. Webster assisted in the prosecu
possession of his mind at the last moment; he offered all his wealth for
some days' respite. A few minutes before his death, his mind appeared to be
undergoing the tortures of the damned. lie held up his two hands, and
cried, "Away! away !-why thus do you look at me ?" It was evident he saw
some horrible spectre by his bedside.*
The Abbe Guillen, in his Entretiens sur le Suicide, has related a most
remarkable case of a duelist who had killed seventeen people in duels. The
phantoms of his victims perpetually pursued him.
The following case is a convincing proof of the effect of remorse in
producing hallucinations:
Example 112. " Jarvis Matcham was pay-sergeant in a regiment, where he was
so highly esteemed as a steady and accurate man, that he was permitted
opportunity to embezzle a considerable part of the money lodged in his
hands for pay of soldiers, bounty of recruits, then a large sum, and other
charges which fell within his duty. He was summoned to join his regiment
from a town where he had been on the recruiting service, and this, perhaps,
under some shade of suspicion. Matcham perceived discovery was at hand, and
would have deserted, had it not been for the presence of a little drummer
lad, who was the only one of his party appointed to attend him. In the
desperation of his crime, he resolved to murder the poor boy, and avail
himself of some balance of money to make his escape. He meditated this
wickedness the more readily, that the drummer he thought had been put as a
spy on him. He perpetrated his crime, and changing his dress after the deed
was done, made a long walk across the country to an inn on the Portsmouth
road, where he halted, and went to bed, desiring to be called when the
first Portsmouth coach came. The waiter summoned him accordingly; but long
after remembered,
* Forbes Winslow : Opus cit. p. 52.
that when he shook the guest by the shoulder, his first words, as he awoke,
were, ' My God ! I did not kill him.'
" Matelium went to the seaport by the coach, and instautly entered us an
able-bodied landsman or marine, I know not which. His sobriety and
attention to duty gained him the same good opinion of the officers in his
new service which he hud enjoyed in the army. He was afloat for several
years, and behaved remarkably well in some actions. At length the vessel
came into Plymouth, and was paid off, and some of the crew, among whom was
Jarvis Matcham, were dismissed as too old for service. He and another
seaman resolved to walk to town, and took the route by Salisbury. It was
when within two or three miles of this celebrated city, that they were
overtaken by a tempest so suddenly, and accompanied with such vivid
lightning, and thunder so dreadfully loud, that the obdurate conscience of
the old sinner began to be awakened. He expressed more terror than seemed
natural for one who was familiar with the war of elements, and began to
look and talk so wildly, that his companion became aware that something
more than usual was the matter. At length Matcham complained to his
companion that the stones rose from the road and flew after him. He desired
the man to walk on the other side of the highway, to see if they would
follow him when he was alone. The sailor complied, and Jarvis Matcham
complained that the stones still flew after him, and did not pursue the
other. ' But what is worse,' he added, coming up to his companion, and
whispering, with a tone of mystery and fear, 'who is that little
drummer-boy ? and what business has he to follow us so closely ?' 'I can
see no one,' answered the seaman, infected by the superstition of his
associate. ' What! not see that little boy with the bloody pantaloons !'
exclaimed the secret murderer, so much to the terror of his comrade, that
he conjured him, if he had anything on his mind, to make a clear conscience
as far as confession could do it. The criminal fetched a deep groan, and
declared that he was unable longer to endure the life which he had led for
years. He then confessed the murder of the drummer, and added that, as a
considerable reward had been offored, he wished his comrade to deliver him
up to the magistrates of Salisbury, as he would desire a shipmate to profit
by his fate, which he was now convinced Whs inevitable. Having overcome his
friend's objections to this mode of proceeding, Jarvis Matcham was
surrendered to justice accordingly, and made a full confession of his
guilt. But before the trial the love of life returned. The prisoner denied
his confession, and pleaded 'Not Guilty.' By this time, however, full
evidence had been procured from other quarters. Witnesses appeared from his
former regiment to prove his identity with the murderer and deserter, and
the waiter remembered the ominous words which he had spoken when he awoke
him to join the Portsmouth coach. Jarvis Matcham was found guilty, and
executed. When his last chance of life was over, he returned to his
confession, and with his dying breath averred, and truly, as he thought,
the truth of the vision on Salisbury Plain. " Similar stories," adds Sir
Walter Scott, "might be produced, showing plainly that, under the direction
of Heaven, the influence of superstitious fear may be the appointed means
of bringing the criminal to repentance for his own sake, and to punishment
for the advantage of society."*
Hallucinations, says Esquirol, may arise from the voluntary or forced
repetition of the same mental operations, f
When the recollections acquire the same intensity as first impressions, or
when the same sensations are indefinitely prolonged, it becomes impossible
to distinguish between the two. This is what happened when the
susceptibility of the brain becomes overwrought by constantly dwelling on
the same subject. At those times the individual is apt to hear or see the
special objects of his
* Walter Scott: Oput cit. p. 367.
t Esqnirol: Det Maladiet Mentalet, vol. ii. 1838.
thoughts as distinctly as if the images or sounds came from without ; his
reason wanders, being deceived by these false sensations.
Example 113. In the month of October, 1833, a woman, aged twenty-eight, a
native of Pie'mont, went to the ball given at the fete of her village. She
danced for three days with a kind of frenzy; after that she perpetually
heard the sound of the musicwhich had so delighted her. Fire-baloons had
been let off, and of these she saw a continual succession, one making way
for another. This hallucination disturbed the vital powers, and ultimately
brought ou a kind of nervous consumption. Dr. Urosserio observed that the
musical sounds continued to increase with the progress of the disease, and
the woman died without ever ceasing to hear them.*
Example 114. Tasso, whose passion for the Princess d'Est was the cause of
all his misfortunes, ended by believing that he had a familiar spirit with
whom he conversed ; and from whom he declared he learned things which he
had never read or heard of, and that indeed were unknown to other persons.
J. 15. Manso, his friend, says, that one day, at Besoccio, near Naples,
when he endeavored to convince him of the illusion under which he labored,
the poet replied to him : " Since my reasons are not sufficient to convince
you, I will do so by your own experience ; and for this purpose I wish you
to see with your own eyes this spirit of which I have spoken to you, and
for which you will not trust my word." " I accept the offer," said Manso;
and the next day, the two being seated before the fire, "on a sudden he
observed that Tasso kept his eye on a window, and remained in a manner
immovable. Me 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 l and you will be convinced of the truth of all that I have said.'
* Journal dt Paris. 23 Aout, 1831.
" Manso heard him with surprise ; he looked, but saw nothing except the
sunbeams darting through the windows. 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 euded 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 further
conversation on the subject." *
Apparently slight causes, such as are enumerated below, and which do not
seem to us to have been previously noticed by those who have written on the
subject, may favor the development of hallucinations.
Readings or conversations on any favorite subject continued uureasonably
late at night will produce restlessuess, uureasonable fears, or even
visions in nervous and sensitive people. Conolly speaks of young persons,
who, from this cause, would wake up with frightful dreams, and were
troubled for some time with false impressions with regard to surrounding
objects. We attended a gentleman of intelligence and education, who, for
several years after a severe attack of fever, experienced every night the
most indescribable terror, and an intense feeling of anxiety, fearing every
moment that he should be surrounded by apparitions. He was aware this state
was the result of his illness, but at the approach of darkness, all his
firmness vanished.
* Hoole's Life of Tasso, p. 48. Vie du Tasse, par Mauso. The Friend, by 8.
T. Coleridge, vol. xi. p. 236.
SECOND DIVISION-PHYSICAL CAUSES.
These causes may be arranged under five heads. To the first belong those
hallucinations which arise from special physical conditions, such as
descent, sex, climate, &c. ; to the second, those occasioned by mechanical
causes, by alcoholic drinks and narcotic substances; to the third, those
which show themselves with insanity ; to the fourth, those which are
complicated with nervons diseases not constituting insanity ; lastly, to
the fifth belong those hallucinations which are produced by inflammatory,
acute, chronic, or other diseases. Many of these subjects having been
considered in another part of the work, we shall confine ourselves to
giving a general description of them.
First Section.-In this division we have to examine the influence which is
exercised over the production of hallucinations by descent, sex, age,
temperament, occupation; by physiological causes, by the seasons, and by
climate and locality. We really know nothing with regard to several of
these causes, and of others our knowledge is extremely limited. It must not
be forgotten that the hallucination is frequently only a complication, a
symptom, and that, nnder these circumstances, its separate study is
extremely difficult.
We have no records which prove the influence of descent on hallucinations.
Two cases of hereditary hallucinations have come under our notice, and we
are of opinion that this disease, like others of the nervous system, is
capable of being transmitted.
The father of Je'rome Garden was subject to apparitions, and so was the
son. Catherine de Medicis had a hallucination in reference to Pierre de
1'Estoile, and Charles IX., her son, had one on the night of the massacre
of Saint Bartholomew.
We have not observed anything in regard to the occurrence of hallucinations
which could specially be referred to the influence
of sex. Out of one hundred and thirty-six persons admitted into our
establishment, sixty-three were males and seventy-three females. It is very
different, however, with regard to the nature of the hallucinations, for
throughout their history it is found that erotic ideas prevail in women.
Their infrequency in man is explained by the greater facility he possesses
for gratifying his desires.
Age.-Hallucinations generally originating in moral causes, and being very
frequently compli«ated with insanity, their appearance corresponds with
the progress of that disease, and they show themselves at the time of life
which is most liable to it. There are many exceptions to this rule, and
instances have occurred of children being subject to hallucinations at a
very early age.
Example 115. About twelve years ago we saw, in a private asylum in Paris, a
young girl seven years old, whose mother and grandmother were insane, and
subject to hallucinations. This child had a particularly intelligent
appearance-a high forehead, with large expressive eyes. Her conversation
was very superior to that of most children of her age, and surprised all
who heard it.
The animation and restlessness of the child were excessive; she could never
remain quiet in one place, and always wanted to be moving about. Any
attempt to restrain her rendered her irritable and impatient. From time to
time she was subject to attacks, which showed themselves in the following
manner : Her animation and restlessuess were increased, her speech was
short and abrupt, and she soon fell into a state of ecstasy; her eyes were
turned upwards, and became fixed, an expression of happiness spread over
her countenance, and she spoke in an impressive tone of voice, saying, " Do
you see those angels in the heavens ? They are crowned with flowers; they
advance to meet me; they have come to seek me." Very often she would remain
silent, as if plunged in a state of abstraction; then she would again point
with her finger towards the heavens, calling to the angels. When this had
lasted for two or three hours, the vision disappeared; while it continued,
the girl was as white as wax, her skin was cold, and her pulse scarcely
perceptible ; as soon as it was over, she would fall asleep. Upon waking
up, her agitation returned, and continued for some days. Her conversation
was somewhat disconnected; she scarcely understood what was said to her,
and answered in a peculiar manner. Everything would then go ou in the usual
manner, until a fresh attack took place.
These hallucinations in children may arise from fear or from punishment.
They occur during the waking state as well as during sleep, and in the
latter case will continue some time after the child has woke up.
Example 116. "A young girl, about nine or ten years old, had spent her
birth-day with several companions of her own age, in all the gayety of
youthful amusement. Her parents were of a rigorous sect, and filled the
child's mind with a number of strange and horrible tales concerning the
devil, hell, and eternal damnation. In the evening, as she was retiring to
rest, the devil appeared to her, and threatened to devour her; she gave a
loud shriek, fled to the apartment where her parents were, and fell down,
apparently dead, at their feet. A physician was called in, and in a few
hours she began to recover herself. She then related what had happened,
adding that she was sure she should be damned. This occurrence was
immediately followed by a severe and tedious nervous complaint."*
Example 117. A child, nine years of age, of a delicate and very excitable
temperament, having been severely reprimanded for some fault, went to bed
in great grief. In the night his parents were awoke by his cries ; they
went to him, and found him in tears, and struggling to get away; they asked
him what he was doing. His answers, at first, were confused; his eyes were
open, and he told them he was disturbed by a number of persons, who were
before him, causing him great alarm, and whom he begged them to remove.
They assured him that there was no one in the room but themselves, though
he still persisted that other persons were present. They told him he should
get up and have some tea with them ; a proposal he readily agreed to. His
tears and his alarm continued for a short time, and then entirely ceased.
A. Crichton : Oput cit. vol. ii. p. 15. Psychological Magazine, vol. It.
pt. i p. 70.
Hibbert has taken the account of an interesting case of hallucination from
the Mereure Qalant of 1690.
Example 118. "I was sent very young to a town at a distance of seven
leagues from my native place, in order that I might be weaned from home and
learn to write. Having returned from thence, at the expiration of five or
six months, I was directed to repair to the house of one of my relatives,
where my father, who was newly returned from the army, had arrived, and had
sent for me. He examined my specimens of writing, and, finding them good,
failed not to express a suspicion of their being my own. As he was going
out, therefore, one afternoon, along with the lady of the house, to pay a
visit in the neighborhood, he recommended me to write ten or twelve lines,
in order to remove his doubts. Immediately upon my father's departure, my
duty prompted me to go up to the chamber that had been allotted for ns, and
having searched for all my writing materials, I knelt down- being then a
little boy-before an arm-chair, upon which I placed my paper and ink.
" While engaged in writing, I thought I heard upon the staircase people who
were carrying corn to granaries. Having, therefore, risen from the place
where I was kneeling, I turned a corner of the tapestry, and saw a little
room open, and in this room my father seemed engaged in conversation with
the lady of the house, being seated near her. As I had seen both one and
the other get into a carriage, and set out from the chateau, I was much
surprised at now perceiving them before me. Terror united itself to
astonishment. I let go the tapestry, and, leaving the chamber, quickly
descended the staircase.
" Upon meeting with the housekeeper, she remarked some alteration in my
face, and asked what was the matter. I told her all about it. She honestly
assured me that I had been dreaming, and that the marchioness and my father
would not return for more than an hour. I would fain have discredited her
assurance, and stood fixed near the door of her room, until at length I saw
them arrive. My trouble was not a little increased at the sight; for the
present, however, I said nothing to my father; but when, after supper, he
would have sent me to bed before him, all the self-collection which I could
muster on the occasion was to allow myself to be conducted out of his
presence. Yet I waited for him to accompany me into our chamber, for I was
unwilling to reenter it but along with him. He was astonished, therefore,
upon retiring, to find that I had lingered. He failed not to ask me what
was the cause of it; and, after some vain excuses, I confessed to him that
I was terrified, because spirits had appeared in the chamber. He derided my
fear, and demanded of me to whom I was indebted for such foolish tales. I
then told him my adventure ; which he no sooner heard, than, intent upon
undeceiving me, I was conducted by him to the granaries, or rather to the
garrets, to which the staircase led. It was then made known to me that
these garrets were not fit to be store-rooms for corn- that there was
actually none there, and that there never had been any. Upon my return, as
I followed close to my father, he asked me to point out the place where I
had lifted up the tapestry and seen the room open. I searched for it in all
directions to show him, but in vain. I could find no other door in the four
walls of our chamber than that which led from the staircase.
" Events so opposite to what I had believed could be the case, alarmed me
still more, and I imagined, from what I had heard related of goblins, that
some of them had caused these illusions in order to abuse my senses. My
father then insisted that such alleged freaks of spirits were mere
fables-more fabulous eveu than those of ^Esop or of Phsedrus; adding,
that the truth was, I had slept while writing, that I dreamed during my
sleep all which I now believed I had heard and seen, and that the conjoined
influence of surprise and fear having acted on my imagination, had caused
the same effect upon it as would have been produced by truth itself. I had
difficulty at the time to assent to his reasoning ; but was obliged to
acknowledge it in the end as very just. Observe, however, how strong the
impression of this dream was. I think, candidly, that if the vision had not
been falsified by all the circumstances which I have just noted, I should,
eveu at this time, have received it for a truth." *
There can be no doubt that this was not a dream, but a hallucination. I
could cite numerous similar instances which were caused by a preSccupied
state of the mind, by fear, by the dread of punishment, or from the alarm
which is produced by the silence and darkness of night.
Nothing positive can be stated with regard to the influence of professions:
H priori, those which afford the greatest scope to the imagination should
be the most favorable to the production of hallucinations. In support of
this opinion, we might mention several poets who have had hallucinations,
and whose abberation was evidently owing to the nature of their occupation.
Climate, undoubtedly, exercises an influence over hallucinations. The
character of the European differs from that of the Asiatic and African. The
physical constitution tends to impress a special character on the various
nations; but, in addition to this, we feel convinced that the ideas vary
with the natural features of the district. In proof of climatal influence,
it is sufficient to recall the ' theological creeds and the systems of
cosmogony belonging to the
* Hibbert: Oput cit. p. 436.
north; in these countries the aspects of nature are gigantic, wild, and
terrible; the inhabitants-as the Laplanders, the Ostyaks, and the
Samoiedes-are of a highly susceptible temperament, and people their
solitudes with invisible beings.* On comparing the opinions of these
nations with regard to the world of spirits with those which prevailed in
Greece and America, they are found in each case to accord with the natural
features of the country.
The hallucinations present remarkable differences in regard to locality;
those which occur in towns are frequently very distinct from those which
take place in the country. Thus, while the effects of the passions and of
skepticism are reflected in the first, ignorance and superstition impress
their characters on the second. The histories of the most civilized
countries, such as France, England, and Germany, would fill volumes with
these popular superstitions. The following is one belonging to
Franche-Comte: " On the platean of Hante-Pierre there is often seen a
figure, half-woman, half-serpent; it is the Vouivre. She has no eyes, but
on her forehead she carries a carbuncle, which guides her by a ray of light
which shines by day as well as by night. When she wishes to enter a river,
she is obliged to leave the carbuncle on the land. Any one who can then
succeed in obtaining it, may command the spirit, and compel her to bring
him all the treasures which are hidden in the mountains ; but it is a
dangerous adventure ; for, at the least noise, the Vouivre darts out of the
river, and woe to him whom she may encounter. f The English sailor, who
fears nothing else, confesses his terror for Old Nick, and believes him the
author of almost all the various calamities to which the precarious life of
a sailor is so continually exposed.
The Bhar-gnest, or Bhar-geist, by which name it is generally acknowledged
through various country parts of England, and particularly in Yorkshire,
also called a Pubie-a local spectre,
* The countries of the North were long regarded as the abode of demons and
magicians.-Broo : Essai sur les Races Hvmainet, vol. i. 1836. t Xavier
Marmier : Soucenirs de Voyage et Traditions Populaires, p. 73. which haunts
a particular spot under various forms-is a deity, as his name implies, of
Teutonic descent. *
Solitude is one of the influences which belongs to locality. This will
constantly produce a partial hallucination or ecstasy, especially in
imaginative individuals. The Eastern talcs of the desert, and the feelings
of those who have traversed it, show the powerful effect of this cause;
nevertheless, observation proves that it varies with the locality. The
hallucinations which occur on the Northern steppes are different to those
which arise on the burning plains of the South.
In speaking of the physical causes of hallucinations, we may again refer to
those which are produced voluntarily by looking at the sun, or an image of
it in a glass, and then directing the vision to a dark part of the room.
Amongst other experiments of this kind, Darwin has related the following: "
I covered a paper about four inches square, with yellow, and with a pen
filled with a blue color, wrote upon the middle of it the word BANKS, in
capitals ; and sitting with my back to the sun, fixed my eyes for a minute
exactly on the centre of the letter N in the word. After shutting my eyes,
and shading them somewhat with my hands, the color was distinctly seen in
the spectrum in yellow colors on a bine ground; and then, on opening my
eyes on a yellowish wall at twenty feet distance, the magnified name of
BANKS appeared on the wall, written in golden characters."
" A friend of mine," says Abercrombie, " had been one day looking intensely
at a small print of the Virgin and Child, and had sat bending over it for
some time. On raising his head, he was startled by perceiving at the
farther end of the apartment a female figure of the size of life, with a
child in her arms. The first feeling of surprise having subsided, he
instantly traced the source of the illusion, and remarked that the figure
corresponded
* Walter Scott: Opua cit. p. 97.
exactly with that which he had contemplated in the print. The illusion
continued distinct for about two minutes." *
The state of the atmosphere may produce singular visions. All who have
traversed the desert or the ocean are acquainted with the phenomenon of the
mirage. General Daumas, in his translation of the Travels of the Arab
Sid-el-Adg-Mohamrned, has mentioned several curious examples of this.
Soldiers who have made campaigns in Egypt and Africa have witnessed disiant
views of rivers, trees, villages, or armies, which, on a nearer approach,
have resolved themselves into dry and burning masses of sand. The same
effects may be produced by great elevations in the atmosphere.
Onanism, by its action on the nervous system, and the mental depressson
which it produces when it has been long continued, has frequently been the
cause of hallucinations.
We have known young men who had been well and religiously brought up, but
having contracted this pernicious habit, they sank into the deepest
despondency, lost all desire of life, became the victims of imaginary
terrors, and were pursued by temptations to commit suicide. In these cases
the physical constitution was not altered, but the distressing feelings
arose from the mental suffering.
The second division of physical causes which may give rise to
hallucinations, comprises mechanical causes, alcoholic drinks, certain
gases, plants, and poisonous narcoctic substances.
The mechanical causes which favor hallucinations include pressure on the
organs of the senses, their irritation by foreign bodies, concussion of the
brain, hanging, abstinence, and insufficient food.
A miner was shut up in one of the galleries of the mine for fifteen days,
having no food, and only so much water as he caught
* Abercrombie : Oput cit. p. 63.
by a drop at a time in his hand. During all this time he never lost his
senses; bat when he thought upon the distress of his wife and children, he
heard celestial voices which quieted all anguish. *
M. Savigny, who was on the raft of the wrecked Meduta, and experienced all
the horrors of starvation, saw himself surrounded by beautiful plantations,
and was in communication with beings of an agreeable nature. He reasoned,
however, upon the state he was in, and felt that it was only by a strong
mental effort he could ward off this kind of incipient insanity. Many of
those on board the Meduta daily imagined themselves surrounded by similar
objects ; some saw vessels in the distance, which they signaled to their
assistance, or they beheld a road leading to a magnificent city. M. Coreard
fancied he was passing through the most beautiful scenery of Italy. M.
Savigny observes, that during the nights he and his companions were
attacked with dementia. When daylight returned, they were more tranquil;
but the approach of darkness reproduced the disorder in their enfeebled
brains. He noticed, with regard to himself, that his imagination was much
more vivid during the silence of the night; at which time everything had a
strange and fantastic appearance. i
Abstinence has performed an important part in the production of the
hallucinations of monks and of the anchorites of the Thebaid.
Continence will occasionally give rise to false sensations. A priest,
mentioned by Pinel, had the most frightful hallucinations, which were cured
by a natural discharge.
The effects of alcoholic liquors have been sufficiently examined when
speaking of delirium Iremens ; we shall therefore only remark, that it is
not uncommon for persons who have habituated
»Medieal and Phyrical Journal, by William Hutchison, vol. xliii. No. 252,
Feb. 1850.
t Thete, read 1818, to the. Faculte de Paris, by M. Savigny. surgeon to the
Medusa frigate.
themselves to the use of spirits, and who suddenly leave them off, to have
hallucinations, from which they are relieved by returning to a moderate use
of their accustomed stimulant.
The action of nitrous oxide gas on the economy deserves especial notice.
Under its influence the sensations and the ideas are extremely vivid; the
mind gradually becomes insensible to actual impressions, particularly such
as are disagreeable ; these are replaced by others of a joyous and happy
character. Sir Humphry Davy states that, when he had inhaled this gas, he "
lost all connection with external things; trains of vivid visible images
passed rapidly through his mind, and were connected with words in such a
manner as to produce perceptions perfectly novel. He existed in a world of
newly connected and newly modified ideas. After partially recovering
himself, he exclaimed, he says : ' Nothing exists but thoughts ! The
universe is composed of impressions, ideas, pleasures, and pains !' "*
Of all the substances whose action on the body gives rise to hallucinations
and illusions, the most remarkable are opinm and the haschisch. In the work
entitled Confessions of an English Opium Eater, the author has admirably
described the sensations which he experienced from the prolonged use of
this drug.
Example 119. The first notice I had of any important change going on in
this part of my physical economy, was from the reawakening of a state of
eye generally incident to childhood, or exalted state of irritability. At
night, when I lay awake in bed, vast processions passed along in mournful
pomp ; friezes of neverending stories, that to my feelings were as sad and
solemn as if they were stories drawn from times before (Edipus or Priam-
before Tyre-before Memphis. And at the same time a corresponding change
took place in my dreams; a theatre seemed suddenly opened and lighted up
within my brain. which presented
* Davy's Retearches on ffitrout Oxide, p. 488.
nightly spectacles of more than earthly splendor. And the four following
facts may be mentioned as noticeable at this time :
That, as the creative state of the eye increased, a sympathy seemed to
arise between the waking and dreaming states of the brain in one point.
That whatsoever I happened to call up and to trace by a voluntary act upon
the darkness, was very apt to transfer itself to my dreams, so that I
feared to exercise this faculty; for, as Midas turned all things to gold
that yet baffled his hopes and defrauded his human desires, so whatsoever
things capable of being visually represented I did but think of in the
darkness, immediately shaped themselves into phantoms of the eye ; and, by
a process no less inevitable, when once thus traced in faint and visionary
colors, like writings in sympathetic ink, they were drawn out by the fierce
chemistry of my dreams into insufferable splendor that fretted my heart.
For this, and all other changes in my dreams, were accompanied by
deep-seated anxiety and gloomy melancholy, such as are wholly
incommunicable by words. I seemed every night to descend, not
metaphorically, but literally to descend, into chasms and sunless abysses,
depths below depths, from which it seemed hopeless that I could ever
reascend. Nor did I by waking feel that I had reascended.
The sense of space, and, in the end, the sense of time, were both
powerfully affected. Buildings, landscapes, &c., were exhibited in
proportions so vast as the bodily eye is not fitted to re- ceive. Space
swelled, and was amplified to an extent of unutterable infinity. This,
however, did not disturb me so much as the vast expansion of time; I
sometimes seemed to have lived for seventy or a hundred years in one
night-nay, sometimes had feelings representative of a millenninm passed
in that time, or, however, of a duration far beyond the limits of any human
experience.
The minutest incidents of childhood, or forgotten scenes of
later years, were often revived. I could not be said to recollect them, for
if I had been told of them when waking, I should not have been able to
acknowledge them as parts of my past experience. But, placed as they were
before me in dreams, like intnitions, and clothed in all their evanescent
circumstances and accompanying feelings, I recognized instantaneously. I
was once told by a near relative of mine, that having in her childhood
fallen into a river, and being on the very verge of death but for the
critical assistance which reached her, she saw in a moment her whole life,
in its minutest incidents, arrayed before her simultaneously as in a
mirror; and she had a faculty developed as suddenly for comprehending the
whole and every part. This, from some opinm experiences of mine, I can
believe. I have, indeed, seen the same thing asserted twice in modern
books, and accompanied by a remark which I am convinced is true ; viz.,
that the dread book of account which the Scriptures speak of, is, in fact,
the mind itself of each individual.
With a power of endless growth and self-reproduction, architecture entered
into my dreams. In the very early stage of my malady, the splendors of my
dreams were indeed chiefly architectural, and I beheld such pomp of cities
and palaces as was never yet beheld by the waking eye, unless in the
clouds. To my architectural, succeeded dreams of lakes and silvery expanses
of water. For two months I suffered greatly in my head. The waters now
changed their character; from translucent lakes, shining like mirrors, they
now became seas and oceans. And now came a tremendous change, which,
unfolding itself slowly like a scroll, through many months promised an
abiding torment; and, in fact, it never left me until the winding up of my
case. Hitherto the human face had mixed often in my dreams, but not
despotically, nor with any special power of tormenting. But now that which
I have called the tyranny of the human face began to unfold itself. Upon
the rocking waters of the ocean the human face began to appear; the sea
appeared paved with innumerable faces upturned to the heavens-faces
imploring, wrathful, despairing, surged upwards by thousands, by myriads,
by generations, by centuries ; my agitation was infinite-my mind tossed
and surged with the ocean.*
Dr. Porqueville, in his Voyage en Moree, has given a frightful picture of
the effects of opinm on those who habitually use it . Their passion for it
is so strong, that the certainty of death and all the miseries which
precede it, cannot hinder them from indulging in this deadly poison.
Example 120. This writer relates the case of an English ambassador, who was
sent on a political mission to one of the Indian kings. On his arrival at
the palace of the sovereign, he was conducted through a long suite of
magnificent apartments, lined by officers of state clad in the richest
apparel; he was then led into a small chamber, where the furniture and
decorations were of a still more costly description than what he had
already seen.
There he was left by himself. In a short time two persons of high rank
entered, preceding a litter borne by slaves, and covered with rich silks
and cashmere shawls of great value. On the couch was stretched a human
form, which he should have mistaken for a corpse but for the motion of the
head, which corresponded to that of the bearers; two of the officers in
attendance had in their hands a golden waiter, on each of which was a cup,
and a small bottle containing a bluish-looking liquid.
The ambassador, thinking he was the involuntary witness of some funeral
ceremony, wished to retire; but he was soon undeceived upon observing one
of the officers raise the head of this apparently lifeless being, replace
the tongue, which was hanging from the mouth, and make it swallow some
black liquid, at the
* Confetsions of an English Opium Eater, pp. 37-40. London: 5th edition.
same time closing the mouth, and gently rubbing the throat in order to
facilitate its passage. When this operation had been repeated five or six
times, the figure opened its eyes and closed its mouth of its own accord;
it then swallowed, without assistance, another large dose of the liquid,
and, in less than an hour, became revived, and sat up on the couch, having
somewhat recovered its natural color and the partial use of its limbs. He
then addressed the envoy in Persian, and asked him the objects of his
mission. For nearly two hours this extraordinary person remained perfectly
conscious and capable of transacting business of the greatest importance.
The English ambassador took the liberty of asking him some questions
concerning the strange scene which he had witnessed. " Sir," he replied, "
I have long been an opinm-eater, and by degrees have fallen into this
deplorable condition. I pass three parts of the day in the torpid state in
which you have seen me. Although incapable of moving or of speaking, I
retain my consciousuess, and during this time I am surrounded with the most
delightful visions; but I should never awake if I was not surrounded by
zealous and affectionate attendants, who watch over me with the most
anxious solicitude. When, from the state of my pulse, they know that my
heart is becoming enfeebled, and my respiration is scarcely perceptible,
they then make me swallow a solution of opinm, which revives me iu the
manner you have seen. During these four hours I shall have swallowed
several ounces, and in a short time I shall relapse into my habitual
torpor. "*
In some particular cases, opinm has been known to produce its peculiar
eifects on the brain without the persons having used it for any length of
time, and, in a few cases, this has occurred from the first dose.
Example 121. " Some time ago," says Abercrombie, " I at
* Porqneville : Voyage en Moree.-Bibliotheque Universelle de Genttc,
1841. Neuf Annees a Constantinople, par Brager, 2 vol. in-8. 1836.
tended a gentleman affected with a painful local disease, requiring the use
of large opiates, but which often failed in producing sleep. In one
watchful night there passed before him a long and regular exhibition of
characters and transactions connected with certain occurrences which had
been the subject of much conversation in Ediuburgh some time before. The
figures succeeded each other with all the regularity and vividness of a
theatrical exhibition : he heard their conversation and long speeches which
were occasionally made, some of which were in rhyme; and he distinctly
remembered, and repeated the next day, long passages from these poetical
effusions. He was quite awake, and quite sensible that the whole was a
phantasm; and he remarked that when he opened his eyes, the vision
vanished, but instantly reappeared whenever he closed them.*
Attention was directed, some years ago, to a substance which is extensively
used in the East, under the name of haschisch. It is made from the seeds of
the Indian hemp (Cannabis Indica) ; and it would appear, from the
researches of MM. Lengles, Michand, and De Sacj, that this compound
performed an important part during the Middle Ages ; it is highly probable
that the Vieux de la Montague made use of it to plunge their fanatics into
a species of delirinm.
The facts which have been observed in Egypt and France are in favor of this
opinion. In 1840 I assisted, with several other medical men, at an inquiry,
of which the results were published in the Gazette Medicale. Those 'who
were present felt no doubt that the haschisch was the principal ingredient
in the liquid which was given to the persons experimented on, even if it
was not that preparation itself, without the admixture of any other
ingredient. The following is an account of what took place at this meeting:
I had been requested by M. A. de G., well known by his translation of
Pliny, to be present at some experiments which were
» Abereromhie: Oput cit. p. 388.
about to be made on a liquid whose effects, he said, when drank, were
precisely similar to the phenomena which were exhibited by the adepts of
the Vieux de la Monlagne.
When I arrived, I found, amongst the persons who were present, MM.
Esquirol, Ferrus, and others well-known in science, literature, and art.
Example 122. Three persons had taken the liquor at eleven o'clock: A. K., a
novelist, of strong physical organization; D., a barrister, one of the most
celebrated pupils of the university; and B., a painter and musician. Two
hours elapsed without any sensible effect being produced. A fresh dose was
administered, when we noticed the following phenomena in two of these
gentlemen : A. K. resisted the action of the liquor, experiencing,
according to his own statement, only a slight sensation in the head and
epigastrinm; possibly a second meal, which he had taken, prevented the
effects of the liquor: all three had partaken of breakfast previous to the
experiment.
The state of the pulse was not noticed at the commencement, but its
acceleration at a later period, and the state of the pupil, sufficiently
proved the action of the liquid.
M. B., who was the first to experience any effects from the drng,
complained of a dryness in his throat, and twitchings in his limbs ; the
pulse was 96 in a minute, and the countenance injected. Soon M. B. closed
his eyes in order to collect his thought's; his ideas seemed to become
developed with extraordinary rapidity. At one time he exhibited the
singular phenomenon of the double man, a fact which had already been
observed in some previous experiments; he heard, he said, music with one
ear, and what was spoken with the other: this, however, did not last long.
The pupils at this time were greatly dilated. Upon being asked what he
felt, M. B. said he had voluptuous sensations. He became very animated, in
consequence of the feeling of lightness and happiness which he experienced.
He wished to be left alone and where there was a subdaed light; he felt an
invincible repugnance to speaking or doing anything; the persons around him
assumed a ridiculous appearance.
Up to this time M. B. had kept in communication with those who were
present; he would walk about, and laughed, sometimes very loudly; his
actions more or less resembled those of a man excited by drink. All at once
he threw himself on a sofa, and would answer no more questions ; he begged
to be left quiet, and not to be disturbed from the delicious sensations
which possessed him. There were spasmodic movements of the limbs and of the
diaphragm; he sighed, wept, and laughed by turns. The pulse beat 120 in a
minute ; the countenance was very florid. A feeling of alarm was felt by
those around, but it was speedily dissipated upon hearing M. B. repeat
several times that he was very happy, and free from all pain. All the
phenomena he exhibited were of an ecstatic character; his features
expressed the greatest happiness; he was at a loss for words in which to
describe his sensations; he had no wish to pass out of his present state,
he was so happy. The effect of B.'s temperament was manifested in the
experiment by his becoming extremely sensitive. But when things of a joyous
character were introduced, or if laughable and agreeable images were
presented to his mind, his ideas would immediately harmonize with them. Tt
is quite evident, in this case, that the person experimented on was under
the influence of the person who addressed him, and that it was in the
speaker's power to guide his thoughts in what direction he pleased. During
the experiment, M. B. acquired great acuteness of ear, and could distinctly
hear things which were whispered a long way off. During his ecstasy he
never lost his consciousness of things or persons; he replied correctly to
the questions which were put to him, he knew the persons who were around
him; but he evidently spoke with the greatest reluctance, and that he would
rather have been left in the undisturbed enjoyment of his ecstasy. At
halfpast four the pulse was 90 ; the ecstatic reveries continued. He felt
as though his soul was liberated from his body; but, nevertheless, had the
most agreeable sensations. All those I have questioned on the subject who
have made the experiment, assured me that they felt no inconvenience the
next day, and that the feeling of happiness continued for two or three
days.
M. D., the second who was experimented on, felt convinced that the liquid
would have no effect upon him, and was determined to resist its influence.
For two hours and a half no symptoms were manifested. The countenance of M.
D. is naturally stern; he is of a serious disposition, and engaged in the
study of metaphysics.
Towards two o'clock, his pulse was 100, and the heart beat violently. M.
D., who up to this time had been perfectly collected, conversing with the
different persons at the meeting, cried out that he was in a delirinm; he
began to sing, and, taking up his pen, endeavored to describe his
sensations. The following are some of these fragmentary notes : " It is
cery droll; my sensations are extremely vivid; what decided me to lake this
admirable beverage was, that I might be useful without fear; I am cery
singular. Ah! they are laughing at me, I will write no more." He threw his
paper aside. The delirium increased. The features of M. D. became very
changeable; he had a sarcastic smile, a lively expression of the eye, the
countenance was injected, the pulse 120, and the pupil dilated. Like M. B.,
he seemed perfectly happy ; he laughed, sang, jesticulated, and spoke with
extreme volubility. His ideas succeeded each other with great rapidity; he
tad the appearance of a delighted monomaniac. In the midst of these
numerous and versatile ideas, those which belong to his usual pursuits
still prevailed. These grave subjects were mingled with jokes, witticisms,
and puns. The tongue was dry; he was constantly spitting; and the lower
extremities were agitated with slight convulsive movements. The
experimentalist himself remarked, " This is a singular kind of insanity."
Like M. B., his sight and hearing were extremely acute. He had no longer
any notion of time or space, but he recognized all the persons who were
present, and at times replied correctly to the questions which were put to
him. He drew out his watch, and said very seriously, " It is such an hour."
A multitude of ideas came into his head, but he could not find terms in
which to express them. "I wish," he said, "you would take away an ear and
an eye, and give me a tongue the more, that I might be able to communicate
what I feel."
The pulse diminished in frequency, it became softer, and did not beat more
than 90 in a minute. The delirinm continued; some water was given to him,
and he cried out, " That will produce frogs, which will swallow the
liquor." He uttered a number of incoherent phrases, with inconceivable1
volubility and much gesticulation.
The delirium then changed its character; M. D. sat down in a corner of the
room, closed his. eyes, and talked to himself: he had the appearance of a
person who is inspired. We stood around him while he discoursed upon the
sciences, and gave definitions ; then, like a person who is making
preparatory efforts, he pronounced certain broken words, and suddenly
repeated some twenty verses. Believing they were already known, we
neglected to note them down ; but when asked if Victor Hugo was not the
author, he replied, " No." " They are your own, then ?" to which he made a
sign of assent. His countenance had a gay and satisfied expression ; he had
become extremely pale; the pulse beat 100; the eyes were closed, but he
opened them at the request of his brother, and the pupils were less
dilated.
He ceased to improvise, and spoke of foreign countries. We had been told
that the experimentalists manifested the phenomena of second sight. M. D.
accurately described, as though they were present, the countries and towns
which he had visited ; he remembered'particular events which happened
daring his travels: thus he told us that he saw men engaged in building the
Pantheon at Naples, and gave us a most poetical description of the
localities and countries which had attracted his attention ; but, in spite
of all our questions, he was quite unable to describe places he had never
visited. He saw objects which had no existence. His brother asked him if he
could see into his brain. " No, it is empty; besides," he added, " how do
you expect I can see into your brain when there are curtains and other
objects between us?" Presently he rose up, saying: "All this has been a
dream; the aberration gave a powerful impulse to my ideas, but it has added
nothing to what I knew." The delirinm, which for some time had been
confined to one train of ideas, now again became general. The person who
put questions could, as in the previous case, make him talk and act as he
pleased.* This experiment presented several remarkable phenomena. The
person under the influence of the haschisch had a maniacal exaltation; his
ideas were unconnected, and succeeded each other with great rapidity; they
were in a state of excitement, which placed them beyond the influence of
the will. The mind was under the dominion of hallucinations and illusions.
Things of the past could be called and revived, as though they were
actually present; but it was necessary for the individual to have had a
personal knowledge of them, for when questioned concerning things which
were not known to him, he would reply, that it was impossible for him to
describe what he had not seen, or, if he attempted, the description was
obscure. As in dreams, the idea of time and space was lost. In one of the
three, the excitement so far exalted his faculties as to enable him to
improvise a number of verses ; it is not, however, proved that the subject
had not been previously treated by him. What is certain, is, that M. D.
declared he felt his intellectual
*Brierre de Boismont: Gazette Zfedicale, 2 Mai, 1840.
capacities were enlarged, but that the exaltation had added nothing to what
he previously knew.
In the midst of this disordered career of the ideas, a state which one of
the experimentalists termed a singular insanity, the feeling of personality
was preserved; nothing was more curious than the contrast which existed
between the rational replies that were made to the questions addressed to
them, and the rambling character of their ideas when there was nothing to
recall them to the realities of life.
In one instance a circumstance occurred which had some analogy to the
doctrine of the duality of the mind, which Dr. Wigan has endeavored to
establish-with one ear the person heard the conversation, and with the
other the music which was being played. All the persons experimented on had
voluptuous feelings and great sensibility of the organ of hearing; they
were delirious; the ideas became fixed on a particular subject; and they
were liable to irresistible impulses
Stramoninm (datura stramonium) is another poisonous substance which has the
power of producing hallucinations.
Example 123. Some years ago a musician and composer, who was borne down by
domestic calamities, determined to put an end to his existence. For this
purpose he took a large dose of stramoninm. The poison first produced
giddiness, but soon gave rise to symptoms resembling those of drunkenness.
He saw troops of men whirling before him, and endeavoring to entangle him
in their disordered movements. All the persons of the ballet in Oustave, at
which he had assisted on the previous night, presented themselves before
him, mocking him and tormenting him in every possible manner. He lost his
consciousuess, and fell on the ground, when he was carried to the
police-court, where he became extremely violent, thinking he was surrounded
by thieves and assassins, who intended to ill-use him. The figures appeared
by hundreds, filling the room, and were possessed of the most hideous
countenances.
Taken to the Ilotcl-Dicu, he was treated as a furious madman, whom it was
necessary to put in confinement. The next day, when he was brought to my
establishment, his excitement, though very decided, was much diminished.
The pupils still remained somewhat dilated, and he was still surrounded by
phantoms. These phenomena soon ceased, and at the end of three days he was
completely recovered.
In November, 1843, three young children ate some seeds of the stramoninm.
They soon exhibited the usual symptoms produced by this drug: to these were
added, in two of the children, numerous and continued hallucinations of
sight. The next day all the symptoms were much diminished; the youngest
continued very weak in its legs. On the third day all the symptoms had
disappeared, as if by enchantment. (Examinat. Ated. 15 Mai, 1843.)
Many of the patients who were treated with the stramoninm, according to the
plan of Dr. Morean, saw animals in their beds. This hallucination occurred
principally during the night.
The berries of the belladonna will likewise produce hallucinations or
illusions. In the Dictionnaire des Sciences Medicales a case is mentioned,
where a company of soldiers, having eaten some of these berries by mistake,
were attacked by numerous illusions. M. Baillarger, in his clinical
lectures at the Salpetri&re, has related several cases of this kind. A
cook, at the monthly period, took some infusion of belladonna, which
brought on an attack of delirinm. She saw herself surrounded by a number of
little animals which ran along the ground; she endeavored to put her hand
upon one of them, but only took hold of a leaf, as in the Tales of the
Thousand and One Nights, or in those legends of treasures sold by the
devil.
The third section comprises hallucinations complicated with mental
diseases. It is to be observed that, in many instances, they precede the
insanity, and that then they ought to be considered as the cause of it; but
in a great number of cases they arise during the progress of the mental
disease. They are then only a result, a symptom, and complication of it.
Several questions have suggested themselves : Do the hallucinations depend
upon the organic changes superinduced by the mental disease? Are they
associated with the psycho-cerebral excitement which has produced the
insanity ? In a word, are they physical or moral ? The distinction is often
very difficult, yet the nature of the hallucinations and their immediate
connection with the cause of the insanity, justify us in thinking that they
often arise from moral causes. With this reservation, we are of opinion
that the action of mental diseases, although imperfectly known, should
nevertheless be classed amongst the physical causes.
The fourth section contains the hallucinations of nervous diseases not
constituting forms of insanity, and those of nightmare and ecstasy. What we
have just stated with regard to the dis tinction between moral and physical
causes, will also apply to the present section.
The fifth section includes the hallucinations which are observed in
inflammatory, acute, chronic and other diseases. These have been already
considered in a former chapter.
We have thus endeavored to trace out, as far as was in our power, the
causes of hallucinations. In doing this, we do not suppose that none have
been omitted, but at least we feel satisfied of having accumulated
essential materials towards a complete etiology of this disease.
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