and the abdomen large. The wound is three-parts healed, and the surface covered with healthy granulations; the margins are united, and covered with a recently formed cicatrix.

"Interior. On opening the chest, the right pleura was found to be filled with about two pints of a thick serous fluid. The pulmonary and costal layers of this membrane were covered with soft coagulated exudations, more abundant at the posterior than at the anterior parts of the cavity. The lung was greatly contracted; incisions on its posterior margin, and especially at the superior lobe, showed the existence of pneumonia, and gave exit to a sero-purulent fluid. Many parts of the anterior margin and of the inferior lobe were still permeable to air and crepitated. The pericardium contained about three or four ounces of limpid serum. The posterior surface of the heart was slightly reddened, and presented several shreds of coagulable lymph.

"The liver was of the ordinary size, the upper surface was covered at its middle part with white spots, which did not extend into the substance of the organ. The gall-bladder was atrophied and of a white colour; it was filled with biliary calculi, and contained no bile.

"The other organs were not examined."

Those who were present at this case are all living, and occupy a high position in the medical world. Different explanations have been given of their statement, but their veracity has never been questioned.

The two following cases have been recorded by M. Chardel, a counsellor in the Court of Appeals, who received the account of them from eye-witnesses, who were persons of staid and serious character.

* Chardel: Psychologie Physiologique, p. 260. Paris, 1844.

R

Example 87. A magistrate, a counsellor in one of the royal courts, related to me the following anecdote: His wife had a maid-servant in very delicate health, whom she magnetized and put into a state of somnambulism. This was done privately, because their charitable intentions had subjected them to some jokes. One day, when the magnetic influence was accompanied by considerable pain, the somnambule asked for some old wine; the husband took a light and went to fetch it. He descended the first steps without any accident, but the cellar being situated at an unusual depth, and the steps damp, he slipped down half the staircase and fell backwards, without, however, hurting himself, or extinguishing the light which he held in his hand. This did not prevent him from accomplishing his object, and returning with the wine which had been asked for. He found his wife was acquainted with his fall and all the details of his underground adventures; the somnambule had related them as they came to pass.*

Example 88. The wife of a colonel of cavalry was magnetized by her husband, and became clairvoyant. During this course of treatment, an indisposition compelled him to avail himself of the aid of an officer in his regiment. This only lasted for eight or ten days. Some time after, at a magnetic séance, the husband having put his wife into a state of somnambulism, directed her to occupy her attention with this officer. "Ah, the unhappy man!" she cried, "I see him-he he is about to kill himself-he takes a pistol; run-quick . . . !" The place named was about a league off; some one instantly mounted a horse, but when he arrived the suicide was already committed.†

is at

- ;

.

We have limited ourselves to these three cases, but

*Chardel: Opus cit. p. 290.

+ Ib. p. 292.

they are sufficient to prove that persons and objects which are en rapport with the magnetic individual may be revealed to him in their actual state; and that, under these circumstances, phenomena arise similar to those which we have observed in reverie, in dreams, in ecstasy, in prevision, in presentiment, and, in a word, in any of those states in which hallucinations coexist with a sound state of mind. There are undoubtedly other peculiarities which seem to pass beyond the limits of the ordinary course of nature; but it should be remembered that these are altogether of an irregular character: they may suddenly disappear in persons who had previously been subject to them; they are only met with at considerable intervals, and then generally in a small number of delicate, nervous, and frequently unhealthy individuals—such, at least, has been the case in those instances which have come under our own observation.

The various conditions which we have now examined are closely connected with hallucinations in this respect, that the thoughts create and colour them, and, in a word, the mind gives them their material form. If, however, we feel perfectly confident of the actual power of man's will over man, and of the influence which is exercised by hallucinations, we also believe that it is contrary to the laws of physiology to suppose that during life the phenomenon of clairvoyance can be extended over the surface of the body, or can have its especial seat in the epigastrium, in the ends of the fingers, &c. The phenomena of clairvoyance, of prevision, and of second sight depend upon a sudden exaltation of the brain, which disperses the obscurity that surrounds the sensual organs, and bestows upon them a greater vivacity. What takes place in natural somnambulism here occurs under the influence of an unknown cause; the

individual sees distinctly in his brain the stairs, the apartments, and the several localities through which he passes; it is there he reads the characters of the book which is before him, or of the letter which he is writing. It is an internal mirror where all his impressions are reflected, and which serves him as a guide; but in this case the action relates to things which are past, for if the person finds himself in a locality which is unknown to him, he will wander about, stumble, and perhaps injure himself. In artificial somnambulism, the perceptions are more distinct, more extended, and indicate a more complete isolation of the mind, with greater activity of its faculties. How this is brought about we do not know, nor are we any better informed as regards the thousand different thoughts which pass through our minds under the guidance of the will. These are facts which we are compelled to admit, but the mode of their production will probably always escape us.

245

CHAPTER X.

HALLUCINATIONS IN FEBRILE, INFLAMMATORY, ACUTE, CHRONIC, AND OTHER DISEASES.

HALLUCINATIONS IN ACUTE DELIRIUM AND
CEREBRAL DISEASES.

THESE disorders, which were long confounded with inflammation of the brain, and were named by some acute madness or acute delirium, but which, along with M. Lélut, we have separated from this group of diseases,* leads us by a natural transition from nervous to inflammatory disorders.

The presence of maniacal excitement, which is one of the symptoms of acute delirium, would lead us to expect the existence of strange conceptions and illusions of the senses in the mind of the invalid, and this is what observation has shown to be the case.

Some patients, when suffering from acute delirium, imagine they see persons hidden under their beds, in closets, or similar localities; they will point them out, and endeavour to drive them away. Others believe themselves surrounded by frogs, or serpents, which are ready to devour them. There can hardly be a doubt that the terror which is exhibited, the cries which are uttered, the desire to bite and strike, or to precipitate themselves from elevated spots, which are

* Lélut: Induction sur la Valeur des Altérations de l'Encéphale dans le Délire aigu et dans la Folie. Paris, 1836. Brierre de Boismont: Du Délire aigu qu'on observe dans les Etablissements d'Aliénés. Mém. lu à l'Acad. Roy. de Méd. en 1842, inséré dans le tome xi. des Mémoires de l'Académie. This was honoured with a gold medal by the Institute.