nervous symptoms. We are indebted to the kindness of Dr. Descuret and Dr. Salone for several instances in which hallucinations were observed in common diseases. M. Descuret has mentioned to us seven cases of this kind in persons attacked with influenza. One of these was a clergyman, who imagined he was tripled. He saw himself three times. When he was in bed, if he changed his side, the other two turned at the same time and placed themselves over him. All these patients were cured of their hallucinations when they recovered from their illness.

Hallucinations are sometimes the precursors of

disease.

Plutarch relates that Cornelius Sylla was warned of a fever which seized him unexpectedly by the sight of a phantom which called him by his name. Convinced that his death was close at hand, he prepared for that event, which took place the next night.

There is no necessity to have recourse to the marvellous to explain the occurrence accompanying this death. It is probable that Sylla was in the last stage of some organic disease, and that the apparition only increased his danger. Possibly it hastened his end by some few days, but certainly it was no prediction of the event. It is to similar causes, to the influence of religious opinions, to the want of scientific knowledge, and to the effects of the imagination that we must refer those deaths whose occurrence has been predicted, and of which we meet with numerous examples amongst the ancients. Under the same circumstance a highly exalted condition of the nervous system might cause death.

Example 98. "A lady," says Abercrombie, "whom I attended some years ago, on account of an inflammatory affection of the chest, woke her husband one night at the commencement of her disorder, and begged him to get up instantly. She said she had

distinctly seen a man enter the apartment, pass the foot of her bed, and go into a closet which entered from the opposite side of the room. She was quite awake, and fully convinced of the reality of the appearance; and even after the closet was examined, it was found almost impossible to convince her that it was a delusion. There are numerous examples of

this kind on record."

Example 99. "Entirely analogous to this, but still more striking in its circumstances, is a case which I have received from an eminent medical friend, and the subject of it was a near relation of his own, a lady about fifty years of age. On returning one evening from a party, she went into a dark room to lay aside some part of her dress, when she saw distinctly before her the figure of Death as a skeleton, with his arm uplifted and a dart in his hand. He instantly aimed a blow at her with the dart, which seemed to strike her on the left side. night she was seized with fever, accompanied by symptoms of inflammation of the left side, but recovered after a severe illness. So strongly was the vision impressed upon her mind, that even for some time after her recovery she could not pass the door of the room in which it occurred without discovering agitation, declaring it was there she met with her illness."+

The same

Many writers (and amongst others Hibbert) have remarked that it is not unusual for patients in the last stage of hectic diseases, and in many other chronic affections, to experience hallucinations of an agreeable nature. By means of this peculiar state of the system they explain those numerous communications which pious persons are supposed to have with spiritual beings on their deathbeds. To the same

Abercrombie: Opus cit. p. 391. + Ib. p. 392.

state may probably be referred that feeling of happiness which is possessed by many sick persons, but especially by those who are consumptive, and who, up to the very moment of their death, form all manner of delightful projects for the future. We would remark that, when speaking of hallucinations coexisting with a sound mind, we mentioned that a state of weakness, of syncope, or of asphyxia was favourable to their production.

Amongst the instances that have been noticed of hallucinations in the last stage of disease there is one that will ever remain engraven on my memory.

Example 100. On the 1st of June, 1842, I received the melancholy intelligence that my mother, who had suffered for several years from disease of the uterus, which had confined her to her bed, had been seized, two days previously, with epileptic fits, accompanied with loss of consciousness, so that her life was despaired of, and it was feared that, if the fits returned, the invalid, already extremely weak, would die before I arrived. My friend told me that the violence of the attack had for a time subsided, and was succeeded by a mild delirium, in which the invalid saw phantoms, figures, strange persons, and spoke about various matters which had no reference to her present condition; she no longer recognised those who were about her; she imagined they illtreated her, and wished them sent away. Even my sister, who had never left her, she had become quite indifferent to. In the midst of her ramblings the idea that she should not see me again never left her, and she was continually asking for me.

I arrived during the night, and on entering the room of my beloved mother, about one o'clock in the morning, a prey to the most acute anguish, I found her sitting up in bed, her eyes fixed; and uttering in a low voice the words of her delirium, he desired that

the tradespeople and the other persons who were in her room should be sent away, especially a female who was perpetually teasing her. With her hand she waved them away. "Make them go away," she constantly repeated. "Do you not hear what a noise they make?" (There was perfect silence at the time.) They will not let me see my son. My poor son! he will not come. When he arrives, I shall be no more." This delirium had lasted for twenty-four hours.

I

I was greatly affected at this sight, and taking her by the hand, I said to her, “Calm yourself, my dear mother—I am with you, and will not leave you.” had hardly spoken these words, when my mother became silent, and recovering her senses, said to me, “Tell me, my son, is it really you? Ah, I recognise your voice. Where are you, for I cannot see you?" When she became more collected she could distinguish different objects, and was able to perceive me. Her countenance expressed her satisfaction, and she added, “Now I have seen you, I shall die contented.” The delirium had ceased; the sound of my voice had produced a wonderful change. Her intelligence returned to her under the influence of maternal affection, and for five days I had the happiness to converse with her, and to see her in the full possession of her faculties. On the fifth-the day of her death—about eleven o'clock in the morning, the artist who was taking her likeness, seeing she turned pale, proposed to leave off for awhile. Continue," she said; “it will soon be too late." She expired at three o'clock.

The subject of hallucinations in nervous and some other diseases has been previously considered when speaking of hallucinations co-existing with a sound state of mind; it is therefore unnecessary to repeat what has already been said.

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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 causest-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 daguerréotype 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 endeavour to seek for the cause of this singular phenomenon.

We have seen that fevers and many other diseases favour 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.

Example 101. Madame the Viscountess A., whom I attended for many years, was one day conversing

* 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, towards which we constantly tend, often in spite of ourselves, but which all our endeavours after knowledge will never dissipate in this life.