succeeded, however, in lighting the candle, and, turning towards the door, I beheld the figure of the deceased D. standing before me. It was dim and indistinct, as if a haze had been between us, but at the same time perfectly defined. By an impulse I cannot account for, I stepped towards it with the candle in my hand; it immediately receded at the same rate as I advanced, and proceeding thus, with the face always towards me, it passed through the door slowly down-stairs until we came to the lobby, when it stood still. I passed close to it, and opened the street door; but at this moment I became so giddy that I sank down on one of the chairs, and let fall the candle. I cannot say how long I remained in this situation; but, on recovering, I felt a violent pain over my eyebrows, with considerable sickness, and indistinctness of vision. I passed a feverish and restless night, and continued in an uneasy state during the following day. I was always able to distinguish the different colors of the clothes, and I had never seen the individual during life dressed in a similar way. In all its characters it approximated the illusions of fever more than any other which. I have witnessed, and I never for a moment could have considered it a real object. It is difficult, in this instance, to find any other exciting cause, except the pain felt in my arm, which I now refer to cramp of the triceps muscle acting on the peculiar state of mind incident to spectral illusions, together with a powerful imagination, already greatly excited by the preculiar circumstance of the case. I may state that I have felt the same feeling in the arm since, without associating it with any similar consequences."* Example 8. Along with the preceding case we may place one that has been published by Bostock. "I was laboring," says this physiologist, "under a fever attended with symptoms of general debility, especially of the nervous system, and with a severe pain of the head, which was confined to a small spot situated above the

*Paterson: Loc. cit. p. 84.

right temple. After having passed a sleepless night, and being reduced to a state of considerable exhaustion, I first perceived figures presenting themselves before me, which I immediately recognized as similar to those described by Nicolai; and upon which, as I was free from delirium, and as they were visible for about three days and nights, with little intermission, I was able to make my observations. There were two circumstances which appeared to me very remarkable: first, that the spectral appearances always followed the motion of the eyes; and secondly, that the objects which were the best defined, and remained the longest visible, were such as I had no recollection of ever having previously seen. For about twenty-four hours I had constantly before me a human figure, the features and dress of which were as distinctly visible as that of any real existence, and of which, after an interval of many years, I still retain the most lively impression; yet, neither at the time nor since, have I been able to discover any person whom I had previously seen that resembled it.

"During one part of this disease, after the disappearance of this stationary phantom, I had a very singular and amusing imagery presented to me. It appeared as if a number of objects, principally human faces or figures, on a small scale, were placed before me, and gradually removed, like a succession of medallions. They were all of the same size, and appeared to be all situated at the same distance from the face. After one had been seen for

a few minutes it became fainter, and then another, which was more vivid, seemed to be laid upon it or substituted in its place, which in its turn was superseded by a new appearance. During all this succession of scenery, I do not recollect that, in a single instance, I saw any object with which I had been previously acquainted; nor, as far as I am aware, were the representations of any of those objects, with which my mind was the most occupied at other times, presented to me; they appeared to be invariably new creations, or at least new combinations, of which I could not trace the original materials. "*

"If it is asked,' adds Conolly, 'how it was that Nicolai and the English physiologist did not lose their reason,' the ready answer will be, they never believed in the reality of these visions.' But why did they not? And why does the madman believe in their real existence? The evidence to both is the same-the plain evidence of sense. No evidence one would think could be better. Were not Nicolai and Dr. Bostock rather to be called mad for not believing their senses than others who do? The explanation must be this: The printer of Berlin, and the physician in London, retained the power of comparison: they compared certain objects represented to their sight with other objects represented to the same sense, and concluded that so many persons as they represented to them could not pass through their chamber; they compared with those actually present, and whose inattention. to the spectres they concluded to be a proof of their non-existence to their eyes; they compared the visual objects of delusion with the impression of other senses, of hearing, and of touch, and acquired further evidence that the whole was deception. This is exactly what madmen cannot do."

These examples, therefore, lead us to suspect what many other examples will be brought to show, that madness consists of a loss or impairment of one or more of the mental faculties, accompanied by the loss of comparison.† A state of weakness, of convalescence, of fainting, and the condition which precedes the act of drowning, will sometimes give rise to hallucinations.

Leuret, in his Fragments Psychologiques, relates a circumstance which happened to himself:

Example 9. "I was attacked," says this physician, “with influenza, and my medical attendants ordered me to be bled. A quarter of an hour after the operation I became faint, without en

*Bostock: System of Physiology, vol. iii. p. 204.

Conolly: An Inquiry concerning the Indications of Insanity, p. 112

London: 1830.

tirely losing my consciousness; this state continued for more than eight hours. When some one first came to my assistance, I distinctly heard the noise of a bottle being placed on the table by the side of my bed, and soon afterwards a crepitating sound, like that which arises from the action of strong acid on a piece of carbonate of lime. I thought that some acid had been spilt on the marble table, and I admonished the persons in attendance of their carelessness. At first they thought I was dreaming, then, that I was delirious; they next endeavored to undeceive me, and assured me that there was no bottle on the table, nor had any acid been spilt. I was then aware that I had been the subject of a hallucination, and believed in what I was told rather than in what I had heard. But the noise was so distinct that, had it not been for my experience amongst the hallucinated, I should, like them, have been deceived by this singular phenomenon."

M. Andral experienced a similar illusion; it seemed to him during some minutes that a dead body was stretched out in the room, where he was confined to his bed on account of indisposition. This vision arose from the vivid recollection of the effect produced upon him by the sight of a dead body the first time he entered a lecture room.

It frequently happens after having held the head down for some time, that on raising it up we feel ourselves giddy and bewildered; we see bright lights before our eyes, and experience a disagreeable singing in the ears. In some persons this position will give rise to hallucinations.

Example 10. "A woman was engaged to clean a house which had for some time been uninhabited; and when she was employed in washing the stairs she saw, on accidentally lifting her head, the feet and legs of a gigantic woman; and, greatly alarmed at such an apparition, fled from the house without waiting for the further development of the figure."*

*Conolly: Opus cit. p. 101.

A gentleman of high attainments was constantly haunted by a spectre when he retired to rest, which seemed to attempt his life. When he raised himself in bed, the phantom vanished, but reappeared as he resumed the recumbent posture.*

Great excitement, a preoccupied state of the mind, or an association of ideas, that cannot always be explained, may reproduce an event which has been forgotten, and give rise to a vivid external picture of it; this is shown by the following case, which was recorded by the medical man to whom it occurred:

Example 11. "A middle-aged respectably dressed man, a stranger in Edinburgh, expired suddenly in an omnibus. The body was placed in the police-office. The next day I was ordered to make an examination, and report on the cause of death.

"On entering the apartment where the body lay, clad as when in life, and attired as for a journey, I was informed of the affecting incident narrated above, and I naturally felt deeply interested by a calamity in itself so appalling, and probably most painfully eventful to others."

The circumstance had, however, passed out of the mind of the writer, when it was recalled to him in the following manner:

"I had been employed for a few days in writing on a professional subject; and it so happened that, of a forenoon, when thus engaged, on raising my eyes from the paper, the vision of the dead stranger stood before me, with a distinctness of outline as perfect as when I first saw him extended on a board. His very apparel was identical, only that the broad-brim hat, which was formerly by his side, now covered his head; his eyes were directed towards me; the peculiar benignity of expression, which before struck me so much, now beamed from his countenance. In a few minutes he disappeared."+

* Dendy: Opus cit. p. 290. † Paterson: Loc. cit. p. 86.