Case VII

" During the latter six months of the year 1790," that academician relates, "I had endured griefs that most deeply affected me. Dr. Selle, who was accustomed to bleed me twice a year, had deemed it advisable to do so but once. On the 24th of February, 1791, after a sharp altercation, I suddenly perceived, at the distance of ten paces, a dead body; I inquired of my wife if she did not see it; my question alarmed her much, and she hastened to send for a doctor; the apparition lasted eight minutes. At four in the afternoon, the same vision reappeared; I was then alone; much disturbed by it, I went to my wife's apartment; the vision followed me. At six, I perceived several figures that had no connection with the others.

"When the first alarm had subsided, I watched the phantoms, taking them for what they really were, the results of an indisposition. Full of this idea, I carefully examined them, endeavoring to trace by what association of ideas these forms were presented to my imagination; I could not, however, connect them with my occupations, my thoughts, or my works. On the following day, the figure of the corpse disappeared, but was replaced by a great many other figures representing sometimes friends, but more generally strangers. None of my intimate friends were amongst these apparitions, which were almost exclusively composed of individuals inhabiting places more or less distant. I attempted to produce at will persons of my acquaintance by an intense objectivity of their persons; but although I could see two or three of them distinctly in my mind, I could not succeed in making exterior the interior perception, although I had before seen them in that manner involuntarily, and though I saw them afresh when not thinking of them. The disposition of my mind prevented me from confounding those false appearances with reality.

V

* Bonnet, Essai analytique sur l'Ame, ch. xxiii. p. 426.

"These visions were as clear and distinct in solitude as in company, by day as by night, in the street as in the house; they were only less frequent at the houses of others; when I closed my eyes, they sometimes disappeared, although there were cases in which they were visible; but so soon as I opened them, they reappeared immediately. In general, these figures, which were of both sexes, appeared to pay but little attention to each other, and walked about with a busy air, as though in a market; occasionally, however, they appeared to hold intercourse together. At different times, I saw men on horseback with dogs and horses. There was nothing remarkable either in their looks, shapes, or in their dress; only they appeared rather paler than in a natural state.

"About four weeks afterwards, the number of these apparitions increased; I began to hear them speak; sometimes they conversed together, but more generally addressed their conversation to me, which was brief and agreeable. At different times, I considered them as tender friends who sought to soften my griefs.

"Although at this period I was well both in body and mind, and these spectres had become so familiar as not to cause me the slightest uneasiness, I nevertheless endeavored to dispel them by suitable remedies. It was resolved that an application of leeches should be made, which was accordingly done on the 20th of April, 1791, at 11 a. M. The surgeon was alone with me; during the operation, my chamber was filled with human figures of all kinds. This hallucination continued uninterruptedly until half after four, at which time digestion commenced. I then observed that the movement of these phantoms became slower. They shortly began to grow paler, and at seven o'clock had become perfectly white. Their movements were rather more rapid, although their forms were as distinct as before. By degrees they became more misty, and appeared to melt into air, although some were still apparent for a considerable length of time. By eight the room was entirely cleared of these fantastic visitors. Since then, I have several times thought that the visions were about to return, but they have not."*

* John Ferriar, An Essay towards a Theory of Apparitions, p. 40, London, 1813. - Memoir on the Appearance of Spectres or Phantoms occasioned by Disease, with Psychological Remarks. Read by Nicolai to the Royal Society of Berlin, on the 28th of February, 1799. The translation of this paper is given in Nicholson's Journal, vol. vi. p. 161.

We cannot too strongly draw attention to the physiology of these hallucinations of sight and hearing, experienced by a man who perfectly analyzed his feelings, and who was careful to remark that this astonishing disorder of the mind could be alone explained by the influence of grief, and by a disturbance in the cerebral circulation consequent on it.