Case XXXIV

An insane patient saw, on the right hand, against the wall of his cell, charming women, to whom he addressed by turns insults and compliments. This man was blind. After his death, M. Calmeil found atrophy of the two optic nerves to exist.

An aged spinster, whose visions greatly excited her, struggled against a swarm of flying spectres, which she likened to human figures, who formed a thick cloud around her. At night, in order not to see these cruel shadows, she constantly covered herself with a mattress.*

We read in the history of the Inquisition, by Llorente, that the possessed perceived devils in their bodies, who concealed themselves under different forms. We have frequently heard insane persons profess to see what was passing in their brain, their stomach, their intestines, and in their most delicate tissues; but if questions were pressed on them they gave only the strangest and most confused explanations, unless those parts of the body were known to them. Does not this trait bear resemblance to magnetism, which, in a great many cases, gives only reminiscences or revelations more or less vague?

Hallucinations of hearing and sight are often united; we give an example taken from a collection of cases, whose authenticity was guaranteed to us by one of the physicians of Bethlem.

Case XXXV

Some years ago, there was in Bedlam (Bethlem) a madman of the name of Blake, nicknamed The Seer; he believed profoundly in the reality of his visions; he conversed with Michael Angelo, chatted with Moses, dined with Semiramis; there was nothing of charlatanism in his manner; he was convinced. The past opened to him its dark portals; the land of shadows lived for him. Whatever was grand, surprising, and celebrated came before Blake.

This man had appointed himself painter to the spectres; his paper and crayons were always before him to depict the faces and attitudes of his heroes, whom he did not evoke, but who flocked to him for their portraits. Visitors could examine large volumes of these drawings, amongst which were portraits of the devil and his mother. "When I entered his cell," said the author of this relation, "he was drawing a girl, whose spectre, he said, had just appeared to him.

* Calmeil, art. Hallucination, p. 526: Dictionnaire de Medecine, 2d edition, vol xiv.

"Edward III. was one of his most assiduous visitors. In acknowledgment of the condescension of the monarch, he had painted his portrait in oil in three sittings. I questioned him in a manner intended to puzzle him; but his replies were naive and unembarrassed in manner.

" 'Are these gentlemen announced? Do they send you their cards?' ' No, but I know them as soon as they appear. I did not expect Mark Antony last night, but I recognized the Roman as soon as he entered.'

" 'At what hour do your illustrious guests visit you?' 'At one; sometimes their visits are long, sometimes short. I saw that poor Job the day before yesterday; he only stayed two minutes; I had scarcely time to make a sketch, which I afterwards copied in aquafortis - But hush - here is Richard III.' 'Where do you see him?' 'Opposite to you, on the other side of the table; it is his first visit.' 'How do you know his name?' 'My spirit recognizes him; I do not know how.' 'What countenance has he?' 'Harsh, but handsome; I only as yet see his profile. Now he is three quarters. Ah! now he turns towards me; he is terrible to look on.'

" 'Can you question him?' 'Certainly; what do you wish to ask?' 'If he can justify the murders he committed during his life.' 'Your question has already reached him; my soul holds converse with his by intuition and magnetism. We do not require words.' 'What is the reply of his majesty?' 'This; but in more words than he conveyed it to me. You would not understand the spirit language. He says that what you call murder and carnage is nothing; that to slaughter fifteen or twenty thousand men does them no harm; that the mortal part of their being is not only preserved, but passes into a better world; and that the murdered man who should reproach his assassin would be guilty of ingratitude, since the latter has only procured his entrance into a more perfect existence. But leave me; he stands in a good position now; and if you say a word, he will go.'

"Blake is a large man, pale, talks well and really eloquently, and has talent in engraving and designing."*

Spinello, in painting the fall of the bad angels, represented Lucifer under an aspect so horrible, that, frightened at his own work, he had incessantly before his eyes the figure of the devil, who reproached him for the dreadful form he had given him in his picture, †

We may here refer to the case of Berbiguier de Terre Neuve du Thym, surnamed the Scourge of Hobgoblins, who published his hallucinations in three large volumes;‡ we shall have occasion to speak of them soon in treating of other hallucinations.