Case XIX

M. de Chateaubriand relates, in his Life of M. de Rance, that, as that celebrated man was walking down the avenue of his chateau of Veretz, he thought he saw the buildings, in the lower court, on fire. Hastening towards them, the fire diminished at his approach. At some distance, the flames disappeared and changed into a lake of fire, in the midst of which arose the body of a woman, partly consumed. Seized with fear, he ran, and reached the house, where, in a fainting state, he sank on a bed. He was so bewildered that he was unable to utter a word.*

* Preese, May 14, 1844.

To the foregoing anecdote we will add the following, on ac-count of the resemblance of ideas in the two persons.

Case XX

The Baron de Geramb, returning from the Port to Cadiz, in company with some Spanish ladies, heard a voice call to him, in French, "Save me! help, help!" He paid but little attention to it at the time. On the following day, he saw on the shore a dead body, laid on a black plank, lighted by torches placed at each side, which he gave orders to have covered. A tempest having arisen during the evening, a secret impulse attracted him towards the shore. Greatly to his surprise, he saw arise from the spot where the corpse lay, a shapeless phantom, shrouded in the large black garment that he had sent. The spectre began to take prodigious strides, taking a globular form, and describing circles; it bounded off, and appeared at a distance in gigantic proportions.

The baron followed it across the streets of Cadiz. The noise it made in its course resembled the shivering of autumn leaves. A door was violently opened; the phantom dashed like lightning into the house, and sank to the cellar. Heavy wailings were heard. The baron descended, and found the corpse naked and livid, over which hung an aged man, heaving sighs of misery and despair. In an obscure corner of this cellar was the phantom, whirling as in its course thither: it was presently changed into a bright cloud. This was again metamorphosed into the pallid form of a young man, imitating the undulating movement of a wave. The Baron de Geramb afterwards heard anthems chanted and prayers offered up for the dead; and a bright young girl, dressed in white, entered and knelt by the side of the dead.†

Antiquity has bequeathed us many of these hallucinations, which, owing to the current belief, excited no surprise either on the part of the witnesses, of the magistrates, or of the people. We will translate simply the following case: -

* Life of Rance, by Chateaubriand, Paris, 1844. † Walter Cooper Dendy, The Philosophy of Mystery, p. 11, London, 1841.

Case XXI

We read in a letter from Pliny, Consul of Sara, that there was a house in Athens haunted by a spirit, which dragged chains after it. Athenodorus, the philosopher, hired the house, determined to lay the spirit. At the approach of night, he ordered a bed to be prepared, and, having received a lamp, his pencil, and tablets, he sent away his slaves. The early part of the night passed in the most perfect quiet, but at length the sound of chains was heard. Instead of raising his eyes and dropping his pencil, he continued his studies more intensely. The noise increased, until at length it sounded at his very door.

Athenodorus looked up and beheld the spectre, such as it had been represented; it stood opposite to him, making signs with its finger. He begged it to wait awhile, and turned again to his papers; but the phantom, again clanking its chains, renewed its signals. Athenodorus arose, and taking the light followed it The spectre advanced slowly, as if encumbered by its chains, and arrived in the court-yard of the house, where it suddenly disappeared. The philosopher marked the spot with grass and leaves. On the following day he informed the magistrates of the event, and desired that the place should be searched. His advice was followed, and the skeleton of a man in chains was discovered. The bones were collected and publicly burned, and the spirit from that time no longer haunted the house.*

Many examples might be cited in which illustrious men have had hallucinations of this nature, without their conduct being at all influenced by the circumstance.

Thus Malebranche declared that he distinctly heard the voice of God within him. Descartes, after a long seclusion, was followed by an invisible person, who urged him to pursue his researches after truth, †

Byron imagined himself to be sometimes visited by a spectre; but he said that it was owing to the over-excitability of his brain.‡

The celebrated Dr. Johnson clearly heard his mother call Samuel. She was then living in a town at a great distance.

* Dendy, op. cit., p. 15.

† Forbes Winslow, op. cit., p. 123.

‡ Ibid., p. 126.

Pope, who suffered much in his intestines, one day inquired of his physician what arm that was that appeared to come out from the wall.

Goethe asserts that he one day saw the counterpart of himself coming towards him. (Complete Works, t. xxii. p. 83.) The German psychologists give the name of Deuterescopie to this kind of illusion.