Case CXLVIII

A young lady, twenty-three years of age, of a cultivated mind, an agreeable countenance, and apparently of a good constitution, confided to us, one day, with much grief and anxiety, that she was possessed by a frightful impulse, which she was fearful she could not resist. On being interrogated as to the origin of this impulse, she said, that when seven years old she had been much terrified by witnessing a person in an epileptic fit; that at seventeen, she heard a noise which, recalling the fit to her mind, also brought back the fear with which she had then been seized, and the terror was accompanied by some hysteric symptoms; that twenty days before consulting us, a similar noise occurring in the street, she looked out and saw a man struck with epilepsy; that ever since, the hallucination was momentarily produced, even when she was alone in her chamber; that this image had pursued her for several days, notwithstanding the efforts of her reason, still sound, but sustained with difficulty. Hysteric symptoms accompanied this position, and, under these influences, the frightful impulse arose, against which she wished to defend herself, and from which she is now entirely released.*

Struck with the play of mind in these hallucinations, some psychologists have attributed them to memory, some to imagination. Reid has protested strongly against both these opinions. "Imagination," says he, "brings no belief in its train; it does not contain any idea of existence or non-existence. The sensation which I experience obliges me to believe in its actual existence; the recollection of that sensation produces a belief in its past existence. Such is the nature of these operations; they are simple and primitive actions. Now, hallucination differs from both, because it brings with it the idea of the presence of an object which does not exist. It is certain that hallucination cannot be made an exclusive phenomenon of the imagination, because that faculty is only destined to receive or reproduce images, nor can it be a unique phenomenon of memory, because there is something beside reminiscence in hallucination. But if opinions differ as to the employment of the faculties interested, it is no less certain that imagination and memory are the principal actors in hallucinations.

* Cerise, Des Fonctions et des Maladies Nerveuses, p. 489, 1 vol. 8vo. Paris, 1842.

Some have wished to refer dreams and somnambulism in nocturnal hallucinations exclusively to the action of the brain. There are no longer, say they, external or internal impressions which excite or provoke it. How, then, does it act? Evidently by a kind of spontaneity. It is impossible for us to admit that these intellectual operations are executed by the brain alone. That its co-operation is indispensable none will deny, but it must be aided by the mind.

The influence of ideas on the production of hallucinations, which has been proved by observation, demands a few words on the creation and succession of false ideas.

It is admitted as a principle that man came pure and free from the hands of his Creator. Sad truth been ever his guide, useful and indispensable knowledge would alone have been imparted; but free to choose, led away by his passions, he forgot his origin and design, and thus, in the abuse of liberty, lost the knowledge of God and of himself.

His origin and end no longer appearing but in a confused manner to his mind, imagination, which had broken the chains that bound it to reason, plunged him into a world of fables, absurd beliefs, singular illusions, and strange dreams. One epoch alone, that of the Middle Ages, affords proof with what facility these fantastic creations and marvellous tales were multiplied. The earth, sky, and waters were then made the habitations of invisible beings, with whom every one considered himself in connection.

These erroneous persuasions, once asserted by a few enthusiasts, were quickly imbibed by those around, over whom they exercised a guiding power. Then disseminated by that multitude, eager for the marvellous, who love better to believe than to examine, they were repeated, systematized, and introduced into the mind with the first rudiments of education. These errors, thus circulated, were accepted as truths; and the materials for social hallucinations were prepared, which were afterwards destined to attack individuals.

The origin, then, of hallucinations must be sought for in the forgetfulness of two grand laws which govern man: the knowledge of God and of self; whence flows the instinctive perception of the unknown, the desire to believe, the love of the marvellous, the ardor for knowledge, and the thirst of the emotions.

A critic, now in exile, politely rallied us on having attributed a like origin to hallucination. We differ too entirely ever to agree on this point. We will limit ourselves to one observation. In perusing his article, in the most highly esteemed literary journal of the day, we gained no instruction, neither was the least light thrown upon the subject, for the very simple reason that the author treated it as a scholar, not as a practical man. We are firmly convinced that, even setting aside religious doctrines, we have analyzed and made known, as clearly as possible, the causes of hallucination; such at least is the opinion of one of the greatest writers of the day, the celebrated George Sand.*

Wandering reason, deserting the path of sound philosophy, left the field free to imagination, which delights in paradoxes, dreams, and chimeras. She, mistress of the ground, brought forth those numerous false conceptions which served as food for fresh generations, and were the first elements of those strange mental aberrations of which we now treat.

This connection between social errors, false opinions, imaginary creations, and hallucinations, is susceptible of a great development; but we must be content to glance at it. Etiology has, however, established it on indubitable proofs.†