MESCAL: A STUDY OF A DIVINE PLANT. 59 



brilliancy, and the same perpetual novelty. Some new kind of effect 

 was perpetually appearing in the field of vision; sometimes there was 

 swift movement, sometimes dull somber richness of color, sometimes 

 glitter and sparkle, once a startling rush of flashes that seemed to 

 approach me. Usually there was a combination of rich dark color with 

 jewel-like spots of brilliant color. Every conceivable color and tint 

 seemed to appear at one time or another (Weir Mitchell never saw 

 blue). Sometimes the different varieties of one color, as of red, would 

 spring up in turn — scarlet, crimson, pink, etc. But, in spite of the 

 immense profusion of objects, there was always a certain parsimony and 

 esthetic value in the colors presented. They were always associated 

 with form, and seldom appeared in large masses of color; if they did 

 the color was of very delicate tone. I was struck not only by the bril- 

 liancy, delicacy and variety of the colors, but by the great variety and 

 loveliness of texture which they presented — fibrous, waxen, polished, 

 dull, glowing, veined, semi-transparent, etc. The glowing (jewel-like) 

 and the fibrous (insect- wing) textures were perhaps the most prevalent. 

 Although the effects were novel, they often vaguely recalled known 

 objects — exquisite porcelain, elaborate sweetmeats, Maori architecture, 

 Moorish windows. But in all these cases the objects grew and changed 

 beneath my gaze without any reference to the characteristics of those 

 real things of which they vaguely reminded me. I tried to influence 

 their course but with very little success. It seemed that colors could 

 to some extent be called forth but I could not evoke the simplest image 

 by an act of will. 



" On the whole, if I had to describe the visions in one word, I should 

 say that they were living arabesques. There was generally a certain 

 incomplete tendency to symmetry, the effect being somewhat as if the 

 underlying mechanism consisted of a large number of polished facets 

 acting as mirrors. It constantly happened that the same image was 

 repeated over a large part of the field, though this holds good mainly of 

 the forms, for in the colors there would still remain all sorts of delicious 

 varieties. Thus at a moment when uniformly jewelled flowers seemed 

 to be springing up and extending all over the field of vision, the 

 flowers still showed every variety of delicate tone and tint. 



"Unlike Weir Mitchell, who could not see the visions with open 

 eyes even in the darkest room, I could see them in the dark with 

 almost equal facility when my eyes were open, though they were not 

 of equal brilliancy. After observing them in the dark for some hours, 

 I became a little tired of them and turned on the gas. I then found 

 that I was able to study a new aspect of these visual phenomena. The 

 gas jet (a common flickering burner) seemed to burn with great bril- 

 liance, sending out waves of light which expanded and contracted 

 enormously. I was even more impressed by the shadows which were in 



