HYSTERIA AND DEMONISM. 381 



quainted with all of these places, she pointed out with sufficient exact- 

 ness the details of the spots which her imagination and memory, 

 equally over-excited, represented to her under a real form. She could 

 be instantaneously transported to a distant place she was not acquainted 

 with, the Lake of Como, for example, or the frozen regions of the north 

 pole. Her imagination, left to itself, indulged in descriptions which 

 were not wanting in attractiveness, and were always interesting by 

 their apparent precision ; but no greater mistake could be made than 

 to accord to these chimerical conceptions the honor of being truths. 

 Having one day put a friend to sleep, I undertook to send him on a 

 voyage by balloon to the moon. I felt a real surprise when he said to 

 me delightedly, " Oh ! oh ! what is that great white ball below us ? " 

 His imagination represented the earth to him. He saw animals of fan- 

 tastic shapes, and, when I told him we must take some of them to the 

 earth, he objected : "Why," said he, "you do not know how we are 

 going to get down, and you want to chai'ge yourself with those great 

 animals ? I thank you, I will let you do it, and shall certainly not 

 trouble myself with them." He was, nevertheless, aware of the strange 

 character of his visions, and said : " What a fine story we could tell 

 about them ; but, unfortunately, they would not believe us ! " 



The reason of somnambulists is perhaps perverted, but their intel- 

 ligence is certainly not diminished. It is over-excited and exceedingly 

 active. Varied and engaging conversations may be held with a sub- 

 ject who has been put to sleep. The language of uneducated women, 

 for example, becomes almost elegant, with ingenious turnings of 

 phraseology, and ideas that do not lack in elevation. Without as- 

 suming in the slightest degree that they can divine the thought of 

 their interlocutors, it may be remarked that they seem to have acquired 

 a faculty of penetration which enables them to comprehend what has 

 been only half said. The most striking characteristic they present is 

 the wonderful vivacity of their feelings. Thus, nothing is more easy 

 than to make them cry ; it is enough only to mention a sad subject to 

 them, when, even if the story which is told them interests them only 

 a little, they will sigh, shed plenty of tears, and sob. In many cases 

 a nervous excitement will be provoked by such narrations, which must 

 be calmed as quickly as possible by causing the subjects to imagine 

 agreeable pictures. This sensitiveness to the troubles of another, these 

 exaggerated compassions, may perhaps be compared to what persons 

 in the first stages of intoxication feel. Sometimes, also, feelings of 

 joy and admiration are pushed to an excess ; poetry and music espe- 

 cially will produce a real ecstasy ; and it is impossible to forget the 

 spectacle after having once witnessed the power of mimicry which the 

 subjects display. The manifestations of admiration are frequently 

 crossed by childish angers, inexplicable antipathies, and sympathies 

 still more strange than the others. Sometimes the subjects jest, and 

 not without wit ; they laugh at the pleasantries they say or commit ; 



