84 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



fying his amative desires, but like him who hears tidings which fill him 

 with joy, like the miser counting his treasures, the gambler who is suc- 

 cessful at play, or the ambitious man who is intoxicated with success." 



Our special object, however, in noting the effects of opium and hash- 

 eesh, is rather to note how the mental processes or faculties observed 

 during certain states of disease may be produced artificially, than to 

 enter into the considerations discussed by Dr. Moreau. It is singular 

 that while the Mohammedan order of Hachischin (or Assassins) bring 

 about by the use of their favorite drug such visions as accompany the 

 progress of certain forms of disease, the Hindoo devotees called the 

 Yogi are able to produce artificially the state of mind and body recog- 

 nized in cataleptic patients. The less advanced Yogi can only enter the 

 state of abstraction called reverie ; but the higher orders can simulate 

 absolute inanition, the heart apparently ceasing to beat, the lungs to 

 act, and the nerves to convey impressions to the brain, even though the 

 body be subjected to processes which would cause extreme torture 

 under ordinary conditions. " When in this state," says Carpenter, 

 " the Yogi are supposed to be completely possessed by Brahma, ' the 

 supreme soul,' and to be incapable of sin in thought, word, or deed." 

 It has been supposed that this was the state into which those entered 

 who in old times were resorted to as oracles. But it has happened that 

 in certain stages of disease the power of assuming the death-like state 

 has been possessed for a time. Thus Colonel Townsend, who died in 

 1797, we read, had in his last sickness the extraordinary power of ap- 

 parently dying and returning to life again at will. " I found his pulse 

 sink gradually," says Dr. Cheyne, who attended him, " so that I could 

 not feel it by the most exact or nice touch. Dr. Raymond could not 

 detect the least motion of the heart, nor Dr. Skrine the least soil of the 

 breath upon the bright mirror held to the mouth. We began to fear he 

 was actually dead. He then began to breathe softly." Colonel Town- 

 send repeated the experiment several times during his illness, and could 

 always render himself insensible at will. 



Lastly, we may mention a case, which, however, though illustrating 

 in some degree the influence of bodily illness on the mind, shows still 

 more strikingly how the mind may influence the body that of Louise 

 Lateau, the Belgian peasant. This girl had been prostrated by a long 

 and exhausting illness, from which she recovered rapidly after receiving 

 the sacrament. This circumstance made a strong impression on her 

 mind. Her thoughts dwelt constantly on the circumstances attending 

 the death of Christ. At length she noticed that, on every Friday, blood 

 came from a spot in her left side. " In the course of a few months simi- 

 lar bleeding spots established themselves on the front and back of each 

 hand, and on the upper surface of each foot, while a circle of small spots 

 formed in the forehead, and the haemorrhage from these recurred every 

 Friday, sometimes to a considerable amount. About the same time, fits 

 of ecstasy began to occur, commencing every Friday between eight find 



