ON ACQUIRED PSYCHICAL HABITS. 317 



delusion ; for in general one set of ideas chases another so rapidly, 

 that there is not time for either of them to engross the attention of 

 the intellect; more especially since (as already remarked) there is 

 usually such a degree of self-consciousness preserved throughout, as 

 prevents the individual from entirely yielding himself up to the 

 suggestions of his ideal faculties. M. Moreau mentions, however, 

 that on one occasion, having taken an overdose, and being sensible of 

 unusual effects, he thought himself poisoned by the friend who had 

 administered it, and persisted in this idea in spite of every proof to 

 the contrary until it gave way to another, namely, that he was dead, 

 and was about to be buried; his self-consciousness, however, being 

 yet so far preserved that he believed his body only to be defunct, his 

 soul having quitted it. But when this is altogether suspended, as it 

 seems to be by a larger dose, the erroneous ideas become transformed 

 into convictions, taking full possession of the mind ; although sudden 

 gleams of common-sense burst through the mists of the imagination, 

 and show the illusive nature of the pictures which the " Internal 

 Senses " have impressed on the Sensorium. All this as every one 

 knows, who has made the phenomena of Insanity his study has its 

 exact representation in the different stages of Mental Derangement ; 

 the illusive ideas and erroneous convictions being in the first instance 

 capable of being dissipated by a strong effort of the Will, gradually 

 exerting a stronger and stronger influence on the general current of 

 Thought, and at last acquiring such complete mastery over it that 

 the Reason cannot be called into effective operation for the correction 

 of the perverted Ideas. 



Here, then, we have an extraordinary exaltation of the Automatic 

 action of the Brain, manifesting itself in the rapidity and intensity of 

 the current of Thought ; while the controlling power of the Will is 

 not only relatively, but absolutely reduced. And this modification 

 of the normal form of mental activity is clearly referable to the per- 

 version of the normal action of the Blood upon the Brain, which is due 

 to the introduction of a new Physical agent into the former. The 

 production of errors of Perception, arising from the tendency to mag- 

 nification of the impressions actually made on the senses, is a pecul- 

 iarly interesting feature of this perversion ; which is clearly a mental 

 misinterpretation, not at all corresponding to the mere double vision 

 of the drunken man, which is an error of sense arising from the tem- 

 porary want of adjustment of the axes of the eyes. And with this 

 magnification there is connected a sentiment of happiness which at- 

 tends all the operations of the mind. 



" It is really happiness,'''' says M. Moreau, " which is produced by the 

 Hashish ; and by this I imply an enjoyment entirely Moral, and hy no means 

 sensual, as we might he induced to suppose. This is surely a very curious cir- 

 cumstance, and some remarkable inferences might be drawn from it ; this, for 

 instance, among others that every feeling of joy and gladness, even when the 



