HALLUCINATIONS OF THE SENSES. -09 



there." The religious ascetic who withdrew himself from the society 

 of men to some solitary place in the desert or to some cave in the hills, 

 there passing his lonely life in prayer and meditation, and mortifying 

 his body with long fastings and frequent scourgings, brought himself 

 to such a state of irritable exhaustion that he commonly saw, according 

 to his mood of feeling, either visions of angels and saints who consoled 

 him in his sufferings, or visions of devils who tempted and tormented 

 him. 1 The shipwrecked sailor, when delirious from the exhaustion pro- 

 duced by want of food and drink, sometimes has attractive visions of 

 green fields and pleasant streams, and cannot be prevented from throw- 

 ing himself overboard in the mad desire to reach them. The dying 

 person, in the last stage of exhaustion from a wasting disease, has had 

 his deathbed visions of joy or of horror ; the good man, whose mind 

 was at rest, has been comforted by visions of heaven ; the wicked man, 

 whose troubled conscience would not let him die in peace, has been 

 terrified with spectres of horror the murderer, perhaps, by the accusing- 

 apparition of his victim. These were thought at one time to be super- 

 natural visitations ; they are known now to be for the most part hallu- 

 cinations, such as occur in the last stage of flickering life, when, to use 

 Shakespeare's words 



" His brain doth, by the idle comments that it makes, 

 Foretell the ending of mortality." a 



1 This is a Mohammedan receipt for summoning spirits : 



"Fast seven days in a lonely place, and take incense with you, such as benzoin, aloes- 

 wood, mastic, and odoriferous wood from Soudan, and read the chapter 1001 times (from 

 the Koran) in the seven days a certain number of readings, namely, for every one of 

 the five daily prayers. That is the secret, and you will see indescribable wonders ; drums 

 will be beaten beside you, and flags hoisted over your head, and you will see spirits full 

 of light and of beautiful and benign aspect." " Upper Egypt ; its People and Products," 

 by Dr. Klunzinger, p. 386. 



An acquaintance of his, who had undergone the course of self-mortification, said that 

 he really saw all kinds of horrible forms in his magic circle, but he saw them also when his 

 eyes were shut. At last he got quite terrified and left the place. 



2 In the second part of " Henry VI.," Shakespeare gives an instance of a fearful 

 death-bed hallucination, when Cardinal Beaufort is at the point of death: 



" King. How fares my lord? Speak, Beaufort, to thy sovereign. 



Cardinal. If thou be'st death, Til give thee England's treasure, 

 Enough to purchase such another island, 

 So thou wilt let me live, and feel no pain. 



King. Ah, what a sign it is of evil life, 

 Where death's approach is seen so terrible 1 



Warwick. Beaufort, it is thy sovereign speaks to thee. 



Car. Bring me unto the trial when you will. 

 Died he not in his bed? where should he die ? 

 Can I make men live, whether they will or no? 

 Oh, torture me no more ! I will confess. 

 Alive again ? then show me where he is: 

 I'll give a thousand pounds to look upon him. 

 He hath no eyes, the dust hath blinded them. 

 Comb down his hair; look, look, it stands upright, 

 Like lime-twigs set to catch my winged *oul. 

 Give me some drink; and bid the apothecary 

 Bring the strong poison that I bought of him." 



