HALLUCINATIONS OF THE SENSES. 713 



kind of assault upon them. Over and over again the experiment has 

 been tried of proving to the hallucinated patient in every possible way, 

 and by every imaginable device, that his perceptions are false, but in 



vain : 



" . . . . You may as well 

 Forbid the sea for to obey the moon 

 As or by oath or counsel shake 

 The fabric of his folly, whose foundation is 

 Piled upon his faith, and will continue 

 The standing of his body." 



There is more to be done to prevent hallucinations, I think, than to 

 cure them ; that is to say, by prudent care of the body and wise culture 

 of the mind. Looking to their mode of origin, it is obviously of the 

 first importance, trite maxim as it may seem, to keep the body in good 

 health ; for not only will bodily disorder directly occasion hallucinations 

 by disturbance of the sensory centres, but by its depressing influence 

 on the entire nervous system it hinders sound, and predisposes to un- 

 sound, thought and feeling. Every one knows how hard a matter it is 

 to perceive accurately, to feel calmly, and to think clearly, when the 

 liver is out of order ; there is then a good foundation for hallucination. 

 It has so long been the habit to exalt the mind as the noble, spiritual, 

 and immortal part of man, at the expense of the body, as the vile, ma- 

 terial, and mortal part, that, while it is not thought at all strange that 

 every possible care and attention should be given to mental cultiva- 

 tion, a person who should give the same sort of careful attention to his 

 body would be thought somewhat meanly of. And yet I am sure that 

 a wise man, who would ease best the burden of life, cannot do better 

 than watchfully to keep undefiled and holy that is, healthy the noble 

 temple of his body. Is it not a glaring inconsistency that men should 

 pretend to fall into ecstasies of admiration of the temples which they 

 have built with their own hands, and to claim reverence for their ruins, 

 and, at the same time, should have no reverence for, or should actually 

 speak contemptuously of, that most complex, ingenious, and admirable 

 structure which the human body is ? However, if they really neglect 

 it, it is secure of its revenge ; no one will come to much by his most 

 strenuous mental exercises, except upon the basis of a good organiza- 

 tion for a sound body is assuredly the foundation of a sound mind. 



In respect of the mental cultivation to be adopted, in order to 

 guard against hallucination, I can now only briefly and vaguely enforce 

 one important principle namely, the closest, most exact, and sincere 

 converse with nature, physical and human. Habitual contact with 

 realities in thought and deed is a strong defense against illusions of all 

 sorts. We must strive to make our observation of men and things so 

 exact and true, must so inform our minds with true perceptions, that 

 there shall be no room for false perceptions. Calling to mind what has 

 been said concerning the nature of perception how the most complete 



