PHANTASMS PRODUCED BY DISEASE, 2^5 



afterwards heard, for one time only ; soon after which, 

 having dropped asleep, an animal seemed to jump upon 

 my back, with the most shrill and piercing screams, which 

 were too intolerable for the continuance of sleep. 



Diseased perceptions of the hearing did not again Another mod« 

 recur, and I do not remember by Avhat gradation pgrceotion of 

 it was, that the frequently changing appearh;nce9, be- visible objects, 

 fore the sight, gave place to another mode of delusive 

 perception, which lasted for several days. All the irre- 

 gularly figured objects, such as the curtains or clothes, . 

 were so far transformed that they seemed to afford out- ; 

 lines of figures, of faces,'animals, flowers and other objecis, 

 perfectly motionless, somewhat in the manner of what 

 fancy, if iqdulged, may form in the cloiids or in the ca- 

 vity of a fire; but much more compkteand perfect, and 

 not to be altered by steady observation or examination. 

 They seemed to be, severally, as perfect as the rest of the 

 objects with which they were combined, and agreed with 

 them in colour and other respects. 



I can make so few inferences or observations upon the 

 several other characters, which these diseased sensations 

 assured, that I shall not attempt to describe them'. 



Various authors have given narratives which coincide Various ac- 

 with the preceding, in part ; and as analogy is the great counts of ocu- 

 clue for investigating the phenomena of nature, I Avill ^^ ^^^** 

 give a few facts and remarks which may bring us more to 

 a point. 



None ot the phantoms in ray illness were of known Phantoms of 



places, objects or persons. But on another (Tccasion, real objects 



when I accidentally fell into the sea, and after swimming pi'otluced by 



, . ,. . 1 , . ■» ■, . - emotion of 



a certam time without assistance, began to despair of ray mind, 



situation ; the image of my dwelling and the accustomed 

 objects appeared with a degree of v^ividness, little differ- 

 ent from that of actual vision. Mr. Start, M. P. when 

 greatly in danger some year.? ago, by being wrecked in a 

 boat, on the Edystone rocks, relates, in an account 

 which appeared in the papers, that his family appeared to 

 him in this extremity, " He thought he saw them." I 

 think both these instances arc referable to Hartley's 

 Theor}'. Thp illusions of figures i^^pearinj to persons 

 near death are very eomm.on. 



Sl^ep 



