MISCELLANIES. 



533 



but even those who are in full 

 possession of their faculties, by 

 causing them to see phantasms 

 which scarcely can bedistinguished 

 from real appearances." 



I have myself experienced a 

 case of this nature, which to me 

 appears highly remarkable, both 

 psychologically and medicinally ; I 

 saw, in a state of mind completely 

 sound, and after the first terror 

 was over, with perfect calmness, 

 for nearly two months, almost 

 constantly and involuntarily a vast 

 number of human and other forms, 

 and even heard their voices, though 

 all this was merely the consequence 

 of a diseas'ed state of the nerves 

 and an irregular circulation of the 

 blood. 



" It being a matter of consider- 

 able importance that an incident 

 of this nature should be observed 

 with the strictest attention, and 

 related, together with all colla- 

 teral circumstances, with the most 

 , conscientious fidelity, I shall not 

 omit any thing of which 1 retain a 

 clear recollection. The truth of 

 what I am going to advance will 

 not require a further testimony, as 

 Dr. Selle, who was my physician, 

 and was daily informed hy me of 

 everytriflingoccmrencc and change 

 that happened, is still living, and 

 will, by all who know iiim, be 

 most readily admitted as an unob- 

 jectionable witness. During the 

 ten latter months of the year 1790, 

 I had experienced several melan- 

 choly incidents which deeply af- 

 fected me, particularly in Septem- 

 ber, from which time I suffered 

 an almost uninterrupted series of 

 misfortunes that afllicted me with 

 the most poignant grief. I was 

 accustomed to be bled twice a 

 year, and this hud been done once 



on the 9th of July, but was omitted 

 to be repeated at the end of the 

 year 1790. I had, in 1783, been 

 suddenly taken with a violent ver- 

 tigo, which my physicians imputed 

 to obstructions in the finer vessels 

 of the abdomen, brought on by a 

 sedentary life and a continual exer- 

 tion of the mind. This indispo- 

 sition was successfully removed by 

 means of a more regular and strict 

 diet ; particularly efficacious in the 

 beginning I had found leeches to 

 the arms, and they were after- 

 wards repeated two or three times 

 annually when I felt violent con- 

 gestions in the head. The last 

 leeches which had been put on, 

 previous to the appearance of the 

 phantasms of which I am about 

 to speak, had been applied on 

 the first of March 1790; less blood 

 had consequently been evacuated 

 in 1790 than was usual with me, 

 and from September, I was con- 

 stantly occupied in business that 

 required the mos^ unremitted ex- 

 ertion, and was rendered still 

 more perplexing by frequent inter- 

 ruptions. 



" I had, in January and February 

 of the year 17i)l, the additional 

 misfortune toexperience several ex- 

 tremely unpleasant circumstances, - 

 which were followed on the '2Hh 

 of February by a most violent al- 

 tercation. My wife and another 

 person came into my apartment in 

 the morning in order to console 

 me, but I was too much agitated 

 by a series of incidents which had 

 most powerfully atlected my moral 

 feeling, to be capable of attending 

 to them ; on a sudden I perceived, 

 at about the distance of ten steps, a 

 form like that of a deceased person. 

 I pointed at it, asking my wife if she 

 did not see it? It was but natural 



