534 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



that she should not see any thing : 

 my question therefore alarmed her 

 very much, and she sent immedi- 

 ately for a physician : the phantasm 

 continued about eight minutes. I 

 grevr at length more calm and 

 being extremely exhausted, fell 

 into a restless sleep which lasted 

 about half an hour ; the physician 

 ascribed the apparition to a violent 

 mental emotion, and hoped that 

 there would be no return, but the 

 violent agitation of my mind had 

 in some way disordered my nerves, 

 and produced furtherconsequences 

 which deserve a more minute de- 

 scription. 



" At four in the afternoon, the 

 form which I had seen in the morn- 

 ing re-appeared. I was by myself 

 when this happened, and being 

 rather uneasy at the incident, went 

 to my wife's apartment, but there 

 likewise I was prevented by the 

 apparition, which, however, at in- 

 tervals disappeared, and always 

 presented itself in a standing pos- 

 ture : about six o'clock there ap- 

 peared also several walking figures, 

 which had no connection with the 

 first. 



" I cannot assign any other cause 

 of all this, than a continued ru- 

 mination on the vexations I had 

 suffered, which, though calmer, 

 I could not forget, and the con- 

 sequences of which I meditated to 

 counteract ; these meditations oc- 

 cupied my mind three hours after 

 dinner, just when my digestion 

 commenced. I consoled myself at 

 last with respect to the disagreea- 

 ble incident which had occasioned 

 the first apparition, but the phan- 

 tasms continued to increase and 

 change in the most singular man- 

 ner, though I had taken the pro- 

 per medicine and found myself 



perfectly well. As when the first 

 terror was over, I beheld the phan- 

 tasms with great emotion, taking 

 them for what they really were, 

 remarkable consequences of an in- 

 disposition, I endeavoured to col- 

 lect myself as much as possible, 

 that 1 might preserve a clear con- 

 sciousness of the changes which 

 should take place within myself; 

 I observed these phantasms very 

 closely, and frequently reflected on 

 my antecedent thoughts to disco- 

 ver, if possible, by means of what 

 association of ideas exactly these 

 forms presented themselves to my 

 imagination. I thought at times I 

 had found a clue, but taking the 

 whole together I could not make 

 out any natural connection between 

 the occupations of my mind, my 

 occupations, my regular thoughts, 

 and the multifarious forms which 

 now appeared to me, and now 

 again disappeared. After repeated 

 and close observations, and calm 

 examination, I was unable to form 

 any conclusion relative to the ori- 

 gin and continuation of the diffe- 

 rent phantasms which presented 

 themselves to me. Ail that I could 

 infer was, that while my nervous 

 system was in such an irregular 

 state, such phantasms would ap- 

 pear to me as if I actually saw and 

 heard them ; that these illusions 

 were not modified by any known 

 laws of reason, imagination, or the 

 common association of ideas, and 

 that probably other people who 

 may have had similar apparitions, 

 were exactly in the same predica- 

 ment. Tlie origin of the indivi- 

 dual forms which appeared to me, 

 was undoubtedly founded on the 

 nature of my mind, but the man- 

 ner in which it was thus affected, 

 will probably remain for ever aa 



