429 



APPARITION. 



APPARITION. 



430 



the vivid picture of which my imagination had been disturbed. I pass 

 over the hurricanes and storms I encountered, evidently suggested by 

 the descriptions in the novel I had just been reading : on the sudden 

 subsidence of these I thought' I stood before an invisible tribunal. I 

 felt a solemn consciousness that an all-seeing eye was on me ; while 

 there was visible to me only a portion of the deck of the Water Witch, 

 and very obscurely the shadow of my malignant accuser. Not the 

 crimes falsely laid to my charge, but the actual events of my life, even 

 the events of childhood and youth, long forgotten, were now called up 

 with extraordinary vividness ; all the circumstances of place, person, 

 dress, language, and attitude, such as had actually accompanied them, 

 being revived. Of each of these events I was compelled to give a true 

 account, an invisible hand recording every syllable that fell from my 

 lips, and a secret power obliging me to utter the words which expressed 

 the exact truth. During this ordeal I saw the countenances of dear 

 friends, and of secret and open enemies, those that had long been dead, 

 as well as those that were still living ; the former cheering me by their 

 attitudes and words, the latter scowling upon me and assuming mena- 

 cing postures, but uttering no sound. And now again I felt myself 

 under the power of the demon, by whose uncontrollable agency I was 

 compelled to accuse myself of the crimes of her own suggesting ; and 

 while suffering the bitter anguish of self-reproach, and expecting some 

 fearful punishment, I again saw my dearest friends, with their innocent 

 and happy countenances, engaged in occupations with which associations 

 of a highly pleasurable nature had been formed in my mind, but whom 

 I could not make sensible of my presence, and with whom I was 

 doomed to hold affectionate intercourse no more. After this I have no 

 remembrance of anything that passed, until conscious of the return of 

 some obscure and vague recollections. I had the impression that some 

 calamity had befallen me ; but I felt as if a soft and refreshing breeze 

 were blowing gently upon me ; and soon I found myself in a vast 

 ocean, in a beautifully-constructed vessel, with a fresh and invigorating 

 breeze, sailing rapidly along a coast presenting the most magnificent and 

 lovely scenery ; and at length the vessel entered gallantly a port 

 unknown to me, but the strand was crowded with human beings with 

 happy faces, and still happier voices. I had returned from a long 

 voyage, but I could not make out where I had been. I felt hungry and 

 fatigued ; and now, for the first time, I recognised the individuals of 

 my family, after having been violently delirious upwards of a fortnight, 

 during the last three days of which time I lay in a state of total 

 insensibility, my physicians and friends expecting every moment to be 

 the last." 



Whoever will consider carefully the mental phenomena produced by 

 the different and opposite conditions of the brain, the one produced by 

 the operation of physical agents, the other arising under the influence of 

 disease, will have no difficulty in conceiving the origin of spectral 

 illusions, either with the consciousness that they are illusions, or with 

 a U-mporary or permanent persuasion that they are real existences, 

 and whether arising from external or internal causes, or from both 

 i "inl'ined. 



The case of Nicolai, the celebrated bookseller of Berlin, affords a 

 curious illustration of the long continuance of vivid spectral illusions, 

 without the slightest belief of the real existence of the apparitions. 

 " In a state of mind completely sound, and after the first terror was over, 

 with perfect calmness," says this remarkable man, " I saw, for nearly two 

 months, almost constantly and involuntarily, a vast number of human 

 and other forms, and even heard then- voices. 



" My wife and another person came into my apartment in the morn- 

 ing, in order to console me, but I was too much agitated by a series of 

 iita, which had most powerfully affected my moral feeling, to be 

 r.i]Kible of attending t 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 that she 

 should not see anything. My question therefore alarmed her very 

 much, and she immediately sent for a physician. The phantom con- 

 tinued about eight minutes. I grew 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 there would be no return ; but the violent agitation 

 of my mind had in some way disordered my nerves, and produced 

 further consequences, which deserve a minute description. 

 " At four in the afternoon, the form which I had seen in the morning 

 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 wag persecuted by the apparition, which however at intervals disap- 

 peared, and always presented itself in a standing posture. About six 

 o'clock there appeared also several walking figures, which had no con- 

 nection with the first. After the first day the form of the deceased 

 person no more appeared, but its place was supplied with many other 

 phantasms, sometimes representing acquaintances, but mostly strangers : 

 those whom I knew were composed of living and deceased persons, but 

 the number of the latter was comparatively small. I observed the per- 

 son* with whom I daily conversed did not appear as phantasms these 

 representing chiefly persons who lived at some distance from me. 



" These phantasms seemed equally clear and distinct at all times, and 

 under all circumstances, both whun I was by myself and when I was in 

 company, and as well in the day as at night, and in my own house as 

 wull ae abroad ; they were however less frequent when I was in the 



house of a friend, and rarely appeared to me in the street. When I 

 shut my eyes, these phantasms would sometimes vanish entirely, 

 though there were instances when I beheld them with my eyes closed ; 

 yet, when they disappeared on such occasions they generally returned 

 when I opened my eyes. I conversed sometimes with my physician 

 and my wife of the phantasms which at the moment surrounded me. 

 They appeared more frequently walking than at rest, nor were they 

 constantly present. They frequently did not come for some time, but 

 always re-appeared for a longer or a shorter period, either singly or in 

 company, the latter however being most frequently the case. I 

 generally saw human forms of both sexes, but they usually seemed not 

 to take the smallest notice of each other, moving as in a market-place, 

 where all are eager to press through the crowd ; at times however they 

 seemed to be transacting business with each other. I also several times 

 saw people on horseback, dogs, and birds. All these phantasms appeared 

 to me in their natural size, and as distinct as if alive, exhibiting different 

 shades of carnation in the uncovered parts, as well as different colours 

 and fashions in their dresses, though the colours seemed somewhat paler 

 than in real nature. None of the figures appeared particularly terrible, 

 comical, or disgusting ; most of them being of an indifferent shape, and 

 some presenting a pleasing aspect. 



" The longer these phantasms continued to visit me, the more 

 frequently did they return ; while at the same time they increased in 

 numbers about four weeks after they had first appeared. I also began 

 to hear them talk. These phantasms sometimes conversed among 

 themselves, but more frequently addressed their discourse to me ; their 

 speeches were commonly short, and never of an unpleasant turn. At 

 different times there appeared to me both dear and sensible friends of 

 both sexes, whose addresses tended to appease my grief, which had not 

 yet wholly subsided ; their consolatory speeches were in general 

 addressed to me when I was alone. Sometimes however I was accosted 

 by these consoling friends while I was engaged in company, and not 

 unfrequently while real persons were speaking to me." 



Of the natural constitution of his mind, Nicolai states : " My imagi- 

 nation possesses in general a yreat faciliti/ in piciurillff. I have, for 

 example, sketched in my mind a number of plans for novels and plays, 

 though I have committed very few of them to paper, because I was 

 lees solicitous to execute than to invent. I have generally arranged 

 these outlines when in a cheerful state of mind I have taken a solitary 

 walk, or when travelling I have sat in my carriage, and could only find 

 employment in myself and my imagination. Constantly, and even 

 now, do the different persons whom I imagine in the foundation of 

 such a plot present themselves to me in the most lively and distinct manner, 

 their fir/ure, their features, their manner, their dress, and their complexion, 

 are all visible to my fancy. As long as I meditate on a fixed plan, and 

 afterwards carry it into effect, even when I am interrupted and when 

 I must begin it again at different times, all the acting persons continue 

 present in the very same form in which my imagination at first produced 

 them. I find myself frequently in a state between sleeping and waking, 

 in which a number of pictures of every description, often of the strangest 

 forms, show themselves, change, and vanish. In the year 1778 I was 

 afflicted with a bilious fever, which at times, though seldom, became 

 so high as to produce delirium. Every day, towards evening, the fever 

 came on, and if I happened to shut my eyes at that time, I could 

 perceive that the cold fit of the fever was beginning, even before the 

 sensation of cold was observable. This I knew by the distinct appear- 

 ance of coloured pictures, of less than half their natural size, which 

 looked as in frames. They were a set of landscapes, composed of trees, 

 rocks, and other objects. If I kept my eyes shut, every minute some 

 alteration took place in the representation. Some figures vanished and 

 others appeared. But if I opened my eyes, all was gone ; if I shut them 

 again, I had a different landscape. In the cold fit of the fever, I some- 

 times opened and shut my eyes every second, for the purpose of ob- 

 servation, and every time a different picture appeared, replete with 

 various objects, which had not the least resemblance to those that 

 appeared before. These pictures presented themselves without inter- 

 ruption, as long as the cold fit of the fever lasted. They became 

 fainter as soon as I began to grow warm ; and when I was perfectly so, 

 all were gone. When the cold fit of the fever was entirely past, no 

 more pictures appeared ; but if on the next day I could again see 

 pictures when my eyes were shut, it was a certain sign that the cold fit 

 was coming on." 



This is a remarkable instance of spectral illusion manifestly arising 

 from a physical cause, in a person of a philosophical turn of mind, able 

 to refer the illusions to their real source, and therefore to maintain his 

 consciousness of their true nature. It was otherwise with John Beaumont, 

 the author of a ' Treatise on Spirits and Apparitions,' who was a man of 

 hypochondriacal disposition, and who, while labouring under this bodily 

 disease, saw hundreds of imaginary men and women about him, and in 

 whose real existence he came to be a firm believer. Among the spirits 

 that visited him, there were two who became his constant attendants, 

 and who called each other by their names : several spirits would often 

 call at his chamber, and ask whether such spirits lived there, calling 

 them by their names, and they would answer, they did. One spirit 

 which came for several nights together, and rung a little bell in his 

 ear, told him that his name was Ariel. The two spirits that constantly 

 attended him were ladies of a brown complexion, about three feet in 

 stature ; they had both black loose net-work gowns, tied with a black 



