414 KEGISTEKED IMPEESSIONS. 



fluence of newly-arriving sensations, than the philosophical 



Proof of the ex- . J -, j i /. , , 



istence of im- observations which have been made by some of those who 

 pressions in the j iaye ^ een ji^le | o these infirmities on their own cases. 



registering gan- 

 glia and their Thus, in such a case recorded in Nicholson's Philosophical 

 emergence. Journa i ? and a u u d e d to by Dr. Hibbert : "I had a visit," 

 said the patient, "from Dr. C , to whom, among other remarks, I ob- 

 served that I then enjoyed the satisfaction of having cultivated my mor- 

 al habits, and particularly in having always endeavored to avoid being 

 the slave of fear. ' I think,' said I, 'that this is the breaking up of the 

 system, and that it is now in progress to speedy destruction. In this 

 state, when the senses have become confused, and no longer tell me the 

 truth, they still present me with pleasing fictions, and my sufferings are 

 mitigated by that calmness which allows me to find amusement in what 

 are probably the concluding scenes of life.' I give these self-congratula- 

 tions without scruple, more particularly because they led to an observa- 

 tion of fact which deserves notice. When the doctor left me, my relax- 

 ed attention turned to the phantasms, and some time afterward, instead 

 of a pleasing face, a visage of extreme rage appeared, which presented a 

 gun at me, and made me start ; but it remained the usual time, and then 

 gradually faded away. This immediately showed me the probability of 

 some connection between my thoughts and these images, for I ascribed 

 the angry phantasm to the general reflection I had formed in conversa- 

 tion with Dr. C . I recollected some disquisitions of Locke, in his 



treatise on the Conduct of the Mind, where he endeavors to account for 

 the appearance of faces to persons of nervous habits. It seemed to me 

 as if faces in all their modifications, being so associated with our recol- 

 lections of the affections of passions, would be most likely to offer them- 

 selves in delirium; but I now thought it probable that other objects 

 could be seen, if previously meditated upon. With this motive it was 

 that I reflected upon landscapes and scenes of architectural grandeur 

 while the faces were flashing before me, and after a considerable interval 

 of time, of which I can form no precise judgment, a rural scene of hills, 

 valleys, and fields appeared before me, which was succeeded by another 

 and another in ceaseless succession, the manner and times of their respect- 

 ive appearance, duration, and vanishing being not sensibly different from 

 that of the faces. All the scenes were calm and still, without any strong 

 light or glare, and delightfully calculated to inspire notions of retirement, 

 of tranquillity, and happy meditation." The same writer adds in anoth- 

 er place, " The figures returned, but now they consisted either of books, 

 or parchments, or papers containing printed matter. I do not know 

 whether I read any of them, but am at present inclined to think that they 

 were not either distinctly legible, or did not remain a sufficient time be- 

 fore they vanished. I was now so well aware of the connection of thought 



