SPECTRES OCCASIONED BY DISEASE. 1^9 



I fometimes converfed with my phyfician and my wife, con- Narrative and 

 cerning the nhantafms which at the time hovered around me ; f^^^^^* °"_ 

 for in general the forms appeareu oftener in motion than at duced by nervous 

 reft. They did not always continue prefent — they frequently mdifpofuion. 

 left me altogether, and again appeared for a (liort or longer 

 fpace of time, fingly or more at once; but, in j^eneral, fe- 

 veral appeared together. For the moft part i law human 

 figures of both fexes ; they commonly paffed fo anJ fro as if 

 they had no connection with each oiLe. „ like people at a fair 

 where all is buftle; fometimes they app^^^ed to have bufinefs 

 with one another. Once or twice I fav/ amongft them per- 

 fons on horfeback, and dogs and birds ; thefe figures all ap- 

 peared to me in their natural fize, rs diftin«5lly as if they 

 had exifted in real life, with the fevcial tints on the unco- 

 vered parts of the body, and with all the different kinds and 

 colours of clothes. But I think, however, that the colours 

 were fomewhat paler than they are in nature. 



None of the figures had any diftinguilhing chara6leriftick, 

 they were neither terrible, ludicrous, nor repulfive ; moft of 

 them were ordinary in their appearance, — fome were even 

 agreeable. 



On the whole, the longer I continued in this ftate, the 

 more did the number of phantafms encreafe, and the appa- 

 ritions became more frequent. About four weeks afterwards 

 I began to hear them fpeak : fometimes the phantafms fpoke 

 with one another ; but for the moft part they addrefled thera- 

 felves to me : thefe fpeeches were in general fhort, and never 

 contained any thing difagreeable. Intelligent and refpeCled. 

 friends often appeared to me, who endeavoured to confole me 

 in my grief, which ftill left deep traces on my mind. This 

 fpeaking I heard moft frequently when I was alone : though 

 I fometimes heard it in company, intermixed with the con- 

 verfation of real perfons ; frequently in fingle phrafes only, 

 but fometimes even in connedled difcourfe. 



Though at this time I enjoyed rather a good ftate of health 

 both in body and mind, and had become fo very familiar with 

 thefe phantafms, that at laft they did not excite the leaft dif- 

 agreeable emotion, but on the contrary afforded me frequent 

 fubjeds for amufesnent and mirth; yet as the diforder fenfibly 

 encreafed, and the figures appeared to me for whole days to- 

 gether, and even during the night, if I happened to awake, 



I had 



