Effects of Haschisch. 347 



refused to execute any movements that required delicacy or 

 steadiness. I therefore determined to return home, but I had 

 scarcely opened the doors of the grand court of the college than 

 I beheld the houses as if they had been removed to a distance, 

 while the voices that reached me were as weak as if they 

 came from a remote place. All distances seemed very great, 

 and I felt as if raised from the ground and walking through 

 the air, whilst the persons in the streets touched the ground 

 with their feet, as if they were my inferiors, and incapable of 

 mounting above it as I had done. As I was hastening home 

 the distances seemed to grow without end, and I thought I 

 should never arrive. In the meantime I reasoned with myself 

 and said, 'This is curious. The action of haschisch augments 

 distances, weakens the voice, creates a sense of superiority over 

 others, and the person under its influence believes himself lifted 

 from the ground and walking in the air/ At length I reached 

 the house, and at the place where my key was, I found and 

 took possession of two letters bearing my address. The 

 portress, who saw me return sooner than usual, said to her 

 husband, ' M. Luca's rooms are not ready •' and when she 

 heard me speak, she exclaimed, ' His voice has changed ;' to 

 which I hastened to reply, ' It is the effect of haschisch.' I pro- 

 ceeded to my lodging, opened the door, entered, and shut it, 

 but left the key outside. My first desire was to open the two 

 letters and read them, but the nervous movement which I have 

 mentioned hindered me, and with all my efforts I only succeeded 

 in passing them between my fingers and turning them about 

 for two or three minutes. At last, seized with a supreme 

 disdain for vulgar things, I flung the letters on the ground as 

 if unworthy of my thoughts. 



" A crowd of ideas came into my mind, and grew clear and 

 precise ; the nervous movement became more sensible, an 

 agreeable feeling came over me, and I determined to go to bed, 

 having taken off my clothes. I had scarcely got into bed before 

 the clothes seemed to remove themselves to a certain distance 

 from my body, as a sign of respect ; and thus, without contact 

 with them, I found myself in an atmosphere of pleasure and 

 content. I saw at that moment, to my great satisfaction, all 

 the events of my life pass before me ; but my ideas changed so 

 rapidly that I would not dwell upon a single one. At this time 

 I said, c If this state could last for ever, the dreams of poets 

 would be realized, we should be all content, we should have 

 nothing to desire, and we might pass our time in joyful con- 

 templation V The distinctness of my ideas was not diminished 

 throughout this period of the action, and my mind sought to 

 corroborate them by proofs, and to know them more completely. 

 In fact, while I found myself in bed under this influence, I had 



