440 Experiences of Haschisch. 



and sudden flashes before the eye of visible odours, sounds, and 

 ideas. The most remarkable feature of this paroxysm was a 

 feeling that my soul was too large for my body, and must 

 expand it to suitable dimensions. This pained me. I gasped 

 for my breath, and felt my skin stretch and crack, and my 

 joints fly like the snapping of huge beams of timber. These 

 illusions became instantly the foundations of others. The crack- 

 ing of my skin became suddenly a display of fireworks ; and 

 the snapping of my joints, the beating of gongs. Still plea- 

 surable sensations prevailed; old memories were revived as 

 pictures, and in many respects the effects resembled those of 

 opium. But with opium there is a more entire and settled 

 acquiescence in the illusions, and the ideas are more connected 

 and continuous. With Haschisch there is a rapid succession 

 of new scenes and startling combinations. When there is no 

 pain the mind is literally whirled away in a succession of ravish- 

 ing delights, and is yet all the while conscious that the whole 

 affair is a deception. This paroxysm was soon over. It ended 

 in a joyous feeling, in which life seemed lengthened out beyond 

 the natural term, and all around me were objects of transcen- 

 dant beauty, which I had the power of resolving into realities 

 by an effort of the will ; and it seemed that by successively 

 using this effort the spell was broken, and the effect of the 

 drug entirely destroyed. 



The third dose was the last. I took it at mid-day, when in 

 my usual health and spirits. Thinking that at the second 

 experiment I did not take enough, I now weighed out four 

 scruples. I at once went out, and proceeded across Finsbury 

 Square, in the direction of the city. It seemed that about a 

 quarter of an hour elapsed, during which I had felt a comfort- 

 able sense of warmth, and an increasing tendency to open my 

 mouth for air, though I was not aware of any difficulty of 

 breathing. " Now,''' said I, " this is pleasant. I shall have a 

 glorious time of it.-" Immediately a voice shouted " There he 

 goes ; he's always inflated \" I was at once conscious that I 

 was observed by passers-by to be expanding rapidly ; and I felt 

 myself rise from the ground, and walk above it. I halted, and 

 by an effort of the mind collected myself, and found that the 

 voice was that of a man selling some wares in Moorgate Street, 

 who had not even noticed me, nor had any one else. But the 

 thought occurred immediately, " This is a delusion, I am ex- 

 panding, and cannot touch the ground.-" For a moment it might 

 be, but it seemed an indefinite period, I saw the whole of the city 

 spread out before me as a diorama. The church bells rang joy- 

 ously ; the houses were illuminated ; the horses had gold and sil- 

 ver trappings; the people were waltzing, singing, laughing, and 

 playing with fireworks. I again exerted my will, and felt a disgust 



