The following observations are from Dr Rush, found in his Treatise on
Diseases of the Mind. 'By this term, (Illusions) I mean that disease,
in which false perceptions take place in the ears and eyes in the
waking state, from a morbid affection of the brain, or of the sense
which is the seat of the illusion. It may be considered as a waking
dream. Persons affected with it fancy they hear voices, or see objects
that do not exist. These false perceptions are said, by superstitious
people, to be premonitions of death. They sometimes indicate either
the forming state, or the actual existence of disease, which being
seated most commonly in a highly vital part of the body, that is, in
the brain, now and then ends in death, and thus administers support to
superstition. They depend, like false perception in madness, upon
motion being excited in a part of the ear or the eye, which does not
vibrate with the impression made upon it, but communicates it to a
part upon which the impression of the noise heard, or of the person
seen, was formerly made, and hence the one becomes audible, and the
other visible.
'The deception, when made upon the ears, consists most commonly in
hearing our own names, and for this obvious reason; we are accustomed
to hear them pronounced more frequently than any other words, and
hence the part of the ear, which vibrates with the sound of our names,
moves more promptly, from habit, than any other part of it. For the
same reason the deception, when made upon the eyes, consists in seeing
our own persons, or the persons of our intimate friends, whether
living or dead, oftener than any other people. The part upon the
retina, from which those images are reflected, move more promptly,
from habit, than any other of that part of the organ of vision.
'The voice which is supposed to be heard, and the objects which are
supposed to be seen, are never heard nor seen by two persons, even
when they are close to each other. This proves them both to be the
effect of disease in the single person who hears, or sees, the
supposed voice or object.'
Dr Rush has recorded numerous instances of partial mental derangement
from hypochondriasis, chiefly from his own knowledge, such as the
following. A sea captain believed that he had a wolf in his liver;
others that they are converted into an animal of another species, such
as a goose, a dog, a cat, a hare, a cow, and the like. One imagined
that he was once a calf, and mentions the name of the butcher that
killed him, and the stall in the Philadelphia market, on which his
flesh was sold, previously to his animating his present body. One
believed that he had no soul. Another that he is transformed into a
plant, and insisted on being watered in common with all the plants
around him in the garden. Another that his body was transformed into
glass. The celebrated Cowper suffered much anguish from complaints of
a similar nature, arising from hypochondriac affection.
Among the causes of nervous affection and diseased imagination, are
those of sedentary habits and a free use of strong tea. The following
instances were communicated by my friend the Rev. Mr K.
The late Rev. Mr F. of Ipswich, who was very sedentary; spent most of
his time in his study without exercise, and his health became
impaired. He imagined for some time before his death, that he was
actually dead. I saw him in this state of mind, walking his chamber in
extreme agitation. To the question, how he could suffer so much, if
actually dead, he answered, that his own spirit was departed, and that
another spirit had taken possession of his body.
A gentleman in Boston once told the first President Adams, that he had
become strangely timid, that he dared not keep the side walks, but
walked in the middle of the street, being constantly apprehensive that
the tile on the houses would fall on his head. The president asked him
if he made a free use of tea, and being answered in the affirmative,
he recommended to him to use it more sparingly and he would probably
be benefited by the change. By pursuing this advice, he was relieved,
and was soon able to return to the side walks without fear.
A gentleman of Salem, sailing from the south to Massachusetts, while
under the influence of nervous affection, imagined that he saw a man
in the water near the ship, who was drowning. Conceiving that he
might save his life, he was in the very act of leaping into the sea
for that purpose, but was happily prevented by those on deck. He
afterward recovered his health, and had a perfect recollection of his
feelings on that occasion. He had no idea of destroying himself, but
would have perished had he not been prevented. Instances of a similar
nature have probably occurred, in which lives have been lost in
consequence of such delusion.
It is said that Mr Murdock, the member of the Vermont Legislature, who
recently committed suicide, imagined himself to be Dr Cleaveland, who
was under sentence of death. Mr Murdock attempted to speak when
Cleaveland's case was before the legislature, but was so much agitated
that he could not speak, and was taken from the house by his friends.
Under this strong impression of his being Cleaveland, he killed
himself to avoid the doom of the law. This event would make a
thrilling chapter in Sir Walter Scott's history of Demonology and
Witchcraft.
It will aid our purpose to relate the following instance of Mr
Nicolai, an intelligent bookseller and member of the Academy of
Sciences of Berlin, who happily possessed philosophy enough to account
for the phantasms which, for some time agitated his own mind, upon
rational principles. 'In the year 1791, I was much affected in my mind
by several incidents of a very disagreeable nature; and on a certain
day a circumstance occurred, which irritated me extremely. At ten
o'clock in the forenoon, my wife and another person came to console
me. I was in a violent perturbation of mind, owing to a series of
incidents which had altogether wounded my moral feelings, and from
which I saw no possibility of relief; when suddenly I observed at the
distance of ten paces from me, a figure; the figure of a deceased
person. I pointed at it, and asked my wife if she did not see it. She
saw nothing; but being much alarmed, endeavored to compose me, and
sent for the physician. The figure remained seven or eight minutes,
and at length I became a little more calm; and as I was extremely
exhausted, I soon afterwards fell into a troubled kind of slumber,
which lasted for half an hour. The vision was ascribed to the great
agitation of mind in which I had been, and it was supposed I should
have nothing more to apprehend from that cause; but the violent
affection had put my nerves into some unnatural state; from this arose
further consequences which require a more detailed description. In the
afternoon a little after four o'clock, the figure which I had seen in
the morning again appeared. I was alone when this happened, a
circumstance, which, as may easily be conceived, could not be very
agreeable. I went therefore to the apartment of my wife, to whom I
related it. But thither also the figure pursued me. Sometimes it was
present, sometimes it vanished, but it was always the same standing
figure. A little after six o'clock, several stalking figures also
appeared, but they had no connexion with the standing figure. The
figure of the deceased person never appeared to me after the first
dreadful day; but several other figures showed themselves afterwards
very distinctly; sometimes such as I knew, mostly however, of persons
I did not know, and amongst those known to me, were the semblance of
both living and deceased persons, but mostly the former; and I made
the observation, that acquaintance with whom I daily conversed never
appeared to me as phantasms; it was always such as were at a distance.
These figures appeared to me at all times, and under the most
different circumstances, equally distinct and clear. Whether I was
alone or in company, by broad day light equally as in the night time,
in my own house as well as in my neighbor's; yet, when I was at
another person's house, they were less frequent, and when I walked the
public street, they very seldom appeared. When I shut my eyes,
sometimes the figures disappeared, sometimes they remained even after
I closed them. If they vanished in the former case, on opening my eyes
again, nearly the same figures appeared which I had seen before. For
the most part I saw human figures of both sexes; they commonly passed
to and fro, as if they had no connexion with each other, like people
at a fair, where all is bustle; sometimes they appeared to have
business with each other. Once or twice I saw amongst them persons on
horseback, and dogs and birds; these figures all appeared to me in
their natural size, as distinctly as if they had existed in real life,
with the several tints on the uncovered parts of the body, and with
all the different kinds and colors of clothes. On the whole, the
longer I continued in this state, the more did the phantasms increase,
and the apparitions became more frequent. About four weeks afterwards,
I began to hear them speak, sometimes the phantasms spoke with one
another; but for the most part they addressed themselves to me; these
speeches were in general short, and never contained anything
disagreeable. Intelligent and respected friends often appeared to me,
who endeavored to console me in my grief, which still left deep traces
on my mind. This speaking I heard most frequently when I was alone;
though I sometimes heard it in company, intermingled with the
conversation of real persons, frequently in single phrases only, but
sometimes even in connected discourse. Though at this time I enjoyed
rather a good state of health both in body and mind, and had become so
familiar with these phantasms, that at last they did not excite the
least disagreeable emotion, but on the contrary afforded me frequent
subjects for amusement and mirth; yet as the disorder sensibly
increased, and the figures appeared to me the whole day together, and
even during the night, if I happened to awake, I had recourse to
several medicines. Had I not been able to distinguish phantasms from
phenomena, I must have been insane. Had I been fanatic or
superstitious, I should have been terrified at my own phantasms, and
probably might have been seized with some alarming disorder. Had I
been attached to the marvellous, I should have sought to magnify my
own importance, by asserting that I had seen spirits; and who could
have disputed the facts with me? In this case, however, the advantage
of sound philosophy and deliberate observation may be seen. Both
prevented me from becoming either a lunatic or an enthusiast; for with
nerves so strongly excited, and blood so quick in circulation, either
misfortune might have easily befallen me. But I considered the
phantasms that hovered around me as what they really were, namely, the
effects of disease, and made them subservient to my observations,
because I consider observation and reflection as the basis of all
rational philosophy.' This gentleman had been accustomed to lose blood
twice a year, but it was omitted at this time, and having suffered so
much by the neglect, he again had recourse to blood letting and was
soon relieved of all his phantasms.
The following article is contained in the Edinburgh Journal of
Science, conducted by Dr Brewster, who says of the narrator of the
case, that, 'his station in society and as a man of science, would
authenticate the minutest particulars in his narrative, and satisfy
the most scrupulous reader that the case has been philosophically as
well as faithfully described.' The narrator is in fact the husband of
the lady who was the subject of the disease.
'On the twentysixth of December, 1829, about half past four o'clock in
the afternoon, Mrs B. was standing near the fire in the hall, and on
the point of going up stairs to dress, when she heard, as she
supposed, my voice calling her by name,--Come here, come to me! She
imagined that I was calling at the door to have it opened, went to it,
and was surprised on opening it to find no one. She returned toward
the fire, and again heard the same voice, calling very distinctly and
loud,--Come, come here. She then opened two other doors of the same
room, but seeing no one, she returned to the fire-place. After a few
minutes, she heard the same voice, still calling--'Come to me, come,
come away;' this time in a loud, plaintive, and somewhat impatient
tone. She answered as loudly--'Where are you? I don't know where you
are'--still imagining that I was somewhere in search of her; but
receiving no answer, she shortly went up stairs. On my return to the
house about half an hour afterwards, she inquired why I had called to
her so often, and where I was; and was of course surprised to hear I
had not been near the house at the time.
'On the 30th of the same month, at about four o'clock, P. M., Mrs B.
came down stairs into the drawing room, which she had quitted a few
minutes before, and on entering the room, saw me, as she supposed,
standing with my back to the fire. She addressed me, asking how it was
I had returned so soon. (I had left the house for a walk half an hour
before.) She said I looked fixedly at her with a serious and
thoughtful expression of countenance, but did not speak. She supposed
I was busied in thought, and sat down in an arm-chair near the fire,
and within a couple of feet at most of the figure she still saw
standing before her. As, however, the eyes still continued to be fixed
upon her, after a few moments she said--'Why don't you speak--?' The
figure upon this moved off towards the window at the farther end of
the room, the eyes still gazing on her, and passed so very close to
her in doing so, that she was struck by the circumstance of hearing no
step nor sound, nor feeling her clothes brushed against, nor even any
agitation of the air. The idea then arose for the first time into her
mind, that it was no reality, but a spectral illusion, (being a person
of sense and habituated to account rationally for most things, the
notion of anything supernatural was out of the question.) She
recollected, however, your having mentioned that there was a sort of
experimentum crucis, applicable to these cases, by which a genuine
ghost may be distinguished from one conjured up by merely natural
causes; namely, the pressing the eye in order to produce the effect of
seeing double, when, according to your assertion, a true Tartarean
ghost may be duplicated as well as everything else; while the morbid
idea being, I suppose, an impression on the retina, would or ought to
remain single. I am sorry, however, to say, that the opportunity for
verifying your theory was unfavorable. Before Mrs B. was able
distinctly to double her vision, my figure had retreated to the window
and disappeared there. The lady followed, shook the curtains, and
tried the windows, being still loth to believe it was not a reality,
so distinct and forcible was the impression. Finding, however, that
there was no natural means of egress, she became convinced of having
seen a spectral apparition, such as are recorded in Dr Hibbert's work,
and consequently felt no alarm or agitation. The appearance lasted
four or five minutes. It was bright daylight, and Mrs B. is confident
that the apparition was fully as vivid as the reality; and when
standing close to her, it concealed, of course, the real objects
behind it. Upon being told of this my visible appearance in the
spirit, having been only _audible_ a few days before, I was, as you
may imagine, more alarmed for the health of the lady than for my own
approaching death, or any other fatality the vision might be supposed
to forebode. Still both the stories were so very much _en regle_ as
ghost stories, the three calls of the plaintive voice, each one louder
than the preceding, the fixed eye and mournful expression of the
phantom, its noiseless step and spirit-like vanishing, were all so
characteristic of the wraith, that I might have been unable to shake
off some disagreeable fancies, such as a mind once deeply saturated
with the poison of nursery-tales cannot altogether banish, had it not
been for a third apparition, at whose visit I myself assisted, a few
days afterwards, and which I think is the key-stone of the case,
rendering it as complete as could be wished.
'On the 4th of this month, January, 1830, five days after the last
apparition, at about ten o'clock at night, I was sitting in the
drawing-room with Mrs B. and in the act of stirring the fire, when she
exclaimed, 'Why, there's the cat in the room!' I asked 'Where?' She
replied, 'There, close to you.' 'Where?' I repeated. 'Why, on the rug,
to be sure, between yourself and the coal-scuttle.' I had the poker in
my hand, and I pushed in the direction mentioned. 'Take care,' she
cried out, 'take care, you are hitting her with the poker.' I again
asked her to point out exactly where she saw the cat. She replied,
'Why, sitting up there close to your feet, on the rug:--she is looking
at me. It is Kitty, come here Kitty.' There are two cats in the house,
one of which went by this name. They are rarely, if ever in the
drawing-room. At this time Mrs B. had certainly no idea that the sight
of the cat was an illusion. I asked her to touch it. She got up for
the purpose, and seemed, too, as if she was pursuing something which
moved away. She followed a few steps, and then said,--'It has gone
under that chair.' I told her it was an illusion. She would not
believe it. I lifted up the chair; there was nothing there, nor did
Mrs B. see anything more of it. I searched the room all over, and
found nothing. There was a dog lying on the hearth, who would have
betrayed great uneasiness had a cat been in the room. He was perfectly
quiet. In order to be quite certain, I rung the bell and sent for the
cats. They were both found in the housekeeper's room. The most
superstitious person could now doubt no longer as to the real
character of all these illusory appearances, and the case is so
complete, that I hope there will be no renewal of them, symptomatic
as they of course are of a disordered state of the body. I am sorry to
say Mrs B. as well as myself, forgot to try in time the experimentum
crucis on the cat. Mrs B. has naturally a morbidly sensitive
imagination, so strongly affecting her corporeal impressions, that the
story of any person having severe pain by accident, or otherwise, will
occasionally produce acute twinges of pain in the correspondent part
in her own person. An account, for instance, of the amputation of an
arm, will produce an instantaneous and severe sense of pain in her own
arm; and so of other relations. She is subject to talk in her sleep,
with great fluency; to repeat poetry very much at length, particularly
when unwell, and even _cap verses_ for half an hour together, never
failing to quote lines beginning with the final letter of the
preceding till her memory is exhausted.
'She has, during the last six weeks, been considerably reduced and
weakened, by a tiresome cough, which has also added to her weakness by
preventing the taking a daily tonic, to which she had been for some
time accustomed. She had also confined herself from this cause to the
house for some weeks, which is not usual with her, being accustomed to
take a great deal of air and exercise. Her general health for some
time past has not been strong, and a long experience has proved beyond
a doubt, that her ill health is attributable to a disordered state of
the digestive organs. These details are necessary for a complete
understanding of this case, which strikes me as one of remarkable
interest, from combining the character of an ordinary ghost story with
those of an indubitable illusion, as well as from the circumstance
occurring to a person of strong mind, devoid of any superstitious
fancies, and to be implicitly relied on for the truth of the minutest
details of the appearances. Indeed, I do not recollect any well
authenticated and recent instances of auricular delusion like the
first of those I have related, though of course the warning voices and
sounds which have frightened too many weak persons into their graves,
must have been of this nature. Mrs B. tells me that about ten years
ago a similar circumstance happened to her when residing in Florence,
and in perfect health. While undressing after a ball, she heard a
voice call her repeatedly by name, and was at that time unable to
account for the fact.
'It was nearly a month after the last occurrence, that Mrs B. was
preparing for bed at about eleven o'clock at night, and after somewhat
a fatiguing day, and sitting before the dressing glass occupied in
arranging her hair. She describes her state of mind at the time as
listless and drowsy, but fully awake; indeed her fingers were in
active motion among the papillotes, when she was suddenly startled by
seeing in the mirror the figure of a near relative (at the time in
Scotland) over her left shoulder; her eyes meeting his in the glass.
The figure was enveloped in grave clothes, closely pinned as is usual
with corpses round the head and under the chin. Though the eyes were
open, the features were solemn and rigid. The dress was decidedly a
_shroud_, as Mrs B. remarked even the punctured pattern worked in a
peculiar manner round the edges of that garment. Mrs B. describes
herself as sensible of a feeling like fascination, compelling her for
a time to gaze on this melancholy apparition, which was as distinct
and vivid as any reflected reality could be; the light of the candles
on the dressing table appearing to shine fully upon it. After a few
minutes she turned round to look for the reality of the form over her
shoulder. It was not, however, visible; and had also disappeared from
the glass when she looked in that direction again. Coupled with the
previous illusions I related to you, this last apparition becomes more
interesting than it would be alone. In the first place, its melancholy
and indeed horrible character, distinguishes it from the others, but
brings it still nearer the ordinary stories of supernatural
visitation. At the same time the possible continuance of such spectral
appearances is highly disagreeable, however firm the lady's nerves,
and however sound her philosophy. 2d. The mind in this case seems not
to have had the remotest influence in raising or dissipating the
illusion. Mrs B. is convinced there was no train of thought previously
passing through her mind, likely to have the slightest association
with the idea of the relative, whose form she suddenly saw with all
the distinctness of reality. 3d. The former illusions might be
supposed ideas of sensation, sounds, or pictures reproduced, with
extraordinary vividness in the same shape and character, in which they
had been perceived by and stored up in the mind. But in this last case
there is a new combination of ideas which never entered the mind in
connexion.
'The union of the well known features with the shroud, must have been
a pure effort of, or creation of the mind. There seems, therefore, no
reason why, under the same disposition of the nervous system, any
monstrous creation of the faculty we call imagination might not be
produced to the eyes and other senses; indeed, with all the qualities
that constitute reality, except their endurance, though this should
hardly be excepted, since there can be no reason why the appearances
may not endure, by a continuance of the conditions for days, or
months. I need hardly say that the relative, whose ghost was seen
after so dismal a fashion, was at the time in perfect health. Had it
been otherwise, and the apparition coincided with illness or death, as
has no doubt frequently happened in other instances, our philosophy
would have had to stand a severe trial.'