convulsions accompanied by a contraction of the throat and the _globulus
hystericus_; saliva forms in abundance, black, coal-like lumps are
thrown up and the breath is hot and ill-smelling. In this mental form
they appear as a raging of the demon against the possessed and against
religion--in fact a struggle of the patient with himself and his former
convictions. Occasionally the good principle within him assumes, in
contradistinction to the demon who personifies the evil principle, the
form of a guardian angel, who comforts the poor sufferer as he is tossed
to and fro like a ship in a tempest, and promises him assistance. Nor is
the demon always alone; there may be, as Holy Writ teaches, seven,
thousands, or their name may be "Legions," for these visionary beings
are only so many representatives of certain evil principles at work in
the soul of the possessed. Some patients have been enabled to trace this
connection and to discover that each symptom of their disease was thus
personified by a separate demon to whom in their paroxysms they ascribed
the infliction: Lucifer caused pricking and stinging pains, Anzian
tearing and scratching, Junian convulsions of limbs, etc. The fearful
suffering which demoniacs have to undergo and the still more harassing
conflicts in their soul drive them frequently to despair and engender
thoughts of suicide. During these paroxysms the struggle between light
and darkness, heaven and hell, eternal bliss and damnation, angel and
devil, is carried on with such energy and dramatic truthfulness that
those who witness it are apt to become deeply excited and often suffer
not a little from the violent transitions from sympathy to horror and
from heartfelt pity to unspeakable disgust. As soon as the dualism in
the soul relaxes, and with it the disease becomes milder, the demon also
grows more quiet; a happy moment of rest ensues, which the exorciser
calls the period of conversion; and when this has once taken place the
patient is no longer able to distinguish the demon as apart from
himself, the contradistinction exists no more, and he is reconciled to
his true self.
There is no instance known in which an intelligent, well-educated person
has become possessed; the terrible misfortune falls exclusively upon
rude and coarse natures, a fact which explains the coarseness and
rudeness of so-called demons. Medicinal remedies are seldom of much
avail, as the disease has already reached a stage in which the mind is
at least as much affected as the body. Exorcising has frequently been
successful, but only indirectly, through the firm faith which the
sufferer still holds in his innermost heart. The great dogma that Christ
has come into this world to destroy the works of the Evil One, has
probably been inculcated into his mind from childhood up, and can now
begin once more, after long obscuration, to exercise its supreme power.
The cure depends, however, not only on the presence of such faith, but
rather on the supremacy which the idea of Christ's power gains over the
idea of the devil's power. Hence the symptoms of possession not
unfrequently cease under a fervent invocation of the Saviour, if the
exorciser is able by his superior energy of will to create in the
patient a firm faith in the power of the holy name. This expulsion of
the demon is, of course, nothing more than the abandonment of the
struggle by the evil principle in the sufferer's soul, by which the good
impulses become once more dominant, and a healthy, natural state of
mind and body is restored.
It must, however, not be overlooked that the views of possession have
changed essentially in different nations and ages. At the time of
Christ's coming the belief in actual possession, the dwelling of real
demons in the body of human beings, was universal, and to this belief
the language of Holy Writ naturally adapts its records of miracles.
The Kabbalah as well as the Talmud contain full accounts of a kingdom of
hell, opposed to the heavenly kingdom, with Smaal as head of all
satanism or evil spirits, defying Jehovah. The latter are allowed to
dwell upon earth side by side with the sons of Adam, and occasionally to
possess them and to live in their souls as in a home of their own. In
other cases it was the spirit of a deceased person which, condemned for
sins committed during life to wander about as a demon, received
permission to enter the soul of a living being. The New Testament
mentions at least seven cases of possession, from the woman whose
suffering was simply ascribed to the Devil's agency, to Mary Magdalene
who was relieved of seven demons, and the Gadarene, who had a "legion"
of devils. The Catholic Church also has always taught the existence of
evil spirits; doctrinal works, however, mention only one, Diabolus or
Satanas. Although the Church adheres consistently to the theory of
actual possession, it teaches that demons cannot wholly take possession
of a human soul, but only force it to obedience or accept voluntary
submission. Hence their power over the body also never becomes absolute,
but is always shared with the soul of the sufferer. Among Protestants
many orthodox believers look upon possession as a mere delusion
practised by the Evil One; others admit its existence, but attribute it
to the souls of deceased persons and not to demons. This was the
doctrine of the ancient Greeks, who, like the Romans, seem to have known
but a few rare cases of possession, which they ascribed to departed
spirits. Thus Philostratus, in his life of Apollonius (l. iii. ch. 38),
mentions a young man who was for two years possessed by a demon
pretending to be the spirit of a soldier killed in battle. Nearly all
nations on earth have records of possession. Thus cases occurring in
China and Japan and in the Indies are attributed to the influence of
certain deities, as the Hindoos know neither a hell nor a devil. Early
travelers, like Blom and Rochefort, report, in like manner, that in some
of the islands of the Caribbean Sea evil spirits are believed to obtain
at times possession of women and then to enable them to foretell the
future. According to Ellis the inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands were
much plagued by evil spirits dwelling in some of their brethren.
It was only towards the latter part of the last century that possession
was found to be nothing more than a peculiar disease arising from the
combination of an unsound mind with an unsound body. This discovery was
first made by Farmer in England, and by Semler in Germany; since that
time the symptoms of the character of the affection have been very
generally studied and thoroughly investigated.
Thus it has been discovered that similar phenomena are occasionally
observed in typhus and nervous fevers. First the patients fancy they
feel somebody breathing by their side, or blowing cold air upon their
head; after long unconsciousness they are apt to imagine that they are
double, and have been known to hesitate where to carry the spoon
containing their medicine. In still more marked cases, persons who have
suffered from the effects of some great calamity, and have thus been
brought to the verge of the grave, have even acted two different
individualities, of which one was pious and the other impious, or one
speaking the patient's native tongue and the other a foreign language.
As they recovered and as the return of health brought back bodily and
mental strength, this dualism also ceased to be exhibited during the
paroxysm, and finally disappeared altogether.
Possession is generally announced some time beforehand by premonitory
symptoms, but the first cause is not always easily ascertained. When we
are told that certain cases have originated in a hastily spoken word, a
fierce curse or an outburst of passion, we only learn thus what was the
first occasion on which the malady has been noticed, but not what was
the first cause. This lies almost invariably in moral corruption; the
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of the heart are
by far the most frequent sources of the frightful disease. Occasionally
a very great and sudden grief, like the unexpected death of a beloved
person, or too great familiarity with evil thoughts in books or in
conversation, produce the same effect--in fact all the various causes
which result in insanity may produce also possession. Nor must serious
bodily injuries be forgotten. A student of the University of Halle
considered himself possessed, and the case puzzled experienced
physicians for some time, till it was ascertained that he had received a
violent blow upon the head, which required trepanning. Before the
operation could be undertaken, however, matter began to ooze out from
the ear, and he suddenly was relieved from the paroxysms and all
thoughts of possession. Convents are naturally very frequently scenes of
possession--the inmates are either troubled by bitter remorse for sins
which have led them to seek refuge in a holy place, where they cannot
find peace, or they succumb to the rigor of severe discipline and are
unable to endure the constant privation of food or sleep. The sin
against the Holy Ghost, which unfortunate persons have imputed to
themselves, has produced many a case of possession. When the mind is
thus predisposed by great anguish of soul or a long-continued inward
struggle, the most trifling incident suffices in determining the
outbreak of the disease. One patient became possessed because his wife
told him to go to the Devil, and another because he had in jest
exorcised a demon in a playmate; now a man curses himself in a moment of
passion, and then a boy drinks hastily a glass of cold water when
overheated, and both fall victims to the disease.
The magic phenomena accompanying possession are by far the most
remarkable within the whole range of modern magic, but a number of the
more striking are frequently identical with those seen in religious
ecstasy. Demoniacs also exhibit the traces of injuries inflicted by
demons, as saints show the stigmas, and their wounds heal as little as
those of stigmatized persons. They share in like manner with religious
enthusiasts paroxysms during which they remain suspended in the air, fly
up to the ceiling or are carried to great distances without touching the
ground. The strength of the possessed is amazing. A monk, known in
ecclesiastical history as Brother Rafael of Rimini, could not be bound
by any ropes or chains; as soon as he was left alone he broke the
strongest fetters, raced up the roof of the church, ran along the
topmost ridge, and was often found sitting on the great bell, to which
no one else had ever been able to gain access. At last the demons led
him to the top of the steeple itself and were about to hurl him down, as
he said; the abbot and his monks and an immense crowd of people
assembled below, and besought him to invoke the aid of their patron
saint so as to save body and soul. It does not appear by what miraculous
influence a change was wrought in the poor man; but he did raise his
voice, which had not been heard to address a saint for many years, and
instantly his mind returned, he found his way down to the church and was
cured.
The most frequent symptom in possession is a strong antipathy against
everything connected with religion; the holy names of God and Christ,
the presence of priests, the singing of hymns and the reciting of
prayers, excite intense pain, and provoke outbursts of fury. Even young
children manifest this aversion, especially when they have previously
been forced to attend church, and to engage in devotional exercises
against their inclination. Hence it is, also, that paroxysms are most
frequent at the regular hours of divine service, or break forth suddenly
at the sight of a procession or the hearing of ringing bells. The
symptom itself arises naturally from the imaginary conflict between a
good and an evil principle, the latter being continually in arms against
anything that threatens to crush its own power. All the other symptoms
of this fearful disease occur, also, in St. Vitus' dance, in catalepsy,
and even in ordinary trances; only they appear more marked, and make a
greater impression upon bystanders, because they are apparently caused
by a foreign agent, the possessing demon, and not by the patient
himself. As the digestive organs are in all such cases sympathetically
excited, and seriously affected, a desire for unnatural food is very
frequent; the coarsest victuals are preferred; unwholesome, and even
injurious substances are eagerly devoured; and medicines as well as
strengthening food are vehemently rejected. The sufferer is apt to
interpret this as a new plague, his demon refusing him his legitimate
sustenance, and compelling him to feed like an animal.
One of the most remarkable historical cases of apparent possession
accompanied by magic phenomena, was that of Mirabeau's grandmother.
Married when quite young to the old marquis, she tried after his death
to protect herself against the temptations of the world, and of her own
heart, by ascetic devotion. In her eighty-third year, she was attacked
by gout which affected her brain, and she became insane, in a manner
which according to the views of her days was called possession. It was
found necessary to shut her up in a bare room with a pallet of straw,
where no one dared enter but her valet, a man seventy years old, with
whom she had fallen in love! For, strange as it may appear, her fearful
affliction restored to her the charms of youth; she, who had been
reduced to a skeleton by old age and unceasing devotion, suddenly
regained the plumpness of her early years, her complexion became fair
and rosy, her eyes bright and even, her hair began to grow out once
more. But, alas! her tongue, also, had changed; once afraid to utter a
word that could be misinterpreted, the unruly member now sent forth
speeches of incredible licentiousness, and overwhelmed the old servant
with terms of endearment and coarse allusions. At the same time the
retired ascetic became a violent blasphemer, and would allow no one to
enter her chamber who had not first denied God, threatening to kill him
with her own hands if he refused. For four long years the unfortunate
lady endured her fearful affliction, till death relieved her of her
sufferings--but the student of history traces to her more than one of
the startling features in the character of her grandson, the Mirabeau of
the Revolution. (Buelau, _Geh. Gesch._, xii.)
Relief is generally possible only when a powerful hold has been obtained
upon the mind of the patient; after that appropriate remedies may be
applied, and the body will be restored to its natural healthy condition.
In a few cases remarkable incidents have produced a cure, such as the
sudden clanking of chains, or a peculiarly fervent and impressive
prayer. Even a night's sound sleep, induced by utter exhaustion, has had
the happiest effect.
It seems as if, the train of thoughts once forcibly interrupted, a
return to reason and an abandonment of fixed ideas become possible. Even
a specially violent paroxysm may be salutary; probably by means of the
severe struggle and extreme excitement which it is apt to produce. Many
patients, under such circumstances, fall prostrate on the ground, losing
their consciousness, and awake after a while as from a dream, without
being able to remember what has happened. In other cases the
hallucination continues to the last moment, and leads the patient to
imagine that the demon leaves him in the shape of a black shadow, a
bird, or an insect. Such recoveries are almost invariably accompanied
by violent efforts to discard foreign matters, which have been lodged in
the system, and largely contributed to produce the disease. Exorcism
has, of course, no direct effect: even when the power to "cast out
devils" (Mark xvi. 17) is given, it is not said by what means the
casting out is to be accomplished, except that it must be done in the
Saviour's name. The formalities, carefully regulated and prescribed by
many decrees of the Church since the third century, do no good except so
far as they re-awaken faith, impart hope, and free the mind from
distressing doubts. Ignatius Loyola never cured possessed persons
otherwise than by prayer. As early as the sixteenth century a case is
recorded clearly illustrating the true nature of exorcism. A demon was,
after many fruitless attempts, at last driven out by a particle of the
cross of our Saviour, but in departing he declared in a loud voice that
he knew full well the nature of the piece of wood; it was cut from a
gallows and not from the true cross, nevertheless he was forced to go
because the exorcist willed it so, and the patient believed in his
power. The same rule applies to cures achieved by relics; not that these
had any effect, but in the long-cherished faith of the possessed, that
they might and could wield such power over evil spirits.
The main point is here also the energy of will in the exorciser, and
that this special gift is by no means confined to men was strikingly
illustrated by a famous lady, the wife of a Marquis de la Croix, who was
a Spanish general and Viceroy of Galicia. In her youth a matchless
beauty with almost perfect classical features, she retained an imposing
carriage and bewitching grace throughout a long life, and even in old
age commanded the admiration of all who came in contact with her, not
only by the superiority of her mind but also by the beauty of her eyes
and the charming expression of her features. After the death of her
husband she had much to endure from neglect in the great world, from
sickness and from poverty, doubly hard to bear because standing in
painful contrast to the splendor of her former life. The effects of a
violent attack of sickness produced at last a partial disturbance of her
mind, which showed itself in visions and the power to drive demons from
the possessed. Her theory was that as the sins of men caused their
diseases, and as the Devil was the cause of all sins, sickness was
invariably produced by demoniac agency; she distinguished, however,
between sufferers who had voluntarily given themselves up to sin, and
thus to the service of the Devil, and those who had unawares fallen into
his hands. Her practice was simple and safe: she employed nothing but
fervent prayer and the imposition of hands, which she had moistened with
holy water or oil. In the course of time she found her way to Paris, and
there met, amid many skeptics, also with countless believers, some of
whom belonged not only to the highest classes of society, but even to
the sect of Free-thinkers, then prominent in the French capital. Such
were Marshal Richelieu, Count Schomberg, an intimate of the famous
circle-meeting at Baron Holbach's house, and even the illustrious
Buffon. When she was engaged in exorcising, her imposing stature, her
imperious eye and commanding voice aided her at least as much as her
perfect faith and striking humility, so that her patients, after a short
demur, willingly looked upon her as a saint who might, if she but chose,
perform miracles. With such a disposition obedience was no longer
difficult, and the remarkable lady healed all manners of diseases, from
modest toothache to rabid madness. Even when she was unsuccessful, as
frequently happened, she won all hearts by her marvelous gentleness and
humble piety. Thus, when a possessed man was brought to her in the
presence of an illustrious company, and all her efforts and prayers were
fruitless, she placed herself bravely between the enraged man and her
friends whom he threatened to attack. He began to foam at the mouth, and
amid fearful convulsions and dread imprecations, broke out into a long
series of terrible accusations against the poor lady, charging her with
all her real and a host of imaginary sins, till she could hardly stand
up any longer. She listened, however, with her arms folded over her
bosom and her eyes raised to heaven, and when the madman at last sank
exhausted to the ground, she fell upon her knees and said to the
bystanders: "Gentlemen, you see here a punishment ordained by God for
the sins of my youth. I deserve this humiliation in your presence, and I
would endure it before all Paris if I could thus make atonement for my
misdeeds." (_Mem. du Baron de Gleichen_, p. 149.)
One of the most fearful features of possession is its tendency to spread
like contagion over whole communities. Many such cases are recorded in
history. The monks of the Convent of Quercy were thus attacked in 1491,
and suffered, from the oldest to the youngest, during four months,
incredible afflictions. They ran like dogs through the fields, climbed
upon trees, imitated the howling of wild beasts, spoke in unknown
tongues, and foretold, at the same time, future events. (Goerres, iv.
II.) In the year 1566 a similar malady broke out in the Orphan House at
Amsterdam, and seventy poor children became possessed. They also climbed
up the walls and on the roofs, swallowed hairs, needles, and pieces of
glass and iron, and distorted their features and their limbs in a
fearful manner. What, however, made the greatest impression upon the
good citizens of the town were the magic phenomena connected with their
disease. They spoke to the overseer and even to the chief magistrate of
their secret affairs, made known plots hatched against the Protestants
and foretold events which happened soon after. In a convent of nuns at
Yssel in the Netherlands, a single nun, Maria de Sains, caused one of
the most fearful calamities among her sisters that has ever been known.
Naturally a woman of superior mind, but carried away by evil passions,
she finally succumbed to the struggle between the latter and the strict
rules of her retreat; she began to accuse herself of horrible crimes
and excesses. The whole country was amazed, for she had passed for a
great saint, and now, of a sudden, she confessed that she had murdered
numberless little children, disinterred corpses, and carried poor girls
to the meeting of witches. All these misdeeds, which existed only in her
disordered imagination, she ascribed to the agency of a demon, by whom
she was possessed, and before many weeks had passed, every nun and lay
sister in the ill-fated convent was possessed in precisely the same
manner!