On Hallucinations
Art. II.- - * We did not open this voluminous treatise of Monsieur de Boismont with- out being fully prepared for much learning and research ; not, however, without a certain degree of wonder, that even an able physician could find in these illusions of the sense or senses, which have usually been deemed concomitants or even mere symptoms of deeper maladies, matter enough for more than 700 pages ! and not without a fear, also, that we must inevitably be crossed by cases and records which to us, or by us have been already ten times repeated.
Every one must confess the deep importance of the subject. There is none more so, as it intimately concerns the mysteries of the immortal Spirit, and the health of the body, as well as the earthly happiness of mankind.
Now, however varied, and however evident and conclusive the exciting causes of hallucinations may be, the great question of the proximate cause of illusion, and of the various forms of insanity, is still sub judice. And we fear that, after the most protracted discussion between the spiritualist and the materialist, or the pathological psycho- logist and the metaphysician, the subject would still be left in statu quo. The perusal of the second page forewarns us of the psychological creed of the author; and the student must be prepared to study the ? book with some caution, regarding the portion of abstract metaphysics, in reference to the manifestations of mind. The pure spiritualist Cannot for a moment assert his creed without at once admitting the existence of disorder in that immortal essence of our being, which is the pure emanation of the Deity pervading all things. The abstract materialist, on the contrary, is engaged in an incessant search for evidence of some morbid condition or change in that organ, which is | * ” Dcs Hallucinations; ou, Histoirc Raisonnec des Apparitions, des_ “S lsions, cs Sontres, dc l’Extase du Magnetisme ct du Somnambulisme.” Par A. Brierre .e ois- moiit, Doctcur en Medccine de la Faculte de Paris, &c. Seconde Edition. 1 oris, o the habitat of the immortal spirit during its earthly existence. Although these are the extremes of psychological theories, they are not, however, equidistant from the truth.
We know that the Spirit of the Creator may, and does, pervade every atom of his beautiful and wondrous creation : but to make us sensible even of this sublime truth, to qualify us for perceiving, combining, and comparing our perceptions and our consequent thoughts, we possess a brain through which these processes must inevitably pass; we may lience assume that the phreno-psychologist.is nearest the truth. His error often lies in the reluctance to acknowledge that of which he has not evidence, as if scores of transient morbid actions, and even of minute changes, were not constantly going on in the body, of which, probably, the most accomplished histologist will never be able to demonstrate the proof.
The circulation of the blood quickens by a thought or emotion, may be restored as soon as the thought has passed from the mind, and so may also thrills, rigors, flushes, and other evidences of emotion. We do not here pause to discuss the relative importance of nerve and blood in the causation of these phenomena; we have already fully commented on this point. No one will doubt that a certain degree of transient hallucination may take place in a state of bodily health and mental sanity?so transient as not to merit the term disorder?yet we cannot deny that every symptom which is abnormal or unnatural, may, nay must, often be the precursors of disorder. The very derivation of the terms hallucination and illusion imply this?that the one signifies a blundering or mistaking, the other the mockery of a false appearance. We take, therefore, with some reservation this early passage in Dr de Boismont’s preface, which we suppose to be the creed or theme of his dissertation.
“The first design of this book is clearly established. We wish to protest against the hypothesis that hallucination is a constant symptom of derangement?in certain cases it may be a phenomenon purely pliysio- logical.”
Now, we have ever taken the science of physiology as the laws of the animal economy. To see without an eye?to neutralize, as it were, the functions of the senses, must be to abrogate such laws, and this, being therefore abnormal, it can scarcely be considered as within the pale of physiology.
The subject of the book being therefore confessedly false perceptions, our own position will be at once evident.
The proposition, however, that hallucination is not necessarily a symptom of real insanity is quite another question, requiring, indeed, a very patient and serious discussion. We therefore leap over the preface and introduction, that we may devote all our comments to a running analysis of this learned work.
If there be any point in our science more vague and more conducive to misapprehension, it is definition: of this the discrepancies which Mons. de Boismont displays in his quotations from Aristotle to our own time are a proof. Yet, although these definitions, even from Arnold to Esquirol, so differ among themselves, Ave can by analysis trace, even in this difference, the same trains of thought which led to the conclusion?- the mere terms often constituting the difference. To attempt fully to analyze and collate these discrepancies would argue, we fear, a sort of folie raisonnante in our own persons, especially if we endeavour to bring them together?to show why some deem hallucination merely spiritual, others as ” lesions des organes des sens to try to convince of their errors, others who jumble and associate with hallucination optical and atmospheric spectra which have no reference whatever to the state of the brain or mind, being mechanical ov substantial; to decide, in short, which is right: whether Esquirol, who affirms hallucination to be essen- tially idiopathic, or Calmeil, who believes it to be constantly sympto- matic. Why, we should, after all this, assuredly become apt illustrations of the subject we are discussing.
We believe that the clearest definition of phantasma would be, “illu- sive conception the creation of phantoms from former impressions, and illusive perception the conversion of natural objects into phantoms.” We quote from Mr. Dendy’s “Philosophy of Mystery”rather to explain what Mons. Boismont has rather vaguely translated into “souvenir pass6, and souvenir present.” The whole tenour of that work, regarding our present subject, we may add, closely coincides with our author s later definition?” L’hallucination, la perception des signes sensibles de l’idee : et l’illusion l’appreciation fausse de sensations r6elles.” Believing, then, that the spring of ideas is the memory of impression, we of course do not coincide with the doctrine of their innate essence. With this reservation, we recommend our author’s table of classification (page 28) to the careful perusal of the psychologist. It is, of course, the basis of his treatise. Qp
The anxiety of M. de Boismont is to establish the physiological nature of certain hallucinations: the paramount proposition in the book, therefore, is the compatibility of illusions of the mind and senses with sanity, or judgment (” la raison”). We see at once what the author means by the proposition; and he may, of course, be right; but the notion is one of much greater delicacy and difficulty than primd facie may be evident; and we dare to say it will be widely objected to, if not controverted. No one will hesitate, in limine, to concede, that hallucination may suddenly or gradually display itself in minds of the greatest energy and intellectual superiority; indeed, it is these choice spirits, especially when extreme energy or excess of work has overstrained the mental organ, that phantasy is more likely to invade, than beings of a lower intellectual capacity. It is clear, then, that hallucination is not essentially a symptom of confirmed or general insanity, as the term is conventionally understood.
But to argue that the mind, or rather its organ the brain, is at that moment in a perfectly sane or physiological condition?i. e., during the paroxysm, is quite another thing. Hallucination must often at that time come under the definition of monomania: to strain somewhat John Hunter’s physical axiom, psychologically, a mind cannot be sane and insane at the same moment, however we may be disposed to coincide with our late worthy friend Dr Wigan, on his ingenious principle of duality. This illusion may be transient, it may be momentary, depending, indeed, on the state of the current of the blood; but we fear we are anti- cipating, as we pen these lines, before we have commenced our author’s first chapter, in which, ere he cites the facts and anecdotes recorded by psychological writers, he first alludes to the distinctions and analogies of reason and insanity, between which, as indeed we have often before stated, there may be but a hair line of demarcation. In reading further we feel more disposed to press the dissociation of spectral illusion from ocular spectra, illusions of the mind from those of the eye; this established, it might indeed render the physiological and pathological division almost needless. All must believe, with Newton, that we can create phantoms on optical principles; or, that there are illusions of the senses, mysteries in art and nature, which we cannot fully explain; these, of course, are not pathological hallu- cinations, but come rather under the head of natural magic than hallucination. ,
The state of healthy reverie,?i. e., the concentrated working of intellectual thought, is, of course, physiological; but the author has been confused with the illusions of deuteroscopia, or second-sight. The records of Martin the historian of the Hebrides, of Walter ^ott, and others, prove at once the morbid state of mind of the seers; and this is the description of Collins, in his Ode on Highland Superstition.
” They whose sight such dreary dreams engross, With their own vision oft astonished droop, “When, o’er the wat’ry strath or quaggy moss, They sec the gliding ghosts embodied troop. They know what spirit brews the stormful day, And heartless oft, like moody madness, stare To sec the phantom train their secret work prepare.” Closely allied to deuteroscopia is the fine frenzy of the poet, on “which so often comes in the end despondency and madness. Indeed our author is on or close to the pathological line when he pens this sentence. Of a truth, its labyrinth is perilous to those who possess not an eye sure enough, or a foot sufficiently firm, to keep them in the right track !
Some poets and philosophers of course prove this abstraction a leading star. “For St. Jean Chrysostom, for Descartes, Malebranche, Dante, Milton, Spinosa (Shakspere, who soared immeasurably beyond all in the tether of imagination, is omitted !) reverie is force, power, health, and often indeed longevity. To them solitude is a bless- ing.” On this principle we quote the following remarks of Meister from our author’s book. If he adopt the term reverie, we agree; if that of illusion, we differ.
” I am persuaded that devotees, lovers, prophets, illumines, Sweden- borgians, are indebted to illusions for all the wonders of their pre- sentiments, their visions, their prophecies, their intercourse with celestial beings, their excursions to heaven and hell,?in a word, all the extravagancies, all the superstition of their infectious reveries. But I will also fearlessly affirm that, under just such a state men of genius have conceived the most original beauties of their composi- tions, that the geometrician has solved the problem which has long puzzled his brain, the metaphysician hit on the most ingenious of his theories, the poet on the line that had long escaped him, the musician the most brilliant and expressive of his movements, the statesman developed the decisive remedy which all his previous calculations, aided by the light of experience, had failed to do, the general attained that comprehensive coup cTceil that decided the fate of battle and ensured him the victory.”
The influence of climate and locality cannot be doubted. M. de Boismont writes?”Those who have lived in eastern climates, or who have written on their beauty, all assert their powerful influence in exalting the imagination of their inhabitants.” The author proceeds to detail the contrasted habits and diet of the orientals and the western people, concluding with this sentence?” It is to this power of their imagination that we owe the wondrous oriental tales; it is that which peoples the interior of the globe with genii, magicians, and enchantecf palaces,” &c. &c. We might go on to argue on the proximate cause or cerebral condition which divide the physiology from the pathology of this question; but that would smack of repetition, and we content ourselves by merely offering the brief psychical explanation, that in the one case the judgment waits upon the train of thought; in the other, imagination steals the thought, and converts the workings of reason into a mere flight of fancy.
The truth is, the mind may be generally rational during hallucination. M. de. Boismont alludes to artists, wlio at one sitting have so deeply impressed the brain with form and expression, that they could at will call up the eidolon of the sitter. And, among other analogous stories, he has recorded the following anecdote: ” Hyacinthe Langlois, a distinguished artist of Rouen, an intimate friend of Talma, told us that the great actor confessed to him, that when he was on the stage, he possessed the voluntary power to unrobe (disparaitre les vetements de) his elegant and numerous auditory, and to substitute for these living beings a set of skeletons.” Something of this kind often affected Mrs. Siddons after playing Lady Macbeth, The one was voluntary, however, the other involuntary; yet we may fain ask whether the proximate cause, the condition of the brain, was not probably the same in both. The bloody head of Count D’Olivarez, the great cat case related by Wigan, the story of the illustrious patient of the Demonology, the cases of Madame A. by Brewster, of Nicolai; of Berlin, and others, of which we are almost tired of thinking, must come under tlie same category. The psychical difference may be, that some retain, while others want tlie comparing faculty. That the influence of position and the circulation of the blood must often form a most prominent point in discussion, is at once displayed by the case which M. de Boismont quotes from Dendy’s ” Philosophy of Mystery” (which contains, however, still more prominent cases) :?” A gentleman of high attainments was constantly haunted by a spectre Avhen he retired to rest, which seemed to attempt his life. When he raised himself in bed, the phantom vanished, but reappeared as he resumed the recumbent postilion.
In the second subsection, page 59, many very interesting cases are recorded ; but are these cases, uninfluenced by judgment, (non rectifies par l’entendement) to be considered as ” compatibles avec la raison V There must be derangement of intellect here. The well known case of the late Lord Londonderry is recorded. It is clear all this was patho- logical. His lordship (whom, with a touch of amor patriae, M. de Boismont calls ” le plus acharne persecuteur de Napoleon dans son malheur”) was labouring under ” un tour melancliolique aux pensees” when the first illusion of the radiant boy came before him in the very chamber of the old castle in Erin; and the second apparition, in the House of Commons, there is no difficulty in explaining by anxiety and cerebral congestion. The stories of the Baron Geramb at Cadiz, and the haunted house of Athenodorus at Athens, which are quoted from the ” Philosophy of Mystery,” as well as all other specimens of the Poltergeist especially, cannot be termed illusions any more than the tricks at Woodstock, the Cock-lane and Stockwell ghosts, and a host of others; they are mere ghost stories. The two interesting anecdotes quoted from tlic able works of Mr. Dendy and Dr Wigan, in which a vision appeared synchronously to more than one, call forth the following remarks : Does not the concluding word divination at once beg the question, and draw the learned author away from the truth of this deep and difficult question?
” These illusions may be to a certain point explained by the sympa- thetic ties (liens) between the members of attached families, and by the psychological resemblance that has often struck us, especially between husband and wife, so that the thoughts seem to pass from one to the other without any actual communication, but by a species of divina- tion.
Now is this aught else than coincidence 1 The hallucination of a sense, when its organ has totally lost its faculty, is, prima facie, almost a mystery; the electro-biologist pretends to confer it at his will. One of the most curious cases is quoted from Calmeil, of the deaf ecclesiastic. They are, however, merely instances of excited memory, analogous indeed to the ghost of the amputated limb. After long dwelling on one point, how often is the eidolon raised up, subjectively or objectively. Hallucinations of the smell and taste are generally combined with illusions of the other senses. In his resume, p. 117, Mons. Boismont hazards this opinion,? “general hallucination may be a powerful argument in favour of BerMeisme, if a pathological state could prove a physiological principle.” Much virtue in this if The definition, by Esquirol, of hallucination and illusion, described in page 119, is but, in other words, illusive perception and illusive concep- tion, to which we have before often alluded.
We almost regret that M. de Boismont should have introduced the Brock en, and Morgana, as they merely tend to swell the volume, and, indeed, are destroying its perspicuity and concentration. They belong to Brewster, and not to Boismont. On the subject of epidemic or con- tagious hallucination, our author offers very just remarks. ” Indepen- dently of the reasons we have given, especially those of ignorance, fear, superstition, and disease, Ave must not forget the influence of example- One exclamation (cri) will affright a multitude of people. He who be- lieved himself the subject of supernatural visitation,might easily convince those who could not see more clearly than himself.” The Spectre Hound, or Mantlie Dog, of Man, is one of the most interesting anecdotes illustra- tive of this point.
It is of great importance that we should not disregard slight illusions ; as Mons. de Boismont observes, ” the visionary may at first be con- scious that they arq false perceptions ; but, the malady increasing, he at length believes them real.” The case of the Blancliisseuse, p. 130, is an apt 108 0N hallucinations.
illustration. Protracted illusion, indeed, often induces melancholy and its train of evils. Hallucination is often productive of very important consequences, proving what great events may spring from little things. The vision of a lover, in a state of abstract reverie, may leave so deep an impression, that it may irresistibly impel him at once to the confirma- tion of his passion : and Mons. de Boismont relates, p. 133, a very interesting case of a gentleman who was constantly attacking his friends and his wife, from a powerful conviction that they Avere all demons by which he was beset. All the cases of this kind which we have known or read of, are explained on the principles of concentrated impression, or of impetus, or inducement.
Begarding the combination of hallucination with monomania, the calculation of Esquirol was about 80 per cent.; that of Mon. Baudry, in the Bicetre, about 70 per cent.; that of Aubanel about 50. Mons.. de Boismont thinks Esquirol exceeds the number, but Ave believe so great a majority of these monomaniacal illusions to be objective, Avliether Ave term it eidolon or idea, that Ave are convinced Esquirol is right. The tables in p. 141, on this point are curious : the most frequent illu- sions are lypomania, nostalgia, demonomania, and erotomania. On the principle to Avhich Ave have alluded, Ave believe, Avith the author, that hallucination, Avhen pathological, affects in preference the monomaniacal form; it may be, in fact, slight monomania, but Ave do not think the most common illusion to be that of the organ of hearing ?rather that of sight.
That melancholy (stupidite) is a frequent source of hallucination, must be expected; and Mons. de Boismont affirms, that ” in almost every example the conduct and eccentricities of the patients Avere evidently springing from hallucination.”
In the hallucination associated Avith general insanity, vision is certainly the sense most subject to the mockery. The author says that in this form the combination of hallucination and illusion is most common, and they are constantly changing from one to the other. They do not seem, however, always to terminate Avith the mania. They are some- times the very source itself of the derangement, at others merely one symptom of it.
One of the most interesting cases in the book is that of Mdlle. O. (page 175), a lady of great judgment, Avho often, in the midst of the most incoherent chattering, Avrote letters full of sensible remarks, and Avithout a Avord by Avhich her illusion might be discovered. In a state of imbecility (demence), hallucination is also frequent. In complete idiocy, of course, there can be none. In the imbecile paralytic, illusions of the sight and sound are often combined, and these are often more protracted as the disease is more chronic and permanent. Among the cases of delirium tremens, in Cliarenton, the proportion of men being four times that of women, hallucination was very frequent, and seemed to indicate or discover the former habits of the patient. Mons. de Boismont has not often found hallucination in cases of catalepsy, epilepsy, &c.; insensibility is so constantly present, that the mind is a tabula rasa. Previous to the attack, however, they are fre- quent, and the illusion assumes the form usually of clieromania, like Benvenuto Cellini, which is so well known. ” I have among my patients,” writes Mons. de Boismont, ” a gentleman, avIio just previous to losing his consciousness had the most beautiful landscapes passing before his eyes.” When demonomania is the form it so marks the expression and con- tortions of epileptics, during the fit, that these seem, according to Esqui- rol, to be not only the result of, but characterised by, the horrid phantasy. In the solitary form of chorea, hallucination is seldom seen : with hypochondriasis, and hysteria, it is more frequent, probably arising from the extreme depression and consequent blood congestion. ” Madame C. at the approach of her hysterical attacks became timid and frightened; sometimes to so great a degree as to cry out for help. This extreme terror is caused by the most horrible figures, which make grimaces and threaten to beat her.”
This hysterical hallucination will often be epidemic or imitative? witness the convulsionaries?the story of the nuns, ?fec., &c. On this point we would refer to the anecdotes related by the author, and the chapter on Imitative Monomania in the ” Philosophy of Mystery.”
Mons. de Boismont very justly observes, “nightmare presents many analogies with insanity; it is not therefore surprising that it is com- plicated with hallucination.” We coincide with this, having long con- sidered the dream itself to be a transient derangement. The spectres of incubus are probably always distressing?the “black dog” of childhood is almost proverbial. The phantasy usually disappears on awaking from the incubus, “but sometimes it continues during waking moments, and is believed to be reality.” This state must not, however, be asso- ciated, as the author is inclined to do, with reverie. It is clear that it is this concentration of reverie and not incubus or dream to which Voltaire thus alludes, p. 232.
” Voltaire thought one day that he had dreamed the first canto of the Henriade. ‘ I said in my dream what I could scarcely have said when awake. I had then deep reflections in spite of myself, and without the least effort. Will or liberty I had not, and yet I associated my ideas with sagacity and genius.’”
So also we may consider Sir Walter Scott’s allusion when he was puzzled on a subject, ” Ah, we shall have it in the morning and the cases of Condorcet, Mackenzie, &c., and that also of Sir Isaac Newton, who was ever in a state of reverie, or, as lie said, always ” thinking unto it.” All this is reflective energy, and must wait on the concentrated judgment.
But Ave come now to those phenomena which, although their mani- festations may be physiological, are ever marked by pathological effects. It is true that, during ecstasy, magnetism, somnambulism, extraordinary mental phenomena, and laborious works are witnessed ; yet they are constantly attended by morbid signs?and even as Mon- sieur de Boismont allows?” a state painful to the body.” In addition to the stories of Swedenborg, Boehm, Santa Teresa, <fcc. &c. that of Maria de Mcerl, p. 279, is very long and very inte- resting. But it is very true, as M. de Boismont affirms, that “the misfortune of magnetism and somnambulism is, that they have been displayed by charlatans and impostors, who have, as it were, ousted the scientific psychologist. Their exaggerations have been fatally detrimental to an analysis of the phenomena.” And we may venture to add, that if the sceptics, as well as the proselytes, would back out of the field, the psychologist would then be induced to render the true explanation as clear as noon day.
We believe our author rejects, with us, the notion of prophecy (prevision) being aught but casualty; and we think Ferriar, Hibbert, and others agree with Abercrombie, that these hallucinations are often but the memory of a forgotten dream.
Somnambulism is thus well defined :?” The mind, as it is in a dream, is concentrated on its own peculiar impressions, which it takes for so many real external sensations; but the organs, being more obedient to the power of the will, the individual acts and speaks under the influence of false conceptions.” We would refer, on this point, to the argument, especially that advanced by Abercrombie.
Lorry has related very interesting cases, analogous to the hallucina- tion of Tasso. The account of Madam Plautan’s operation, during a state of magnetic ecstasy, is fully recorded, p. 316, with the examina- tion of her body. Many of these stories are very curious, yet easily explicable, but others, for example the 108tli case, are so shallow as to be worthless; yet Ave read some long arguments of our author in illustration of them. The passage nearest to our own views is this : ” The phenomena of clairvoyance, prevision, and second sight, depend on a sudden illumination of the cerebral organ, which lights up sensa- tions hitherto in obscurity.” This is figurative, but the meaning is correct. The 13th chapter is replete with proofs of the influence of the blood in the causation of hallucination. The case quoted from W. Hibbert, p. 329, is a good illustration, and a host of others arc now passing through our mind. In fevers, often, the first symptom is illusion. With, all these facts, we must still confess, with our author, that ” it is probable that the production of hallucination is here owing- to a morbid action of the nervous system and the circulation in the brain, but the mode of action is beyond our recognition.”
In discussing the etiology of hallucination, M. de Boismont refers to the two elements of which an idea is composed. We hope we are- correct in our interpretation, but psychological terms are unhappily so often convertible, that we almost fear to comment on them. We. have believed that the definition of an idea Avas memory of impression on a sense, a spectre being an intense idea. This is, probably, the ” signe sensible” of our author?the ” partie somatique,”?his second element being the ” partie psychique,” or the ” conception pure which may mean mere thought or clear conception; but if this imply the notion of innate idea, of course we differ.
M. de Boismont here again objects to the notion of Ferriar and Hibbert, as to hallucination being essentially a symptom of insanity. That some people have visions there is no doubt; but we believe this phantasy, when in excess, ends in disorder?” maladie mentale per- haps, therefore, it is often a question of degree rather than of kind. M. de Boismont naturally divides the causes of hallucination into moral and physical.
No doubt example?suasion?imitation?may seem to constitutc- tlie epidemic rationale ; but this prevalence may sometimes depend on physical causes, such as the influence of atmosphere, &c. Now, we have yet to be convinced of our error in supposing that the state of the bi*ain, the proximate cause, is not in all case3 changed. In preven- tion, moral influence is often most powerful?education?early impres- sion, as well as moral suasion,?nay, even the shafts of ridicule, may often check a spreading monomania.
Solitary confinement, especially in gloom or darkness, must be followed by phantasy, as the mind is completely thrown back and concentrated on itself. Anecdotes illustrative of this might be cited; but they, as well as the anecdotes of Silvio Pellico?the stoi-ies in Scott, Byron, &c. &c. are already well known. We have, p. 369, very interesting allusion to the influence of surrounding events in impart- ing character to illusions. In the two hospitals of which our author was director, we might observe two grand classes?the old inmatesr “ancienne societe,” were admitted before 1793, during the era of agitation and terror; their phantasy was demonomania. The second set did not arrive until the new order of things was established; they were the subjects of clieromania.
Then come we to the influence of fanaticism, or false religion.. ” The religion of the ancients, which peopled the whole universe with ?divinities or genii (demons, &c.), led naturally to belief in the power and materiality of spirits. The influence which the doctrines of Plato (probably borrowed from Zoroaster), imparted to the subject, was immense.”
“This direct intervention of the evil spirit in human affairs, at once recognised and generally admitted, was the inevitable cause of all sorts of follies and extravagancies.”
We might allude, in illustration, to the errors of Sir Matthew Hale, Sir Thomas Brown, the fate of Spinello, &c. &c., but we have neither space nor time.
The diabolical epidemic of 1459 in Arras, and the religious posses- sion of Loudon, were the immediate effect of imitation. The influence of magic, however, seems to have begun to be of greater effect about 1484, after the issuing of the bull of Innocent “VIII. At the end of the sixteenth century came out two arch visionaries, Dee and Napier. Of all these, our author gives us most circumstantial relations.
The conversion of humans into brutes was believed by Ulysses, Herodotus, and even St. Augustin. From Wierius we have learned the demonomania of Besancon in 1521, in which men professed to be ” loups-garoux,” and pleaded guilty to the killing and eating of young- girls. The stories of Miss Lee, and Sir George Villiers are cited, to which Ave allude, that we may quote a portion of our authoi*’s conclu- sion in reference to these facts. It is certain that a great number of apparitions take place without reference to any important or remark- able event, others ” per liasard se sont realitees.”
The cases of Colonel Gardner (Hibbert), and of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, are quoted as contrasts of devout or celestial and demoniac influence. Gardner was concerted, and Lord Herbert, believing he had divine authority, published his infidel book.
The cases of Charles IX., and of Jervas Matcham, and of Beaufort, quoted from Dr Winslow’s work, are re-excited impressions, or me- mory of crime; and the well known story of Tasso’s familiar spirit, concludes the moral causes of hallucination.
The physical causes of hallucination are divided into three sections. In the first, we have hereditary diathesis?sex and climate ; but climate should not be associated with temperament.
Hereditary tendency may probably depend on nervous or vascular influence.
Regarding the sexes, of 13G patients in the author’s establishment, 63 were males, 13 females. Hallucination may appear as early as the seventh year. The author relates an interesting story of a girl of twelve years of age, wlio, in her ecstasy, had angelic visions. ” See ye not,” she would say, ” those angels in heaven 1 they are crowned with flowers; they are coming this way to seek me.” Daring the paroxysm her pulse was scarcely perceptible ; her skin was icy cold, and her countenance ashy pale.
It is recorded, that among the Cevennes and the predicants of Sweden, children of even five years of age were discovered. Among temperaments, the bilious or melancholic will, from its accu- mulations of dark blood, be most predisposed to hallucination; and, we know, intense thought will favour this; as was probably the case with Socrates and Plato, and the host of poets and other abstract and deep thinkers.
We think too much stress is laid on the influence of the arctic climate. True, the Laplander, the Ostiac, the Samoiede, are all sub- jects of illusion, but they are grossly ignorant; they cannot reason on the grandeur and sublimity of the natural phenomena around them? reason fails, and wild imagination takes its place?but the same is observed among the dwellers in the Hartz, in Switzerland, and in the gorges of the Himalaya and the Ghauts; warm as well as cold mountaineers are equally visionary and superstitious. Thus the Chal- dean became a shrewd astrologer.
So hallucinations take on a stamp from surrounding circumstances. Those ” of the city are constantly distinguished from those of the country by very perceptible shades.” Of this, the Bar-gheist, the phoca, the Bodacli-glas, the fetch, the wraith, may form apt illustrations, as well as the mirage, the calenture, the Schattenmau, &c., &c. In the Gazette de Mons, we learn that Dr Boismont, the companion of our aeronaut, Green, is cited as having recorded very curious atmo- spheric phenomena. The second division is chiefly confined to the influence of alcoliolismus and narcotism. It is to be regretted that we have so much opium eating in England, but we should not be classed with the Eastern voluptuaries, of whom Moqueville has given so debasing an account. “Their infatuation is such that the certainty of death, with its direful forerunners, cannot deter them from swallowing the funereal poison.” A deplorable case is recorded of one who, for four consecutive hours, took one ounce of solid opium per hour ! In illustrating the effects of hachish, the author alludes to the cases of three young merchants of Marseilles ; these, however, are more physical than psychical, and might have been omitted. The mental effects of stramonium are somewhat similar to those of hachish. The third sec- tion is composed of forms of illusion complicated with the vesaniae. The fourth of those associated with the tremores, as catalepsy, nightmare, <fcc., &c.; and the fifth, of combinations of illusion with cerebral conges- tive, and inflammatory maladies. We have merely time to commend but not to review them.
We come now to a question of much depth and importance?”hallu- cination studied in reference to psychology, history, and religion.” We have so often alluded to the hair line of demarcation between sanity and derangement, that our own words almost ring in our ears. These are the words of the author:?”Who can say, chere ends reason, here begins insanity V What naturalist can define the line of demarcation between the animal and vegetable kingdoms?thus is it with our present subject.” Now, we believe, that monomaniacs and lunatics may often produce great works on the principle of concentration; but it does not follow, as Ave are told, that Alexander and Columbus were mad in the true sense of the word. M. de Boismont offers some sensible remarks on the nature of cerebral impression, as well as on the power of second sight, and of ” calling,” like Owain Glyndwr, ” spirits from the vasty deep,” and those phantoms which come without calling, the ghosts of memory and those of recollection.
The author’s remarks on the combination of mind and matter, as well as those 011 the antipodean causes of illusion, will be read with much interest. Although somewhat tautological, we do not think they have been elsewhere better treated.
In the following passage the author more openly expresses his belief in the innciteness of idea. Ideas ” may be referred to two sources, those which owe their materials to the senses (idees sensuelles secondares), and those which have their origin in the soul?from God, (idees spiri- tuelles primitives).” Therefore he takes with great reservation, the “nihil in intellectu quod non prius in sensu.” We may merely ob- serve, that what the author terms general ideas, as of quality, existence, &c., are, properly speaking, notions. The association of ideas, as a cause of illusion, is a subject of much interest, especially in a remedial point of view. To prove this we are favoured with the so often quoted “Eagles-nest anecdote!’’ of Dr Rush.
It is clear that Mons. de Boismont considers the intellect, or the mind, as an abstraction ; and, we fear, that with this metaphysical ten- dency, his attention might be too much diverted from the brain, which, if he allows it to be the organ or habitat of mind, he considers at most but unity, and not as a duality or plurality of organs. We write this after reading the following passage, which we venture to quote in the original language.
” II serait bien plus etonnant qu’avec des sensations differentes de -celles qu’eprouvent les homines en sante qui l’environnent, le malade continuat de raisonner comme eux; c’est alors veritablement que la raison serait pervertie et bizarre.?Parceque le cerveau peut etre la cause du delire, gardons nous de conclure que c’est le cerveau qui pense et qui raisonne ; ce serait dire que l’ceil disserte sur les couleurs parce qu’il nous les fait distinguer avec plus ou moins de verite.” The author’s mode of reproduction of ideas, that is, the theory of memory, coincides with our own notions.
These, with the remarks of the author of Gall and of Crichton, on the seemingly special accumulation of ideas previous to dissolution, are referred to. It is a subject of deep and almost awful interest, involving the transit of the immortal spirit. It has been elsewhere fully discussed.
When our learned author objects to M. Baillarger for affirming that hallucination is favoured by involuntary memory and imagination, and he himself tells us that the exercise of attention is the cause of illusion in many cases, they are both right, but each looks on one side of the shield only. What matters it, for the sake of an argument, by what means, or exciting causes, cerebral hyperemia is induced, when such is the effect? Whether memory, excited in a congested brain without the will, or by voluntary and strained attention, as in the adduced case of Sir Joshua Reynolds 1 The difference is this, the involuntary phantasy will usually be velut segri somnia vance, the voluntary more rational, and perhaps even intellectual.
Of the phantasy springing from devotion to an absorbing subject, we translate the following interesting case, which is new to us:?” A young man was deeply engaged in the projection of a canal scheme. One day, after his attention had been devoted to the subject, he marked on a geographical chart the line of a canal which was to be made in that district. Suddenly he saw a yellow-covered brochure Avith this title, ‘ Project for Opening a Canal to the Plains of Soloque.’ After awhile, the fantastic brochure disappeared.”
Although we differ, as well as M. de Boismont, from Reid, &c., Ave do not coincide with him in this rather transcendental sentence:? ” The first origin of hallucination ought therefore to be sought for in the oblivion of the two grand laws which should govern mankind, the knowledge of God and of himself.”
The two natural orders into which M. de Boismont divides hallucina- tions are simply, the illusions of a multitude (epidemic), and those of the individual. Of the first, he is satisfied with the history of the one grand project of Peter the Hermit. And these are two of the visions of the army:?” At the battle of Doryglee they saw St. George and St. Demetrius fighting in their ranks.” ” In the centre of the melee at Antioch, a celestial phalanx, fully armed, came down from heaven, led by the martyrs St. George, St. Demetrius, and St. Theodore.” Of the second order, we have many interesting histories ; among them the visions of Loyola, and Joan of Arc, and Luther,?all of whom would probably be termed monomaniacal by their enemies; the un- christian creed of the Jesuits?the unsexing of the Maid of Orleans and the conference of Luther with the devil, prove their phantasy, at least on certain points. Had Joan of Arc been beaten in her first encounter, she would have been a madwoman or a traitress; but we admire, with Ideler, the pretty novellette which M. de Boismont has made of her. And had George Fox, the founder of Quakerism, done nothing else than buried himself in an old tree as he did, and seen celestial visions, would not he have been set down a lunatic h With all his leaning toward the physiology of hallucination, our author yet comes very close to our opinion in this brief sentence:? ” We have already said, elsewhere, that simple (pure) hallucination without complication with one form of insanity, seems to us as rare as cases of true monomania.” We are treated, page 521, with a sly lunge at Arnold and Hibbert, who, with all rational psychologists, believe that the days of special inspiration are past:?” II ne faut pas oublier qu’Arnold et Hibbert sont Protestants.”
In the sixteenth chapter we are met by a very subtle question: ” Is hallucination psychical, or psycho-sensorial; in other words, is it purely intellectual, or needs it the intervention of a sense ?” And the opinions of Baillarger, Burdacli, Bayle, Bostock, Midler, are all well analyzed on this point. That not only sense, but sensation, may be revived by memory, the ghost of the amputated limb prominently proves the explanation is psycho-sensorial. But where is the evidence or proof of a purely psychical illusion, which may not be traced to something once heard, seen, or read of 1 Of course we think the case of Dr Bostock himself, who affirmed that the ” images followed the direction of his eyes,” tends to prove too much and weaken the argument. His case was purely optical and not psychical. We see clearly a fallacy in the reports of Nicolai, Bostock, and Cardan, but must not pause to refute them.
The very curious cases of ” Hallucination Dedoublees ” have been so ingeniously explained by Wigan, that we must refer the reader to his work on duality of mind, if he wishes to dip deeper into psychical mystery.
One of the most interesting subjects to the psychologists is that species of hallucination which impels to action : this is the illusion so dangerous to society. It is true, that it sometimes excites to good actions, but we fear tlie balance is woefully in favour of the malignant spirit. When in the silence of night we hear the cry of a lunatic, we may rest assured, without fear of contradiction, that his agitation is caused by hallucination.
The calculation which M. de Boismont has made on the comparative frequency of night and day illusions, is as follows:? Of 144 cases of hallucination,
During the night 62 During the day 50 During night and day 32” M. Baillarger has presented to the Academie Royale de Medicine a more elaborate report, to which Ave refer with confidence.?(p. 569.) We have often been struck with the fact to which the following sentence refers:?”The smell, like the other senses, is one cause of illusion in the insane : a rose exhales a sulpliitic odour; many discern a taint in their food, arising from faults in their digestion, or from a parched condition of the mucous membrane of the mouth; and they hence reject their diet, under the apprehension that it contains poison.”
We were surprised to perceive that the hallucinations of children are adduced as arguments against the notion of cerebral lesion. But the development within the infantile cranium, renders it always prone to great changes in the circulation ? and it will be remembered that it is during the recumbent position, when the head is low, that the illusions of children almost invariably supervene, and not while they are standing or sitting.
Periodicity, or remission of symptoms, it may be remarked, does not disprove organic lesion. We have repeatedly seen this occur in cerebral tubercle and effusion.
The duration of a paroxysm, especially when dependent on hyperemia, may be very brief?a few hours only?vanishing when the circulation is restored.
M. de Boismont has seen hallucination last twenty years in the insane.
Dr Marc has noticed that the more unusual and eccentric the actions of the insane, the more we may presume that the cause of them is illusion ; and we may be sure when the talk of the lunatic is of angels and demons, that he is then in a state of phantasy. In page 595, we have some very correct remarks on diagnosis, well worth perusal. On the subject of treatment, Leuret seems to have been the first systematic writer. We quite agreewith our author in this sentence,
*’ Etiology, symptomatology, and clinical observations, show the im- portance of physical and moral remedy?alone or combined?in the (treatment of hallucination.”
The revulsion morale of M. Leuret, we are certain, Avill often fail, if uncombined; a healthy state of the organ must be ensured, the good seed will grow up in it.
The medico-legal consideration of hallucination is of deep interest in the study of psychology.
The danger to society with which phantasy is fraught, is especially increased when the visions of a lunatic are both subjective and objec- tive. If it were merely the hallucination that a man’s enemies were following him, he would probably seek his safety in flight; but if, at -the same time, he converted natural objects into phantoms, if he believed that his attendants, or his physician, were those very enemies, murder “might often be the climax of the vision. It is, therefore, when hallu- cination and illusion are combined in the same patient, that the greatest care and watchfulness should be enjoined ; and this, even when the ?motives of the unhappy being are what we might term pseudo-holy. Of this state, a very painfully interesting history is given in page C57. How far Bavaillac, Clement, and Jonathan Martin, were influenced by this illusion, we have not been able to conclude.
The medico-legal chapter of M. de Boismont’s work is a complete ??romance; for, although it is replete with sound reasoning, it is pro- fusely embellished by the most interesting novellettes. We think that many of tlie stories might have been omitted, for conciseness is the ?quality Ave most prize in a book on this subject. The volume displays, however, so much research, and bears so high a stamp of classicality about it, that all must receive instruction from its perusal.
“VYe must confess, in conclusion, that the morbid anatomy, the prcxi- anate cause, the psycho-pathology,, of hallucination, is still sub umbra ; and we may, perhaps, be long foiled in unravelling the mystery. We -feel much pleasure in commending this able and philosophical work to ,the patient study of all psychologists.
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