Case CXXVII

M. Bezuel, a young student, fifteen years of age, contracted an intimacy with another young man, named Desfontaines. Having talked over the compacts entered into between persons who promised that the one who first died should revisit the survivor, they entered into a similar agreement, which they signed with their blood (1696). Shortly after this, they parted, and Desfontaines went to Caen.

In July, 1697, M. Bezuel was amusing himself with haymaking, near to the house of a friend, when he became suddenly faint, which was followed by a bad night's rest. Notwithstanding this indisposition, he returned to the field, and again had a similar attack. On the third day, the fit was more serious. " I lost all consciousness," said he. "Persons came to my assistance, but my mind was much more disturbed than it had previously been. Those who raised me up asserted that, on being questioned as to where I felt pain, I replied: 'I have seen what I never expected to see.' I recollect neither the question nor answer; it agrees, however, with my remembrance of the apparition of a man who was only half of the ordinary height, but whose person I did not recognize. A few minutes afterwards, on mounting a ladder, I saw my classmate, Desfontaines, at its foot. At this sight, I turned giddy, my head fell between two of the rounds, and I fainted. They took me down, and placed me on a piece of wood, which served as a seat in the great square of the Capuchins. As soon as I was seated, I no longer perceived M. de Sorteville, the master of the house, nor his servants; but only Desfontaines, who signed for me to come to him. I drew back, as though I would make way for him. Those who were present, but whom I did not see, remarked the movement. As he stood still, I arose to meet him; he took my left arm with his right hand, and led me about thirty paces off, to an alley, holding me very tightly.

"The servants, believing that I had entirely recovered, went about their business, excepting a little groom, who told M. de Sorteville that I was talking to myself. He believed that I was intoxicated, and approaching, heard me ask questions and make replies, which he afterwards repeated.

"My conversation with Desfontaines lasted three quarters of an hour. 'I agreed with you,' said he, 'that if I died first, I would come and tell you so; I was drowned yesterday, at this hour, in the river at Caen, in company with such and such persons. It was very warm, and I took a notion to bathe, but fainted on entering the water. The Abbe Meniljean, my companion, plunged in to save me; I seized him by the foot, but whether from fear, or as a means of remounting to the surface, he gave me a violent kick on the breast, which drove me again to the bottom of the river, which was very deep in this spot.'

"Desfontaines," continues M. Bezuel, "was larger than in life. I only perceived the half of his body; he was naked, without a hat, with his beautiful light hair, and a white paper on his forehead, twisted in his hair, with writing upon it, but which I could not decipher."

This apparition and conversation were repeated several times. It is an undoubted fact, that the death of the young man soon became known. The celebrated Abbe de St. Pierre, who published the anecdote, and vouches for its authenticity, accounts for it by natural causes. It is probable that the fainting of Bezuel was the cause of the apparitions. "I know," says Fer-riar, "from my own experience and that of others, that syncope is sometimes preceded by illusions and visions, which are only reminiscences of known objects. One fact must be noticed, which is, that the morbid impression often lasts long after the restoration of health. A man imagined, during a paroxysm of derangement, that a considerable property had been left to him; the idea did not quit him on his recovery, and it was with difficulty that he was undeceived.*

The remembrance of the voice and figure of an intimate friend may cause an hallucination. Such appears to have been the celebrated apparition of Ficinus to Michel Mercatus, which is related by Baronius.

These illustrious friends, after a long conversation on the nature of the soul, agreed that whichever of the two died the first, should, if possible, appear to the survivor, and inform him of the nature of the other world.

"Some time afterwards," says Baronius, "it happened that, whilst Michel Mercatus was studying philosophy, early in the morning, ,he suddenly heard the sound as of a horse galloping, which stopped at his door, and the voice of his friend Ficinus, who cried: "O Michel, Michel! all those things are true!" Surprised at these words, Mercatus rose, and went to the window. He saw his friend, with his back towards him, mounted on a white horse.

* Journal de Trevaux, t viii. p. 1724. Ferriar, op. cit.

Mercatus called to him and followed him with his eyes, until he disappeared. He soon received the news that Ficinus had died at Florence at the time of the apparition. The distance that separated them was considerable.

This apparition, which aroused so much attention in consequence of the exalted station of the parties, may be explained by the following circumstances: The study of Plato and the idea of his friend caused an hallucination favored by the silence of the morning. Baronius adds that Mercatus abandoned his profane studies and devoted himself to theology.*

Should circumstances, which appear to have occasioned sudden conversions in unbelievers, be always referred to the influence of mysticism, or to hallucinations of sight and hearing? In a religious point of view, we cannot subscribe to this opinion; we are convinced that God may make use of supernatural means to call wandering men to himself; to believe otherwise, would be to reject the authority of Holy Writ.†