Case CXVIII

Lieutenant-General Thiebault, a man equally distinguished for wit and military talents, was, at the close of an inflammatory fever that had weakened him considerably, assailed by visions; the more strange, because he was at the time in the full enjoyment of his reason; none of his senses were injured, and yet the grotesque objects that harassed him, and which he knew did not exist, struck him as forcibly, and were as easy for him to enumerate and describe as the real objects around him.*

Case CXIX

Mademoiselle N. was convalescing after a very prolonged fever, which had reduced her to a state of extreme weakness. All her family had gone to church, when a violent storm arose; Mademoiselle N. went to the window to watch its effects; the idea of her father suddenly struck her, and, under existing circumstances, she felt much uneasiness. Her imagination soon persuaded her that her father had perished. In order to conquer her fear, she went into the room in which she was accustomed to see him seated in his arm-chair. On entering, she was much surprised at seeing him in his place, and in his accustomed attitude. She immediately approached to inquire how he had come in, and, in addressing him, attempted to place her hand on his shoulder, but she encountered only space. Very much alarmed, she drew back, and, turning her head as she left the room, still saw him in the same attitude.

More than half an hour elapsed from the time she first saw the apparition, until its departure. During this time, Miss N., who was convinced that it was an illusion, entered the room several times, and carefully examined the arrangement of the objects, and especially of the chair. †

Under some circumstances, atmospheric influences have appeared favorable to the formation of hallucinations. In the famous winter of 1829 to 1830, I had occasion, says Conolly, to notice this fact during the progress of several different diseases.‡

* Eusebe Salverte, Des Sciences Occultes, p. 324. D. Thiebault, Souvenirs d'un Sejour a Berlin, torn. v. 5th ed. † Paterson, Mem. cit. ‡ Conolly, op. cit.

M. Prus, in his observations on a pamphlet by M. Baillarger, entitled Fragments pour servir a l'histoire des hallucinations, says, that extreme cold may produce hallucinations, and that he himself felt its influence in 1814, when he quitted the corps of the army to which he was attached, in order to visit his family, a distance of two leagues. "I had scarcely," says he, "proceeded one league through the most extreme cold, when I perceived that I was not in my normal condition. I walked mechanically instead of by the force of will; and my body seemed exceedingly light. Being aware of the cause, and also of the danger of this state, I tried, but in vain, to hurry on; and what distressed me much was, that I could not prevent my eyes from closing every instant. I then had delightful visions; I thought myself transported into delicious gardens, where I saw trees, meadows, and streams."

During the Russian campaign, the military were equally assailed by hallucinations, sometimes of a gay, sometimes of a melancholy character.

In 1845, we noticed a marked predominance of nervous symptoms. We owe to the courtesy of Drs. Descuret and Salone, the communication of a number of ordinary diseases, combined with hallucinations. M. Descuret has mentioned seven cases of this character, in persons attacked with the influenza, one of which is sufficiently curious to arrest our attention.

The subject was an ecclesiastic, who imagined himself to be triple. In every position, he saw himself thrice repeated. When he turned in bed, the two other persons turned with him, and placed themselves upon him.

In all the cases the hallucinations ceased with the disease.

Hallucinations sometimes precede diseases.

Plutarch says that Cornelius Scylla was warned of the fever that suddenly attacked him, by the sight of a phantom that called him by name. Persuaded that his death was at hand, he prepared for the event, which occurred on the following night.*

In order to explain this death, there is no need to resort to the marvellous. It is probable that Scylla had reached the last stage of an organic disease, which was augmented by the effect of the apparition. Perhaps it hastened his end; but was evidently not a sign of it. It is to such causes, to the power of religious belief, to ignorance of scientific facts, and to the influence of imagination, that the predictions of death, of which there are so many examples among the ancients, must be attributed.

* Plutarch's Lives of Illustrious Men.

The excitement of the nervous system, and its extreme impressibility, may, under such circumstances, occasion death.