Case XLI

During the voyage, the cook of the vessel died. Some days after his funeral, the second mate ran to the captain in a great fright, to tell him that the cook was walking ahead of the vessel, and all the crew were on the deck to look at him. The captain, annoyed at being disturbed on account of such a circumstance, gave orders to steer the ship towards Newcastle, that they might see which would first get into port; but, tormented again, he frankly owned that he had caught the infection. In looking towards the spot pointed out, he perceived a human form, whose gait was like that of his old friend, and who was dressed like him. The panic became general; every one was motionless. Obliged to work the ship himself, he perceived that the cause of all their absurd terror was a fragment of the top of a mast, from some wreck, that floated on before them. Had he not approached the pretended ghost, the tale of the cook walking the water would long have circulated amongst the good folks of Newcastle, and excited their terror.*

* Op. cit., p. 56. On this interesting subject, see Les Recits de la Muse Populaire, de M. Em. Souvestre (Revue des deux Mondes, p. 711, t. iv. 1830); and les Legendes du Nord, by M. Marmier.

Many are the facts of this nature. We give several that explain a multitude of narratives in different authors.

Ajax was so enraged that the arms of Achilles were awarded to Ulysses that he went distracted. Seeing a herd of swine, he drew his sword and furiously assailed them, taking them for Greeks. He seized two of them, flogged them soundly, and loaded them with abuse, for he imagined that one was his judge, Agamemnon, and the other his enemy Ulysses. On recovering, he was so ashamed of his act that he stabbed himself, †

King Theodoric, blinded by jealousy, and yielding to the perfidious suggestions of his courtiers, put to death the senator Sym-machus, one of the most virtuous men of his time. Scarcely was the cruel deed done than the king was overwhelmed with remorse, and incessantly reproached himself with his crime. One day a new kind of fish was brought on his table; suddenly he uttered a cry of horror, for he saw in the head of the fish that of the unfortunate Symmachus. This vision threw him into a profound melancholy, from which he never recovered.‡

Bessus, surrounded with guests, and deeply absorbed in the pleasures of a banquet, suddenly becomes heedless of his flatterers. He listens attentively to a discourse that no one hears; then, transported with rage, springs up, seizes his sword, and rushing to a nest of swallows, strikes at the poor birds, and kills them. "Think," says he, "of the insolence of these birds; who dare reproach me with the murder of my father!" The courtiers withdraw in astonishment, and soon afterwards they learn that Bessus is really guilty, and that his action was only the result of an appealing conscience.*

* Hibbert, Sketches of the Philosophy of Apparitions, p. 16.

† Traite de l'Apparition des Esprits, par Taillepied, docteur en theo-logie, Rouen, 1609. This work is only a disguised translation of a work by Lavater, entitled Ludovico Lavateri Theologia eximii, De Spectris Lemu-ribus, etc. Lugdani Bat., ann. 1570, 2d edit., 1659.

‡ Procopius, De bello Italico.

Illusions of sight and hearing have often assumed the form of an epidemic. History records a number of facts of this character. One of the chief is the transformation of clouds into armies, and all sorts of figures; to which religious belief, optical phenomena, physical laws then unknown, high fevers of a pestilential character, and the derangement of the brain, all give a very natural explanation.

Pausanias relates, in his Attics, that, four hundred years after the battle of Marathon, the neighing of horses and the shock of armies were nightly heard on the spot. All the curious did not hear the noise, while those who traversed the plain unpremedi-tatedly, heard it perfectly, †

At the battle of Plataea, the air resounded with a fearful cry, which the Athenians attributed to the God Pan; the Persians were so alarmed that they fled. It is said that this is the origin of the expression panic-fear.

Pliny says that during the war of the Romans against the Gimbrians, they were, on several occasions, alarmed by the clang of arms and the sound of trumpets, which appeared to come from the sky. Appian speaks of the cries of men in terror, of the clash of arms, and the tread of horses. Plutarch, in his life of Coriolanqs, states that, in the fight against Tarquin, Castor and Pollux were seen on white horses, valiantly fighting in front of the battle. They carried instantaneously to Rome the news of the victory.

"Shortly before the feast of Easter, on the 27th of May, an event happened," says Flavius Josephus, " that I should fear to repeat, lest it might be considered fabulous, were it not that persons are still living who witnessed it; and the misfortunes that followed confirmed its truth. Before sunrise, there appeared in the air, throughout the whole country, chariots full of armed men, traversing the clouds and spreading round the cities, as if to inclose them. On the day of Pentecost, the priests, being at night in the inner temple to celebrate divine service, heard a noise, and afterwards a voice that repeated several times, 'Let us go out from hence.' "*

* Plutarchus, De Sera numinis vindicta. † Pausanias, in Attic. - Taillepied, op. cit.

M. Galmeil, in his article in the Dictionary on "Hallucination," has cited similar facts drawn from Josephus and the history of the Lower Empire. Antiochus was preparing to carry war the second time into Egypt; in the sky appeared men dressed in cloth of gold, armed with lances, galloping like squadrons about to charge; even their casques, bucklers, naked swords, and lances could be distinguished.

History abounds in similar tales. Thus, in the time of Charlemagne, phalanxes of sorcerers were seen fighting in the air; afterward they were fantastic beings, shouting in the temples; sublime, solitary voices, heard as in the first ages of the world.†

In the reign of Charles the Sixth, battles appeared to be going on at different times in the clouds; armed knights encountered one another, and the sky was the color of blood. ‡

An Italian author relates that the Florentines were for several hours duped by an illusion of this nature. Collected in the principal streets of the city, they watched attentively the figure of an angel floating in the air, and were expecting some miracle to be performed, when it was discovered that the illusion was caused by a cloud that covered the dome, and on which was reflected the figure of the golden angel that surmounted the edifice, completely lighted up by the sun's rays.§

The period of the Crusades was especially remarkable for a multitude of apparitions.

At the battle of Antioch, in the thickest of the fight, the Crusaders saw St. George, St. Demetrius, and St. Theodosius come to their aid.|| We read, in M. Thierry's history, that in the attack on the Temple of Delphos by the Gauls, these barbarians were frightened by the apparition of three shrouded heroes in the environs of the city. The Delphians recognized, it is said, the shades of Hyporochus, of Laodocus, and of Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles.*

* War of the Jews against the Romans, liv. vi. chap. xxi. † Ferdinand Denis, la Monde enchante.

‡ Chronique du Religieux de St. Denis, Collection des Memoires relatifs a l'histoire de France. § Ferrier, op. cit. || Michaud, Histoire des Croisades, t. i.

When we consider hallucinations in an historical point of view, we will return to this subject.

The popular imagination, dreaming only of battles, had seen in the air the appearances of war; nature had associated itself with the interests, the enthusiasm, and the passions of men. Everything harmonized with the universal sentiment; and, in order that the past should, as it were, unite in the feeling of the times, the tomb had permitted the illustrious dead to mingle with the living. In these marvellous visions, we recognize all the sublimity of the epopee.

The Christians of this period persuaded themselves that the apparitions of the Old and of the New Testament were reproduced for them; and this belief was the more allowable and plausible, since the circumstances occurred in the country where all these prodigies were originally accomplished.†

"A powerful belief," said Walter Scott, "has frequently performed on the battle-plain what had been seen in darkness and solitude. Those who were on the borders of the spirit-world, or were engaged in sending their fellows into those regions of darkness, believed they saw the apparitions of those whom their religion associated with such scenes. It is not surprising that, in the midst of a doubtful battle, of violence, of noise and confusion inseparable from such a situation, the warriors should think they beheld gods and saints."

It may, perhaps, be asked how a considerable number of men could be dupes of the same illusion. Independently of the reasons we have given, and amongst which ignorance, fear, superstition, and disease play an important part, the contagious influence of example must not be forgotten. One cry is enough to frighten a large assembly. One individual, who imagines he has seen supernatural appearances, would hasten to impart his conviction to those not more enlightened than himself. The anecdote of the man who exclaimed, whilst gazing on a statue, that it bowed its head, has often been quoted. All those who were present affirmed that they saw it move. Another reason is the utility to which the leading men in the state turned these beliefs; and it is unquestionable that in many instances they were the result of artifice. In traversing the ruins of Hadrian's Villa, in the environs of Tivoli, we noticed, in the temple of Canope, the remains of long tabes which served to give voice to the oracle. Eosebius Salverte has demonstrated, in a work the doctrines of which we in nowise share, that the ancients knew how to raise spirits, and to produce phantasmagorical effects.*

* Histoire des Gaulois, t. i. p. 174. - Pausanias, t. x. p. 430. † Michaud, Histoire des Croisades.

Illusions of hearing have created a thousand popular stories. One of the best known in Ireland is that of St. Patrick's Hole. The murmuring of the wind became the voices of complaining souls, who entreated the prayers of the living; tombs, grottos, and caverns were spots that served for the resort of spirits. In traversing battle-fields, the sighs of warriors were heard who fell in combat.

We have somewhat dilated on illusions, in order to show the difference between them and hallucinations; but in admitting this line of division, we have thought that, by reason of the frequent union of the two, it was necessary to give a general idea of them. Thus, when we shall speak of the etiology of hallucinations, we shall often be obliged to refer to that of illusions.

One distinction, pointed out by several authors, must not be lost sight of; that is, we must not confound false inductions with illusions. A delirious conception is not, in fact, a sensorial illusion. "To have a sensorial illusion," says M. Michea, "is not to make a false judgment on a clear perception, but to perceive viciously a false impression."

Sometimes illusion appears first, and is secondarily replaced by hallucination. It may be united with, or may succeed it; it can also exist alone.