The pulse lowers; it is softer, and beats but 90 in the minute. The delirium continues; water is given to him; he exclaims: "That will make the frogs come, who will drink up the liquor." Incoherent sentences follow with inconceivable rapidity.

The character of his delirium changes. He seats himself in a corner, closes his eyes, and talks to himself; he looks inspired. We surround him; he speaks of sciences, and gives definitions; then, like a man trying his powers, he pronounces a few broken words, and immediately recites some twenty very harmonious verses. Being under the impression that they were well-known stanzas, we omitted to note them down; but on some one presently asking him if they were not by Victor Hugo, he replied, "No." "They are, then, your own?" He gave a sign of assent. His countenance expressed gayety and satisfaction; his skin became very pallid; his pulse 100; his eyes closed, which he opened on the request of his brother; the pupil less dilated.

He left off improvising to speak of foreign countries. We had been told that in these experiments the phenomenon of second sight would be developed. M. D. described countries and cities, which he had visited, with as much correctness as though they were then before him; he perfectly recollected the peculiarities which he had noticed in his travels; in like manner, he told us that he saw the stones of the Pantheon, at Naples, raised, and drew a very poetical picture of the scenes which had struck him. 22

But notwithstanding all our questions, he could not describe places with which he was unacquainted. He saw objects which had no existence. His brother inquired if he could look into his brain. "No, it is empty;" then he added: "How do you think I can see into your brain; it is veiled; there are objects between it and me."He then arose, saying: "All this is a dream; this state of aberration has given a livelier impulse to my ideas, but has not added to my knowledge."

The delirium, which for some time had been confined to a series of ideas, now became general again; he sang, laughed, and talked with great vivacity; he experienced no suffering; and said he was very happy. This state lasted for four hours and a half, when I left the party. The pulse at 90; the spitting frequent, and a constant desire to drink. The interlocutor had power to make him speak and act as he chose.*

The experiments which we witnessed presented several remarkable phenomena. The individuals under the influence of hasch-isch felt a maniacal exaltation; ideas succeeded each other with rapidity and incoherence; it might be said, with an ebullition which raised them above the influence of the will. The mind was under the empire of hallucinations and illusions. Recollections could be evoked and revivified, as though they were real, but they must be those with which the individual was acquainted; for, when interrogated on unknown things, he replied that he could not speak of what he had not seen; or, if he attempted a description, it was obscure. As in dreams, there was a loss of all idea of time and space. In one of the subjects the excitement was raised to a pitch which gave a much greater intense-ness to his faculties, and enabled him to improvise some poetry; however, there is no proof that he had not before thought of it. What, however, is certain, is, that Mr. D. said he made the experiment with the idea of increasing his intellectual resources, but that it had not added anything to his knowledge.

In the midst of this tangled web of ideas, of this state which the subjects of it called a singular folly, the sentiment of personality was preserved. Thus, nothing could be more curious than the contrast of their rational replies to the questions addressed to them, with the wandering of their ideas, when nothing recalled them to actual life.

* Brierre de Boismont, Gazette Medicale, 2d Mai, 1840.

In the one case, a fact was noticed having some analogy with the principle of the duality of mind - a fact which Dr. Wigan wished to establish. The individual heard conversation with one ear and music with the other. Those who tested the experiments had voluptuous sensations, and exhibited a considerable development of the sense of hearing. Delirious conceptions, fixed ideas, a disturbance of the affections, and irresistible impulses were equally remarked in them.

It is curious to perceive in this work, the eight phenomena which M. Moreau has described in his work on Haschisch, published five years after our researches; but we do not coincide more now than we formerly did, in the opinion of our honorable brother on the primordial fact of the delirium which he calls maniacal excitement, and on the absolute identity of the physiological nature of delirium with the dream state. Without confounding all our ideas of the value of words, it is difficult to give the name of maniacal excitement to the condition of a man who, having a false idea or sensation, appreciates them at their just value, and yet is unable to escape their influence, any more than it is possible to conceive a dream to be physiologically and psychologically identical with a delirium.

M. Theophile Gautier has published, in La Presse, an article on the effects of haschisch on himself: -

"We had long heard," says this writer, "without giving much faith to it, of the wonderful effects produced by this substance. We were already acquainted with the hallucinations caused by smoking opium, but haschisch was only known to us by name.

"One of our companions, Dr.------, who had travelled much in the East, and was a determined opium-eater, was the first to yield to its influence, having taken a much larger dose than the others; he saw the stars in his plate, and the firmament in the soup dish; then turning his face to the wall, talked to himself, and burst into fits of laughter with eyes flashing and in the highest state of glee. I felt perfectly calm until dinner was over, although the pupils of the eyes of my other friend began to sparkle strangely and acquire a most singular turquoise blue tint. The table being cleared, I (still having my senses) arranged myself comfortably with cushions on a divan to await the ecstasy. In a few minutes a general lethargy overcame me. My body appeared to dissolve and become transparent. I saw the haschisch which I had eaten, distinctly within me, under the form of an emerald, from which thousands of little sparks were emitted; my eyelashes lengthened indefinitely, twisting themselves like golden threads around little ivory wheels, which whirled about with inconceivable rapidity. Around me were figures and scrolls of all colors, arabesques, and flowery forms in endless variety, which I can only compare to the variations of the kaleidoscope. I still occasionally saw my companions; but they appeared disfigured; half men, half plants; now, with the pensive air of the ibis, standing on one leg; and again, as ostriches, flapping their wings, and wearing so strange an appearance that I shook with laughter in my corner; and, as if to join in the buffoonery of the scene, I commenced tossing up my cushions, catching them as they descended, and twisting them round with all the dexterity of an Indian juggler. One of the gentlemen addressed a discourse to me in Italian, which the haschisch by its extraordinary power delivered to me in Spanish. Questions and answers were almost rational, and touched on indifferent matters, such as the theatres and literature.