Pagina-afbeeldingen
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"predilection for the miraculous, pay "no regard to these objections; insisting "that the productions of their disordered

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imaginations are real beings. We can"not therefore collect too many of such "well substantiated facts, as shew how

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easily our imagination imposes on us "erroneous notions, and deludes not only delirious persons but even those "who are in full possession of their facul"ties, by causing them to see phantasms "which scarcely can be distinguished "from real appearances."

"I have myself experienced a case of "this nature, which to me appears highly "remarkable, both psychologically and "medicinally; I saw, in a state of mind

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completely sound, and after the first "terror was over, with perfect calmness, "for nearly two months, almost constantly " and involuntarily a vast number of hu"man and other forms, and even heard "their voices, though all this was merely

"the consequence of a diseased state of "the nerves and an irregular circulation "of the blood."

"It being a matter of considerable im"portance that an incident of this nature "should be observed with the strictest at❝tention, and related, together with all "collateral circumstances, with the most "conscientious fidelity, I shall not omit any thing of which I retain a clear "recollection. The truth of what I am going to advance will not require a far"ther testimony, as Dr. Selle, who was

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my physician and was daily informed by me of every trifling occurrence and change that happened, is still living, " and will, by all who know him, be most readily admitted as an unobjectionable "witness. During the ten latter months of "the year 1790, I had experienced seve"ral melancholy incidents which deeply "affected me, particularly in September, "from which time I suffered an almost

"uninterrupted series of misfortunes that "afflicted me with the most poignant grief. "I was accustomed to be bled twice a

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year, and this had been done once on "the 9th of July, but was omitted to be "repeated at the end of the year: 1790. "I had, in 1783, been suddenly taken with a violent vertigo, which my physicians imputed to obstructions in the "finer vessels of the abdomen, brought "on by a sedentary life and a continual "exertion of the mind. This indisposition "was successfully removed by means of "a more regular and strict diet; particu

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larly efficacious in the beginning I had "found leeches to the arms, and they "were afterwards repeated two or three "times annually when I felt violent con'gestions in the head. The last leeches " which had been put on, previous to the "appearance of the phantasms of which

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I am about to speak, had been applied "on the first of March 1790, less blood "had consequently been evacuated in

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"1790 than was usual with me, and from September, I was constantly occupied in "business that required the most unre"mitted exertion, and was rendered still "more perplexing by frequent interrup"tions."

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"I had, in January and February of the year 1791, the additional misfortune to experience several extremely unpleasant "circumstances, which were followed on "the 24th of February by a most violent "altercation. My wife and another " came into my apartment in the morning "in order to console me, but I was too "much agitated by a series of incidents

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which had most powerfully affected my "moral feeling, to be capable of attend ing " to them; on a sudden I perceived, at "about the distance of ten steps, a form "like that of a deceased person, I pointed "at it, asking my wife if she did not see "it? It was but natural that she should "not see any thing, my question there

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"fore alarmed her very much, and she "sent immediately for a physician, the "phantasm continued about eight mi

"nutes.

I grew at length more calm, "and being extremely exhausted, fell "into a restless sleep which lasted about "half an hour; the physician ascribed "the apparition to a violent mental emo"tion, and hoped that there would be no "return, but the violent agitation of my "mind had in some way disordered my 66 nerves, and produced farther consequences which deserve a more minute description."

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"At four in the afternoon, the form "which I had seen in the morning re'appeared. I was by myself when this

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happened, and being rather uneasy at "the incident, went to my wife's apart"ment, but there likewise I was prevented

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by the apparition, which, however, at "intervals disappeared, and always pre"sented itself in a standing posture: about "six o'clock there appeared also several

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