Chapter 5

"Whispered suggestionsare the devil's rôle,"

it was with a profound perception of the powerful influence they exercise in the creation of delusions.

The throngs which crowd around the table of the "medium," go pregnant with a desire to see a mystery, and filled with a vague fear of the supernatural influences to which they may be subjected. This is increased by the interval of from five minutes to half an hour which is allowed to intervene between the commencement of theséance, and the first "rap" from the spirits; and during this period the mind is kept to the utmost tension by listening, or is well exercised by attending to the anecdotes illustrative of the power of the spirits which are detailed by the medium, and it is thus brought into the state that is requisite for the perfection of the delusion. In the condition of the mind thus induced, the medium has little difficulty in leading her credulous hearer to whatever length it may be desired, and a careful examination of the countenance and the hand will suffice for a correct response to the majority of the questions which may be proposed.

The want of discrimination of the facts from the theories invented to explain them, is another and great source of delusion; for the majority it suffices that if the "raps" occur, or the table moves, it is sufficiently demonstrative that it is by the influence of spirits; and it is a much less difficult matter to them to believe that the phenomena arises from supernatural than natural agency.

Certain luminous phenomena, phosphorescent flames, luminous clouds, glistening stars, &c., have been observed when the spirit-manifestations have occurred in profound darkness. These appearances were dependent upon a disordered condition of the eye, which will be fully dwelt upon in a subsequent part of this work.

The irregular and violent movements of the furniture which occurred when theséanceswere held indarkenedapartments, were the result of the most palpable collusion. There were certain movements of the tables, however, around which the experimenters sat when eliciting the spirit-rappings, that could not be attributed to this source; and an examination of these motions showed that if several persons arranged themselves around a table, and rested their hands slightly upon it, after a longer or shorter period motion would occur, which was to a great extent under the control of the will, although the experimenters were not aware that they exerted any force whatever upon the table; and further, it was ascertained that a table thus set in motion would respond by rapping with the legs, to questions propounded to it, and that with a facility equal to the most perfect "medium."

This interesting phenomenon soon attracted considerable attention, for it was certain that neither collusion nor wilful deception were concerned in it; and it could be produced by persons who did not pretend to the character of "mediums;"indeed, out of a company of several individuals it was pretty certain that some could be found capable of inducing the phenomenon.

The "Rappites" looked upon it simply as another and more general manifestation of the spirit-world; others, imbued with the pseudo-scientific dogmas of animal magnetism, odylism, &c., sought an explanation in the principles of their respective theories; some regarded it as the result of Satanic agency; and lastly, those best capable of judging on the question, looked upon the motion as the result of muscular force exerted unconsciously by the experimenters, and in accordance with certain well-known laws of muscular and mental action.

The doctrine of Satanic agency has excited great attention in this country, from the fact of its being propounded and advocated by certain clergymen of our Established Church, who not content with regarding it as one of those "great wonders" which are to prelude the reign of Anti-christ, have even sought by this agency to verify the truths of the immortality of the soul, eternity, the existence of a hell; thus seeking a confirmation of the Scripture from the devil himself, and comically identifying themselves with the principles so pithily expressed by Ralpho:—

"Those principles I've quoted late,Prove that the godly may allegeFor anything their privilege,And to the devil himself may go,If they have motives thereunto:For as there is a war betweenThe dev'l and them, it is no sinIf they, by subtle stratagem,Make use of him, as he does them."[56]

The answer to this explication, as well as to those other explications based on the doctrines of the "Rappites," and the principles of the pseudo-sciences, is found in the simple fact, that if care be taken to ascertain the sources of motion which arise from the experimenters themselves, and to obviate their influence in the experiment, neither movements nor responses occur; and by a careful examination of the conditions requisite for the perfection of the experiment, and an experimental illustration of them, we arrive at the conclusion that "table-moving" and "table-talking" are the result solely of muscular action exercised unconsciously under the influence of certain expectant ideas.

If we proceed in the examination of this question as in that of every other physical question, by seeking the conditions requisite for the fulfilment of the experiment, and examining their nature, we observe that the position of the persons who perform it is one that wouldgive rise to certain easily understood and comprehensible results. The hands are placed upon the table in such a position that the experimenter exercises the least degree of pressure of which he can be conscious, and in this position they are kept for a longer or shorter period, but generally averaging from twenty to thirty minutes. Whether the individual be sitting or standing, the protracted exertion of the muscles to keep the hand in so constrained a position, gives rise to considerable fatigue, which is manifested by the usual painful sensations in the over-exercised parts; and these sensations have been sagely compared by the advocates of the pseudo-sciences to those experienced by electric or electro-magnetic currents. As the muscular fatigue and the painful state of tension into which the muscles are thrown increase, the sensations by which we judge of the amount of pressure exercised upon a given object diminishes, and unless the degree of pressure exercised is checked by information derived through some other sense, it goes on ever increasing in a direct ratio until the whole weight of the hand, the arm, and even the shoulders of the person so standing is unconsciously thrown upon the table, and a degree of force exercised, which is sufficient to induce the movements we witness in the tableexperimented on.

The inertia of the table is as thoroughly destroyed by the amount of force thus brought to bear upon it, as if a more intense force had acted momentarily. The period of suspense which occurs previous to the first movement taking place, is that during which the force communicated by the hand is equally diffused through the table, and the moment this happens, as no body can be set in motion until the motion has been imparted to every integral particle of that body, a slight additional force will be sufficient to overcome the resistence of surrounding media, and cause it to change its position. Hence a comparatively slight force exercised over a long period will not unfrequently induce effects equal to those caused by a greater degree of force exercised during a short period of time.

We often witness the practical application of this principle. If we observe two men endeavouring to move a railway carriage upon the line, we shall notice that they do not at the first exert all their strength in one powerful, and what would probably prove exhaustive and futile, effort, but placing their backs against the carriage, they will push with a continuous and gradually increasing effort for several seconds, or even longer, when a slight movement will be perceived in the carriage,and a slight additional exercise of force will set it in motion. So also, as we have seen in quarries, when several men have endeavoured to move a large mass of stone with a lever, they have not used one long and powerful effort, but a succession of slighter ones, until a tremulous motion has been seen in the mass, when by one exertion of force they have hurled it from its place.

The degree of pressure exercised by any given persons will be in the inverse ratio of the degree of control which they can exercise over the muscular system, and over their ideas; hence the phenomena of table-turning and table-talking are most fully developed by those who are possessed of but a low degree of volitional power, and in whom the passions and emotions are paramount, as in young females, boys, or those who are influenced by certain dominant ideas: and as these conditions vary in different persons to an almost endless extent, it would follow that the power of exciting the movements of the table and responses, as well as the nature and degree of the responses, would vary in a similar degree, which is found to be the case; and the rule of response is, as one of the supporters of the Satanic theory (the Rev. N. S. Godfrey) very naïvely remarks, "whatever the investigator wishes it to be."

The directive force in the phenomena of table-moving is derived from certain habitual actions of the muscles, as in the direction from right to left, from the customary use of the right hand; and the influence which our ideas exercise upon the muscular system, unwittingly and involuntarily on our part.

This, as well as the preceding remarks, are all capable of being experimentally illustrated and demonstrated; and Professor Faraday,[57]by a rigorous series of experiments, has shown that it is upon these principles that the phenomena depend.

By the use of a most ingenious and simple piece of mechanism connected with an index, he showed the extent to which we exercise a certain degree of force and directive power unconsciously, and the nature of this directive power; and the result was:—

"That when the parties saw the index it remained very steady; when it was hidden from them, or they looked away from it, it wavered about, though they believed that they always pressed directly downwards; and when the table did not move, there was still a resultant hand-force in the direction in which it was wished the table should move, which, however, was exercised quite unwittingly by the party operating. This resultant it is which, in the course of the waiting-time,while the fingers and hands become stiff, numb, and insensible by continued pressure, grows up to an amount sufficient to move the table or the substances pressed upon. But the most valuable effect of this test-apparatus is the corrective power it possesses over the mind of the table-turner. As soon as the index is placed before the most earnest, and they perceive—as in my presence they have always done—that it tells truly whether they are pressing downwards only or obliquely, then all effects of table-turning cease, even though the parties persevere, earnestly desiring motion, till they become weary and worn-out. No prompting or checking of the hand is heeded;the power is gone;and this only because the parties are made conscious of what they are really doing mechanically, and so are unable unwittingly to deceive themselves."

An experiment is familiar to many persons by which a ring, being suspended by means of a piece of thread to one of the fingers, may be caused to beat responses against a glass surface (as that of a tumbler), in answer to certain queries put audibly; or, if the ring be held by the questioner, it is requisite merely that the questions be conceived mentally. This, to many, a puzzling phenomenon is dependent upon precisely the same cause as "table-talking"—a movement caused by muscular action developed unconsciously under the influence of certain ideational states of the mind.

It is an interesting fact, that a species of divination is mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus, in which a ring, used after the above fashion, and a table, consecrated by mystic rites, were used. We are indebted to the Rev. J. W. Thomas, of Dewsbury, for the following quotation from the works of this author, who lived about the middle of the fourth century. The quotation is taken from the first chapter of the twenty-ninth book ("Construximus, magnifici judices, ad cortinæ similitudinem Delphicæ," &c.):—

"Noble judges, this unfortunate little table which you see, we constructed of laurel-rods with fearful rites (or ill-omened signs), after the likeness of the Delphic tripod; and (it having been) virtually consecrated with imprecations of mystic incantations (secret hymns), and many splendid and long-continued preparations, we at length used (lit.moved) it; and of using (moving) it, as often as it was consulted about secret things, this was the method. It was placed in the middle of a clean house, with a round plate made of divers metallic materials, correctly (lit.purely) put upon it, on whose extreme circumference the twenty-four letters of the alphabet were learnedly engraven, separated by spaces accurately measured.A person [gifted] with ceremonial science stood at it, clothed in linen garments, his feet in linen socks, a wreath round his head, bearing branches of a lucky tree, a fortunate omen having been obtained from the deity who is the author of predictions, by hymns conceived (Apollo); weighing with scales a pensile ring, formed (or furnished) with very fine Carpathian thread, consecrated with mystic rites, which (or who) by distinct intervals falling by leaps on every letter retained, makes heroic verses agreeing with (or answering to) the interrogatories, to the completed numbers and metres, such as the Delphic ones are read, or those given by the oracles of the Branchidæ. Thus then to those who inquired of us who should succeed to the present imperial government, for being swept in every part [as] it has been mentioned, and the ring leaping touched (went through) two syllables, ΘΕΟ; with the addition of the last letter (last additional letter), one present cried out 'Theodorus!' (as the name portended) by the decree of fate (by castal necessity)."

This paragraph embodies the defence of one Hilarius, who, together with a certain Patricius, was charged with having spread abroad prophecies adverse to the throne of the Emperor Valens.

A correspondent of "Notes and Queries" (Vol. IX., p. 201) quotes the following interesting passage from the "Apologeticus" of Tertullian, cap. xxiii.: ("Porro si et magi phantasmata," &c.):—

"Moreover, if magical professors also exhibit phantoms and defame the souls of the departed; if they press oracles out of childrens' talk; if they play many miracles with mountebank tricks, and if they send dreams, having once the power assisting them, of inviting angels and demons,by whom, and she-goats,and tables, they were accustomed to divine;how much more, &c."

The correspondent remarks: "Here table-divination, by means of angels and demons, seems distinctly alluded to. How like the modern system! The context of this passage, as well as the extract itself, will suggest singular coincidence between modern and ancient pretensions of this class."

The sense oftouchrarely leads to illusions which are referred to the supernatural, except under the influence of powerful superstitious feelings, when it is generally connected with illusions of the other senses.

The influence of fear in developing illusions of the senses of sight, hearing, and touch, has been well pourtrayed in Beaumont and Fletcher's comedy of "The Beggar's Bush" (Act V, Scene 1):

Boor.Mistress, it grows somewhat pretty and dark.Gertrude.What then?Boor.Nay, nothing. Do not think I am afraid,Although, perhaps, you are.Ger.I am not. Forward!Boor.Sure but you are. Give me your hand; fear nothing.There's one leg in the wood; do not fall backwards!What a sweat one on's are in; you or I!Pray God it do not prove the plague. Yet sureIt has infected me; for I sweat too:It runs out at my knees. Feel, feel, I pray you!Ger.What ails the fellow?Boor.Hark! hark! I beseech you:Do you hear nothing?Ger.No.Boor.List! a wild hog;He grunts! now 'tis a bear; this wood is full of 'em!And now a wolf, mistress; a wolf! a wolf!It is the howling of a wolf.Ger.The braying of an ass, is it not?Boor.Oh, now one has me!Oh my left ham! farewell!Ger.Look to your shanks,Your breech is safe enough; the wolf's a fern-brake.Boor.But see, see, see! there is a serpent in it!'T has eyes as broad as platters; it spits fire!Now it creeps tow'rds us; help me and say my prayers!'T hath swallowed me almost; my breath is stopt:I cannot speak! Do I speak, mistress?—tell me.Ger.Why thou strange timorous sot, canst thou perceiveAnything i' th' bush but a poor glowworm.Boor.It may be 'tis but a glowworm now; but 'twillGrow to a fire-drake presently.Ger.Come then from it!I have a precious guide of you, and courteous,That gives me leave to lead myself the way thus.[Holla.Boor.It thunders; you hear that now?Ger.I hear one holla.Boor.'Tis thunder! thunder! see a flash of lightningAre you not blasted, mistress? Pull your mask off;'T has play'd the barber with me here: I have lostMy beard, my beard! Pray God you be not shaven;'T will spoil your marriage, mistress.Ger.What strange wonders fear fancies in a coward!Boor.Now the earth opens!Ger.Prithee hold thy peace.

Boor.Mistress, it grows somewhat pretty and dark.

Gertrude.What then?

Boor.Nay, nothing. Do not think I am afraid,Although, perhaps, you are.

Ger.I am not. Forward!

Boor.Sure but you are. Give me your hand; fear nothing.There's one leg in the wood; do not fall backwards!What a sweat one on's are in; you or I!Pray God it do not prove the plague. Yet sureIt has infected me; for I sweat too:It runs out at my knees. Feel, feel, I pray you!

Ger.What ails the fellow?

Boor.Hark! hark! I beseech you:Do you hear nothing?

Ger.No.

Boor.List! a wild hog;He grunts! now 'tis a bear; this wood is full of 'em!And now a wolf, mistress; a wolf! a wolf!It is the howling of a wolf.

Ger.The braying of an ass, is it not?

Boor.Oh, now one has me!Oh my left ham! farewell!

Ger.Look to your shanks,Your breech is safe enough; the wolf's a fern-brake.

Boor.But see, see, see! there is a serpent in it!'T has eyes as broad as platters; it spits fire!Now it creeps tow'rds us; help me and say my prayers!'T hath swallowed me almost; my breath is stopt:I cannot speak! Do I speak, mistress?—tell me.

Ger.Why thou strange timorous sot, canst thou perceiveAnything i' th' bush but a poor glowworm.

Boor.It may be 'tis but a glowworm now; but 'twillGrow to a fire-drake presently.

Ger.Come then from it!I have a precious guide of you, and courteous,That gives me leave to lead myself the way thus.[Holla.

Boor.It thunders; you hear that now?

Ger.I hear one holla.

Boor.'Tis thunder! thunder! see a flash of lightningAre you not blasted, mistress? Pull your mask off;'T has play'd the barber with me here: I have lostMy beard, my beard! Pray God you be not shaven;'T will spoil your marriage, mistress.

Ger.What strange wonders fear fancies in a coward!

Boor.Now the earth opens!

Ger.Prithee hold thy peace.

We have now glanced at the principal illusions to which the senses of sight and hearing are liable, and the bearing which they have on the subject of spectral apparitions and other phenomena which it has been customary to regard as manifestations of the supernatural.

But a false appreciation of sensations excited by natural objects is not the only mode in which we are liable to be deceived, for we are apt to regard sensations excited by the action of the mind, or by a disordered condition of the nervous system, or both combined—subjective sensations—as sensations excited by natural objects—objective sensations.

To the erroneous perceptions arising from this source the termhallucinationhas been given, and the phantasmata to which they give rise are more important than those arising from illusions, since the judgment is often unable to correct them, and they may impose equally on the wisest and the most ignorant.

It is a law in physiology that a nerve of special sensation, (including in that term its central as well as its peripheral terminations,) in whatever manner it may be excited, can only produce that sensation to which it is appointed. Thus the nerve of sight, whether it be excited by natural or artificial light, or mechanical stimulus from without, or by morbid changes within, can only give rise to the sensation of light; the nerve of hearing, sound; the nerve of smell, odours; and so on.

If the ball of the eye is pressed upon (say by the finger at the inner angle) when the eyelids are closed, or the light otherwise excluded, certain luminous figures will be perceived. This arises from the pressure exciting the inner coat of the eye (theretina), which is formed principally by the expansion of the nerve of light (theoptic nerve), and is the tissue in which the changes necessary for the production of the sensation of light are induced by the rays of light from without.

The luminous figures caused by mechanical excitation of this, the peripheral termination of the nerve of sight, vary in intensity in different individuals and at different times. They are sometimes very brilliant, and have been observed to be iridescent. In form they are circular, radiating, or regularly divided into squares, which have been compared by Purkinje to the figures produced by the vibrations communicated to a fine powderscattered on a plate of glass, along one edge of which a violin-bow is drawn; or to the rhomboidal figures formed on the surface of water in a glass, thrown into vibration by the same means.

A familiar illustration of the excitation of a sensation of light by mechanical stimulus is the brilliant sparks of light, starlike figures, &c., caused by a blow on the eye, or by a fall on the head.

A sensation of light may also be caused by the passage of a current of electricity through the eyeball; by mental emotion, as grief, passion, &c.; and by a morbid state of the brain or optic nerve. It is often also induced by a disordered state of the health, and under this condition the luminous appearance occasionally assumes a bluish, green, yellow, or even red tint.

When an excess of blood is determined in the vessels of the eye, either from position or other cause, a luminous arborescent figure is occasionally observed in the field of vision on entering a dark apartment. This, according to Purkinje, is due to pressure on the retina by the distended blood-vessels. A luminous spot is also sometimes observed isochronous with the pulse.

In ourselves, in ordinary health a lambent bluish coloured cloud of light constantly floats before the eyes in a darkened apartment; and there are probablyfew who would not perceive a greater or less sensation of light on being shut up in profound darkness.

On the spontaneous appearance of light in the field of vision when it is darkened, Müller, the distinguished Prussian physiologist, writes:—"If we observe the field of vision, keeping the eyes closed, it occasionally happens that we perceive not only a certain degree of luminousness, but further, that we discover a more marked glimmering of light, affecting even, in certain cases, the form of circular waves, which are developed from the centre towards the periphery, where they disappear. Sometimes the faint light resembles a nebulosity, spots, and more rarely, in myself, it is reproduced with a certain rhythm. To this spontaneous appearance of light in the eye, which is always very vague, are related the more clearly delineated forms which show themselves at the moment we are about to fall asleep, and which depend upon the influence of the imagination isolating the nebulous glimmerings one from the other, and clothing them with more distinct forms."[58]

The degree to which this sensation of light is produced in health, and the power which the imagination has over it, vary greatly in different individuals.

Müller writes:—

"I had occasion, in 1828, to converse with Göethe upon this subject, which had an equal interest for both of us. Knowing that when I was tranquilly extended in bed, the eyes closed, but not asleep, I frequently perceived figures that I could observe distinctly, he was curious to know what I experienced then: I told him that my will had not any influence either upon the production or the metamorphoses of these figures, and that I never distinguished anything symmetrical, anything that had the character of vegetation. Göethe, on the contrary, was able to appoint at will a theme, which afterwards transformed itself, after a fashion apparently involuntary, but always in obedience to the laws of harmony and symmetry: a difference between two men, of which one possessed the poetical imagination in the highest degree of development, whilst the other devoted his life to the study of reality and of nature.

"Göethe says, 'When I close the eyes, on lowering the head, I imagine that I see a flower in the middle of my visual organ; this flower does not for a moment preserve its form: it is quickly decomposed, and from its interior are born otherflowers with coloured or sometimes green petals; these are not natural flowers, but fantastic, nevertheless regular, figures, such as the roses of sculptors. It was impossible for me to regard this creation fixedly, but it continued as long as I wished, without increasing or diminishing. Even when I figured to me a disc charged with various colours, I saw continually borne from the centre towards the circumference, new forms comparable to those that I could perceive in a kaleidoscope."[59]

Illusions arising from the production of the sensation of light, whether by pressure, mental emotion, or a disordered state of the health, have been a most prolific source of ghosts.

Imagine a person suffering from severe grief occasioned by the loss of a friend or relative; or one subject to superstitious terrors. On retiring to rest in a darkened apartment, the attention is attracted and wonder raised by the appearance of a cloud of pale white, or blueish coloured light (the colours which ghosts love to deck themselves in, and which are most readily excited) floating before the eyes. Unacquainted with its nature and source, he is naturally startled, and his superstitious fears are awakened. The imagination next coming into play, the luminous cloud ismoulded into the form of the person recently dead, or of the superstitious ideas most prominent in the mind of the individual at the time.

Or suppose a superstitious person passing, in the obscurity of the night, a place where some foul crime had been perpetrated. Terror gives rise to the production of a vivid sensation of light in the field of vision, and the imagination, as in the previous case, works out the rest.

The following cases are examples of the influence which the spontaneous appearance of light in the field of vision exercises in the development of spectral apparitions.

A gentleman who had lost his wife from a painful and protracted disease, for some time subsequently was troubled by her phantom, which remained before his eyes so long as he was in obscurity. On a light being brought, or during the day, this spectre vanished, but no sooner was he placed in darkness than it appeared vividly limned before him, and was a source of constant terror.[60]

This phantom was evidently due to the production of the sensation of light in the field of vision, and the subsequent effects of the imagination.

A gentleman with whom we are acquainted happened, when young, to have a severe fall on the head. After this accident and until he attained the age of eleven years, he was subject to visions of brilliant and variously coloured light, when he retired to bed at night, and all light in his room had been extinguished. Occasionally these visions were so gorgeous and resplendent that he is accustomed to compare them to the jewelled decorations of the palaces of the genii in the Arabian Nights' Entertainment. When about eleven years of age he got possession of a volume of legends and romances, which were pregnant with supernatural events and personages; and a friend injudiciously gave him a work full of ghost-stories, and entitled, "News from the Invisible World." These works he read with avidity, and the effect upon the mind was such that henceforth his nightly visions were transformed into foul, horrid, and often variously coloured spectres, rendering the period of time intervening between retiring to rest and sleep, one of unmitigated terror, and it became necessary to have a light constantly burning in the room until sleep occurred. After the twelfth year the intensity of the visions rapidly diminished, and at length only occurred when he turned himself upon his face in bed. In this position a sensation as if the bed had passed from under him occurred, and his eye formed thecentre of a circle of imps which whirled rapidly round it. The number of these spectres next began to diminish, and by the time he was fifteen years of age, but one remained, and this appeared only occasionally. This solitary spectre gradually lost its fiend-like form, and assumed that of a respectable-looking old Roman, clothed in a toga; and it at length vanished to re-appear no more.

This gentleman has for many years been free from any spectral apparition; but hard study, mental emotion, a disordered state of the health, or pressure with the finger on the eyeball, is apt to occasion a brilliant evolution of coloured light in the field of vision.

The spontaneous appearance of light in the visual field, in this case, formed the substratum upon which the mind moulded the spectres; and it is interesting to remark the influence which the perusal of a volume of legends and ghost-stories, and subsequent classical studies, had in determining the form of the phantasma.

To the same cause—the subjective phenomena of vision—are due the various coloured lights or luminous appearances which, in the experiments of Reichenbach, the believers in animal magnetism, mesmerism, and electro-biology, are supposed to have been seen issue, by the "susceptible," from the poles of magnetsplaced in darkened apartments, from so-called magnetised bodies, or from bodies placed in the conditions which the respective theories demand.

All the sensations of light that are experienced under these circumstances, and which have been sought to be explained by the assumption of the "od" force, or by the influence of magnetism, &c., are dependent on that excitation of a sensation of light in the eye when plunged into darkness, or when under certain mental emotions which we have fully explained.

This has been demonstrated by positive experiment; for if we take any of the "susceptibles," and, indeed, others, and place them in a darkened apartment, we may by simple suggestions excite all the luminous sensations attributed to the supposititious "od" force, or to "animal magnetism."

The luminous appearances which certain "sensitives" have averred that they witnessed over graves, were due also to the subjective phenomena of vision, excited by an expectant idea.

A young clergyman named Billing, who acted as an amanuensis to Pfeffer, the blind poet, asserted that he constantly saw, at night, a luminous cloud resting in one position in the poet's garden; and on search being made beneath the surface of the ground, at the spot occupiedby this phantasm, the remains of a skeleton were found.

Reichenbach concluded from this that the process of decomposition of a corpse going on in the grave, probably like what is observed in other forms of chemical action, gave rise to luminous appearances which were visible to highly "sensitive" persons.

"It appeared possible," he writes, "that such a person might see over graves in which mouldering bodies lie, something similar to that which Billing had seen. Mademoiselle Reichel had the courage, rare in her sex, to gratify this wish of the author. On two very dark nights she allowed herself to be taken from the Castle of Reisenberg, where she was living with the author's family, to the neighbouring churchyard of Grunzing. The result justified his anticipation in the most beautiful manner. She very soon saw a light, and observed on one of the graves, along its length, a delicate breathing flame; she also saw the same thing, only weaker, on a second grave. But she saw neither witches nor ghosts. She described the fiery appearance as a shining vapour, one to two spans high, extending as far as the grave, and floating near its surface. Sometime afterwards she was taken to two large cemeteries near Vienna, where several burials occur daily, and graves lie about by thousands. Here she saw numerous graves provided with similar lights. Wherever she looked she saw luminous masses scattered about. But this appearance was most vivid over the newest graves, while on the oldest it could not be perceived. She described the appearance less as a clear flame than as a dense vaporous mass of fire, intermediate between fog and flame. On many graves the flame was four feet high, so that when she stood on them it surrounded her up to the neck. If she thrust her hand into it, it was like putting it into a dense fiery cloud. She betrayed no uneasiness, because she had all her life been accustomed to such emanations, and had seen the same, in the author's experiments, often produced by natural causes."[61]

The total neglect of those precautions which are requisite to obviate the influence of expectant ideas and the subjective phenomena of vision in this experiment is most strange, and it is painful to witness men like Reichenbach, Gregory, and others, thus stumbling over some of the simplest facts of physiology and psychology, and utterly prostituting the name and calling of science.

Singular and fallacious as are the pseudo-scientific doctrines just mentioned, they are exceeded by the extraordinary speculations of other writers, who also appear to hold in utter contempt the ordinary laws of action of the senses. For example, Mrs. Crowe writes of the sensation of light perceived by somnambules and dreamers, and of the still more simple phenomenon of the sensation of light induced by the inhalation of ether, in the following manner:—

"All somnambules of the highest order,—and when I make use of this expression, I repeat that I do not allude to the subjects of mesmeric experiments, but to those extraordinary cases of disease, the particulars of which have been recorded by various continental physicians of eminence,—all persons in that condition describe themselves as hearing and seeing, not by the ordinary organs, but by some means the idea of which they cannot convey further than that they are pervaded by light; and that this is not theordinaryphysical light is evident, inasmuch as they generally see best in the dark,—a remarkable instance of which I myself witnessed.

"I never had the slightest idea of this internal light till, in the way of experiment, I inhaled the sulphuric ether; but I am now very well able to conceive it; for, after first feeling an agreeable warmth pervading my limbs, my next sensationwas to find myself—I cannot say in this heavenly light, for the light was inme—I was pervaded by it; it was not perceived by my eyes, which were closed, but perceived internally, I cannot tell how. Of what nature this heavenly light was—I cannot forbear calling itheavenly, for it was like nothing on earth—I know not,"[62]&c.

The sense ofhearing, like that of sight, in whatever manner it may be excited, only gives rise to the sensation of sound;e.g., when an electric current is passed through it, or a severe blow is struck upon it, and causes it "to ring," as it is expressed in common parlance. The rushing and other sounds—as of the ringing of bells, rustling of leaves, &c.—caused by a disordered state of the circulation in the head, are other examples; and there are perhaps few persons who have not at some time or other, started, and responded to their name, or to calls which they suppose they have heard, in the voice of persons who were at a distance, or who had not spoken.

A similar excitation of the nerves oftasteandsmellwill also give rise to their special sensations; but disorder of these nerves and their centres will rarely excite hallucinations, except in connection with a disturbed condition of the senses of sight and hearing.

Such are the simplest forms of hallucination of the senses of sight, hearing, taste, and smell; and we have seen that all the phenomena of light, colour, sound, taste, and smell, can occur in man without the presence of natural or artificial light, sonorous undulations of the air, sapid or odorous substances.

We are now in a position to comprehend more fully that, by the action of the imagination and emotions alone, the changes going on in the nervous centres may be so far disturbed that the whole of those sensations which are generally excited by agents external to the body may be called into play, and the mental idea assume, in light, colour and shade, sound, taste and touch, all the distinctness and definitiveness which appertains to an actual object within the sphere of the respective senses, and be considered as such.

If the mind revert to any of the varied sensations which are stored up in the memory, and are within the power of the will to recall, an image is conjured up before the "mind's eye," such that we can describe it as though a real object stood before us; and if it be that of a person—a parent, a friend, or one bound by even still stronger ties—every lineament, every peculiarity, is depicted with a fidelity but little less than that we shouldbe capable of were the individual actually present before us; or should it be a scene which has been treasured up for its grandeur, its loveliness, or for its being endeared to us by still stronger feelings, every characteristic feature, every object, is minutely and truly described; and did we possess the power of limning, not unfrequently we should find little difficulty in transferring the mental image to the canvass. "I think I see him now"—"She might be before me"—"I can call to mind every tree and stone, so vivid is the memory"—are forms of expression in constant use, and they contain the germ of the simplest form of ideal hallucination to which we are subject.

Under the influence of love, grief, remorse, or other powerful and protracted emotion, the ideas upon which the mind is concentrated assume a vividness, in many persons little short of the reality; and when Victorian, addressing Preciosa in the "Spanish Student" (Act I, Scene 3), is represented as saying:—

"Thou comest between me and those books too often;I see thy face in everything I see;The paintings on the chapel wear thy looks,The canticles are changed to sarabands;And with the learned doctors of the schools,I see thee dance cachucas;"

he makes use of no exaggerated poetical tropes or figures, but speaks the simple fact.[63]

A painful illustration of the vividness of the mental image under powerful emotion is afforded by a passage in "The Dream" of Lord Byron, in which he describes the images of the object and scenes of his youthful and only love, that occupied his mind, and rendered him insensible to the ceremony of his marriage until he was aroused from his abstraction by the congratulations of the bystanders.

"He spokeThe fitting vows, but heard not his own words,And all things reel'd around him; he could seeNot that which was, nor that which should have been,—But the old mansion, and the accustom'd hall,And the remember'd chambers, and the place,The day, the hour, the sunshine, and the shade,All things pertaining to that place and hour,And her who was his destiny, came back,And thrust themselves between him and the light."

The protracted devotion of the thoughts to the memory of those whom the grave has severed from us, or from whom we are separated by distance, and which is induced by grief, gives also to themental image great vividness. Exquisitely beautiful and true is the sentence placed in the mouth of Constance, when blamed for the grief she entertained on being separated from Prince Arthur:—

"Grief fills the room up of my absent child,Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me;Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words,Remembers me of all his gracious parts,Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form:Then have I reason to be fond of grief."

In direct proportion to the concentration of the mind in the contemplation of its own actions, is the brilliancy and distinctness of the ideas which pass athwart it; and in the state of abstraction or of reverie, when from intense meditation, or from mere inactivity, the sensations derived from surrounding objects are not attended to, the ideas are so defined that they differ but little from actual objects in the sensations they excite. So also in sleep, if, from any cause, physical or mental, we are roused into a state of semi-consciousness, as in dreaming, the phantasms of former events, stored up in the memory, and by certain sensations or trains of thought thrown to the surface, differ in no respect—light, colour, shade, or sound—from the sensations derived from the objects represented.

Should, therefore, the concentration of the mind upon any subject be such as to disturbthe natural functions of the brain, the mental image is liable to excite sensations, and to be pourtrayed with a distinctness and "outness" which approximates to, or equals, that of a real object, and it is regarded as such.

In the majority of individuals the concentration and intensity of feeling necessary for the production of hallucinations is of rare occurrence, and it is found only under such conditions as profound grief caused by death under painful or peculiar circumstances; from terror, excited by causes bringing powerful superstitious feelings into play—under which circumstances the hallucinations induced are generally transitory—or by emotions inordinately protracted; hence it is that we find visions of the dead among the most common of the temporary hallucinations. In the studious, and men of powerful thought, the mind being habituated to absorption in its own ideas, it not unfrequently happens that hallucinations occur from a disordered state of the brain induced by continued mental labour. These hallucinations are generally very vivid, and may arise either voluntarily or involuntarily, and may become habitual without the health being seriously disturbed.

It will be seen, therefore, that the action of the mental powers alone is sufficient to give rise to sensations which are regarded as resulting fromactual objects; and that from the simple vividness of the mental image, which is common to most persons, we may trace their effects, in a gradually ascending scale, in inducing mental conditions in which the brilliancy of the image is such that, for the time, it completely occupies the attention, and shuts out, as it were, the sensations derived from objects before the field of vision,—and in the formation of ideas so vivid and defined, that they take their position among surrounding, and excite the sensations proper to external, objects.

We have thus far spoken of the effects of the imagination on the healthy frame, but in certain disordered conditions of the nervous system, occurring either alone, or in connection with other and more general morbid alterations in the economy, hallucinations are more apt to occur than in health. The system in this state is more susceptible of the effects of emotion, and the images arising in the mind are more vivid than would happen from the same degree of excitement in health, and are readily converted into hallucinations. This is witnessed in certain forms of hysteria, febrile diseases, &c.; hence, in these disordered conditions of the system, the hallucinations are not to be attributed to the action of the mind, so much as to a morbid susceptibility to undergo those changes requisite to the production of hallucinations; and these are, consequently, induced by grades of emotion and by influences which would not have caused that in ordinary health.

On the other hand, the action of the mind in the development of hallucinations equally induces certain diseased states, either special or general. Even simple and temporary hallucination, in whatever manner caused, must be regarded as an indication that the changes going on in the nervous centres have passed the bounds of health; and according as the causes inducing hallucinations are more or less protracted, or the hallucinations are more or less persistent or frequent, so we may mark a greater or less deterioration in the mental powers, the nervous or the general system, or indications of more acute disease, to progress along with them, until the acme is reached in insanity, idiocy, or some more rapidly progressive and equally formidable disease.

To illustrate these remarks: Blake, the artist, who, after the death of Sir Joshua Reynolds, enjoyed great fame as a portrait-painter, owed his celebrity, in great part, to the singular fact that he required but one or, at the most, two sittings, from those whose portraits he painted. He was accustomed to regard the person who sat to him attentively for about half an hour, sketching from time to time on the canvas, and he would thenpass on to another subject. When he wished to continue the first portrait, on placing the canvas before him, he had the power of calling up so vivid a mental image of the personage, the outline of whose face was depicted upon it, that it assumed all the appearance of reality, and he perceived it in the position in which he required it to be. From this phantasm he painted, turning from the canvas and regarding it as he would have done had the representative of the phantom been there in person. By degrees he began to lose the distinction between the real and the imaginary objects, and at length a complete confusion of the mind occurred, rendering it necessary for him to be confined in an asylum. During his residence there, his insanity was marked by an exaggeration of that vivid power of imagination he had possessed previously; for he at will could summon before him the phantoms of any of the personages of history, and he held long and sensible conversations with Michael Angelo, Moses, Semiramis, Richard III, &c., all of whom appeared to him, when he desired, in the vivid hues and distinct outlines of reality.

Talma, the great French tragedian, had the power, when upon the stage, of causing the vestments of his audience to disappear, and of depicting them as skeletons. When the hallucination wascomplete, and he had filled the theatre with these ghastly auditors, he was enabled to give the fullest and most surprising force to his performance.

Examples of the influence of powerful and protracted emotions in inducing hallucinations are numerous. Dr. Conolly relates the case of a gentleman who, when at one time in great danger of being wrecked in a small boat on the Eddystone rocks, in the moment of greatest peril saw his family before him.

M. Boismont quotes the case of a world-known general who, when in a combat one day, was surrounded by the enemy, and in so great danger that escape seemed impossible. He, nevertheless, contrived to escape; but the impression made upon him was such, that afterwards, until a late period of life, he occasionally suffered from an hallucination in which the scene of danger was again presented before him and re-enacted; and when subsequently on a throne, sometimes the silence of the palace would be disturbed by his cries, as he struggled and fought with his phantom foes. The hallucination was momentary.

The intense emotion which Sir Richard Croft experienced on being summoned to attend the Princess Charlotte of Wales on her death-bed was such, that he saw her form, habited in white, glide along before his carriage.

A case is related by Boismont of a lady who, while suffering from the depression occasioned by receiving information that her daughter was seriously ill, heard a voice which addressed to her the words, "Lovest thou me?" The lady responded immediately, "Lord, thou knowest that I have placed all my confidence in thee, and that I love thee with all my soul." The voice then said, "Dost thou give her to me?" The lady trembled with fear, but summoning courage, she replied, "However painful the sacrifice may be, let Thy will be accomplished." This lady was deeply pious, and the hallucination arose from the powerful and painful emotion caused by the sudden news of her daughter's illness, inducing that disordered state of the nervous system, in which the thoughts naturally engendered in one who submitted everything to the Almighty, became audible.

The combined influence of love and sorrow has been a powerful source of hallucinations, and many of those wild and beautiful legends and tales which are scattered throughout the kingdom, recording the apparition of a deceased or distant lover to his betrothed, have been due to this cause.

Thus, as in the old ballad:—

Back to Index Next