Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1872-06-15
HaIIucinatiOns.

That this extraordinary faculty is one
that cannot long be exercised with i'm.
punity is also illustrated by the case OF
the gifted but eccentric poctpainter and
engraver, William Blake. His mode OF
portraitpainting was certainly peculiar
His own account of it to Wigan was as
follows: When model was presented,
I looked at it attentively for half an
hour, sketehing occasionally ON the can
vas. had no need OF b longer sitting.
/ put aside the drawing, and passed to
another person. WhenI wished to con-
tinue the first portrait, took the subject
of it into my mind; put him in the
chair, where perceived him as distinctly
as if he had been therein reality-I may
even add, with form and color more de-
fined than in the original contem-
plated from time to time the imagin airy
figure. suspended my work to exam
inc the pose; every time | cast my eye
on the chair saw the man" In one
year he stated that he had painted three
hundred portraits, great and small. But
the Nemesis of an overstretched imagi-
nation inevitably overlook him; by de-
grees he lost the power to distinguish
between the real and the imaginary sit
ters; his mind became confused and IN
hinged, and he spent thirty years in an
asylum. ~ &5NsS esAi & Q s0k 9
Hyacinthe Langlois, an intimate friend
of Talma, relates that the celebrated
actor informed him that when he came
on the stage he was able, by force of
will, to make his large and brilliant
auditory disappear, and to substitute
skeletons in their place. When his
imagination had thus filled the theater
with these singular spectators, their re-
active power on himself was such as
often to give his presentations most
powerful effect. Sir Thomas Browne,
Jerome Cardan and Goethe also pos
sessed, in various degrees, this remark
able faculty. 1t implies the possession
of great power Of rapid observation, Of
"amemory tenacious even of minute de-
tails, of the ability to withdraw the at
tention completely from the immediate
surroundings and to concentrate it on
the mental idea, and of great force of
imagination. That the exercise of
such complex faculty must involve Sc
we're physical strain is evident from the
frequency with which it throws the del
icate mental machinery out of gear.
1T is curious to note the number of
men eminent in literature or prominent
in history, who have been the subjects Of
temporary OR persistent hallucinations,
or of whom, at all events, such an allie
CATION has been made. To mention only
a few: Socrates had warnings from his
demon; Brutus saw bis evil genius be-
fore Phillippi; Cromwell is said to have
been visited by woman of gigantic
stature, who assured him he would yet
be king; Napoleon believed in his star,
at which General Rapp found him on
one occasion gazing in RAPTURE Joan of
Arc heard voices and had revelations;
Lord Castlereagh saw, on one occasion,
a spectral child Ben Jonson informed
Drummond of Hawthornden that he had
passed night in looking at Tartars and
Turks, Romans and Carthagenians, fight
ing round his great toe; Malebranche
heard the voice of Deityj Lord Herbert
of Cherbury heard an agreeable noise in
the heavens, which he accepted as fa-
vorable- response to his prayer for direc-
ton in regard to the publication of
book; Pope and Byron saw each, on one
occasion, q specter The cases Of No
hammed, Luther, Paschal, Ignatius 10y
ola, Colonel Gardiner, and . host of
others, will occur to the reader as being
probably examples of hallucination, de-
termined By that most prolific source of
illusions, strong religious feeling.