Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1876-05-31

| intestinal difficulty or disease would arise
within him. Hosts Of similar illusions
could be cited, in ordinarily intelligent
and healthy persons
] Sometimes hullucnation seems to come
from the over sensitive sympathies of the
individual. There is a lady in this city,
delicate, yet not sckly, and very intelli.
gent, who is so sympathetic that if a story
is told her Of an accident she will, to all
intents and purposes suffer all the agonies
incident to that accident in her own per.
son. If she is told Of limb being ampu.
tated it will be as though some one had
amputated her limb A pain described
will cause her the hanucination of precise
ly the same pain. A most distressing
case of illusion, truly. Not unfreoucntly
some extraordinary hallucination will
seize person suffering temporarily under
some ordinary complaint A cold in the
head, simple as it is, has been known to
cause strange halludnations. A case is
recorded BY NJ. Descuret, in point: An
English clergyman was attacked witt,
simple influenza He at once, and
throughout the progress of his cold, i'm
agined that he was tripled--that he was
three in one.
He saw himself three times over, and
sometimes he must have seen his three
selves in very uncomfortable positions.
When he was in bed, for instance, if he
change his side, then the other two cler.
gymen would change their sides. They
would turn with him at the same time,
and finally place themselves over him,
giving the poor clergyman the very un-
comfortable idea that lie was being smoth.
cred by himself.
There is remarkable species of hallu-
cinaton which deserves more attention at
the hands of scientific inqurers than it
has yet received These illusions are
connected with peculiar state of
the individual, which may, for lack
of better term, be named walking.som.
nambulism or a condition which occurs
in the day time, when the individual is
not sleeping, and YET in which the insen.
sibility to external objects is almost as
great and as thorough rs in somnambu-
lism. In this peculiar condition vision
or hallucinations rise before the individ-
ual-he or she sees, hears, or feels per-
sons or things which have no real exist
ence, while at the same time he or she
takes no heed of the things or persons
which really do exist around them.
Sometimes this strange condition or state
will come suddenly. Sometimes it will
be preceded by symptoms more or less
connected with the nerves and head.
In this species OF temporary trance or
day-delirium a gentleman, who, in his Or
binary state, was not at all remarkable
either for romance or for memory, has
been heard to repeat correctly passages
from Lalla Rookh. Another gentleman
has been known to recollect the most mi.
mute details of incidents OF his childhood;
not one circumstance could he recollect
in his normal condition. A lady who
coHld not sing in her completely conscious
state has been heard in this semi con
scious condition to sing divinely. An
other has played the piano much better in
this state than when fully herself; while
a third lady who could not talk French in
her ordinary condition has spoken the
language tiuently and correctly when un-
der the extraordinary influence. Another
woman, when in this state, has been
known to be totally oblvious Of the room
in which she was, and the persons in 1t,
but at the same time to be under the illu-
sion that she was in favofite field play
ing with her pet dog; and although the
field was fifty miles away, and the dog
has been dead several years, her illusion
to both were so vivid and so correct that
she as it were, absolutely brought both
before the eyes of her astonished audi
tors.
And at this date there is connected with
Brooklyn evening paper business man,
middle-aged, and the father of large fam
ily who, in his rare but regularly occur
ring spells of day -delirium, iorgets all real
objects and fancies himself talking to an
intimate friend, long dead, to whom he
nsrrates everything and confdes every
thing, even matters which he conceals
from his wife and business associates. On
recovering from these frances, he is per-
fectly unaware that he has said or done
anything at all extraordinary.
Dr. Sayre, of Fifth avenue, was very
free in enunciating two dicta which he
held to be indisputable; first, that the
cases of absolute hallucination in persons
really sane and sound are very, very rare,
indeed-so much so, that In all his prac-
tice he only remembers three or four
cases; second, that every physician OF
standing and experience does know at
at least few such instances. DIR. Sayre
related two interesting cases. One exam
pie occurred in very wealthy and intiu-
entail family in this city few years
since. The wife and mother, q lady OF
more than ordinary intelligence, and per-
fectly sensible, who was model parent
and housekeeper, conceived the idea that
she had crocodile in her stomach.
The idea became fixed fact with her.
She was certain that it was not an eel, not
a snake, not a toad, but crocodile. And
she was also thoroughly assured that if
she did not give it just what crocodile
needed to eat, the reptile would feed upon
her intcstines and destroy her. In Other
words, the unfortunate lady was forced to
eat for two, for herself and for the croco
die and as luck would have it, the latter
was much the more troublesome OF the
.i.- LII In Ii