Evening journal., 1897-03-29
HALtUCINATI0NS.
NE OF 1HE CURIOUS EXAMPLES
RECORDED IN HISTORY.

hey Have Caused Tragedies.
The Importance of the part played by |
ninant hallucinotions in the history |
the world can scarcely be overrated.
lius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Sec
les, Luther, Ignatius Loyola. are hut !
ew Of the great men whose lives were !
imately entwined with ruling delu-
ms. In these cases the illusions seem
have been persistent and not to have
N produced by any voluntary effort
the part of the seer. On tie other
nd, Talma could walk On to the stage
I after staring at the brilliant and
|llauding audience for few seconds
uld see nothing but rows Of grinning
'letons. In this he seems to have fore
He'd Herr Roentgen, for the skeletons
re in the exact positions Of the mem
rs Of the audience and changed their
stures with every variation Of their
|itions Itwas to this grisly "house"
1t the great actor delivered some of
/ grandest histrionic efforts.
|5oethe, as might be expected, called
pleasanter and more peaceful visions.
will he could see a flower in the cen
Of his visual Geld. He thus described
This flower does not for a moment
serve its form; it is generally decom-
| ied, and from its interior are born
ler flowers with colorod, or sometimes
ben, petals. These are not natural
wers, but fantastic. nevertheless regu-
figures, such as the roses of sculp-
s. A"
The capacity for thus producing at
II lovely object had, however, the
advantage described by Abercrombie
his famous Inquiry Concerning TIE
ellectual Powers" that they were
! as a rule dismissible at pleasure.
Ike, after studying a model seated in
hair, could continue seeing her clearly
zen the chair was empty. This must
We been an economical way Of hiring
ubject by the hour and would he an
'eptable talent in these days Of highly
d models The CHASTITY case described
Sir Walter Scott Of the man who
ew that he was dying, and knew
ually well that there was nothing
iatever the matter with him, is per
ps tco familiar to need more than
ssing mention. The black cat that
is luckless man saw was, to use his
n words, no household cat, but a
bile Cf the elements which has no
istence. " This animal was as com
X in form rs the seer's metaphor, for
4 would turn suddenly into court
her, and the usher in his turn would
come a skeleton. This man showed no
E 'mptcms Ct insanity and was fully
are Of the unreality Of what be saw,
iich must greatly have added to the
rsistent misery of his condition.
An old gentleman described by the
e Dr. Elam had a power of conjuring
often without voluntary effort, two
more charming dancing girls, and the
tics CT these nymphs continued until
& ep came 10 the rescue. The old fellow
IS Of Il particularly pious and proper
IN Of mind, so that their gratuitous
] llet was presumably wasted on him.
colai Cf Berlin, q very level headed
want, was troubled for two months
tn the vision OF q corpse. The 'hallu-
lation lasted as u rule exactly eight
inutes, and the body was apparently
ways steady at a uniform distance Of
out ten feet from the observer
This trouble supervened suddenly
ter O violent quarrel in which Nicolai
d been engaged. Ultimately the
4 rpse and all the poor mans other de-
4 sions were driven back to their own
here by the prosaic attacks Of leeches
the temples. This treatment was
so most effective in dispelling the vi
ms Of a certain clergyman III Hamp-
ire late in the last century. He habit
. lily engaged in personal encounters
. lth the devil, until the leeches drove
e foul fiend out Of his visual field.
:. Bostock, the psychologist, saw the
ads of his friends Sin relief, like
adallions. Curiously enough, he
uld never coniure up their bodies
The great Napoleon was, as is gen
ally known, invariably attended by {
II. This story was implicitly believed
the time, and it is said to have been
st related by General Rapp, who, OF
sitting the monarch's tent at night
und Bonaparte excitedly pointing t,
corner CT The tent, crying: do yoI
e that-my star? 1t is shining Their
fore youv' At the period Of the ref
nation wrestling with the evil on
propria persona was by no means ~
& lcommcn exercise. Luther severa
mes indulged in these combats. Mr.
4 acky tells Us Of tho young monk VIII
shed up to SITS. Pachonius an,
n llWmon in the desert and told then
n citodly of the beautiful woman VIII
n I'd tempted him in his cell and, "hav
g worked her purpose, had vanishel
iraculously in the air, leaving hin
81 If dead upon the ground. The stor
81 los On TO say that the young monk
81 with q wild Shrek, broke away fron
is sanity listeners y and rushe
rcss the desert till he arrived at tn
,xt village and there leaped into tn
zen furnace Of the public baths an
s rishod in the flames.
Gazette was reported TO have habit
Il Ally drcaued with his eyes open, S
rat at tho dinner party when he sud
a ,nly said chat he saw Ccndorcet. VIII