66 66 uninterrupted series of misfortunes that "afflicted me with the most poignant grief. "I was accustomed to be bled twice a 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 phy"sicians 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; particularly 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 congestions in the head. The last leeches " which had been put on, previous to the "appearance of the phantasms of which "I am about to speak, had been applied 66 66 66 on the first of March 1790, less blood "had consequently been evacuated in "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." 66 “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 person "came into my apartment in the morning "in order to console me, but I was too "much agitated by a series of incidents "which had most powerfully affected my "moral feeling, to be capable of attending "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 "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 nerves, and produced farther consequences which deserve a more minute description." "At four in the afternoon, the form "which I had seen in the morning re 66 66 appeared. I was by myself when this happened, and being rather uneasy at "the incident, went to my wife's apart"ment, but there likewise I was prevented 66 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 walking figures, which had no connec"tion with the first." "I cannot assign any other cause of all "this, than a continued rumination on the "vexations I had suffered, which, though " calmer, I could not forget, and the consequences of which I meditated to coun"teract; these meditations occupied my "mind three hours after dinner, just when my digestion commenced. I consoled 66 myself at last with respect to the disagree"able incident which had occasioned the "first apparition, but the phantasms con"tinued to encrease and change in the "most singular manner, though I had "taken the proper medicine and found "myself perfectly well. As when the first "terror was over, I beheld the phantasms "with great emotion taking them for what they really were, remarkable consequen 66 ces of an indisposition, I endeavoured to "collect myself as much as possible, that "I might preserve a clear consciousness of "the changes which should take place "within myself; I observed these phan"tasms very closely, and frequently re"flected on my antecedent thoughts to 66 discover, if possible, by means of what "association of ideas exactly these forms "presented themselves to my imagination; "I thought at times I had found a clue, "but taking the whole together I could "not make out any natural connection "between the occupations of my mind, my occupations, my regular thoughts, "and the multifarious forms which now 66 -46 66 appeared to me, and now again dis appeared. After repeated and close ob"servations, and calm examination, I was "unable to form any conclusion relative "to the origin and continuation of the "different phantasms which presented "themselves to me. All that I could infer "was, that while my nervous system was "in such an irregular state, such phan"tasms would appear to me as if I actually "saw and heard them; that these illusions |