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"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."

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"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 attend ing "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

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"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

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tion, and hoped that there would be no "return, but the violent agitation of my "mind had in some way disordered my

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nerves, and produced farther conse

quences which deserve a more minute description."

"At four in the afternoon, the form "which I had seen in the morning re

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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myself perfectly well. As when the first "terror was over, I beheld the phantasms "with great emotion taking them for what

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they really were, remarkable consequen"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

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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 appeared to me, and now again dis

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appeared. After repeated and close observations, 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 66 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

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were not modified by any known laws "of reason, imagination, or the common "association of ideas, and that probably "other people who may have had similar "apparitions, were exactly in the same predicament. The origin of the indivi"dual forms which appeared to me, was "undoubtedly founded on the nature of my mind, but the manner in which it "was thus affected, will probably remain "for ever as inscrutable as the origin of thought and reflection. After the first

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day the form of the deceased person no "more appeared, but in its place, there appeared many other phantasms, some"times representing acquaintances, but

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mostly strangers, those whom I knew "were composed of living and deceased persons, but the number of the latter "was comparatively small. I observed "the persons with whom I daily conversed

did not appear as phantasms, these repre"senting chiefly persons who lived at some "distance from me. I attempted to pro

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