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world of passion and of feeling entire- | every public speaker, when he soars

ly different from that in which he lived and moved.

Important as these causes doubtless are, they are yet inadequate to the satisfactory solution of every phenomenon of spectral illusion. The connexion of the mind with the body is so intimate, that the diseases of the latter derange the operations of the former. Spectral illusion, under which phrase we include all those images of which we have the belief of reality, and which pass through the mind during | the hours of unconsciousness-those of which we have a distinct conception in that state of the mind termed reverie -and those "airy nothings" to which in our 66 mind's eye" we give a local habitation and a name during our waking moments-are accounted for by the disorder of the physical powers, and these again affecting the perception, conception, association, the memory, and imagination.

aloft into the regions of poetry and eloquence: but should the sensations become too acute-should they proceed beyond a certain point, variable in different constitutions—the operations of the mind will be weakened or suspended. We might adduce the effect produced by any powerful stimulant on the conception and imagination, as in the case of the drunkard, who emits not the sparks of his genius till he has swallowed his potion. But we shall content ourselves with citing the case of Sir Humphrey Davy, recorded by himself, and given by Hibbert in his Philosophy of Apparitions, in inhaling nitrous oxide. Having been enclosed in an air-tight breathing box, of the capacity of about nine cubic feet and a half, and allowed himself to be habituated to the excitement of the gas, which was carried on gradually, he left his place of confinement, having been there an hour and Information respecting the objects a quarter, during which period no less of perception, is usually supposed to a quantity than eighty quarts were be conveyed by the nerves, which per- thrown in: "The moment after I came vade every part of the body, to the out of the box," says he, "I began to brain, the ultimate seat of sensation. respire twenty quarts of unmingled If the sense of touch is violently af- nitrous oxide. A thrilling, extending fected, as in the case of the separation from the chest to the extremities, was of one of the nerves of the finger, the almost immediately produced. I felt pulse will be lowered in consequence a sense of tangible extension highly of the blood being driven from the pleasurable in every limb; my visible brain, and fainting ensues. Again, if impressions were dazzling, and appathere is a determination of blood to rently magnified. I heard distinctly the head, the vividness of the sensa- every sound in the room, and was pertion is at first increased, probably in fectly aware of my situation. By deconsequence of the extension of the grees, as the pleasurable sensation inblood-vessels bringing the nerves on creased, I lost all connexion with extheir surface into closer contact with ternal things; trains of vivid visible the flesh in which they are embedded; images rapidly passed through my but this acuteness of sensation being mind, and were connected with words carried beyond the limits which the in such a manner as to produce senhuman constitution can sustain, insensations perfectly novel. I existed in sibility, paralysis, and even death, a world of newly connected and newoccasionally ensues. How it is that the nerves thus communicate with the brain, and the brain is connected with the mind; though many conjectures have been formed, no satisfactory solution can be offered.

Cicero, when he declaimed in the forum against Cataline, felt the kindlings of anger. The blood rushed through his veins with greater velocity; the excitement was great, and the sensations proportionately vivid, -hence his ideas flowed with greater rapidity, and became increasingly pungent. This is probably the case with

ly modified ideas. When I was awa-
kened from this semi-delirious trance
by Dr. Kinglake, who took the bag
from my mouth, indignation and pride
were the first feelings produced by
the sight of the persons about me.
My emotions were enthusiastic and
sublime; and for a moment I walked
round the room perfectly regardless
of what was said to me.
As I re-
covered my former state of mind, I felt
an inclination to communicate the dis-
coveries I had made during the expe-
riment. I endeavoured to recall the
ideas, they were feeble and indis-

tinct. One recollection of terms, how- | busy, and recalls to our view scenes ever, presented itself, and with the which have previously delighted or most intense belief and prophetic pained us.* It calls individuals from manner, I exclaimed, Nothing exists their tomb, and gives them re-existbut thoughts; the universe is com- ence. We seem to converse and to posed of impressions, ideas, plea- associate with them. A multitude of sures, and pains." instances will recur to the mind. One, however, we must be allowed to mention, from its extraordinary nature and useful tendency.

The effect produced by the inhalation of the atmospheric air arising from the fens of Lincolnshire, the Pontine marshes of Rome, and the savannas of America, exhibits the counter part to this. The sluggish flow of the blood through the veins which it occasions, produces a corresponding dulness in the mind; and whilst under the influence of the malaria, every attempt at connected thought is unsuccessful. The control of the will over the thought is for the time either partially lost or totally suspended; hence the imagination is tortured by the most fantastic illusions.

That the process of thought depends much on the state of the brain, is evident from the result of severe application to study: the blood rushes to the brain, and produces a sensation which we term headache; every slight noise, which at any other time would not have affected us, becomes insupportable, and we are no longer able to think with coherency. Again, if we are shut up in a warm room, the brain is immediately affected by the alteration which the air produces in sensation.

From these observations, it is evident that the mind is so intimately connected with the body, that the disorder of the one will account for disorder in the other.

From the illustrations adduced, the will seems to be the principal power affected, and this of course powerfully operates on the associating principle. This may, perhaps, be seen in that state of being which we call sleep. It is not improbable that such a state of unconscious existence is produced by a flow of blood to the head, for in the analogous cases of trance and of apoplexy, similar effects seem to be produced by that cause. In the nightmare, the terrific visage of the being that sits "squat like a toad" upon the breast, is distinctly formed by the conception, and this feeling is produced by the altered state of the circulation of the blood, arising from the posture in which we lie. When we dream, memory is

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A minister who had gone some distance from home to supply the pulpit of another minister, had retired after dinner to an alcove in the garden of the house in which he was stopping: being fatigued with the labours of the morning, he had fallen asleep; he had not long been unconscious of the existence of the beautiful flowers that displayed their gay colours around him, when he thought he was addressed by a minister whom he well knew, and who was then in the zenith of his popularity, who seemed to stand before him. The minister whose spirit seemed to have visited this troubled scene, asked the other, who was sleeping, what time it was? and being answered, A quarter past four, he said, "Then I have been just one hour in hell." This led to some further inquiries respecting the cause; to which the spirit, that an uncontrolled imagination had created, replied, "It is not because I have been unfaithful, or have not preached the gospel, that I am thus punished, but because I sought not the glory of God, nor made it my only aim." In this case the conception of the individual was remarkably strong, and doubtless arose, in a considerable degree, from the previous current of thought and of feeling.

But conception is not only carried beyond its usual intensity during our unconscious hours. The associating principle is thrown into disorder, since scenes and occurrences of today are mingled with those which took place in our infancy. The greatest incongruities may be observed in all the creations of an uncontrolled fancy.

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In that state of mind which we term | become so intense as entirely to dereverie, the most fantastic images are stroy existence. formed. We seat ourselves in that hallowed hour when "light and darkness with each commix" before the glowing hearth, and

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"Tis thus the understanding takes repose In indolent vacuity of thought."

If the mind can form these vivid conceptions when the will is altogether in abeyance, or its controlling powers but slightly excited; it seems probable that if its whole power were put in requisition, we could bring before us more or less vividly every scene or shape which we might select from those with which our imagination furnished us. The practice of doing this will of course increase the ease with which it is effected. This may perhaps account for what is called the second-sight, professedly possessed by some individuals in the Highlands of Scotland.

In fevers, and in other disorders, ghosts are frequently the accompaniments of the sick chamber. The maniac too imagines himself a monarch or an hero, and the furniture around him, his officers and soldiers. Here the connexion of spectral illusion with physical causes is undeniable, and in many cases that have occurred, the same influence might have been traced, had they been more correctly recorded. The seducer has often been visited by the spectre of his deluded victim, whom his cruelty has forced to commit the crime of self-murder; the murderer, by the spirit of the individual who has fallen by his ruthless hand; the superstitious rustic, by some image with which he is most familiar. The boughless trunk of an ancient tree stands prominent in the gloom of darkness, and excites fear in the bosom, straining the eyeballs in fixed gazing; a disordered imagination soon moulds it into some being whose soul cannot rest till it has divulged the secret crime by which it was sent from earth to hades.

Cases have not been wanting, of persons whose sensations, arising from the vivid conceptions of immaterial objects and disembodied spirits, have

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The extraordinary case of Nicolai, the bookseller of Berlin, proves to demonstration that spectral illusion may often be traced to physical causes. It is recorded by the author to whom we have already referred, and from whom we quote it; and it is the more worthy of our attention from its being given in the words of Nicolai himself, who was a man of talent, capable of observing what passed in his own mind, and of tracing events to their causes.

"In a state of mind completely sound, and after the first terror was over, with perfect calmness I saw," says this extraordinary man, "for nearly two months, almost constantly and involuntarily, a vast number of human and other forms, and even heard their voices."

After stating that several unpleasant events had recently occurr'd, which extremely distressed him, he observes

"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 therefore alarmed her very much, and she immediately sent for a physician. The phantom continued about eight minutes. 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 emotion, and hoped there would be no return: but the violent agitation of my mind had in some way disordered my nerves, and produced further consequences which deserve a more minute description.

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"At four in the afternoon, the form which I had seen in the morning reappeared. I was by myself when this happened, and being rather uneasy at the incident, went to my wife's apartment, but there also I was persecuted by the apparition, which, however, at intervals disappeared, and always

presented itself in a standing posture, About six o'clock there appeared also several walking figures, which had no connexion with the first. After the first day the form of the deceased person no more appeared, but its place was supplied with many other phantasms, sometimes representing acquaintances, but 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 phantoms, these representing chiefly persons who lived at some distance from me.

"These phantasms seemed equally clear and distinct at all times, and under all circumstances, both when I was by myself, and when I was in company, and as well in the day as in the night, in my own house as well as abroad; they were, however, less frequent when I was in the house of a friend, and rarely appeared to me in the street. When I shut my eyes, sometimes these phantasms would vanish entirely, though there were instances when I beheld them with my eyes closed; yet when they disappeared on such occasions, they generally returned when I opened my eyes. I conversed sometimes with my physician and my wife of the phantasms which at the moment surrounded me; they appeared more frequently walking than at rest, nor were they constantly present, they frequently did not come for some time, but always reappeared for a longer or a shorter period, either singly or in company, the latter, however, being most frequently the case. I generally saw human forms of both sexes, but they usually seemed not to take the smallest notice of each other, moving as in a market-place, where all are eager to press through the crowd; at times, however, they seemed to be transacting business with each other. I also saw several times people on horseback, dogs, and birds. All these phantasms appeared to me in their natural size, and as distinct as if alive, exhibiting different shades of carnation in the uncovered parts, as well as in different colours and fashions of their dresses, though the colours seemed somewhat paler than in real nature; none of the figures appeared particularly terrible, comical, or disgusting,

most of them being of an indifferent shape, and some presenting a pleasing aspect.

"The longer these phantoms continued to visit me, the more frequently did they return, while, at the same time, they increased in number about four weeks after they had first ap→ peared. I also begun to hear them talk: these phantoms sometimes conversed among themselves, but more frequently addressed their discourse to me: their speeches were commonly short, and never of an unpleasant turn. At different times there appeared to me both dear and sensible friends of both sexes, whose addresses tended to appease my grief, which had not yet wholly subsided: their consolatory speeches were in general addressed to me when I was alone. Sometimes, however, I was accosted by these consoling friends while I was engaged in company, and not unfrequently while real persons were speaking to me. These consolatory addresses consisted sometimes of abrupt phrases, and, at other times, they were regularly executed."

He also states, that these phantoms gradually vanished, when, by the application of leeches, fulness of blood was diminished. Thus proving, that spectral illusion may often be traced to the disorders of the mind, arising from physical disease, or other pre-> disposing causes, consisting as it does in the objects of our conception or imagination becoming more vivid than those of sensation or perception.

Ελια.

PROVIDENTIAL INTERPOSITIONS.

IN the winter of 1765 a countryman near Sunderland, who was employed in repairing a hedge near an old stone quarry, went to eat his dinner, which he had brought with him, in a deep cavity or hollow place, to be sheltered from the weather. As he went, he laid down his hedging gloves, and threw them on one side. While he was at his repast, he observed a raven come and take up one of the gloves, with which he flew away; and soon after the bird returned and seized the other, with which it flew off as before. man, upon this, rose up to see which way the raven had gone; and he was hardly clear from the quarry, before he saw a large quantity of ground,

The

full of loose pieces of rock, tumble down, and cover the very spot he had just left, and where, if he had continued a minute longer, he must have been crushed to pieces.

Three miles from Blenheim, there is a portrait of Sir Henry Lee, with a mastiff dog which saved his life; the reason of which is this:-A servant had formed the design of murdering his master and robbing the house; but the night he had fixed on, the dog, which had never been much noticed by Sir Henry, followed him for the first time up stairs, got under his bed, and could not be got out; on which Sir Henry suffered him to remain. In the dead of the night, the servant entered the room to execute his horrid design, but was instantly seized by the dog, and being secured, confessed his intention. There are some quaint lines on the picture, concluding thus: "But in my dog, whereof I made no store, I find more love than those I trusted more."

GLEANINGS.

Death of Alexander Tilloch, LL.D., F.S.A., &c. This amiable and worthy man, who has long distinguished himself in the literary world as the conductor of the Philosophical Magazine, and the author of many valuable works, departed this life on the morning of Wednesday, Jan. 26, 1825, through a lingering decay of nature. Of Dr. Tilloch we published a striking likeness in the third volume of the Imperial Magazine, and we hope shortly to furnish our readers with an interesting memoir of his life.

Riding Lamps.-Much curiosity was lately excited about nine o'clock one evening in the Strand, London, by the appearance of a gentleman on horseback, from whose feet streams of light issued forth, and shewed the pavement for several yards before and round the head of his horse, as clearly as in day-time. The light proceeded from a set of lamps of his invention, one of which was fixed under each stirrup, and having three sides darkened, emitted in front a blaze which was prevented by the rider's feet from rising to dazzle his eyes, and fell on the foreground with such power as to make every hollow or impediment visible, and render it as safe to ride in the darkest night as in the brightest noon. The lamps are supplied with common oil, and so ingeniously arranged, that the light is not affected in the least by the motion of the horse. The gentleman had just ridden from Romford, in Essex, to London, and his lamps were in as good order, and shone as brilliantly, as when he set out.

Culinary Exotic.-A new vegetable, called the asparagus potato, has been introduced into this country. It comes into season just as the asparagus goes out.

Aurora Borealis. -Professor Hansteen con

siders the Aurora Borealis as a luminous ring varying from 20 deg. to 40 deg. and at the surrounding the magnetical pole, with a radias height of about 100 miles above the surface of the earth. It is formed, be thinks, by luminous columns shooting upward from the earth's surface, in a direction parallel to the inclination of the needle, and to the direction of the earth's magnetism: these columns render the atmosphere quite opaque while they pass through it, and only become luminous after they pass beyond it. From the outer or convex side of the ring, beams dart forth in a diascend towards the zenith; and if they are so rection nearly perpendicular to the arch, and long as to pass it towards the south, they collect in the south in a sort of corona or glory, which is situated in that point of the heavens to which the south pole of the needle points. Professor H. finds that the observations made respecting the northern Aurora are well explained by this hypothesis; and he has collected facts to shew that a similar ring exists around the southern magnetic pole situated in New Holland, the northern being in North of observations is rather deficient, that similar America. He infers farther, though the stock luminous rings exist above the two extremities of the secondary magnetic axis, in Siberia and in Terra del Fuego.

State of Catholicism in England.-It appears, from an official statement just published, that there are 256 Catholic chapels in England, 71 charity and other schools, and 348 officiating priests. Of these, twelve chapels, one school, and eight priests, are in the county of Hants; six chapels and five priests in Sussex; three chapels and two priests in Wiltshire; six chapels and six priests in Devonshire; seven chapels, one school, and eight priests in Dorsetshire. In Lancashire there appears to be the largest number, there being eighty-one chapels, six schools, and seventy-nine priests.

Gas Baths. The establishment at Baden, of small apartments, in which the gas, disengaged from the hot mineral waters, is collected, and respired by invalids, has been found a most beneficial invention. Upwards of three hundred persons experienced great relief from inhaling this gas, last summer; and a similar establishment is about to take place at the baths of the Pyrenees.

Natural History.-Accounts from Iceland of last March relate a singular phenomenon in natural bistory, viz.-that the eruption of the volcanoes Orfildsjokelen and Kotlugjan having ceased, the latter had since discharged immense masses of water, with so much force that the neighbouring country had been inundated, and three men became the victims of this strange deluge. The last winter was not cold, although a great quantity of snow had fallen amidst terrible storms of wind.

Polar Observations.-A little work has been lately published at Paris, which will be very interesting to astronomers and mariners. It consists of tables for calculating the latitude of a place by polar observations, constructed according to the formula of M. Littrow, the celebrated astronomer of Vienna. By these tables the logarithmetic operations which M. Littrow's method requires are greatly facilitated.

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