In the language

upon it except in the slightest manner. of common life, we sometimes speak of a moral insanity, in which a man rushes headlong through a course of vice and crime, regardless of every moral restraint, of every social tie, and of all consequences, whether more immediate or future. Yet, if we take the most melancholy instance of this kind that can be furnished by the history of human depravity, the individual may still be recognised, in regard to all physical relations, as a man of a sound mind; and he may be as well qualified as other men for the details of business, or even the investigations of science. He is correct in his judgment of all the physical relations of things; but, in regard to their moral relations, every correct feeling appears to be obliterated. If a man, then, may thus be correct in his judgment of all physical relations, while he is lost to every moral relation, we have strong ground for believing that there is in his constitution a power distinct from reason, but which holds the same sway over his moral powers that reason does among his intellectual; and that the influence of this power may be weakened or lost, while reason remains unimpaired. This is the moral principle, or the power of conscience. It has been supposed by some to be a modification of reason, but the considerations now referred to appear to favor the opinion of their being distinct. That this power should so completely lose its sway while reason remains unimpaired, is a point in the moral constitution of man which it does not belong to the physician to investigate. The fact is unquestionable; the solution is to be sought for in the records of eternal truth.

IV. SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.

The theory of spectral illusions is closely connected with that of the affections treated of in the preceding parts of this section; and I shall conclude this subject with a very brief notice of some of the most authentic facts relating to them, under the following heads :

I. False perceptions, or impressions made upon the senses

Moral insanity. Its character? Moral principle. Spectral illusions; classes. False perceptions.

only, in which the mind does not participate. Of this class there are several modifications, which have been referred to under the subject of perception. I add in this place the following additional examples :-A gentleman of high mental endowments, now upwards of eighty years of age, of a spare habit, and enjoying uninterrupted health, has been for eleven years liable to almost daily visitations from spectral figures. They in general present human countenances; the head and upper parts of the body are distinctly defined; the lower parts are, for the most part, lost in a kind of cloud. The figures are various, but he recognises the same countenances repeated from time to time, particularly, of late years, that of an elderly woman, with a peculiarly arch and playful expression, and a dazzling brilliancy of eye, who seems just ready to speak to him. They appear also in various dresses, such as that of the age of Louis XIV.; the costume of ancient Rome; that of the modern Turks and Greeks; but more frequently of late, as in the case of the female now mentioned, in an oldfashioned Scottish plaid of Tartan, drawn up and brought forward over the head, and then crossed below the chin, as the plaid was worn by aged women in his younger days. He can seldom recognise among the spectres any figure or countenance which he remembers to have seen; but his own face has occasionally been presented to him, gradually undergoing the change from youth to manhood, and from manhood to old age. The figures appear at various times of the day, both night and morning; they continue before him for some time, and he sees them almost equally well with his eyes open or shut, in full daylight or in darkness. They are almost always of a pleasant character, and he seems to court their presence as a source of amusement to him. He finds that he can banish them by drawing his hand across his eyes, or by shutting and opening his eyelids once or twice for a second or two; but on these occasions they often appear again soon after. The figures are sometimes of the size of life, and sometimes in miniature; but they are always defined and finished with the clearness and minuteness of the finest painting. They sometimes ap

Examples. Form and appearance of the figures? Costume? Times of their appear. ing? His command over them? Their size?

pear as if at a considerable distance, and gradually ap proach until they seem almost to touch his face; at other times they float from side to side, or disappear in ascending or descending. In general, the countenance of the spectre s presented to him; but on some occasions he sees the back of the head, both of males and females, exhibiting various fashions of wigs and head-dresses, particularly the nowing, full-bottomed wig of a former age. At the time when these visions began to appear to him, he was in the habit of taking little or no wine, and this has been his common practice ever since; but he finds that any addition to his usual quantity of wine increases the number and vivacity of the visions. Of the effect of bodily illness he can give no account, except that once, when he had a cold and took a few drops of laudanum, the room appeared entirely filled with peculiarly brilliant objects, gold and silver ornaments, and precious gems; but the spectral visions were either not seen or less distinct. Another gentleman, who died some time ago at the age of eighty, for several years before his death never sat down to table at his meals without the impression of sitting down with a large party dressed in the fashion of fifty years back. This gentleman was blind of one eye, and the sight of the other was very imperfect; on this account he wore over it a green shade, and he had often before him the image of his own countenance, as if it were reflected from the inner surface of the shade. A very remarkable modification of this class of illusions has been communicated to me by Dr. Dewar of Stirling. It occurred in a lady who was quite blind, her eyes being also disorganized and sunk. She never walked out without seeing a little old woman with a red cloak and a crutch, who seemed to walk before her. She had no illusions when within doors.

II. Real dreams, though the person was not at the time sensible of having slept, nor consequently of having dreamed. A person, under the influence of some strong mental impression, drops asleep for a few seconds, perhaps without being sensible of it; some scene or person connected

Effect of wine? Effect of illness? Another case? Case of the blind lady? Real dreams.

with the impression appears in a dream, and he starts up under the conviction that it was a spectral appearance. I have formerly proposed a conjecture by which some of the most authentic stories of second sight may be referred to this principle; others seem to be referable to the principles to be mentioned under the next head. Several cases mentioned by Dr. Hibbert are also clearly of the nature of dreams. The analogy between dreaming and spectral illusions is also beautifully illustrated by an anecdote which I received lately from the gentleman to whom it occurred, an eminent medical friend. Having sat up late one evening, under considerable anxiety about one of his children, who was ill, he fell asleep in his chair, and had a frightful dream, in which the prominent figure was an immense baboon. He awoke with the fright, got up instantly, and walked to a table which was in the middle of the room. He was then quite awake and quite conscious of the articles around him; but close by the wall, in the end of the apartment, he distinctly saw the baboon making the same horrible grimaces which he had seen in his dream; and the spectre continued visible for about half a minute.

III. Intense mental conceptions so strongly impressed upon the mind as for the moment to be believed to have a real existence. This takes place when, along with the mental emotion, the individual is placed in circumstances in which external impressions are very slight; as solitude, faint light, and quiescence of body. It is a state closely bordering upon dreaming, though the vision occurs while the person is in the waking state. The following example is mentioned by Dr. Hibbert :-A gentleman was told of the sudden death of an old and intimate friend, and was deeply affected by it. The impression, though partially banished by the business of the day, was renewed from time to time by conversing on the subject with his family and other friends. After supper, he went by himself to walk in a small court behind his house, which was bounded by extensive gardens. The sky was clear, and the night serene; and no light was falling upon the court from any of the windows. As he

Second sight. Cases. Example; dream of the baboon. Intense mental conceptions. Under what circumstances most frequent? Case of the apparition.

walked down stairs, he was not thinking of any thing connected with his deceased friend; but when he had proceeded at a slow pace about half-way across the court, the figure of his friend started up before him in a most distinct manner at the opposite angle of the court. "He was not in his usual dress, but in a coat of a different color, which he had for some months left off wearing. I could even remark a figured vest which he had also worn about the same time; also a colored silk handkerchief around his neck, in which I had used to see him in a morning; and my powers of vision seemed to become more keen as I gazed on the phantom before me." The narrator then mentions the indescribable feeling which shot through his frame; but he soon recovered himself, and walked briskly up to the spot, keeping his eyes intently fixed upon the spectre. As he approached the spot it vanished, not by sinking into the earth, but seeming to melt insensibly into air.

A similar example is related by a most intelligent writer in the Christian Observer for October, 1829:-" An intimate friend of my early years, and most happy in his domestic arrangements, lost his wife under the most painful circumstances, suddenly, just after she had apparently escaped from the dangers of an untoward confinement with her first child. A few weeks after this melancholy event, while travelling during the night on horseback, and in all probability thinking over his sorrows, and contrasting his present cheerless prospects with the joys which so lately gilded the hours of his happy home, the form of his lost relative appeared to be presented to him at a little distance in advance. He stopped his horse, and contemplated the vision with great trepidation, till in a few seconds it vanished away. Within a few days of this appearance, while he was sitting in his solitary parlor late at night, reading by the light of a shaded taper, the door, he thought, opened, and the form of his deceased partner entered, assured him of her complete happiness, and enjoined him to follow her footsteps. This second appearance was probably a dream; the first is distinctly referable to the principles stated in the preceding observations.

Effect on the observer? Case described in the Christian Observer. First appearance? Second appearance? Explanation of the two?