galton.org 121
Visionaries
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mistook them for reality, although they were very distinct. This is quite a
typical case, similar in most respects to many others that I have.
[1]
A notable proportion of sane persons have had not only visions, but
actual hallucinations of sight, sound, or other sense, at one or more
periods of their lives. I have a considerable packet of instances
contributed by my personal friends, besides a large number communicated
to me by other correspondents. One lady, a distinguished authoress, who
was at the time a little fidgeted, but in no way over wrought or ill, assured
me that she once saw the principal character of one of her novels glide
through the door straight up to her. It was about the size of a large doll,
and it disappeared as suddenly as it came. Another lady, the daughter of
an eminent musician, often imagines she hears her father playing. The day
she told me of it the incident had again occurred. She was sitting in her
room with her maid, and she asked the maid to open the door that she
might hear the music better. The moment the maid got up the
hallucination disappeared. Again, another lady, apparently in vigorous
health, and belonging to a vigorous family, told me that during some past
months she had been plagued by voices. The words were at first simple
nonsense; then the word “pray” was frequently repeated; this was
followed by some more or less coherent sentences of little import, and
finally the voices left her. In short, the familiar hallucinations of the
insane are to be met with far more frequently than is commonly supposed,
among people moving in society and in good working health.
I have now nearly done with my summary of facts; it remains to make
a few comments on them.
The weirdness of visions lies in their sudden appearance in their
vividness while present, and in their sudden departure. An incident in the
Zoological Gardens struck me as a helpful simile. I happened to walk to
the seal-pond at a moment when a sheen rested on the unbroken surface of
the water. After waiting a while I became suddenly aware of the head of a
seal, black, conspicuous,
[1]
See some curious correspondence on this subject in the St. James Gazette, Feb. 10,
15, and 20, 1882.
