OCR Rendition - approximate

736 THE VISIONS Or SANE PERSONS. became suddenly aware of the head of a seal, black, conspicuous, and motionless, just as though it had always been there, at a spot on which my eye bad rested a moment previously and seen nothing. Again, after awhile my eye wandered, and on its returning to the spot, the seal was gone. The water had closed in silence over its bead without leaving a ripple, and the sheen on the surface of the pond was as unbroken a.s when I first reached it. Where did the seal come from, and whither did it go? This could easily have been answered if the glare had not obstructed the view of the movements of the animal under water. As it. was, a solitary lint: in a continuous chain of actions stood isolated from all the rest. So it is with the visions ; a single stage in a series of mental processes emerges into the domain of consciousness. All that precedes and follows lies outside of it, and its character can only be inferred. We see in a general way, that a condition of the presentation of visions lies in the over-sensitiveness of certain tracks or domains of brain action, and the under-sensitiveness of others ; certain stages in a mental process being vividly represented in consciousness while the other stages are unfelt. It is also well known that a condition of partial hyperacsthesia and partial anxsthesia is a frequent functional disorder, markedly so among the hysterical and hypnotic, and an organic disorder among the insane. The abundant facts that I have collected show that it may also coexist with all the appearances of good health and sober judgment. A convenient distinction is made between hallucinations and illusions. Hallucinations are defined as appearances wholly due to fancy; illusions, as misrepresentations of objects actually seen. There is, however, a hybrid case which deserves to be specifically classed, and arising in this way. Vision, or any other sensation, may, as already stated, be a " direct " sensation excited in the ordinary way through the sense organs, or it may be an "induced" sensation excited from within. We have, therefore, direct vision and induced vision, and either of these may be the ground of an illusion. , So we have three cases to consider, and not two. There is simple hallucination, which depends on induced vision justly observed; there is simple illusion, which depends on direct vision fancifully observed ; and there is the hybrid case of which I spoke, which depends on induced vision fancifully observed. The problems we have to consider are, on the one hand, those connected with induced vision, and, on the other hand, those connected with the interpretation of vision, whether the vision be direct or induced. It is probable that much of what passes for hallucination proper belongs in reality to the hybrid case, being an illusive interpretation of some induced visual cloud or blur. I spoke of the ever-varying patterns in the field of view ; these, under some slight functional THE VISIONS OF SANE PERSONS. r37 change, might easily become more consciously present, and be interpreted into fantasmal appearances. Many cases, if space allowed, could be adduced to support this view. I will begin, then, with illusions. What is the process by which they are established ? There is no simpler way of understanding it, than by trying, as children often do, to gee " faces it) the fire," and to carefully watch the way in which they are first caught. Let its call to mind at the name time the experience of past illnesses, when the lidless gain wandered over the patterns on the wall-paper and the shadows of the bed-curtains, and slowly evoked faces and figures that. were not easily laid again. The process-of making the faces is so rapid in health that it is difficult to analyze it without the recollection of what, took place more slowly when we were weakened by illness. The first essential element in their construction is, I believe, the smallness of the area upon which the attention is directed at any instant, so that the eye has to move much before it, has travelled over every part of the object towards which it is directed. It is as with a plough, that must travel many miles before the whole of a small field can be tilled, but with this important difference-the plough travels methodically up and down in parallel furrows, the eye wanders in devious curves, with abrupt bends, and the direction of its course at any instant depends on four causes : on the most convenient muscular motion in a general sense, on idiosyncrasy, on the mood, and on the associations current at the moment. The effect of idiosyncrasy is excellently illus trated by the "Number forms," where we saw that a very special sharply defined track of mental vision was preferred by each individual who sees them. The influence of the mood of the moment is shown in the curves that characterize the various emotions, as the lank drooping lines of grief, which make the weeping willow so fit an emblem of it. In constructing fire-faces it seems to me that the eye in its wanderings follows a favourite course, and notices the points in the pictures at large that coincide with its course. It feels its way, easily diverted by associations based on what has just been noticed, and so by the unconscious practice of a system of " trial and error," at last finds a track that will suit-one that is easy to follow and that also makes a complete picture. The process is essentially the same as that of getting a clear idea from out of a confused multitude of facts. The fancy picture is dwelt upon, all that is incongruous with it. becomes disregarded, while all deficiencies in it are supplied by he fantasy. These latest stages. -are ;:easily represented , after the fashion of a diorama. Three lanterns are made to convbrge off the same.. screen. The first throws an image of what the imagination will -discard, the second of that which it will retain, the third'.& of that which it will supply. Turn