sarily becomes a prey to the delusion. It receives the mere phantoms of the brain as real existences; it dwells in an ideal world, and sports in the regions of airy nothing, as among the substantial realities of life.

There is one very common instance of an illusion of the sense of touch and of the muscular sense, which we do not recollect to have seen noticed as such by any writer upon the philosophy of the mind. A person on coming to land after a rough sea-voyage frequently continues for some time to feel the motion of the vessel. The earth seems to rock and heave beneath his feet. And here the sight corrects the mistakes of touch and the muscular sense. The illusion would be complete, were not the mistake corrected by the visible presence of surrounding objects. The individual would suppose himself tossed by a raging sea, did not his own eyes convince him of the absence of the vessel, and that he is securely planted upon terra firma. The writer of this article recollects his having been once sea-sick on board a steamboat. In this state of extreme nausea he was exceedingly annoyed by the odor of the oil about the machinery and by the fumes of cigars, which, in his attempts to get a breath of fresh air, he encountered upon the upper deck. After he had left the boat at night and retired to his bed-chamber, he suddenly had a recurrence of the various sensations, which he had experienced while at sea-the motion of the boat, the odor of the oil upon the machinery and of the fumes of tobacco, together with the sea-sickness. Here the sensations were evidently produced by the brain's being made to repeat some of the states, through which it had passed during the day. The same explanation applies to all those cases, in which a person continues to feel the motion of the vessel after landing from a voyage at sea.

Enough has been said upon this point to illustrate the influence, which the states of the brain may have upon the sensations. Disordered muscular contraction in the form of spasms, convulsions, etc., frequently results from disturbed states of the brain. But we need not enlarge on this point.

2. The operations of the mind, depending as they do, upon the instrumentality of the brain, are much affected by the changing states of this organ. We need not adduce any examples to illustrate this position. It is taken for granted in every good treatise on insanity; and upon it is based the whole plan of the medical treatment of that disease.

3. The acts and emotions of the mind may produce an effect upon the condition of the brain; and as the brain has an extensive sympathy with all parts of the body, the mental state may, through the brain, influence the condition of the external senses and of voluntary motion. We have shown, that the brain may be in such a state, as, not only to influence the sensations, but to give rise to all the phenomena of sensation and perception, without the intervention of any external impression. Now, from what we have said above, it may be inferred, that the mental acts and emotions may produce those states of the brain, from which result the preternatural sensations to which we have alluded.

We shall now proceed to illustrate by a few examples the
influence of the mind upon the external sensations. Under this
head we may first speak of the voluntary states of the mind,
and secondly of those mental states, which are not much under
the control of the will. We make this distinction rather as one
of convenience, than as possessing much philosophical merit.

Among the voluntary mental states which affect the external
senses, we may mention the intense application of the mind to
interesting studies. It is a matter of common notoriety, that
persons thus engaged in study are unconscious of what takes
place around them. They do not hear or feel with the same
readiness as when the mind is not intent on any particular sub-
ject. We are generally told by metaphysicians that such an
individual hears, but from the attention's being directed another
way, he forgets having heard. But is not a person's own con-
sciousness the only decisive evidence, which we can have of his
bearing or exercising any of the other senses?-And how can
we say that a person hears or feels, when he manifests no sign +

of it at the time, and has no recollection of it afterwards? The
whole mystery, we apprehend, is explained by supposing that
the intense concentration of the mind puts the brain into a state,
which renders it unable, for the time, to respond to the external
impression, or, which is the same thing, prevents it from acting
its part in the physiology of sensation. Some physiologists
might explain this fact by saying, that the whole nervous energy
is absorbed in the intensity of the mental action, so that there is,
for the time being, no power left to carry on the function of
sensation; while some metaphysicians attribute the cause of this
phenomenon to the mind, by saying that it has been prevented,
by previous engagement, from performing its part in this func-

+ Cottention to pain, r.g, toot hat ache, agravates Au wil + v the

tion. Whether we adopt any one of these hypotheses, or reject them all, the fact that the mental states affect the external senses still remains undisturbed.

In the history of Archimedes we have a remarkable example of the effect of deep study in diminishing or suspending the action of the external senses. We are told, that, being engaged in mathematical investigations, he was entirely unconscious of the noise and tumult attending the capture and sacking of Syracuse, until he was surprised by the armed soldiers breaking into his study; and perhaps the stroke of the assassin's dagger was the first thing that could break his deep meditation.

It is worthy of remark, that, while these voluntary states of the mind, tend to diminish external sensibility, they are attended with a corresponding increase of mental activity and power. This is remarkably the case with some religious enthusiasts, who, by protracted meditation, become entirely insensible to external impressions, while the creations of the imagination assume all the vividness of real objects; and the soul seems to expatiate amid the realities of the celestial world.

"The ecclesiastical history of the fourth century," says Montegre, "makes mention of certain monks of Mount Athos, who pretended to have carried meditation and prayer to such a degree of perfection, as to obtain with their bodily eyes a view of God himself, under the appearance of a celestial light. The manner in which they were enabled to arrive at this foretaste of heavenly joys, is thus described. Raise thy spirit above the vain things of earth, rest thy beard upon thy breast, turn thine eyes and concentrate the whole power of thought upon the centre of thy belly, and seek within thy body the place of thy heart. At first thou shalt find only thick darkness; but if thou wilt persevere in this practice night and day, thou shalt find a joy without interruption. When the spirit has found the place of the heart, it then beholds itself robed in light.'"*

Montegre, in the same article, goes on to remark: "In India, where the customs are not subjected to those changes, which among us vary the forms of fashionable folly, there are still found among the fakirs, jouguis and dervishes, with which this beautiful country is infested, a similar species of fanatics, who succeed also in obtaining a sensible communication with the deity by analogous means."

* Dictionaire des Sciences Medicales, Art. Contemplation.

Bernier, a philosophical observer and enlightened physician thus speaks of them. "Among those whom I have just mentioned, there are some who pass for true illuminati and perfect jouguis, or perfectly united to the divinity. They are persons, who have entirely abandoned the world, and who usually retire alone like bermits to very distant groves without ever coming to the towns. If any one carries them food, they receive it, if not it is said that they dispensed with it, and it is believed, that they live upon the favor of God, in perpetual fastings and austerities, and wholly buried in meditation-I say buried, because they carry their meditations so far that they pass whole hours in ecstatic raptures, with the function of external sensation entirely suspended, and, (what would be wonderful if it were true,) seeing God himself like a certain white, very vivid and inexplicable light, with a joy and satisfaction not less inexpressible, followed by a contempt for the world and an entire alienation from it. . . . . They prescribe rules for gradually suspending the action of the senses; they say, for example, that after having fasted for several days upon bread and water, it is necessary at first to stand alone, in a retired place, with the eyes fixed upwards for some time, without the least motion, then to bring them gently down and fix them, both at the same time, upon the end of the nose, and to regard the two sides with equal intensity (a thing sufficiently difficult) and thus retain them. bound, as it were, to the end, of the nose, until the light appears.

The life of St. Theresa, written by herself, illustrates the influence of protracted meditation in suspending the powers of the body and quickening those of the mind." After having discoursed at some length on what she calls the various kinds of orisons and the different degrees, by which man is able to rise in some degree towards the divinity, by the meditations of the mind, or emotions of the heart, she arrives at length to that state, which she designates under the name of celestial quietude, prayer of union, rapture and ecstasy. One experiences,' says. she, a kind of slumber of the powers of the soul, of the understanding, the memory, and the will, in which, while they are not entirely asleep, they know not the manner in which they operate. The soul experiences a kind of pleasure which re

sembles that of a person in the grasp of death, sinking with ecstatic rapture into the bosom of God. The soul knows not what it is doing. . . . . It is in a state of happy extravagance, of celestial madness, in which it becomes imbued with true wisdom, and enjoys an inconceivable consolation.' She goes on to speak of the suspension of sight, hearing, touch, voluntary motion, etc. She then remarks: As the external powers fail, those of the soul increase in order to enable it to grasp the glories which it enjoys.' She speaks of listening, in this state, to God, to Christ, and the angels, and relates the conversations, which she held with them."*

It is well known to all who are conversant with the history of the human race, that the long continued influence of superstition tends to render prevalent a high degree of nervous excitability. And in the cases to which we have alluded, the constrained attitude of body and mind, the intense effort of the will to prolong that constrained attitude, the high-wrought expectations of celestial glories, which are just ready to burst upon the soul, all tend to bring the nervous system into a state of extreme tension, which could not fail to produce decided modifications of its functions; and those who are somewhat acquainted with the mysterious nature of these functions, will be prepared to witness the phenomena above described.

Perhaps we may with propriety introduce, under this division of our subject, the case of a certain priest, who, according to the testimony of St. Augustine, was accustomed to suspend at pleasure the action of all the senses, and appeared, like one dead, totally insensible to the tortures which were at those times inflicted upon him. The means, which were used to produce this state in him, were the repetition of cries of grief and distress, and the efforts of his own will. St. Augustine thus speaks of him: "Presbyter fuit quidam, nomine Restitutus in paroecia Calamensis Ecclesiae, qui, quando ei placebat (rogabatur autem ut hoc faceret ab eis qui rem mirabilem coram scire cupiebant) ad imitatas quasi lamentantis cujuslibet hominis voces, ita se auferebat a sensibus, et jacebat simillimus mortuo ; ut non solum vellicantes et pungentes minime sentiret, sed aliquando etiam igne ureretur admoto, sine ullo doloris sensu, nisi postmodum ex vulnere; non autem obnitendo, sed non sentiendo non movere corpus, eo probabatur, quod tamquam in defuncto nullus invenie

Dict. des Sci. Med. Art. Extase.