appearances follows in accordance with the predominating presentations. That hallucinations appear in this way has been also observed in other visionaries. Jeanne d’Arc[1] first saw a cloud of light, and only after some time there stepped forth St. Michael, St. Catherine and St. Margaret. For a whole hour Swedenborg[2] saw nothing but illuminated spheres and fiery flames. He felt a mighty change in the brain, which seemed to him “release of light.” After the space of one hour he suddenly saw red figures which he regarded as angels and spirits. The sun visions of Benvenuto Cellini[3] in Engelsburg are probably of the same nature. A student who frequently saw apparitions, stated: “When these apparitions come, at first I only see single masses of light and at the same time am conscious of a dull noise in the ears. Gradually these contours become clear figures.”
The appearance of hallucinations occurred in a quite classical way in Flournoy’s Helen Smith. I quote the cases in question from his article.[4]
“18 Mars. Tentative d’expérience dans l’obscurité Mlle. Smith voit un ballon tantôt luminieux, tantôt s’obscurcissant.
“25 Mars. Mile. Smith commence à distinguer de vagues lueurs, de longs rubans blancs, s’agitant du plancher au plafond, puis enfin une magnifique étoile qui dans l’obscurité s’est montrée à elle seule pendant toute la séance.
“1 Avril. Mlle. Smith se sent très agitée, elle a des frissons, est partiellement glacée. Elle est très inquiète et voit tout à coup se balançant au-dessus de la table une figure grimaçante et très laide avec de longs cheveux rouges. Elle voit alors un magnifique bouquet de roses de nuances diverses; tout à coup elle voit sortir de dessous le bouquet un petit serpent, qui, rampant doucement, vient sentir les fleurs, les regarde,” etc.
- ↑ Jules Quicherat, “Procès de condamnation et de réhabilitation de Jeanne d’Arc, dite La Pucelle,” etc.
- ↑ Hagen, l.c., p. 57.
- ↑ Goethe, “Benvenuto Cellini.”
- ↑ Flournoy, l.c., p. 32 ff.
through over-excitation of mental activity not leading to phantastic imagery even without sense presentation; that is the vision of light free from form, a manifestation of the visual organs stimulated from within” (“Ueber Visionen,” Berlin, 1848).
