Outlines of insanity : an attempt to present in a concise form the salient features of mental disorder ... / by Francis H. Walmsley.

  • Walmsley, Francis H.
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Outlines of insanity : an attempt to present in a concise form the salient features of mental disorder ... / by Francis H. Walmsley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Hallucinations of Sight. Patients see objects which no one else can dis- cover. One sees himself surrounded by the deadliest spirits that ever assailed the heart and head . Others see bright and fiery objects, birds, hideous faces, white figures, masses of fire and light. One believes he is in Heaven, and sees the majesty of God in all His glory; another believes himself encompassed by the flames of Hell; another declares he has seen the Devil on two or three occa- sions coming in at the door; was without a tail, but displayed a cloven foot. A male patient writes : As I approached the Town trumpets struck up a long way on the road, trees were illuminated, and the town in up- roar ; people in groups talking, and the whole town illuminated from a reflector half-a-mile away . An old blind man, 83 years of age, sees himself surrounded by figures, which approach him armed with daggers, but they never strike or lay hold of him. Sometimes he seizes the daggers, and easily breaks them. One day he fell asleep after an attack, with five daggers at his throat, but without feeling anything. He often sees his bed filled with men, and this explains why he refuses to go to bed when he is suffering from his hallucinations. He has also seen himself surrounded by precipices. In the intervals between these attacks he has sometimes hallucinations of a different character. He sees, for example, a table on his bed, and several people about to dine at it; he takes cakes and carries them to his mouth, but in doing so he feels nothing in his hand and tastes nothing.
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