Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Spectral visitants, or, Journal of a fever / by a Convalescent. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![a sort of general dance, each one by him or herself, and each making all manner of wry faces and grimaces that could be conceived. They were very closely grouped, yet each seemed to have scope enough to play the fool, with every part of his lili- putian frame and members. Their design seemed to be to make me laugh, but they were ineffably silly and contemptible; and after they had become rather tardy, up came another group, and danced between them and me; but there was very little to choose between them, The group in the rear now took every measure to get sight of me, and attract attention by looking over the shoulders of the inter- lopers, and soon there was an irregular sort of skir- mish to break through and again secure the prece- dence. While this game was going on, a third group came in, and then a fourth, of similar ap- pearance. A general scramble, and even riot now took place between these different groups, so that their attention was diverted from me, and I was glad to lose sight of them; for spectres as I knew them to be, I thought they were very silly ones. Pretending to be human beings, and debasing them- selves thus, I could not but feel for them a great - deal of contempt. They interested me less than any of the other visitors. My next will unfold to you scenes of a very different character, and will, perhaps close the period of disordered mental action^ in any thing like a permanent form. If the reading of these hasty descriptions shall beguile a weary hour, while the time of our separation lingers. I ?hal] not have written in vain, I attempt no philo-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21146391_0050.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
