nge in Edinburgh, I was seized
with such a giddiness that I staggered, and would, I think, have
fallen, had I not gone into an entry, where I leaned against the
wall, and became quite unconscious for some seconds.'" Dr. Balfour
stated his opinion of the case; told him that he was over-working
his brain, and agreed to call on him on the following day to make a
fuller examination. Meanwhile the quick eye of affection had
noticed that there was something wrong, and on Monday forenoon Mrs.
Miller came up to Edinburgh to express her anxiety to Professor
Miller, and request that he would see her husband. "I arranged,"
says Professor Miller, "to meet Dr. Balfour at Shrub Mount (Mr.
Hugh Miller's house), on the afternoon of next day. We met
accordingly at half-past three on Tuesday. He was a little annoyed
at Mrs. Miller's having given me the trouble, as he called it, but
received me quite in his ordinary kind, friendly manner. We
examined his chest and found that unusually well; but soon we
discovered that it was head symptoms that made him uneasy. He
acknowledged having been, night after night, up till very late in
the morning, working hard and continuously at his new book,
'which,' with much satisfaction, he said, 'I have finished this
day.' He was sensible that his head had suffered in consequence, as
evidenced in two ways: first, occasionally he felt as if a very
fine poignard had been suddenly passed through and through his
brain. The pain was intense, and momentarily followed by confusion
and giddiness, and the sense of being 'very drunk,'--unable to
stand or walk. He thought that a period of unconsciousness must
have followed this,--a kind of swoon,--but he had never fallen.
Second, what annoyed him most, however, was a kind of nightmare,
which for some nights past had rendered sleep most miserable. It
was no dream, he said; he saw no distinct vision, and could
remember nothing of what had passed accurately. It was a sense of
vague and yet intense horror, with a conviction of being abroad in
the night wind, and dragged through places as if by some invisible
power. 'Last night,' he said, 'I felt as if I had been ridden by a
witch for fifty miles, and rose far more wearied in mind and body
than when I lay down.' So strong was his conviction of having b