on, has been converted into a
poison, which has attacked the vital spirits, so that they have become
sick unto death, and the human creature, in the delirium of this
malady, believes the dream of another life-condition to be actual
waking reality. Now, a woman highly gifted mentally, and largely
endowed with imagination and fancy, may in those circumstances be much
more like to a heavenly prophet than to an insane creature, and in the
excitement of her paroxysms may say things, which to many persons would
appear much more like the direct inspiration of higher intelligences
than the mere utterances of insanity. Suppose that the fixed idea of
such a woman consisted in her believing herself to be the Virgin Mary,
and her son Christ, and let this be repeated daily to the boy, who is
not taken away from her, whilst his powers of comprehension gradually
develop themselves. He is over-bountifully endowed with talent and
intelligence, and specially with a glowing imagination. Friends and
teachers whom he respects and believes all tell him that his poor
mother is out of her mind, and he himself sees the craziness of the
idea, which is not so much as new to him, since it exists in nearly
every lunatic asylum. But his mother's words sink deeply into his
heart; he thinks he is hearing announcements from another world, and
feels vividly the belief taking root within him upon which he bases his
system of thinking. Above all, he is very much struck and imbued with
what the maternal prophetess tells him regarding the trials of this
world; the scoffing and despite which the consecrated one must endure.
He finds this all realized, and in his boyish melancholy looks upon
himself as a Divine victim, when his schoolfellows make fun of him for
his quaint-looking clothes and his timid awkward manners. What follows?
Must there not arise in the breast of such a youth the belief that the
so-called insanity of his mother, which seems to _him_ lofty and
sublime beyond the comprehension of the common herd, is really neither
more nor less than a prophetic announcement, in metaphorical language,
of the high destiny in store for him, chosen by the powers of heaven!
Saint--prophet!--could there be stronger impulses to mysticism for a
youth fired with a glowing power of imagination? Let it be further
supposed that he is physically and psychically excitable to the most
destructive extent, and apt to fall a prey to and be carried away by
the most irresisti