Excerpt from Hogg's Weekly Instructor, Vol. 4: Numbers 79-104; September, 1846-February 1847 A steeping posture will often induce ocular hallucina tions on suddenly raising the head. A servant girl, en gaged in scrubbing a flight of stairs, saw, on looking up, two feet of gigantic proportions, to which the legs became gradually visible, and, seized with a panic, she fled with out waiting for the complete development of the apparition, or without assuring herself of its illusory nature, as would have been done by a better instructed person. Among other instances of this class is that related by a medical friend of Sir Walter Scott, of a gentleman in the full possession of all his faculties, knowing that he was under the influ ence of a delusion, and yet dying from its constant depress ing efl'ect upon the mind. He first saw a large cat con tinually before him, which after some months disappeared, and gave place to a gentleman usher of the court, who preceded him wherever he went; this in turn gave way to the image of a skeleton, which never left him. Observing one day to his physician that the hideous object was gaz ing at him from between the curtains at the foot of the bed, the latter, to convince him of his delusion, placed him self at the opening, on which the invalid said, It is not gone, I see the head looking over your shoulder on hear ing which the doctor, despite his philosophy, could not for bear shuddering. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.