Fantasy fiction, French -- Translations into English; Paranormal fiction, French -- Translations into English
Dr. Pusey (_Notes on Daniel_, p. 425), in a disquisition of great fulness
upon the disease of Nebuchadnezzar, refers to a communication which he
received from Dr. Browne, a Commissioner of the Board of Lunacy for
Scotland, in which he says, "My opinion is that in all mental powers or
conditions the idea of personal identity is but rarely enfeebled, and
that it is never extinguished. The ego and non-ego may be confused; the
ego, however, continues to preserve the personality. All the angels,
devils, dukes, lords, kings, "gods many" that I have had under my care
remained what they were before they became angels, dukes, etc., in a
sense, and even nominally. I have seen a man declaring himself the
Saviour or St. Paul sign himself _James Thomson_, and attend worship as
regularly as if the notion of divinity had never entered into his head."
Esquirol, a very trustworthy writer, has a description of an
extraordinary outbreak of lycanthropy in France (in the Jura, at Dole,
and other places in Eastern France) in the 16th century.
"This terrible affliction began to manifest itself in France in the
15th century, and the name of '_loups-garous_' has been given to the
sufferers. These unhappy beings fly from the society of mankind and live
in the woods, the cemeteries, or old ruins, prowling about the open
country only by night, howling as they go. They let their beard and nails
grow, and then seeing themselves armed with claws and covered with shaggy
hair, they become confirmed in the belief that they are wolves. Impelled
by ferocity or want, they throw themselves upon young children and tear,
kill, and devour them." (Esquirol, _Des Maladies Mentales_, Paris, 1838,
vol i., p. 521.) Those whom the French called _loups-garous_ were in
German termed _werewolves_.
It may be observed on this that when the nails of the fingers and toes
are cut they grow indefinitely; but if they are allowed to grow unchecked
they soon curve over the extremities, form talons or claws, and cease to
grow--answering to the Scriptural account of the effects of the mental
disorder of Nebuchadnezzar.
Of course for every case of real malady many were imputed or charged upon
poor creatures, who were driven to madness by groundless charges of
witchcraft and sorcery, and being _loups-garous_ in secret. Many innocent
people were in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries burnt at the stake
as wolves in human form.
A correspondent has kindly supplied the following information:--"When in
Oude in India, twenty-six years ago, we heard of several instances of
native babies being carried off out of the villages by she-wolves, and
placed with their whelps, and brought up wild there; there was one about
when we were there, partially reclaimed, but retaining much of the savage
nature imbibed with the wolf's milk, and having been accustomed to go on
all-fours--_i.e._, knees and elbows; but I conclude these were not
affected with 'Lycanthropy.'"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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