“At the foot of my bed,” replied the patient: “when the curtains are half open I can see it place itself in the empty space between them.” “You say that you are convinced that it is only an illusion,” replied the doctor; “have you the firmness to convince yourself of it positively? Have you the necessary courage to get up and go and place yourself in the position which appears to be occupied by the spectre, in order to demonstrate to yourself positively that it is only a vision?” The unfortunate man sighed and shook his head. “Well,” went on the doctor, “let us try another plan.” He quitted the chair on which he was sitting, at the head of his patient’s bed, and placing himself between the half opened curtains, in the place where the patient had pointed out the skeleton, he asked if the apparition was still visible. “Not the whole of it,” answered the patient, “because you are standing between him and me; but I see his skull looking at me over your shoulder.” In spite of his philosophy, the learned physician could not help starting to hear that the spectre was immediately behind him. He had recourse to other questions, and tried endless remedies, but without success. The prostration of the patient, however, increased, and he died in the same distress of mind in which he had passed the last months of his life. This example is a sad proof of the power of the imagination over the life of the body even when the terrors endured are powerless in destroying the judgment of the unfortunate sufferer. We will say more; men who have the strongest nerves are not free from similar illusions. The second kind of spectres, in which the science of optics plays so important a part, is the result of the imagination being deceived by art with the assistance of science.