onally seen, would almost inevitably be
consigned alive to the tomb.

My own case differed in no important particular from those mentioned in
medical books. Sometimes, without any apparent cause, I sank, little by
little, into a condition of hemi-syncope, or half swoon; and, in this
condition, without pain, without ability to stir, or, strictly speaking,
to think, but with a dull lethargic consciousness of life and of the
presence of those who surrounded my bed, I remained, until the crisis of
the disease restored me, suddenly, to perfect sensation. At other
times I was quickly and impetuously smitten. I grew sick, and numb, and
chilly, and dizzy, and so fell prostrate at once. Then, for weeks, all
was void, and black, and silent, and Nothing became the universe.
Total annihilation could be no more. From these latter attacks I awoke,
however, with a gradation slow in proportion to the suddenness of the
seizure. Just as the day dawns to the friendless and houseless beggar
who roams the streets throughout the long desolate winter night--just
so tardily--just so wearily--just so cheerily came back the light of the
Soul to me.

Apart from the tendency to trance, however, my general health appeared
to be good; nor could I perceive that it was at all affected by the one
prevalent malady--unless, indeed, an idiosyncrasy in my ordinary sleep
may be looked upon as superinduced. Upon awaking from slumber, I could
never gain, at once, thorough possession of my senses, and always
remained, for many minutes, in much bewilderment and perplexity;--the
mental faculties in general, but the memory in especial, being in a
condition of absolute abeyance.

In all that I endured there was no physical suffering but of moral
distress an infinitude. My fancy grew charnel, I talked "of worms, of
tombs, and epitaphs." I was lost in reveries of death, and the idea
of premature burial held continual possession of my brain. The ghastly
Danger to which I was subjected haunted me day and night. In the former,
the torture of meditation was excessive--in the latter, supreme. When
the grim Darkness overspread the Earth, then, with every horror of
thought, I shook--shook as the quivering plumes upon the hearse. When
Nature could endure wakefulness no longer, it was with a struggle that
I consented to sleep--for I shuddered to reflect that, upon awaking, I
might find myself the tenant of a grave. And when, finally, I sank into
slumber, it was only to ru