The Mind of the Buyer

5 0 TH E M I N D OF TH E BUYE R
m odifica tions, som etime s o f ve ry c on side rabl e
imp o rt anc e, with out being it self c on scious of
th e p roc ess, un til its r esul ts p re sent th em
selves t o c onsci ou sne ss, in th e n ew idea s, o r
new combina ti ons of idea s, which th e proc ess?
h a s evolved. ”
An i nsta nc e rela te d by Coleri dge ill u stra te s
this strikingly :
A c ase of this kind occurred in a R oman Catho lic town
in Germany a yea r o r two before my a rrival at GOttingen,
a nd had no t then ceased to be a frequent subj ect o f co n
versation. A young wo man o f four or five and twenty,
who could neithe r read no r write, was seized with a nervous
feve r ; during which, according to the asseverations o f all
the priests and monks o f the neighborhood, she became
possessed, and, as it appea red, by a very learned devil. S he
continued incessantly talking Latin, Greek, and Hebrew,
in very pompous tones and with mos t distinct enunciation.
This possession was rendered more p robable by the known
fa ct that she was or had been a heretic. Voltaire humor
o usly a dvises the devil to decline all acquaintance with
med ical men; and it would have been more to his reputation,
if he had taken this advice in the present instance. The
c ase had attracted the p articula r attention o f a young
physician, and by his statement many eminent physiologists
and psychologists visited the town, and cross-e xamined the
c ase o n the sp ot. Sheets full o f her ravings were taken
down from her o wn mouth, and were found to consist o f
sentences, coherent and intelligible each fo r itsel f, but with
little o r no connection with each other. O f the Hebrew, a
smal l portion only could be traced to the B ible ; the re
mainder seeme d to be in the R abbinical dialect. A ll trickor
conspiracy was out o f the question. N ot only had the