Part 126 (1/2)

_Q._ ”Was the voice accompanied by any light?”

_A._ ”I seldom heard it without there being a light. This light appeared in the direction whence the voice came.”[2751]

[Footnote 2751: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 52 and _pa.s.sim_.]

We might wonder whether by the expression ”_a droite_” (_a latere dextro_) Jeanne meant her own right side or the position of the church in relation to her; and in the latter case, the information would have no clinical significance; but the context leaves no doubt as to the veritable meaning of her words.

”How can you,” urges Jean Beaupere, ”see this light which you say appears to you, if it is on your right?”

If it had been merely a question of the situation of the church and not of Jeanne's own right side, she would only have had to turn her face to see the light in front of her, and Jean Beaupere's objection would have been pointless.

Consequently at about the age of thirteen, at the period of p.u.b.erty, which for her never came, Jeanne would appear to have been subject on her right side to unilateral hallucinations of sight and hearing. Now Charcot[2752] considered unilateral hallucinations of sight to be common in cases of hysteria.[2753] He even thought that in hysterical subjects they are allied to a hemianaesthesia situated on the same side of the body, and which in Jeanne would be on the right side. Jeanne's trial might have proved the existence of this hemianaesthesia, an extremely significant symptom in the diagnosis of hysteria, if the judges had applied torture or merely had examined the skin of the subject in order to discover anaesthesia patches which were called marks of the devil.[2754] But from the merely oral examination which took place we can only draw inferences concerning Jeanne's general physical condition. In case excessive importance should be attached to such inferences I should add that in the diagnosis of hysteria contemporary neurologists pay less attention than did Charcot to unilateral hallucinations of sight.

[Footnote 2752: A famous French alienist (1825-1893).--W.S.]

[Footnote 2753: _Progres medical_, January 19, 1878.]

[Footnote 2754: The existence of patches devoid of feeling was considered in the Middle Ages to prove that the subject was a witch.

Hence needles were run into the supposed witch. And if she felt them in every part of her body she was acquitted.--W.S.]

The other characteristics of Jeanne's hallucinations revealed by her examinations during the trial are no less interesting than these, although they do not lead to any more certain conclusions.

Those visions and voices, which the subject refers to an external source and which are so characteristic of hysterical hallucinations, proceed suddenly from the subconscious self. Jeanne's conscious self was so far from being prepared for her voices that she declares she was very much afraid when she first heard them: ”I was thirteen when I heard a voice coming from G.o.d telling me to lead a good life. And the first time I was very much afraid. This voice came to me about noon; it was in the summer, in my father's garden.”[2755]

[Footnote 2755: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 52.]

And then straightway the voice becomes imperative. It demands an obedience which is not refused: ”It said to me: 'Go forth into France,' and I could no longer stay where I was.”[2756]

[Footnote 2756: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 53.]

Her visions all occur in the same manner. They appeal to the senses in exactly the same way and are received by the Maid with equal credulity.

Finally, these hallucinations of hearing and of sight are soon a.s.sociated with similar hallucinations of smell and touch, which serve to confirm Jeanne's belief in their reality.

_Q._ ”Which part of Saint Catherine did you touch?”

_A._ ”You will hear nothing more.”

_Q._ ”Did you kiss or embrace Saint Catherine or Saint Margaret?”

_A._ ”I embraced them both.”

_Q._ ”In embracing them did you feel heat or anything?”

_A._ ”I could not embrace them without feeling and touching them.”[2757]

[Footnote 2757: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 186.]