Unsurprisingly, the scholars of the Enlightenment era were keen to uncover the mechanisms by which folkloric superstition might exert a lethal impact on both the mind and the physical body. Far from being ignorant or dogmatically constrained, they approached the phenomenon with a progressive spirit and sought rational explanations.
Michael Ranff, for example, in De masticatione, presents a gradual, primarily psychological sequence: a) a sudden and violent death occurs; b) this provokes visions and illusions among the living; c) the relatives of the deceased become overwhelmed by sorrow, anxiety, grief, and mourning; d) these emotions give rise to melancholy, insomnia, and nightmares; e) which in turn weaken both body and spirit; f) illness follows; g) and eventually, they die.
This schematic sequence is my own formulation, intended to emphasise the underlying logic and causality. Despite its simplicity, it reflects a coherent and holistic understanding of the interplay between mental and physical conditions.
Archduchess Marianne’s persistent efforts to extract meaning from the three reports are rewarded with ambivalent results — nothing seems to point directly to Princess Schwarzenberg. Yet she cannot shake the feeling that she is on the trail of something significant.
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