The Sun.
London, England, 1867-06-19 00:00:00

A SPECTRE.

The following is of recent occurrence, and took
place in one of the large and fashionable mansions
in the district of South Kensington, which had been
taken by a family whose name can only be desig-
nated by the initial L. On the first night of their
occupation, the lady of the house, while arranging
her hair at the glam, saw in the latter the re-
flexion of the figure of a man. He was old, of
strange appearance, and was seated in an arm-chair,
that stood near her bed. He wore a grey coat with
a cape, and had spectacles. The lady possessed
strong nerves, and after the first moment of
surprise, finding that the spectrum did not dis-
appear, came to the conclusion that her vision
was affected by some disarrangement i❑ the
system. Resolved to test it, she turned eallnlY
round, walked straight to the mysterious object,
and sat down upon its very knees ! She found her-
self alone in the chair. The next morning she sent
for a doctor, and related to him what had occurred,
laughing merrily at the remembrance of her visitor's
grotesque appearance. Observing that the doctor
hardly. participated in her mirth, she inquired if he
for a moment believed that what she bad wit-
nessed had any material existence. "I do not
say that," was the answer, " but there is this
singular coincidence in the matter, that your de-
scription of the man's person agrees precisely with
that of an old gentleman living—or, rather, wh°
did live—a few doors from hence. He was missing
all yesterday, and was found dead in a piece of
ground prepared for building, late last night, with
every appearance of having been murdered.
age, dress, his very spectacles, were exactly as you
described."—Dickens's " All the Year Round" (pub-
lished to-day).

A "BRILLIANT IDEA."

A truly "brilliant" idea has been started by 5
French chemist in the Gazette Medicale de Lyon.
theory is that all dead bodies of human beings are
at present wasted, when they might as well be uti-
lised for illuminating purposes. He remarks
" Coal is being exhausted, and since the human car-
case is capable of supplying a gas of good illunai-
nating power, why should it not be employed to ti's
end ? By a process of combustion in retorts a corpse
of common dimensions may be made to yield 25
cubic metres of illuminating gas, which, at a cost
of 25 centimes per cubic metre, would give a valaa,
of about eight francs for a body of ordinary size.
We have never despaired of obtaining a perpetual
ad
supply of fuel, but we must confess that we
looked to a different source for the street-lamps °f,
the future. However, it is "an idea like another,
and not so new after all; since in Bombay a pro-
posal was seriously male some time ago that the
bodies of the dead lliadoos should,each day be Cas
into a properly constructed furnace, and that the
city should be lighted with the gaseous result. the
device would be profitable, simple, and salubrioui
and although the conception of sending one's rich
uncle, say, to the gas-works, just as the Suacl3,l
" joint and potatoes" are now sent to the bakers
oven, is somewhat bizarre, there .would be a chart°'
nevertheless, for well-disposed people in the Pr°s-
- of being useful after their dissolution. Even
the dull might take great comfort in the certaiuti
that their gas, at least, would be as brilliant as that
of the wittiest. Moore would have discerned 3
highly poetical fancy in the plan of lighting tile)
ball-room with the body which had erst daaae(:,
there while " all alive"—in our being " turned on
when death turned us off. Had the bard but eurt
vived to read the Gazette Medicale, without de° b
II
he would have written, " When in death I she
calm recline, 0 take my corpse to the gas-werl°'
dear 1"