New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-04-24

! '"' r'ithtt uuu uob ytt Ittv5ihAt"i III" ""'N''
even if we are unable to see it, yet demonstrates
its existence by corporal effects. As sensitive
persons able to perceive by feeling so much
more than others, it seemed possible that they
might be superior in the sense Of sight, and in
deep darkness, might be able to see something OF
these singular emanations. In order to test this,
onavcry dark night, MAY ,lS44,) Reichenbach car
ried very large rock crystal to the house OF
highly sensitive young lady, Miss Angelina Stur-
mann by accident, her physician, Prof. LiPpich,a
well-known German pathologist, was present. They
produced perfect darkness in two rooms, in one OF
which Rechenbach placed the crystal in place
unknown to all but himself After brief delay in
| the other room, in order to accustom the eye to
the darkness, they led the young lady into the
| room where the crystal was Almost Immediate
ly she pointed out the spot where Reichenbach had
| placed it. She said that the entire body of the
| crystal glowing with delicate light,
| and that at It's apex was in constant waving
motion, fame of blue color and bell
shape, as large as ones hand, now and then
sparkling, and disappearing in sort of fine mist.
At the other, fiat end Of the crystal, she
slow red and yellow smoke. This experiment has
since been followed by thousands of others with
crystals in countless variations, down to the pre-
sent time. The fact has been demonstrated by
great number of sensitive persons that the sensa-
tons produced by crystals are accompanied by ap-
pearances of light, which are blue, and red and yell
low from the opposite poles of the crystals and
| are perceived by sensitive persons alone.
| This experiment can only succeed in absolute
darkness. The crystal light is so delicate
| and so very weak that if even trace OF
other Eight is perceptblc in the darkened room it
| will suffice to confuse the sensitive observer that
is to deaden his sensbiity for this extremely fan
| LIGHT. Moreover few persons are so highly sensi-
tive as tho young lady above named, or so able to
perceive this tender radiance after being for so
brief period in darkness. With ordinarily sensi-
tive persons says Reichenbach, it has gener-
ally required one or two hours in the dark for
their eyes to become sufficiently free from the ex-
cessive impression of day or lamp light and pre-
pared to perceive the light of the crystal.
But the same force will be found to emanate
from other sources, with equal or greater power.
Place sensitive person in the shade and give him
a common empty barometer tube, or even an ord-
| nary cane in the left hand. The tube or stick
must be held in the sun, while the person. and the
| hand remain in the shade. You will presently be
astonished by the result of this simple experiment.
You will expect that the person will feel the tube
| or stick growing warm But the fact will be ex-
| actly the reverse. The sensitive hand will expe-
renee various sensations, but the result will be
one of GOODNESS. Draw the stick back into the
shade and the GOODNESS will cease and the stick
| G. hacL in fha md
it will again become cool, and so on; in this way
| the exactness of the sensation may be tested
There are, therefore, very simple circumstances,
not hitherto observed, in which the direct rays of
the sun do not produce warmth but the contrary.
| If this GOODNESS be the effect of the new fluid
called Cd, it must in some way produce light in
the dark. This you may try by repeating the fol-
lowing experiment From lighted room Rechen-
bach conducted a copper wire into a completely
dark one. Then he held the other end of the wire
in the sunshine. Hardly was this done when the
portion of the wire that was in darkness began to
shine, and at its point there the appearance of
flame about the size of ones finger. 1t was e'i-
dent that the sun impaired an odyGc substance to
| the wire which sensitive persons saw howlng iorth
in the darkness in the form of light.
But 90 a step farther; let the sunbeam fall upon
good glass prism SO as to cast its colors on the
nearest wall. Let the sensitive person try the
colors one after another, with the glass tube In his
left hand. Holding it so as to intercept only the
blue or the violet color he will experience most
agreeable sensation of GOODNESS, much purer and
| cooler than from the entire ray of the sun. But
if he puts the tube into the yellow still better
into the red color the agreeable sense of cooness
will at once disappear and be succeeded by warmth
and disagreeable feeling Of sultriness will soon
weigh on the whole arm. Instead of the tube you
NAV place naked finger of the sensitive person in
| the coors and the effect will be the same Reich
| enbach chooses tube or a stick simply in order
| bv bad conductor to prevent the action on the
hand of the actual rays of heat. These efforts OF
the separated sunbeam will be found exactly SINH
lar to those of the poles of crystals. This shows
that Cd of both kinds of efficiency is contained in
the sunbeams it flows to with light from
the orb of day at every moment and forms
and powerful agency whose extent we do not yet
comprehend.
Recur for moment to those haters of the color
of yellow, and ardent lovers of blue, men,
toned above We saw that the same pole Of the
crystal which impaired agreeable GOODNESS gave
blue light. We find here, that the blue ray in the
sunbeam produces an altogether agreeable sensa-
ton of cooness. On the other hand, the red and
yellow light of the opposite pole of the crystal,
and the yellow and red ray Of the sunbeam cause
lukewarm and unpleasant sensations. We see,
then, that in these two cases, remote as they are
from each other, blue causes pleasant and red and
yellow unpleasant sensations. This is an indica-
ton which may render us less prompt to condemn
what we call the caprices of sensitive persons.