The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1857-1858, 1857-08-12
Spectral allesleas-wAas science

HI TeorheN.
~ newspapers and periodicals have set aaoat
aesIn the story Of the apparition which was said
10 have appeared 70 Lord Lys,lc,on and pre-
dicsed hin death.
Stories Of arparitions or supposed visitors
from the supernatural world have heen told in
almost every age and among almost every peo-
ple II Il impossible, therefore, 20 deny that
they must have had some ingredients Of truth.
But, a. the appearance OF spectres il not only a.
variance with the laws Of the physical world,
but il coniradieied by the ana!ogies OF the
spiritual, IL follows that some explanation must
be sought for these strange phenomena which
win explain them satisfactorily on scientific
principles.
such an explanation is afforded by modern
physiology, All competent students of this
science are agreed that what are called appa-i-
tions originate In a diseased condition OF the
retina. From the dark specks like flies which
often appear TO be- floating before the eye-sight
when the organs division have been oserstrained
10 the "wierd ghost" which enters the room
and beckons 10 the victim Of cerebral halncin-
alton, these abnormal speciacles arise from q
distuVped condition Of the retina. There Is
nothing supernatural about them. They are
simply the results Of disease in one OF the most
delicate organs OF the body.
The history Of appari,ons, as DR.. Draper has
apty remarked, is itself sufficient 70 destroy their
claims to the supernatural. For, ii what was
seen was really disembodied spirit and not an
illusion, ghosts in all ages would have been sub.
STAN ally alike in costume, IL indeed they would
have been appareled at all. But the history OF
appartious shows that the supposed spectre has
always worn the garb OF his times, his rank, and
his nation. The pretended supernatural ap.
pearsnces Of the ancient Greeks and Romans
came in the physiological guise OF Mars, Venus,
Minerva, or other gods or goddesses. The as.
cetics aud dreamers Of the middle ages saw
phantoms Of the Virgin and the saints. When
Luther fancied IN lit Of hallucination that he
threw his inkstand ~ the devil, Satan appeared
in the shape and drese in which the popular
Imagination OF that day pictured him. The
ghost that visited Brutue in the camp AZ Sardis
wore the orthodox toga of the Romans. When
the supposed spirit OF Maupertuis appeared to
its old friend at Berlin, il came in knec.breeches,
silk stockings, and silver. .huckMd shoes. In all
these cases, evidently, the spectre was the pro-
duct Of retinal disturbance acted on by memory
or Imagination, or both
Another proof that these appearances have
nothing to do with the Supernatural IL the well
authenticated fact that they invariably refer
either to things that are past, 70 persons that
are dead, or to pictures, statues, or representa-
tions Of some actual reality. Nom ever ye'
saw phantom resembling what he had never
known or heard OF, il it had form at all. In the
dark ages, as Dr. Draper remarks, the spectres
Of African negroes were common enough, ba,
no apparition of an American Indian Is onrecord
till the voyage Of Columbus, though after that
event such apparitions grew frequent.
| The fact that spectral illusions may be created
by the use OF certain drugs, and that they haunt
the victim OF mania potm, ought to convince
the impartial mind that the origin OF all thest
supposed supernatural appearances Is IN dis
eased or disturbed condition of the retina ol
brain, or both. For it is illogical TO resort L
the supernatural to explain phenomenon wher
similar ones may be explained by laws cntirel,
natural The broken constitution Of Lord lyt
Teton and the reflection OF the wrongs he ha'
done explain his appari,ion, without the neces
sity of resorting to the supernatural Ledger