The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1861-04-17
A correspondent Of tho San Francis

A correspondent OF the Oan frlilciS-
co IVceMy Mirror gives the following WV
id description of the sensations he felt
while under thcintoxication ofchloroform,
in which he had been placed for the pur-
pose of having a silver of iron extracted
from his eye:
envy last sane recollection is of the sur
geon applying the handkerchief to my
mouth; then the room began to magnify
to gigantic proportion; a common lamp
was transformed to candelablum, moro
luminous and costly than ever lighted the
grandcst cathedral in the world. The
surgeon became a giant of prodigious
magnitude, holding ahugc, cleaning knife,
with single blow Of which lie might
have severed me- The sound Of voices
in the room seemed like the clamolings
Of vast multitude during the buring of
city and sign-board, scrceching out
side, conveyed, the idea Of a furious mob
collected in the street for my execution.
On entering the room I had noticed a
large cat sitting asleep on shelf, which
turned its head lazily toward me and
then resumed its slumbcrs; this creature
became hidcous, vampire-likc monster,
with great fiery eyes and with claws like
what were fablcd to bcglong to the grif-
fin. walking round, and blowing fetid
breath on me, and pressing It's frightful
paws on my breast. But the worst Of all
was collection of gigantic men, sharpen
ing instruments for my dissection; |
could hear the whirring of the stone and
the shricking of tho highly-tompcrcd
knives as the grinders laughed at the in
tended dissection. One was more jccosc
and heartless than the rest; he was my
implicatc enemy; we had qualrclled and
fought about schoolmate love. Present
ly felt their keen knives at every joint;
| shliclled and screamed, blasphemed and
tesought my tormcntors, but still the in
strumcnts hisscd through my quivering
flesh, and grated along every bone. l
am satisfied that all these emotions were
experienced within moment after tic
fist inhalation which began the process
of stupcfaction. SO Swift are Tie eyolu
tons of thought when sense is subdued,
aid when the phantom monarch ofdreams
leads the soul through the endless ave
nucs, swifter in its journcyings than the
short lived fire which falls from the womb
of an ovcrburdcncd cloud.
But Il gradual revolution of mental
perception succeeded; those frightfal spec
tcrs began to recctlc; the men and knives
begun to diminish; the cat returned to
natural proportions and crept slowly
away; the voices became less harsh and
threatening, and the noise in the street
was subdued to unbrokcn silence. Hook
ed into universe Of light, with nothing
visible, until indistinct forms appeared on
the horizon coming toward me and dc
fining themselves as they came. One
was my mother, clad in grave-clothes
bat, as -sAeaneared, her habiiments chan
sgud'sSo fine fabrics which slttercd a the
prophets vision wEen he looked over the
great congregation Which no man could
number Directly she stood by me and,
recognizing every feature, l saw that
each agc-mark was gone; hcr check was
fresh as the young girls when she first
bushes at the whispered words of love,
and, STOPPING to kiss me, the apparition
went out leaving another, still more beau
tiful and youthful; it was the figure of
MY young wife, who died in the birth of
her first child She held an infant in her
arms who reached down and r;tn his tiny
fingers through my hair, but when tried
to take him in my arms, infant and moth
CT were gone.
Strange, that I felt no disappointment;
I knew they were but pictures that hung
in the galleries of q fathers heart. Every
thing changed to an existence of indie
scribable pleasure; laughed and danced
like one mad with e.eXhiliration of un-
expected deliverancc from torture; the
air came into my lungs gratefully as the
up gushing of cool water to the lips of &
thirsty drinker. The aroma Of celestial
gardens seemed about me; I believed
that I was in the territory Of souls and
wondered how any ono should fear to die.
1 could hear sounds in the street. but they
seemed to prolong and swell like the sound