Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1861-03-22
Sensations of Taking QbloroforR.

| description OF tie SENSATIONS ne felt while
under the intoxication Of chloroform, in
which he had been placed for the purpose
Of having silver Of iron. extracted from
his eye:
My last sane recollection is of the sur.
geon applying the handkerchief to. nv
mouth then the room began. to- magnify
10 gigsntic proportions; a common lamp
was transformed to a candelabrum, more
luminous and costly than ever lighted the
grandest cathedral in the world. The sur
geon became giant of prodigious mag
uitude, holding huge, cleaning knife,
with single blow Of which he might have
severed me. The sound of voices in the
room seemed like the clamorings of vast
multitude during the burning of city,
and sign board, scretehing outside, con-
veyed the idea of furious mob called ip
the street for my execution. On entering
the room ] had noticed a large cat sitting
asleep on shelf which turned its head
lazily toward me and then resumed it slum-
bers; this creature became hideous, YAM
pire'like monster, with great fiery eyes, and
with fangs and claws like what were fabled
to belong to the griffin, walking round and
blowing fetid breath on me, and pressing
its frightful paws on my breast. But the
worst OF all was collection of gigantic
men sharpening instruments for my dissec-
tion; could hear the whirring of the
stone and the shricking Of the highly-tem-
pered knives as the grinders laughed at the
intended dissection. One was more iocose
and heartless than the rest he was my i'm.
placable enemy; we had quarreled and
fought about scboolmate love. Present.
'y l felt their keen knives at every joint; I
shrleked and screamed, basphemed aud be-
sought my tormentors, but still the instru-
ments h'ssed through my quivering flesh
and grated along every bone. I am salts
fled that all these emotions we're experien-
cod within moment after the first inhala-
ton which began the stupefaction. So
swift are evolutions of thought when the
sense is subdued, and when the phantom
monarch of dreams leads the soul through
the endless avenues, swifter in its Journey
ing than the short-Iived Rre which falls
from the womb of an oyerburdeued cloud.
But gradual revolution of mental per-
ception succeeded; those frigbtful specters
began to reeede; the men and knives began
to diminish; the cat returned to natural pro-
portions, and crept slowly away; the voices
became less harsh and threatening, and the
noise in the street was subdued to unbro-
ken silence. ! looked into a universe of
light. with nothing visible, until indistinct
forms appeared on the horizon, coming to-
ward me and defining themselves as they
came. One was my mother, clad in grave
clothes, but as she neared, her habiliments
changed to the fabrics which glittered in
the prophets vision when he looked eve.
the "great congregation which no man
could number" Directly she stood by
me; and, recognizing every feature, 1 saw
that each age mark was gone; her cheek
was fresh as the young girls when she first
bushes at the whispered words of love,
and STOPPING to kiss mo, the apparition
went out, leaving another still more beau
tful 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 ran his tiny fingers
through 10Y hair, but when I tried to take
him in my arms, infant and mother were
gone. Strange, that felt no disappoint-
ment; / knew they were but pictures that
hung in the galleries of fathers heart
Everything changed to an existence of in.
describable pleasure: laugh and danced
like one mad with the exhiliration of uu-
expected deliverance from torture; the air
came into my lungs gratefully as the up.
gushing OF cool water to the lips Of tbirs.
ty drinker. The aroma Of celestial gardens
seemed about me; believed I was in the
territory Of souls, and wondered how any
one should fear to die. I could hear sounds
in the street, but they seemed TO prolong
and swell like the sound of a great organ.
Millions OF symmetrical creatures passsd
in review, along horizon of silver and
gold and yet / was conscious that they
were but the creatures Of distorted i'm
agins;ion.
..@~ = - - ~ +.
Presently I became conscious OF return.
ing sense my limbs felt unwieidy and Of
too great proportions 10 be moved by the
strengthening will; my eyes opened and
began to discern objecs returning to natu-
rss dimensions, I began to discern. objects
returning to natural Dimensions, and I be.
gan to comprehend the conversation Of
persons in the room. 9bs whole operation
had not occupied half an hour Ehut T'bsaI