The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-10-08
G0tting telegraph
SATURDAY. ooroBRR 8. 1864.
SECOND SIGHT.

clearer air and moro uncloudtd skies Of eastern
and southern lands yet Landscape 'inters tell us
MAT the cloudy aud misty veil in which British
and Irish Nature loves 50 often ~ hide herself
does but enhance the beauty underneath. AMI
Hsnhances the mystery OF Nature, too, by making
objects indsiinct, aud by suggesting forms OF
hfe and motion ou' OF the mgrcst vlpor wreaths.
clear blue ky IS pleasing to gaze 1t for once 10
way, and for short time together; light
flooded and formless. Que feels a logging for
the changing clouds. Finding no object for the
eye to rest upon, the mind sinks iuro inauity.
Remembering the suggestiyencss Of mists aud
CLOUDS, aud consid, ring well huw prone We all
are TO invest obscure, indc,erminate forms with
supernatural attributes, QUE may assume, with
much show Of probability, that Ossitns ghost
heroes would never have been imagined save
unceT the Influence Of Highland atmo-
sphere and that what is known by the
aceguatiOn Of second sight" concerning which
some descriptive words are to be written, is
merely delusion Accordingly, some persons
have referred It 10 atmospheric causes; TO either
rotraction OF reflection Of tangible objects-by
wreatbs of yapor, for example; and comparable,
IN this way, to the Spectre of the BrOCken.
The remark may have been made by others as
well tue writer that IL is far easier to explain
phenomenon to the satisfaction Of the multitude
than 20 ones self The major tendency Of the
human mind is perhaps TO believe for the reason
that II docs not understand. So soon rs one, pro-
feSsing to have studied Natures secrets, speaks
out Win confidence on n phenomenon, having
only the end in view Of making himself seem one
Oi NatuGe's iluminati TO those whom he addresses,
he will not find skepticism predominate amongst
his listeners. The tendency TO her0-worship Is
very strong; and those whom we admit to know
more than we know ourselves are, after all, our
greatest heroes,
In one way or another, perhaps, every pheno-
menOn, no matter how abnormal, and, so 10
speak, supernatural, has been explained 20 the
satisfaction of some peOple--these perhaps the
majority but the misfortune is, 1t misfortune II
be, that many Of the explanations, If scrutinized
under the light Of tue very science from the
stores OF which the presumed explanation i3
drawn, are found incomplete or inconsistent, not
to say selt-contradctory. A somewhat amusing
and at the same time pertinent illustration of this
the writer met with a few days ago in a certain
book Of natural philosophy, published in the
beginning of the last ceutury--a time, as II may
be remembered, when the study OF natural aud
experimental philosophy, after its revival in the
preceding century, had brought into existence
number of men from whose minds almost every
germ OF mystery had been eliminated
Study OF the progress of natural and expert
mental science is well calculated TO illustrate the
aphorism about the meeting of extremes. Up
to the middle of the seventeenth century il had
been the custom of philosophers TO refer every
unknown agency to the operation Of ghost or
spirit. Evidences Of this bygone tendency still
remain In the modern scientific vocabulary, more
especially the popular chemical vocabulary,
though the causes and circumstances in which
they originated are commonly forgotten. When
the term "spirit of wine" falls on the ear, or itmay
be spirit of salt one is not prone 10 associate
the word spirit" used on such an occasion with
the COgnate meaning of a ghost. 1t had that
meaning, nevertheless.
The exp6rmenter who first evolved alcohol
from wine, desired 10 make those to whom he
addressed himself understand that the agent of
Yinous pOwer-the beatitc agent that made men
meTry-was mysterious and, for that reason, to
his mind, spiritual agent; hence he called IL
"spirt of wine." Popular chemical nOmencla.
ture teens with kindred spiritual designations
even now. Many will occur to whatever mind
imposes upon Itself the task Of going in quest OF
them, wherefore they need not be enumerated.
Enough for present purposes to remark that the
spiritual epoch of philosophy (for such IL may
well he Called)-t epoch when every agency of
qualities, whether partially or wholly uuroyealed,
was complacently referred to the dominion OF
BpiTit-as quickly followed by another epoch of
character Numerically opposed.
Nature, at length, presented no secrets to the
tlunrndtt. Everything was TO them eXplicable.
Things from the explanation of which philoso-
pliers Of our day would mOdestly retire, acknOw-
ledging such things TO stand beyond the pale OF
their philosophy, were glibly and cOmplaccnty
enough explained by philosophers of the epoch
to which reference is now made. Very amusing
errors did these selt-suiicient explanatory phi
lOsophers occasionally fall into Everybody, one
nay well suppose, knows the anecdote about
King Charles III and the fish how he puzzled the
fellows of the then recently established Royal
Society, by inquiring OF them wherefore dead
fish should be heavier than living fish how the
philosophers there and then accounted fOri and
how appeal 10 the balance having demonstrated
absolute equality of weight between the two
fishes, The self-suficient philosophers were ban
tered by the king. Now tue anecdote is of utility
here in0smuCh as it is typical of the tendency
amongst philosophers at certain period, ten
dency which attained its climax about the end
of the seventeenth century.
No question puzzled philosophers then ;nothing
was beyond their comprehension. Nature had
no longer any secrets for these bold invaders Of
her outlying domains; all was eXplicable In
the yearl 1887 an anonymous book was published,
entitled "a New Treatise of Natural Philosophy,
freed from the Intricaces of the Schools"
Among other matters it contained an explanation
of the way in which basilisk kills people by
looking at them. At this time we have got rid Of
the tabled bRsiisk, the creature that was reputed
TO kill by the mere pungency of his eye-glances.
The creature is now known to be q myth, and
the eases of sudden death, which happened
repeatedly from the eye glances Of basilisk,
suggest more probable--if not, indeed, well llestab
lished-causes. But our author not only has no
manner of doubt as to the existence of basilisks,
but he explains quite gibly how 1t happens that
the eye-glances Of creature should acquire such
deadly power.
science, in eliminating the basilisk from out the
list Of created things, has at the same time ex-
planned tue cause OF belief in that tabed creature.
When the circumstance is made known that the
favored dwelling place of basilisks, according TO
the testimony Of authorities who Vouched for the
being of such creatures, was at the bottom of
dried up wells, pits and cayerns the modern
reader will begin to suspect that the sudden
deaths referred by medieval writers 10 basilisk
gaze were really caused by inhalation OF carbonic
acid gas. When, Furthermore, we learn, on the
authority of the book above quoted, that a
cerain inquisitiye student of Natures ways,
having protected his eyes with a pair of spec
tacles, managed once upon time to scan
baSilisk from head TO tail, to gaze unhaTmed
into the creatures very eyes, making a deli
berate survey Of the beast, and recording that
he resembed in appearance big toad, then does
the ridiculous suspicion dawn upon one that the
creature mistaken for the deadly thing, of medir-
val fancy bred was no other than poor frog
Our author, however, the natural philosopher,
explains the matter in quite another way. Accord
ing TO him, the spectaces had positive value I;
so hatwithout the spectacles mortal eyes could
have met the basilisk gaze without instant death
TO the possessOr Of them. According TO our au.
thOrity (who is a saunch believer, as we already
know, in the deadly power OF basillsk eyes), the
explanation Of their potency consists In simply
this, viz, the continuous darting, by sort Of ra-
Liation as we should call it now, of certain sharp
and penetratiye emanations; atomic darts,
purely mechanical things; whence the rationale
Of their action should, OF course, be purely me-
chAnicAl. The reader will doubtless call to mind
how that greatest Of travellers, Lemuel CULVER
OF M. du ChAillu be excepted finding himself
in the midst of battle waged by Lilliputian war