The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-05-04
aGashriliG 4niolt.
WV. CAMERON 4 co., Publishers.
Pathological.


New York University, in a late dis
course. thus speaks of ths impression
made upon US by light:
- IF after the eyelids have been closed
for some time, as when we first awak,
n-the morning we suddenly and stead
tasty gaze at a brightiy-illuminated Oh
iect, and then quickly close the lid.
again, phantom image is perceived il
the infinite darkness before US. We
may satisfy ourselves that this is not q
fiction Of the Imagination, but a reali
ty; for many details that We had MOI
time to identify in the momentary
glance, may be contemplated at ouI
leisure in the phantom. We may thus
make out the pattern Of such an object
As lace curtain hanging in the win
dow or branches of tree beyond. By
degrees the image becomes less and
less distinct; in minute or two 1t has
disappeared. 1t seems to have q ten
dency to float away in the vacancy be
fore US. If we attempt TO follow it by
moving the eye-ball, 1t suddenly van
ishes.
Now the condition that regulates the
vanishing phantom Of images on the
retina is, that when they have declined
in vigor to less than 10th Of the inten
.-sity they have while in presence of the
object that formed them, they cease To
disturb the sight This principle is IL
Illustrated when a candle fame is held
opposite to she sun, or any light having
more than CT times its own brilliancy
It then ceases to be visible The most
exact Of all known methods for meas
uring lght-that by the extinction Of
shadows-is an application Of the same
principle Ts ~ r7
But the great fact that concerns us
is this Such duration of impressions
on the eye demonstrates that the effect
of external influences on nerve visicles
IS not necessarily transitory. It may
continue for a long time In this there
Is a correspondence TO the duration, the
emergence, the extinction of impress
sions on the Photographic preparation
Thus ! have seen on landscapes and
architectural views taken in Mexico
developed-as artists say-mOnths sub
sequently, the images coming out-afteT
the long voyage in all their proper
forms, and in all their contrast Of light
and shade The photograph had for,
gotten nothing 1t had equally pre-
served the contour of the everlasting
mountains and the passing smoke of a
bandit fire.
Are there, then, contained in the
brain more permanently, as in the reti
ma, more transiently the vestiges of i'm
pressions that have been gathered by
q. the sen5o~Y organs Do these consti
tute tlie Sasis of memory-the minC
contemplating such pictures of past
things and events as have been commit
ted to her custody2 In her silent gal
leries are there hung monographs o
the living and the dead, of scenes thai
we have visited, Of incidents in which
we have borne a part2 Are these abb
ding impressions mere signal marks
like the letters Of a book, which impart
ideas 10 the mind or are they actual
picture images, incOnceivably smaller
than those made for as by artists, in
which, by the aid Of a microscope, we
can see, in a space not bigger than a
pin hole a whole family group at a
glance.
The phantom images Of the retina,
as / have remarke ed, are not percepti-
bit ~ tie lEhb VI Ntig 4nOoC bhht OK
ist in the sensorium in like manner dc
not attract our attention so long as the
sensory organs are in vigorous operation
and occupied in bringing new impress.
sions in. But when these organs be
come weary and dull, or when we expe
rience hours of great anxiety, or in twi
light reveries, or sleep, the latent ap
partitions have their vividness increas-
ed by contrast, and obtrude themselves
on the mind For the same reason
they occupy US in the delirium of
fevers, and doubtless also in the solemn
moments of death. During third part
Of our lives we are Withdrawn from ex
ternal misunderstanding and sight
and the other senses are inactive, but
the never sleeping mind, that pensiye,
that yelled enchantress IN her nysteTl'
rious retirement looks over the ambro-
types she attracted-ambrotype for
they are unfading impressions-and
combining them together as they
chance to occur weaves from them a
web Of dreams.
Nature has thus introduced into our
very organization means of imparting
10 US suggestions on some Of the most
PROFOUND topics Win WHICH we can DC
concerned 1t operates equally on the
savage as on the civilized man, furnish
ing to both conceptions of a world in
which all is unsgbstaRtiaL 1t marvel
ously extracts from the vestige of the
impressions of the past overwhelming
proofs of the reality of the future; and
gathering its power from what might
seem to be a most unlikely source, it
insensibly leads US, no matter who or
where we may be, tOa profound belief
in the immortal and imperishable, from
phantoms that have scarcely made their
appearance before they are ready to van
ish away