Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1870-01-21
Strange Illusions.

appear IN an epidenic lorH' Ole VI .he
principal forms of epidemic illusion is
the vision of armies in the clouds. All
history abounds with instances of this
nature.
There existed for some centuries two
singular forms of epidemic hallucination
-lyconthropy and vampirism-which pre-
vailed extensively among great numbers
of the people. "The origin of lycan-
thropy," says NJ. Boismont, goes back to
the most ancient epochs of paganism.
In this illusion the unfortunate sufferers
believed themselves to be changed into
wolves. 1t was especially in the four
teenth and fifteenth centuries that this
singular illusion was most widely spread
in Europe The cynanthropes and ly-
canthropes abandoned their dwellings to
bury themselves in the forests, letting
their hair, nails and beard grow, and
pushing their ferocity to such an extent
as to mutilate, and even kill and eat
children that fell in their way" Many
of them confessed these things in such a
manner as to indicate their insanity but
the ignorance of the times was such that
they were supposed to be in pact with
Satan, and they we're burned at the stake
in great numbers as the supposed witches
were.
On vampirism, NJ. Boismont remarks
When a man is subjugated bysuperati-
ton and terror, there are no ideas so
grotesque that they may not become re-
alities. One of the most singular aber-
rations of this kind is that which is
known under the name Of Vampirism, of
which we find the traces even In the Tai
mud. This epidemic reigned about the
commencement of the eighteenth centu-
ry in many parts of Hungary, Moravia,
Silesia and Lorraine. The peasants who
were the subjects of it believed that after
death their enemies had the power OF
appearing to them in various forms.
Some dreamed that these malevolent
spirits took them by the throat, strangled
them and sucked their blood; others be-
J lieved that they really saw these mon-
sters. Mystical ideas Of an expansive
t character, exalting the imagination pro-
4 duced these various ecstacies to which we
: have referred and which had, as char
acteristics, celestial visions of all kinds.
1t is to the same influence that we must
refer the apparitions and aural illusions
of the dance of the convulsionnaires Of
st. Medard, the ecstatics of Cevennes,
the possessed of London, and Others of
Y the same kind.-A Physicians Problem.
0 A CURIOUS HoAx.-A funny story
comes from America of lady who, for
4 fun advertised for a husband. She gave
/ a general description of her charms, but
rather more of her means. She spoke OF
a snug little fortune. Enough She re-
ceived an enormous number of replies.
and laid her plans accordingly. Assist
ed by five other ladies she wrote replies
to all the eager swains. She proposed to
each meeting in a Broadway restaurant
Each was to be dressed in a rather
marked manner, to assume particular
attitude, to be eating certain rather &c.
centric and ignoble dish. Meanwhile
the lady arranged with her friends tc
II IN hn al
to the suitors in the letters sent by them,
and to present themselves, one by one al
the appointed rendezvous. The plot was
q carried out, and succeeded. Great wa:
q the gathering of suitors in costume, atti
tude and gustatory occupation strictly
d according to orders. Very intently die
each apply himself-unconscious ofprox
!. unity to others whose minds were SINH
:. larly occupied-to the particular actor
:. by which he was to be recognized, anC
n great of course, was the amusement o
! the ladies who sat watching them. A
&c last, when five and finally the sixth lad,
q in the notified costume arrived, it flashed
upon the astonished suitors that they ha,
- been sold, and SO, without a word, the,
j, made for the door. 1t was with difficul
\ ty and slowly that they got their none
! taken, and departed, leaving the six Ia
ha dies in fits of merry laughter, and tn
- proprietor and walters in as great a stat
! of wonderment at their departure as the
a had been thrown into by their arrival
r. From The Court Journal.
ne CHANCES OF MARRIAGE.-The follow
ng ing curious statement, by DIR. Granville
he is taken from late English paper; it
he drawn from the registered cases of 81
,er women, and is derived from their answer
Id to the age at which they are respectivel
IN married. 1t is the first ever constructe
MS to exhibit to females their chances
nd marriage at various ages. OF the 81
,ps females, 8 were married at Is years
ed age; IL at IA; Is at l5: 43 at 16; 4