St. Landry democrat., 1878-06-08
SUPERNAL VISION.


The Toughest Story OF the Nineteenth Century
-..Wonders Of the Blue Light-.-7 bought
Becoming Apparent,
Nearly quarter of century ago the
world.renowned astronomer Pa DIRE Secchi
was engaged in philosophical investiga
ton and speculation with a view Of
| determining to his own satisfaction
whether or not the great planet Jupite,
was Inhabited. As observed by his
powerful telescope the planet was pre-.
sented to the Padre with belts of cloud
crossing its plane. The astronomer orig.
mated the theory, now generally adopted,
that those cloud belts were produced by
the planets own heat, and that they are
at least 1000 miles in depth.
! When it is remembered that our own
atmosphere extends only forty-nine
miles, some notion may be formed of the
tremendous pressure of the cloud masses
upon Jupiter. 1t seemed clear, there.
fore, to Padre Secchi, that upon the
planet Jupiter such life as exists upon
earth is utterly impossible. On the
other hand, Jupiter's system of satellites
is such a marvellous system of horeme>
try that the good father was led to be
lieve that race of inhabitants far ex.
ceeding us in intellectual attributes, not
lacking our natural grossness and appe-
titles, might inhsbit the master planet.
If SO, he reasoned that they would enjoy
a deeply dark blue atmosphere, and from
this conclusion originated the not I'm
natural curiosity to ascertain what effect
perpetually blue media would exercise
upon our planet and its inhabitants,
From this source, in all probability,
arose all those investigations in this
country and Europe respecting the in>
fluence of blue and violet rays of light
upon the product of green. houses, upon
invalids and upon cattle fed at the stall.
In the United States, General Pleason-
ton has been the eloquent exponent of
some of the extraordinary results pro-
duced by the Use of colored glass in con.
servatories and stables. In Italy, DIR.
Ponza has demonstrated that blue and
violet rays, when systematically and
persistently blended with ordinary light
rays, produce extraordinary effects upon
the brain and nerve centers of persons
suffering from mental alterations. Thus
far, however, DIR. Ponza has been unnec-
essarily conservative in communicating
details of his experiments, and at the
present time further particulars are anx.
iously looked for. Padre Secchi, it is
understood, attributes DIR. Ponzs's
reticence TO the fact that he has made
some very great discovery-some discov-
cry that may revolutionize our present
scientific systems--and that he has pru-
IDENTIFY resolved to thoroughly test before
he gives the great result to the world.
There is every ground to believe that
such keystone discovery has been made,
but that from DIR. Ponza's brow has been
wrested the wreath that would have
its enumeration. AS it is, the
laurel will, in all probability, be divided
between Professor de Givodan, French
savant, and DR.. Ponza. Professor Givo-
dan has long been an earnest student
Of these mysterious phenomena
which, from the earliest ages, have
been associated with human beings. The
occult manifestations of unknown forces, |
whether called spi1itualism, mesmerism
Or ody,e, have been carefully investi-
gated.
He reflected that these curious mani>
have either been regarded as
'he superstitions Of the ignorant, or have
'eceived a fippant explanation, or the
acts have been used by empires as the
material Of a mystical philosophy. Until,
however, Padre secchi suggested to GER
ain scientists Professor Givodan, his
Incient friend, among others) the desira-
'ility of experimenting with blue or
violet light, little advance has been
made in the weird and shadowy enyi.
onment that separates the substance
rom the essence, the physical from the
piritual. All preceding efforts to step
INTO that horizontal region, unless the
Experiences Of swedenborg are to be ex-
'epted, have proved unayailing, for the
'ye OF material sense fails in that border
and Of the Infinite.
But when Padre Secchi propounded
he theory that the glorious deep blue
'olof Of the sky,so permanent and 80 all
'ervading, and yet 20 varying in in
ensity Of color, according to the season
md latitude, must have some abiding
citation and connection with the life If
'ur planet, the suggestion fell like 4
eyelation upon the ear Of Givodan and
g FASTENED to experiment, with what
esnlts It is the purpose Of this article to !
how. a
STARTLING EXPERIMENTS.
On May 4, 1876, Givcdan announced
9 bis friends that for some years hs pro
osed to live the life of recluse, in order
bat be might perform certain expert
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