Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1878-12-25
THE OTHER SELF.
Soma Instances Of Vivid Mental Re
reservations.


Sir Isaac Newton could call up
spectrum of the sun when he was in th
dark by intense direction of his mind
the idea of it, cas- when q man lool
earnestly to see a thing which is Difficult
to be seen." Dickens used to allege tina
he sometimes heard the characters o
his novels actually speak TO him, and
great French novelist declared tha
when he wrote the description of th,
poisoning of one of his characters he hac
the taste of arsenic 10 distinctly in hi
mouth that he was himself poisoned, had
a severe attack of indigestion, and vom.
tied all his dinners most pregnant
proof cf the power Of Imagination over
sense, because arsenic has scarcely au
appreciable taste beyond being sweetish.
Artists sometimes have, in an intense
form, the faculty of such vivid mental
presentation. 1t was very notable in
this extraordinary genius, William
Blake, poet and painter, who used con-
stantly to sec his conceptions q actual
images or visions. "You have only"
he said, to work up imagination to the
state of vision, and the thing Is done"
The power ia, without doubt, consistent
with perfect sanity of mind, although it
may be doubtful whether 4 person
who thought it right for himself
and his wife to initiate the
naked innocence of Paradise in the
back garden of Lambeth house,
as Blake did, was quite sane; but too
freqnent exercises of the power is full
Of peril to the minds stability. A per-
son may call up imsgines in this way
and they will come, but he may not be
able to dismiss them, and they may
haunt him when he would gladly be rid
Of them. He is like the sorcerer who
has called spirits from the vasty deep,
and has forgotten the spell by which to
lay them again. DR.. Wigan tells of 4
painter whom be knew who assured him
that he had once painted 800 portraits in
one year. The secret of this rapidity
and success was that he required but
one sitting and painted with wonderful |
facility. when q sitter came," he
said, "I looked at him attentively for
half an hour, sketching from time to
time on canvas. / wanted NO more; |
put away my canvas and took another
sitter. When ! wished to resume INV
first portrait / took the man and set him |
IN the chair, where saw him as dis. |
tinctly as il he had been before me in
MS own proper person--I may almost |
,ay more wildly. l looked from time
10 time at my imaginary figure, then re-
'erred to the countenance, and 20 on,
ust as l should have done had the sit |
II -
hair l saw the man. Gradually i began
o lose the distinction between the i'm
ginary figure and the real person, and
ometimes disputed with sitters that
hey had been with me the day before.
1t least was sure of it, and then-and
hen-all is confusion. suppose they
ook alarm. Irecollect nothing more.
ost my senses-was 30 years in the asy.
um. The whole period, except the last
tx months of my confinement, 10 dead
flank in my memory. Or, if the person
oes not 90 out of his mind, he may be
o distressed by the persistence of the
pparition which he has created a. to
al into melancholy and despair, and
ven to commit suicide, "I knew" says
be same author, ga very intelligent
nd amiable man, who had the power of
nus placing before his own eyes himself,
nd often laughed heartily at his double,
ho always seemed to laugh in turn.
his was long q subject of amusement
nd joke, but the ultimate result was
He became gradually con-
inced that he was haunted by himself.
he other self would argue with him
ertinaciously, and, to his great mortif-
Ition, sometimes refute him, which, a.
. was very proud of his logical powers,
umilisted him exceedingly. He was
but was never placed in con-
or subjected to the slightestl
strain. At length, worn out BY this
he deliberately resolved not
enter on another year of existence-l
nd all his debts, wrapped up in separate
spers the amount of the weekly de-
ands, waited. pistol in hand, the night
the 3lst of December, and, - the
ock struck twelve, fred it into his
outh.-Fortnightly Review.