Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1882-01-19
Second Sight.

Many intelligent people In Scotland and
elsewhere believe in what is called the
second sight, or, power Of seeing what
is going on many miles away. The power
is less common than il used TO be years
ago, bot so many facts are told by per-
sons whose veracity cannot be questioned,
that 1t Is easier 10 believe them without
explaining the mystery, than TO deny
them. Similar facts in our own midst
are not wanting confirming the possibility
of this second sight.
Ii Is a historical fact that Rev. Jos.
Buckminster, who died in Vermont in
1912, just before his death, announced
that his distinguished son, Rev. j. 5.
Buckminster, of Boston, was dead. Ii
afterward turned out that the son had
breathed his last about the time his father
made the announcement.
A parallel TO that of the Buckminsters
occurred but short time since at Eaton,
Ohio. On Wednesday morning in April,
73, at four o'clock, Gen. John Quinn, of
that place, brealhed his last. But few
minutes of that Joseph Deem, who
also died on the same day, aroused from
his sleep, and said TO his son John, who sat
at his side, "John, Gen Quinn is dead. "
10 this John said - reckon you are
mistaken, father; you have been dream
ing. guess Gen. Quinn is not dead, he
is not even sick, but goes down town regu-
larly every day for his mail"
Yes, said father Deem, "I know he
IS dead :" and he had scarcely finished
speaking when neighbor walked in and
said to them, "Gen. Quinn is dead I"
What is strange about IT, Is that Father
Deem did not know of Gen. Qmnn's III
ness, and, in ali probability, had not heard
ms name mentioned.
The late DR.. Francis Wayland was
accustomed TO tell of an incident of this
KIND which occurred 10 his mother, a
woman of sound judgement and of ad-
mirably balanced character. Young
Francis was expected home from New
York, where he had been attending medical
lectures. Suddenly, one day, the mother
began 10 walk the floor hurriedly. saving
to her husband, PRAY for my son. Fran.
els is in danger. !"
She was so agitated and urgent that the
father put up prayer for deliverance
from peril. When Francis at length
arrived home, the mother asked at once.
- What has taken place {" He told Of an
adventure. While coming up the North
River on sloop he had fallen overheard.
and the sloop had passed over him. Be-
ing an athletic swimmer, he had kept
afloat until rescued
Heinrich Zschokke, one of the eminent
literary men of Germany, possessed Al
times the curious power of seeing the
whole life Of a stranger into whose COM
pany he happened 10 be thrown. The
incidents Of the life seemed 10 pass be-
fore him in a~kind of vision, with a dis
tlnctnesss even in minute details. He
could not tell in what the power Law. nor
how il came to him; nor was it perman-
ent, or even general. 1t came mysterl-
ously and left as strangely. But he often
tested Its accuracy by recountlnv To the
stranger the whole story of the life as 1t
appeared TO MIN, and never failed TO re-
ceive an acknowledgment of its truth.
even in minute particulars. Once, when
travelling with two of his sons, he met
with another man, an orange peddler, who
had similar gift, and who, to the great
delight of the boys, told the incidents Of
Zschokke's life from boyhood.
A distinguished scientist has advanced
The theory in our hearing, TO which he
himself holds, that there is an unknown
mental power in the human system that is
independent of our recognized faculties.
and superior TO them. Certain persons on
going TO sleep fix upon an hour of the
night to awake, and always awake at the
fixed time. This indicates a knowledge
of time possessed by this unexplained
mental power which is beyond the reach
of the ordinary faculties.
Many of the French soldiers, returning
from the German frontier during the late
war, were found sleeping during a weari-
some march, but they kept in rank and
obeyed orders. People have composed
poems, reasoned with wonderful clearness
or abstruse subjects, and even played the
piano with unusual brlllancy and express
sion, during sleep.
DR.. Brown-Sequard once related an In
cident of his own experience somewhat
similar to those recorded Of Zschokke.
He was once lecturIng TO some French
students, talking very rapidly, his whole
mind wrapped up in the subject He
suddenly stopped short IN his discourse,
and stood before the audience, lost, as it
were, in profound thought. While his
mind had seemingly been concentrated
on the subject of his lecture with unusual
intensity, there had been forced into 1t
the solution Of problem of science that
had batfled his efforts for long perod,
and which was quite foreign to the sub
ject of which he was treating. Tie stud
ents became alarmed, thinking from his
Strange silence, that he must have been
taken ill, and he thought it prudent to
make an explanation of the cause of his
conduct on the spot.