Omaha daily bee., 1882-10-13

w AoAhhhS ~ y b"ANNA
Of flowers. The American doctor,
who was still quite unaffected, exam
ined him, but found that, W. for a
slight dilation of the pupils of the
eyes, his condition was normal, OF
neatly SO. He lay on a couch at full
length, unwilling, apparently, to be
disturbed, but perfectly sensible when
any enc addressed him, The physi.
clan was anxious to take his tcmpera
ture, aud went to his bureau to find q
clinical thermometer for that
purpose; but r he had
ended his search, he, too, be.
came Enthusiastically affected. He
quilted the drawer at which he was
standing, began to speak very rapidly
and upon a great variety OF subjects
having no pslpable connection with
other; and az soon as he eat down in
his chpir again, burst into a fit of
laughter which brought tears to his
eyes. and which was caught up and
echoed by the musical gentleman on
the couch. The reporter also began
to be conscious of n strange physical
drowsiness. He was unwilling to ex.
ert himself or even to talk, and soon
the influence of the hashish became so
pronounced as to render him no
longer able to pay particular attention
TO the symptoms shown by the others.
He believes that he did not close his
eyes; and his senses were all, to a GER
tain extent, awake, for he saw the
musical gentleman walk by a circuit
ous route to the piano. So strangely
light and unmaterial did he feel az
this time that he remembers reflect.
ing that, had he wished to cross the
room, he would have flosted, and
could have done 80 by q mere exer.
else of the will. He remembers, too,
hearing the musician play something,
but what it was he canno. cay, for it
seemed too wonderful to have been
composed by mortal man. 1t
sounded as if it were produced
by an immense orchestra, or a
huge and perfect organ, played beneath
a vast dome. The senses, indeed,
seemed to have become supernatural
ly acute. Every sound was magnifi.
ed, sometimes even to an almost
alarming extent; and visible objects
were, apparently, similarly increased
beyond their real size, and were
rendered distorted and monstrous an
if by an intervening plate of inferior
window-glass. Everything assumed a
strange and fantastic shape, and the
physician and his guests appeared like
gigantic earShmen out of the German
autobiography. Out of the shadows,
too, in the more distant corners of the
room, strange figures seemed to rise
and steal about the floor, either crawl
ing d~ejectedly, or rolling as if in pent-
up laughter; and other figures, no less
grotesque, danced with queer antics
and extraordinary agility. None of
these apparitions, however, We're at all
terrifying, or even unpleasant. Each
imp, no matter how contorted and
monstrous his body might be, had a
face jovial and ridiculous. Nor was
there any monotony. Every moment
changes took place, and every change
was an incentive to laughter. All,
however, appeared at the time to be
perfectly natural. The visions affected
the capacity for enjoyment much as a
clever theatrical performance might
affect 1t. They seemed to be vastly
amusing, but at the same time to have
nothing whatever supernatural in
them. The land of dreams, coniured
up by the hashish, vas apparently the
ordinary land in which men move
every day, and it caused no more
feeling OF overwhelming surprise.
1t was, in fact, quite natural
that everything should be unnatural.
1t was natural that a huge hen
should come out of the gloom, give
vent to a cry like that of a donkey,
and then laugh with ever widening
beak, and It was natural that every
chair should be alive, and that every
thing in the room should have a round,
red, grinning, laughter provoking faces
Sometimes, however, the visions as
sumed n purely beautiful type; and
lovely valleys, distant mountains
tinged with the glow of the setting
sun, and glorious cataracts tumbling
hither and thither in foaming wrath,
came excessively before the eyelike
the scenes OF a magic lantern. Bat
everything was real, Each scene was
n that could, apparently, be lived
in and enjoyed; and there was moth,
ING in any of them like the fairness
and comparative colorlessness of a
picture.
From 10 o'clock onward, nearly all
through the night, the hours as they
struck were audible, but on each oc-
casion they assumed some new dis
guise-now the voice merry giant,
and now the good humored roar OF
some fantastic beast. Gradually,
however, the effects of the drug grew
weaker, and the vividness of the hal
fluctuations weakened proportionately,
Then sleep came.
At 8 o'clock in the morning tn.
whole party was wide awake. TIL,
American doctor said that he had no
been in the least degree affected, and
he gave an amusing description OF tn,
way in which the Others had behaved
themselves during the night. TIT
musical gentleman, after leaving thu
piano, had made attempts to fly like
bird, and had then taken up a posi-
ton on the floor. The English physi
clan had put his feet on the seat Of al
armchair, and, with his head Oh
hassock, had talked uuconnected non
sense and laughed frantically fol
nearly two hours; and the reporter
anugly lying on u couch, had, with the
exception of intervals during which
he danced with considerable grace
and agility with an imaginary part
ner, been tolerably sensible until I
o'clock, and had been able to answer
questions. of what he said, however
he has not even the vaguest recolleo
ton. The doctor had taken his tenn