The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1884-09-27
Minds Diseased.

A singular case was brought before Q
city court not long since. A gentle
man of high social standing. the son of
a great jurist, and an eminent lawyer
and scholar, had been imprisoned by
his sister and brother in an insane asy-
lilm. but had regained his freedom.
They now wished to make his confine-
ment perpetual. and to obtain control
of his property on the ground that he
was lunatic. The only delusion un-
der which he labored was his belief that
he heard necessarily the voices of I'M
seen speakers. Two men, he declared.
whom he had disobliged, had conspired
to annoy him in this way, and by means
oftelectrical power conveyed the sounds
to his ear. Exactly hoW it was done
was a scientific secret as yet undiscov-
cred. He conducted his own defense in
court, and made plea so logical. pow
erful and scholarly that it convinced his
hearers of his sanity. No more mas
terly or brilliant argument had ever
been heard in these walls. Hc was dis
missed free man. But he persisted
on his discharge that the voices still
sounded in his ears.
How far the brain may receive such
delusions, and yet remain sane and re-
sponsible enough to control our rela-
tions to God and our brother-man is
one of the most difficult questions in
metaphysics. DIR. johnson was saner
than his generation upon most vital
questions, yet he would not walk down
o certain street without striking every
post with his cane, and il he omitted
one, would come back q square to
touch it, mot to give offense.''
One of the most brilliant Of Ameri.
can men of letters had singular love
of horses, and to. his intimate friends
declared his firm belief that they had
human souls.
A well-known leader OF society in one
of our cities, woman who managed
large literary and charitable organiza-
tions with exceptional shrewdness and
business ability, was. during her whole
life, convinced that whenever she
looked into a mirror her head died, and
remained dead for many minutes.
If the most prosaic and practical man
among us would look closely into his
own belief, he will probably find some
lurking superstition, dread of Friday,
or of the thirteenth place at table, or u
harmless black est, which, to q per.
fectly sane mind, would seem only 9
mad within. ou
On the other hand, it il hardly safe
to allow only the most prosaic minds
to measure the bounds of reason and
unreason. To jury of dull. illiterate
men, Hawthorne's moods If causeless
misery, Poe's rapt ecstasies. Byron
Immortal longings. (" would be proofs
of lunacy. Pope's keen wit suggests
that s
madness and genius sure are near allied,
And thin partitions do the bounds divide.
But even Pope, with all his knowledge
of human nature. could not define The
place Of the partitions. - Youths Com
pGni0n.
81 do declare, James," said the
farmers wife, as she walked about the
waiting room reading the railway ad.
vertisements, there's something
never heard tell on before. A buffe,
car. What do you suppose that is,
james," don't you know what q
buffet car is, Sarah? Guess you haven
been reading much of late, have youi
You ought to know that a buffet car Ii
car recently invented to put on the
end of the train. 1t is fixed up with
springs and things, and is is designed
to act as sort of buffer for the rest Of
the train in case of collisions. They're
making ch.improvements in railroad
ing all the while, Sarah. b'lieve, if il
wern't for me to tell You what is going
on in the world, you wouldn't know
anything. Chicago Times.
"A cremassry is to Be built at Buff
falo, N. Y, modelled after the famous
one at Milan. No fame, but intense
heat, viii be used to reduce the body tt
ashes. The high temperature is af
forded through pipes from . movable
heater, which win be connected with
the furnace. The required heat by THU
method must be eight hundred degrees
and it will take four hours to reduce {
body to ashes Buffalo Express.
1t is good plan to keep the sol
well-stirred in q dry season A goot
narrowing Is about equal to . Shower o
! Faip.-E J. ETqzniHsr.