The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-10-31
PEOPLE CHARMED BY TERROR
On Mountain Heights-FascInatod BY
shsIs-Awestruek Curiosity.
fChica2o Herald

On Mountain Heights-FAscInAtOd BY
shslls-Awestruck Curiosity.
lChicazo HERALD
The fascination of terror has long
been observed. A London paper, The
Spectator. calls attention to several pc
euliar cases: A gentleman who had
passed by a very wild Himalayan pass
into Cashmere told Mr.. Curran that he
was within an ace of pitching himself
headforemost into the widest of the
0or0es he had skirted; indeed
his mind had been quite unset
tied by the mad impulse; but so
far from desiring such an end to his
life-Which is what mere Indigestion
and its consequences might possibly
produce-he had lived throughout his
journey in deadly fear of being unable
70 resist the impulse to cast himself
down, and his native servants evidently
thought that his mind had been unset
tied by his peril Now, how does a
mere paralysis of the active powers ac-
count for mad impulse Of that sort to
do the very thing which you most
dreadl It resembles more the asserted
fascination of the bird for the serpent
q fascination which makes it fly into
the mouth Of its destroyer-than it re-
sembles paralysis of any sort.
Perhaps certain amount Of clue is
given to the difference between the par
alysis of terror and the morbid impulses
generated by terror, in Mr.. Curran's
quotation from Drinkwater's tSiege Of
Gibraltar" as to the fascination pro-
duced by the shells on some of those
who were in danger Of becoming vic
tins. Lieut.. Love-" he says, '1ost
his leg by shot on the slope of the hill
under the castle. He saw the shot be-
fore the fatal eject, but was fascin-
ated to the spot. This sudden arrest of
the faculties was not uncommon. Sew
eral instances occurred to my own OBJ
seryation when men utterly free have
have had their senses so engaged by
shell in its descent that, though sensible
of their own danger, they have been i'm
mediately fixed to the place. But what is
mere remarkable, these men have so in
simultaneously recovered themselves on
its fall to the ground as to remove to a
place Of safety before the shell burst.
This last sentence seems to US to sug-
gest that when the source of the fascin-
aticn is not merely shock, but what
we may call the imaginative cOntem
plation Of the law of the shock, there
Is spell east over the imagination as
one watches the career of that which
carries death with ia spell which is
broken by any visible termination to
that career. Hence the effect is very
different where you can see the phe-
nomenon to It's close without fatal re-
suit tC Yourself from what it is where
you cannot get quit of the conception
which possesses you without some fatal
deed.
It appears that those soldiers who
we're fascinated by the fight of the
shells got quit of the fascination the
moment they had watched the shell to
earth. The attitude of expectation from
which they could not hberate them
selves till they saw the complete result
ceased to hold possession of them the
moment the shell touched ground, and
then once more they had all their fac
mites about them. Well, does not this
suggest that the source of the morbid
feeling which leads men to pitch them
selves of the brink of precipices is
deep intellectual absorption in the
idea of falling from that fearful height,
an absorption which, far from paralyz-
ing them. really vibrates through their
body, just as some foolish rhyme will
sometimes vibrate through the lips and
tongue so that one cannot help repeat
ing it on the most inappropriate acca
sionsl
1t was not terror Of the consequence
of the explosion Of the shell which para
iyzed the soldiers who were watching,
cut the awful interests excited by its
fight; they could no more stop watch
ing till they saw exactly whore it fell
than an eager archer could kelp watch
ing where his arrow should hit the tar
get; but this aWestruck curiosity once
satisfied, the spell vas broken and the
men were able to run for their lives.