Rock Island daily Argus., 1888-05-25
HORRORS OF HASIIISH.
A REPORTER EXPERIMENTS ON HIM
SELF WITH The DRUG.

Chapters from the Dreamer's Narrative.
Strange Condition Into which the Drug
Throws Its victim-AwEward Feeling
| of DuaiIty-Ths Waking.
An hour had passed. when OF a sudden
there shot through every pulse thrill un.
speakable, II choking like that OF first Iowa
| knew at last the wizards wonder working
hand was upon me- Every nerve was a
| tinge, and the only relief was to tighten
| every muscle and sinew to a tension that
seemed like to wreck me The blood rushed
| in vast and ever growing volume to my brain
and the room was whirling like fiywheel.
| At my throat and heart was that strangling
| clutch There was taste on my tongue as
| II / had drank from Leyden jar, and a con
| suming thirst upon me l wondered
| what penalty must be paid for thus trying
to steni over the back fence into paradise
The dear bread and butter commonplace
| seemed the one thing admirable. Fear grew
with the minutes The sense Of isolation was
| awful No one was In the same world with
me- | must enter upon the abyss alone.
friend came In at the door and | could
have screamed for Joy | wanted to fall upon
his neck. Again, like cold chill, came the
knowledge he can do nothing. In a voice
which sounded strange and louder than com.
mon gave him greeting, then fell back into
the chair and went on, holding the book be.
fore me. II seemed as though | should fly in
atoms, yet, with mighty effort | made a
pretense Of talking to him about the weather
Feet and hands were growing numb. The
first sensation Of heat had departed Now
the marrow was all gone from my bones, and
through the osseous chambers a cold wind
crept The clutching at my heart was as
hideous as death. | felt the center OF life
within me freezing up A great weight held
me To speak was TO utter a few ponderous
and Arctic syllables, and the ST. lips took
an age to form them. The movemnt OF an
arm was like the motion of vast machine
was freezing. Yet all the time, with
mighty rhythm, the blood kept beating to my
brain. Drowsiness came on, and yet closed
eyes would bring no sign of sleep.
VISIONS or ANOTHER SELF
Here, with the fading eye Of reason, /
could trace the first sense Of that duality
which hashish gives The self material and
the self spiritual seemed sundered and NOV.
ing In different worlds The more violent
the dose the more completely is the outer
nature subdued, until familiar surroundings
are swallowed in the vision. 1t is an incred.
ible characteristic OF hashish intoxication or
delirium that whatever visions you see you
never seem to see them, but, as it were, to see
yourself seeing them. In all your wander,
ings you cannot be alone. There is n sense OF
companonshp-of an attendant, familiar,
yet strange In an instant there is flashed
upon you the knowledge of that duality; that
companion is your other self.
The sense of duality is doubly apparent in
the talk and action Of one under the spell of
hashish. His ordinary consciousness of per-
sons and things about him is little impaired
Though he lies In a stupor, and exclaims
drowsily at the visions before him, the
slightest question will receive ready an.
swer but in vexed tone. as to say; go
away and let me alone" The hearing is
marvelously fine 1t seems as If all the out
ward senses were alert and even had a ra-
tionality working behind them, while from
the disjected utterances of the sleeper you
may know that behind closed lids he moves
in a laud of wonders manifold
When trying to talk sense, he knows his
speeches are broken and wandering. IL Is a
common expression Of the hashish eater,
waking or sleeping; ~ know | am making a
fool of myself, but can't help it" The
thought is for an instant, clear and acute |
upon any subject suggested, but then the
ideas flee from utterance, and In their pur-
suit the victim gets tired and tangled, and in
a moment cannot tell what the subject was
Out at the far confines Of space there was |
a great flaming sickle of gold and of infinite |
circumference. 1t grew smaller and smaller |
Its point cured ever inward The glitter |
ing wavy edge seemed to smile, while to |
slow music it girt me closer and painlessly, |
softly as though were Of air. | felt myself |
bisected at the equator, The two whirling |
passed away in opposite direc-
tions into space Looking back upon this |
and other things | marvel how they could |
have been SO real To sense it seems absurd
Yet the further pass from that strange ex-
the more distinct, more vivid, more
glorious grows its memory; the more its In
cipient horrors grow small In estimate and
are crowded out of remembrance
THE SCENE GROWS soMBER
| was drifting downward, h,avy with the
mist that came from the echoing caverus be-
meath, and the blue shadow of the calling
spirit seemed ever to be denser, ever to clasp
me closer to it The darkness had its genii,
damp and slumberous creatures looking from
eyes heavy with iethargy. Here and there
huge as the moon, CLEANED with
malignant light from Its black, dripping set
ing in the hideous and world ribbing rocks
Through the blackness of that place sank
ill was of weight with the mountains
and seemed part of them. The blue water
,prite had gone in pursuit of was not with
ne, and looking upward | saw her, smiling
iown, her sad, cold face only a shadow be-
,ween me and the far glistening day. Turn