New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-08-17
age.

II has never yet been explained why during INC
heated season so luxuriant a crop Of fancics
Dungeons forth and decorates the columns of the
daily press The common attributOn of this in
teresting phenomenon TO the advent Of a hypO-
thetical silly season" is unscientifc and in
striking contradiction TO the facts, for what is
actually witnessed is not an outbreak of imbccility,
but a remarkable accumulation and expansion of
intellectual elements. Take, for example, the
strikingly imaginative tale of the Findiay, Ohio,
correspondent, about the discovery of well
equipped Inferno in the bowels of the earth
below that devoted town. Surely there was nothing
silly in that invention On the contrary, 1t was
clearly the product Of fresh and vigorous brain,
and it was no doubt accepted by numbers of
people as matter Of fact The Findlay CORE
spondent, indeed, is a person OF parts He is up
end doing these hot days, with soul for any
fate, as the poet puts it. No sooner have the
echoes of his central fire discovery ceased to rever
bcratc than he puts forth another ingenious story,
this time plungng his readers into the cool
shadows OF the unseen universe. His simple mar
ratve is of a suffering maiden restored to health
through the intcrpositon of phantom skilled in
therapeutics in fact, phantom of really original
genius
To hcightcn the interest, we are told that the
patient was afflicted with mysterious disease,
which no medical man in or about Fnday was
able to diagnose 1t was Il most startling and
gruesome complaint, for Mt intervals it left the
madcn's flesh cold and peppered her fair body
all over with green spots Small blame to the
Fihdlay doctors if they were bewildercd by these
symptoms. But the patient fell into a trance,
and oil awalung rccountcd wondrOus vision. n
man had come to her, and with the aid of buggy
wheel had disclosed to Der tho cause OF her illness.
Now there is stroke Of genius Who but the
Findlay correspondent would have thought of a
buggy wheel clucidatory agent? Possibly
the phantom Buddhist phantom, and the
supposed buggy wheel was the Wheel OF the Law,
known TO the followers Of Sakya Mum. But
these be deep things. Suffice it 10 know that the
wheeled spook set forth the therapeutic virtues of
three bottles and a sheet, combined in some uncX-
planned manner The bottles were to contain re-
spcctively wine, whsllcy and alcohol. Whether
the patient was to be wrapped in the sheet and
then to absorb the contents of the three bottles in
succession can only be conjccturcd. There is an
objection to that hypothesis, and it consists in the
fact that the phantom threatened death in case
the prescrii ton was not followed; whereas the
unassised reason gt have felt safe in predicting
dissolution II the bottles were empted as sug-
gcsted.
Naturally enough the Findlay profession sconcd
at the vision. But mark the sequel. just as the
phantom had predicted, the patient began to grow
worse, and finally her condition fairly frightened
her friends into trying the ghOstly prescription,
which was applied with the happiest effect In a
word, the young lady began TO mend and In u
short time was convalescent But now for word
Of criticism. While the motive and the framework
of this story exhibit vivid imagination and a
coura gcous disregard for sordld facts, 1t must be
admitted that the artistic completeness of the COM
position requires what the author has failed TO
furnish namely, the exact formula OF the pre-
scrption Under the Law Of Formulation a
great many combinations can be effected with
three bottles and "a sheet and il Is manifest that
should any one else be attacked with the cold
flesh ana green spots disease. and had not the
proper combination at hand, the green spots
might prevail before the right arrangement could
be reached by the methods OF the higher Algebra
The Fnday correspondent ought to round out his
otherwise ingenious hot-weather story by giving
the prescription in full, and then 1t would be
easier to employ his in illustration of the
theory hereby defcrcntially offered that the hot
weather story is really indicative Of phenomenal
cerebrGton, induced and stimulated by the high
temperature, very much as dollhouse atmosphere
stimulates the growth Of tropical plants.