Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-06-28

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Nv more keenly interested
NJ In finding out about the
Nj specters of living per-
IN sons. Concerning this
w latter class Of phantoms
~ DR.. Elliott Coues, the
49, eminent expert in such
matters, was kind enough to give a STAR re-
porter some points q day or two ago.
ITO begin WITH" said he, ''let US clearly
define what We mean by q 'phantasm of the
living There are two classes. quite distinct,
Of apparitions, both of living and of dead per-
sons One Of these is wholly hallucinatory.
Many persons in certain states of health have
apparitions before their Dyes which are due to
condition Of the vitreous fluid of the eye
ball Others have a variety of ringing or
buzzing sounds in the ears, which are due to
an affection OF the acoustic nerve. Now. it is
but step from these purely physical
arrangements Of the eye and ear to have before
one, as it were, the image of an idea as
representation, external to the body, of a
thought. wish, hope, a fear. This may
take number of shapes In some cases it as
in others of an entire body. In other cases
again 1T assumes the character of a word, q
sentence. or even a continued conversation. 1t
is not necessary to such Authorizations that the
persons who have them should be deceived in
their nature. On the contrary, many persons
who are most subject to hallucinations of this
sort are aware of the fact, and their reason
enables them to perceive the wholly hallucina-
tory character of the apparitions. This is
not delusion 1t is an illusion of the
is not delusion. A delusion
is misunderstood illusion. Ordinarily illu-
sons are connected with some derangement of
the nervous system. Not only persons and
voices, but the figures of animals, inanimate
objects, articles of furniture or anything thai.
has tangible existence. may thus be presented
The percentage of persons to whom such pure
hallucinations occur is think. considerably
larger than is supposed, for they naturally
shrink from mentioning such things for fear Of
ridicule perhaps also having some supersti-
tious fear of them in their own minds Others
may recognize them as dependent upon poor
state of health: then they pass into the cate
CORY of medical symptoms and are, of course
not discussed in public.
REAL PHANTOM.
"a real phantom OF the living, to be not q
mere hallucination, should present an appear
ance nearly, if not exactly, like that of the
natural physical individual l have several
times in my life beheld such phantom, which
only differs, so far rs / can see. from the
reality in that it does not consist of such ma
terlal particles as those composing our physical
bodies. Nevertheless, not only the attitudes but
the movements, actions and gestures of these
figures are the same as would be those of
natural body. Moreover such actions are not
necessarily automatic or unintelligent, but
they frequently represent or convey the will or
the wishes OF the ghost in an Ineligible man.
ner. can mention number of instances in
which such an apparition of my own person
atty has presented itself to other persons in
places where in fact my body was not at the
time. There are various reasons why should
withhold names in those cases, yet a number
OF such instances have been published
duly attested with the necessary
evidence, in papers Of this country
lished cases of identical character more num-
erous than those which have thus far been
given to the public. In most OF these cases
my phantom has presented only the character
OF visibility. In a small percentage of the cases
words such as l might have used had 1 been
actually present have been spoken-say, rather,
have been heard by the percipient
CASE IN POINT.
81 will select typical illustration. Being in
Chicago at a gathering Of about forty friends
a! an ordinary evening entertainment, per-
son in Washington, at the time unaware of nv
whereabouts, received the impression Of my
personal presence, with a brief message stat
ing where / was at the time. under what cir
cumstances and giving the names of two or
three OF the persons then present. which
lent. This was a case of phantom OF the living
of the ''veridical' (truth telling) category COM
bining the characteristics of visibility and au-
dibility. In the circle Of my personal acquaint-
ances could enumerate perhaps a dozen
whose experiences at intervals have paral-
leled my own. In thousands of circulars re-
Gently distributed by the London Society for
Psychical Research enough carefully attested
and fully authenticated instances of the
kind have been gathered to make the material
+uyn hull QOtn r.ll,,. H.
paused for moment and, going to bookcase.
brought to the table two volumes entitled
"Phantasms OF the Living" each about the size
OF a volume of Bancroft's history of the United
States. Obviously then" he continued, this
is no personal peculiarly of mine, but a dis
tinct. recognizable and l think important
branch OF scientific inquiry into some of the
more obscure facts of human nature The
real character of such phantasms is as vet
wholly In question. There may be said to be
TWO schools OF thought among psychical re-
searchers, one of which is inclined to reIegate
the undlsputed appearances IN every instance
to the class OF hallucinations; the other is in
clined to think that such figures have a sub
stantal existence and, let me add. a semi-mate-
rial structure in no wise depending upon the
mind or the senses OF the one who perceives
them.
You are puzzled to know what mean by
serni-material? Ask physicist what he means
by the luminiferous ether. He might reply
Az 40 SeHi-iualeridi buDStlllc6 Dy the
vibrations or oscillations of which light is prop
agated at measurable velocity by waves of
measurable length and frequency. This mo-
ton OF luminiferous ether is the active force
Of what would call
sEMI-MATERIAL SUBSTANCE,
which, striking upon our eyes, produces in us
the sensation which we call light. That is the
phenomenon by which we see yet which has
never yet been itself seen. There are many
technical namef for a substance or material
which has not in fact the molecular
constitution OF ordinary matter. My own belief
Is In the existence of an exceedingly thin. fine,
tenuous substance, perhaps quite like what is
called luminiferous ether, which is all-per-
vadlng. filling space which otherwise appears to
be occupied by ordinary matter, and conse-
quently inter-penetrating every material
particle OF our own bodies. Some of the
phenomena of animal mesmerism point to the
conclusion that at times n stream or current of
this inner substance may proceed from our
bodies, say from eyes or finger tips. and appre-
ciably affect the thoughts or feelings of another
person without any ordinary means of commu-
nicatlon. That is what is now called 'tele-
pathy.' Such cases are too common to require
any argument-they simply are facts in nature.
Now, II at distance of six inches or six feet
such acurrent is able to affect another organ
ism. / see no reason why the same should not
occur at a distance OF IL feet or II yards or
l2 miles. 1t is question of difference not in
kind, but III degree or intensity or extent. And
II this subtle current can affect one of the
senses there 10 no apriori reason why it should
not affect another. 1t must have some form.
otherwise IL would not exist, and there is no