The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-10-22
DEATH AND THE SOUL.
Detecting the Flight of a spirit-How 1t Feels
DE-

Detecting the Flight of Spirit-How 1t Feels
TO Die.
st. Louis Globe Democrat.
Speaking of the departure of the spirit
from the body reminds me OF some queer
experiments made by friend of mine In
Sydney, Australia" said Elmer Patterson.
lie was hospital surgeon, religious en-
thusiast. genius and crank. He con-
ceived an almost insane desire to see q
human sonl as it took its departure from
its tenement of. clay. He provided him.
self with peculiarly constructed micro
scope. No, he wasn't looking for the soul
of miser or champion mean man. Just
drums afterwards The affair was some
thing like an 0Dera.glass and was made in
Berlin to his order. ION could not see more
than SIX feet distant with 1t, but every
thing within that range was magni6ed
many times. When q hospital patient was
breathing his last Doc would take mp
position beside him with his glass
and watch for the escaping soul. He
didn't find one for some time. bat
was rewarded. An English seaman was
shot in o brawl and fatally wounded. He
was taken to the hospital and died at noon
on suDshiny day. When he lost conscious.
ness Doc threw up all the blinds and lev
eled his glass on the sailors face. mo-
meut or two after his heart had stopped
beating Doc says he saw q White vapor is-
sue from the lips and nose OF the deceased.
1t floated upward aud assumed the shape
of woman, having the features of the
doad man. which were quite etfeminate The
spirit stood poised In the air for a moment
or two and then seemed TO Hoat up.
ward and disappear. Doc made careful
inquiry about the dead sailor and learned
that his disposition. well as his face, was
more like that of woman than man. So
marked was this characteristic that his
shipmates called him Sissy Doc AYERS
that he has, by the aid of his magic glass.
A.e4 <.I L. n
and that some OF Them look the shape of
wolves, snakes etc. One, he said much
resembled berkshire hog. As Doc has
been confined in the lunatic asylum @
not give to his wonderful discoveries the at
tentlon which be thinks they MERIT =
Il was reading an article III the Globe
Democrat this morning on how it feels 20
die." said DIR. w. II. Epwortb. mo living
mau can tell how death feels. or whether
| the actual act of dissolution Is acc ompanied
by sensation or not. A man who, through
| disease or casualty. has lost consciousness
has become, To ali appearances dead
| and is then rcsuscitated. can really tell MS
nothing about 1t. for he did not die.
| The machinery did not come to COM
| plcte standstill-the life force did not leave
the body. 1t may be that tie poet has
dipped deeper than the physician into the
| he has deserted terrors not visible to the
! eyesof the medical man, who III terests him.
self only in the condition of the animal
mechanism. / have stood by the death
bed of men who told me they were
| going to hell, and saw them pass
peacefully to their long sleep.
have locked az their dead faces few
minutes later and say thereon a look of
fear. OF horror, that was not visible when
the heart gave ts last faint thsob and then
stood still. i have had others tell me almo st
with their last breath that they were going
to heaven. Ihey passed away with wan,
weary faces that were pitiiui TO contem-
sweet as an angels dream. 0vefspread the
| pallid features The deep lines OF suffering
| faded out, and the aged looked almost outhr