The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-04-21

nave. AS they were ir advance of US
IN most things, so they were in this. They
made mummies of the ghost larvae in anti
olpatlon OF coming events. Psychical per-
sons commonly have a strong prediction
| Tor incneration in place of burial, but il
should be sufficiently evident that inciner-
alton, by utterly dislntegrating the larva of
ghost, prevents the final emergence OF the
image, which the Egyptians called the 'Ka ;
| L GU may remember that the Latins called
a specter larva, but then the ancient
Romans were not so scientific as the Egypt
lans, or as We mo6erns. Scientifically
| speaking, specter is an image and not a
| larva."
| DO you look upon ghost as an insectp'
"Morphologically." said the man, "appa-
rltions must then be classed The far-seeS
ing vision of the poets has often observed
them with wings, which. however, in most
| modern instances, have apparently been
atrophled through the abominable habit of
wearing clothes. Naked ghosts are now
never seen at undertaking searces, and at
| present not one ghost out of 1000 discloses
wings In the ghost stories collected of
late by Mr.. Stead, the gentlemanly editor
OF the Pail Mall Gazette, not one specter
| olscloses other means OF locomotion than
| legs and feet. And vet these members
alone will not account for the rapidly with
which ghost is known to have travelled
| from India TO London. Such beings must
| nave wings, and very possibly those menu
bers are never seen because Of the velocity
with which they vibrate Tho wings Of
some Insects In flight vibrate as often as
| LOU times in second, and consequently
| they cannot be seen. 1t would not be sur
prising to verify similar fact in the csse
| OF apparitions"
| But would not their wings become wish
Die as soon as the ghosts ceased their flight
and came to a standstillW
THAT depends said the man. "In the
| case OF the coleoptera the true flying wings
are concealed under their horny cases when
| the Hight ceases, aud if ghosts belong to this
class of insects, as there is much reason for
oeneVlug, their wings, being concealed
| while at rest, could not, of course, be seen.
| but II they can be seen neither In motion
nor at rest how can any knowledge Of their
existence be obtained?'
The pitch of tbs sound emitted by the
rapidly vibrating wings might be detected
by the ear, said the man, "snd possibly by
using the mlcrophone. Having once found
| the pitch, the number of the vibrations in a
second could be discovered through simple
mathematical process, provided, Of course,
| tnat the dimensions of the wings were
| known. l SEQ no way of arriving at those
dimensions except instantaneous photogra-
ply, and even this would fail if the vibra-
lions OF the wings per second should be more
|
Indeed, it is very doubtful that if the
motion was considerably less than this we
should be able to photograph the wings If,
| Tor instance, there was only million
OF them In a second, the heat evolved
by their friction against the air would be
sufficient to set them on fire and consume
them, unless they were composed of some
such substance as asbestos aud this would
be an anomaly in nature unless there are
such things as natural insects or insects par
TALLY composed of mineral substances. And
this may be so, even If it be anomalous.
Outside Of mathematics everything is posi-.
BILE, and some new calculations may before
long make all things possible even in math'
ematics."
"At preseat, at all events. it is impossible
to get at the dimensions Of ghosts wings"
u think So" said the man, but, OF
course, there is no telling. Science ad.
vances. Mr. Edison is going into the meta.
phylcs OF spirits, and George Parsons
Lathrop is going into their physics, and
what may we not hope for in the line of in
vention and discovery? Even l, with my
restricted acquaintance with physics anc
metaphysics, and even of the universe itself
can imagine way in which the matter ol
which ghosts, or at least the wings OF
ghosts, are constructed, might be deter
mined, though l doubt that their dimen.
slons could be arrived ar. If they move
with sufficient velocity to be set on fire,
| would apply the Spectroscope to them in
their incandescent state, observe the lines
Of the spectrum thus produced, and thence
determine the nature of the burning sub
stance. 1t is in this way that we determine
the substances of which the sun and stars
are made, ana have yet to learn why il
would not be applicable in pneumatology.'
But how would you get at your ghosts
If be started, say from India, to fly to New
| York, it is incredible that he should arrive
at his destination. His wings would soon
be consumed and he would have no means
of travelling to you and your spectre
scope"
II grant )" said the man, THAT ghosts are
very elusive things. We know SO little OF
them. except through testimony that is
equally elusive, that we can hardly be said
to be able even to imagine how they would
proceed from one place to another without
possessing some means of locomotiou. But
you should remember that the very fact
that we know next to nothing about them
warns us not to say what they cannot do.
According to Mr.. Steads More Ghost
while still in the larva state, could
be in two places at once and it was, you
may recollect, serious question among the
schoolmen whether spirits, when agoing
from one place to another passed through
the intervening space. If q specter wished
TO come from Bombay to my spectroscope
In New York Without consuming his wings
he might then Nip the intervening space
and be here WITHOUT coming. Even feas,
which have no wings, can do something
analogous to this on email scale; on bat
tlefelds vultures have been seen to come
from nowhere to prey on the dead, and
every cook knows that house flies do quite
similar thing when fish is frying. Even
wholly inanimate things-lightning for in
stance-can travel so rapidly as practically
to be in dozens OF places at the same time,
and the air is every at once with
out going anywhere except under peculiar
conditions. Nay. even purely imaginary
things may possess the faculty; the equator
runs all around the world, yet never moves
relatively to the earth's axis or the degrees
of longitude or latitude. Is there any rea-
son for supposing that what can be done by
animate, by inanimate, and Dy imaginary
things cannot be done also by purely SUBJ
jective existences, such as ghosts, who are,
in reality, simply non-objective insects
They may be this, at least they are as likely
to be that es anything else, and. until more
is known about them, it cannot be shown
that they are anything else. And when
something may as well be anything as any
thing else, it becomes very difficult to say
precisely what it is"
Evidently there is one thing on which
you pride yourself. You must be nice and
precise, or else you are nothing. But if a
ghost be an insect it ought to have six feet,
six leg :"
| 9.Wben II ia In the cocoon state before be-