Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1895-07-11
THEi CITIZEN.
Mysterious Disappearance.

A recent article by DR.. Osborne in the
Meiico-L Legal Journal on People who
Drop Out of Sight" appears, says the
Lancet, to afford food for thought, not |
only to the student, but even to the pro-
verbal 'sman in the street" "The first case |
mentioned is that of man, thrifty and in |
dus.rious, prosperous in his business and
exemplary in his family relations, who left
his house one Sunday afternoon to bave
short walk, being reminded by his wife as
lie went out MOI to be late for dinner, which
was 10 5e ready in few minutes. He die
not return, 10 trace of bim could be lound,
and 40 reason for his disappearance was dis
covered waen his affairs came to be wound
up, as they had TO be in the course of time.
/ Two years lateI, in shop in one OF the
| Southern States of America, mau who
! had been known as an industrious, a.
| though taciturn, workman suddenly seem
| ed 20 wake up and asked where he was
and how he had got there. Gradually
things came back TO him; he remembered
! leaving his house in the North on Sun
/ day afternoon two years before, but eveTy-
| thing that hapI ened subsequently was as
/ if it had not been. Nothing of his wander
| iBgs could be discovered further than that
some montns before he had appeared in the
town in which be came TO himself and had
I asked for and obtained work, which he had
performed diligently ana efficiently. lie
/ was restored to his family, a1d at the time
/ the article was written had resumed his
! former life. Another and even more strik-
/ ing case is related-tbat of lawyer,
well public man and politician, OF
| mere than usual ability and IN prominent
| social and professional position. One day,
! while in the midst Of some intricate add
| important legal work, be stepped outside
for a few minutes. He also disappeared.
The most vigorous and thorough search
failed to discover him, dead or alive.
Streams and reservoirs were dragged,
woods were searched and every means at
the dIsposal of wealth and influence were
used TO discover his whereabouts. He was
known to be abstemious in his habits and
happy in his home, and a searching examl-
nation o f his business affairs failed to re
veal the slightest irregularity in them.
Several months passed, when at length
word came through government channel"
that the missing man was in Australia and
was applying for means of establishing MS
identity and procuring his transportation
home. He was successful in satisfying his
friends of his identity, money was trans
mitted to pay for his passage and in due
time he arrived. After a short period oi
rest he resumed his professional work aud
has since continued to be just as he was
before his sudden and quite unaccountable
disappearance. 1t is an interesting ques-
ton, How are such cases to be accounted
fo.2 The suddenness OF the disappearance,
the absence of motive and the utter in
ability of the patients to give even the
slightest account of their experiences dur
ing the time which elapses between their
disappearance and their coming to them
selves, all give certain weird character
to these alterations. Are they of the
natu of post-epileptic phenomenal Are
they lapses into an alter ego, and if
another such lapse occurred would the
patient take up the thread of this second
existence wnere he had dropped it to re-
slme his, what we may call, ordinary
identityl These are interesting questions.
Unfortunately, fhey are unanswerable.
A II that we can say is that these disap
pearances paTtake of the character Of post
epileptic phenomena, and that in some
patients who have suffered from lapses
similar to, if not so severe as, those just
described a more or less definite history of
true fits of pilepsy has been obtainable
And another thing is also significant, viz,
the very close resemblance that these at
tacks bear in their character, if not in their
duration or severity, to somnambulism,
while the relation which this bears 20 epi
lepSy, if not very definite, is certainly
close. Yet whatever ,heory is pat for
ward to explain such phenomena as those
inst referred to, they remain striking and
mysterious, interesting in their psychologlc-
al aspect, but in their concrete from full of
practical and medicolegaI difficulties"
Within the last two or three years the
French engineers have undertaken the
| sowing of railroad embankments with pop
py seed as, when once established, that
| prolific plant covers the soil with a neC-
work of roots that prevents it from WASH
ing away during heavy rains, or upheaval
when frost is coming out of the ground in
the spring.
| Relief ~ Slr Hours