The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1897-07-09


Influenced by Visions Frequently The!
Have Been Prophetic, at Other Times
They Have Caused Tragedies.
The importance of the part played by
dominant Authorizations in the histor,
Of the world can scarcely be overrated
Julius Caesar. Napoleon Bonaparte, Soc
rates. Luther, lgnatius Loyola. are but
a few Of the great men whose lives wer,
intimately entwined with ruling delu.
sions. In these cases the illusions seem
10 have been persistent and not TO have
been produced by any voluntary effort
on the part Of the seer. On the other
hand. Talma could walk ON TO the stage
and after staring at the brilliant and
applauding audience for few seconds
would see nothing but rows of grinning
skeletons. In this he seems to have fore
stalled Herr Roentgen, for the skeletons
We're in the exact positions of the mem
bers OF the audience and changed their
Pastures with every variation of their
positions Itwas to this grisly house"
that the great actor delivered some Of
his grandest histrionic efforts.
Goethe, as might be expected, called
up pleasanter and more peaceful visions.
AT will he could see a flower in the CEN
ter of his visual field. He thus described
1T: This flower does not for moment
preserve its form; it is generally decom-
posed, and from its interior are born
other flowers with colored, or sometimes
green, petals. These are not natural
flowers, but fantastic nevertheless regu-
lar. figures. such as the roses of sculp-
tors. 4"
The capacity for thus producing mt
will lovely object had, however, the
disadvantage described by Abercrombie
IN his famous Inquiry Concerning the
Intellectual Powers" that they were
not as a rule dismissible at pleasure.
Blake, after studying model seated in
chair, could continue seeing her clearly
when the chair was empty. This must
have been an economical way of hiring
a subject by the hour and would be an
acceptable talent in these days of highly
feed models. The CHASTITY case described
by Sir Walter Scott of the man who
knew that he was dying, and knew
equally well that there wks nothing
whatever the matter with him, is per-
haps too familiar to need more than
passing mention. The black cat that
this luckless man saw was, to use his
own words, mo household cat, but
bubble Of the elements which has no
a. tefa ~
pick in form as the seer's metaphor, for
II would turn suddenly into a court
usher. and the usher in his turn would
become skeleton. This man showed no
symptoms Of insanity and was fully
aware Of the unreality Of what he saw,
which must greatly have added to the
persistent misery Of his condition.
An old gentleman described by the
late DIR. Elan had power Of conjuring
up, often without voluntary effort, two
or more charming dancing girls, and the
antics OF these nymphs continued until
sleep came to the rescue. The old fellow
was Of particularly pious and proper
turn OF mind, SO that their gratuitous
ballet was presumably wasted. on him.
Nicolai Of Berlin, very level headed
savant, was troubled for two months
with the vision Of n corpse. The hallu-
lasted as q rule exactly eight
and the body was apparently
always steady at uniform distance Of
about ten feet from the observer.
This trouble supervened suddenly
after o violent quarrel in which Nicolai
had been engaged. Ultimately the
corpse and all the poor mans other de-
lusions were driven back to their own
sphere by the prosaic attacks Of leeches
ON the temples. This treatment was
also most effective in dispelling the vi
sions OF a certain clergyman in Hamp-
shire late in the last century. He habit
ually engaged in personal encounters
with the devil, until the leeches drove
the foul fiend out of his visual field. |
DR.. Bostock. the psychologist, saw the
heads OF his friends lin relief, like
Curiously enough, he
could never conjure up their bodies.
The great Napoleon was, as is gen.
erally known, invariably attended by a
star. This story was implicitly believed
1t the time, and ii il said to have been
irst related by General Rapp. who. on
visiting the Anonarch's tent at night,
'ound Bonaparte excitedly pointing to
\ corner Of the tent, crying: do you
zee that-my star? 1t is shining there
'efore your At the period Of the ref
wrestling with the evil one
n propria persona was by no means an
Uncommon exercise. Luther several
lines INDUCED in these combats. Mr..
Iecky tells US Of the young monk who
'ushed up to SITS. Pachonius and
'alGmon in the desert and told them
Of the beautiful woman who
rad tempted him in his cell and, "hav-
ng worked her purpose" had vanished
niraculously in the air, leaving him
half dead upon the ground. The story
soes ON to say that the young monk,
with wild shrek, broke away from
lis sanity listeners and rushed
.cross the desert till he arrived at the
lext village and there leaped into the
'pen furnace Of the public baths and
,erished in the flames"
Gazette was reported to have habit