The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-27
STRANGE HALLUCINATI0NS.
4 FAMOUS ETHNOLOGIsTS EXPLA-
NATION OF ALL GHOST STORIES.

Some Wonderful Instances-Only
Scientists Can Exercise These
Spccters.
Washington Letter in st. Louis Globe
Democrat.
Ghosts are the common property of
mankind, and only persons of scientific
training are able to exercise them"
The speaker was Maj. J. w. Powell, di-
rector of the bureau of ethnology, who has
given a great deal of attention to this
branch of research. He added:
There is hardly anybody who has not
seen or heard ghosts on one or more c.
casions in his life. Some thousands of
such instances have been assembled by
the Society for Physical Research, and
efforts have meen made to show that this
was method adopted by disembodied
spirits for communicating ideas to living
persons. 1t has been attempted to snow
that in many cases the communications
were truthful and yielding valuable in
formation. But science knows now that
all such ghosts are merely the offspring
of Authorizations. An hallucination, once
recognized as something actually object
i've, becomes a ghost.
Thus we can see how ghost may
speak, may be seen, or may even be smelt,
inasmueh as the ear the eye, and occa-
sionally the nose, are affected by hallucin-
atoms. Having boiled down the subject,
which has been problem of ages, to this
point, the discussion of Authorizations be-
comes exceedingly interesting We ma
that halucinations of vision are the most
surprising that ghosts are seen much more
often than they are heard. Person, the IA
nous scholar, used to have as his constant
companion a little old woman in a red
cloak She accompanied him on his daily
walks abroad, and was usually with nm
in his study sitting on chair. Reallzlng
that the apparation was mere creation to
amuse himself with. he sometimes poked
his stick through it. A certain German
gentleman of distinction, when taking MS
usual afternoon stroll, spot the Leading
horsemen of a squadron of cavalry cross
ing the street at a little distance in front
of him. One day it occurred to him to Won
der why the rest of the troop did not fol-
low and he soon discovered that the cav
alrymen were pfantomS.
'tThe case has been recorded of SICK
person to whom there appeared OCCASION
ally the specter OF a hideous old woman,
the apparition always preceding an attack
and struck him on the head with her cane,
whereupon he fell to the ground in con-
WILSON'S. In another case the devil appear
ed in a shadoWy form. Halluclnauons are
often northumberland is 20 say, asso-
ciated with conditions of disease. Dying
people sometimes behold pleasant land
scapes and the faces of angels. Inc com
monest visual receptions are black rats,
CATS snakes, spiders, shining stars and
6i9GOQallN
across the field of vision or else, as is more
usual. they come from behind, hasten past,
and disappear in the darkness.
"Philosophers and artists are especlaAy
liable, to hallucnations. Religious costa
cv is ant to inspire them. The VISION OF
Joan of Arc is an example. emanuel
Swedenborg was privileged TO behold the
Deity himself He was carried by the
HOLY Spirit through space to the gates OF
hell, and then borne in golden chariot
nm TO heaven, where he saw choirs of
saints and angels singing round the
throne and received a message from God
delivered to him by an angel. SaVonarola
saw the heavens open and a sword ap-
pear, on which was the inscription, Glad
Jus Domini super Terrain. Byron was
haunted and Sir Walter Scott saw spec
tiers.
"Ghosts are sometimes heard without
being seen. Luther, while on the stairs of
a building in Rome, heard distinctly the
words, The lust shall live by faith Oc-
casionaIy a person who is subject TO this
kind of deception hears taunting or IN
sulting voices calling after him in the
street and making injurious insinuations
about him. very strange kind of audi
tory hallucination is what is called audi
bic thinking, wherein the sufferer hears
his own thoughts spoken aloud and
imagines that they can be heard by ev-
ervbody. or else hears them repeated or
dictated to him by an imaginary being. A
woman, while walking alone, hears a
voice calling to her; she turns around,
but there is no one While she is at her
work. familiar voices speak in her ear.
She hears them on both sides, but perhaps
chiefly on the right. A famous minister
of state constantly heard insulting words
spoken in his left ear The words were
heard most distinctly when he was lying
on the other ear, or when that ear was
otherwise closed. The case is recorded
of a lady, who, after a dinner party,
heard repeated not the conversation of the
persons 10 whom she had been listening
at the dinner, but the talk of her neigh
bors on the other side, which she not con-
sciously noted at the time.
"Visions of colors are sometimes pro-
duced by drugs, and are due to subjective
stimulation of the organs Of vision. DR..
IneOUdAe oiitAilf q WOuldn GADtIL III GA-
perimental psychology, made some inter-
esting trials not long ago OF the effects of
a. species of cactus which Is used for in
toxicating purposes by the Kiowas and
other Indians of the Southern praires.
They chew it, and 1t produces an effect
somewhat like that Of hasheesh While
under the influence, she described to an
attendant, charged with making a record
of her words, a series OF wonderful dis
solving views An electric fountain OF
many colors was succeeded by flashes of
light with intense green predominadng.
Then came flower ferns, with quantities
of vioiets, yellow in color. These were
followed by deep opal blue rings running
outward from center and in constant mo-
ton. Next appeared a complex Greek
pattern Of deep blue, with white dots, sug-
costing snowhakes over it, this changing
through many tints to turquoise and be-
coming a bowl and pitcher ornamentod
with god. Subsequent appearances were
Of a ship with square sails. embroidered
leather with rainbow colors fiickering over
1t. cats fur Of blue and white, the form