The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-02

on several young men, and demonstrated,
for the first time, the precise character of
visions 10 which it gives rise. A little later
Dr. Weir Mitchell experimental on himself,
and published a very interesting record of
the brilliant visions by which he was vis-
tied under the influence of the plant.
In the spring of the last year l was able
to obtain a small sample of mescal in Lon
DON and as my first experiment with mes
cal was also, apparently, the first attempt
to investigate its vision=prQducing proper
ties outside America, Will describe 1t in
some detail, in preference to drawing on
the previously published descriptions OF
the American observers.
On Good Friday found myself alone in
the quiet rooms in the temple which
occupy when i'm London, and Judged the
occasion a fitting one for a personal eX-
pertinent. 1 made a decoction Ga different
method from that adopted in America) of
three buttons, the full physiological dose,
and drank this at intervals between 2:SO
and 4:SO D. m. The first symptoms OBJ
served during the afternoon was a certain
consciousness of energy and intellectual
power, This passed off, and about an
hour after the final dose i felt faint and
unsteady; the pulse was low, and found
il pleasanter to lie down. l was still able
to read and 1 noticed that pale violet
shadow fioated over the page around the
already noticed that objects not in the
direct line of vision, such as my hands
holding the book, showed tendency to
look obtrusive, heightened in color, almost
monstrous, while. on closing my eyes, af-
ter-images were vivid and prolonged. The
| appearance of visions with closed eyes
was very gradual.
At first there was merely a vague play
of light and shade, which suggested pic
lures but never made them. Then the
pictures became more definite, but too
| confused and crowded to be described, be-
yond saying that they were of the same
character as the images of the kaleido
| scope. symmetrical groupings of spiked
objects. Then in the course of the Gven-
ing, they became distinct, but still jnde-
scrlbable-mostly vast field of golden
jewels, studded with red and green stones,
ever changing. This moment was, rer-
haps, the most delightful of the expert
ence, for at the same time the air around
me seemed to be flushed with vague per-
fume-producng with the visions a delic-
ious effect-and all discomfort had van
ished except a slight faintness and ire
NOR of the hands, which later on made
it almost impossible TO guide a pen rs 1
made notes of the experiment; it was,
however, with an effort. always possible
to write with pencil. The visions never
resembled familiar objects; they were OK
tremely definite, but yet always novel; they
were constantly approaching, and yet con-
stantly eluding, the senlblance of known
things.
would see thick glorious fields of jew
els solitary or clustered, sonnet times bril-
liant and sparkling, sometimes with a duh
rich glow Then they would spring up into
1ower-liSe shapes beneath my gaze and
then seem to turn into gorgeous butterfly
forms or endless folds of gistening, iri
-,
| sects; while sometimes seemed to be gaz-
| ing into a vast hollow revolving vessel, on
| whose polished concave mother-of-pearl
surface the hues were swiftly changing. Al
! though the effects were novel, it frequent
/ ly happened that they vaguely recalled
| known objects. Thus once the objects
I presented to me seemed TO be made of ex-
quiste porcelain, again they were like elab-
crate sweet meats, again of a somewhat
Maori style of architecture, and the back
| ground of the pictures frequently recalled,
| both in form and tone, the delicate archi-
| tectural effects, as of lace carved in wood
which we associate with the moucharbieh
work of Cairo, But always the visions
grew and changed without any reference
to the characteristics of those real objects
of which they vaguely reminded me, and
when 1 tried to influence their course it
was with very little success.
Weir Mitchell found that he could only
see the visions with closed eyes and in
Fperfectly dark room. l could see them In
the dark with almost equal facility, though
they were not of equal brlliancy, when
my eyes were wide open. saw them best,
however, when my eyes We're closed, in
room lighted only by Pickering fre-light
| This evidently accords with the experience
of the Indians, who keep a fire burning
brightly throughout their mescal rites.
The visions continued with undiminshed
brilliance for many hours, and, as l felt
| somewhat faint and muscularly weak, j
went to bed, as undressed being greatly
impressed by the red, scaly, bronzed and
pigmen ted appearance of my limbs when
ever L was not gazing directly at them.
L had not the faintest desire for sleep;
| there was a general hyperaesthesia of all
| the senses, as well as muscular irritable
| ity and every slightest sound seemed mag
| nifed to startling dimensions 1 may also
have been kept awake by u vague alarm
| at the novelty of my condition and the
| possibility of further developments
After watching the visions in the dark
| for some hours, l became a little tired of
| them, and turned on the gas. Then
found that was able to study a new Sc
ries of visual phenomena, to which IRE
vious observers had made no reference.
The gas jet Gan ordinary, Pickering burn
| err seemed to burn with great brilliance
| ed and contracted in an enormously OK
| aggerated manner. l was even more inn
pressed by the shadows, which We're In all
| directions heightened by hushes of rcd
green and especially violet. The whole
room, with it's whitewashed but not very
white ceiling, thus became vivid and beau
| tiful. l wished to ascertain how the sub
| dued and steady electric light would in
fiuence vision, and passed into the next
room; but here the shadows were little
marked, although walls and floor seemed
tremulous and unsubstantial, and the TEX
ture of everything was heightened and On
| riched.
About $3.50 a. M l felt the phenomena
| were distinctly NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. the
visions, now chiefly of human figures, fan
tastic and Chinese in character, still con-
tnued-and 1 was able to settle myself
to sleep. which proved peaceful and
dreamless. 1 awoke at the usual hour and
experienced no sense of fatigue nor other
| unpleasant Renaissance of the experlnce
had undergone. Only my eyes seemed un-
usually sensitive TO color, especially 70
blue and violet l can, indeed, say that