The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-16
PIGMENTS OF THE SENSES.
THE MODERN sOIENTIFEO TRRDI0T
ON THE GHOST QUEsTI0N.

ON THE GHosr 0UEsTIoN.
Eye chests ana rar CHESTS Are the West Ceu-
nss, but There Are Teuch Chests. Taste
Ghests, suseii Ghesta, Cenbinatisn chests.
From the 81. Lovts Globe Devocrat.
WASHINGTON, Jan. s. Ghosts are the com
mon property Of mankind. and only persons Of
scientific training are able to exercise them"
Tho speaker was Major J. w. Powell, director
Of the Bureau Of Ethnology, who has given q
great deal of attention to this branch Of research.
He added:
There is hardly anybody who has not seon or
heard ghosts on one or more occasions In his
life. Some thousands of such instances have
boon assembled by the Society for Psychical Re.
search, and efforts have been made to show that
this was a method adopted by disembodled
spirits for communicating ideas to living per-
sons. 1t has been attempted to show that In
many cases the communications were truthful
and yielded valuable information. But science
knows now that all such ghosts are merely the
offspring Of Authorizations. A hallucination,
once recognized as something actually objective.
becomes q ghost
THUS we can see how O ghost may speak,
may be seen, or may even be smelt, inasmuch 40
the ear, the eye, and occasionally the nose are
affected by Authorizations Having boiled
down the subject, which has been q problem OF
ekOes w ehhb poihb IN ulbCubblOhO vi HHlluC1unr
tions becomes exceedingly interesting. We find
that Authorizations of vision are the most com.
mon kind. and hence It Is not surprising that
ghosts are seen much more often than they arc
heard. Person, tho famous scholar, used to
have as his constant companion q little old
woman in n red cloak. She accompanied
him on his daily walks abroad, and
on q chair. Realizing that the apparition was
a nero creation OF his own brain, he was ao-
poEing his stick through It. a certain German
gentleman OF distinction, when taking his
n US afternoon stroll; used to see regularly. on
little distance in front OF him. One day It oc-
troop did not follow, and he soon discovered that
the Saralrymen were phantoms.
The case has been recorded of q sick person
to whom there appeared occasionally the spec.
IRE OF q hidsous old woman, the apparition al
old woman advanced and struck him on ihhe
head with her cane, whereupon he fell to the
ground In commissions. In another case the
tons are often pathologioal-that is to say. nsso-
ciated with conditions OF disease. Dying people
faces OF angels. The commonest Visual decopD
tions are black rats, cats, snakes. spiders,
paiaidaiE ae ssasi s across asr ihe sR Eisid q vis Eishs or t eiss,
as is more usual, they come from behind, hasten
Philosophers and artists are especially liable
Inspire then; The vision q joan q Ars Is an
to behold the Deity himself. HI was carried by
the Holy Spirit through space, to the gates OF
heaven. whore he saw choirs Of saints and
angels singing round the throne, and received a
angel. sayonaroia saw. the heavens open
and a sword appear. on which was the ipsorip-
was haunted. and Sir Walter Scott saw spectres.
Ghosts are sometimes heard without being
IN Rome. heard distinctly the xynr1a sTha inaf
shall live by faith Occasionally a pc. son who
t. subject to this kind of deception hears taunt.
street and making injurious insinuations about
him. very strange kind Of auditory helluci,
wherein the sufferer hears his own thoughts
spoken aloud and imagines that they can be
repeated ps or esdfi dictated to or h Gls' BY hears arr i tns@
mary being. A woman, while walking
f aaGns' ar nsars but a t tSsrs i, e no ans. t %h her ;hs she T.
she hears \ n them on both sides. but perhaps
constantly heard insulting words spoken in his
left car. The words were heard most distinctly
that ear was otherwise closed. The case is re-.
corded Of a lady who. after a dinner party, heard
whom she had been listening at the dinner. but
the talk Of her neighbors on the other side.
y Visions OF colors are sometimes produced by
drugs. and are due to subjective stimulation Of
the ORGANS OF vision. DR.. Theodate Smith. q
made some Interesting trials not long ago of the
enects Of o species of cactus which Is used for
Indians Of the Southern prairies. They chew Il.
and 1t PRODUCES an effect somewhat like that OF
scribed to an attendant, charged with making a
record Of her words. a series of wonderful dis
s soiors was Si'" sscco aa sif Sr sas sGest 81 lis Of n %itSS
intense green discriminating. Then came
f flow ceIo fern Ti si.h v qpsn.t d';sss q yHi k S.sI yellow;
Dlue rings running outward from a centre and
IN constant motion; Next appeared q complex
suggeeting snowiakes over it, this changing |
through many tints to turquoise and becoming |
se9uent appearances We're Of a ship with square
sails. embroidered leather with rainbow colors |
the form Of GT q great r. f"e eent fur Of d blue Sssn nRS w obne:
delier richly jewelled and blazing with light.
phosphoreseent fishes eyes and fish scales. a
hung ribbons of every color. and q camel with
gorgeous trappings and q palm tree behind him.
Giants that produce halluoinations. They supple
ment them with dancing, singing, drumbeating
helping on the ecstatic state and encouraging
the iilnsory phenomena; They believe these
vey, communications from tho invisible
world; they resort to them to get 2 view
az ths ma past be and sox future = Sc so that their con.
caused BY excess OF alcohol is we'll known. Ter.
are sometimes heard, melodies delight the ear
and fair landscapes appear to the eye, but this
seldom lasts long. Monsters and serpents take
INC place OF nowers, and vermin. reptiles. &C., |
and up the wall. Sometimes black men appear,
who gibber and threaten. then vanish up the |
Drugs or inflammation of the car may pro- |
duce auditory Illusions. Disease OF the nose |
sometimes makes illusions of smell;. the I'm
aginary smells are occasionally very delicious. |
Dut more often they are disgusting. 1t 10 tho |
same way with the sense of taste, which is most |
apt to be affected by Illusions OF nauseous or
poisonous havors. In the early stages of
the patient sometimes experiencea