Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-03-06
washington Letter in st. Louis Globe

washington Letter in ST. Louis Globe
Democracy
Ghosts are the common property OF
mankind, and only persons of scientific
training are able to exercise them"
| The speaker was Major j. w. Powell
director 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 no,
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 Psychical Research, and
efforts have been made to show that this
was method adopted by disembodied
spirits for communicating ideas to living
persons. 1t has been attempted to show
that in many cases the communications
were truthful and yielded valuable infor-
mation But science knows now that all
such ghosts are merely the offspring OF
Authorizations. A hallucination, once re-
cognized as something actually objective.
becomes a ghost.
speak, may be seen, or may even be
smelt inasmuch as the ear, the eye. and
occasionally the nose are affected by
Authorizations. Having boiled down the
subject, which has been a problem of
ages, to this point, the discussion of hal
lucinations becomes exceedingly interest
ing. We find that Authorizations OF vi
sion are the most common kind, and
hence 1t is not surprising that ghosts
are seen much more often than they are
heard. Person, the famous 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 him in
his study, sitting on a chair. Realizing
that the apparition was mere creation
of his own brain, he was accustomed to
amuse himself with it, sometimes poking
his stick through it, A certain German
gentleman of distinction, when taking his
usual afternoon stroll, used to see regu-
larly, on reaching a certain spot, the
leading horseman of a squadron of cav
airy crossing the street at little dis
lance in front of him. One day 1t oc-
Cured to him to wonder why the rest
Of the troop did not follow, and he soon
discovered that the cavalrymen were
pbantoms.
"The case has been recorded OF a sick
person to whom there appeared occa-
sionally the spectre of a hideous old wo-
man, the apparition always preceding an
attack of his malady. The old woman
advanced and struck him on the head
with her cane, whereupon he fell TO the |
ground in commissions. In another case !
the devil appeared in a shadowy form. |
Hallucinations are often pathological |
that is to say, associated with conditions |
of disease. Dying people sometimes be-
hold pleasant landscapes and the faces |
of angels. The commonest visual decep- |
lions are black rats, cats. snakes. spiders, |
shining stars, and dery spheres. Either |
they pass diagonally across the field OF |
vision, or else, as Is more usual. they |
come from behind, hasten past, and dis
appear in the darkness.
philosophers and artists are especiallys
liable to Authorizations. Religious ecstacy
Is apt 10 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 borno in a golden chariot
up to Heaven, where he saw choirs Of
saints and angels singing round the
throne, and received a message from God.
to him by an angel. Savonarola
saw the heavens open and a sword APP
pear, on which was the inscription,
Gladus Domini super Terrain Byron
was haunted, and Sir Walter Scott saw
,pectres.
''Ghosts are sometimes heard without
icing seen. Luther. while on the stairs or
building in Rome, heard distinctly the
words. The just shall live by faith Oc-
person who is subject 10 this
ind of deception hears haunting or in
ulting voices calling after him in the
treet and making injurious insinuations
bout him. A very strange kind OF audi
Dry haiiucination is what is called audi
10 thinking wherein the sufferer hears
Is own thoughts spoken aloud, and |
pagines that they can be heard by every
ody, or else hears them repeated or die
ated to him by an imaginary being. A