The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-10-20

| visions he experience thus: The symp
| toms came on me suddenly. l notices
| first that as I happened to turn my eye
| away from blue enamel kettle at wnlci
l had been unconscioIsly looking, it seem
/ ed to me 1 saw a spot of the same blu
| in the black Goals of the CRATE, and tina
! this spot appeared again, farther on,
/ little brighter in hue. When l lifted M
! eyes to the mantelpiece, on which wer.
scattered ali sorts of odds and ends, !
! saw an intensely vivid blue light oegll
! to play around every object. turned my
! eyes away and beheld this time, on tnt
| glowing like a ruby. Although 1 was ex-
! pecting some such manifestation as one
| of the first symptoms OF the lntoAIcd'
/ ton I was nevertheless somewhat aIdFn-
! cd when this phenomenon TOOK place. ~
strangeness affected me more imam Us
beauty.
"A desire to escape from it led me to
the DOOR and the act Of moving hao,
noticed, the effect of dispelling the coIors
| But a sudden difficulty in breathing ano
a sensation of numbness at the hearl
brought me back to the arm chalr IIoI1 Z
which I had risen. From this moment
had a series of attacks OF paroAy SIMS
which I can only describe by SAYING that
] felt as if 1 We're dying. seiqoIn NAG ma 9
visions during the parOXySmS. ms NouIu
appear in the intervals.
NOW began also duOLIlEi SCAiCS VI -
traordinary sensations. With my eyes
closed. most of the visions, after the hIst
chaotic display, represented parts OF the
whole of my body undergoing variety
of marvellous changes or liunlha tIoils.
They were more often than not groteSque
in character, though always beautl1ul IN
color At one time / saw my right leg
filing up with delicate hehotrope; az
another the sleeve of my coat changed
into a dark green material, in which was
worked a pattern in red braid, and the
whole bordered at the cuff with SABLE.
Scarcely had my new sleeve taken shape
before I found myself attired in a COM
Dlete costume of the same fashion. Ineul-
eval in character but l could not say
to what precise period 1t belonged L
happened once to lift a spoonful or COZ
fee to my lips, and as l was in the act
Of raising my arm for that purpose a
vision flashed before my closed eyes, in
all the hues Of the rainbow, OF my arm
separated from my body and serving me
with coffee from out Of dark and lnoeH-
mite space On another occasion, as L was
seeking to relieve slight nausea by tax
ing a piece of biscuit, it suddenly stream
ed out in q blue flame. For an instant
/ held the biscuit close my leg. 1mme d.
atelv nv trousers caught alight and then
the whole of the right side. of my body
was enveloped in waving blue flame.
DR. S. Wier Mitchell of Philadelphia,
who procured some of the mescal beans
from the Bureau of Ethnoiogy through
lbr. u. w. BIGNLISS OF TIE OOlbiIDldAl = III
versity in Washington, made a trial Of
their effects upon himself. He writes:
MY first vivid show of mescal color eff
fects came quickly. An abrupt rush Of
countless points Of white light swept
across the field of view, as if the IN
seen millions of the milky way were to
flow a sparkling river before the eye.
Then 1 began to see Zigzag lines Of bright
cOlors. 4 spear OF gray stone grew up
to huge height and became tall. richly
furnished Gothic tower Of elaborate ana
distinct design AS l gazed, every pro-
jecting angle, cOrnice, and even the face
of the stones at their pOinings were by
degrees covered or hung with clusters Of
what seemed to be huge precious stones
green, purple, red, and ORANGE, never
clear yellow and never blue. All seemed
to possess an interior light. All the col
ors l have ever beheld are dull as COM
pared with these. AS I looked, and it
lasted long, the tower became Of fine
mouse hue. and everywhere the vast PEN
dant masses of emerald green, ruby reds
and orange began to drip slow rain OF
colOrs.
AN edge Of huge cliff seemed to pro-
ject over a gulf of unseen depth. Ny
viewless enchanter set on the brink
huge bird claw of stone. Above. from the
stem or leg, hung fragment Of some
stuff This began to unroll and float
out to a distance which seemed to me
to represent time as well as immensely
of space Here were miles Of purpleo
beauty Now and then soft golden clouds
floated from these folds, or great SHIN
mer went over the whole Of the rolling
puppies, hnd things like green birds fell
from it, fiuttering down into the gulf be-
low. 1 was at last conscious Of the fact
that al moments l was almost asleep and
then wide awake. ! saw q beach, which
7 knew to be that of Newport. On this,
with a great noise, which lasted but a
rolled in out of darkness, wave
on wave of wonderfully pure green or red
or deep purple-Only once deep orange
and with no trace of foam. These water
hills of color broke on the beach with
myriads of lights of the same tints as the
waves"
While mescal seems to usher the eater
or drinker into the most innocent of the
there seems to be no doubt that its habit
ual use would be physically harmful and
mentally demOralizing. Most of the sci
eEtists who have tested Il concur in re-
porting that it causes headache, nausea,
temporary muscular paralysis, distress
about the heart and lungs, and lingering
soreness about the eye-balls
The government physicians at the Ki-
owa and Wichita agencies in Oklahoma
declare that it not only makes physical
wrecks of the young male Indians in a
short time, rendering them prematurely
aged and decrepit but 1t destroys their
mental faculties as well, and those who
become confirmed slaves to the habit II
finally kills with the same certainty that
the opium. hasheesh. alcohol or absinthe
habit kills the white man. incidentally
It also gives the Indians strong haluci-
nations that influence their daily conduct,
frequently towards violence, and on this
account white settlers living in their VI
cinity are alarmed for their own safety.