The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1908-07-15
From the New York Tribune.


handy in the broadest sense is di-
rect, though vague. perception Of a
future event or feeling which seems
to be such perception. Specifically,
1t is an antecedent impression or con-
viction, produced instinctively and
without any known cause, of some
thing about to happen. Though pre-
sentiments of good are common and
often fulfilled, as their results are
not tragical they are seldom remem-
bered or confounded with hope, and
for this reason the word PRESENT.
ment is confined almost exclusively
to the anticipation of impending evil,
and is practically the equivalent of
| foreboding. Dreams often afford
| similar materials for erroneous reas-
onings. but as they originate in the
mind, they are sometimes so similar
to presentiments that it is impossible
to decide whether presentiment
caused the dream or the dream the
| presentiment.
Novelists, poets, and even histori-
ans, have so often told us of present
| iments, have so often attributed them
to their real or fictitious personages,
| that we have come to regard this sort
| of obscure vision of the future as a
| common and natural phenomenon.
The historian tells us of Captain So
| and-So, VINO, overwhelmed on the eve
| of battle with the fatal presentiment
1 70 hn ch
| bat, actually met his death; the nov-
elist attributes to his heroine the pre-
sentiment of catastrophe impend-
ing over her soldier lover, which hap
pens in realization of her gloomy
forebodings. and they speak of these
things as constantly recurring. we'll
established facts of which there are
| numerous examples that could not
well be disputed. Even animals are
said to be gifted with presentiment
| of danger. Thus. according to Buff
fon, birds of passage have been OBJ
served to stay away from their nests
at the approach of an earthquake;
according to Raynal. dogs by contin-
ual long bowling manifested their
presentiment of an approaching
earthquake, and it is a generally pre-
vailing belief that rats will, few
days before the occurrence, leave a
house that is about to fall down or a
ship that is about to sink
But, while in animals this phe-
| nomenon admits of an explanation
by the assumption of instinct, which
| seems to be given them by nature for
their preservation, this convenient
apology for our ignorance cannot be
| made in the case of man, because he
| has reason, instead of instinct, for
his guide. Yet 1t has been contend
ed, and by persons of no mean under
standing, that fatal presentimentsa are
conveyed to the mind by means, IL
not supernatural, at all events mys-
| terious and wonderful, and numerous
examples. as we shall presently see,
have been adduced in proof of the
| certainty of the warning. as we'll as
of its mysterious occurrence.
Plutarch, in his tragic account of
Julius Caesars assassination, men,
tions the foreboding dream of Cae-
sar's wife, Calpurnia, in the night
preceding the fatal event. In her
dream she first saw blood flowing
from her husbands statue, and then
| she dreamed that the roof of her
| house was falling down and that Gaze
sar, his body all covered with blood,
| expired in her arms. Terrified by
these dreams she related them to
| Caesar, imploring him not to go out
on that day. Caesar, however,
| laughed at her fears, went to the Sen
| ate, and was stabbed to death by his
| assassins. 1t is related that not only
| did Henry w himself have a present
| iment of his death, but also Maria de
Medicis was forewarned in dream
of the danger threatening the king.
| One night she started from her sleep
| tears. Asked by Henry " for the
| cause of her terror, she replied, 81
dreamed you were murdered" To
| remove her fears the king said smil-
| ing: Fortunately, dreams, accord
ing to the saying. are but fumes of
! the stomach" A few days later the
dagger of a fanatic robbed France of
the best of her kings. 1t must, how
! ever, be added that to-day the queen
is much suspected of having plotted
! with d'Epernon the kings assassina-
ton, or at least of having had some
| knowledge of the plot, her vague
terror. therefore. only expressed her
own part in the matter. Mozart's s
! premonition of his death is even
| nvre wonderful. A stranger having
called on him to order a requiem, he
at once felt the presentiment that
this requiem was destined to serve
for his own funeral, contracted an
J incura BILE disease and died immedi-
ately after composing It. President
Lincoln, as is well known, had a pre-
! sentiment of impending death. As
numerous, mostly amplified, versions
I exist Of this incident, we give it here
as published by Gideon Welles in an
article printed in The Galaxy for
| April. 1879: "In the last cabinet