Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-07-15

plications has today become a simple
demonstration In bacteriology I'm
expected luminous surfaces appearing
IN the absence of any visible source
of light are easily explained by any
student of the biology of phos
phorescence. Even the almost inn
penetrable marveIs Of the active mind
as well as those curious manifesto
tons, like bypnotism. which pass I'M
der the name of psychic phenomena.
are yielding in the attempts at a ra-
tienaI Interpretation. Weird visions
and strange ghosts have at length be-
come expressions Of d disofdered mind
rather than the visitattons of an Of
Tended deity And new the haunted
house ehrenieled in fiction and ac-
tually Stunned in real life-has been
deprived of its mystifying wonders
and frightful horrors by the findings
Of twentieth century hygiene.
DR.. Franz Schneider, Jr, of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technol-
oe|, has investigated a house in the
Back Bay district of Boston which
had acquired the enjoying reputation
OF being haunted" The experiences
which led to the Investigation were
TOO serious. the symptoms too real
the reports too often repeated and re-
liable to be overlooked or regarded as
mere Authorizations. The slumbers
of the inmates in the upper stories
were disturbed by strange sensations.
such as those of oppression or paraly-
sis; they frequently continued after
he clr l.
even after the lights had been turned
on. The involved children appeared
pale and sluggish in the morning.
even cold water losing it's power to
enliven them.
\ careful inspection of the build
ing gave the key to the situation. The
theory of undeteeted leaks of iliuini-
mating gas as source eli intoxication
could not be verified In this case; but
II developed that the gases escaping
from 'vieioHsiy detective" hot air
furnace We're sufficient to cause the
trouble. The separation hetVeen. the
hrebox and the hot-air ducts ION
which the hygienic integrity of the
OUTFIT depends1 was badly broken. and
as a result the inhabitants Of the
house were bathed in an atmosphere
Of diluted fue gases. The Journal
of the American Medical Association
is confident that this condition might
be discovered in many other American
homes. Flue gases contain. especial
~ when the combustion is incora-
plete, considerable amounts of dis
tlnctly poisonous elements.
The symptoms in Schneider's cases
pointed to carbon monoxid as the
probable chief offender. Sensations
OIL oppression and other mental dis
tufbances are typical of acute carbon
ihohoxld poisoning, as are also loss
OF psychic powers. the confused SEN
satlens and other features. which ex-
plain the sense of oppression that
pefslstently. entered into the delusions
OF the inmates of the haunted,
house. The belief in walking spirits
Is easily n6nrished by persons in
whose minds real noises would be
ilkeiy to become exaggerated during
the intoxieation
The sensations of apparitions in
dneed by the breathing, during sleep.
OF tainted atmosphere are of inter
est TO the students of psychic mani
festations. The hot-air furnace Of
Ten praised for it's ventilating effect
ana with Justice when properly oper-
ated ana IN perfect condition-nav
eFldehtly become a distinct menace IN
health, as well as cause of GHOSTS y
Springfield Republican.