204 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



Lewis, in conclusion, recommends, " that interments in vaults and cata- 

 combs be no longer permitted, as they are but so many active volca- 

 noes, constantly emitting poisonous effluvia ; and that the use of leaden 

 coffins should be entirely discontinued." " To render the human body 

 perfectly inert after death, it should be placed in a light wooden coffin, 

 in a pervious soil, from five to eight feet deep." 



REALITY OF SPECTRAL APPEARANCES TRACED TO NATURAL CAUSES. 



BARON YON REICHENBACH, in his work on magnetism, thus attempts 

 to account for the so-called spectral appearances, through the agency 

 of natural causes. The baron refers, lor example, to an authenticated 

 instance in Germany, where a spectral appearance having been ob- 

 served in a certain location, an examination of the spot was ordered, 

 which resulted in the finding of the remains of a human body covered 

 with lime. In explanation of this appearance, the reality of which he 

 does not doubt, the Baron says : " The explanation, it appears to me, 

 belongs entirely to the domain of chemistry. A human corpse is a 

 rich field for chemical changes for fermentation, putrefaction, gas- 

 ification, and the play of all manner of affinities. A layer of dry quick- 

 lime, compressed into a deep pit, adds its own powerful affinities to 

 organic matters, and lays the foundation of a long and slow action of 

 these affinities. Rain-water from above is added ; the lime first falls to 

 a mealy powder, and afterwards is converted, by the water which 

 trickles down to it, into a tallow-like external mass, through which the 

 external air penetrates but slowly. Such masses of lime have been 

 found buried in old castles, where they have lain for centuries ; and 

 yet the lime has been so fresh that it has been used for the mortar of 

 new buildings. The carbonic acid of the air, indeed, penetrates to the 

 lime, but so slowly that, in such a place, a chemical process occurs 

 which may last for many years. The occurrence, in such localities, of 

 spectral appearances, is, therefore, quite according to natural laws ; 

 and, since we know that a continued emanation of the flames of the 

 crystalline force* accompanies such processes, the fiery appearances ob- 

 served are thus explained : They must have continued until the affin- 

 ities of the lime for carbonic acid, and for the remains of organic matter 

 in the bones, were satisfied, and finally brought in equilibrium. When- 

 ever, now, a person approached, who was, to a certain degree, sensi- 

 tive, but who might yet be or appear in perfect health ; and when 

 such a person came within the sphere of these physical influences, he 

 must necessarily have felt them by day and seen them by night. Igno- 

 rance, fear and superstition would now give to the luminous appearance 

 the form of a human spectre, and supply it with head, arms and feet ; 

 just as we can fancy, when we will, any cloud in the sky to represent 

 a man or a demon. Thousands of ghost stories will now receive a 

 natural explanation, and will thus cease to be marvellous. In fact, it 

 was, at all times, only the sensitive who could see the imponderable 



* Luminous emanations from magnetized bodies, lately discovered by the author, which 

 are visible iu the dark to some persons of fine optical sensibility. 



