l888.] NEW-YORK MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 113 



there was a preliminary experiment which is worth describing 

 in the "Scientist's" own language, although that language is not 

 always strictly grammatical. " My attention," says he, " was 

 first attracted to these truths by a patient of mine lying upon a 

 sofa suffering with pain in his foot, and yet there was no foot, 

 the leg having been amputated nearly to the hip and the wound 

 had healed quite nicely. I found that not until I had the limb 

 and foot disinterred and placed in a natural position (the foot 

 having been thoughtlessly placed beside the amputated limb at 

 burial), did the patient's suffering cease. This being done, he 

 gained in flesh, slept well, grew strong, and never again com- 

 plained of his foot. For a long time this incident ran in my 

 mind, until at last I resolved upon an experiment. Procuring 

 the most powerful lenses I could find, I completed an invention 

 of my own, and, when my light was so perfectly arranged that I 

 could examine the microbes in the air, called upon a patient 

 who had lost his arm, and had also suffered in a similar manner, 

 explaining to him that I wanted him to put his imaginary hand 

 where I directed. He laughingly accompanied me to my rooms 

 and did as I desired. The moment I adjusted the glass, a 

 new world and light of revelation broke upon me. The dual 

 hand lay beneath my glass, I asked him to make letters with his 

 imaginary finger. He did so, and, to his wonder and astoni-h- 

 ment, I spelled out the sentences he thus wrote. This was to me 

 conclusive evidence of an ethereal second self." 



After being led along to this point, we can readily imagine 

 how the grand climax was reached in "a second experiment of 

 great difficulty" which was then undertaken. " The time finally 

 arrived," says our "Scientist," "where I had proper conditions 

 of light, etc., where a man of more than ordinary spirituality 

 was being called over to the silent majority. I watched the 

 hours go by till the moment came when he was about to cease 

 breathing and a sudden tremor passing through his body an- 

 nounced his hour had come. ' Now is our time,' I whispered 

 to the friend who was assisting me. We passed our heads under 

 a black cloth and bent our eyes intently upon the object-glass. 

 Particles of dust in the air were magnified several thousand 

 times, and for a time their motion kept a perfect dazzle upon 

 the glass. Then a thin violet column of vapor gathered into a 

 soft cloud * * *." 



