MIND UNDER WATER. 175 



a block. He would rise, shake himself together, and 

 endeavour to pursue his journey, and be again re- 

 pelled. More than likely he would try three times 

 before he became convinced that it really was some- 

 thing in the air itself which stopped him. Then he 

 would thrust with his stick and feel, more and more 

 astounded every moment, and scarcely able to believe 

 his own senses. During the day, otherwise engaged, 

 he would argue himself into the view that he had 

 made a mistake, and determine to try again, though 

 more cautiously. But so strong is habit that if a 

 cause for alarm arose, and he started running, he 

 might quite probably go with tremendous force up to 

 the solid block of transparent air, to be hurled back 

 as the jack was. 



These are no mere suppositions, for quite recently 

 I heard of a case which nearly parallels the conduct 

 of the jack. A messenger was despatched by rail 

 to a shop for certain articles, and was desired to 

 return by a certain time. The parcel was made up, 

 the man took it, heard an engine whistle, turned to 

 run, and in his haste dashed himself right through 

 a plate-glass window into the street. He narrowly 

 escaped decapitation, as the great pieces of glass fell 

 like the knife of a guillotine. Cases of people injuring 

 themselves by walking against plate-glass are by no 

 means uncommon ; when the mind is preoccupied it 

 takes much the same place as the plate of glass in 

 the water and the jack. Authorities on mythology 

 state that some Oriental nations had not arrived at 

 the conception of a fluid heaven — of free space ; they 

 thought the sky was solid, like a roof The fish was 



