GHOSTS AND HEALTH. 165 



the "pupil." If one is out of health there is practically a poisoning of the 

 system, and when we have a " bilious headache " we see colours and stars 

 because there is a pressure upon the blood-vessels of the eye. The effects of a 

 disordered stomach, induced by drinking too much, are well known ; objects 

 are seen double, and most ghosts may be traced to a disordered state of 

 health of mind or body, brought on by excitement or fatigue. We could 

 relate a series of ghost stories, some in our own experience, for we have 

 seen a ghost equally with our neighbours, but this is not the place for them. 

 Although many apparently incontrovertible assertions are made, and many 

 spectres have been produced to adorn a tale, we must put on record our own 

 opinion, that every one could be traced to mental impression or bodily 

 affection had we only the key to the life and circumstances of the ghost-seer. 

 Many celebrated conjurers will convince us almost against our reason that 

 our pocket-handkerchief is- in the orange just cut up. They will bring live 

 rabbits from our coat-pockets or vests, and pigeons from our opera-hats. 

 These are equally illusions. We know what can be done with mirrors. We 

 have seen ghosts at the Polytechnic, but we must put down all apparitions 

 as the result of mental or bodily, even unconscious impressions upon the 

 retina of the eye. There are numerous illusions, such as the Fata Morgana, 

 the Spectre of the Brocken, etc,, which are due to a peculiar state of the 

 atmosphere, and to the unequal reflection and refraction of light. Those, and 

 many other optical phenomena, will, with phenomena of heat and sound, be 

 treated under METEOROLOGY, when we will consider the rainbow and the 

 aurora, with many other atmospheric effects. 



