THE Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1892.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2417, 27 October 1892, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1892.

HOW WE FEEL WHEN WE DIE. In the September number of the iieview of Reviews there are two remarkable articles entitled " How we feel when we die." The first is a synopsis of a paper contributed to the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical liesearch by Mr F. H. W. Myers, purporting to be an account of the experience of Dr Wiltse, of the St. Louis Medical and Surgical Journal. It has, therefore, an American origin. J)r Wiltse died of typhus fever, and was four hours dead. Needles were thrust into various parts of his body to test whether he was dead or not, and the doctor in attendance felt satisfied that he was. While in this state he became conscious, and began to examine himself scientifically. He says :

u With all the interest of a physician, I beheld the wonders of my bodily anatomy, intimately interwoven with which, even tissue for tisue, was I, the th.Q living soul of that dead body. I learned that the epidermis was the outside boundary of the ultimate tissues, so to apeak, of the soul. I realised my oonditiou, and rea&oufld calmly thus: I have died, aB men term death, and yet lam as much a man as ever. lam about to get out of the body. I watched the interesting process of the separation o>f soul aud body. By some power, apparently not my own, the Ego was rocked to and fro, tts a cradle is rocked, by which proceES its connection with the tissues of the body was broken up. After a ltitle time the lateral motion ceased, and along the soles of the feefc, beginning at the toes, passing rapidly to the heels, I felt and heard, as it seemed, the snapping of innumerable small cords. When tiwt was accomplished, I began to retreat slowly from the feet toward the head, as a rubber cord shortens. I remember reaching the hips, and saying to myself " Now there is no life below the hips." 1 can recall no memory of passing through the abdomen and chest, but recollect distinctly when my whole Belf was collected into the head, when I reflected thus: lam all in the head now, and I shall soon be free. I I passed around the brain as if I were holu? w 'j compressing it and its membranes sb>uti v on all sides toward the centre, and peeped out between the sutures of the skull, emerging like the flattened edcre of a bao* of lijembranes. I recollect distinctly how 15pp«utfd id myself something like a jelly-fish as regards color and form. As 1 emerged from the head I floated up and down laterally like a soapbubble attached to the bowl of a pipe, until I at last broke loose from the body and fell lightly to the floor, where I slowly rose and expanded to the full stature of a man. I seemed to be translucent, of a bluish cast, and perfectly naked. With a painful sense of embarrassment I fled toward the partially-opened door to escape the eyes of the two ladies whom I was facing as well as others whom J knew were about me, but upon reaching the door I found myself clothed, and, satisfied upon that point, I turned and faced the company."

The article is too long to quote at greater length, but the story may be briefly told. He found that the arm of a gentleman standing by passed through his own without the gentleman's notice, and his arm came together again without causing pain. Some of iiis relatives were present, but he did not recognise them as such, and after taking last look at his own corpse he passed out into the street. He found he had grown much larger, that a suit of clothes of a Seolch material was on him, and that he never felt bettor in Ins life. Ho could see that, lie was still bound by a thread like that in a spider's web to his corpse, but he felt overjoyed at feeling so well, and he was wafted through tlje air supported

by a pair of hands which he could feel pressing his sides. Then lie came to a narrow road supported by nothing, and saw three rocks in the distance blocking the way, and a voice called oat, "'This is the road to the Eternal World; once you pass you can no more return to the body." There were four entrances —one dark and three which led a beautiful country — but when he reached half through the rock he lost consciousness and woke in his bed. He soon recovered, and wrote out a narrative of his adventure.

The second story bears a strong family resemblance to the first, and we strongly suspect that the Yankee doctor read it before he died. The story is that a Rev. L. Y. Bertrand was accompanying some students in the Alps, and rested while his companions went on. While smoking he was struck down suddenly, and concluded he had died. Just as in the case of the other, life left feet first, then went up till his heart got a terrible squeeze, and life went out of his head. He appeared t© himself like a ball of air attached to his body by an elastic string. He, too, takes a look at the body, and has. a very poor opinion of it, and his great trouble is that he has nothing with which to cut the earthly tie. He sees his servant drinking his wine and eating his chicken without concern ; he sees his wife and five others at the far-off hotel, and wishes them good-bye. He does not care for anything, only that he cannot cut the string. He was going up like a balloon, whilst a most beautiful country was revealing itself to him, when suddenly he was pulled back, and the corpse swallows the balloon. Mr Stead, in commenting on these stories, says that the ugly part of them is the indifference with which the soul looks on those dear on earth, and asserts that this is contrary to " experience and reason." Who has had the experience ? Although Mr Stead seems to believe it all, it appears to us that as the parson's stoiy is the older the doctor got a hold of it and brought his surgical knowledge to his aid to improve on it. We give the main facts, because we think them interesting and readable, and everyone can please himself as to whether he believes they are true or false.