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Conclusions drawn from reasoning and generalizations from data may produce convictions so strong that men would die for them. Under their influence they may risk their lives and fortunes in the pursuit of objects which cannot be attained, if at all, until after many years. These are not presentiments, for the sum of the reasonings and experiences of the man becomes the unconscious test which he applies to everything submitted to his judgment.

But if there be genuine presentiments which foretell future events they must have an external source, human or extra-human. That God could produce such impressions none who admit his existence can doubt. Whether other beings, in or out of human bodies, could do so is an unproven theory. Clairvoyance and telepathy do not apply to the subject of presentiments in the sense now under consideration. The clairvoyant theory of perception is the power to read the past, discern the present, and forecast the future; that of telepathy a transfer of ideas and feelings spontaneously or intentionally from a living person called the agent to another called the percipient. These theories will hereafter receive attention upon their own merits.

Most persons holding that God could at any time create a presentiment will incline to the comfortable belief that he sometimes does so, and that this is one of the means whereby he cares for those who put their trust in him. But the fact that God can produce presentiments is not in itself an evidence, nor does it even rise to the dignity of a presumption that he will produce them. He could preserve all his servants from destruction by sea or by land, he could impart to all his people a knowledge of future events; but he does not. The righteous often die in the pestilence and in calamities at sea; the wicked may escape, while those who pray sink.

While it would be presumptuous to affirm that no such presentiment as we are consider ing is ever imparted by the Spirit of God to human beings, two propositions may be supported without irreverence: first, that the human mind without special influence from God or other beings may originate presentiments; second, that the probability is that this is their true explanation.

UNSUSPECTED MENTAL RESOURCES.

SELF-ESTEEM is common and self-conceit general, yet few persons have an adequate idea of the resources of their own minds. Most fancy that what they recollect is the measure of what they know; whereas, in addition to every fact or idea that any person remembers, there are countless others which have entered

his mind, and are liable at any moment to cross the plane of his consciousness. He who, when a thought arises, will ask, "How came I to think of this?" in the effort to trace the successive steps by which the mind traveled from the last conscious thought or experience to that which is the subject of retrospection will be compelled to conclude that these lightninglike movements of the mind have as often been directed by associations of which we are unconscious as by those whose significance and relations are perceived. Experiments to determine the rapidity of thought, by uttering a sentence or command and noting the time before the rational perception of it is manifest, are deceptive, because they involve the rate of motion of the senses, which is slow compared with the movement of ideas in the mind.

Revery frequently affects the emotions. powerfully, and produces an influence which is felt for days and even months, and that when the mind, calmly reflecting, rejects the idea that there is any cause for the depression. A common experience of foreign travelers is that the mind runs over the whole field of personal interest illuminating it as with flashes, bringing before him who pursues his way "remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow," vivid thoughts of home and friends. Such pensive states are often accompanied by intense concern, which crystallizes into conviction, that death or some other calamity has already taken place. Thousands of letters and many telegraphic dispatches inspired by such feelings cross the sea every summer to receive responses indicating that there is no occasion for anxiety. Many business men will also acknowledge that at different times in the course of their careers, for reasons which they have not been able to fathom, an impression of impending calamity has possessed them, which was so strong as to make them ready to dispute the truth of the trial-balance which showed them to be solvent and prosperous.

The observation of the reader will doubtless furnish instances of persons whose forebodings of calamity-sometimes confirmed by the event, but oftener otherwise — are recognized by their business partners and friends, and call for the exercise of patience and the use of every means to dissipate the mysterious, unwelcome, and paralyzing impression. A manufacturer whose name is known in every city in the Union, and in most foreign countries, whose riches are estimated at many millions, whose employees are numbered by thousands, whose charities are munificent, whose piety is undoubted, and whose sanity is unquestioned, has had presentiments of disaster a score of times within the last twenty-five years, no one of which has been fulfilled; but all were as

intense and overpowering while they lasted as any could be.

Two other mental phenomena must be observed. No discipline, however protracted and rigid, can exclude thoughts which start mysteriously concerning life, business, home, friends, investments, etc. The mathematician may be engaged in solving the most intricate problems, the theologian in preparing discourses, the essayist in the flow of composition, the accountant in adding a column of figures, but none of these can be certain of fifteen consecutive minutes undisturbed by ideas or impressions almost as vivid as a living personality. The difference between the disciplined and the undisciplined mind consists chiefly in the ability to expel the intruder, and not in exemption from such visits.

The other phenomenon is, that the mind, in a voluntary or an involuntary review of the situation, will frequently pause upon one phase of it, which will predominate over others without any apparent reason. A parent absent from home may be particularly anxious about one of three children and be for weeks under the shadow of a causeless fear. As every mental state must have a cause, in the labyrinth of associated ideas and feelings, some occasion must exist; but introspection may never reveal it. To demonstrate that the mind cannot originate presentiments is, therefore, impossible; and we are brought to the question whether, in the number or character of such presentiments, there be convincing evidence that they have a supernatural origin.

Many experiences called presentiments are not of that nature. Dr. Forbes Winslow's "Psychological Journal" gives a tragic account of a presentiment to the great master of kings, Talleyrand. Dr. Sigmond received it from the widow of the private secretary and friend of Talleyrand, M. Comache. It shows signs of having been written afterwards and embellished. Talleyrand said, "Upon one occasion I was gifted for a single moment with an unknown and mysterious power." He had fled from France with an intimate friend named Beaumetz. They had arrived in New York together, and, considering that they could not return to France, decided to improve the little money that was left by speculation, and freighted a small vessel for India. Bills were all paid and farewells taken; but there was a delay of some days for a fair wind, during which the time of departure was uncertain. Beaumetz was irritated to an extraordinary degree, and unable to remain quietly at home. He hurried back and forth from the city with an eager, restless activity. He had been ever remarkable for great calmness and placidity of temper. One day he entered, evidently laboring under great excite

ment, though trying to seem calm. Talleyrand was writing letters to Europe. Beaumetz, with forced gaiety, said: "What need to waste time penning those letters? They will not reach their destination. Let us take a turn on the Battery. The wind may be chopping round; we may be nearer our departure than we imagine." The language in which the dénouement is described is graphic:

Battery. He had seized my arm and hurried me We walked through the crowded streets to the along, seemingly in eager haste to advance. We had arrived at the broad esplanade, the glory then, as now, of New York. Beaumetz quickened his steps still more until we arrived close to the water's edge. He talked loud and quickly, admiring in energetic terms the beauty of the scenery, the Brooklyn Heights, the shady groves of the island, the ships riding at anchor, and the busy scene on the peopled wharf, when suddenly he paused in his mad, incoherent discourse, for I had freed my arm from his grasp, and stood immovable before him. Staying his wild and rapid steps, I fixed my eye upon his face. He turned aside cowed and dismayed. "Beaumetz," I shouted, "you mean to murder me. You intend to throw me from the height into the sea below. Deny it, monster, if you can." The maniac stared at me for a moment, but I took especial care not to avert my gaze from his countenance, and he quailed beneath it. He stammered a few incoherent words, and strove to pass me, but I barred his passage with extended arms. He looked vacantly right and left, and then flung himself upon my neck and burst into tears. "T is true, 't is true, my friend. flash from the lurid fire of hell. It was for this I The thought has haunted me day and night like a brought you here. Look! You stand within a foot

of the edge of the parapet. In another instant the work would have been done." The demon had left him. His eye was unsettled, and the white foam stood in bubbles on his white lips, but he was no longer tossed by the same mad excitement under which he had been laboring, for he suffered me to lead him home without a single word. A few days' him to his former self, and, what is more extraordirepose, bleeding, abstinence, completely restored

nary, the circumstance was never mentioned between us. My Fate was at work.

What there is in this narrative to imply anything extraordinary, in view of the extraordinary circumstances, I am unable to perceive. Beaumetz had been unusually calm; he became greatly excited. Every action he performed and every word he said, for several days, was sufficient to excite alarm as to his mental condition. He was on the verge of an attack of acute mania. That Talleyrand had recognized his condition to some extent is apparent; that his mind perceived the danger, and that he took the only natural course to escape, is also clear; and the history of lunatic asylums abounds in accounts by friends or attendants of their discerning at the right moment that the maniac meant to perpetrate a tragic deed.

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IMPRESSIONS are closely allied to presentiments, and many both devout and undevout persons yield to their influence. Baseball pitchers, prize-fighters, soldiers, and politicians are subject to them. The celebrated Dr. Nathan Bangs, a minister of great influence and strength of character, early in life was accustomed to believe in and follow impressions. The manner in which he was delivered from the fear of them is described in Stevens's "Life of Bangs," page 101:

On a certain occasion, when the weather was very cold and the snow deep, the mind of Dr. Bangs became more than usually impressed with the value of souls. As he rode along he came opposite a dwelling which stood quite a distance back in the field, and instantly he became impressed with the thought that he ought to go and talk and pray with that family. He was in a feeble condition, no path had been made to the house, and he knew it would be dangerous for him to wade that distance and expose himself to the cold. So he resisted the impression and passed on; but no sooner had he passed the house than it became doubly strong, and "he finally turned back, tied his horse to the fence, waded through the snow to the house, and not a soul was

there!"

His friend and successor in Canada, Dr. Fitch Reed, who communicated these facts to Dr. Stevens, says, "From that time he resolved never to confide in mere impressions."

A ludicrous instance of an impression connected with a supposed answer to prayer was notorious in the city of New York forty years ago. A gentleman of excellent character prayed that he might receive an impression from God when he should come into the presence of the person who would make him a suitable wife. He received assurance that his prayer would be answered, and tried to maintain a devout and expectant frame of mind.

1 Dr. Henry M. Hurd, the justly distinguished superintendent of the Eastern Michigan Asylum for the Insane at Pontiac, in speaking of imperative conceptions says: "By this term is understood a mental concept or impression arising in the mind without external cause, or an emotional basis, or logical connection with any previous train of thought, which dominates the will and often compels to actions which are known to be ludicrous or improper, or contrary

The months passed without a sign, but one day, while walking up Broadway, he saw a lady walking ahead of him whose motions were exceedingly graceful, and instantly came the impression, "This is the woman whom God hath chosen for thee." For a long time he followed her in silence. At last the object of his anxiety turned into a side street. He turned also, and at that moment she dropped her handkerchief. He hastened forward to take it from the ground, and as she lifted her veil to thank him he perceived that she was of African descent! In an instant his faith in impressions was forever destroyed, and it was his custom in speaking of the occurrence to say that he had learned that prayer could not be substituted for common sense.

The number of impressions of which nothing comes is so much greater than those which appear to be fulfilled as to satisfy rational minds that they are not to be relied upon; and this requires on moral grounds the further conclusion that they are not of supernatural origin.

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Imperative conceptions," known among the insane, often have parallels among the sane. It is common for lunatics who have committed some atrocious act to assign, and often with absolute truth, that "it had to be done," or that they "had to do it." Certain crimes committed by sane persons under a powerful influence have also been excused upon that ground, when a just view would show that though strongly impelled they were not incapable of resisting the impression, and were therefore responsible. I venture to affirm that there are few persons who have not at some time in their lives felt almost irresistibly drawn to do some act, make some decision, or utter some word which they knew was not expedient; but the conviction that "it had to be done" predominated, and in many instances they have yielded. Where the consequences are not serious the effects may still be evil, for when the "ego" yields contrary to the judgment its power of resistance is lessened. These imperative impressions, which in the purely insane absolve from guilt, are often seen in their germs in the conduct of children who are dominated by their imaginations and sensibilities.

These are all akin to the state of mind in which presentiments arise.1

to the judgment of the individual. The imperative conception differs from the delusion in the fact that it is not elaborated by any process of reasoning, and does not commend itself to the reason or to the judg ment. . . . It is not necessarily an evidence of insanity, unless it persists and dominates the conduct habitually. All persons have imperative conceptions arising spontaneously in the mind, which momentarily influence action and compel attention." He gives as

CONSEQUENCES.

PRESENTIMENTS concerning hours of death have sometimes been defeated by deceiving the subjects of them. Well-authenticated instances exist of chloroforming those who had made preparation for death, but whose gloomy apprehension was dispelled when they found that the time had passed and they were still living.

The case of the dissipated Lord Lyttleton, who was subject to "suffocating fits," and who claimed that his death had been predicted to occur in three days, at twelve o'clock, midnight, is easily explained. On the evening of that night some of his friends to whom he told the story said, when he was absent from the room," Lyttleton will frighten himself into another fit with this foolish ghost story"; and thinking to prevent it they set forward the clock which stood in the room. When he returned they called out, "Hurrah, Lyttleton! Twelve o'clock is past, you 've jockeyed the ghost; now the best thing to do is to go quietly to bed, and in the morning you will be all right." But they had forgotten about the clock in the parish church tower, and when it began slowly tolling the hour of midnight he was seized with a paroxysm and died in great agony. The opinion of those who knew the circumstances was that the sudden revulsion of feeling caused such a reaction as to bring on the fit which carried him off. This is a rational view, for when one nearly dead believes that he is about to die the incubus of such an impression is as effective as a dirk or poison.

Many extraordinary tales are told of presentiments on the eve of battle, and the particulars are given; but this is not wonderful. Soldiers and sailors are proverbially superstitious. The leisure they frequently have favors the recital of marvelous experiences, and battles depend upon so many contingencies, and are liable to be controlled by such inexplicable circumstances, as to give to even the bravest of men a tinge of superstition. It has been observed that the most unrighteous battles, fought against an oppressed people, have been attended by victories turning upon circumstances that may have been accidental; and that the most heroic patriotism has been defeated in the same way. That soldiers should have presentiments is not strange; and that those who have been exceedingly fortunate through a score of battles should sometimes in moments of depression conclude that they would die in the next battle is not extraordi

illustrations the common experience of an overpowering impression that a watch has not been wound, or a window fastened, or that some other regular duty has not been performed, which is enough to destroy a person's VOL. XXXVIII.-60.

nary. In these voluminous narratives we hear little or nothing of presentiments of certain escape, though they too are often fulfilled and as often disappointed.

A correspondent of "Notes and Queries," second series, thirty-fourth volume, having spent several months in the Crimea during the severest period of the bombardment, says: "I can state that many cases of presentiment were fulfilled; as also that some were falsified. There were also many deaths without any accompanying presentiment having been made known." The great Turenne exclaimed, "I do not mean to be killed to-day "; but a few moments afterwards he was struck down in battle by a cannon ball.

The possibilities of chance in the fulfillment of presentiments are incomputable, as a fact which occurred in this country during the civil war, and which is known by thousands yet living to be true, may serve to show. Joseph C. Baldwin, a young gentleman residing in Newark, N. J., was a journalist of more than local fame. He wrote under several pen names, one of which was "Ned Carrol," and another "Frank Greenwood." The articles written under the latter name were unlike any of his other productions, being personal and censorious in character; and Frank Greenwood was in consequence most unpopular in Newark and vicinity, while Ned Carrol was a general favorite. Early in the war Mr. Baldwin enlisted in the 11th regiment of New Jersey Volunteers, and after arriving at the seat of war wrote several letters for publication, in one of which, sent to the Newark" Courier," he described the death of the mythical Greenwood in these words:

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service, sat in camp knowing of no danger near, when a piece of iron from a shell "thrown from a rebel battery," which "burst within twenty feet of him," struck him in the back of the head, killing him instantly.

Let those who propose to prove supernatural portents by mathematics determine what the "probability" was that in a mere spirit of jest he should describe in detail the manner of his own death months afterwards.1

Just after the close of the civil war I concluded to go South by steamer, and took passage from St. Louis on the steamship Luminary for New Orleans. Navigation on the Mississippi River at the close of the war was uncertain. Many old vessels were employed, the condition of the river was dangerous, and during the preceding twelve or fifteen months nine steamers had been blown up, or otherwise destroyed, resulting in great loss of life. Nearly all the accidents had been caused by the explosion of what are known as tubular boilers, and a great prejudice existed against vessels having boilers of that kind. The Luminary was of the old-fashioned sort, and quite a number of passengers had taken it on that account. I was accompanied to the vessel by my brother, who up to that time had traveled with me, and was about to return to the East. As he was upon the point of bidding me farewell, I was seized without a moment's thought or preparation with the most appalling conviction that the vessel would be lost, that I was looking upon my brother for the last time, and seemed to see with almost the vividness of an actual perception the scene of the explosion, to hear the shrieks of the passengers, and to feel myself swallowed up in the general destruction. Composing myself as much as possible, I said to my brother: "If ever a man had a presentiment of death, I have it now; but you know I have for years held that presentiments spring from physical weakness, superstition, or cowardice. Would you yield to these terrible feelings?" He replied, "No! If you do, you will always be a slave to them." After some further conversation he went ashore, and the boat started.

For several hours the dread of disaster overhung me, but gradually wore off, and late at night I fell asleep. The distance from St. Louis to New Orleans is about twelve hundred miles. The time taken by the Luminary was seven days. It was in all respects, after the first day,

1 Such dreams as these, without any proper authentication of detail, are published and republished. "The night that President Lincoln was murdered, a neighbor of mine," writes a physician, "declared that the Presi dent was killed, and by an assassin. It was several hours before the news reached the town."

The wife of a New York clergyman made a similar statement just before the news arrived of the as

a delightful voyage. After remaining in New Orleans a few days I reëmbarked on the same vessel, continuing up the river eight hundred miles, making in all more than two thousand miles without any accident.

Since that experience, in many voyages I have made it an object to inquire of travelers and others concerning presentiments and have found that they are very common, occasionally fulfilled, generally not so; and that it is the tendency with practically all persons who have had one presentiment come true to force themselves into all, and to become tyrants over those dependent upon them or those traveling with them. It is to be frankly admitted that no matter how vivid the supposed presentiment might be, its non-fulfillment would not demonstrate that there are no presentiments which must have originated external to the mind of the subject; but having been led by my experience to induce many persons to defy such feelings without a single instance of reported evil results, it confirms strongly the hypothesis of their subjective origin.

That presentiments are governed by no moral principle in the character of the subjects to which they are applied, the persons who receive them, the occasions upon which they are given, and their effects, is apparent. The most immoral have claimed to have them, have communicated them to others, and they have sometimes been fulfilled by events from which the persons having them have derived great personal advantages. The best of men have had presentiments, but the great majority of good people have not; and the greatest calamities which have befallen most persons have come without any warning whatsoever, except such as could be inferred from existing situations. Experience, foresight, and guidance by ordinary sagacity have been all that mankind have had to rely upon; and to be governed only by these, combating or disregarding presentiments, impressions, and powerful impulses for which no foundation can be found in the nature of things, is the only safe and stable rule.

VISIONS.

By visions, I mean appearances to the mind's eye when there is no corresponding reality. Of the hallucinations of the insane it is necessary to say but little, as there is no doubt as to their nature and source. Genersassination of President Garfield, and said that she saw him in a railway station, surrounded by ladies and others.

But we hear nothing of the seventeen persons who communicated to Andrew Johnson, in the course of the three years that he was President, dreams describing his death by assassination; nor of similar communications made to the late President Arthur.

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