FAIRIES AND VISIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11854, 4 January 1902, Page 2 (Supplement)

FAIRIES AND VISIONS.

ATTRIBUTED TO HEADACHE AND - EPILEPSY. , 1 . ' •■ Sir Lauder Bsttxton dealt a deathblow to : " spooks" at a meeting of the Medico- ■ Psychological Association on November 21, That is,'he traced their origin to sick head- - ache or epileptic fits. He did it so scientifi- }•[ , v cally, however, as to command the applause • of a large assemblage of scientists and folk-; ';::.- lorists. • . - ■ ' The • famous, colour used by the great :: painter Turner he ascribed to an optical dea . feet whereby a point of colour appeared to \ '■ the painter as a streak." ' ■ ;.. - -;. : • :';.. The account of Samson's prodigious feats ,> was in ; every: particular consistent with ' ~ epilepsy. No one but an epileptic, exclaimed Sir Lauder, would have carried the gates of' Gaza up the hill before Hebron. : " ■■..;. But the men" who have seen visions, he said, had moved the world. ' How great a force had been the teaching of Mahommed! Yet;'from all the accounts credited' by his ;, r followers, which.told how he trembled and '. ■ fell down, foamed at the mouth and, swoon- ■: ed, Mahommed was clearly an epileiotic. If only, declared Sir Lauder, someone '.lad been able to administer plenty of bromide of potassium to the prophet how different the history of the world might have been! .::; ..Numerous cases were cited, and instances ii'jgj l ;''•: illustrated; by diagram, ■to show• how largely ; visions, apparitions, and hallucinations of, all kinds have, proceeded from some physical cause—such as defective vision or migraine. It was shown how the senses of the .-body] are captive to ; the influence of the mind. t Fear paralyses the body as much as hope '- can strengthen it. '■' Something of' thfi . pro- ;, . cess is already known, but more has to be A' . learnt. . ' " " A number of-interestmg cases of prevision,? • - mental communication, and second sight .= <.' ; were dealt with. But here science is still searching in the dark. ..-, ■. \- .' . , . Finally, Sir Lauder.Brunton smashed with one fell blow the whole nation of " fairies," whether green or brown, whether useful or mischievous. It is a long story ;. but the end of it is that fairies are merely the zigzag creations of vision distorted by.head-; ach«| Ku' •' '- -■' -'' ■ h ' ' - "M*- ■ I'' - Mm