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Wellington Independent, Volume XIX, Issue 2052, 23 April 1864, Page 3

Bkain Spectres.— The brain makes ghosts both sleeping and waking. A man was lying in troubled sleep when a phantom,v with the cold hand of a corpse seized his tight arm Awaking in horror, he found upou his arm still the impression of the cold nand of the corpse and it was only after reflecting that he found the terrible apparation to be due to the deadening of his own left hand of a frosty night, which had subsequently grasped his right arm. This was a real ghost of the brain, wbich the awakening of the senses and the, understanding explained. M. Gratiolet narrates a dream of bis own which is singularly illustrative of how the brain makes ghosts in sleep. Many years ago, when occupied in studying the organization of the brain, he prepared a great number both of human and animal brains. He carefully stripped off the membranes, and placed the brains in alcohol. Such were bis daiiy occupations when oue night he thought that he had taken out his own brain from his own skull.. He, stripped it of its membranes. He put it into alcohol, and then he fancied he took bis brain out of the alcohol aud replaced it in his skull. But contracted by the action of the spirit, it was much reduced in size, and did not at all fill up the skull. He felt it shuffiiug about in his head. This feeling threw him into such a great perplexity that be awoke with a start, as if from nightmare. M. Gratiolet, every time he prepared the brain of a man, must bave felt that his own brain resembled it. This impression awakening in a brain imperfectly asleep whilst neither the senses nor the judgment were active, the physiologist oarried on au operation in his sleep which probably had often ocourred to his fancy when at his work, and whioh had then been summarily dismissed very^ frequently. A pursuit whicli bad at last becdftuj^e y of routine, and association of bimsel^^mt" his study, explain tbe bizarre and ghastly^Mm of M. Gratiolet. A sensation from the gripe of a cold hand, misinterpreted by the imagination acting without the aid of the discerning faculties, accounts for the ghastly vision ofthe other sleeper.— -/tM the Year Round. "Stonewall" Jaokson's Gbavjs. — "Bury me at Lexington in the Valley of Virgina.' These wauls are said lo have been uttered by that great, good, and lamented man, General S.J. Jackson, just before his death; and, in accordance with his sacred command, all that is mortal of the most renowned and successful military genius the war has produced, now lies iuterred within the wall of the Presbyterian cemetery in the sou th-westerian suburb of this delightful village. Nothing marks the spot where his remains lie to distinguish his grave from tbat of others, save a diminutive Confederate flag, not larger than a lady's handkerchief. This tiny emblem is fastened to a staff not moie than two feet long, and placed at tho head of the grave, and there waves, as if to illustrate the modest pretentions of the great hero of the Valley of Virginia. Close by his side a small graTe is to be seen, whicb contains tbe remuins of his child, who died a few years ago, and not far distant is the grave of his first wife, "Elinor, the daughter of George and Julia Judkin," with a plaiu marble slab at the. head. His late residence is situated near, the end of the town, and like everything else planned by bim, is modest and unpretending.— Confederate Paper. A Pbopheoy in JEST.—The following extraot from a burlesque article iv the New Monthly, Magazint for 1821 (Vol II.) entitled, "Specie mens of a Prospective Newspaper, a.d. 4720," is curious :■--'■ The army ofthe Northern States (of America) will take the field against that of the Southern Provinces early next spring. The i prinoipal Northern fore, will consist of 1,480,000 picked troops. Geueral Congveve's new mechanical cannon was tried last week at lhe siege of Georgia. It discharged in oue hour 1120 balls, «ach weighing fire hundred weight. The dis- ; taiice of the object, tired at was eleven mlleSi,.;. and so perfect was .tho'e_gitf^_iat't_i"e7Whb\e;.: of these balls were lodged; in ; pif.:^, feet square." A subsequent artipleiuthis^ploi^ men states that" by tqeans of a *u.ev? v i^v^_)jiipni; Dr Clarke crossed: the\.Atlan'tfo. i-i^seyen^days,'^ How little did the writer Bn.tt^j}|^e^^ti^^; Iy ears these to him wild fanciea' would be ulmoßt realised I .-■■■ r 7.;&i<[ ■ AAAyyiM^M ■ ■„./■■ ''■' ■. '.■'•■AAAAyy>-yyyyAy^^§.