第75章 MAURICE KIRKWOOD'S STORY OF HIS LIFE(11)

Would it ever be bridged over?This thought took possession of the doctor's mind,and he imagined all sorts of ways of effecting some experimental approximation between Maurice and Euthymia.From this delicate subject he glanced off to certain general considerations suggested by the extraordinary history he had been reading.He began by speculating as to the possibility of the personal presence of an individual making itself perceived by some channel other than any of the five senses.The study of the natural sciences teaches those who are devoted to them that the most insignificant facts may lead the way to the discovery of the most important,all-pervading laws of the universe.From the kick of a frog's hind leg to the amazing triumphs which began with that seemingly trivial incident is a long,a very long stride if Madam Galvani had not been in delicate health,which was the occasion of her having some frog-broth prepared for her,the world of to-day might not be in possession of the electric telegraph and the light which blazes like the sun at high noon.A common-looking occurrence,one seemingly unimportant,which had hitherto passed unnoticed with the ordinary course of things,was the means of introducing us to a new and vast realm of closely related phenomena.

It was like a key that we might have picked up,looking so simple that it could hardly fit any lock but one of like simplicity,but which should all at once throw back the bolts of the one lock which had defied the most ingenious of our complex implements and open our way into a hitherto unexplored territory.

It certainly was not through the eye alone that Maurice felt the paralyzing influence.He could contemplate Euthymia from a distance,as he did on the day of the boat-race,without any nervous disturbance.A certain proximity was necessary for the influence to be felt,as in the case of magnetism and electricity.An atmosphere of danger surrounded every woman he approached during the period when her sex exercises its most powerful attractions.How far did that atmosphere extend,and through what channel did it act?

The key to the phenomena of this case,he believed,was to be found in a fact as humble as that which gave birth to the science of galvanism and its practical applications.The circumstances connected with the very common antipathy to cats were as remarkable in many points of view as the similar circumstances in the case of Maurice Kirkwood.The subjects of that antipathy could not tell what it was which disturbed their nervous system.All they knew was that a sense of uneasiness,restlessness,oppression,came over them in the presence of one of these animals.He remembered the fact already mentioned,that persons sensitive to this impression can tell by their feelings if a cat is concealed in the apartment in which they may happen to be.It may be through some emanation.It may be through the medium of some electrical disturbance.What if the nerve-thrills passing through the whole system of the animal propagate themselves to a certain distance without any more regard to intervening solids than is shown by magnetism?A sieve lets sand pass through it;a filter arrests sand,but lets fluids pass,glass holds fluids,but lets light through;wood shuts out light,but magnetic attraction goes through it as sand went through the sieve.

No good reasons can be given why the presence of a cat should not betray itself to certain organizations,at a distance,through the walls of a box in which the animal is shut up.We need not disbelieve the stories which allege such an occurrence as a fact and a not very infrequent one.

If the presence of a cat can produce its effects under these circumstances,why should not that of a human being under similar conditions,acting on certain constitutions,exercise its specific influence?The doctor recalled a story told him by one of his friends,a story which the friend himself heard from the lips of the distinguished actor,the late Mr.Fechter.The actor maintained that Rachel had no genius as an actress.It was all Samson's training and study,according to him,which explained the secret of her wonderful effectiveness on the stage.But magnetism,he said,--magnetism,she was full of.He declared that he was made aware of her presence on the stage,when he could not see her or know of her presence otherwise,by this magnetic emanation.The doctor took the story for what it was worth.There might very probably be exaggeration,perhaps high imaginative coloring about it,but it was not a whit more unlikely than the cat-stories,accepted as authentic.He continued this train of thought into further developments.Into this series of reflections we will try to follow him.

What is the meaning of the halo with which artists have surrounded the heads of their pictured saints,of the aureoles which wraps them like a luminous cloud?Is it not a recognition of the fact that these holy personages diffuse their personality in the form of a visible emanation,which reminds us of Milton's definition of light:

"Bright effluence of bright essence increate"?