登陆注册
5302100000063

第63章 BOOK III.(3)

"Are you a man,or a spectre that is able to affect our senses?""I WAS a man,"replied the spirit,"and I have given myself visible and tangible form to warn you of danger.My colleagues and I watched you when you left the cylinder and when you shot the birds,and,seeing your doom in the air,have been trying to communicate with you.""What were the strange shadows and prismatic colours that kept passing across our table?"asked Bearwarden.

"They were the obstructions and refractions of light caused by spirits trying to take shape,"replied the shade.

"Do you mind our asking you questions?"said Cortlandt.

"No,"replied their visitor."If I can,I will answer them.""Then,"said Cortlandt,"how is it that,of the several spirits that tried to become embodied,we see but one,namely,you?""That,"said the shade,"is because no natural law is broken.On earth one man can learn a handicraft better in a few days than another in a month,while some can solve with ease a mathematical problem that others could never grasp.So it is here.Perhaps Iwas in a favourable frame of mind on dying,for the so-called supernatural always interested me on earth,or I had a natural aptitude for these things;for soon after death I was able to affect the senses of the friends I had left.""Are we to understand,then,"asked Cortlandt,"that the reason more of our departed do not reappear to us is because they cannot?""Precisely,"replied the shade."But though the percentage of those that can return and reappear on earth is small,their number is fairly large.History has many cases.We know that the prophet Samuel raised the witch of Endor at the behest of Saul;that Moses and Elias became visible in the transfiguration;and that after his crucifixion and burial Christ returned to his disciples,and was seen and heard by many others.""How,"asked Bearwarden deferentially,"do you occupy your time?""Time,replied the spirit,"has not the same significance to us that it has to you.You know that while the earth rotates in twenty-four hours,this planet takes but about ten;and the sun turns on its own axis but once in a terrestrial month;while the years of the planets vary from less than three months for Mercury to Neptune's one hundred and sixty-four years.Being insensible to heat and cold,darkness and light,we have no more changing seasons,neither is there any night.When a man dies,"he continued with solemnity,"he comes at once into the enjoyment of senses vastly keener than any be possessed before.Our eyes--if such they can be called--are both microscopes and telescopes,the change in focus being effected as instantaneously as thought,enabling us to perceive the smallest microbe or disease-germ,and to see the planets that revolve about the stars.The step of a fly is to us as audible as the tramp of a regiment,while we hear the mechanical and chemical action of a snake's poison on the blood of any poor creature bitten,as plainly as the waves on the shore.We also have a chemical and electrical sense,showing us what effect different substances will have on one another,and what changes to expect in the weather.The most complex and subtle of our senses,however,is a sort of second sight that we call intuition or prescience,which we are still studying to perfect and understand.With our eyes closed it reveals to us approaching astronomical and other bodies,or what is happening on the other side of the planet,and enables us to view the future as you do the past.The eyes of all but the highest angels require some light,and can be dazzled by an excess;but this attribute of divinity nothing can obscure,and it is the sense that will first enable us to know God.By means of these new and sharpened faculties,which,like children,we are continually learning to use to better advantage,we constantly increase our knowledge,and this is next to our greatest happiness.""Is there any limit,"asked Bearwarden,"to human progress on the earth?""Practically none,"replied the spirit."Progress depends largely on your command of the forces of Nature.At present your principal sources of power are food,fuel,electricity,the heat of the interior of the earth,wind,and tide.From the first two you cannot expect much more than now,but from the internal heat everywhere available,tradewinds,and falling water,as at Niagara,and from tides,you can obtain power almost without limit.Were this all,however,your progress would be slow;but the Eternal,realizing the shortness of your lives,has given you power with which to rend the globe.You have the action of all uncombined chemicals,atmospheric electricity,the excess or froth of which you now see in thunderstorms,and the electricity and magnetism of your own bodies.There is also molecular and sympathetic vibration,by which Joshua not understandingly levelled the walls of Jericho;and the power of your minds over matter,but little more developed now than when I moved in the flesh upon the earth.By lowering large quantities of high-powered explosives to the deepest parts of the ocean bed,and exploding them there,you can produce chasms through which some water will be forced towards the heated interior by the enormous pressure of its own weight.At a comparatively slight depth it will be converted into steam and produce an earthquake.

同类推荐
  • English Stories Italy

    English Stories Italy

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 重阳教化集

    重阳教化集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 词综偶评

    词综偶评

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说佛大僧大经

    佛说佛大僧大经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Queen Victoria

    Queen Victoria

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 哎哟小心肝

    哎哟小心肝

    “你以为你就能这样逃脱我吗?”吴尊磊“我有说我要跑吗?我去门外看看风景而已!”汤淼淼尴尬的右脚左手做着预备动作,内心嘀咕“没跑掉,没跑掉,快想办法,”
  • 冬眠的雨

    冬眠的雨

    阿允,千百轮回,我记得众人,却只忘记了你。
  • 义和团揭帖

    义和团揭帖

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 这个魔尊太黏人

    这个魔尊太黏人

    【正文番外全部完结,包月文,绝对宠文,男女主身心干净】他,六道之外,魔界至尊,却为了她甘愿进入轮回。她,特殊部门顶级特工,睁开眼居然到了完全陌生世界,却还是她的身体……为寻穿越之谜,她战恶鬼、斗僵尸,戏妖魔,嚣张异世。只是…….她究竟都招惹了些什么?天朝太子爷?神医狐狸精?僵尸王将军?鬼界三王爷?各个权倾一界,唱霸一方。凤柒玩笑:“本小姐要是都收了,六界不就是我的了?”某魔尊紧扣她腰身,邪肆霸道:“六界算什么,跟了我,这天地都是你的。”小剧场:他亲昵的将她抱在怀中,下巴抵在她的肩膀上,让她感觉到他身下的火热……“女人,要吗?”啪……回应他的是一巴掌!
  • 深宫秋桐

    深宫秋桐

    初识,红裙凤冠的她,他心向往之,却眼见她送入别人的新房。杀母之仇,夺妻之恨,他忍辱负重…
  • 致一位德国友人的信

    致一位德国友人的信

    《致一位德国友人的信》主要收录了加缪的散文作品及评论文章,包括《致一位德国友人的信》《时政评论一集》《时政评论二集》《夏》《时政评论三集》《关于断头台的思考》《在瑞典的演讲》等。在文章中,加缪主张要在荒诞中奋起反抗,在绝望中坚持真理和正义,他为世人指出了一条基督教和马克思主义以外的自由人道主义道路。
  • 误惹腹黑老公

    误惹腹黑老公

    黑灯瞎火的夜里,段楚脚踩凉拖手提超市方便袋,突然一道黑影扑了过来,上嘴就啃,声音叫的‘销魂’,段楚犹豫上脚还是上刀时,那人突然放开她,拉开距离四目相对,黑影暴怒:“靠,认错人了。”段楚自认活的低调活的圆滑,虽然不是圣母脾气也算好了,若不是这流氓三番两次的招惹她会一个没忍住给他开了瓢,开了就开了吧,谁知道这流氓还不是一般的流氓。“这是医院证明,缝了十三针,流了一斤三毫升的血,用了十三万,说吧,你准备怎么负责?”段楚喉间一甜,一口血险些喷出,最后看看男人缠着绷带的脑袋忍了忍:“你想怎么负责?”庄杨顶着张人模人样的皮,骨子里却是彻彻底底的流氓,渣的厉害,玩的是低调的奢华,走的是高调的韵味,在青山谁不是又巴结又害怕的,谁要敢给他使畔子,那必是成百的奉还,可就这么风生水起的还有人敢在老虎头上蹦跶开瓢,他庄杨报仇不分男女。头缠白纱布的男人迈着修长的腿走来,挑起她尖尖的下巴拿了薄唇上的烟冲她邪魅一笑,满口的烟雾喷了她一脸:“段楚,咱们来玩点不一样的吧。”段楚嫌恶的皱眉眯眼,嘴角一弯笑成弧:“庄少的游戏段楚怕是玩不起。”庄扬就像蛇,带毒的蛇,咬上了就不松口,段楚奋力挣脱却也只能眼看着毒液一寸寸渗透。段楚只想做一个普通人,普通的过完一生。她这一生最大的梦想是舍去过去,活在当下,他却拿着刀把他一层层的剥开,然后舔着刀尖上的血残忍的笑着。庄扬的狠,整个青山都知道,她也见过,却不想当她以为结束时,一切还只是个开始。只是到最后连庄扬也分不清那把刀子扎的究竟是她还是自己。
  • 茶笺

    茶笺

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Book of Pirates

    Book of Pirates

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 发史

    发史

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。