This was the general
appearance of the multitude; but there were many exceptions to this
description, particularly among my more welcome and familiar visitors,
as will be seen in the sequel."
"Besides these rational and generally harmless beings, there was
another set of objects which never varied in their form or qualities,
and were always mischievous and terrible. The fact of their appearance
depended very much on the state of my health and feelings. If I was
well and cheerful they seldom troubled me; but when sick or depressed
they were sure to obtrude their hateful presence upon me. These were a
sort of heavy clouds floating about overhead, of a black color,
spotted with brown, in the shape of a very flaring inverted tunnel
without a nozzle, and from ten to thirty or forty feet in diameter.
They floated from place to place in great numbers, and in all
directions, with a strong and steady progress, but with a tremulous,
quivering, internal motion that agitated them in every part.
"Whenever they appproached, the rational phantoms were thrown into
great consternation; and well it might be, for if a cloud touched any
part of one of the rational phantoms it immediately communicated its
own color and tremulous motion to the part it touched.
"In spite of all the efforts and convulsive struggles of the unhappy
victim, this color and motion slowly, but steadily and uninteruptedly,
proceeded to diffuse itself over every part of the body, and as fast
as it did so the body was drawn into the cloud and became a part of
its substance.
Pages:
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472