INSANE FROM A JOKE by T.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Jan 17, 1900

INSANE FROM A JOKE.

By T.

THE Philadelphia Enquirer contains the sad account of a "joke" that resulted in the overthrow of a promising young man's reason. This young man was, according to the Enquirer, a brilliant young lawyer, in a city in New York State. He boasted of being utterly devoid of fear, and time and again fruitless attempts had been made to break his iron nerve. But a group of medical students undertook the thankless task, and he was foolish enough to allow them to experiment upon him. The Enquirer tells the story as follows:—

"In his city is a college of medicine. Some of his friends were students therein. Secretly they formulated their plan. When all was ready, a challenge was made and accepted. The terms were these: The lawyer was to enter the dissecting room of the college at 9 o'clock that night. He must be unaccompanied. A dim light would be burning in the room. As he entered, he was to be permitted one glance around the room. Then he was to proceed at once to the opposite side of the room, and take his seat with his back turned toward the entire dissecting room. At the end of every half hour he was to be permitted one glance around. This must continue until daybreak. No second look would be allowed until the half hour had expired.

"At 9 o'clock the young man entered the room. The fetid smell usual to the place greeted him. A lamp burned dimly, throwing its feeble rays on the dissecting table. On it lay a shrouded cadaver. The corners of the room were filled with gruesome shadows. But one look could be taken. The young man drew up his chair and resolutely turned his back to the room. The half hour passed. He raised his head and glanced over his shoulder. The eyelids of the cadaver seemed to raise and look at him. He could not give another glance to satisfy himself, and turned his face away once more. The next half hour passed slowly. The fetid odor seemed to increase. At last the time came again for the second look. Quickly he glanced over his shoulder. The head of the corpse seemed to be raising itself. The lamp gave a sudden flicker.

"The next half hour was an eternity. The surroundings, the silence, the indescribable odor, all combined to excite the young man's imagination to the highest pitch. At last the time for the third look came. He was sure now that the head was raised, the eyes wide open, looking at him.

"But only one look. Twenty minutes passed. A shriek was heard by the watchers outside the room. They rushed in. The young lawyer was insanely laughing and shrieking. The form on the dissecting table had metamorphosed itself into the chief of the students' clique. But the lawyer never again recovered his reason.

"As a last resort the victim of this terrible test was sent yesterday to a private institution in Philadelphia, there, if possible, to regain his reason. The affair was kept a secret, as all the participants came from excellent families."

If this young man had been a true follower of Christ, he would not have allowed himself to have been experimented on in any such way. And if by any chance he had been driven in among such "gruesome shadows," had he been a believer in the Bible, he would have known that no corpse could ever open its eyes or move in any way. The Word says, "The living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever to anything that is done under the sun." Eccl. 9:5, 6.

Ghosts, and hobgoblins, and the fear of a lifeless corpse, have no place in the minds of those who really and truly believe the Bible. Our education may have been to the effect that a dead man has an immortal spirit that survives his body, and that it may appear as a ghost in connection with his corpse. But the foregoing text is enough of itself to dispel all such notions, if we will but take it, and throw away our training in superstition. And what a grand freedom and peace it is when we are among "gruesome shadows" to have the positive knowledge with us that "departed spirits are a myth," and that the dead are peacefully at rest, and "know not anything"! T.