impression of night energy, and making no endeavor to improve himself in
the direction of his imperfection, man should reflect whether or not his
brain may, by proper cultivation or artificial stimulus, be yet
developed so as to receive yet deeper nerve impressions, thereby
changing darkness into daylight. Until man can explain the modus
operandi of the senses he now possesses, he can not consistently
question the existence of a different sight power in other beings, and
unquestioned existing conditions should lead him to hope for a yet
higher development in himself."
"This dissertation is interesting, very," I said. "Although inclined
toward agnosticism, my ideas of a possible future in consciousness that
lies before mankind are broadened. I therefore accept your reasoning,
perhaps because I can not refute it, neither do I wish to do so. And now
I ask again, can not you explain to me how darkness, as deep as that of
midnight, has been revivified so as to bring this great cavern to my
view?"
"That may be made plain at a future time," he answered; "let us proceed
with our journey."
We passed through a dry, well ventilated apartment. Stalactite
formations still existed, indicative of former periods of water
drippings, but as we journeyed onward I saw no evidence of present
percolations, and the developing and erosive agencies that had worked in
ages past must long ago have been suspended. The floor was of solid
stone, entirely free from loose earth and fallen rocky fragments. It was
smooth upon the surface, but generally disposed in gentle undulations.
The peculiar, soft, radiant light to which my guide referred as
"vitalized darkness" or "revivified sunshine," pervaded all the space
about me, but I could not by its agency distinguish the sides of the
vast cavern. The brightness was of a species that while it brought into
distinctness objects that were near at hand, lost its unfolding power or
vigor a short distance beyond. I would compare the effect to that of a
bright light shining through a dense fog, were it not that the medium
about us was transparent--not milky. The light shrunk into nothingness.
It passed from existence behind and about me as if it were annihilated,
without wasting away in the opalescent appearance once familiar as that
of a spreading fog. Moreover, it seemed to detail such objects as were
within the compass of a certain area close about me, but to lose in
intensity beyond. The buttons on my coat appeared as distinct as they
ever did when I stood in the sunlight, and fully one-half larger than I
formerly knew them to be. The corrugations on the palms of my hands
stood out in bold serpentine relief that I observed clearly when I held
my hands near my eye, my fingers appeared clumsy, and all parts of my
person were magnified in proportion. The region at the limits of my
range of perception reminded me of nothingness, but not of darkness. A
circle of obliteration defined the border of the luminous belt which
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