THE SPIRITUALIST. Mr. H. Jeneken, barrister-at-law, de clared that he had seen Mr. Home, the medium’s body rise in the air, and pass out of one open window and into another at Ashley House.' He had seen 'an accordion sus pended in space and played by invisible agencies, the music being accompanied by three spirit-voices chaunting a hymn.' This experienced lawyer had also seen the body of Mr. Home lengthened and shortened by similar agency; he had seen this medium place his head in the flames of the grate, and seen the flames playing between the locks of Mr. Home’s hair but no injury or pain resulted ;’ and finally, Mr. Jencken had seen spirit forms and spirit hands in the presence of man, witnesses, who 'had seen these things at the same time.' Mr. E. L. Blanchard, the well-known author, deposed that he went to Marshalls, the paid mediums in London, for the express purpose of 'showing them up’ in the newspapers, but the manifestations displayed on that occasion compelled him to believe in the presence of spirits. He saw, or supposed he saw, a spark upon the floor, which gradually grew into a hand and picked up a napkin. He had been raised into the air by spirits, and kept in that elevated position for some time, but latterly he had refused the use of himself as a medium, be cause it was 'inconvenient to be interfered with by spirits when printers were waiting for copy.' “No doubt it was. It is bad enough for a writer to be afflicted with a 'devil’ at his elbow 'waiting for copy,' but his misery must be intensified prodigiously with a batch of spirits hovering about the apartment, tilting his table, and swinging himself through the air. Under such conditions, literary labour must have been anything but a joke, and we think that Mr. Blanchard acted wisely in getting rid of his super natural associates. But other witnesses had also their expe riences to relate. The Master of Lindsay had seen the spirit of Mr. Home’s wife 'in a long flowing robe which hung with out belt from the shoulders ;' and, moreover, the shade ap peared quite solid, and not by any means transparent. Mr. S. C. Hall, author and barrister-at-law, had seen the spirit of his venerable and truly Christian sister,' plump, rosy-cheeked and fair to look upon, although she had died eight months be fore an emaciated skeleton ; and this vision, he affirms, was also seen by eight different persons at the same time. Spirit rapping and table-tilting sink into insignificance when com pared with such manifestations, and we might multiply them indefinitely. What, then, are we to make of such statements? Are we to reject them in toto as deliberate falsehoods ? We cannot. The character of the witnesses, as we have said, is above suspicion, and therefore we must believe that they are stating what they believe to be the truth. Are they labouring under a delusion, or is there something, after all, in this thing which we call Spiritualism? There may be something in it unknown or unexplained—some hidden force of nature more subtle than electricity which these men set down to the agency of disembodied spirits. Mr. C. F. Varley, the eminent electrician, entertains no doubt whatever that the manifesta tions which he has tested were not due to the operation of an physical laws of Nature at present recognised, 'but to some intelligence other than that of the medium and observers.' Professor de Morgan is equally confident in his belief. He says— 'I am perfectly convinced that I have both seen and heard, in a manner which should make unbelief impossible, things called spiritual, which cannot be taken by a rational being to be capable of explanation by imposture, coincidence, or mistake.' “We may admit this without jumping to a supernatural conclusion. Set aside imposture of every kind, and take these manifestations as they appear—objects of the senses as the are said to be—in hearing, seeing. and feeling. We cannot explain them, we cannot even comprehend them ; but is that a sufficient reason for us to call in supernatural agency in order to get out of the difficulty? This was precisely the habit of our ancestors in the dark ages, when everything in comprehensible by ignorance was ascribed to devilry or witch craft. History repeats itself, and now we find lawyers and literary men, mathematicians and philosophers, abjuring witches and accepting spirits with a confidence that cannot be shaken. And such spirits ! They profess to hold converse with the shades of Bacon, Shakespeare, Milton, and scores of other immortals ; but the spirits appear to have degenerated sadly since they left the flesh. They come to answer the most frivolous questions, to tilt tables, and to scratch commonplace remarks upon slips of paper. Other spirits tell lies, and show their want of education in the most ridiculous ways. We are told, indeed, that they are 'good, bad, and indifferent, as upon earth, and that some of them are ragamuffins’—a piece of information which seems necessary to account for their dis reputable tricks. But why should the mediums confine the agency of great spirits to such ignoble uses as they have hitherto done? Could not the shade of Milton, for example be called upon for a second edition of Paradise Regained, which could not fail to be far more glorious in conception and execution than the original work? Could not Shakespeare be coaxed to give some of the London theatres a new drama, capable of driving such rubbish as After Dark and Formosa off the stage? Could not the spirit of Byron be induced to finish Don Juan, or to answer the 'True Story' of moral Mrs H. B. Stowe? “And again we may ask if spirit agency cannot be turned to a more profitablc account than in moving household furni ture? If spirits can make heavy loo tables dance like ballet girls and float in middle air like balloons, why cannot they be sent to turn grindstones, drive machinery, or drag railway trains? If spirits are able to whisk Mr. Home out of one window and in by another, why cannot they transport him across the Atlantic in forty minutes, and thus give the world a manifestation that could not be gainsayed ? Finally, if Mr Home is able to stick his head into a blazing fire without pair or injury, can he not open the eyes of the sceptic and shut the mouth of the scoffer by jumping into a pig-iron furnace while the metal is boiling white and the flames are roaring and rising high in the air? Experiments or manifestations such as these would certainly be awe-inspiring ; and when they are successfully accomplished we may look out for the millennium, or the fulfilment of Dr. Cumming’s prophecies." THE SPIRITUALlIST.—There is no doubt now that this journal meets a public want by supplying shorthand and other news of Spiritualism at brief intervals, and it may be con sidered to be a permanent institution in connection with the movement. At the same time the question is open for the present, whether it will be the wisest plan to to bring it out monthly or fortnightly. The rate at which the circulation goes on rising during the next few weeks will answer the question ; the endeavour will be made to continue to bring it out as at present, unless the loss over the step be unrea sonably heavy. We are much obliged to those readers who are aiding the journal in its early stages.