The Spiritualist.


No. 7.
VoL. I.


LONDON: TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 1870,


Published on the 15th of every
Month; Price Threepenee


A RECORD OF THE PROGRESS OF THE SCIENCE AND ETHICS OF SPIRITUALISM


THE HANDLING OF RED-HOT COALS UNDER
SPIRIT INFLUENCE


On one occasion, in the presence of four other wit -
nesses, we saw the remarkable manifestation, so often
mentioned in the journals devoted to Spiritualism, of
the handling of red-hot coals by Mr. D. D. Home while
he was in the trance state. The fire was a large one.
He turned over the coals quietly with his hands, and
then selecting one half as big again as an egg, he
resumed his seat at the circle, held the red-hot coal on
the palm of his bare hand over the table, and sat talk
ing to those present till the coal was black, and nearly
cold. At a guess, the time he held the coal thus, one
short interval of half a minute exeepted, was about four
minutes. He then dropped it into the fender, put his
hand into the fire again, and seleeted tho largest coal
in it. This eoal nearly eovered tho palm of his hand
with its base, and it stood six or seven inches high
something like an irregular pyramid. As he walked
about the room, with this coal on the bare palm of one
hand, the coal was so brightly heated, that at first it
threw a ruddy glow upon the walls of the room ; and
when he resumed his seat, and held it over the table as
before, the heat it emitted was felt upon the faces o
the members of the cirele. This coal he held thus for
more than fivo minutes, giving trance communication
all the time.
The first eoal, while upon Mr. Home’s hand, was too
hot to be laid hold of by those members of the circle
who tried to take it at the request of the spirit speaking
through the medium. He then remarked that one
lady present had a portion of the same mediumistic
power ; placing the hot coal upon her hand, he allowed
it to remain there about half a minute, and nothing
but a sensation of gentle warmth was felt. While this
coal was still red, he curved his other hand close over
the top of it, and the coal could be seen glowing
through the spaces between his fingers; while he held
it thus enclosed, he brought his hands before the eyes
of oue or two witnesses in succession, that they might
elearly examine it glowing between his fingers. While
this was being done his hands were, of course, exposed
to the full heat due to contact, radiation, and conveetion
eurrents. Some other remarkable manifestations took
place at this séance, and after it was over, when Mr.
Home was in his normal state, in reply to a question,
he said that the spirits tell him that while he handles
red-hot coals, they send a current of some of the forces
under their eontrol down his arms and hands in such
way as to prevent injury from heat. This séance took
place at the residence of Mr. C. F. Varley, C.E.; but
Mr. Varley was on the continent at the time
In the evidence given by Mr. H. D. Jencken, F.R.G.S.,
before the Dialectical Society, it will be remembered that
he deposed that he had seen Mr. Home plaee his face on
the top of a coal-fire, in such a way that the flame
played between his locks of hair, but that no injury or
pain resulted.
The Banner of Light, of the fifth of last month, cor
tains the following statement by Lord Adare, about the
faets witnessed at a séance held at the house of Mrs.
Hennings, at Norwood
“He (Mr. Home) went to the fire, poked up th¬
coals, and putting his hand in, drew out a hot burnin
ember, about the size of an orange; this he carried
about the room as if to show it to the spirits (who, he
said, were present), and then brought it to us; we
all examined it. He then put it back in the fire and
showed us his hands; they were not in the leas
blaekened or seorched, neither did they smell of fire, but
on the contrary of a sweet scent, which ho threw off
from his fingers at us across the table. Having ap¬
parently spoken to some spirits, he went back to the
fire, and with his hand stirred the embers into a flame;
then kneeling down, he placed his face right among the
burning coals, moving it about as though bathing it in
water. Then, getting up, he held his finger for sonie
time in the flame of a eandle. Presently he took the
same lump of coal he had previously handled and came
over to us, blowing upon it to make it brighter. He
then walked slowly round the table, and said, I want
to see which of you will be the best subject. Ah!
Adare will be the easiest, because he has been the most
with Dan.' Mr. Jencken held out his hand, saving,
“Put it in mine.' Home said, No, no; touch it and
Ho touched it with the tip of his finger and


burned himself. Home then held it within four or five
inches of Mr. Saul's and Mr. Hurt's hands, and the
eould not endure the heat. He eame to me and said,
Now if you are not afraid, hold out your hand.
I did
so, and having made two rapid passes over my hand, lie
plaeed the coal on it. I must have held it for half a
minute—long enough to have burned my hand fearfully;
the coal felt scarcely warm. Home then took it away,
laughed, and seemed mueh pleased. As he was going
back to the fire-place, he suddenly turned round and
said, "Why, just fancy, some of them think that onl
one side of tho ember was hot.” He told mo to make a
hollow of both of my hands; I did so, and he plaeed
the coal in them, and then put both his on top of the
coal, so that it was completely eovered by our four
hands, and we held it there for some time. Upon this
occasion scarcely any heat at all could be perccived
Again at Ashley-house, after the measured elon
gation of Mr. Home’s arms, Lord Adare says:
"Walking over to the fire-place Home took from thence
with his hand a red-hot glowing ember about the size
of a small orange. Mrs. G. (the names are given in
full, but I omit those of persons unknown to me, and
who might object to publicity) became nervous, fearing
that he would request her to take it. He, however
went to Miss D., and said, “Now, if you have sufficient
faith, let me plaee this eoal in your hand"
She
replied, "I havo faith, but I eannot overcome the
physical dread; pray do not ask me to take it.' Home
then placed it on the Master of Lindsay’s head, but
immediately took it, crushed it in his hand, and threw
it away, because it had beeome blaek. But presently
he took another red-hot ember from the fire, and hold-
ing it in his hand, spoke a few words to Miss D. on the
subject of faith. Sho held out her hand, and he placed
the coal in it. Miss D. was not in the least burned,
and said it felt rather cold, like marble. After allowing
it to remain a few seconds, Homo took the coal and
requested Miss D. to touch it ; she placed her fingers
near it, but withdrew them immediately, saying that it
burned her. He then placed it in Mr. B.’s hand.” Earl
Dunraven adds in a note : “ I am informed by Miss D.
and the Master of Lindsay, that Lord Adare has omittec
to state that Mr. Home put this coal between his coat
and shirt, under the arm, and that no mark of singeing
or burning was visible on the shirt."
The Countess M. de Pomar writes to Lord Dur
—s, at
raven an aceount of a séance held at Lady
Brighton, in which she says: “ Mr. Home went to the
fire and took out a large red-hot mass of coal, which ho
held in his extended hands and blew upon it to keep it
alight. He walked up and down the room with it ;
and wauted to put it in her
then went to Lady
hands, but she drew back. He then said: “No, you
must not have it, for you have no faith; it will burn
you.' Lady G. extended her hands, saying: I wil
take it without fear, for I have faith.” Mr. Home then
placed the burning mass in her hands, and she did no
feel it at all hot, although she held it for at least one
minute. It was afterward put on a sheet of paper
which directly began to blaze, and had a great hole
burned in it"
This matter, says the Banner of Light, is of such ex
ceeding interest to men of science, as well as inquirers
into the marvellous, that we copy entire some more
testimony—a letter from the well known authoress,
Mrs. S. C. Hall, to the Earl of Dunraven
“ 15, Ashley place, July 5, 1869
“ DEAR LORD DUNRAVEN,—You have requested me to
recall the circumstances of a séance that took plaeo here
several weeks ago. I have much pleasure in doing so;
but I never take notes. I am, however, certain of the
facts, though I shall not be able to placo them in the
order in which they occurred
"We were nine (a greater number than Mr. Hom
likes) ; we were seated round the table, as usual, in the
small drawing-room, which communicates with a much
larger room ; the folding-doors were pushed back into
the wall, and the portiers unclosed. I think there was
one lamp burning over the table, and a very large fire
twas blazing away in the largo room. I know that there
was a great deal of light. The Master of Lindsay, Rev
Mr. Y. and his wife, Mr. Hall and myself, Mr. Home
and the Misses Bertojacci were present. We sat for
some little time before tho tremulous motion, that se
frequently indicates stronger manifestations, commenced


but it was quiekly followed by raps, not only on the
table, but in different parts of the room; the table was
moved up and down—lifted perfeetly off the ground
made 'light' and' heavy' at the request of one or tw
of the gentlemen present; and, after the lapse of, I
suppose, nearly an hour, Mr. Home went into a trance
Presently he pushed his chair, or the chair was pushed
quite away from the table. He got up, walked abou
the room in his usual manner; went to the fire-place
half knelt on tho fender stool; took up the poker and
poked the fire, which was like a red-hot furnace, so as
to increase the heat; held his hands over the fire fo-
some time, and finally drew out of tho fire with hi
hand a large lump of live burning coal, so large that he
held it in both hands, as he came from the fire place in
the large room into the small room, where, seated round
the table, we were all watching his movements. Mr
Hall was seated nearly opposite to where I sat; and
saw Mr. Home, after standing about half a minute a
the back of Mr. Hall’s chair, deliberately place the
lump of burning coal on his head ! I have often won
dered that I was not frightened, but I was not; I had
perfect faith that he would not be injured. Some ond
said: "Is it not hot?"
Mr. Hall answered, "warm
but not hot." Mr. Home had moved a little way, but
returned, still in a trance; he smiled, and seemed quite
pleased, and then proceeded to draw up Mr. Hall's
white hair over the red eoal. The white hair had the
lappearance of silver thread over the red coal. Mr
Home drow the hair into a sort of pyramid, tho coal
still red, showing beneath the hair; then, after, I think
four or five minutes, Mr. Home pushed the hair back
and, taking the eoal off Mr. Hall's head, he said (in the
peculiar low voice in whieh, when in a trance, he always
speaks), addressing Mrs. Y.,
"Will you have it?"
She drew back, and I heard him murmur, "Little faith
little faith."
“Two or three attempted to toueh it but it burned
their fingers. I said, 'Daniel, bring it over to me; I
do not fear to take it.' It was not red all over, as when
Mr. Home put it on Mr. Hall's head, but it was still red
in parts. Mr. Home came and knelt by my side;
put out my right hand, but he murmured, 'No, not
that, the other hand.
He then placed it in my left
hand, where it remained more than a minute. I felt
it, as my husband had said, warm,’ yet, when I stooped
down to examine the coal, my face felt the heat so mueh
that I was obliged to withdraw it. After that, Mrs
Y— took it, and said she felt no inconvenience
When Mr. Hall brushed his hair at night he found
quantity of einder dust. Mr. Home was elongated, and
all the manifestations that evening were very remark
able; but, I believe, your Lordship requested me to
relate only what I remember of the eoal test
"Dear Lord Dunraven, sineerely yours
"ANNA MARIA HALL"
(Mrs. S. C. Hall.)
Of course if these manifestations were the only ones
obtainable through Mr. Home’s mediumship, they would
be more severely critieised than now may be deemec
necessary. A wet hand may be momentarily dippec
with impunity into melted iron or copper ; the sudden
transformation of the liquid into vapour tends to
chill the skin, and during the instant the ehill lasts,
thin layer of vapour lies like a cushion, between the
metal and the skin. This is why blacksmiths can for
Conjurors, who
an instant lick a white hot poker.
handle hot things, are said to previously toughen the
skin of the hand, by repeated washings with diluted
sulphuric aeid. In Mr. Home’s case, the question resolves
into one of length of eontact, and temperature at the
point of contact, carbon not being a very good conductor
of heat. The first eoal which we saw lying steadily on
his hand, was so hot at first, that its refleeted light made
the skin of his hand appear to be ineandescent for a
little distance all round the edge of the plane of contact
The second and larger coal he carried about the room a
first, so that it was not so minutely examined at the
point of contact ; it was not shifted from its one place
on the hand until he threw it in the fender
THE Rev. Charles White, of the Free Christian Church
Notting Hill, recently delivered a lecture on Spiritualism, in
the Shire Hall, Haverfordwest. The tenor of his remark
was to the effect that modern Spiritualism consists of a little
truth and much falsehood.


50


THE SPIRITUALIST.


MARCH 15, 1870.


Reports of Meetings.


[When reports of the speeches of spirits are printed in this Journal, non-
Spiritualists should understand that spirits out of the body are wise o
foolish, truthful or untruthful, just the same as spirits in the body. More
over, they are but individuals, so do not know everything. The statements of
a spirit are but the assertions of an individual; but by comparing the state-
ments of many spirits, it may in time be possible to discover in what points
they agree, and to sift out the unreliable communications. Many spirits
cannot see each other, any more than we can see them, and as some of then
are thus in different states of life, it does not follow that contradictory
messages are therefore untruthful. Spirits are of different religions, conse-
sequently their teachings do not altogether agree; there is no more uniformity
in the next world than in this one. It is the business of this journal to report
facts, so we are in no way responsible for the religious, scientific, or any other
teachings given by individual spirits.


THE ROYAL INSTITUTION.
MAX MULLER ON THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION.


MAX MULLER ON THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION.
ON Saturday morning, February 19th, Professor Max
Müller, M.A., LL.D., delivered the first of four lectures at
the Royal Institution, upon “The Science of Religion,"
Prince Christian presided. The theatre of the Institution
was well filled, and among the listeners present were Dean
Stanley, of Westminster; Professor Tyndall; Sir Henry
Hollaud, Bart., M.D., F.R.S.; Mr. J. M. Peebles; and Mr
Moncure D. Conway.
Professor Max Müller began by pointing out what very
great progress the science of language has made, since he
first advocated its claims at the Royal Institution, chairs of
Sanscrit and Comparative Philology having of late been
established at many of the chief universities in Great Britain
and upon the Continent. On the present occasion, while
advocating the founding of a science of religion, he felt in
much the same position as when he advocated in that theatre
several years ago, the study of language as a science. He felt
that he had chosen a subject on which it was scarcely possible
to speak without giving offence, for many people think reli-
gion too sacred a subject to be touched, whilst others class it
with alchemy and astrology, and think it beneath the notice
of a man of science. The truest reverence is to give the sub-
ject close examination. Although he should be most careful
against giving offence, he knew that some things he should
have to say would jar upon the ears of many, quite as much
as did the title of the lecture.
The science of religion is not all gain, for it entails the loss
of many cherished ideas, but the gain is immcasurably higher
than the loss. A few hundred years ago, the belief that
Hebrew was the original language of the world, was accepted
almost without question, and sometimes was made a matter
of faith. Of late the fallacy of this notion has been demon-
strated; it is now known that the invention of words was left
to man, and that languages originate from the workings of
the human mind. Some look upon religion as so many tradi-
tions handed down to Jew, Christian, Hindoo, and so on,
but the word religion is also used in a different sense. There
is a faculty of religion in the mind, independent of all this,
and without that faculty no religion would be possible; in all
religions there is a longing for the infinite, and a belief in the
love of God
The foundation of a science of comparative theology will
not be complete, until all the religions of the world have been
analysed and classified, and as a science this subject has
never yet been seriously taken in hand. The materials for
such a science were not within reach in olden times, but now
they surround us in rich profusion. The Emperor Akbar,
250 years ago, had a passion for the study of religions, but
he could not get possession of many of the sacred books
which are now in the hands of students, and if at present we
have not English translations of all of them, it is our own
fault. Of late years also, very much knowledge of the re-
ligions of savages has been gained, and this unveils much
about religions in their early growth. Now, we have not only
these materials, but we have the rules of critical analysis.
We know that the questions to be settled about any books are
- When was it written? Where? By whom? Was the author
an eye-witness? Had the writer any party feeling? Was
the whole book written at once, or at different times, and how
can we separate them? We must know the most ancient forn
of every language, before we can begin the work of compara
tive philology, and so must it be with the study of religion.
for religious tenets change with time. Buddhist literature
teems with accounts of miserable miracles, yet Buddha him-
self ordered his disciples not to perform them, except by
hiding their own good deeds, and confessing to the world their
evil actions, and Buddha says nothing about the castes of
modern times. While Buddha was in the world his presence
was sufficient for his disciples, it was only after his death that
they began to put his deeds on record, and everything that
could glorify their beloved master they seized upon with
avidity. Those who made suggestions in opposite directions
had no chance of a hearing, dissension and sects sprang up.
and very shortly words equivalent to “ unbeliever ” and
“heretic” were invented. Then, as in other religions, the
secular power was invoked, to settle disputes about creeds and
canonical books. King Asoka, among others, was called upon
to decide what books were sacred.
Canonical books require more stringent criticism than others.
In the science of religion no partisans are wanted, who wish
to lift up or depress Christianity in comparison with other
religions—the same close rule and method must be applied
impartially to all. This is a favourable time for the work,
and no creed but Christianity and perhaps early Buddhism,
would have tolerated a scientific investigation of religion at all
Comparative philology has already done much efficient work.
It has proved that the notion that Pagan religions and ideas
of one God are not corruptions of the ancient Jewish religion
- that theory is now entirely abandoned. The languages of
antiquity are not like those of the present day, for many words
change their meaning by lapse of time ; the same words also
often do not mean the same thing in different languages. To
learn the truth, ancient thoughts must be applied to ancient
words. For instance, what we call “Divine guidance,” the
ancient Jews called “ a pillar of cloud,” and the fault is ours
if we do not understand their words, and believe in the mate-
rial instead of the spiritual. More than half the difficulties
and disputes in the history of religions, arise from this inter-
pretation of ancient words by modern thoughts. Is it likely
that the Hebrew and the other Semitic languages should have
escaped changes by growth, such as have changed all other
languages, and should we not try to get at the ancient meaning
rather than the modern interpretation ? Before the Gods of
the Trinity had been worshipped, one supreme Deity had been
made by the ancestors of our race, and He was known by a
name which has never since been erased. The ancient religion,
after its rust and dirt have been removed, will come out bright
and clean and pure ; it will be the word of God revealed where
it alone can be revealed—in the heart of man.


On Saturday, Feb. 26th, Professor Max Müller delivered
his second lecture on the same subject. The auditory, as
before, was a very large one. Prince Christian presided, and
among the listeners were H.R.H. the Princess of Wales, the
Princess Louise, the Queen of Holland, General Sir William
Knollys, and the Countess of Macclesfield. The lecturer
began by speaking of the four great book-religions of the
world—Christianity, Mosaism, Mahometanism, Brahminism
the religion of the Zend Avesta, Buddhism, and the reli-
gions of Confucius and Laotse. The religion of Fo, in
China, is nothing but a corruption of Buddhism; the
latter religion, in fact, covers the greater part of the
habitable globe. He then spoke of the religions of Africa
with their strange worship of snakes and ancestors, and vague
ideas of one God, the father of the black as well as of the
white. Among the Polynesians there are whisperings about
one Divine being, and there are ideas of a future life. After
speaking of the religions of the American Indians, he remarked
that the vast panorama of religions offers a rich field for
investigation by the student, who is puzzled where to begin
his work.
Nothing much can be done until the religions are classified,
and then each scholar can go on with his own branch of the
work. It may be thought that the simplest classification is
the division into “true and false religions,” but that would be
like dividing earthly languages into “one’s own language, and
the languages of all the rest of the world."
(Laughter and
applause.) Such a classification is useless for scientific pur-
poses. Another classification, quite as worthless, is their
division into “ revealed and natural religions."
With us, all
religions but Christianity would then be classed as “natural,"
and a scientific Buddhist could not accept the definition.
Many philosophers of the last century, after examining differ-
ent religions, found that there were certain principles which
all of them shared in common; moreover, when all that seemed
miraculous and irrational was taken from the New Testament,
this natural religion remained behind. These investigators
however, soon found out that no philosophy could take the
place of religious faith. The divisions of religions into re-
vealed and natural religions, would be useless, because then
our science would be denied by all but Jews and Christians.
Buddha himself, in his teachings, appealed only to the light
within him, but his followers claim for him enormous powers.
His earliest pupils called him “omniscient,” but as he made
mistakes about the shape of the earth and the movements of
the heavenly bodies, modern Buddhist theologians limit his
omniscience to the articles of his faith, and in these he is
declared to be infallible. This is very much to the credit of
the candour of the theologians. When the founders of nearly
all tle religions of the world claim some revelation as the
foundation of their teachings, it is clear that the classification
of religions into “revealed and natural” will not do for scien-
tific purposes. Besides, if we granted that Christianity and
Judaism were the only revealed religions, they would also be
natural religions, for no religion can be entirely separated from
natural religion without destruction. Natural religion sup-
plies the only ground upon which revealed religion can stand,
and without this support revealed religion is degraded into a
creed which unreasoning people must be made to accept, igno-
rantly and without questioning. When Joshua tried to re-
claim the backsliding Jews, he set before them the claims of
the gods of other nations and of their former god and religion
and closed by asking them to choose that day the God whom
they would serve. Man, therefore, possesses a power of
choosing, based upon natural faith, and this power he has the
right to exercise.
Another suggestion might be that religions should be
divided into three classes—monotheistic, dualistic, and poly-
theistic. This would be useful in some respects, as there
would be an agreement in the number of the deities, but in
other respects it would be an incongruous mixture. Besides,
it would exclude some religions—Atheism for instance. His
hearers might be surprised at his calling Atheism a religion.
but it is a fact that the religion of Buddha was from the first
purely Atheistic, and taught the highest morality long before
the advent of Christianity ; it did not even erect an altar “to
the Unknown God."
On Saturday, March 5th, Professor Max Müller delivered
his third lecture on the “Science of Religion"
Prince
Christian presided, and among the listeners present were the
Deanof Westminster, Professor Tyndall, Mr. C. F. Varley, C. E.
Sir Henry Rawlinson, K.C.B., Mr. J. P. Gassiott, F. R. S., and
Sir Henry Holland, Bart., F.R.S., President of the Royal
Institution.
Professor Max Müller said that upon surveying the religions
of the world without prejudice, it is possible to see that they
are separated by strongly marked divisions. In old times
there was a stronger relation between religion and nationality
than there was between language and nationality. In those
early times the religions were very simple, and confined to a
few words, including the name of the Deity, and also of His
attributes, such as goodness, purity, and holiness; in time also
words for “altar” and “sacrifice” were in some cases invented
Religion in those early times may be defined as a simple dialect
of human speech, dependent upon the resources of the language.
In Asia and its peninsula of Europe, there are three great
streams of languages—the Turanian, the Aryan, and the
Semitic,—and some of these languages, as he maintained
could only have been petrified and rendered so lasting because
of similarity of religion aud politics on the part of the people
who spoke them.
The Chinese language is the earliest representative of Tura-
nian speech. The religion may be called “monosyllabic,” fo¬
it consists of the worship of a host of single deities—the
spirits of the earth, the air, the woods, and the streams; the
Chinese also worship the spirits of their ancestors, who are
supposed to still possess the power of influencing human
affairs. The nature of the ancient religion of China is known
from the writings of Confucius alone ; yet in reality he was
but the transmitter of a more ancient religion still, and he
says so himself. The religion of the Semitic races is pre-
eminently the worship of God in history—of God as a ruler
and founder of nations ; the words used by all the Semites for
“God” represent strength and authority. Some of the ancient
gods of the Semites were stronger than others, hence the
Semitic Gods had a natural tendency to flow together, and to
make the one God of later times. The ancient worship of the
Aryan races has been carried into other lands by that pushing
people; they do not worship nature, but God in nature. The
Aryans before their separation—that is to say, before Sanscrit
was spoken in India, and before Greek was spoken in Europe
-had a religion which can still be to some extent ascertained.
By picking out those words which are the same in French.
Italian, and Spanish—words which must have been derived
from a common source, it is possible to learn something of the


religion, manners, and daily habits of the people who lived in
ancient Italy; and by this method alone it is possible to prove
that before Spanish was spoken in Spain, or French in France,
ancient Italy had kings and lords, and was highly civilised.
On the same principle we can learn something of the ancient
Aryan people, by searching out from among the languages of
Europe and Asia the words which they spoke, and ascertain-
ing their original meaning. By this method it has been ascer-
tained that the Aryans had kings, and towns, and houses,
and their idea of the “ Highest Good” was enshrined in a
name which is yet retained over half the world. That name was
"Dyaus* pitar” in Sanscrit, and the same words are traceable
in Latin, Greek, and German. These words are facts, and
help to show us that in pre-historic times the Aryans wor-
shipped an unseen Being, with the highest name which they
“Dyaus pitar” meant
could find in their vocabulary.
“heaven father, who became the “Zeus” of the Greeks,
and until comparative philology laid bare the secret, we knew
not what sacred records lay enshrined in the unholy name of
"Ju-piter.” Thousands of years have passed away since the
Aryan races have separated, yet in these high and exalted
times, when we wish to utter the name that is highest and
most dear, we can but use the words of our forefathers, and,
instead of saying “Heaven Father,” say “ Our Father which
art in Heaven."
The Semitic languages are much more elosely bound to¬
gether than the Aryan languages, making it so easy to colleci
identical words, that few scholars have as yet thought it
worth while to devote their abilities to the task. Yet it
would be well to do so, to discover the nature of the language
spoken by the ancient Semites before they separated, that is
to say, before Hebrew was Hebrew, and Arabic was Arabie
The names used for “God” in all the Semitic languages mear
king,” “strong,” or “powerful.” The ancient Semitie
race had many deities, and the names of many of these
deities were fixed before the race separated to form the
Hebrew, Arabian, Ethiopian, Babylonian, and other nations
One of the most ancient names for “God” was “El," o
“strong,” and this name was applied not only to the true gods
but to the false gods of the Gentiles. “ Allal” is derived from
the ancient word “El,” thereby proving that the same God
belongs both to the Hebrews and to the followers of Mahomet.
Another name given by the ancient Semites to one of their
favourite deities was “Baal,” who was by no means a strange
god to the Jews, and was probably worshipped by them
among their other gods, before the flood, since he was wor¬
shipped by nearly all the Semitic nations, after they separated.
The Semites had also female deities, one of whom was Baall, and
another Allât—the feminine of Allah. Even in Southern Arabia
there are traces of the worship of the ancient goddess Baall.
Some of the names were given to their gods by the Semitie races
after the separation, so these names are found only in the
languages of one or two of the modern Semitie nations;
Jehovah is an example, and this name, after many tortuous
changes, was the origin of the name of the young and
beautiful “Adonis” of the Greeks. The name Jehovah was
the same in the Jewish and Babylonian nations. The pre-
historic period of the Semitic race is now therefore historie in
the strongest and most accurate sense of the word. There was
a primitive religion among the Semitic races, and a god named
El, long before the god of the Jews was worshipped by the
Hebrew nation.
Turning now to the Turanians and their languages, less
interest is felt in the subject, for what have we with them in
common? We are Aryans ourselves, and our religion is partly
Semitic, but what have we to do with the Turanians, with their
yellow faces, high cheek bones, and slanting eyes? It is true
we have little in common with them, except our common
humanity, yet if we look into the bright Chinese eyes, we
shall see that there is a soul within, and that the God whom
they mean, is the same God that we mean. The Turanian
languages are of a shifting nature, and have not yet been
sufficiently studied to yield much information as to their
origin. The Chinese believe in a vast number of spirits, and
they worship the spirits of the departed. Two of their most
ancient spirits are the spirits of heaven and earth, but the
spirit of heaven “Tien," is older than the spirit of earth.
“Tien" means - exalted one - peerless - high - Lordof Heaven.
The Chinese sacred books speak much of the decrees and will
of heaven, and say that Tien moulds man as a potter moulds
clay. The Chinese pay very little respect to any of their gods
but the chief one, and adopt the advice of Confucius, who said
“Respect the gods, but keep them at a distance."
Among
the Mongolians and Tartars there are traces of the ancient
Chinese religion, but not of the name of the god Tien ; their
chief god is sometimes called “Father, and sometimes the
“Old One.” They worship spirits. “Jumna-la,” the name
of the ancient god of the Finns, means the “god of the sky,"
or the “thunderer."
Last Saturday, Professor Max Müller delivered his fourth
and closing lecture at the Royal Institution. Prince Christian
presided, and among the listeners in the very large meeting
were H.R.H. the Princess Louise, Lord Stratford de Red-
cliffe, Earl Stanhope, the Dean of Westminster, Mr. C. F.
Varley, C.E., Dr. John Tyndall, F.R.S., Lord Clanwilliam, 
Mr. E. Fournier, and Mr. J. P. Gassiot, F.R.S.
Professor Max Müller said that a lawyer is apt to see an
angel in his own client, and anything but an angel in the
client of his professional neighbour; in like manner there is
too much tendency in these days, to view the religions of our
neighbours with anything but charity. In thus ignoring the
beauties of other religions, we assume for our own specialities
which its founder never claimed for it, and if comparative
theology drives away this bad feeling towards the honest con-
victions of our neighbours, it will do a good work, and it is
high time this work were begun. He did not deny that the
ancient religions were imperfect, but it is certain that Socrates
and Plato were not worshippers of stocks and stones.
Although he could now speak fearlessly on theological sub-
jects, there was a time when it would have been impossible,
when religion was supported by fire and sword and fiery zeal,
when it was taught that all idols were to be overthrown, and
their worshippers cut up. But now we are not afraid of the
progress of the worship of Jupiter. In the religions of other
people there is always something which is good, and if the
myriads who do not think with ourselves are to be cut down
and cast into the oveu, then must we be of less value than the
sparrows, for God cares for them. (Applause.) A mother
may offer her infant a full repast, yet the infant is not pre-
pared to receive it, so may God have offered truth to man from
the beginning, yet the people were not sufficiently advanced to
receive the boon. God is no respecter of persons, so doubtless
all who love Him, and work righteously, will be accepted by
Him in the end. Religion is always oscillating between two poles
* Pronounced “ Youse."


MARCH 15, 1870.


THE SPIRITUALIST.


51


—between teachings fit for children, and teachings fit for men;
when it approaches too close to the one pole it becomes mere
superstition, and when it approaches too close to the other it
becomes mere philosophy. How much “this wicked world,” as
it is called, may be improved when we give each other credit for
good motives ! for that course will reform even the man who
has bad motives ; so will it be when we view with more
charity differences in religion. If the different religions of
the world are the work of the devil, then indeed is his king-
dom divided against itself, for there is no religion which does
not teach “Do good, and shun evil.” “Do good, my boy,”
was once the advice of a father to his son, and in those words
were included all the law and the prophets. He would take
the liberty of reading in the original tongue one of the hymns
of the Rig Veda. [Here the lecturer read the extract.) This
doubtless, to his hearers was, like spirit-rapping, “unintelli-
gible;” and, to a certain extent, spirit-rapping it was—rapping
at the door of the Royal Institution.* But fortunately it was
a spirit-rapping which could be interpreted, so he would read
the interpretation. [The interpretation was to the effect that
God made the heavens and the earth ; that God was angry
with man; and that man, after purifying himself, should pray
Here, then, were noble
to be absolved from his sins.]
thoughts, in a hymn written at least 3,000 years ago. Next
he read some extracts from the Zend Avesta of the Persians,
containing pure and noble ideas, followed by extracts of like
character from the teachings of Buddha. Although Buddhism
ignores all feeling of dependence on a higher power, so is
utterly different from Christianity, there are strange coinci-
dences between the two religions, so that some of the Buddhist
parables would seem to have been taken from the New Testa-
ment were it not certain that the Buddhist records are much
the oldest of the two. For instance, a disciple of Buddha
meets a woman who was an outcast, near a well ; she
told him that she was a transgressor of the customs of society,
but he replied. “I did not ask thy caste. Give me to drink."
The lecturer then spoke of other coincidences, after which he
told how Confucius taught— “What you do not like one to do
to yourself, that thing do not do to others.”. He then pointed
out that there was something good, even in the mythologies
of the Greeks and Romans, when they were examined in a
charitable spirit, and added that research would prove that
the ancient religions were the only ones which were possible
at the time, taking into consideration all the surrounding con-
ditions. He knew it might be asked whether the religion of
Moloch were true, which taught that people should burn their
sons and daughters in the fire, and that questions of a like
nature might be put about other religions. But weapons like
these were very dangerous to those who used them, because
others might ask, Could that be a holy religion which burnt
men because they did not believe in the Virgin Mary, or in
some of the interpretations of the attributes of the Son of
God—a religion which teaches the reality of eternal punish-
ment? People who argue thus, will never reach the real
spirit of religion. We must study all religions as much as
possible, in that light in which they appeared to their
founders. He then explained how the early languages, being
poor in words, abounded in metaphor, and one great mistake
often made in these days, is to accept literally what was
spoken metaphorically ; he also explained how it is utterly
impossible to know the original meaning of many things in
the Old and New Testaments, without a previous acquaint-
ance with ancient languages and comparative philology.
When we begin to leave off forcing literal interpretations,
and seek more for the spiritual truth in our religions, it wil
teach us to be much more charitable, both at home and
abroad. (Applause.)
The lecture then closed. This brief summary of four lec
tures full of wisdom and the result of years of research, of
course does anything but full justice to the speaker. When
the lectures are published in full, the book will be one of the
most remarkable and valuable works printed in this genera-
tion. Professor Max Müller knows far more about the lan-
guages of the Chinese and Brahmins than the Chinese and
Brahmins know themselves, and in his general acquaintance
with the ancient and modern languages of the world, he stands
without a rival.


THE SERVICES AT THE CAVENDISH ROOMS.
SPECULATIONS ABOUT THE DEITY—THE DOCTRINE OF ETERNAL PROGRES-
SION—SPIRITUALISM AMONG THE AMERICAN INDIANS—THE RESULTS OI
A DREAM—SPIRITUALISM AS DEFINED BY MR. PEEBLES.
THE Sunday evening meetings of Spiritualists at the
Cavendish Rooms, Mortimer-street, Langham-place, Regent
street, will be continued regularly, and the services begin at
seven o’clock
Mr. J. M. PEEBLES, American Consul at Trebizond, lectured
at the Cavendish Rooms on Sunday evening, Feb. 27th. He
commenced—The inspired psalmist once said, “ Oh worship
the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” It is not more in harmony
with nature for water to seek its level, or the mystic needle to
point to the North Pole, than for man to worship. Wherever
man has been, he has left marks of his worship of God. The
power to ask the question, “ What is God?” implies to some
extent the power to answer it, and God is infinite life and
truth, and gladness, and intelligence, and love, God has
implanted in man a belief in a Superintending Existence,
guiding all worlds; we do not comprehend him, we cannot
even fathom ourselves. We can only grasp and digest what
is inferior to ourselves. He supposed that God was not a
personal being with a definite shape, but that God is in the
universe, and just as much present to-day as in the days of the
patriarchs. Directly you personalise God you localise Him;
whatever you localise you limitise, and whatever you limitise
is imperfect and may be destroyed. He could only say with
Jesus, “ God is a spirit.” He thought that man was the ulti-
mate of the rest of the earthly creation, and that all the lower
forms of life and matter are focalised in him, from the oyster
to the monkey, upwards. He did not mean that man was
made of the primates, but of the spiritual ultimates of the
primates. There is reason to suppose that there is a portion
of the spirit of God in every human being, and that this
Divine portion never becomes impure ; it is only when this
innermost purity tries to externalise itself through the spirit
body and the material body, both of them containing and
being surrounded with inharmonious conditions, that troubles,
and sorrow, and suffering afflict the progressing mortal.
The Lecturer next stated that the condition of man is one
of endless progression. If they asked, “ Is God a progressive
Being?” he would answer at once in the negative. But if
God does not progress, and man does, will not man in the
end reach Him, and be lost in Him? No; for the progression


of man is finite, and no number of finite movements will
reach the infinite. It is a fact capable of mathematical de-
monstration that two lines may continually approach each
other, yet never meet ; also, in the attempt to divide the
number ten by three, on the decimal principle, one may keep
on carrying figures until the whole universe is filled with
them, yet never get to the end. No aggregation of finites
can make up infinity. A man should never bow down in
sackcloth and ashes before his Creator, but stand up in the
glory of his manhood, as a being destined for eternal pro-
gression in the spheres. Spiritualism does not teach that God
is a tyrant and angry with man.
He would tell them some of his experiences among the
North American Indians, who have many very good healing
mediums among their tribes. About two years ago, the
American Congress appointed a committee to meet the
Indian tribes at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, to make
peace treaties. The committee consisted of General Sherman,
General Sheridan, General Taylor, Colonel S. F. Tappan, and
others. He (Mr. Peebles) was invited to accompany them,
and he did so, in consequence of which he spent nearly two
months among the Indians, and learnt much about their
habits and religious views. Some one thousand Indians met
in council, drawn up in half-moons, near the confluence of
the rivers North and South Platte ; the discussion then began
and old grievances were brought up. General Sherman, a
kind-hearted man, but shrewd withal, put some question
about one point in which the Indians had broken a former
treaty, and these questions rather puzzled the chief speaker
on the other side, who was known to the whites as “Old
Being puzzled he refused to give an im-
Spotted-tail."
mediate answer, and summoned to his side a young Indian,
who directly afterwards ran away, and for nearly one hour and
a-half from that time, not a single word would the old Indian
chief, or any subordinate chief, lisp, but when the young
man came back, old Spotted-tail made a most eloquent speech.
He (Mr. Peebles) afterwards ascertained that nine days before
the council met, a celebrated medicine man among the
Indians had begun to prepare himself to hold converse with
the Great Spirit, and to give advice to the tribes. By being
calm, perspiring, and taking little food, he became passive
and negative enough to enter the clairvoyant state, and thus
the advice was given. There was not a single Indian youth
to be seen in all that council, and on inquiry he was told that
three days before it began, orders had been issued that all
young Indians should absent themselves from the camp, be
cause the chiefs did not wish them to become contaminated
by the vices of the Christian whites.
General Sherman has very good impressional powers.
General Harney also, had told him (Mr. Peebles) that his life
had once been saved by a dream. General Harney is now a
dignified old man, about seventy years of age, and he said
that about forty years ago he was engaged in the war with
the Florida Indians. One night, at about eleven o’clock, he
sent one part of his army to attack the Indians, but the latter
discovered the movement too soon, and surrounded their op-
ponents, who were thereby placed in great danger. Harney
started to the rescue, and at break of day, found himself and
his followers in a valley, and in great danger. He felt a
drowsiness suddenly come over and overpower him, so that
he dropped to the ground, and dreamt that he was surrounded
by the enemy, with only one possible way of escape, through
a deep gorge. He saw the rocks and the gorge distinctly, anc
thought that he and his followers entered the gorge, and
covered themselves with black mud, so that at a distance they
looked like negroes, and in this disguise escaped. The negroes
were friendly with the Indians. He then awoke, and not far
off saw the entrance to the very same gorge he had seen in
his dream. They found a pool lined with black mud, they
covered themselves with the mud, and escaped, because in
the distance they were taken by the Indians for negroes.
Spiritualism, he said, is not Sectarian; it must never be
allowed to crystallize into a sect. Institutions do not grow,
but souls do. Creeds to thinking men are as shrouds and
coffins. Spiritualism is a phenomenon and a philosophy—a
science and a religion. It needs no handle—requires no prefix
-to make it palatable. Policy, not principle, resorts to ex-
pedients. There could be no term more significant and far-
reaching than Spiritualism, because spirit alone is substantial,
permanent, eternal. “It is the Spirit that giveth life,” wrote
the ancient apostle.
America, with its estimated eleven millions of Spiritualists,
has Bible Spiritualism, Christian Spiritualism, Eclectic Spiri-
tualism, Harmonial Spiritualism, and Spiritualism unadorned
by adjective or epithet. Those who affirm Spiritualism
squarely, and relish the food the truth affords, constitute about
nine hundred and ninety-nine of every one thousand in the
United States. In England you have Christian Spiritualism,
scientific Spiritualism, and plain natural Spiritualism with no
embellishments. France gives us radical Spiritualism and re-
incarnation Spiritualism. Several of these definitions are dis-
tinctions without differences, and forcibly exhibit the law of
diversity in unity. But differ as we may in our theories,
when pushed into the mythic realm of speculative theology
our facts are one. On this common ground, then this broad
platform of tolerance and good will, let us stand a banded
brotherhood of true souls—stand like polished shafts of light
and truth in the Temple of the Eternal.
As a Spiritualist striving to conserve the good found in all
religions, past and present, seeking constantly to lead a holier
life, looking trustingly for higher unfoldings of truth and
fresher developments in the fields of science, I extend the
fraternal hand of fellowship to each and all, and in this
hand buds and blossoms the olive-branch of peace. “By
this,” said Jesus, “shall all men know that ye are My dis-
ciples if ye have love one for another."
What matters
nationality, clime, or dogma to God, who beneficently
"sendeth rain upon the just and the unjust?”. What cared the
Good Shepherd of Judea about the colour or names of the
sheep constituting the flock?” “Other sheep I have, said
He, “which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and
there shall be one fold and one shepherd.” What will it be
to angels when the curtain of immortality is uplifted and you
stand in the presence of those glorified Hosts? The question
will not be asked, Were you a Christian Spiritualist, a radical
Spiritualist, or a re-incarnation Spiritualist ; but did you live
up to the light you had received as soul-convictions? Were
the heart’s affections right and the life-purposes pure? Did
you feed the hungry, clothe the naked, provide for the orphan,
sympathise with the sorrowing ; or scripturally expressed, did
you “go about doing good?”. These determine the immediate
conditions, the heavens and the hells of the future existence.
Progress pertains to all worlds. Angels are the teachers of
spirits, and spirits come to instruct and spiritually enlighten
mortals. The more philosophical of the Swedenborgians be-
lieve in the “ continual mitigation of the hells ;” while many
nominally orthodox clergymen, rejecting the doctrine of eter-


nal torments, accept as a truth this teaching of the spirits-
the final restoration of all souls.
Spiritualism does not say “believe my creed;” but “ feed my
sheep.” Does not say “ worship in my church;” but “ wor-
ship as your own conscience dictates.” And, does not insist
so much upon the saying, as the doing of prayers, that the
heart’s best affections may be baptized into a love holy and
heavenly. In fine, Spiritualism is that “other angel,” that
the Revelator John saw “flying in the midst of heaven," and
preaching the everlasting gospel of immortality—the gospel
of “peace and good will to men."
He loved the living gospel of Spiritualism, because it shows
so much of the kindness and love of God. Pain is only an
angel leading us back to nature and truth ; sickness purifies
the physical organisation, and disappointments strengthen
individuality of character. Even Jesus, it is said, was purified
by suffering, and there is no eternal endless evil in the universe.
He was so organised that he could not love a hateful object.
Human love is a thing which comes out like the flowers, to
drink in the dewdrops, and to rejoice in the sunlight of
heaven. Human love is a great reforming power, and its
binding influence was never more plainly shown than when
William Penn made his treaty with the Indians, by the rolling
river, under the old elm tree’s shade.
Mr. PEEBLES then eloquently described Penn’s interview
with the Indians, after which he spoke of the influence of
woman, and he closed by speaking of the high moral influences
of Spiritualism, and the happiness and power of the love of
God.
The hall was well filled, and the speaker was listened to
with close attention throughout.


PRIVATE SEANCES
MEDIUMSHIP IN THE DAYS OF MOSES—CURIOUS PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS,
-VOICE MANIFETSATIONS AND THEIR PRODUCTION—THOUGHT—READING
-MANIFESTATIONS AT THE CAVENDISH ROOMS—A “DIALECTICAL"
MEDIUM.
ON Wednesday evening, February 23rd, at a séance held at
the house of Mr. T. Everitt, 26, Penton-street, Pentonville,
eight persons in all were present. Mrs. Everitt was the
medium.
Directly the sitting began, the floor of the room began to
shake with a tremulous motion, which continued more or less
for about half an hour ; once it was sufficiently strong to cause
some of the furniture to rattle. Raps came upon the floor
and upon the table, and spelt out short messages. The first
message requested Mr. Peebles, who was present, to read from
the Bible the sixteenth chapter of the first book of Samuel
beginning at the fourteenth verse. The quotation begins
with the following verses: -
“But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from
the Lord troubled him.
“And Saul’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God
troubleth thee
“Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek
out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass,
when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand,
and thou shalt be well."
The narrative then tells how David was brought to Saul,
and the last verse says:
“And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that
David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and
was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.
Raps once more came upon the table, and requested Mr.
Peebles to read also the eleventh chapter of Numbers, from
29th verse, as follows : -
the 23rd to the
“ And the Lord said unto Moses, Is the Lord’s hand waxed short? thou
shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not.
“And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the Lord, and
gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round
about the tabernacle.
“And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of
the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders; and it
came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and
did not cease.
“But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was
Eldad, and the name of the other Medad; and the spirit rested upon them;
and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the the
tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp.
“And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad
do prophesy in the camp.
“And Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young
men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.
“And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake ? would to God that
all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His spirit
upon them!"
The raps then requested Mr. Peebles to offer up a prayer,
which he did, thanking the Almighty for the privilege and
the happiness, of permitting communication between mortals
aud departed friends.
Other messages were then spelt, and finally the spirits
requested that a musical box in the room might be set going.
All this time the vibrations of the floor continued. There was
a good light in the room. The table, which was a large and
heavy one, rectangular in shape, now and then moved and
kept time with the tunes, without contact with human hands.
When the music began, the patter of feet, or what sounded
like feet, was heard dancing in splendid time to the music
and this lasted for perhaps nearly twenty minutes, in the
course of which time an arm chair with nobody touching it
moved about slowly, and on one occasion made a run of fully
six inches in the direction of the table. Then a request was
made by raps that the light be put out. After fifteen or
twenty minutes in darkness, by means of the direct spirit
writing (described in another column) the message was given
“You do not give us the right conditions to enable us to
?" It
speak.” The inquiry was made “ What is the matter
was then spelt out “ You are sleepy.” Two of the company
then owned to being in that state, and one remarked that he
did not know before that it was not a favourable condition, as
passivity of the members of the circle is always advantageous.
John Watt then took up the tube and touched several persons
with it, after which his voice was heard, at first near the
medium (who was in a mesmeric sleep), then floating
about near one end of the table, afterwards close up
to the ceiling over the centre of the table, and from that
position he spoke during the rest of the evening, in a strong
clear voice, which fell at intervals when the power weakened.
In answer to questions, he said that he could not see common
matter except by an effort of will-power, neither could he see
the members of the circle. He could see the spirits of some
of the members of the circle—such as were in his sphere—and
the others he could see indistinctly, in consequence of his
necessarily having, to some extent, taken upon himself some
material conditions while producing the manifestations. He
did not want to see common matter at that time, therefore he
did not see it ; on much the same principle as a man looking
at landscape through a window—he does not see the pane of
glass, because he does not want to, yet he can concentrate his
attention upon it if he likes. The spirits of all the persons


* Professor Max Müller teaches, in effect, that the study of religion as s
science will reconcile the beliefs of the world. Mr. Varley testifled lons
ago that the study of Spiritualism as a science tends to do the same thing,
as will be seen on reference to the last page of this journal.—ED.


52


THE SPIRITUALIST.


MARCH 15, 1870.


present were of neccessity in the spirit world. Spirits can read
the thoughts of each other and of mortals, but not at all times
thoughts are words to spirits in the same sphere. Spirits
have the power of concealing their thoughts if they like, and
of concealing themselves at will by passing into another state.
He produced the voice manifestations by forming a kind of
lungs out of the cinanations from the members of the circle;
he did not use any of the organs of the medium, not even the
lips, but only her breath. He also used some of the breath of
the persons present, which was why he often put questions to
those who were silent, to keep them talking, so as to furnish
him with more power. He wished that people would not
come in a desultory way to spirit circles, but that a few would
attend regularly to receive a steady course of instruction and
information ; very little knowledge was gained, and much
time wasted, under present conditions. His reward for the
work of producing the manifestations was the consciousness
of doing good. When very great names of very high spirits,
such as Moses, Michael Angelo, Bacon, and so on, are given
through mediums, these spirits are not in direct communi-
cation with the medium, but the message passes down through
a chain of mediums among the spirits, till at last it reaches
the recipient, and is often much coloured by the channel
through which it has passed. Sometimes low spirits assume
great names, and give them for purposes of deception.
In answer to questions put by Mr. Peebles, he said that he
did not hear any raps at the public service at the Cavendish
Rooms on the preceding Sunday evening. Such manifesta-
tions he did not mind on a week night, but he thought it best
to omit them on Sunday. Many of the spirits were of the
same opinion in this matter, but he did not know whether all
were. One disadvantage was, that if they continued the
rappings, strangers would come there and imitate them, and
get found out, so as to throw discredit on the real manifesta-
tions. As Mr. Peebles did not like the idea of answering
questions put by the audience at the close of the Sunday
evening meetings, after the listeners had been brought into a
serious train of thought, it was worth consideration whether
those present should not be invited to write the questions
they wished to ask, on the understanding that he would
answer them from the platform at the beginning of the follow-
ing Sunday evening.
After a little more conversation the séance was closed, by
John Watt pronouncing a benediction and saying, “ Good
night, dear friends, good night."
Dr. Dixon and Mrs. Dixon, of Great Ormond-street, were
present at this séance.


On Wednesday evening, March 2nd, at a meeting of Mrs.
C. Berry’s circle, a gentleman, a member of the Dialectical
Society, whose name we have no permission to publish, and
who three weeks since was developed into a medium, was en-
tranced, and made to go through some operatic singing. A
spirit also spoke through him, and expressed the greatest sur-
prise and awe, at finding himself back surrounded once more
by the conditions of earth-life. When in his normal state,
the gentleman said that since the development of his medium
ship, the spirits had made him speak on phrenology, a subject
he knew nothing about ; they had also made him speak in
foreign languages, of which, in his ordinary condition, he
knew not a word. One day, the spirits entranced him against
his will, in presence of some of the other members of the
Dialectical Society.
Mr. PERRIN said that a vast multitude of spirits out of the
body, like those in the body, do not believe that communica-
tion between the two worlds is possible ; hence when one of
these makes the trial, and finds himself back again, it is na-
tural to be awestruck and overwhelmed. Some spirits in the
other world, like some still in earth-life, think it wicked to
communicate with their friends.
In the course of the evening John King and Ambo made
their voices heard, and a short and quiet conversation fol-
lowed.


SPIRIT-SEEING IN CRYSTALS.


LAST Thursday night Mr. Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, F.S.A.,
F.A.S.L., gave a short lecture at 15, Southampton-row,
Bloomsbury, W.C., on “Spirit-Seeing in Crystals." Mr. C.
F. Varley, C.E., F.R.G.S., who chanced to be among the
listeners, was unanimously invited to preside over the meeting.
The PRESIDENT, in introducing the lecturer, briefly remarked
that the question of crystal-seeing, which in his opinion was
closely allied to the odic force of Reichenbach, often seen
to issue from magnets, would probably give investigators the
first insight into the connection between the spiritual and
material forces, for there must be a connection somewhere.
Mr. MACKENZIE said that his attention was first drawn to
Spiritualism in 1853, by the perusal of the book written by
Judge Edmonds and Dr. Dexter ; he was neccssarily somewhat
startled by the contents of the book, and he and his friends
tried to obtain the phenomena of table-moving and raps at
home, but with such indifferent success that after a time they
ceased their experiments. In 1856 he by accident met Mr.
Hoekley, of Croydon, who had long been experimenting with
crystals, and who placed all his notes at the disposal of the
lecturer. From that time he (Mr. Mackenzie) closely followed
up the subject, and made notes on the spot of all the facts
witnessed, which notes now make a great many volumes of
manuscript. The late Earl Stanhope gave much time to the
investigation of crystal-seeing.* A crystal or mirror is placed
before the eyes of the sensitive or medium, who first sees a
dense cloud form in the mirror, followed by blackness ; after-
wards come flashes of fire or light, and then come visions of
distant places, persons, or so-called spirits. He used the expres-
sion “so-called” because he had not entirely given up the idea
that these might be subjective phenomena, and he did not want
to bind himself or others by his remarks. Crystal-seeing is more
or less known in many parts of the world; everybody has heard
of Dr. Dee and his magic crystals, also how mirrors were used
by the magicians of old. The spiritual communications he
had recorded in the volumes before him contained such a web
of truth and falsehood as his hearers would scarcely consider
to be possible. He then read a minute description of the in-
terior of a laboratory of one of the ancient alchemists and
magicians; among the instruments described by the eye-wit-
ness was one just the same as a particular form of the plan-
chette of the present day ; there was also a crystal vessel and
a crystal ball with “perpetual fire” flashing inside. Some of
the knowledge of the ancient magicians was possessed by the


* The untimely death of the late Earl Stanhope prevented the completion
of his great reflecting telescope, six feet in diameter, and longer in focus
than Lord Rosse's giant instrument. He was distinguished both as a
scientific man and a statesman.—ED.
+ One “Benjamin Tochla,“ who died about the beginning of the seven-
teenth century, in Germany. The description of the laboratory is published
in the Aurifontina Chymica, 1680.—ED.


Rosicrucians, who were a very different body to the present
London so-called Rosicrucians. The London society is to all
practical intents and purposes a social club, and its business
for the most part nonsense. Balls of rock-crystal were once
much used for crystal seeing, but they are very rare and diffi-
cult to obtain. Artificial crystals, egg-shaped polished pieces
of glass, are also much used. Seeing in mirrors differs in no
way from seeing in crystals, except that the pictures or repre-
sentations are larger. The spirits of the mirrors say that
there are many wandering spirits bound to the earth, who
make raps and move tables, but cannot produce the higher
phenomena of crystal vision; the rapping spirits on the other
hand declare themselves to be a much better sort of people
than the crystal spirits; and the writing spirits say that they
are infinitely superior to the crystal and rapping spirits.
(Laughter.) Swedenborg seems to be communicating to people
all over the world at the same time, and the mirror spirits say
that those spirits wlo assume his name come from a lowersphere
than themselves. The mirror spirits say that they are not in
the mirror, but that they can reflect into it whatever the
wish to communicate. Sometimes they show themselves, and
sometimes they show a book or scroll, containing the message.
They have told him that every person in the world has a
“double” or atmospheric spirit, and that the bodied and dis-
embodied spirits of the individual perform all the acts of his
life, but not at the same moment. The theory is that there is a
place of record of all the acts of each individual life, and that
when the earthly spirit is troubled, the atmospheric spirit is
troubled like a shadow in water. It is a curious theory. At
times, by crystal-vision, persons in distant places may be seen
One day, a sceress was looking into one of his mirrors, and she
saw in it the Royal College of Surgeons, with a little figure
walking in front, who announced himself to her as Dr. Dixon,
and said that he wanted to see Mr. Mackenzie at about eight
o’clock that evening, to tell him something about Mr. --.
This vision was seen between twelve and one o’clock in the
day; he (Mr. Mackenzie) wrote down the details at once in a
book. The medium had never heard of Dr. Dixon. He then
tied up and sealed the book, and asked a friend to write upon
the outside of the wrapper, that he had seen it tied up and
sealed at that hour. The signature was given, and in the
evening he called upon Dr. Dixon, who at first sight of him
said that he was so glad to see him, as he wanted particularly
to tell him something about Mr. --.
On being questioned,
Dr. Dixon said that he had been walking in Lincoln’s-inn-
fields in the morning, and wishing very much to see Mr.
After these statements
Mackenzie about the said Mr. --.
were made, he (the lecturer) gave Dr. Dixon the sealed parcel,
and asked him to read the contents, the accuracy of which
astounded him. On another occasion, while Captain R. F.
Burton, the celebrated traveller, was performing his perilous
journey to Mecca and Medina, a seer was looking into one of
Mr. Mackenzie’s crystals, and said that she saw Captain
Burton very strangely dressed, in a tent, with sand and palin
trees outside ; an angry man came in, and Captain Burton
laughed at him, offering him his pipe ; this made the man
more angry still, and then Captain Burton drew out a pistol
When Captain Burton returned to England, the record of this
vision was shown him; he said that it was all true, and a
faithful description of the only squabble he had while he was
in the desert. Captain Burton then wrote an attestation in
the book that the account was perfectly true.
It is a strange thing, but you can call your own atmospheric
spirit into the mirror yourself. “On one occasion,” said the
lecturer, “I called myself into the mirror, and asked 'what
year it was with him.' He said that 'it was 1865.' I said
'It’s only 1862 with me; what am I doing in 1865?’ (Laughter.
Then a large building was seen in the mirror, there was a
public platform in it, and I was addressing a public meeting
therefrom. Much to my surprise this came true afterwards, for
I attended the British Association at Birmingham, in 1865, and
spoke upon a public platform about anthropology and kindred
subjects.” One somewhat eccentric spirit, who gave the name
of Captain Anderson, sometimes appeared in the mirror ; once
he showed them a picture which he said was at the Crystal
Palace, and which they went and found there ; on several
occasions he told them what was taking place in the private
families of people who were unknown to the seer. He simply
narrated facts, attested by those who had no object in making
false representations ; he offered no theory as to spirits being
at the bottom of them, or otherwise. His mother was a few
years ago a writing medium. She had communications from
a spirit who called himself Samuel Jennings, and who said
that he was a curate, first at Dover, and afterwards in
Wales. On making enquiries at Dover, he found people
there who knew that such a clergyman lived in the
town at the time mentioned by the spirit. In May,
1865, he was ill, and a spirit who gave the name of Dr.
Mizaldus prescribed for him. It was not until yesterday
(Wednesday) he knew that a doctor of that name had ever
lived, and then, as Dr. Carter Blake could bear witness, he
found the name in the British Museum Library. Mizaldus
lived at Montluc, France, in 1550, and was the author of
at least fourteen books ; his prescriptions on record in the
books resembled those the spirit gave at Mr. Macken-
zie’s house. The physic had a beneficial effect. Neither he
nor his mother had heard the name of Dr. Mizaldus, a remark-
able one, before fit was written through her mediumship.
Those who have the power of crystal seeing are often unedu-
cated, and some of them have the greatest dislike to use the
faculty; many people are seers and do not know they possess
the power. One medium he knew went into a cold and rigid
state while looking in the crystal. Once, and only once, he
met Mr. Home, and asked him what he could see in the crys-
tal? Mr. Home looked for a time, then said he could see
nothing; this gave him rather a favourable idea of Mr. Home
because if he had wanted to deceive him he would certainly
have seen a great deal. Messages have sometimes been trans-
mitted by visions in crystals.
Dr. CARTER BLAKE, F.G.S., Lecturer on Anatomy at West-
minster Hospital, said that much testimony had been given by
the lecturer, but very little evidence. He thought it quite
possible that a Samuel Jennings existed before Mr. Mackenzie
had the spirit message: in fact, he thought he had heard the
name of Jennings before. Then as to Mizaldus, Mr. Mac-
kenzie was a man of very extensive reading, and he might
have once known the name, and afterwards forgotten it.
Although he asked for more evidence, and was a sceptic, he
did not think that scientific men should place themselves in
opposition to phenomena which may be observable. He had
read some of the evidence given before the Dialectical Society,
and was glad to see that a part of it was given by the chairman,
a scientific man of the highest standing, and one who knew
what is pure evidence. He thought that scientific men should
not place themselves in opposition to any form of human
thought.


Mr. C. F. VARLEY said that it was extremely interesting to
find that, from almost pre-historic times, up to the present day,
the records of all countries contained accounts of spiritual and
psychological phenomena. These agree amongst themselves
in a remarkable manner, as to the way in which spirits have
manifested themselves to mankind. The present movement
is the same tale over again, but with a much more extended
variety of mediumship. Last Saturday Professor Max Müller
gave a most interesting lecture at the Royal Institution, on
the “ Science of Religion.” He proved philologically that the
people who preceded the ancient Chinese, as well as those from
whom the Aryan race derived their language and customs, had
theological worship, and believed in one supreme deity; they
also knew of spiritual communion, which ultimately became a
prominent part of their religions. They have very early records
of mesmeric phenomena, as well as of spiritual manifestations,
which are to this day well known and practised in all eastern
countries. At frequent intervals, in various parts of the world,
these phenomena have cropped up in a manner which cannot
rationally be attributed to chance, much less to delusion.
Socrates philosophically demonstrated the existence of the
soul after the dissolution of the physical body, and the ten-
dency of modern science is to confirm and not to destroy that
belief. One of the great standpoints of science is the inde-
structibility of force, and, when any investigations tend to the
contrary, it is at once concluded that the data are incorrect.
Now what is life if not a force or combination of forces? It
must, therefore, like other forces, be indestructible—eternal,
(Applause.)


Mr. MACKENZIE, in answer to various questions, then said
that the mirrors used by spirits are devoted or consecrated to
their use, and they object to employment of them for shaving, or
any other purposes. Those persons who have the power of “call-
ing” spirits in mirrors have very rarely the power of “ seeing"
also. One day he and his friends tried to get a translation of
some Assyrian inscriptions ; one of the spirits fetched another
who he said understood such things, and the latter asked that
the pictures of the inscriptions should be laid before the mirror
The seeress saw him place a long roll over the plates, and
when he lifted it up, the scroll was covered with printed marks
apparently accurate copies of the writings on the plates. He
rolled up the scroll, and appointed a time for them to be
present again to receive the translation. The seeress was there
at the appointed hour, but owing to some misunderstanding
as to the time, the other persons were not. The spirit was
there at the instant appointed, as is always the case, but finding
the auditory absent, he exhibited a scroll for one instant, to
show that he had a translation, then put on an indignant look
and walked off. They never saw him again. As to what Dr.
Carter Blake said about evidence, what could be more complete
than the written attestation of Captain Burton, who had such
a high reputation to lose ? Captain Burton said that the facts
were unquestionably true. Did Dr. Carter Blake say that the
Captain had written a wilful lie? He (Mr. Mackenzie) was not
in the habit of reading books on such subjects as those written
upon by Dr. Mizaldus, but if he had ever heard Mizaldus
name before, how could that account for his mother writing it
out? As for the facts he had seen, and faithfully recorded at
the time, he was ready to take his volumes of manuscript into
any court of justice, and affirm that he had witnessed all the
facts stated therein. The facts were strange ones, but Mr.
Varley, without fearing the opinion of the world, had very
nobly given testimony in public, that facts equally strange
were true.
Mr. BURNS said that one person then present in the room
had been to one of Mrs. Mary Marshall’s séances, and found
everything unsatisfactory and inconclusive ; another person
also in the room, had been to Mrs. Marshall’s and received
the most unquestionable evidence of the existence of de-
parted spirits. Perhaps the latter person was what Mr.
Mackenzie would describe as a good “caller” of mirror-
spirits, the said caller being probably a person who possesses
powers complementary to those of the medium.
Very warm votes of thanks were unanimously accorded to
the lecturer and the chairman, and the proceedings closed.


Ir Dr. Newton, the healing medium, leaves New York
on the day at present fixed, he will reach England about a
week before the end of April.
SUNDAY SERVICES FOR SPIRITUALISTS.—At the close of
the Sunday evening meeting at the Cavendish Rooms, the
proceedings at which are reported in another column, a short
discussion took place about the desirability of making the
meetings permanent. Mr. Luxmoore made a sensible speech,
to the effect that one or two public addresses from incompetent
speakers will do Spiritualism more harm than six months'
work by competent men will do good. He therefore thought
that the committee, who have very wisely secured the right to
use the hall for a lengthened period, should print a prospectus
letting the public know the particulars of the plan they are
asked to aid. This advice has been followed, and it is emi-
nently satisfactory to find that the permanent engagement of
Mr. J. M. Peebles to conduct the meetings is contemplated.
The prospectus is incomplete, in that it does not state who
the members of the committee are, whether they are to be
elected by the other subscribers or by themselves ; in short,
no “ constitution ” is published.
A MUSICAL MEDIUM.—Last Wednesday, Mr. Jesse B.
Shepard arrived in England from New York, and he has
shown us extracts from American newspapers, stating that he
has very remarkable musical powers, conferred upon him by
spirits. One of the published descriptions of his séances is
signed by five members of Congress. He cannot read music,
and until his mediumship was developed, knew nothing of it.
One newspaper says—“ He is the greatest male soprano living.
His voice is clear and full, and cannot be distinguished from
that of a female soprano. It is certainly one of the most
remarkable gifts ever conferred upon the male sex. Our
readers can form some idea of the power and scope of his
voice when we say that he rises to E flat, which is only one
note below the great Jenny Lind, and equal to the famous
Parepa."
In playing musical instruments his fingers are
moved with great velocity. Another newspaper states--
" His voice in one instance reached to high D flat, apparently
with perfect ease. He says that he can reach E flat. His in-
strumental performances are equally fine ; he rendered some
of the most difficult passages with perfect ease and without a
false note. The most remarkable feature of his playing is that
he can reach an octave and a half (12 keys), and frequently
does so in making a longrun. He is only about nineteen years
of age.”
We believe that to-morrow evening he will be
present at a meeting at 15, Southampton-row, Holborn, W.C.,
when those who are present will have an opportunity of wit-
nessing his powers, and of forming an opinion for themselves,
respecting the extent to which he is aided by unseen friends.


MARCH 15, 1870.


THE SPIRITUALIST.


53


1. Advertisements of Public Companies, Half-a-guinea per
sixth of a column, or every portion of sixth of a column.
2. General Advertisements, Five Shillings per twelfth of a
column, or portion of twelfth of a column.
Note.—Advertisements at the foregoing rates will be
"displayed” so as to occupy the full space paid for, but
advertisements at the following rates will be in closely set
type.
3. General Advertisements, Half-a-crown per first five
lines or portion of five lines, and Fourpence for every line in
addition.
4. Situations Wanted, or Apartments to Let, One Shilling,
per first four lines, or portion of four lines; Threepence for
every line in addition.
Ten words are allowed to the line, and six figures or
initial letters count as one word.
When five or more insertions of the same advertisemen
are paid for, twenty per cent. reduction will be made in the
above rates.
The power is reserved of refusing to insert any advertise-
ment.
Advertisements and remittances should be sent to the
Publisher, Mr. E. W. ALLEN, Ave Maria-lane, St. Paul's
Church-yard, London, E.C., or to Mr. J. BURNS, 15,
Southampton-row, High Holborn, London, W. C.


To Correspondents


All letters should be brief and to the point, as the amount
of space available for correspondence is at present small.
Communications intended for the Editor should be by
letter only, addressed to the care of the Publisher, Mr. E. W.
ALLEN, Ave Maria-lane, St. Paul's Church-yard, London
E.C. Until the Spiritual movement in England, together
with this journal, have both grown considerably, time cannot
be spared for personal interviews on subjects connected with
the literary worh of THE SPIRITUALIST, but all letters will
meet with careful consideration.
THE SPIRITUALIST is a periodical intended to give great
freedom of expression to all the different shades of opinion
to be found among Spiritualists. There will therefore be
very little uniformity in the ideas promulgated in this journal,
more especially in the correspondence columns. Under these
circumstances every reader will find occasionally somethine
in THE SPIRITUALIST which he or she does not like, but the
right of reply remains. This freedom of thought given to
others, the Editor claims for himself, and those who do not
like the contents of leading articles, can write against them
in the correspondence columns. This plan is thought better
than that of reducing the contents of the journal to a
pale weak mediocrity, by inserting only those contributions
which please everybody The preceding remarks are not
intended to imply that those who have crotchets which the
cannot get printed anywhere else, can find an outlet for them
here, for none but those letters which are considered worth
publication will be inserted.
Notices of Public Meetings in connection with Spiritualism
should be sent to the office several days in advance.


To Subscribers.


The first twelve numbers of THE SPIRITUALIST will be
forwarded regularly by penny post to subscribers, who remit
four shillings in payment, to Mr. E. W. ALLEN, Publisher
Ave Maria-lane, St. Paul's-churchyard, E.C. No notice
will be taken of orders received unaccompanied by a remit
tance.


“THE SPIRITUALIST” IS PUBLISHED ON THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF EVERY
MONTH; THE OTHER JOURNALS DEVOTED TO SPIRITUALISM ARE PUBLISHED
ON THE FIRST OF EVERY MONTH. THERE IS THEREFORE A FORTNIGHTLY
SUPPLY OF NEWS


THe SPIRITUALIST


TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 1870.


THE PHENOMENAL PHASE OF SPIRITUALISM.
MANY Americans who visit this country have remarked
that Spiritualism here is as yet in its phenomenal phase
only, and that Great Britain is now in exactly the same
position with regard to Spiritualism as America was
fifteen years ago. Admitting that we are fifteen years be-
hind the Americans in Spiritualism, as well as in some
other movements which are essential to national happi-
ness, there are very good reasons for thoroughly investi-
gating spiritual phenomena, before attaching much credit
or discredit to the alleged teachings of Spiritualism. If
telegraphic instruments, instead of being machines, had
each the faculty of colouring and altering the messages
they transmit, it is evident that we ought to know what
amount of error is introduced by each machine, and
what machines transmit messages with most accuracy,
Until this is done we should not be justified in attri
buting to the sender of the message all the ideas con-
tained in the message as delivered to us. In the early
stages of mediumship, very much of the thoughts of
the medium are often mixed up with the communica
tions, though the names, and dates, and localities,
unknown to the medium, and given in the messages, as
well as many other facts, prove the presence of a com-
municating intelligence, other than that of the medium.
Hence it is a wise course to thoroughly investigate the


lower phenomena of Spiritualism before attaching
implicit credence to messages coming even from truth-
ful spirits. The messages from spirits given publicly
through Mr. Morse, for instance, are by some sceptical
outsiders, who have never tested physical manifesta-
tions, assumed to be impostures, whilst a few very cre-
dulous Spiritnalists consider them to be absolutely true.
Investigation, however, has proved that the majority
if not all, of the original messages are truthful, but that
errors get into a portion of them because of the diffi-
culty of transmitting them through the organisation of
the medium.
When any medium has intensely biassed
opinions upon one particular subject, whether it be
politics, sectarianism, teetotalism, or any other  "ism,"
communications through him on those subjects are very
likely to be coloured. A strict Buddhist, for instance,
not being open to receive truth in all directions, may
refuse to hold communication with any spirits who do
not believe in Buddha and his teachings.
Such a
medium may be surrounded by good spirits, who, to
some extent, humour him in his views, and try to
gradually enlarge the narrow mind of the warped
instrument they use ; or he may be surrounded by the
undeveloped spirits of Buddhists who have just left the
world; or again, there is the alternative that he may
be surrounded by low and idle spirits, who amuse
themsclves by hoaxing him. Until we understand more
about the amount of error likely to be introduced into
messages passing through any given mediumistic instru-
ment, we need not haste to quit the investigation of the
phenomenal phase of Spiritualism, and in the mean
time should accept all the communications with a
reasonable amount of caution.


SPIRITUALISM AND POLITICS AT NAPLES.


THE Anti-Œcumenical Council met in St. Ferdinand's
Theatre, Naples, on the 9th of December last, under the pre
sidency of the convener of the meeting, Count Ricciardo, a
Spiritualist, and a member of the Italian Parliament
The PRESIDENT, at the close of his opening address to the
vast audience present, submitted the following questions to
the congress for discussion :—I. Religious liberty, and the
best means for rendering it full and permanent. II. The com¬
plete separation of Church and State. III. The necessity of a
code of morals, independent of religious belief. IV. The
establishment of an international association to promote the
principles of freedom, and the general good, intellectual and
moral.
The secretaries read letters of adhesion and approval from
Garibaldi, Victor Hugo, and many other distinguished patriots
authors, thinkers, in Europe, Mexico, United States, Brazil
Chili, West Indies, the Grecian Isles, and some of the cities of
Asia and Africa. Signor Damiani and Mr. J. M. Peebles were
present among the audience.
Mr. PEEBLES, in course of a speech, gave the following as
his definition of the principles of Spiritualism, and we quote
his words from a New York paper called The Universe: -
“As a general definition of Spiritualism, the following is
submitted: Its fundamental idea of God—the infinite spirit
presenee, imminent in all things. Its fundamental thought is
joyous communion with spirits and angels, and the practical
demonstration of the same through the instrumentality of
media. Its fundamental purpose is to rightly generate, edu-
cate, and spiritualise all the races and nations of the earth
Spiritualism, considered from its philosophical side, is
rationalism, from its scientific side, naturalism, and from its
religious side, the embodiment of love to God and man, a pre-
sent inspiration and a heavenly minister. In the year 1900
it will be the religion of the enlightened world. It underlies
all genuine reform movements, physiological, educational
social, philanthropic, and religious, and spanning all human
interests with holy aim, it seeks to reconstruet society upon
the principles of a universal brotherhood, and the strict equa-
lity of the sexes. Desirous of greater knowledge touching
the relations of spirit with matter, and of men with God and
the intelligences of the surrounding world of spirits, Spiritua-
lists study and reverently interrogate the laws and principles
that govern the phenomena and occult forces of the universe,
the histories of the past, and the experiences of the present,
anxious to solve those psychological and spiritual problems oi
the ages—man’s origin, capacity, duty, and final destiny.
Interrelated with spirit and matter in their varied evolutions
and with the highest interests connecting all worlds, Spiritua-
lism is neither supernatural in philosophy, nor sectarian ir
tendency; but broad, catholie, and progressive—the voiced
truth of God through nature to the rational soul—a science, a
philosophy, and a religion. Contemplated from the mount
of vision, it may be compared to a temple whose outer foun-
dations are upon earth, and whose golden dome is in heaven
Its facts, its workmanship, are embellished by the fingers of
angels, and its principles are upheld by the hand of God.
Thanking you for your patience in listening to a stranger in a
language that few of you understand, I close with the senti
ments:—May Italians speedily possess all Italian territory
may proud historic Rome be its capital; may capital and
country constitute one united Republic, and may that Republic
be sustained by the enlightened influences of education, jus-
tice, universal suffrage, the equality of the sexes, and the
beautiful peace principles of love and wisdon."
On the second day of the session, while a fiery Frenchman
was speaking eloquently of the value of republican institutions
and of freedom in religion, and hundreds of listeners were
applauding, up rose an officer searfed and ribboned, and said
"In the name of the laws I pronounce this meeting dissolved !"
An intense feeling of indignation, which broke into murmurs.
pervaded the meeting; it seemed as though a storm were
about to burst, when President Ricciardo rose and said,—"
beg of you to disperse quietly—quietly and in order.” In this
manner the meeting was brought to an unexpeetedly prompt
conclusion.


A BooK has just been published, entitled The Home
Lise of Sir David Brewster, and is written by his
daughter, Mrs. Gordon.* In that part of the book
relating to his experiences in Spiritualism, extracts
from his own letters and diary are given, from which
we quote the most interesting portions : -
“ London, May, 1851.-
I have been at two mes-
meric séances, one with Dr. Macdonald and the Duke
of Argyll, at a Mrs. Holmes’, who utterly failed in her
clairvoyant pretensions. A Count Possenti mesmerised
her. The other was at Dr. Ashburner’s, where I saw
things that confounded me."
In a letter, dated London, April 25th, 1851, he tells
of a breakfast party at the house of Chevalier Bunsen,
and says that the great subject of talk was spirit-rapping,
and the moving of tables. He adds: -
“ Just as we were discussing the subject, Mr. Bunsen
received a letter from the King of Prussia, saying that
the experiment was made at the palace by the royal
party, who were alone, and no conjuror present. Three
of the young ladies had each letters from Berlin, men
tioning these experiments, which sometimes fail. One
letter stated that it succeeded three times out of
seven. . . . Of course it is nonsense, and there must
be some trick in it. . . . Mr. Monckton Milnes asked
us to breakfast with him to-morrow, to meet Mr. Galla,
the African traveller, who assured him that Mrs. Hayden
told him the names of persons and places [in Africa
which nobody but himself knew. The world is obviously
going mad. .. . An American whom I met at Rogers'
the other day, told me that hundreds had been sent to
lunatic asylums in consequence of the communications
made to them by the spirit rappers. . . . The spirit-
rapping is exciting great interest in London, but very
few believe in it, and there are many facts which tend
to prove that it is done by some machinery or apparatus
by which the hands and feet of the medium may pro-
duce the observed phenomena."
The following is the most important note of all : -
“ London, June, 1855.—Last of all I went with Lord
Brougham to a séance of the new spirit-rapper, Mr.
Home, a lad of twenty, the son of a brother of the late
Earl of Home. He went to America at the age of
seven, and, though a naturalised American, is actually
a Scotchman. Mr. Home lives in Cox’s Hotel, Jermyn-
street; and Mr. Cox, who knows Lord Brougham,
invited me to accompany him in order to assist in
finding out the trick. We four sat down at a mode
rately-sized table, the structure of which we were
invited to examine. In a short time the table shud-
dered, and a tremulous motion ran up all our arms;
at our bidding these motions ceased and returned.
“The most unaccountable rappings werc produced
in various parts of the table, and the table actually rose
from the ground when no hand was upon it. A larger
table was produced, and exhibited similar movements.
“ An accordion was held in Lord Brougham’s hand,
and gave out a single note, but the experiment was a
failure ; it would not play either in his hand or mine.
“ A small hand-bell was then laid down with its
mouth on the carpet, and, after lying for some time, it
actually rang when nothing could have touched it.
The bell was then placed on the other side, still upon
the carpet, and it came over to me and placed itself in
my hand. It did the same to Lord Brougham.
“These were the principal experiments ; we could
give no explanation of them, and could not conjecture
how they could be produced by any kind of mechanism.
Hands are sometimes seen and felt ; the hand often
grasps another, and melts away, as it were, under the
grasp.
“ The object of asking Lord Brougham and me seems
to have been to get our favourable opinion of the exhi-
bition, but though neither of us can explain what we
saw, we do not believe that it was the work of idle
spirits."
Whatever Sir David Brewster may assert to the con-
trary, Lord Brougham died a believer in Spiritualism:
he has also placed his opinion on record in writing, as
will be seen upon reference to the last number of this
journal
In the book now under notice, Mrs. Gordon attempts
no explanation of the phenomeua, beyond simply quoting
a letter of an advertising character, from a philosophical
instrument maker named Faulkner, published in the
Standard a few months ago. Faulkner asserted that
he had fitted up the houses of several persons with
electrical apparatus to make spirit rapping noises. On
being asked for references to persons whose houses he
has thus fitted up, he has admitted in writing that he
has never fitted up anybody’s house with such apparatus
except that of Mr. Addison, a man who is not a Spiri-
tualist, and who asserts all Spiritualists to be impostors
Genuine Spiritual manifestations take place in any
house, and are not confined to the home of the medium:
the raps also, do not sound like noises mechanically pro-
duced, for they are phenomena of “life,” and arc full of
expression.


CHARGES FOR ADVERTISEMENTS.


SIR DAVID BREWSTER AND SPIRITUALISM.


* Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas. 1869.
† This is a pure and very modest assumption on the part of the write
The facts of nature are quite independent of the sayings, doings, and
opinions of men. Mr. Home never invited them to the séance at all—ED.


54


MARCH 15, 1870.


OURS


IT chanced on a beautiful summer night,
When the moon was young, when the stars were bright,
And the blossom slept in the tender light,
And dreamed of the zephyr’s sighs,
That a wondrous spell in our home was wrought,
Of hopes and fears and bewildering thought,
By a fairy flower that an angel brought,
From the gardens of paradise.


The south wind fluttered its perfumed wings,
And essayed the song that the bulbul sings;
And the flrefly sparkled in mystic rings,
Like lamps at a fairy ball;
The young leaves whispering sweet and low,
In a tongue that only Dryads know,
Made love to the waves that danced below,
To the chant of the waterfall.


The cloud-ships lay in the far-off west,
With their masts and spars and sails at rest,
Or floated along in an idle quest,
Of some bright Elysian Isle;
And fairy gondolas here and there,
Moved down the streams of the upper air,
And moved their prows to the shadow stair,
Of some Gothic palace-pile.


So the hours of that summer-night were told,
The starlight faded from river and wold,
And morning, in garments of purple and gold,
Awakened the slceping earth;
But the cherub form with its face so fair,
Crowned with a glory of golden hair -
Like the morning and sunshine gleaming there -
Stili nestled beside our hearth.
The Universe.


J. G. GERRAXS, Surgeon, &c.
7a, Wyndham-place, Bryanston-square
P.S.—I could say much more on the above subject, but fear
occupying too much of your space. I will by your permission
recur to it on a future occasion.
SIR,—I am very mueh pleased with Mr. Pearce’s letter
printed in your last issue, especially with his want of reve-
renee for Tertullian. Who on earth was Tertullian, that his
opinions should bind mine? The man is dead and buried; I
cannot become personally acquainted with him or his friends
or know much that is reliable about this antiquated indi-
vidual. The evidence of one or two respeetable intelligent
men, living now—in civilised times—in London, is worth more
than the evidenee of a hundred dead and buried worthies
who lived when the world was only half-way out of its state of
primitive savagery, and whose sayings have come down to
us through the hands of priestly and political mountebanks
History, books, and the press, have almost always as yet been
under the thumbs of the powers that be, and it is only within
the last forty years that absolutely reliable history, giving all
sides of disputed subjects, has risen into being. Let those
Englishmen who worship antiquity carry their precepts into
practice, paint their bodies as their forefathers, the ancient
Britons, did, divest themselves of superfluous clothing, and
make beastly savages of themselves generally. Modern civili-
sation would then pronounce its verdict upon the worshippers
of tradition, barbarism, superstition, and antiquity, by lodging,
them in the nearest police-station.
Mareh 12th, 1870.
A. P


This is a mistake, because readers do not care for a
continual supply of the opinions of one person, however
good they may be, and the newspaper ought to contain
reports of what is now taking place in connection with
Spiritualism in Melbourne. There is plenty of internal
evidence that The Glowworm is not under the control
of a practical journalist, and we fear that its life is
almost certain to be a short one, unless a considerable
change be made in description and arrangement of the
matter it publishes. However, failure in a good cause
is better than success in a bad one.
The second number only of The Glowworm has reached
us, and no statement is made in it whether it is pub-
lished weekly or monthly, but probably it is intended
to be a monthly journal.


Poetry.


spirits could for a special mighty purpose cause the immacu-
late conception of a human being. Verily, this is straining at
a gnat and swallowing a camel.
J. G. GERRAXS, Surgeon, &c.


THE BIBLE-SPIRITUALISM CONTROVERSY.


SIR.—I read my friend Mr. Pearce’s letter in your last with
great regret, and I know that some excellent Christian men
who had begun to be interested in Spiritualism, have been
much shocked by it. And no wonder ! Our Christian friends
though some of their views may be erroneous and illogical
hold their creeds, naturally enough very sacred ; and it savours
to them very much of blasphemy when they see the Bible
treated with no more respect, and as of little more authority,
than other books. I sympathise to some extent with Mr.
Pearce in his complaint that W. H. evinced in his letter a
little want of charity towards those who have ventured to
express sentiments at variance with his own ; but I do not
think it is a sufficient answer to W. H. to attempt to prove
that the biblical narratives are incredible, for that is only
supporting, instead of confuting W. H.’s position—that there
is a class of Spiritualists who seem only too glad of an oppor-
tunity of making attacks upon "Moses, Jesus, and the Bible."
Would it not rather be wiser for W. H. and Mr. Pearce, and
every other Spiritualist, to avoid altogether the discussion of
theological tenets in Spiritualistic publications? For what
has Spiritualism to do with the questions that have been
raised—the Divinity of the Lord Jesus and the inspiration of
the first chapter of Genesis? As a Swedenborgian I hold both
most completely, even though I am a Spiritualist also. And
what is more, notwithstanding Mr. Pearce’s attempt to dis-
prove them, I think I could show—if I regarded a Spiritual-
istic publication as the proper place for it—that in so believing
them I violate neither reason nor common sense. I am, in
fact, rationally convinced of their truth, and I do not for a
moment anticipate that any spirit will ever expect me to
abjure them on his authority alone ! If I ever meet with such
a one I shall suspect him to be a departed Pope, and shall
refuse to have anything to say to him.
But I will say no more, for I write this with the simple view
of inducing you to discourage theological controversies in your
columns, and in order to assure inquirers that a belief in
Spiritualism and a belief also in the inspiration of the written
Word of God are by no means incompatible.
EDMUND D. ROGERS.


Old Palace-road, Norich.
March 4, 1870.


SIR.—In the last number of the SPIRITUALIST I read a letter
from Mr. C. W. Pearce, of South Stockwell, in reply to one by
W. H. The purpose of Mr. Pearce appears to be to condemn
certain propositions advanced by W. H., one of which is the
divinity of our Saviour. Alluding to the statements set forth
in the first chapters of Matthew and Luke, Mr. Pearce demurs
to this dogma, submitting the same to the “test of reason."
Arguing from the analysis of natural law as it exhibits itself
in the generation of the human race, he comes to the conclu-
sion that Jesus being a man, He must necessarily have had a
human father. Speaking of the perfection of the Creator’s
laws, he says, “ One of these laws is that before a child can be
conceived, there must be a union between man and woman,"
Of course there must, in the fulfilment of the natural law of
propagation, and there needs no dogmatism to prove a fact
known to the most ignorant savage. But the observation
cannot apply to the conception of Jesus of Nazareth, for that
was supernatural. It is a subject of such great delicacy, that
in its very nature it is scarcely proper, however carefully
treated, to be placed before the eye of the general reader
but were it not for this consideration, Mr. Editor, I could by a
little anatomical and physiological detail, place the matter in
such a plain and simple point of view, that the immaculate
conception of Jesus Christ could be no longer considered such
a great mystcry and improbability. I will conclude by
putting the question to any sceptic who may read this letter
“Do you believe in a God the Creator of the universe?"
None but an atheist, we know, will deny it. Well, then
surely the Being who could create the universe could perform
such a trifling operation as the impregnation of the germ of a
human being, and for the stupendous purpose of rescuing a
sinful world from its lost condition. It was a miracle indeed,
and great was its object. But there are persons who make
this fact a great stumbling-block, because it is contrary to
natural law. Yet such is the caprice of human nature, that
they will go to a séance, impelled by curiosity, and witness
certain facts which in the present condition of scientific
knowledge can only be accountd for on the presumption that
what takes place is through spiritual agency, fully believing
the same, and are thoroughly satisfied with the genuineness of
the manifestations, yet demur to the immaculate conception of
Christ. Now, if a spirit, often no doubt an ungodly one, can
enter into, or in some manner physically influence dead, inert
matter in the form of chairs and tables, causing these articles
of furniture to eut extraordinary capers round a room, and
often for no good practical purpose, surely the Father of


THE GLOWWORMW: The First Australian Newspaper on
Spiritualism. Melbourne, December 31st, 1869.
A CLOSE examination of this newspaper, with its super
fluity of words printed in italics and small capitals,
with its trenchant style, and its many words which
would appear to be ill-spelt to any but a good philo
logist, revealed that somebody was at the helm of the
new journal, whose writings are not unknown in one
section of Great Britain. Long before seeing the name
in the imprint, we were perfectly certain that Mr. B. S.
Nayler, late of Milford, South Wales, has full control
of The Glowworm.
This new newspaper deals principally with the re-
ligious aspects of Spiritualism. As the writer is well
versed in the literature and early history of the Bible,
and has a forcible and convincing method of expressing
his ideas, many good answers to sectarian attacks upon
Spiritualism may be drawn from the columns of the
little Australian journal. The Glowworm reveals very
clearly that the phenomena of Spiritualism which are
witnessed in Melbourne bear the same characteristics
as in every other part of the globe, and that the burden
of the first messages given by the spirits is “ Love -
Love—nothing but Love.
Among the spiritual com-
munications of interest in the journal, is one from the
mother of Mr. Nayler, dated April 15th, 1869, in which
she says: -
"There are many millions of spirits who do not know of such
a method of communicating, and others to whom such a pro¬
cess is new ; therefore they have to learn the modus operandi.
You must wait with patience the unfolding of the law. It is
only a very short time since I understood this way of holding
communion with you. Previous to it my only way of in
fluencing you was by impression, which mode I alway-
exercise as well, though you are not cognizant of the fact.”
In another message, dated March 25th, 1869, his
mother said: -
“ My dear son, blissful beyond comparison with aught on
earth, is this my home. The language we speak is of the soul
We do not commune orally, but by our eyes. Everyone’s
condition, thoughts, and desires, are known by the aroma
which surrounds them, and we do not, cannot hold communion
with all—only those with whom we are in affinity, or, that
their personal spheres attract us, so that we are all linked
together in the bonds of love. There is no discord here in
our heavenly home—truly one of many mansions prepared
for all the children of the earth. Each one will find their
home here ; some in brighter and more glorious homes than
others, but all, that place adapted to their wants and desires."
The Glowworm also contains messages from Mr.
Nayler’s father, and one dated December 2nd, 1869,
from Dr. J. Field, who quitted the earth-life at Milford,
Pembrokeshire, in May, 1864. In one portion of the
paper Mr. Nayler states that John Wesley often made
his home at the house of his (Mr. Nayler’s) grandfather
Mr. George Merryweather, at Yarm, in Yorkshire, and
that Wesley privately owned that he did not believe
in eternal damnation, a doctrine which he purposely
ceased to preach in public, though he said nothing
openly about his belief in the universal restoration of
all mankind.
In a list of eminent Spiritualists published in The
Glowworm are the names of Lyndhurst, Bulwer Lytton,
De Morgan, Robert Chambers, William Howitt, Ash
burner, Elliotson, John Stuart Mill, Tennyson, Varley
Sir Charles Wheatstone, Professor Hare, Washington
Irving, Abraham Lincoln, Robert Dale Owen, Judge
Edmonds, Horace Greeley, Longfellow, Whittier, the
Emperor of the French, Victor Hugo, Guizot, Leon
Favre, and Garibaldi.
The Glowworm, from beginning to end, is filled
almost entirely with the argumentative writing of the
editor, and it might, with much more accuracy, bo
entitled, Mr. B. S. Nayler's Opinions of Spiritualism.


The Food Journal. Published Mouthly. London, J.
M. Johnson and Sons, March 1, 1870.
Tais is is a new and valuable periodical, since it gives
attention to food and its adulterations, and has several
medical and other gentlemen of ability among the con -
tributors to its pages. Butter is now very largely adu -l
terated with various kinds of grease, and with silicate
of potash. Vast quantities of tea, made of dirty leaves
which have been previously used, and in some
cases have begun to putrefy, are regularly imported
from China. A journal is greatly needed which will
work hard to keep such unpleasant impurities from
entering the human body. Among the articles in the
number of the Food Journal now under notice, is one
by Dr. J. Muter, from which it appears that among the
many substances used to adulterate coffee are chicory
roasted roots, peas, and acorns, also saw-dust, lupin
seeds, oak bark, and baked horse’s liver. The raspings
of loaves and stale sea biscuits are very much used to
adulterate coffee. The journal also contains a good ar -
ticle by Mr. E. Fournier, on the disadvantages of a potato
diet. Potatoes do not contain all the ingredients neces-
sary to support life, but potatoes and ground bones, or
potatoes and milk, make very nutritious diet. It is a
principle in political economy, “ the cheaper the food
the lower the wages of the population," therefore it is
to the money interest of capitalists that the bulk of the
people shall be supplied with cheap rather than pure
food. The practical effects of the working of this prin-
ciple may well be investigated by the Food Journal.


MRS. EVERITTS MEDIUMSHIP.


Some of the remarkable Spiritual manifestations,
which so often take place through the mediumship
of Mrs. T. Everitt, of 26, Penton-street, Pentonville,
have, from time to time, been published in the periodicals
devoted to Spiritualism, so it is thought that the follow -
ing brief account of the development of her powers as
a medium will be of interest. The particulars are
furnished by Mr. Everitt.
About thirteen or fourteen years ago, Mrs. Everitt
left London for a few days on a visit to Mr. G. W.
Bitten, of Saffron Walden, Essex; and in his house first
saw what was then calied “ table-turning.
At first
she sat at a distance from the table, and refused to go
near it; but afterwards, being pressed by her friends.
she joined the circle ; the table continued to move, and
she could see, by the hands of the members of the
circle, that the power moving the table came from
below it, and not from their hands on the top. On the
following Sunday some very heavy “ thumps” came
upon the floor of the room, while Mr. Bitten was read-
ing a sermon ; he then looked up, and said to his niece
"If you are not quiet, I shall discontinue reading."
She replied, “ It's not me, uncle."
The noises grew
louder, and he accused her a second time. The thumps
then became so violent, that Mrs. Bitten said that it
was “ the devil,” upon which tremendous blows were
heard upon the floor, so that they were all frightened.
and left the room. Mr. Bitten went down and searched
the cellar beneath the room, but could find nothing to
account for the violent blows.
Mrs. West, a friend of Mrs. Everitt’s, witnessed these
things also, and, on their return to London, they tried
to get some “table-turning” at home, in Mr. Everitt’s
present house. Tiltings of the table were obtained;
the name of Mr. Everitt’s mother was spelt out, and
she answered test questions so as to fully prove her
identity; in fact, documents had to be examined after
wards to ascertain the accuracy of some of the state-
ments she made. Other sittings took place, and it was
soon noticed that the manifestations only took place
while Mrs. Everitt was present ; she was very nervous
about it, and would not believe that these things took
place through her mediumship. About three months
after her return from Saffron Walden, the spirits gave
her the following message: - "
You have often wondered
how we were ablo to produce that noise which you
heard at Mr. Bitten’s; we were able to produce it
through Mrs. Everitt—she is a rapping medium. Mrs.
West is a tilting medium."
From that time she be
lieved that the manifestations came through hermedium-
ship.* During the first three months after her return


* It is often the case, that when two undeveloped media meet at a circle
the spirits can give powerful manifestations for the time, but little or none
when the two persons are separated. Somebody besides Mrs. Everitt, at
Saffron Walden, must have contributed to the medium power which made
the first manifestations so striking.—ED.


Correspondence.


[Great freedom is given to correspondents, who sometimes express opinions
diametrically opposed to those of this journal and its readers].


Book Notices.


MARCH 15, 1870.


THE SPIRITUALIST.


from Saffron Walden, table-motions only were obtained
through Mrs. Everitt’s mediumship; but the move-
ments were of a marked character, for once a small
table moved without contact with anybody, and at
another time, at supper, the table rose from the ground
with all the things on it. At the end of the three
months slight “ticks” or raps were heard, and these
quickly grew more powerful, till before another three
months had passed away, tremendous blows would come
upon the floor,“ as if,” says Mr. Everitt, “somebody were
striking the floor from the kitchen underneath with a
log of timber, jarring the whole house up to the top
For a whole year the physical manifesta-
windows.
tions increased in power.
It was not meaningless noise, but always showed
that there was an intelligence behind, or using this
power, for it sometimes gave very startling information,
and by her placing only one finger on a small table, it
would sometimes walk along the passage, and up and
down stairs. During all this time Mrs. Everitt was
very timid; she could even hear the spirits walking
before and after her sometimes. These things did not
come by her will or wish, and she seemed to care very
little about her mediumship ; it was a very considerable
time—perhaps two or three years—before she would
let the spirits use her hand as a writing medium,
although they often asked her permission. She let
them write messages by means of the planchette,
shortly before she allowed them to write through her
hand.
Very often at the séances the power was so strong,
that the spirits would shake the whole house from
cellar to garret, and the vibrations at last loosened
the hold of the ends of the rafters in the brick-
work of the front of the house, so that the floors
of the upper bed-rooms were in danger of falling
through. Mr. Everitt accordingly had to have the
brickwork of the two upper storeys of the front of his
house wholly rebuilt, and after this expensive opera-
tion was performed, he was told by the spirits that the
damage had been done to give evidence that the mani-
festations were real, and not mental impressions. Since
the rebuilding, the house has not been shaken so vio-
lently, although powerful vibrations are often set up.
It was in November, 1867, that the audible spirit
voice was first obtained through the mediumship of
Mrs. Everitt. Miss Nichols (now Mrs. Guppy) called
upon Mrs. Everitt, and they had a dark séance. Fruit
and flowers were brought by the spirits, who then
changed the places of the sitters, and asked Mrs.
Everitt to go to the other side of the room. A peculiar
low whisper was then heard, as if somcbody were
trying to articulate; this frightened Mrs. Everitt and
Mrs. Guppy; but the former was then thrown into a
trance-sleep for the first time, and the spirit John Watt
first made himself known to the mortals present. He
gave an account of himself, saying that he was a native
of Torquay; that he was an engineer by trade; that
he left this world at the age of thirty years; he was
not married in this world, but has since met with his
conjugal partner, whose spirit name is Mercia. He
speaks of her as a pure spirit, for she never breathed in
this world, as she was still-born. During the next ten
or twelve sittings, John Watt always refused to use a
paper tube; but at last he took it, and then could
speak very much louder. Later still, other voiccs were
obtained through Mrs. Everitt’s mediumship.
John
Watt often sends an assistant of his, Joseph Smith, of
Torquay, to talk to the circle when his other work will
not let him come himself; his assistants also often get
everything ready before his arrival, so that he may
then begin to speak at once. One day, about two years
ago, Mrs. Hardinge came to the circle, and from that
time a spirit, who gives the name of Znippy, and says
that he was born on one of the South Sea Islands,
has often spoken with an audible voice through Mrs.
Everitt’s mediumship. He says that he came over
with Mrs. Hardinge in a big ship, and that he "died"
in America when about fifteen years old. Now and
then departed friends of persons who have casuall
visited Mrs. Everitt’s circle, have come to talk with an
audible voice, and, in some instances, have satisfactorily
proved their identity.
In connection with Mrs. Everitt’s mediumship, a very
curious circumstance once took place, tending to shov
that perhaps the eastem superstition as to efficacy of
charms and amulets originally had a foundation upon
facts. On the 25th March, 1868, Mrs. Everitt went to
a séance at the house of Mrs. Gregory, near Hyde-park,
and a ring was taken off her finger, in the course of the
sitting. When she came home she searched for it, but
it could not be found. Next day, March 26th, John
Watt said that the ring was in his possession, and that
Mrs. Everitt's spirits were throwing their influence into
the ring to strengthen her mediumship. For three or
four weeks afterwards, John Watt’s voice and the other
manifestations were very weak, and John Watt said that
the power could not be regained till she had the ring
back again. Twenty-nine days after the ring was
taken, Mrs. Everitt was at a dark séance, at the house
of Mr. Childs, 21, Offord-road, Islington, and was told
that the ring had been brought back. A light was


struck, but they could not see the ring on the table, on
anywhere else, and a seeing medium who was present
said, “ Look under the Bible.” There, sure enough, was
the ring, returned in a house several miles distant from
that at which it was taken off. The spirits said that
they would put the ring on again when the light was
extinguished. The ring was placed on the table, the
light was put out, and instantly Mrs. Everitt said, “ It's
A light was struck, and the ring was found on
on!"
her finger, behind another ring of exactly the same size
though whether it passed over, under, or through it, or
neither, nobody knows. It was done instantaneously
and Mrs. Everitt felt herself lifted from the chair at the
instant it surrounded her finger. From the day of the
return of this ring, Mrs. Everitt has been in better
health than she ever was before, for up to that time she
was generally ill the day after a séance. Often, after
wards, while narrating this story of the ring to others
Mrs. Everitt would take it off her finger to show to the
listeners. John Watt said, last October, he would pre-
vent her from doing that again, as the influence of those
who took the ring marred its beneficial effects upon Mrs
Everitt. Accordingly, on awaking one morning she
found the ring on another finger, and discovered that it
fitted very closely, and could not be slipped over the
first joint to be taken off; in fact, the only way to get
it off now, is by the file, or by chemical reagents
On another occasion also, Mrs. Everitt had a ring taken
away, and returned at a distant place
Unlike most other voice mediums, Mrs. Everitt is
usually, though not always, in a mesmeric sleep while
the spirits speak with audible voices. Direct spirit
writing is also obtained through her mediumship, and
it began three years ago; they exercised full control of
the pencil at first trial. Darkness, unfortunately, is re-
quired for this manifestation. Sentences are written
out with enormous velocity, only one or two seconds
being required to write senteuces of twelve or twenty
words, and then the pencil is thrown down on the table
The pencil does not make a scratching noise while
writing, but a rattle, as if the point were making a
rapid shower of taps upon the paper.
All mediums are usually very nervous, but Mrs
Everitt is exceptionally sensitive. The presence of
strangers at her séances of a suspicious or antagonistic
disposition, is felt by her at once, and gives her absolute
physical pain. Hence it is not often that anybody is
invited to her séances, who has not previously been
present at other manifestations, so as to know the
reality of spiritual phenomena beforehand, and to come
to the circle in a more affable frame of mind than is
usually the case with strangers. She has given the
Dialectical Society no facilities for investigation
although by chance, one or two members of the
Society have been present at some of her séances.
All along, she has taken very little interest in her
own mediumship, but began to value it more when, a
few months ago, she saw the character of a man’s life
entirely changed in consequence of the manifestations
made by her spirits, when nothing else could possibly
have reclaimed him from drinking, swearing, and other
vices. Mr. Everitt is a respectable master tailor, who
has been in business in Pentonville for many years, and
neither he nor Mrs. Everitt have ever accepted an
payment from those whom they have permitted to
witness the manifestations. Mr. Everitt is often be-
sieged with letters, asking permission to be present
at first he answered them, till he found them too great
a tax upon him, and that he must either leave them
unnoticed, or keep a clerk. Mr. Everitt wishes these
facts to be publiely known, that those who write ma-
not attribute his silence to want of courtesy
Mr. S. C. Hall, F.S.A., the Countess de Pomar, and
many others, have publicly testified to the genuine
character of the manifestations obtained through the
mediumship of Mrs. Everitt. The following letter
which was originally published in the Spiritual Maga-
zine, describes one of the most remarkable séances ever
witnessed in her presence: -
"26, Penton-street, Pentonville, Feb. 22nd, 1868
“ SIR,—The following are a few facts in connection with
our spirit circle:—In the first place, I may here state that we
are now always directed by spirit intelligenees as to when and
where we shall hold our séances; sometimes we are told whom
we are to invite, and it is pleasing to know that this is done
with an evident knowledge of, and consideration for, my busi
ness and other engagements.
“I wish that some one who attends our meetings, and
whose powers of description are more graphic than mine,
would send you some account of the interesting conversationt
and eommunications that are given “audibly" by spirits
'John Watt’ is the name of the spirit who attends our
séances, and speaks to us more than any other spirit whose
individuality and identity has, by the last three months
experience, been proved to my mind most conclusively. In
more ways than it is possible for me to enumerate here, he
has identified himself with the best interests of the medium
and he tells that it is his special privilege to have eharge of
this circle.
“ He has informed us that he has been in the other world
aceording to our reckoning, about thirty years ; that he was
ill about six months, and died of consumption ; that he was
(when in this world) an engineer, and helped to get out the
plans for the first line of railway from London-bridge to
Greenwich.
“On one occasion, a medium who was a seer, described
what he saw at our séance. He said we appeared to be sitting


under a blue dome, round the bottom of which was a gold
band ; and at the top was an opening with another gold band
round it, and over this opening was a reddish cloud, in which
appeared a beautiful, angelic face ; that, we were told, of the
presiding angel at our circle, and, it was added, the spirit who is
speaking looks up to him when he wants any information, and
sometimes hesitates in answering us till he gets permission.
“ When having a séance at Mrs. Berry’s, 'John Watt ’ said,
I wish you had a seer here to describe the glorious sight over
you.' We asked him if he could not tell us. Well,’ he said.
if your spiritual sight were opened, you would see a beautiful
blue dome, like the dome of a cathedral, filled with stars
but which are angelic faces ; and at the top is the presiding
angel. Ah ! it is a glorious sight ; I wish you could see it.
“ We have asked him about the seasons in the spirit world:
he says, “that every one lives in the temperature that proceeds
from himself, and which is therefore best suited to his state.
He said, “The sun never sets, it always appears in the east :
and strange as it may seem, to whichever quarter the angels
are going, their faces are always turned towards it ; they have
no night—but morning, noon, and evening
“I will now give you an account of the most remarkable
séance it has ever becn my happiness to witness.
Mrs. E
"this evening, had a most violent head-ache
and when “John Watt’ came, he said, Good evening
friends, I see your medium is out of condition, I shall not be
able to stay long.'
We asked him if he could not remove the
head-ache ; he said, I will try.’ He took the tube and made
passes over Mrs. E
’s head, which soon removed the pain.
He then said, Mr. Everitt, you have a message for me, have
you not? I said, Yes.' He said, I know all about it; go
on Friday.' And after he had arranged our meetings for the
following week, Mrs. E
exclaimed, 'There's a beautiful
light !’ We looked, and all saw a light rising towards the
centre of the room, like the moon in its first quarter; it
moved aeross the room, and disappeared ; then arose from
the same place, and ascended to the ceiling, a most beautiful
constellation of stars, as many as ten or twelve in number.
all twinkling brightly, appearing and disappearing so that it
was impossible to count them from the quickness of their
motion ; then came a comet like Halley’s, with two streams
of light diverging from the head, and another, and another:
so that there were several of them near the centre of the
room. And then, in another part of the room, a much larger
light appeared, and remained near the ceiling; in front of it
there was a dark embankment of elouds, and from behind
them this light streamed up continuously, similar to what
may be seen sometimes before the rising of the sun. This we
were told, represented the dawning of Spiritualism ; and it is
worthy of remark, that the heads of the comets were turned
towards this great light.
“'John Watt' kept asking us how we liked the lights, and
told us to keep our eyes open, as we should see more wonders;
and so it was, something fresh was continually presented—a
spirit hand, a spirit arm, a spirit form, was seen to pass
through the light, or appear above our heads. The lights
were seen for full an hour by the twelve persons who were
present, and who testify to the truth of this statement.
'John Watt' told us that we should in time see spirits and
angels in that light which they themselves produce. At his
suggestion we then concluded the séance with prayer.
“I append the names and addresses of those present
namely,—Mr. and Mrs. Everitt, 26, Penton-street, Pentonville
Mr. Charles Everitt, 26, Penton-street, Pentonville ; Mr.
White and Mrs. Wise, 30, Rahere-street, Goswell-road ; Mr.
Jones and Miss Jones, 34, Rahere-street, Goswell-road ; Mr.
Towns, 32, Lloyd’s-row, St. John’s-street-road ; Mr. Davis
Old-street-road ; Mrs. Ridley, 11, Brunswick-square, Hackney-
road; Mrs. Childs, 21, Offord-road, Caledonian-road ; Mrs.
Sparey, 3, Cambridge-place, Kingsland-road.
"THOS. EVERITT."


SOME very powerful physical manifestations have recently
been obtained by Mr. Collier and a few friends, at Forest
Gate, Essex.
A CORRESPONDENT informs us that Mr. John Jones, of
Enmore-park, South' Norwood, delivered a lecture on
Spiritualism in St. John’s Hall, Clerkenwell, about three
weeks ago, and that the listeners were much interested.
LAST Thursday the Daily Telegraph had a long article
written by one of its “funny men", about one of Mr. Morse’s
public séances at 15, Southampton-row, W.C. We have no
space to quote the article, which was not a specially disagree
able one, and if it gave its readers inaccurate ideas, at all
events it is of a better tone than the articles on Spiritualism
which were commonly published a few years ago by the
misleaders of public opinion.
SPIRITUALISM AT THE ANTIPODES. — A private letter
from Mr. W. D. Meers, of Dunedin, New Zealand, dated
December 23rd, 1869, has just been received by Mr. George
Childs, of 21, Offord-strect, Islington, N. In the course of
the letter Mr. Meers states that much interest in Spiritualism
is evinced in Dunedin, but as the people there have only just
began to make experimental trials the manifestations are not
yet sufficiently developed to be of a very striking character.
In Australia Spiritualism has made more progress, and Mr
Meers says the editor of the daily paper at Dunedin told him
that the Spiritualists in Melbourne intend bringing onto a
weekly or a monthly paper in connection with the movement
and that the Melbourne Argus has recently published two very
favourable articles on the subject.
SPIRITUALISM IN HALIFAX.—Mr. J. M. Peebles delivered
a lecture last night in the Mechanics' Hall, Halifax, York¬
shire, in which he called attention to the value of reason as
one of the most precions gifts given to man by the Almighty,
and as a faculty which must be applied to all subjects,
whether theological or otherwise. He then spoke of the pro-
gress of religious ideas, and of the origin aud progress of
Spiritualism in Europe and America. To-night he will speak
of the Bible proofs of Spiritualism, and of mediumship. To-
morrow he will speak of the book religions of the world. and
of the relations ot modern Christianity to the primal teaehings
of Jesus ; on Thursday he will speak of the objections made
to Spiritualism by the uninformed.


ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
A. G. (Glasgow).—Kept over again for want of space
T. N. C. (Jamaica).—A parcel has been sent as desired.
B. S. N. (Melbourne).—The first ripples of the waves of Spiritual-
ism have spread nearly all over Wales, but practical acquaintance
with the phenomena is at present confined chiefly to Merthyr
Hirwain, and Llanelly.
A. B. (Stoke Newington).—The publication of your letter would
only start an angry and endless theological dispute. Shall be
glad to hear from you on another subject. Remittances intended
for the publisher, should not be enclosed to the editor. On appli-
tion at the publishing office the amount will be returned.


55


56


THE SPIRITUALIST


MARCH 15, 1870.


FACTS FOR NON-SPIRITUALISTS.
THE phenomena seen at spiritual circles are
so extraordinary, and so unlike those coming
within the ordinary range of human experi-
ence, that it is quite right not to accept them
on the testimony of others. Each individual
should witness and test them personally, and
believe nothing until the absolute knowledge
is gained that denial is impossible.


EVIDENCE THAT SPIRITUALISM DESERVES INVES-
TIGATION.
The testimony of reliable and respectable wit-
nesses that the phenomena of Spiritualism are
actual facts, and not imposture or delusion, has of
late years so accumulated as to possess very great
weight. In the case of Lyon v. Home, Mr. Rober
Chambers, Mr. C. F. Varley, Dr. Gully, Mr. and
Mrs. S. C. Hall, and others, all made affidavits
strongly in favour of Mr. Home. The following
was the affidavit of Mr. C. F. Varley, C.E.,
F.R.G.S., M.R.I.:


“I, Cromwell Flestwood Varley, of Fleetwood House
Beckenham, in the County of Kent, Esquire, make oath
and say as follows: -
“I have been a student of electricity, chemistry, and
natural philosophy for twenty-six years, and a tele-
graphic engineer by profession for twenty-one years,
and I am the consulting electrician of the Atlantic Tele-
graph Company, and of the Electric aud International
Company.
“ About nine or ten years ago, having had my atten-
tion directed to the subject of Spiritualism by its spon-
taneous and unexpected development in my own family
in the form of clairvoyant visions and communications,
I determined to test the truth of the alleged physical
phenomena to the best of my ability, and to ascertain,
if possible, the nature of the force which produced them.
“Accordingly, about eight years ago, 1 called on Mr.
Home, the defendant in this suit, and stated that I had
not yet witnessed any of the physical phenomena, but
that I was a scientific man and wished to investigate
them carefully.
"He immediately gave me every facility for the pur-
pose, and desired me to satisfy myself in every possible
way, and I have been with him on divers occasions
when the phenomena have occurred. I have examined
and tested them with him and with others, under con-
ditions of my own choice, under a bright light, and have
made the most jealous and searching scrutiny. I have
been, since then, for seven months in America, where
the subject attracts great attention and study, and where
it is cultivated by some of the ablest men, and having
experimented with and compared the forces with elec-
tricity and magnetism, and after having applied me-
chanical and mental tests, I entertain no doubt whatever
that tho manifestations which I have myself examined
were not due to the operation of any of the recognised
physical laws of nature, and that there has been present
on the occasions above-mentioned some intelligence
other than that of the medium and observers.
"The subject of course offers many opportunities and
inducements for fraud, and I only speak of what I have
myself seen and tested. Since my acquaintance with
Mr. Home began I have pursued the enquiry, and I have
found engaged in it able, learned, and scientific men,
who are convinced as I am, that the physical manifesta-
tions are but the introduction to an extensive fleld of
mental and physical knowledge which will in a great
measure explain and reconcile the beliefs of all ages and
nations. I know of several instances both in Europe
and America in which this course of study has awak-
ened the perception of the purest and loftiest truths and
principles. There have been no doubt cases in which
the intellect has been too feeble for the stimulus, and
has been overpowered by it, just as frequently results
from excessive application to religion and other exciting
topics, but such cases have not come within my own
observation.
“Mr. Home, like several other non-professional me-
diums whose cases I have studied, was passive during
the occurrence of the manifestations. He, like the
other mediums, is extremely susceptible to external in-
fluences, and has a mind better suited to receive impres-
sions than to prosecute enquiries. I willingly testify m
entire conviction of his truthfulness and honesty.
"C. F. VARLEY."


very eminent American Spiritualist, who has also
written interesting books on the subject. Recently,
in England, Viscount Adare has written a book
bearing testimony to the truth of Spiritualism, and
it has a preface by Lord Dunraven. This book is
printed for private circulation only, which is an
error in judgment. Valuable evidence in favour
of Spiritualism is given by John Wesley and his
family; for spirit rapping and movements of
wooden materials by invisible agency occurred in
their own house. Documentary evidence of what
they witnessed was drawn up and signed on the
spot, and is published in Southey's Life of Wesley.
Signor G. Damiani, a Sicilian gentleman living
at Clifton, has written a pamphlet, still in print
in which he severely censures Professor Tyndall,
Mr. G. H. Lewes, and others like them, for refus-
ing to investigate the subject. He further offers a
reward of 1,000 guineas to any respectable, scien-
tific or educated men, who will investigate the
subject and prove it to be an imposture. The
following are his words:
“I now offer you two challenges.
“First, I challenge you, or either of you, or any of
the public who, like you, disbelieve in the genuine cha-
racter of spiritualistic phenomena, to deposit in the
hands of any well-known London banker whom you or
they may name, the sum of five hundred guineas; and
I pledge myself to immediately deposit in the same bank
a like amount,—the ownership of such sum of one thou-
sand guineas to depend upon my proving by evidence
sufficicut to establish any fact in history or in a criminal
or civil court of justice.
First—That intelligent communications and answers
to questions put, proceed from dead and inert matter in
a manner inexplicable by any generally recognised law
of nature.
"Secondly—That dead and inert matter does move
without the aid of any mechanical or known chemical
agency, and in deflance of all the admitted laws of gravi-
tation.
"Thirdly—That voices appertaining to no one in the
flesh are heard to speak aud hold rational converse with
men.
“A jury of twenty-four gentlemen, twelve to be chosen
by each party (such jury to consist exclusively of mem-
bers of the learned professions and literary men), to
decide whether or not the facts contained in the above
propositions are conclusively proved per testes—ie., by
witnesses of established character. A majority of
the twenty-four to decide. If the verdict be that these
facts have not been established, the thousand guineas
are to belong to the party accepting this challenge; if
the verdict be that these facts are established, the thou-
sand guineas to be mine.
“Secondly—Immediately after the above wager being
decided, either way, I offer a like challenge of five hun-
dred guineas (to be met on the other side in like manner
as above)—the ownership of the second sum of one
thousand guineas to depend upon the establishment of
the facts contained in the propositions already given, by
experiments conducted in the actual presence of the twenty-
four gentlemen who have decided the previous wager;
the verdict of the majority to decide in this case likewise
“In either case, the séances are to be conducted in an
public or private building which the jury may select,
and which may be available for the purpose.
“The result of these challenges (if accepted and de-
cided) to be advertised by the victorious party, at the
expense of the defeated party, in all the London daily
papers.
“I hope this is plain English
“Awaiting a reply to this letter, and to the challenge
with which it concludes, I am, gentlemen; your obedient
G. DAMIANI.
servant,
“Clifton, Oct. 1, 1868
“P.S.—Letters addressed “Sigr. Damiani, care of
Manager of West of England and South Wales Distrie
Bank, Corn-street, Bristol, will always reach the writer."
In addition to the above evidence, there is the
testimony of numbers that the modern spiritual
manifestations are realities. Mr. Hepworth Dixon
in his New America estimates the number of Spiri-
tualists in the United States at rather less than
three millions, and this is about the lowest estimate
that anybody has made. There are no accurate sta-
tistics, and different authorities vary in their esti-
mates from three to eleven millions.


on the plan proposed, and from this time an intelligent
system of communication is established
8. Afterwards the question should be put, “Are we
sitting in the right order to get the best manifestations?"
Probably some members of the eircle will then be tole
to change seats with each other, and the signals will be
afterwards strengthened. Next ask, “ Who is the
medium?"
When spirits come asserting themselves to
be related or known to anybody present, well-chosen
questions should be put to test the accuracy of the
statements, as spirits out of the body have all the virtue
and all the failings of spirits in the body.
Possibly at the first sitting of a circle symptoms
of other forms of mediumship than tilts or raps
maymake their appearance. Information respect-
ing the many kinds of mediumship will be found
in Mrs. Professor De Morgan’s book, From Matter
to Spirit, published by Longmans; and this is a
good book to read bcfore trying to start a new
circle.
There are in England several very interesting
circles for physical manifestations, where the
spirits speak with audible voices, but, unfortu-
nately, total darkness is a necessary condition
Non-spiritualists who are inquiring into the sub-
ject should have nothing to do with dark séances,
which should be held only by those who knov
each other, since they offer so many facilities for
fraud. When any circle regularly obtains power-
ful physical manifestations, they may desire to sit
for the voices. The very slightest glimmer of
light must be excluded from the room, while the
members of the circle sit round the table in the
ordinary way. One or two paper tubes, each
twelve or eighteen inches long, with an orifice
about an inch-and-a-half in diameter, should be
placed on the table. They may be readily made
by rolling up a piece of music and tying a fev
pieces of cotton round the rough tube thus formed.
In the early stages of a voice-circle these tubes
are necessary for the use of the spirits, but after-
wards they may be dispensed with except when
the weather and other conditions are unfavour-
able. When first trying to obtain the voices the
spirits may not be able to lift the tubes from the
table, afterwards they often get them up in the
air a foot or two and let them drop again. When
they get full control over them they can carry
them about up to the ceiling and to all parts of
the room, and they talk to the members of the
circle often while floating about above their heads.
Very beautiful luminous phenomena are some-
times shown by the spirits at dark circles. While
sitting for the voices, the spirits will tell by the
ordinary table signals how they are progressing in
their work of getting control of the tubes.


THE GOOD BUT NOT EXPENSIVE
CLOTHING ESTABLISHMENT.
T. EVERITT & SON,
26, PENTON-STREET, PENTONVILLE, N.,
DESIRE to call attention to their new and well-selected
stock of SPRING AND SUMMER FABRICS
Fancy Trousers from 14s. 6d.; Black Doeskins from
16s. 6d. (all wool); Frock or Dress Coat from from the
woaded fast-coloured cloth, £2 2s
Style, Fit, and Workmanship guaranteed


JOSEPH BARKER’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
Now ready, neatly bound in cloth, price 2s. 6d.
TEACHINGS OF EXPERIENCE; or,
Lessons I have Learned on my Way through
Life
London: JAMES BEVERIDGE, 9, 10, 11, Fullwood's-rents,
Holborn, W.C.


MR. J. L. OLIVE, Professor of Modern
Spiritual Science, 1, Gibson-place, Warrington
crescent, Maida Vale, W. Mr. Olive is prepared to afford
information relative to Spiritualism, the Development of
Mediumistic power, &c., with facilities for investigation
of Phenomena. Reliable advice based on large medical
experience, and aided by beneficent Spirit Intelligences
may also be obtained for the relief of ailments of Bod,
or Mind. Consultation Fee, One Shilling


On the first of every month
“THE TRUTHSEEKER, a Review
devoted to the advocacy of reverent free
thought in matters pertaining to Religion.” Edited by
the Rev. J. PAGE HOPPS. Price Threepence
London: Trübner and Co., 60, Paternoster-row. Man-
chester: Johnson and Rawson, and John Heywood; and
through all booksellers and agents


"THE NEWSPAPER PRESS"—THE PRESS ORGAN
HIS JOURNAL is the adopted and re-
cognised Representative of the Newspaper in
terests, and the medium of intercommunication between
Proprietors, Editors, Reporters, Correspondents, Pub-
lishers, Printers, and all parties associated with News-
papers.
Subscriptions, 4s. per annum, post free, payable in ad-
vance.
London: E. W. ALLEN, Publisher, 11, Ave Maria-lane.


FEMALE MEDICAL SOCIETY.
Vice-Patrons:
His Grace the Duke of Argyll, E.T
Her Grace the Duchess of Argyll.
The Baroness de Rothschild
The Countess de Noailles.


President
The Right Honourable the Earl of Shaftesbury, K.G.
Treasurer
Henry Charles Stephens, Esq., 171 Aldersgate-street, E.C:
Honorary Secretary
James Edmunds, Esq. M.D.
Lady Secretary
Mrs. Blangy.
Bankers
The London and County Bank, 441, Oxford-street.


The Female Medical Society is established for the
following objects: -
1.—To promote the employment of properly educated
women in the practice of Midwifery, and the treatment
of the Diseases of Women and Children
2.—To provide educated women with proper facilities
for learning the theory and practice of Midwifery, and
the accessory branches of Medical Science.
Midwifery and the aceessory branehes of medicine
offer a wide fleld of honourable and lucrative employ-
ment for educated women; also a means of intellectual
culture and social usefulness to ladies who may not be
dependent upon their own exertions. For want of
properly qualified ladies the best portion of the practice
of midwifery has drifted into the hands of gentlemen
though female practitioners still attend tho bulk of the
population. But any person may undertake the duties
of a midwife. Proper means of study have never been
provided for women, and there has never been an
public examination, by which women when well qualifled
might be distinguished from those who are illiterate and
unqualifled
The Society has carried on for five years the Ladies
Medical College, which has taught the theory and prac-
tico of Midwifery and the accessory branches of medi-
cine. Eighty-two ladies have alreadyavailed themselves
of its advantages, and many of these ladies are settled
in practice, and succeeding admirably.
A life subscription of ten guineas, or an annual sub-
scription of one guinea, constitutes a member of the
Society, but stamps or other small contributions will be
gladly received
Lady subscribers of not less than one guinea are
invited to visit any Lectures in which they are likely to
be interested.
The addresses of skilled Lady Midwives, Prospectures
of the College, and all particulars as to the operations of
the Society, may be obtained of the Lady Secretary
Temporary Offices—4 Fitzroy-square, W
Cheques to be crossed London and County Bank


It also came out in the evidence given at the
trial, that Mr. Home had been the invited and un-
paid guest of the Emperor and the Empress of the
French, the Emperor, Empress, and the late Em-
press Dowager of Russia, the Grand Duke Con-
stantine, the King of Prussia, the late King of
Bavaria, the late King of Wurtemburg, and the
Queen of Holland. Mr. Home says that all his
life he has never taken a farthing of pay for his
séances. In March, 1869, the Spiritual Magazine
gave the names of the following gentlemen as
those who have long becn investigating the sub-
ject: -
“Cromwell F. Varley, Esq., Fleetwood-house, Becken-
ham Alfred R. Wallace, Esq., 9, St. Mark's-crescent,
N.W.; Professor De Morgan, 91, Adelaide-road, N.W.;
Captain Drayson, R.A., Woolwich; Dr. J. M. Gully,
The Priory, Great Malvern: Dr. J. J. G. Wilkinson, 4
St. John’s-wood-villas, N.W.; Dr. Dixon, 8, Great Or-
mond-street, W.C.: S. C. Hall, Esq., 15, Ashley-place,
Victoria-street, S.W.; Newton Crosland, Esq.; William
Howitt, Esq., The Orchard, Hare-green, Esher, Surrey;
Robert Chambers, Esq., St. Andrew’s, Edinburgh; H.
D. Jencken, Esq., Kilinorey-house, Norwood; J. G.
Crawford, Esq., 52, Gloucester-crescent, N.W; W. M.
Wilkinson, Esq., Oakfleld, Kilburn; Lord Adare, 5
Buckingham-gate; The Master of Lindsay, Grosvenor-
square.
Mrs. De Morgan has written a book, entitled
From Matter to Spirit (Longmans), where she
gives many interesting particulars, the result of
ten years' experience in Spiritualism. Professor
De Morgan, President of the Mathematical Society
of London, in his preface to the book, says
“I am perfectly convinced that I have both seen and
heard, in a manner which should make unbelief impos-
sible, things called spiritual, which cannot be taken by
a rational being to be capable of explanation by impos-
ture, coincidence, or mistake. So far I feel the ground
firm under me.
Dr. Hooker, in his opening address, as President
of the British Association at Norwich in 1868
spoke very highly of the scientific attainments of
Mr. Alfred R. Wallace, F.L.S. Mr. Wallace is an
avowed Spiritualist. Professor Hare, of Phila-
delphia, the inventor of the Hare’s Galvanic Bat-
tery, once refused to witness spiritual phenomena,
alleging that Faraday's “unconscious muscular
action"” theory explained all the facts. A friend
wrote to him detailing things he had seen which
were inexplicable by that theory. Hare at once
like a sensible man, went to see for himself. The
result was that he came into communication with
some of his own departed relatives. He then
made mechanical telegraphic machines, which
were intelligently worked by spirits while the
apparatus was screened from the sight of the
medium, and he wrote a book recording all these
facts. That book is now in the British Museum
Library. Judge Edmonds, of New York, is another


HOW TO FORM SPIRIT CIRCLES
An experimental trial at home, among family
friends and relatives, often gives the most satis-
factory evidence of the reality of spiritual pheno-
mena. At the same time, as no fully developed
medium is present among those who have never
obtained manifestations before, the probability is
that there will be no results. Nevertheless, it is
a very common thing for striking manifestations
to be obtained in this way at the first sitting of a
family circle; perhaps for every one successful
new circle thus started without a medium, there
are six or seven failures, but no accurate statistics
on this point have yet been collected. When
once manifestations have been obtained they will
gradually increase in power and reliability at suc-
cessive sittings. The following is a good plan of
action: -
1. Let the room be of a comfortable temperature, but
cool rather than warm—let arrangements be made that
nobody shall enter it, and that there shall be no inter-
ruption for one hour during the sitting of the circle.
Wet, damp, and foggy weather is bad for the production
of physical phenomena.
2. Let the circle consist of four, five, or six individuals,
about the same number of each sex. Sit round an un-
covered wooden table, with all the palms of the hands
in contact with its top surface. Whether the hands
touch each other or not is usually of no importance.
Any table will do, just large enough to convenienty
accommodate the sitters. The removal of a hand from
the table for a few seconds does no harm, but when one
of the sitters breaks the circle by leaving the table it
sometimes, but not always, very considerably delays the
manifestations.
3. Before the sitting begins, place some pointed lead-
pencils and some sheets of clean writing paper on the
table, to write down any communications that may be
obtained.
4. People who do not like each other should not sit in
the same circle, for such a want of harmony tends to
prevent manifestations, except with well-developed
physical mediums; it is not yet known why. Belief or
unbelief has no influence on the manifestations, but an
acrid feeling against them is a weakening influence
5. Before the manifestations begin, it is well to engage
in general conversation or in singing, and it is best that
neither should be of a frivolous nature. A prayerful
earnest feeling among the members of the circle is likely,
to attract a higher and more pleasing class of spirits.
6. The first symptom of the invisible power at work is
often a feeling like a cool wind sweeping over the hands
The first manifestations will probably be table tiltings or
raps.
7. When motions of the table or sounds are produced
freely, to avoid confusion, let one person only speak
and talk to the table as to an intelligent being.
Let him tell the table that three tilts or raps mean
“Yes," one means “No," and two mean “Doubtful
and ask whether the arrangement is understood. I
three signals be given in answer, then say, “If I speak
the letters of the alphabet slowly, will you signal ever
time I come to the letter you want, aud spell us out a
message?" Should three signals be given, set to work


HUMAN NATURE, a Monthly Record
of Zoistic Science, Intelligence, and Popular
Anthropology. Recent numbers give full details of the
extraordinary Manifestations through the celebrated
Medium, D. D. Home, Esq., with philosophical reason
ings as to the nature and cause of the phenomena: a
new series of lessons on Phrenology and the Tempera-
ments is being given, containing some new instruction
of great value to the student; first-class Portraits of
eminent men and women, with Biographies and Phreno-
logical delineations are frequently introduced; a serial
Tale of great power and beauty; articles on Physiology
Diet, Temperance, and Health; translations from Con-
tinental Works and Periodicals; treatises on Mesmerism,
Clairvoyance, Spiritualism; reviews of Books; reports
of Lectures, Mectings, and Societics, renders this the
cheapest, most varied, and instructive Periodical of the
kind in the world. The fact that this Periodical is en-
tirely unbiased and devoted to the truth respecting all
the topics on which it treats, is a point not to be over
looked by all earnest investigators, whatever their
opinions may be. Post free, 7s. per annum, or 6d. per
month from the Booksellers. JAMES BURNS, Progres
sive Library, 15, Southampton-row, Bloomsbury-square
Holborn, London, W.C.


THE PROGRESSIVE LIBRARY and
SPIRITUALIST DEPOSITORY has been re-
moved from Camberwell to No. 15, Southampton-row,
Bloomsbury-square, Holborn, W.C
There is a Publishing Office and Shop for the sale of
Books; a Circulating Library of all Works on Spiritualism
&c.; a Reading-Room supplied with the Spiritual and
Progressive Publications of the World; a Drawing
Room for the special use of Ladies and Subscribers;
Private Rooms for Séances, Committees, Meetings, &c.
and whore all information respecting the Cause and the
Progress of events may be obtained.
The Subscription, entitling to all the privileges of the
Establishment, including the use of two Books at a
time from the Library for home perusal, is 21s.per annum
A well-assorted Stock of Stationery, Periodicals, cur-
rent Progressive Literature, Standard Works, Cheap
Books and Tracts, Planchettes, Materials for Writing
and Drawing Mediums; also Works and Appliances on
Phrenology, Physiology, Health, and Dietetic Reform
Temperance, Hydropathy, Gymnastics, Mesmerism
Clairvoyance, Anthropology, &c., will be kept on sale.
As the responsibilities incurred in establishing this
"Home for Spiritualism" and the Science of Man are
very heavy, the Proprietor earnestly solicits the kind
co-operation and support of all who sympathise with
the enterprisc. Strangers in London should at once
call at the Progressive Library, where they may hear of
Lodgings and get other useful information.
J. BURNS, Progressive Library, 15, Southampton-row,
Bloomsbury-square, Holborn, London, W.C.


THE SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE, pub-
lished Monthly, contains all the news of Spiri-
tualism, and psychological articles by writers of ability
Publisher, JAMES BURNS, 15, Southampton-row, Holborn
W.C.


THE BANNER OF LIGHT, the Chie
Weekly Newspaper on Spiritualism in the Unitec
States, may be ordered through Mr. JAMES BURNS, 15
Southampton-row, Holborn, W.C.


NO. 1 of THE SPIRITUALIST is from be-
ginning to end a compact mass of good evidence
that the facts of Spiritualism are true. It contains a
summary of the evidence given before the Dialectical
Society by twenty witnesses of eminenco and ability; it
also gives the testimony of respectable non-Spiritualists:
therefore it is a valuable publication to place in the
hands of non-Spiritualists, and should be selected for
that purposo rather than later numbers of the same
journal, as the later numbers will run out of print first
and should be ordered while they are still obtainable by
those who wish to preserve them for binding. A fev
copies of No. 1 should be kept on hand for the benefit of
non-Spiritualists, but later numbers should be retained in
the possession of the early friends of the movement
before they become scarce and unobtainable. Covers
with stringed backs, to keep copies clean till required
for binding, 2s. 6d. each.
London: E. W. ALLEN, Ave Maria-lane, E.C.; or J.
BURNS, 15, Southampton-row, Holborn, W.C.


The only Cheap Weekly Horticultural Journal
2d. Weekly; and in Monthly Parts, 10d
THE GARDENER'S MAGAZINE for
Amateur Cultivators, Collectors, and Exhibitors
of Plants, Flowers and Fruits, for Gentlemen's Gar-
deners, Florists, Nurscrymen, and Seedsmen; for Na-
turalists, Botanists, Bee-keepers, and Lovers of the
Country.
Conducted by SHIRLEY HIBBERD, Esq.,
F.R.H.S.
London: E. W. ALLEN, 11, Ave Maria-lane, E.C.
And by Order of all Booksellers and Newsageuts in
Townand Country


Contents.


Haudling of Red-hot Coals under Spirit Influence 43
REPORTS OF MEETINGS—The Royal Institution.—Max
Muller on the Science of Religion ....... 50
The Services at the Cavendish Rooms.—Speculations
about the Deity—The Doctrine of Eternal Pro-
gression — Spiritualism among the American
Indians - The Results of a Dream—Spiritualism
as defined by Mr. Peebles .. 51
Private Séances.—Mediumship in the Days of Moscs
—Curious Physical Manifestations—Voice Mani-
festations and their Production—Thought-Read-
ing—Manifestations at the Cavendish Rooms—A
“Dialectical” Medium ... 51
Spirit-seeing in Crystals ... 52
LEADER:—The Phenomenal Phase of Spiritualism 53
Spiritualism and Politics at Naples ... 53
Sir David Brewster and Spiritualism ... 55
POETRY:—Ours ... 54
CORRESPONDENCE:—The Bible-Spiritualism Contro
versy ... 54
BOOKNOTICES:—The Glowworm—The Food Journal 54
Mrs. Everitt's Mediumship 
... 54
PARAGRAPHS:—Sunday Services for Spiritualists, 52
A Musical Medium, 52; Spiritualism at the Anti-
podes, 55; Spiritualism at Halifax, 55
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS ... 55


Printed for the Proprietor by JAMES BEVERIDGE, at the
Holborn Printing Works, Fullwood's Rents, High
Holborn, in the Parish of St. Andrew-above-Bar and
St. George the Martyr, London, and published by E
W. ALLEN, Ave Maria-lane, London, E.C.


The Spiritualist.


A RECORD OE THE PROGRESS OF THE SCIENCE AND ETHICS OF SPIRITUALISM


SIR J. EMERSON TENNENT once wrote and invited
Faraday to be present at a séance, where Mr. Home
was the medium. Faraday wrote and demanded a pro-
gramme of what was to take place, and requiring Mr
Home, who had not communicated with him, to answer
several insulting questions. As it is well known that
nobody knows beforehand what manifestations, if any,
will take place at a séance, any more than the details of
an expected star-shower can be given in advance, this
demand, apart from the insults, amounted practically to
a refusal to investigate. What would Faraday have
thought had he invited Sir E. Tennent to witness some
new experiments, and in return been required to give a
written answer to the question— Would an insult to
Professor Faraday’s apparatus be considered as an insult
Here is the letter of Michael Faraday
to himself?”
which for the sake of his historical and psychological
reputation, we regret most sincerely was ever penned by
this great and good man
Folkestone, June 14, 1861
—I cannot help feeling that
MY DEAR SIR EMERSON
you are indiscreet in your desire to bring me into con-
tact with the occult phenomena which it is said are made
manifest in Mr. Home’s presence. I have investigated
such in former times, during some years, and as much
as I thought consistent with the self-respect that an
experimental philosopher owes to himself. It would be
a condescension on my part to pay any more attention
to them now; and I can only do so under the persua-
sion that all concerned wish to have the phenomena un-
ravelled and understood, and will do all they can to aid
in such a result. To settle whether I can go or not, I
wish to put to you the following points
1. Who wishes me to go?—to whose house ?—for
what purpose?
2. Does Mr. Home wish me to?
3. Is he willing to investigate as a philosopher, and
as much to have no concealments, no darkness, to be
open in communication, and to aid inquiry all he can?
4. Does he make himself responsible for the effects,
and identify himself more or less with their cause?
5. Would he be glad if their delusive character were
established and exposed, and would he gladly help to expose
it, or would he be annoyed and personally offended?
6. Does he considerthe effects natural or supernatural?
If natural, what are the laws which govern them? or
does he think they are not subject to laws? If super-
natural, does he suppose them to be miracles or the
work of spirits? If the work of spirits, would an in-
sult to the spirits be considered an insult to himself?
7. If the effects are miracles, or the work of spírits
does he admit the utterly contemptible character, both
of them and their results, up to the present time, in r-e
spect either of yielding imformation or instruction, or sun-
plying any force or action of the least value to mankind?
8. If they be natural effects without natural law, can
they be of any use or value to mankind?
9. If they be the glimpses of natural action not yet
reduced to law, ought it not to be the duty of every one
who has the least influence in such actions personally
to develop them, and aid others in their development by
the utmost openness and assistance, and by the applica-
tion of every critical method, either mental or exper-
mental, which the mind of man can devise ?*
I do not wish to give offence to any one, or to meddle
with this subject again. I lost much time about it
formerly, in hopes of developing some new force or
power; but found nothing worthy of attention. I can
only look at it now as a natural philosopher; and, be-
cause of the respect due to myself, will not enter upon
any further attention or investigation unless those who
profess to have a hold upon the effects agree to aid to
the uttermost. To this purpose they must consent (and
desire) to be as critical upon the matter and full of test
investigation in regard to the subject, as any natural
philosopher is in respect of the germs of his discoveries.
How could electricity, that universal spirit of matter,
ever have been developed in its relations to chemical
action, to magnetic action, to its application in the ex-
plosion of mines, the weaving of silk, the extension of
printing, the electro-telegraph, the illumination of
light-houses, &c., except by rigid investigation,
grounded on the strictest critical reasoning and the
* Most decidedly “ Yes," and this is why Faraday was asked to aid in.
doing so.— ED.


most exact and open experiment? and if these so-
called occult manifestations are not utterly worthles
they must and will pass through a like ordeal.
As I do not want to debate this matter with those who
have already made up their minds in a direction contrary
to my own, but (if I see sufficient reason) only to work
it out with such a desire to find incontrovertible proof
independent of opinion or assertion, so I wish you
would show this letter to Mr. Home, and those who
want me to meet him and them on his ground; after
which you will know whether you should persevere in
asking me.
You will understand that I decline to meet
any whose minds are not at liberty to investigate accord-
ing to the general principles I have here expressed
Further, I claim the right of publishing the whole
or any part of this letter, or any further written com-
munication that may arise out of it, in any manner
that I may think fit.—Ever, my dear Sir Emerson,
your very faithful servant,
M. FARADAY
You will see that I consent to all this with much
reserve, and only for your sake.—M. F.


SPIRIT-RAPPING IN JOHN WESLEY'S FAMILY
IN TEN PARTS.—PART TWO


THE first document which we reprint about the
physical manifestations which took place in John
Wesley’s family, is the diary written by his eldest
brother, Mr. Samuel Wesley. The disturbances took
place in his parsonage house at Epworth, Lincolnshire
in December and January, 1716. The following are
his words :-
“ From the first of December, my children and ser-
vants heard many strange noises, groans, knockings
&c., in every story, and most of the rooms of my house
But I hearing nothing of it myself, they would not tell
me for some time, because, according to the vulgar
opinion, if it boded any ill to me, I could not hear it.
When it increased, and the family could not easily con-
ceal it, they told me of it.
"My daughters, Susannah and Ann, were belov
stairs in the dining-room; and, heard, first at the
doors, then over their heads, and the night after, a
knocking under their feet, though nobody was in the
chambers or below them. The like they and my ser-
vants heard in both the kitchens, at the door against
the partition, and over them. The maid-servant heard
groans as of a dying man. My daughter Emilia, com-
ing downstairs to draw up the clock and lock-the door
at ten at night as usual, heard under the staircase a
sound among some bottles there, as if they had been
all dashed to pieces ; but when she looked, all was safe.
“Something like the steps of a man was heard going
up and downstairs, at all hours of the night, and vast
rumblings below stairs, and in the garrets. My man,
who lay in the garret, heard some one come slaring
through the garret to his chamber, rattling by his side,
as if against his shoes, though he had none there ; at
other times walking up and downstairs, when all the
house were in bed, and gobbling like a turkey-cock.
Noises were heard in the nursery, and all the other
chambers; knocking first at the feet of the bed and
behind it; and a sound like that of dancing in a
matted chamber, next the nursery, when the door was
locked, and nobody in it.
“ My wife would have persuaded them it was rats
within doors, and some unlucky people knocking with
out ; till at last we heard several loud knocks in our
own chamber, on my side of the bed; but till, I
think, the 21st at night, I heard nothing of it. That
night I was waked a little before one by nine distinct
very loud knocks, which seemed to be in the next room
to ours, with a sort of a pause at every third stroke.
thought it might be somebody without the house; and hav-
ing got a stout mastiff, hoped he would soon rid me of it
“ The next night I heard six knocks, but not so loud
as the former. I know not whether it was in the
morning after Sunday the 23rd, when about seven my
daughter Emily called her mother into the nursery, and
told her she might now hear the noises there. She went
in, and heard it at the bedstead, then under the bed,
then at the head of it. She knocked, and it answered
her. She looked under the bed, and thought something
ran from thence, but could not well tell of what shape
but thought it most like a badger.
“ The next night but one we were awaked about one


by the noises, which were so violent, it was in vain to
think of sleep while they continued. I rose, and my
wife would rise with me.
We went into every cham-
ber, and downstairs; and generally as we went into
one room we heard it in that behind us, though all the
family had been in bed several hours. When we were
going downstairs, and at the bottom of them, we heard
as Emily had done before, a clashing among the bottles
as if they had been all broke to pieces, and another
sound distinct from it, as if a peck of money had been
thrown down before us. The same, three of my daugh-
ters heard at another time.
“ We went through the hall into the kitchen, when
our mastiff came whining to us, as he did always after
the first night of its coming
; for then he barked vio-
lently at it, but was silent afterwards, and seemed more
afraid than any of the children. We still heard it
rattle and thunder in every room above or behind us
locked as well as open, except my study, where as yet
it never came. After two, we went to bed, and were
pretty quiet the rest of the night
“ Wednesday night, December 26, after or a little
before ten, my daughter Emilia heard the signal of it
beginning to play, with which she was perfectly ac-
quainted; it was like the strong winding-up of a jack.
She called us; and I went into the nursery, where it
used to be most violent. The rest of the children were
asleep. It began with knocking in the kitchen under-
neath, then seemed to be at the bed’s feet, then unde
the bed, at last at the head of it. I went downstairs,
and knocked with my stick against the joists of the
kitchen. It answered me as often and as loud as I
knocked; but then I knocked as I usually do at my
door, 1—2 3 4 5 6—7 ; but this puzzled it, and it did no
answer, or not in the same method ; though the chil-
dren heard it do the same exactly twice or thrice after
"I went upstairs, and found it still knocking hard
though with some respite, sometimes under the bed
sometimes at the bed’s head. I observed my children
that they were frighted in their sleep and trembled very
much till it waked them. I stayed there alone, bid
them go to sleep, and sat at the bed’s feet by them
when the noise began again. I asked it what it was
and why it disturbed innocent children, and did not
come to me in my study, if it had anything to say to
me. Soon after it gave one knock on the outside of the
house (all the rest were within), and knocked off for
that night.
"I went out of doors, sometimes alone, at others with
company, and walked round the house, but could see or
hear nothing. Several nights the latch of our lodging-
chamber would be lifted up very often, when all were
in bed. One night, when the noise was great in, the
kitchen, and on a deal partition, and the door in the
yard, the latch whereof was often lifted up, my daughter
Emilia went and held it fast on the inside ; but it was
still lifted up, and the door pushed violently against
her, though nothing was to be seen on the outside.
“ When we were at prayers, and came to the prayer
for King George and the Prince, it would make a great
noise over our heads constantly, whence some of the
family called it a Jacobite. I have been thrice pushed
by an invisible power, once against the corner of my
desk in the study, a second time against the door of the
matted chamber, a third time against, the right side of
the frame of my study door, as I was going in.
"I followed the noise into almost every room in the
house, both by day and by night, with lights and with
out, and have sat alone for some time, and when I
heard the noise, spoke to it to tell me what it was, but
never heard any articulate voice, and only once or twice
two or three feeble squeaks, a little louder than the
chirping of a bird; but not like the noise of rats, which
I have often heard.
“I had designed on Friday, December 28th, to make
a visit to a friend, Mr. Downs, at Normandy, and stay
some days with him ; but the noises were so boisterous
on Thursday night, that I did not care to leave my
family. So I went to Mr. Hoole, of Haxey, and desired
his company on Friday night. He came; and it begar
after ten, a little later than ordinary. The younger
children were gone to bed, the rest of the family and
Mr. Hoole were together in the matted chamber. I
sent the servants down to fetch in some fuel, went with
them, and staid in the kitchen till they came in. When
they were gone, I heard loud noises against the door


No. 2.—VOL. I.


FARADAY'S REFUSAL TO OBSERVE FACTS


LONDON: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1869


Published Fortnightly
Price Threepence


10


THE SPIRITUALIST.


DEC. 3, 1869.


and partition ; and at length the usual signal, though
somewhat after the time. I had never heard it before
but knew it by the description my daughter had given me.
It was much like the turning about of a windmill when
When the servants returned, I went
the wind changes.
up to the company, who had heard the other noises
below, but not the signal. We heard all the knocking
as usual, from one chamber to another, but at its going
off, like the rubbing of a beast against the wall. From
that time till January the 24th we were quiet.
“ Having received a letter from Samuel the day be-
fore relating to it, I read what I had written of it to me
family ; and this day at morning prayer the family
heard the usual knocks at the prayer for the king. At
night they were more distinct, both in the prayer for
the king, and that for the prince ; and one very loud
knock at the amen was heard by my wife, and most of
my children, at the inside of my bed. I heard nothing
myself. After nine, Robert Brown sitting alone by the
fire in the back kitchen, something came out of the
copper-hole like a rabbit, but less, and turned round
five times very swiftly. Its ears lay flat upon its neck,
and its little scut stood straight up. He ran after it
with the tongs in his hands; but when he could find
nothing, he was frighted, and went to the maid in the
parlour.
“ On Friday, the 25th, having prayers at church, I
shortened, as usual, those in the family at morning,
omitting the confession, absolution, and prayers for the
I observed, when this is done, there
king and prince.
is no knocking. I therefore used them one morning
for a trial ; at the name of king George it began to
knock, and did the same when I prayed for the prince.
Two knocks I heard, but took no notice after prayers
till after all who were in the room, ten persons besides
me, spoke of it, and said they heard it. No noise at
all the rest of the prayers
Sunday, January 27. Two soft strokes at the morn-
ing prayers for king George, above stairs.


Addenda.


“Friday, December 21. Knocking I heard first, I
think, this night; to which disturbances, I hope, God
will in His good time put an end.
“Sunday, December 23. Not much disturbed with
the noises, that are now grown customary to me.
“ Wednesday, Dccember 26. Sat up to hear noises.
Strange ! spoke to it, knocked off.
“ Friday 28. The noises very boisterous and dis-
turbing this night
“Saturday 29. Not frighted with the continued
disturbance of my family.
"Tuesday, Jauuary 1, 1717. My family have had
no disturbance since I went."


REICHENBACH AT A SPIRIT CIRCLE.


In the now work on Spiritualism, The Planchette, by
Epes Sargent, are the following statements about
Baron Reichenbach : - 
“ At first distrustful of the spiritual significance of
certain phenomena, Reichenbach, if we may believe
Mr. D. Hornung, of Berlin, now entertains views not
opposed to Spiritualism. While in London in 1861, at
the residence of Mr. Cowper, son-in-law of Lord
Palmerston, he attended a spiritual circle.
“'On that occasion, says Mr. Hornung, 'two
media, Mrs. Marshall and her niece, were present, who
did not understand a word of German. Reichenbach
therefore, after the rapping had commenced, put his
questions intentionally in German ; and they were
answered correctly by raps on the table, and he had the
names of several members of his family correctly given.
In regard to one name, however, he began to doubt the
capacity of the table to give it ; the name to be spelled
being “ Fredericke, while it spelled the letters 'R. I.'
But when the name 'RICKE' was completed, the
baron was much surprised, as his sister had been wont
to be called 'Ricke.'”
“ Now comes the most remarkable part of the per-
formance, and I give it in the Baron’s own words. He
says, 'The answers were rapped by the foot of the
table in a brightly lighted room. I wished to ascertain
whether the rapping could not be prevented, and for
this purpose I leaned with my breast against one of the
feet of the table, taking hold of two others with both
hands, and pressing them down. The rapping of the
feet ceased ; but the rapping continued above me, on
the top of the table. All at once, by a sudden jerk
the table dragged me forward, with the carpet on which
it stood; and I lay prostrate in the middle of the room.
“ This experiment convinced the baron that, besides
the emanation of the odie element, higher spiritual
powers can manifest themselves; and these he now no
longer ignores, but recognizes them as facts of
experience, for which, however, be as yet knows no
explanation. He regards the great influences of od
upon the human spirit’ as the mere “physical side of
the matter,'— 'the roots by which it adheres firmly to
the ground;’ and he is thankful to see the day when all
his former discoveries show themselves as the portal
through which it is possible for him “to go forward into
the spiritual department.””


Reports of Meetings.


EAST LONDON ASSOCIATION OF SPIRITUALISTS.


ON Tuesday evening, Nov. 16th, Mr. John Jones, of Enmore-
park, South Norwood, gave a lecture in connection with the
East London Association of Spiritualists, at the Stepney
Temperance Hall, Mile-end-road, E. It was the same lecture
as the one given in Clerkenwell, and reported in the last
number of THE SPIRITUALIST, but he stated a few additional
facts. He said that once in his own family, he had had a
prescription written out by spirit agency, which prescription
was taken to a chemist, who pronounced it to be all right
and made it up for the invalid accordingly. He stated as
a curious fact, that neither Mr. nor Mrs. S. C. Hall could
singly get spirit writing by the aid of the planchette, but
when the former placed his hand over that of Mrs. S. C.
Hall, the most exalted sentences were written out. The Bib-
lical narrative that an angel opened the doors of the prison
where Peter lay, showed that in ancient times the spirits could
He knew of a case where the spirits
move solid objccts.
had predicted beforehand the time and the details of a certain
event, and the prophesy proved true.
There was a large attendance at this lecture, numbers
being unable to obtain admission.
Mr. JAMES BURNS gave a lecture at the same place or
Thursday, Nov. 25. the subject being “The Evidences of
Spiritualism"
Mr. S. E. Goss lectured last Tuesday at a meeting of the
Association, on "The Harmonial Philosophy of Spiritualism."
In highly poetical phraseology, he described some of
the teachings of a large section of the American Spi-
ritualists, headed by Andrew Jackson Davis. The sub-
stance of the lecture was to the effect that Spiritualisn
tcaches that it is a duty in every way to perfect the body
mind, and reasoning faculties, and to remove all obstacles to
such development. He said that one great obstacle is the
accumulation by unjust laws of the wealth produced by
labour, into the hands of those who labour not, so that the
great bulk of the population live on earth in never-ending toil
and suffering, while others live in idleness and selfishness
upon the wealth produced by their labour. These privations
have the effect also of causing the industrious classes to prey
upon each other. This philosophy teaches man to remove
such evils and to perfect his body ; also it teaches him to per-
fect his mind, more especially the reasoning faculties. It is a
deadly foe to priestcraft of every kind—to men who employ
reason to teach their followers that reason may not be trusted.
His own preacher was reason, the flower of the spirit, and his
temple the wide universe on which God has written His
eternal laws. He said that the great reformers of all ages
always met with opposition from those who had the bulk of
the people under control, and use them to serve their own ends.
The Preacher of the Sermon on the Mount was crucified be¬
cause His doctrines were anti-Moses ; Martin Luther was pro-
nounced anti-Christ because he helped to free people some
what from the power of the Roman Catholic Church, and
similar denunciations were hurled by all sectarians at geology
and astronomy, because they found no place in the universe
for a hell of fire and brimstone, and proved that the world
turned round, also that it was but one little world out of
Sectarianism, he said, teaches eternal
millions of others.
punishment, which Spiritualism does not. Sectarianism
teaches that wars come from God, whilst Spiritualism teaches
that they came from man’s bad education and misdirection.
Spiritualism teaches also that man and woman are equal, and
that the one is at present unjustly placed in a worse position
on earth than the other. Sectarianism hates philosophy and
science, whilst Spiritualism receives these noble gifts of intelli-
gence with open arms. Spirits in prison are those who dare
not think for themselves, and who are kept in subjection by a
gloomy fear of the death, and of the world beyond. Spirit-
ualism removes all this, and proves that the art of commui-
cating with the higher world has not been lost, although penal
laws werc passed in the early days of English history, to kill
out such communication on the part of the general public
In the course of the lecture the words “electricity” and
"magnetism” were often misapplied to unknown spiritual
forces.
Mr. W. CRESSWELL proposed a vote of thanks to the lecturer
and added that Spiritualism was gaining ground in East
London, in evidence of which a quiet peaceable evening had
just been passed, whereas a few years ago they were mobbed
and interrupted at such gatherings. He said that the St.
John’s Association of Spiritualists was an offshoot from the
East London Association.
Mr. LAMBERT seconded the vote of thanks, and the pro-
ceedings closed.


THE DIALECTICAL SOCIETY.


AT a recent meeting of the Dialectical Society, Mr. Holy-
oake was present, and made a long speech attacking Spiritual
phenomena, which speech is published in the Spiritual Maga-
zine of last Tuesday. At the next meeting a gentleman
made a speech in reply, and he has sent us the following cor
of it, accompanied by the request that the initials of his name
only be attached thereto : -
Mr. J. S. B., a member, said—“ One would have thought the
histories of some of the greatest of modern discoveries would
have prevented a man like Mr. Holyoake from casting a slur
on a subject because 'it had not arrived at either dignity or
decency in its procedure, nor certitude in its results.' I have
a story to tell of a discovery which at its birth was, to use Mr.
Holyoake’s own words, undignified, indecent and uncertain, yet
which has proved to be one of the greatest blessings of modern
An old woman sat cooking her husband’s dinner, it
days.
consisted of dead frogs’ hind legs, a pair of these legs jumped
she told her husband, but he, unbeliever as he was, tried his
own conditions, put the legs in a plate, watched for hours and
never got a single jump. Weary of this and hearing that with
more willing inquirers his wife was more successful, he gave
in, and after several watchings, at the kitchen dresser
midst knives and spoons, he succecded in seeing a jump,
with a lot of witnesses. He goes before a society (I forget it
name, we’ll call it the Old Dialectical), and is there told by
a Mr. Holyoake sen., that his wife and his maid’s mental capa-
cities and attainments must first be ascertained before their
evidence can be taken, and as for himself he must be mooney-
minded, otherwise how could he believe that a dead frog’s legs
could move when dead legs never moved before ? He asks for
investigation and is told by the same Mr. H. that he must
accept certain conditions, and adds Mr. H. 'I have been pre-
sent at some of these experiments and I saw how it was done,
the frog was touched—I mean shoved—with a steel knife. Sir,


your phenomena have not atfained either dignity or decency in
their procedure or any certitude in their results, but if you wil
have it then you must accept my conditions ; I will not enter
your kitchen, I have been there three times, and have seen
nothing; a scientific man, sure of his results, would give me
light ; here, sir, under this gaslight’s glare I place a plate, no
spoons, no knives : I will not have your frogs— I have one
that has been dead six wecks, try him; or stay, I'II tell you
what will satisfy me—if by your process, or any other, I care
not what it is, you do what I wish, you make a dead man
walk, you make my grandmother comc in here then—I don’t
say I’ll believe you, but I’Il pay you very proper respect. But
really, sir, it is impossible to look at those remnants of zoology
that old woman, and that dead frog, and believe that they
are heralds of a new blessing to man : there never were two
more unlikely philosophers than your wife and the hind legs
of a frog. To tell you the truth I am unfriendly to the entire
theory that dead legs might possibly be made to move by a
new dodge : the dead are better where they are, and it would
hurt me to think that my legs might some day be made to
dance a horizontal jig to the tunc of some beery student.'
What would Galvani have said to Mr. Holyoake?
Poor
Galvani ! Not having yet discovered the exact conditions,
but feeling sure he was dealing with a new force, to have such
arguments hurled at his head, and then upon asking for
further investigation, to be told by a rising, perhaps riser
engineer, of the Quelchian school, 'Have we not something
better to occupy ourselves with? The jumping of kettle-lids,
the rubbing of amber, the flying of kites, the idiotic uncertain
movements of frog’s hind quarters, are nice amusements for
women and children ; but we who have humanity’s welfare at
heart have better and more practical things to study; take
for example the means of transporting our bodies more
rapidly, and our thoughts and wishes less tardily than by a
stage-coach.' Now all that has been said against an inquiry
into any phenomena, even those called spiritual, has in effect
been said against every discovery, and these discoveries
obtained and mastered, not by dint of dialcetic argument, but
by careful and constant observation, have given their oppo-
nents the lie. The undignified, indecent, uncertain frog phe-
nomenon, heralded in by very unlikely philosophers, has given
us the greatest of modern marvels, the galvanic battery, and
hence the electric telegraph. Having said as much in Mr
Holyoake’s own language, let us be serious, and see whether
his suggestions are worth any more than his observations.
To teach, one should at least know the lesson oneself, but in
pretending to give laws for investigating unknown phe-
nomena, Mr. Holyoake has shown his utter ignorance
of any scientific investigation. There can be no laws,
the process is a tentative one. Taking as an example the
frog’s legs, not knowing what produced the movement, we
should have to wait patiently till constant experiments and
good luck gave us an opportunity of seeing the movement, we
should then, if we conformed to every possible condition, aye,
even the position of a spoon, perhaps get another movement
and then by repeated trials we might—there is no certainty
in it—have the good fortune to hit upon the cause. Every
scientific man has some story to tell how by accident he hit
upon the cause of a phenomenon that had been bothering him
for years. And this I take it, is what the sub-committee
should do; obey every condition, no matter what, get the
phenomena at any price, and by tentative processes—argu-
ments are useless—they may arrive at something, they may
possibly arrive at what produces them, or at any rate what
conduces to their production. And here I will remind you of
what you have heard before i.e., the way in which Mr. Varley
(a strictly scientific man) made one of his experiments with
reference to this subject. A gentleman, a Mr. Pears, made at
the last meeting the unwarranted statement that Mr. Varley
had not tested the phenomena scientifically, and absurdly
wished to know whether he had tried them in the samc way
he would electricity ! Mr. Varley’s experiment was this. At
a séance one of his coat tails happened to move ; he won-
dered whether the other would move, at that moment it did
so. This looked like coincidence ; he tested for it by thinking
of his collar-flaps—first one side, then the other, then both.
and so dodging about till he was satisfied that it was no
coincidence, but that in reality his mind had something to do
with the phenomenon, and conscquently that intelligence was
an element in the conditions. And here I must pause, for this
is very important ; for if the mind has something to do with
the phenomena, the state of the mind may have also something
to do with them, consequently it is not so very unreasonable
to be told that your mind must not be in too actively oppos-
ing a state. Imagine a man disbelieving the possibility of
getting communications from his brother by telegraph across
the Atlantic, going to the instrument room at Valentia with
a magnet in his pocket, and saying to the electrician, 'Now
then, if there is anything in it, ask my brother to tell you
what his wife’s name is.' The message is sent, and instead of
an answer, the instrument is out of range. The electrician
declares therc is somcthing wrong in the conditions, he can’t
tell what, to the intense delight of the sceptic. At last he
asks, 'Have you a magnet about you?' 'What has that todo
with you? I've come to test, not to be examined. Well, I’II
tell you I have a magnet.' 'Then I can’t get an answer. Will
you please to put an armature on?' 'Not I; I want an answer
and you can’t give it me ; you say the magnet interferes. I
tell you I can’t see what my magnet can have to do with my
brother in New York, especially as it is in a brass box, so you
must be a humbug.'* No sooner is the sceptic out of the room
than the answer begins to come, he is shouted after, and told
that it is coming; but he only waits to say, 'Of course it does
when my back is turned,’ and goes away as ignorant as he
was before, whilc a compliance with the conditions, a mere
putting on of the armature, would have shown him what he
professed he wished to see. This example speaks, I think, for
itself. Then, as to taking evidence, I would say to the sub-
committees, no matter how Mr. Holyoake or anybody else may
laugh, proceed with your examinations. Mental attainments
have nothing to do with the observation of facts ; Mr. Holy-
oake says so himself. He says jugglers do not like children,
not on account of their mental capacities, but their power of
observing facts. If a sailor were to tell a naturalist of a new
fact—that he had seen a fish fly, he had seen it hundreds of
times, but could not believe it till he caught the fish in the
act—what would you think of your philosopher, if he told
you that he would not listen to the man because his
mental attainments were below par, and because he was
unacquainted with the breathing apparatus of the fish.
Facts remain facts whether they are comprehensible or not
and what in the name of wisdom is there that is comprehensible


* Messages by the Atlantic Telegraph are read off by means of Professor
Sir William Thomson’s reflecting galvanometer, an instrument so sensitive
that a strong magnet in the room will disturb its indications.—ED.


Dec. 3, 1869.


THE SPIRITUALIST.


11


ON Tuesday evening, November 23rd, the Rev. W. Brock,
D.D., lectured at Mr. Spurgeon's Tabernacle upon "the
Witchcraft of the Seventeenth Century." Mr. Charles Gilpin,
M.P., presided. About five hundred persons were present.
Mr. Charlesworth began the proceedings with prayer, after
which
Mr. CHARLES GILPIN, M.P., said that he knew nothing
about witchcraft, so would leave that subject to the lecturer.
The proceeds of the lecture were to go to the support of the
Stockwell Orphan Home, founded by Mr. Spurgeon, This
Home now contains 110 boys, by Christmas the number will
probably be 150, and before long 250 are expected to be
within its walls. It is a good institution, and he hoped soon
to see a similar one established for girls. Although he knew
nothing about witchcraft, he would, before sitting down, nar-
rate a supernatural adventure which once befell George Fox.
George Fox was once travelling, leather breeches and all
through a rural district, and stopped at a country inn where
he wanted to rest for the night, but was told that all the beds
were taken, and that there was no room for travelling
preachers. After some parley with the landlady, she told him
that he might have the “haunted room” if he liked, as
nobody else would sleep in it. “Give me a dry bed,” said the
sturdy Quaker, “and I’ll take my chance of everything else."
When in bed he soon went to sleep, but was awakcned by a
deep-toned voice saying to him, “Thou art of the devil."
Friend George looked round, but could see nothing, and he
replied, “Thou art a liar, for I feel that within me at this
moment which tells me that I am out of the power of the
devil.” Next day an ostler confessed that in order to get a
good bed himself, he had been in the habit of haunting the
room given to George Fox.
Mr. W. BROCK, D.D., a Baptist minister, said that he be-
lieved in evil spirits, because the Scriptures state that there
are such beings, not as a figure of speech, but as a statement
of fact. The Bible also says expressly that there are such
persons as wizards and witches, most of whom seem to have
been individuals who pretended to possess supernatural powers.
Whether they really possessed such powers or not, he could
not say; in the case of the witch of Endor, it may be that
God permitted the spirit to appear while the necromancer
was at work. The witchcraft of the seventeenth century in
England was a very different thing, and its history is little
else than a narrative of cruelty and fraud. King James I,
wrote a book on the subject, recommending that witches
should be seized at once, and put to death. The suspected
persons were believed to have sold their souls to the devil, in
return for which he gave them the power to sink ships, raise
storms, and to cause men and animals to fall sick; the witches
were mostly old women. One of the bishops declared before
the monarch that he had seen people rotting away because of
the mutterings of one particular witch. Statesmen, judges,
and learned men were in that age firm believers in witchcraft,
and a race of witchfinders quickly sprung up. The chief
witchfinder was an impudent scoundrel of the name of
Matthew Hopkins, who called himself “ Witchfinder General,”
and undertook to pick out witches anywhere for a moderate
fee. He travelled in state with a large retinue of servants
he was paid for every witch he found, and sometimes he would
contract to do a whole town for a certain sum. (Laughter.)
He was officially employed by the British Parliament
(Laughter.) When he reached a town, his plan of action was
to ask if any persons were suspected. The reply of course
being “yes," he then ordered the suspected persons to be
brought before him, and he told them that about their persons
he had no doubt that he should find warts or moles, or some
other symptoms of their being witches. When these signs of
guilt were discovered about an old woman, further proof was
sought ; she was made to sit tied to a stool in the middle of
a room, for twenty-four hours at least, without food, during
which time it was supposed that her imps would come to see
lier, and be detected by Hopkins. Hopkins not only said
that he saw them, but he had the impudence to make rough
drawings of them, and to write their names beneath. If he
did not see imps, she was made to run up and down the roon
till she was ready to die with fatigue, Hopkins all the time
uttering adjurations such as, “ Oh, my darling Firebrand,
shall find it out at last.” Then came the water trial, the mob
with Hopkins at their head carrying the victim, who was tied
round the middle with a rope, and thrown into the river. If
she was guilty she floated, and if innocent she sank. King
James wrote learnedly on the efficacy of this test. He said
that by making a league with the devil she had rejected the
water of her baptism, so that when she is thrown into the
river, the water, if she be guilty, in its turn rejects her
Hopkins could always get a verdict of guilty when he wanted.
There were several other witchfinders, and one in the North
of England effected the conviction of 250 witches, at £3 each
The lecturer then narrated many horrible examples of persons,
principally women, who, on the worst of evidence, lost their
lives for witchcraft. Most of them were hanged, but a fey
were burnt. Jane Brooks and others were hanged at Hun-
tingdon on a charge of making a wax figure of young
Throgmorton, sticking it full of pins, and melting it before a
fire ; the consequence was that “young Throgmorton ” pined
away till the necromancers were hanged, and the proceeds of
the sale of their property handed over to the parson at Hun-
tingdon, on condition that he should preach a sermon against
witchcraft once a year for ever. The lecturer also narrated
analogous cases, which were tried at Castle Carey, Lowestoft,
and Taunton. He stated that within the limit of a very few
years 3,192 persons were put to death for witchcraft in England.


THE following is a leading article from the Daily News of
Friday last: -
“We published the other day a letter from a correspondent
respecting an advertisement for haunted-houses, which was
understood to have been connected with investigations con-
cerning spirit-rapping. Since then we have been favoured
with the sight of a new organ, established to spread the
doctrines of the believers in ghosts. The fact is that for the
last few years — for the last three years especially
Spiri-
tualism, or, as we should prefer to call it, Spiritism, has been
gaining considerable ground in London. It was first taker
up as a fashionable excitement by ladies of the Mrs. Leo
Hunter type. These good matrons, having their Wednesdays
or their Fridays with tea and foreign lions, were suddenly
made acquainted with the methods of conversing with de-
parted friends. They attended a few séances at the houses of
professional mediums, and were more than satisfied with what
they saw and heard. From that time forward they devoted
themselves and their guests to the invocation of what Johnson
termed shadowy beings. A sort of rivalry was got up amongst
them on the score of the character of the demonstrations. To
secure a good medium was the first object. This medium was
supposed to act as a sort of decoy duck ; he or she did nothing,
and yet it was according to the powers of attraction resident
in the lady or gentleman that the chairs and the tables became
audible in their revelations. Hence a new branch of busines
arose. Mediums were imported from America, and our own
city of course soon began to furnish persons of the same
quality. The market, however, has not yet been overcrowded
for we read, in the journal before us 'that good physical media
are much wanted in Glasgow.' By good 'physical media’  is
understood persons in whose vicinity the spirits are numerous,
communicative, many-sided, and brisk. Your inferior five
shilling medium has only a limited stock of 'phenomena' at
his back. The ghosts may rap for him, may even trace lines
upon his bare arm, and jog the dining-table a little, but that
is the most you can expect, whereas the good physical media
(such as are now required for the Scotch in Glasgow) can send
the upholstery into fits, and in a dark room cause the spirits
to manifest themselves by thumping some of the company or
the head.
“It will startle our readers to learn that there are nearly four
millions of believers in this creed in America, for those who
imagine the vain things of this gross superstition, are already
claiming for it a precedence of Christianity. The paper from
which we derive our information contains messages of spirit
doctrine, not only shocking to religious feeling,* but revolting
to common sense. These revelations took place under the
auspices of a decidedly superlative medium; and we hear of
a table defining the attributes of the Almighty ('at each
letter of the name of God a tremulous motion of the table
was perceptible ’), followed by a tune on the accordion, the
joint production of the medium and a spirit. The recorder of
these marvels thinks it necessary to state, 'We were all per-
fectly sober ; and so rigid was he in his determination to
remain in a clear state of mind throughout the evening, that
he refused a cup of coffee, which suggests that he entertained
an unworthy suspicion of his host. It should be known that
there are several places of meeting now established by the
spiritists in the metropolis. It is from these that the media
are taken, who afterwards perform before the aristocracy
For instance, there is the 'St. John’s Association of Spi-
ritualists.' Here a lecture was delivered on the 4th of
November by a gentleman who was sadly serious in his folly.
He has lost a number of children by death, and he seeks
his consolation in this grotesque nonsense. It is very pain-
ful to read such a lecture, and note the misdirected earnest-
ness, and the dogged obstinate sincerity leading to the lowest
depths of credulity.
“We might fairly ask the few gentlemen of talent whose
names are used as baits to catch disciples for Spiritism, to
take a serious view of the situation. Spiritism throws weak
souls into a desolate confusion, from which there is no
relief, but in constant draughts from the same treacherous
cup, to keep up the intoxication of fancy to which the whole
mind is abandoned. It may not effect all this amongst
students of psychology, who are never happier than when
examining morbid human pathology, with a cruel craving
for another intellectual sensation; but they should have
mercy on their weaker brethren.† As for the fashion of
wealthy people hiring mediums, at the least it is a mis-
chievous form of amusement, and tends to promote an ad-
ditional kind of imposture. If they choose to make fools 
themselves and others, while encouraging a fresh race of
rogues, they must do so, but they might certainly be better
occupied than in sanctioning a degrading superstition.


WHAT THE '"NORTH LONDONER" THINKS.—The North
Londoner newspaper often has some sagaciously-worded para-
graphs. Here is one which reads so as to be satisfactory both
to Spiritualists and to non-Spiritualists:— "We recently re-
ferred to the wide diffusion of Spiritualism in the United
States, and to-day we reprint from the current number of the


* 1. This Daily News article contains several statements direetly untrue.
2. It defames the characters of many honest people. 3. It misleads and
misinforms the numerous readers it professes to guide. Therefore, it is o
great advantage to the publie to be as free as possible from those “ religious
feelings" (whatever they may be), which are exemplified by the acts of the
writer thereof.—ED.
† On page 14 will be found some of the poetical ravings of one of the
media, suffering from the dreadful diseases described by this veracious
writer. Such ravings, either in poetry or prose, are common enough now
among tranee media in London, but, unfortunately, they are not recorded
because the world, misled by false teaehers, knows and cares nothing of
the boon placed within its reach.—Eb.


Spiritual Magazine an extraordinary narrative by Mr. S. C.
Hall, the well-known editor of the Art Journal, which afford as
remarkable illustration of the existence of the same faith among
ourselves. Of the sincerity of Mr. and Mrs. Hall there can be
no doubt. Their frank and courageous evidence in a matter
wherein laughter and contempt are their certain portion, can-
not fail to command the respect of thoughtful and generous
minds, even should it be held that they are under a lamentable
delusion. Spiritualism has been exposed and exploded over
and over again, but it is certainly odd that those who profess
to have enjoyed an actual acquaintance with the supernatural
phenomena are never known to retract, or have their eyes
opened to the imposture."
MR. PEPPER'S LAST GHOST.—A few days ago Mr. (com-
monly known as “ Professor”) Pepper, F.C.S., introduced a
new ghost at the Polytechnic, in an entertainment called the
“Mysteries of Udolpho.” It consisted of a gigantic skeleton
which was made to execute a comic dance to the tolling of a
bell ; such an outrage on good taste caused a violent com-
motion among the spectators, and a great deal of hissing.
The skeleton will not appear for the future
CURIOUS SUSPENSION OF SPEECH.—A contemporary says
that it is not often, in these prosaic and sceptical times, that
a miracle comes formally attested by an official Government
report, to be duly included in a Government Blue Book. But
the Governor of Aldershot has reported that a prisoner who
being lately checked on drill by one of the warders, wished
with a blasphemous oath that the warder “ might be struck
dumb,” was himself “struck dumb on the spot,” all which
may be found solemnly recorded in the recent report on mili-
tary prisons of Captain Du Cane, Inspector-General. Captain
Du Cane informs us that the man remained dumb for seven
days, and was very much frightened. On recovering his
speech it appears that he made great promises of amendment;
but we regret to add that he is reported to have been “soon
in prison again."
PLASTICITY OF THE MIND.—When children are young
their bones are in a somewhat gelatinous state, and can then
be bent to some extent in the living body into unnatural
forms. The analogy holds good with respect to the mind
which may be unnaturally warped by parents who press their
helpless children into particular grooves of foolish thought.
In this way superstitions descend from generation to genera-
tion, just as some tribes of American savages, age after age,
flatten out the skulls of their children when young by long
pressure between two boards.
THE EFFECTS OF MEDIUMSHIP.—The following remarks
are extracted from a speech made in London by Mrs. Har-
dinge :—Some sixteen or seventeen years ago a young girl,
studying for a profession which necessitated the use of the
voice, found herself afflicted with a disease of the throat and
lungs which threatened serious consequences. As the whole
of her life depended upon the maintenance of the voice, it
was necessary that stringent measures should be made for her
relief. A celebrated physician operated upon her, but without
much effect. A second, third, fourth, and fifth operation was
performed. Assumed to be on the verge of incurable con-
sumption, she proceeded to America. The disease followed
her, till at last she found her voice was quite gone as far as
music was concerned— a victim to injudicious operations
Finding herself in a foreign land, with the staff upon which
she leaned broken, she visited a clairvoyant, who declared that
spirits would restore her voice. She was at that time a
spiritual medium, having become acquainted with Spiritualism
a short time previously. Six weeks after the dictum of the
spirits, she stood before 2,000 persons and spoke for a length-
ened time. For fourteen years she has sustained similar
addresses six times a week, speaking to audiences of between
700 and 2,000 persons without difficulty.
"That illustration,"
Mrs. Hardinge said, “stands before you.” This, she said, was
a case showing the beneficence of spirits in opposition to the
assertions of the dangers of Spiritualism.—Daybreak.
"ASSUMPTIONS.”—The Cardiff Times, the chief and best
weekly newspaper in Wales, calls “facts ” testified to by
numerous witnesses “assumptions,” as will be seen by the
following paragraph which it published last Saturday about
this joumnal:—“ THE SPIRITUALIST is the title of a new
fortnightly journal, which has been commenced as a 're-
cord of the progress of the science and ethics of Spiritual-
ism.'
Hitherto “Spiritualism’ has been represented by
three monthly periodicals of rather limited circulation, but
this new venture partakes of the character of a newspaper.
It contains reports of public meetings and assemblies con-
nected with Spiritualism, and also papers by persons of more
or less scientific celebrity on the same subject, while about
a fourth of the paper is devoted to 'facts for non-Spiritualists.'
The style in which the new journal is got up is highly credit-
able to its promoters, and believers in Spiritualism will be
able to say the same of the literary ability displayed in the
composition of its contents. Our estimate of the facts and
arguments, adduced by the several writers, is best stated by
the expressive term 'bosh.' We, however, can commend the
journal both to those who desire to know the assumptions which
a belief in Spiritualism leads to, and to those who may be
interested in a collection of curious statements."


THE SPIRITUALIST.—During the last fortnight a stead
and continued sale of the first number of THE SPIRITUALIST
has taken place. It has sold well in London, and to a limited
extent in the country, but the present demand comes chiefly
from the provinces. The possible future of this journal may
be divided into three heads.—1. It may sell well enough to be
published weekly at an early date. 2. There may be a small
loss upon its publication. 3. It may be a failure.—The sale of
the first number, and the favourable comments in letters
received, give plenty of evidence that the third possibility is
not likely to prove a fact, nor, from the present dimensions of
the spiritual movement, is the first possibility likely to be
realised as yet. Should the second one prove true, we have
been thinking that it would be a good plan to bring out the
paper monthly for a time, but not on the first day of the
month, as that would be underselling our contemporaries
which we should not like to do. With this journal published
in the middle of each month, and the others at the beginning,
there would be a fortnightly supply of news. The three
periodicals could then quictly gather strength while the move
ment grows ; and as soon as the ground will bear it, this
journal will fulfil its chief object, and come out weekly. This
idea requires consideration, and the best plan of action will
be more clearly seen after five or six numbers of THE SPIRIT-
UALIST have been published. Already it has found its way,
more or less, into nearly all the chief towns and counties in
the three kingdoms; and we printed off an extra supply of
the first number, copies of which were posted to five hundred
of the most eminent men of science in Great Britain.


to the most scientific, the most highly cultivated? One more
point and I have done. Mr. Holyoake’s logic is at fault. In
what people choose to call the natural, a scientific man will
tell you and tell you truly, given precisely the same conditions
precisely the same results will follow; if then you find
that the same conditions give different results or do not pro-
duce the same results, then either your phenomena are not
natural, or your conditions simply conduce to the production of
the phenomena, another necessary element being an independ-
ent intelligence or what Mr. Holyoake would call supernatural.
Thus his very slur 'uncertain’ is the best argument he could
use to prove that provided the phenomena occur at all, they
are not bound by mere material conditions and are in reality
—according to his views—supernatural. It is useless fighting
against facts, it is useless to dislike them, and we must take
the world as it is and not think we can fight with destiny by
hiding our heads, like the silly ostrich, in the sand. If such
things be, let us hear them, let us seek for them. Knowledge
is power, and may help us, and it can be but blind prejudice
and ignorance that cry out to wisdom 'What have we to do
with thee, hast thou come hither to torment us before the
time?'"


alone, and that one of these executions took place as late as
the year 1786. He said that in many English agricultural
districts the belief in witchcraft and the “evil eye” is still
prevalent, for he knew places in Devonshire where it still
lingers. When juries began to give damages against witch
finders who were prosecuted in their turn, the gentry rapidly
grew scarce, and Mr. Matthew Hopkins was himself at last
seized by an angry mob, and drowned in the dirty water of a
pond at Manningtree—the water did not reject him. In these
days, said Mr. Brock, his hearers need not fear wizards
witches, conjurors, nor the greatest rogues, impostors, and
mountebanks of all, namely—the Spiritualists. (Applause.)
They would be protected from all evil by following the Divine
command, “ Watch and pray."
The proceedings closed with the usual votes of thanks and
prayer.


Newspaper Abuse.


UNTRUTH FORM THE “DAILY NEWS."


A LECTURE ON WITCHCRAFT.


12


THE SPIRITUALIST.


Ded. 3, 1869.


SPIRITUALISM IN ALL AGES.


SPIRITUALISM IN ALL AGES.
In the course of a lecture upon Spiritualism once
delivered by Judge Edmonds in New York, he said :-
“ In two ancient works lately falling under my
notice (Dr. John Dee’s Dealings with Spirits, published
in 1659; and Glanvil’s Sadducismus Triumphatus,
published in 1681), I have found an account of mani-
festations two hundred and three hundred years since
identical with those of to-day. The faith of the
Methodists under Wesley, and of the Quakers under
George Fox, was inaugurated one hundred years ago
under the same influenee. The manifestations through
Swedenborg in the last century, were of the same
character. The thirty years' war which attended the
Reformation under Luther and Melanethon, was accom-
panied by a lively display of the same power. The
preaching mania, which so much disturbed both the
church and the government in Sweden in 1842, was
the same as our tranee-mediumship. And now modern
Spiritualism, much contemned as it is, has within the
last ten years sprung up in all parts of the earth, every
where bearing the same characteristies, under circum-
stances which absolutely preclude all idea of collusion
—often betrayed but never exposed; defying the
utmost severity of investigation to which human
ingenuity can subject it ; calling to its aid, thousands of
intelligent witnesses ; invoking human testimony, which
no sane mind can disregard; and establishing a marvel
unsurpassed in the history of mankind; namely, the
marvel of inanimate matter moving without mortal
contact, and displaying intelligence, and that intelli-
gence embracing a knowledge of the alphabet, of
reading, writing and arithmetic; speaking in man
tongues, and reading human thought, and revealing
to us what purports to be the spirit life, with details
which no imagination can fabricate.
"Now, may we not ask, whence comes this, and
what produces it?
“ The man of seienee denounces it as superstition
the man of the world calls it delusion, and the
religionist characterises it as satanic. We, on the other
hand, insist that we must believe the evidenee of our
senses, and the deductions of our reason—that we can
not reject the overwhelming evidence that is all around
us. We insist that there is no other hypothesis but
that of spiritual intercourse which can give any
solution to the phenomena we behold. And we insist
that there is a power now at work in our very midst
capable of producing marvellous results, which is well
worthy the investigation of the learned, rather than
their scoffs and sneers.
“ And now let us pause yet once again, and ask what
is it that the opponents of our faith demand
“ They ask us to yield to their opinion, against the
universal belief of mankind in all ages; against the
teachings of sacred history of all religions; against
the testimony of profane history as to all nations
against human testimony which the human intellect can
not disregard; against the evidence of our own senses
without whieh we could not live; and against the
opinions of the wise and the good in many ages.
“ Nay, they ask even yet more. They demand that
we acknowledge that man has attained the end of his
knowledge of the works and the word of God, and
that, though in former times and places He has once
and again spoken to man through His ministering
spirits, He can not, and will not, thus speak to him
again; that the glory which once descended and sat
between the wings of the Cherubim, has faded alike
from the sight and the memory of man; that the light
whieh onee shone on Mount Sinai is extinguished, and
for ever ! Can this be so?
“ No, my friends, it is not ; in can not be. If there
is faith to be placed in human testimony—if the past
can speak its lessons of wisdom to the present ; if it
is the destiny of man to move onward ever in the
pathway of knowledge—we must believe that the
spirits of the departed do commune with us; that a
power has entered into our midst and abides with us
which we yet may know; and which can work
marvellous things in the sight of God and angels ; and
we may be well assured that the time is not distant
though it may not be in my day nor in yours, when
the work which has been begun so feebly in the present
will be finished in the future by elevating us, both
physically and morally, yet nigher and nigher to Him
who has created us in His own image."


FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN:—The fear of the unknown is a
very potent influence among savages, and is lost only as man
ascends in the scale of civilisation and edueation. The medi-
eine men, to be found more or less among nearly all savages,
owe their influence entirely to this fear of the unknown
among their less crafty brethren. The feeling is very preva-
lent among animals. The Rev. Charles Kingsley once spoke
of a pony which reared on end and snorted with affright at a
terrible object in its path. The owner of the animal picked
up the source of terror and gave it to the pony to smell.
After a few trembling sniffs the pony calmed down—it was
only a kettle. So man, in his upward path, has “ shied ” at
many kettles—he has committed endless crimes because of
superstitious fears—but it is to be hoped that those “good old
times” have now gone for ever, and that better and happier
times await him in the future.


General News.


MRS. HARDINGE'’s History of Spiritualism will be out
next month.
THe DIALECTICaL SOCIETY.—Last week a general meet
ing of the Dialectical Society was held at 1, Adam-street
Adelphi, to pass the accounts, and to transact other routine
business. The Committee of Inquiry on Spiritualism holds no
meetings at present, but in a short time the work will be
resumed.
SPIRIT IDENTITY.—During the recent visit to England
of Mr. J. M. Peebles, the medium, and the consul at Trebi-
zond to the government of the United States, Mr. Peeble
went to York to test the identity of a spirit, who had given
him very truthful communications for some years. The
result was that the descriptions given of York and its old
cathedral by the spirit proved true, and upon searching in the
Will Office at York, an entry of the last century, relating to a
brother of the spirit, was found there, as the spirit had stated
would be the ease. Mr. Peebles has now reached Trebizond.
CARLYLE ON SPIRITUALISM.—The eccentric writer, Mr.
Thomas Carlyle, recently called Spiritualism, “The Liturgy
of Dead Sea Apes.” Mr. George Tommy, of 12, Clare-street
Bristol, wrote and asked him, “ Have you at any time, by the
aid of your own senses, investigated the phenomena of modern
Spiritualism?” Carlyle replied, “ By volitn. or except pas-
sively or by accidt. I never did; nor have I the least intentn.
of ever doing.” A fac simile of this brief document is pub-
lished this month, both in the Spiritual Magazine and Human
Nature.
MRS. GERALD MASSEY.—Mr. Gerald Massey, poet, in the
course of his evidence on Spiritualism before the Dialectical
Society, said that the late Mrs. Gerald Massey was a medium
and that her powers had been tested before the Duke of
Argyll and others. Once the spirits referred him to some old
editions of Shakspeare for some literary information which
he much wanted ; and he found it there. He also had some
unpleasant experiences connected with spiritualism ; on one
occasion the spirits told him where to find the bones of a
child buricd in his garden, and they were dug up accord-
ingly, to prove the truth of the statement.
THe SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE.—The Spiritual Magazine
for December, has some interesting contributions, including
“A Remarkable Cure of M. Leon Favre,” and a description
of the voice and musical manifestations at one of Mr. Child’
séances. Mr. Coleman gives an article on an attack upon
Spiritualism, made by Mr. Holyoake at the Dialectica; Society
Mr. William Howitt also gives a short contribution to the
effect that the recently-deceased Rev. W. Harness, Prebendary
of St. Paul’s, and a warm friend of Byron, was a firm believer
in spiritual phenomena. He told Mr. Howitt, at the house of
Miss Burdett Coutts, that he had published accounts of the
appearance of departed friends to those left behind on earth
and that he knew sueh things to be true
ANTI-SPIRITUALISM IN WEST HARTLEPOOL.—A corres-
pondent writes that a lecturer, Mr. George Duncan, of Glasgow
recently gave a course of lectures in the Temperance Hall
West Hartlepool, on “ Modern Spiritualism a Delusion and a
Snare.” The point of his remarks was to the effect that
spiritual manifestations are not due to the known forces of
nature, but to unknown forces, not however employed by
beings out of the flesh. He could not explain their origin
himself. He tried to obtain some of the manifestations in
the presence of the audience, and failed. Three lectures
were given, and there was a thin attendanee at each,
LECTURES ON SPIRITUALISM.—Mr. John Jones, of Enmore
Park, is about to begin the work of lecturing very actively in
different parts of London, on Spiritualism. Most of these lec-
tures, he says, will include the three following ranges of sub-
jects :—“ 1. The blending of the natural with the supernatural
2. What do the phenomena teach? 3. Spiritualism and its
witnesses.” The lectures will be short, to let a few speakers
address the audience afterwards, and he will answer any ques-
tions that may be proposed. In his last lecture he said that
“Spirits do not think as we do.” Other close observers have
come to the same conclusion, and some very condensed infor-
mation about this and otber facts or possibilities, which he has
noticed during his long experience at spirit circles, would be
interesting to read.
EAST LONDON ASSOCIATION OF SPIRITUALISTS.—This
Association was first formed in June, 1868, under the presi-
dency of Mr. James Burns, and the first large general meeting
took place in Stepney, on the 8th of July of the same year
under the chairmanship of Mr. J. M. Speard. Monthly séances
were from that time held regularly, and the finances of the
association were much aided by Mr. Luxmoore, as well as by
Mrs. Emma Hardinge, who gave some of her excellent
lectures in aid of the funds. Meetings were afterwards held
weekly, Messrs. Shorter, Cogman, and Goss, also assisting in
the work, and at last the pressure on the part of the public for
admission to the séances became greater than the circles could
bear, but it is not so heavy now. The secretary is Mr. W.
Cresswell, 11, Emma-street, Hackney-road.
SPIRIT CIRCLES IN LONDON.—The pressure for admission
to circles in London, where thoroughly good manifestation
are obtained, is now very great. Séances in connection with
the St. John’s Association of Spiritualists at Clerkenwell are
overcrowded by the presence of strangers, who are admitted
as freely as possible, but the pressure and the unfavourable
conditions militate against getting the best results. Mr.
Pearce, the secretary, writes that one of the circles is of a
more private nature, although the public are not entirely ex-
cluded, and that the consequent quietness and freedom from
interruption give superior results.—Mr. Cresswell, the secre-
tary of the East London Association of Spiritualists, writes
that their numerous circles were at first completely unable to
meet a tithe of the demand for admission on the part of the
public, but that since less has been published about the locali-
ties of the circles, the pressure has been brought within
reasonable limits.—Mr. Everitt, of Penton-street, Pentonville,
has so many letters asking permission to see the very wonder-
ful manifestations that take place through the mediumship
of Mrs. Everitt, that he is compelled, much against his will
either to keep a clerk or to leave the letters unanswered. He
reluctantly adopts the latter alternative, as Spiritualism has
always been a commercial loss to him, though in itself it is a
great boon and source of happiness. Mrs. Everitt says that
the spirits out of the body, known to her, are much kinder
and better than spirits in the body. This is good testimony
coming, as it does, from one who has had so much experience.
It is difficult to get sittings with Mr. Childs, because of the
pressure.—There are only three or four paid media in all
London, and one of the best of these, Mrs. Mary Marshall
has been sitting at circles so much to meet the public de-


mand, that the consequent exhaustion has made her ill, and it
is said that she is now out of town. In fact, the best way for
non-Spiritualists to get manifestations is to form private
circles in their own homes. Then, when they see manifesta-
tions for the first time, they will have the satisfaction of
knowing either that the facts are true, or that they are cheat-
ing each other, and they will have no unfortunate medium
from without to make uncomfortable with suspicious glances
words, or acts.
MESMERISM AND CLAIRVOYANCE.—Since our last notice,
Dr. S. Chadwick has given two other Wednesday-evening
lectures on mesmerism and clairvoyance at the British-schools
Stoke Newington. Speaking of the curative power of mes-
merism, he gave the name and address of a lady who was
mesmerically cured by him, in half an hour, of paralysis in
one of her legs. For years previously she had been unable to
walk. This, he said, was the most successful ease he had ever
had ; for judicious mesmeric treatment, though beneficial
docs not always produce such striking results. He spoke
highly of Dr. Elliotson, who battled all his life with popular
prejudices on this subject, and who founded the Mesmeric
Hospital, Weymouth-street, Regent’s-park. He said that the
combustion of the elements of food in the body, manufactures
invisible forces, and that mesmerism may be compared to the
transference of a dose of good health from one person to
another. Frequently he misused the words “electricity” and
“magnetism, by applying them to these unknown vital
forces.
SPIRITUALISM IN BRISTOL.—During the past few months
Mr. D. D. Home has given several public readings in Bristol
and other large towns in the west of England. During his
stay in Bristol he was the guest of Mr. John Beattie, 2, West
bourne-place, Clifton, who has written a detailed description
of some séances held in his house during Mr. Home’s visit
This account is published in Human Nature for Deeember
and is well worth reading. Mr. Beattie says that on the 13th
of September Mr. Home first visited him, and he was then
totally unacquainted with him (Mr. Beattie), or his relations.
On the 16th of September, at the first séance, Mr. Home went
into the trance state, and then followed conversations with
Mr. Beattie’s father, mother, brothers, uncle, and aunts, long
since passed away. One aunt’s name was given, and Mr.
Beattie himself did not know at the time that such a relative
had ever lived. Some visitors who had been invited to attend
also had communications from their departed relatives. Other
séances are described by Mr. Beattie, at which other residents
in Bristol were present, most of whom had evidence of a
most conclusive nature, that they were in receipt of messages
from departed friends. The physical manifestations were, as
usual, of a remarkable character.
DARWIN ON MAN.—The Daily News says that Mr.
Darwin is about to publish a book in which his theory of
natural selection will be carried into the domain of the
human family. The significance of this brief announcement
is evidently scarcely appreciated by those who have noticed it.
The “rivalry between males of the same species for the pos-
session of the female” has, indeed, long been a patent fact in
ball-rooms, at pienics, and wherever flirtation can be carried
on. Are not our plays and novels mostly built on this founda-
tion ? indeed, are not grave historical crises constantly traced
to it? But hitherto nobody has ventured to look on these
things with the cold, discerning eye of the natural philosopher,
much less to trace the preference among ladies for “attractive
males” to those remote consequences which Mr. Darwin con-
templates. It may be hard upon the “ plain people” that
they must eventually become extinct; but Mr. Darwin will no
doubt be able to show that the principle of natural selection
which has improved so many species out of existence must
eventually take man in hand until the ill-favoured and the
ungraceful shall have gone the way of the Dodo.
THE VALUE OF REASON.—Reason and logical habits of
thought are of more value to man than his legs and arms.
When Hindoo priests ask men to throw themselves under the
ear of Juggernaut, the dupes are very properly punished by
the loss of legs and arms, and sometimes of life. Also, when
priests or dervishes ask men to sacrifice reason, the dupes who
do so very properly punish themselves by mentally maiming
themselves for life, so as to be unfit for all responsible posi-
tions, and qualified only for the commonest drudgery.
AN ECCENTRIC WILL.—The following (according to the
Toronto Globe) is the will of Dr. Dunlop, at one time a
member of the Legislature for Upper Canada :—“In the name
of God. Amen. I, William Dunlop, of Gairbread, in the
township of Colborne, county of Huron, Western Canada
Esquire, being in sound health of body and mind, which my
friends who do not flatter me, say is no great shakes at the
best of times, do make my last will and testament as follows
revoking, of course, all former wills. I leave the property of
Gairbread, and all other property I may be possessed of, to my
sisters, Helen Boyle Story and Elizabeth Boyle Dunlop ; the
former because she is married to a minister, who (may God
help him) she henpecks ; the latter because she is married to
nobody, nor is she likely to be, for she is an old maid, and not
market rifc. And also I leave to them and their heirs my
share of the stock and implements on the farm, providing
always that the enclosure round my brother’s grave be re-
served; and if either of them should die without issue, the
other is to inherit the whole. I leave to my sister-in-law.
Louisa Dunlop, all my share of the household furniture, and
such traps, with the exceptions hereafter mentioned. I leave
my silver tankard to the oldest son of old John, as the re-
presentative of the family. I would have left it to old John
himself, but he would have melted it down to make tem-
perance medals; and that would have been a sacrilege.
However I leave him my big horn snuff-box; he can only
make temperance horn spoons out of that. I leave my sister
Jenny my Bible, the property formerly of my great-great-
grandmother, Betsey Hamilton, of Woodhall; and when she
knows as much of the spirit as she does of the letter, she
will be a much better Christian than she is. I leave my late
brother’s watch to my brother Sandy, exhorting him at the
same time to give up Whiggery and Radicalism, and all other
sins that do most easily beset him. I leave my brother-in-
law, Allan, my punch-bowl, as he is a big gauey man, and
likely to do credit to it. I leave to Parson Chevassie my big
silver snuff-box I got from the Simcoe Militia, as a small
token of my gratitude to him for taking my sister Maggie,
whom no man of taste would have taken. I leave to John
Caddell a silver tea-pot, to the end that he may drink tea
therefrom, to comfort him under the affliction of a slatternly
wife. I leave my books to my brother Andrew, because he
has been jingling wally, that he may yet learn to read with
them. I leave my silver cup, with the sovereign in the
bottom of it, to my sister, Janet Graham Dunlop, because
she is an old maid and pious, and therefore necessarily given
to horning ; and also my grandmother’s snuff-box, as it looks
decent to see an old maid taking snuff.


DEC. 3, 1869.


CHARGES FOR ADVERTISEMENTS.
1. Advertisements of Public Companies, Half-a-guinea per
sixth of a column, or every portion of sixth of a column.
2. General Advertisements, Five Shillings per twelfth of a
column, or portion of twelfth of a column.
Note.—Advertisements at the foregoing rates will be
'displayed” so as to occupy the full space paid for, but
advertisements at the following rates will be in closely set
type.
3. General Advertisements, Half-a-crown per first five
lines or portion of five lines, and Fourpence for every line in
addition.
4. Situations Wanted, or Apartments to Let, One Shilling
per first four lines, or portion of four lines; Threepence for
every line in addition.
Ten words are allowed to the line, and six figures or
initial letters count as one word.
When five or more insertions of the same advertisement
are paid for, twenty per cent. reduction will be made in the
above rates.
The power is reserved of refusing to insert any advertise-
ment.
Advertisements and remittances should be sent to the
Publisher, Mr. E. W. ALLEN, Ave Maria-lane, St. Paul's
Church-yard, London, E.C., or to Mr. J. BURNS, 15
Southampton-row, High Holborn, London, W. C.


THE SPIRITUALIST.


To Correspondents.


All letters should be brief and to the point, as the amount
of space available for correspondence is at present small.
Communications intended for the Editor should be by
letter only, addressed to the care of the Publisher, Mr. E. W.
ALLEN, Ave Maria-lane, St. Paul's Church-yard, London
E.C. Until the Spiritual movement in England, together
with this journal, have both grown considerably, time cannot
be spared for personal interviews on subjects connected with
the literary work of THE SPIRITUALIST, but all letters will
meet with careful consideration.
THE SPIRITUALiST is a periodical intended to give great
freedom of expression to all the different shades of opinion
to be found among Spiritualists. There will therefore be
very little uniformity in the ideas promulgated in this journal,
more especially in the correspondence columns. Under these
circumstances every reader will find occasionally somethine
in THE SPIRITUALIST which he or she does not like, but the
right of reply remains. This freedom of thought given te
others, the Editor claims for himself, and those who do no
like the contents of leading articles, can write against them
in the correspondence columns. This plan is thought better
than that of reducing the contents of the journal to a
pale weak mediocrity, by inserting only those contributions
which please everybody. The preceding remarks are not
intended to imply that those who have crotchets which they
cannot get printed anywhere else, can find an outlet for them
here, for none but those letters which are considered worth
publication will be inserted.
Notices of Public Meetings in connection with Spiritualism
should be sent to the office several days in advance.


To Non-Spiritualists,


A large amount of information is printed on the last two
pages of this journal, clearly demonstrating that the facts of
Spiritualism, highly improbable as they appear to be, are
real, and deserve serious investigation by all thoughtful
people. In other columns of every number of THE SPIRI-
TUALIST will also be found plenty of additional evidence to
the same effect.


To Subscribers.


The first twelve numbers of THE SPIRITUALIST will be
forwarded regularly by penny post to subscribers, who remit
four shillings in payment, to Mr. E. W. ALLEN, Publisher
Ave Maria-lane, St. Pauls-churchyard, E.C.


The Spiritualist.


FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1869.


THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS.
THE higher spirits, as well as many of those of a
more imperfect order, come back to earth, bearing
messages of affection and love to the friends and rela-
tives left behind; these visitants from the higher
spheres also often alleviate sickness and pain, and with
kind words comfort those who are afflicted by many
sorrows. Their teachings demonstrate also, beyond all
doubt, that according to the good or evil done by
dwellers in this world, so shall they reap happiness or
misery in the next. Such lessons as these coming from
those who have passed the boundary of the grave, and
sealed with the seal of indisputable authority, are
exactly fitted to do good in these hard unfeeling
money-worshipping times, when high and low alike are
so greedily absorbed in the love of self, that the happi-
ness of the great bulk of the nation is crucified, and
the United Kingdom with its thirty million inhabitants,
contains a million paupers, and five or six millions of
other persons living in constant fear of the loss of the
bare means of subsistence.
Knowing that the great power of Spiritualism will in
the course of many long years, help to remove those


national evils which now appear to be permanent, it is
not a very pleasant task to quit the consideration of
these higher principles, to deal with the scientific laws
which govern the phenomena. Yet the duty must be
performed, and while the majority of people are occu-
pied in witnessing the varied phenomena of thrilling
interest seen in spirit circles, men of science will for
long ages to come have to plod steadily at their work,
collecting stones in the shape of facts, and gradually
building up a staircase of knowledge and common
sense, till the nature of the border-land between this
world and the next is thoroughly understood. In the
unknown region into which Spiritualism has so sud-
denly introduced its first students, there is so much
resembling “ the stuff that dreams are made of,” that
but for the physical phenomena research would appear
to be hopeless. But, as in every other portion of God’s
universe, let the observer but investigate carefully, the
shadowy region around gradually begins to yield up to
him some of those laws and truths which are ever con-
cealed from idle and superstitious spectators. Any opinions
about the facts which are advanced at this early date
are necessarily put forward with caution, and are liable
to error, so the succeeding portion of this article should
be accepted only with due reservation.
One great established fact is that spirits have the
power, to a very great extent, of reading the thoughts
of those in the same condition of life as themselves
and among the higher spirits especially thought-read-
ing rather than speech seems to be the ordinary method
of conversation. The eye of the human body can see
only within a given distance and within a limited
radius, whereas to the clairvoyant eye of the spirit
distance offers little obstruction, nor does the interven-
tion of common matter intercept vision. In many
other respects also, spirits have powers or senses of a
superior nature to those appertaining to the human
body; so much higher indeed, that observers are as
much perplexed upon witnessing such great and unex-
pected powers, as a caterpillar would be, were a butter-
fly to settle on the leaf before it, and say, “ As I am
so shall you be."
These two facts of the power of
thought-reading and clairvoyant vision possessed by
spirits, have been selected from a vast number of
others, to help to prove the point which it is probable
that future research will establish, namely—that the
spiritual world is as high above the animal world, as
the animal world is higher than the vegetable world.
Assuming this simple explanation to be true, there
is nothing surprising that the greatest intellects should
feel overwhelmed for a time by the apparent hopeless-
ness of attempting to gain accurate knowledge as to
the method of production of spiritual phenomena.
Suppose a vegetable could think, and that a cabbage
saw an animal, say a horse, for the first time, how
utterly overwhelmed the cabbage would feel, to see a
new vegetable walking about on four stalks, with its
roots in its stomach. The cabbage would be obliged
either to adopt the theory that it was a miracle, or
that the animal world was as high above the vegetable
world, as the vegetable world is above the mineral
world. The latter assumption on the part of the cab-
bage would show most sense, especially when it saw
that the horse, like itself, was influenced by material
conditions, such, for instance, as temperature.
This brings us to the true relation of spiritual
phenomena to experimental natural philosophy.
Mathematics is the highest and purest form of
science, demonstrating its positions beyond all doubt
or question. Who, for instance, can doubt that two
and two make four, or that a straight line is the
shortest distance between two points? Experimental
science comes next in order, for by weight, calculation,
and measurement, its chief points can be established.
Notwithstanding this, the experimental sciences are
surrounded by a penumbral region, and are based upon
the assumption of the reality of vibrating atoms; that
there are such atoms cannot be proved, and if there be
none, many of the theories in the books of the leading
members of the Royal Society fall to the ground,
although of course their experiments stand firm. Out
side the experimental sciences, come ethnology, political
economy, and other studies, where the influences at
work are so numerous, that an approximation only
to accuracy is seen in the results. Physical science


13


has great power over the mineral world, and can repro-
duce many of its phenomena, nay, it can even make
artificially the oxalic acid which gives the flavour to
common sorrel, and it can manufacture the formic acid
which was once obtainable only from the bodies of
ants. But at the artificial formation of the minutest
vegetable cell, physical science breaks down utterly and
entirely, and from this point upwards through the
marvellous phenomena of the vegetable and animal
worlds, men of science know themselves to be mere ob-
servers, and not masters. Now, assuming that the spi it
world is simply a great step in advance of the animal
world, nearly all its phenomena are so high as to be
far beyond the reach of the experimental philosopher.
Very few of its forces, if any, are likely ever to be
shut up in a-bottle, and utilised like electricity, for its
phenomena are mostly produced by forces highly vital
and organic in their nature. Research, for instance,
we think will prove beyond doubt, that the will alone,
without acts or spoken words, can influence persons at
a distance from the human body.
These ideas as to the relation between the animal
and spiritual worlds we believe to be entirely new ;
they have been formed after two years careful examina-
tion of the phenomena seen at spirit circles, and they
are published here more especially for the education
and instruction of the Royal Soeiety.


THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CHILDREN’S BOOKS
(From the Daily News.)
IN a new American monthly, the Radical, Mr. E. W. Win-
throp has written an indignant protest against the “ merciless
cruelty of children’s books.” He charges that although the
hideous doll of the past has become extinct, and would terrify
the poorest child of to-day if admitted to the baby house, the
tragical horrors of the ancient story-books are still preserved.
Mr. Winthrop instances the “ Babes in the Wood,” with its
heartrending narratives of the dying parents, the sad parting,
the cruel uncle, the ruffians, the murder of one of them, the
slow starvation of the babes, all so poorly compensated by the
kindliness of the robins in covering them with leaves; and
also the direful story of Cock Robin s Courtship, and his death
in the heyday of wedded happiness. His strongest appeal is
against the tragedy of “ Little Red Ridinghood."
"The pic-
ture of the wolf in bed in the grandmother’s nightcap, and the
dreadful dialogue beginning, 'Grandmother, what great eyes
you’ve got,’ is enough to make a child’s flesh creep with
horror. We positively assert that we would rather be devoured
any day by the wolf at one mouthful than cause one-half the
misery to one-half the little ones that this story gives. And
the French ending, which saves little E. R. at the critical
moment by the woodmen, does not help it much ; there still
remains the swallowed grandmother.” As might be naturally
supposed, Dr. Watts does not find much favour with tho
writer. He denounces the holding up of the “terrors of the
law” over children, and tells a story of two children of his
own acquaintance who, after reading the verse in “ Songs for
the Little Ones at Home,” beginning “There is a dreadful
hell,” tried to commit suicide by holding their breaths. He
commends the custom which, it seems, prevails among some
mothers, of cutting out such pictures as those which seek to
awaken an interest in foreign missions by representing croco-
diles swallowing children cast to them by Hindoo mothers.
The chief sinners Mr. Winthrop holds to be Jane and Ann
Taylor. Recognising their good intentions, the writer declares
that their poems for the young filled his childhood with
terrors. The childish offences against which they seek to
warn the young are, he holds, rarely connected with the ter-
rible retributions which filled his imagination, and so the
moral purpose of the verses is itself invalidated.
We have all read the story of the little boy who wept at the
picture of Daniel in the lion’s den—not for the prophet, but
“for the poor little lion who wasn’t getting any."
But on the
other hand, there are children of acute, or perhaps precocious
sensibilities, who can be made to weep at the desolations of a
broomstick kept out in the pitiless snowstorm ; and these do
undoubtedly, suffer much from some of the tragical legends of
the nursery. Story-books, however, will always be written for
the average child ; and it is just possible that the great dis-
proportion often observed between the fault which the story-
teller would reprove and the dire retribution awarded it has
grown gradually out of the incapacity exhibited by so many
children of being reached by any but terrible results. Thus,
when Miss Ann Taylor would frighten little nest-robbers, it
might be enough for one or two children to depict the sorrows
of the parent birds at the loss of their young; but to four out
of five the picture she draws of a vast monster, stalking up to
the child’s bed and flying away with it would probably be
found more effectual. Nevertheless, so long as Nature affixes
to each offence its proper and logical penalty, it must be ad-
mitted to be a very questionable morality which seeks to
secure good behaviour by suggesting unnatural consequence
for the reverse. In the course of time the child will discover
that they who go a-swimming on Sunday are not always
drowned, nor they who play with fire always burnt to ashes;
and when these myths have been exploded, it may become
more difficult to show the actual benefits of the Sunday and
the real dangers of fire. Equally questionable are the books
which bring to bear upon the young mind the deeper pro-
blems of religious expcrience and the vast mysterics of death.
There are few who have been fed on such strong meat in early
life who do not feel a certain relief when some little reac-
tionist asserts his right to his childhood, though it be with the
boy in Punch, who says to his brother, “ Don’t be a good boy.
Johnny; good boys always die.” Since Nature has given
parents and teachers the physical superiority by which
children may be restrained from wrong behaviour, there would
seem to be the less need for springing upon them the great
engines of moral terror or excitement, which at best can but
tear open the flower that should expand naturally. Nor is it
impossible that the danger of certain nervous disorders, to
which children of a susceptible nature are liable, may be en-
hanced by such premature mental and moral stimulants.


﻿14


THE SPIRITUALIST.


DEC. 3, 1869.


Poetry.


ON INJUDICIOUS ATTEMPTS TO MAKE PROSELYTES.
Leave thou thy sister when she prays
Her early heaven, her happy views;
Nor thou with shadow’d hint confuse
A life that leads melodious days
Tennyson.


BIRDIE'S SONG
This Spirit song is extracted from Poems of Inner Life, by Miss Lizzie
Doten, an American inspirational public speaking medium. With such
media the spirits control the vocal organs, which are made to utter words
not in the mind of the speaker. This poem was recited by Miss Doten at
the close of one of her lectures in Boston, when she was inspired by the
spirit of Anna Cora Wilson (a child of the chairman’s), whose career on
earth closed at the age of twelve years and seven months. She was known
among her family and friends by the pet name of “ Birdie." The poem was
taken down in shorthand by a reporter at the time of its delivery upon the
platform.


With rosebuds in my hand,
Fresh from the Summer Land,
Father! I come and stand
Close by your side.
You cannot see me here,
Or feel my presence near,
And yet your Birdie dear
Never has died.


Chorus
Check then the falling tear;
Think of me still as near;
Father and Mother dear.
Soon on that shore,
Where all the loved ones meet,
Resting your pilgrim feet,
Shall you with blessings gree
Birdie once more.


Oh no! for angels bright
Out of that blessed light
Shone on my wondering sight,
Singing—“ We come,
Lamb for the fold above -
Tender young nestling dove -
Safe in our arms to love,
Haste to thy home!"


Mother, I could not stay;
In a sweet dream I lay,
Wafted to heaven away,
Far from the night.
Then, with a glad surprise,
Did I unclose mine eycs
Under its cloudless skies,
Smiling with light.


O were you with me there
Free from all earthly care,
All of my joys to share!
I were more blest.
But it is best to stay
There in the earthly way,
Till the good angels say -
“Come to your rest!"


Correspondence.


[Great freedom is given to correspondents, who sometimes express opinion-
diametrically opposed to those of this journal and its readers).


and guide, and therefore telling him that I was satisfied in
the truth of his statement, we walked to the end of the field
and returned ; nor did the ghost meet us at that time but
once.
“On the 27th July, 1665, I went to the haunted field by my-
self, and walked the breadth of it without any encounter. I
then returned, and took the other walk and then the spectre
appeared to me, much about the same place in which I saw it
when the young gentleman was with me. It appeared to
move swifter than before, and seemed to be about ten feet
from me on my right hand, insomuch that I had not time to
speak to it as I had determined with myself beforehand. The
evening of this day the parents, the son and myself being in
the chamber where I lay, I proposed to them our going alto-
gether to the place next morning. We accordingly met at
the place I had appointed ; thence we all four walked into the
field together. We had not gone more than half the field be-
fore the ghost made its appearance. It then came over the
stile just before us, and moved with such rapidity that by the
time we had gone six or seven steps it passed by. I immedi-
ately turned my head and ran after it with the young man
by my side. We saw it pass over the stile at which we
entered, and no farther. I stepped on the hedge at one place,
and the young man at another, but we could discern nothing;
whereas I do aver. that the swiftest horse in England could
not have conveyed himself out of sight in that short space of
time. Two things I observed in this day’s experience ; first, a
spaniel dog which had followed the company unregarded
barked and ran away, as the spectrum passed by ; whence it
is easy to conclude that it was not our fear or fancy that made
the apparition. Secondly, the motion of the spectrum was
not gradation or by steps, or moving the feet, but by a kind of
gliding as children upon ice, or as a boat down a river, which
punctually answers the description the ancients give of the
motion of these Lamures. This ocular evidence clearly con-
vinced, but withal strangely affrighted the old gentleman and
his wife. They well knew this woman, Dorothy Durant, in
her lifetime, were at her burial, and now plainly saw hei
features in this apparition.
“The next morning being Thursday, I went very early by
myself, and walked for about an hour’s space in meditation
and prayer in the field next adjoining. Soon after five, I
stepped over the stile into the haunted field, and had not gone
above thirty or forty paces before the ghost appeared at the
further stile. I spoke to it in some short sentences with a
loud voice, whereupon it approached me, but slowly, and when
I came near it moved not. I spoke again, and it answered in
a voice neither audible nor very intelligible. I was not in the
least terrified, and therefore persisted until it spoke again and
gave me satisfaction, but the work could not be finished at
this time. Whereupon the same evening, an hour after sun-
set, it met me again near the same place, and after a few
words on each side it quietly vanished, and neither doth
appear now, nor ever will more to man’s disturbance. The
discourse in the morning lasted about a quarter of an hour.
“These things are true, and I know them to be so, with as
much certainty as eyes and ears can give me ; and until I can
be persuaded that my senses all deceive me, about their
proper objects, and by that persuasion deprive myself of the
strongest inducement to believe the Christian religion, I must
and will assert, that the things contained in this paper are
true. As for the manner of my proceeding, I have no reason
to be ashamed of it. I can justifiy it to men of good prin-
ciples, discretion, and recondite learning, though in this case
I choose to content myself in the assurance of the thing rather
than be at the unprofitable trouble to persuade others to be¬
lieve it, for I know full well with what difficulty relations of so
uncommon a nature and practice obtain belief.
“Through the ignorance of men in our age in this peculiar
and mysterious part of philosophy and religion, namely, the
communication betwcen spirits and men, not one scholar in
ten thousand, though otherwise of excellent learning, knows
anything about it. This ignorance breeds fear and abhorance
of that which otherwise might be of incomparable benefit to


SCIENTIFIC AID TO SPIRITUALISM.
A VERY good idea was carried out at the lectures
recently given by Mr. J. Jones, of Enmore Park, to
the two Spiritual Associations in London. Dissolving-
view apparatus was called into play, and no more effi-
cient instrument can possibly be found, to make
lectures attractive and interesting.
The apparatus
used at the two lectures just mentioned, perhaps does
well enough for small rooms, but in a hall of
moderately large size it would be a failure, because the
light is too feeble to bear dilution over the area which
it would be necessary to make the picture cover, when
the building is a large one. In such cases the oil lamps
must be abolished, and the oxhydrogen light substituted.
Doubtless it would be good policy to have one good
set of dissolving-view apparatus made for common use
at spiritual lectures in London. In such apparatus,
much depends upon the condensers—the large lenses
between the slide and the light. In some lanterns
there is only one lens instead of two, at this place, and
with such instruments there is such a great loss of light
that it is falsc economy to buy them. Another very
important part of a lantern, is the combination of
lenses known as the “ object-glass.”
Bad object -
glasses will often give bad definition, and will not give
a “flat field."
When the latter fault is present, the
centre and the circumference of the picture cannot
possibly both be brought into sharp focus upon the
screen at the same time.
Very much good taste
was displayed in the lantern slides painted by Mr.
Bielfeld, and shown at the two lectures recently
delivered, one of them representing a butterfly and
caterpillar upon the branch of a tree, being specially
well done.
There was also much ideality in the
design of most of them. In one picture, however
spirits were painted with wings, and these wings had
better be left out, otherwise they may give good hold
for adverse criticism, when many stiffnecked unbelievers
chance to be present during their exhibition.


PERIODICAL LITERATURE.—Last month the first num-
ber of a very valuable weekly publication, called Nature
was published by Macmillan. It is a journal receiving the
countenance and literary support of Tyndall, Huxley, Darwin
Lockyer, Balfour Stewart, Thomson, and thirty or forty more
of the leading philosophers of Europe and America. A high-
class publication, popularising science, has long been wanted
for as yet no weekly publication in England has becn devoted
exclusively to natural philosophy. It is well printed and
edited, and its motto by Wordsworth -


“To the solid ground
Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye."


A CORNISH GHOST STORY.*
SIR,—The following ghost story is takcn from Drew’s
History of Cornwall, a standard work published in 1817, and
still considered to be one of the most authentic and valuable
histories of that county. The story itself being well authen-
ticated and there being many remarkable points in it, yor
may perhaps consider it not unworthy of insertion in THE
SPIRITUALIST.
London, November 22nd, 1869.
R. PEARCE.
About 152 years since a ghost is said to have made its ap-
pearance in this parish, South Petherwin, near Launceston,
in afield about half-a-mile from Botaden or Botathen. In the
narrative which is given of this occurrence, it is said to have
been seen by a son of Mr. Bligh, aged about sixteen, by his
father and mother, and by the Rev. John Ruddle, master of
the Grammai School of Launceston, and one of the prebend-
aries of Exeter, and vicar of Alternon. The relation given by
Mr. Ruddle is in substance as follows:
Young Mr. Bligh, a lad of bright parts and of no common
attainments, became on a sudden pensive, dejected and melan-
choly. His friends, observing the change without being able
to discover the cause, attributed his behaviour to laziness, an
aversion to school, or to some other motive which they sus-
pected he was ashamed to avow. He was, however, induced
after some time to inform his brother that in a field through
which he passed to and from school, he was invariably met by
the apparition of a woman, whom he personally knew while
living, and who had been dead about eight years. Ridicule,
threats and persuasions were alike used in vain by the family
to induce him to dismiss these absurd ideas. Mr. Ruddle was
however sent for, to whom the lad ingenously communicated
the time, manner, and frequency of this appearance. It wa
in a field called Higher Broomfield. The apparition, he said
appeared dressed in female attire, met him two or three times
while he passed through the field, glided hastily by him, but
never spoke. He had thus bcen occasionally met about two
months before he took any particular notice of it ; at length
the appearance became more frequent, meeting him both
morning and evening, but always in the same field, yet in-
variably moving out of the path when it came close by him.
He often spoke, but could never get any reply. To avoid this
unwelcome visitor he forsook the field, and went and returned
from school through a lane, in which place between the quarry
park and nursery it always met him. Unable to disbelieve
the evidence of his senses, or to obtain credit with any of his
family, he prevailed upon Mr. Ruddle to accompany him to
the place. “I arose” says this clergyman, “ the next morn-
ing and went with him. The field to which he led me I
guessed to be about twenty acres, in an open country, and
about three furlongs from my house. We went into the field
and had not gone a third-part before the spectrum in the
shape of a woman, with all the circumstances he had described
the day before, so far as the suddenness of its appearance and
transition would permit me to discover, passed by,
“I was a little surpriscd at it, and though I had taken up a
firm resolution to speak to it, I had not the power, nor durst
I look back, yet I took care not to show any fear to my pupil


EVIDENCE AT THE DIALECTICAL SOCIETY.
SIR,—On page three of the first number of THE SPIRITUALIST
there is a serious error in the statement made under the name
of Miss Blackwell. Mr. S. C. 'Hall has informed me “that
no incident like that named ever took place at his house, but
that Mr. Livermore, banker, America, related to him at his
house a singular phenomenon that took place, which had a
kind of resemblance to that narrative.” I presume the news-
paper reporter misunderstood Miss Blackwell. I find the
reporters are “not upto the subject of spiritualism, and
therefore easily fall into-errors. It is the duty of spiritualists
to see to it, that all facts are so reported, that they may have
equal weight to a declaration before a magistrate.
JOHN JONES.
Emmore-park, S. Norwood, Nov. 26, 1869.
[As stated at the time, the evidence was extracted from the
Eastern Post newspaper.—ED.


A HAUNTED CASTLE
SIR,—The following is eopied from the Irish Times Special
Commissioner's Report on the Land question :—“ Parsonstown,
Oct. 14, 1869.“ It would be strange if Leap Castlel was not
haunted. It would not be easy to imagine a more appropriate
habitation for ghosts, considering its antiquity, its traditions,
the deeds-of violence and blood of which it was the theatre,
the quaint and curious apartments in the pre-historic dwelling-
house attachcd to the castle, now used for kitchen and ser-
vants’ apartments, the great trees dying of age, and the weird
aspect of the whole place. Accordingly while partaking of
Mr. Darby’s genial hospitality, and going through the build-
ing, the ladies told me of scveral most extraordinary and un-
accountable apparitions and noises of which they were them-
selves personally the witnesses, and which would afford ample
materials for a lot of sensational romances. But even these
stories were scarcely more strange than the psychological fact,
that the children of the family are all ghost-proof ; even the
youngest will go asleep alone, without light, in rooms where
women in white have been seen, where loud laughter and
awful shrieks have been heard, and the sounds of feet moving
about, and of hands cautiously lifting and drawing back bed
curtains at the witching hour of night."
J. De M.


we thought of stealing for THE SPIRITUALIST, but space here
is too valuable for such poetical repetitions. The first article
in Nature is by Goethe, a Spiritualist, who has in this case
found a translator in Professor Huxley, of all men in the
world. The fault of the new journal is that it does not
include the greatest of all the sciences—Spiritualism.
When learned bodies who have persistently ignored mes-
merism for many long years, see it firmly established by
the aid of its stronger brother, Spiritualism, in the public
mind, they will find themselves in a position from which they
must retreat, whether they like to do so or not. So much for
the introduction of dogmatism into science. The managers
of the Times are again, it is believed, seriously contemplating
another reduction in the price of the journal, the competition
of other papers more truthfully representing public interests
being severe. The Morning Star last month died a very
quiet death, after transferring its worldly interests to the Daily
News. The Newspaper Press, a monthly organ of newspaper
people, published by Mr. E. W. Allen, states that Mr. E. R.
Russell, late of the Morning Star, has returned once more to
Liverpool, as editor of the Liverpool Daily Post, on a salary
of £1,000 a year. Canada is to have a comic paper under the
title of Grinchuckle.
THe THOUGHTS OF A MOLE.—My hyacinths would blos-
som if the moles did not cat up the bulbs at such a fearful
rate.
I consider a mole’s opinion of the structure
and use of my hyacinths to be very much like most folk's
notions of moral truth. The moles see the bottom, and
nothing else. Imagine a mole forming a philosophical theory
of my bulbs. In mole’s language, he would say. A hyacinth
is a vegetable creation put under ground for the benefit of the
moles.
It has been held by some moles that a hyacinth
has an existence above ground, and speculatists have gone so
far as to say that this root is only a kind of starting point,
while the best part of the plant is above ground. But there
is no evidence of that, and it is doubtless a vagary of the
imagination.
-H. W. Beecher.


ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
V.—Your friend has twisted the words to make them bear a
meaning which they do not convey to the ordinary reader.
Dr. Tyndall said that under the action of the chemical rays,
clouds were formed by chemical decomposition, and that one of
these clouds chanced to take the shape of a fish, with eyes, gills
and feelers.
G. H.—Both addresses were right, and your newsvendor misin-
formed you.
J. J.—Experience will show what days are the best for the purpose.
Why should the two mentioned be easier to recollect?
W. N.—We are very much obliged to you for your information/
Your communications should be more statistical and condensed;
dates also should not be omitted. It would do no good to us or
to you, to print a letter praising this journal.
R. P.—A report shall be made of one or both of the next two mect
ings you mention. No doubt “they all like THE SPIRITUALIST,
and wish to see it reduced in price and published weekly,” but it
requires practical knowledge of newspaper work and of the extent
of the Spiritual movement to appreciate the exceeding modesty of
the request. As soon as the cause is likely to support, or nearly
support, a cheaper supply of news of good quality, it will be
forthcoming, but such a step as a permanency is utterly out of tho
question at present.


* As a general rule, not without exceptions like those of the indisputable
Wesley manifestations, ghost narratives of previous times, however well
authenticated, are not much desired for THE SPIRITUALIST. Such records
have as yet had little influence on the public mind, and as this journal has
begun to find its way somewhat largely among non-Spiritualists, we more
require authenticated accounts of manifestations now going on in our midst
signed with the names and addresses of all the witnesses. Such evidence is
best for hard-headed business people, now so numerous, whose practica
religion as exemplified in their daily life, is manifestly “cash and landed
property." ED.


Cork, Dec. 1, 1869


Mr. BURNS, of the Spiritual Library, is now giving a
course of Tuesday evenings lectures on subjects connected
with man and his habits. He knows how to give plenty of
useful information on the best methods of keeping the body
and mind in good health.


DEC. 3, 1869.


THE SPIRITUALIST.


15


FACTS FOR NON-SPIRITUALISTS.
As this Journal will necessarily often come
under the observation of those who are not
Spiritualists, it has been thought judicious to
reprint regularly on this and the next page,
the following condensed evidence that spiri-
tualism deserves serious investigation. The
phenomena witnessed in spiritual circles are
so extraordinary, and so unlike those coming
within the ordinary range of human experi-
ence, that it is quite right not to accept them
on the testimony of others. Each individual
should witness and test them personally, and
believe nothing until the absolute knowledge
is gained that denial is impossible.


EVIDENCE THAT SPIRITUALISM DESERVES INVES-
TIGATION.
The testimony of reliable and respectable wit-
nesses that the phenomena of Spiritualism are
actual facts, and not imposture or delusion, has of
late years so accumulated as to possess very great
weight. In the case of Lyon v. Home, Mr. Robert
Chambers, Mr. C. F. Varley, Dr. Gully, Mr. and
Mrs. S. C. Hall, and others, all made affidavits
strongly in favour of Mr. Home. The following
was the affidavit of Mr. C. F. Varley, C.E.,
F.R.G.S., M.R.I.:-


“I, Cromwell Fleetwood Varley, of Fleetwood House
Beckenham, in the County of Kent, Esquire, make oath
and say as follows: -
“I have been a student of electricity, chemistry, and
natural philosophy for twenty-six years, and a tele
graphic engineer by profession for twenty-one years,
and I am the consulting electrician of the Atlantic Tele-
graph Company, and of the Electric and International
Company.
“About nine or ten years ago, having had my atten-
tion directed to the subject of Spiritualism by its spon-
taneous and unexpected development in my own family
in the form of clairvoyant visions and communications
I determined to test the truth of the alleged physical
phenomena to the best of my ability, and to ascertain
if possible, the nature of the force which produced them.
“Accordingly, about eight years ago, I called on Mr.
Home, the defendant in this suit, and stated that I had
not yet witnessed any of the physical phenomena, but
that I was a scientific man and wished to investigate
them carefully.
"He immediately gave me every facility for the pur-
pose, and desired me to satisfy myself in every possible
way, and I have been with him on divers occasions
when the phenomena have occurred. I have examined
and tested them with him and with others, under con-
ditions of my own choice, under a bright light, and have
made the most jealous and searching scrutiny. I have
been, since then, for seven months in America, where
the subject attracts great attention and study, and where
it is cultivated by some of the ablest men, and having
experimented with and compared the forces with elec-
tricity and magnetism, and after having applied me-
chanical and mental tests, I entertain no doubt whatever
that the manifestations which I have myself examined
were not due to the operation of any of the recognised
physical laws of nature, and that there has been present
on the occasions above-mentioned some intelligence
other than that of the medium and observers.
“The subject of course offers many opportunities and
inducements for fraud, and I only speak of what I have
myself seen and tested. Since my acquaintance with
Mr. Home began I have pursued the enquiry, and I have
found engaged in it able, learned, and scientific men,
who are convinced as I am, that the physical manifesta-
tions are but the introduction to an extensive field of
mental and physical knowledge which will in a great
measure explain and reconcile the beliefs of all ages and
nations. I know of several instances both in Europe
and America in which this course of study has awak-
ened the perception of the purest and loftiest truths and
principles. There have been no doubt cases in which
the intellect has been too feeble for the stimulus, and
has been overpowered by it, just as frequently results
from excessive application to religion and other exciting
topics, but such cases have not come within my own
observation.
“Mr. Home, like several other non-professional me-
diums whose cases I have studied, was passive during
the occurrence of the manifestations. He, like the
other mediums, is extremely susceptible to external in
fluences, and has a mind better suited to receive impres-
sions than to prosecute enquiries. I willingly testify my
entire conviction of his truthfulness and honesty.
“C. F. VARLEY."


It also came out in the evidence given at the
trial, that Mr. Home had been the invited and un-
paid guest of the Emperor and the Empress of the
French, the Emperor, Empress, and the late Em-
press Dowager of Russia, the Grand Duke Con-
stantine, the King of Prussia, the late King of
Bavaria, the late King of Wurtemburg, and the
Queen of Holland. Mr. Home says that all his
life he has never taken a farthing of pay for his
séances. In March, 1869, the Spiritual Magazine
gave the names of the following gentlemen al
those who have long been investigating the sub-
ject.


“Cromwell F. Varley, Esq., Fleetwood-house, Becken-
ham; Alfred R. Wallace, Esq., 9, St. Mark’s-crescent,
N.W.; Professor De Morgan, 91, Adelaide-road, N.W.;
Captain Drayson, R.A., Woolwich; Dr. J. M. Gully,
The Priory, Great Malvern: Dr. J. J. G. Wilkinson, 4
St. John’s-wood-villas, N.W.; Dr. Dixon, 8, Great Or-
mond-street, W.C.: S. C. Hall, Esq., 15, Ashley-place,
Victoria-street, S.W.; Newton Crosland, Esq.; William
Howitt, Esq., The Orchard, Hare-green, Esher, Surrey;
Robert Chambers, Esq., St. Andrew's, Edinburgh; H.
D. Jencken, Esq., Kilmorey-house, Norwood; J. G.
Crawford, Esq., 52, Gloucester-crescent, N.W.; W. M
Wilkinson, Esq., Oakfield, Kilburn; Lord Adare, 5,
Buckingham-gate; The Master of Lindsay, Grosvenor-
square."
Mrs. De Morgan has written a book, entitled
From Matter to Spirit (Longmans), where she
gives many interesting particulars, the result of
ten years' experience in Spiritualism. Professor
De Morgan, President of the Mathematical Society
of London, in his preface to the book, says:
"I am perfectly convinced that I have both seen and
heard, in a manner which should make unbelief impos
sible, things called spiritual, which cannot be taken by
a rational being to be capable of explanation by impos
turc, coincidence, or mistake. So far I feel the ground
firm under me."
The following is an extract from another
affidavit, made in the suit of Lyon v. Home: -
"L. James Manby Gully, of The Priory, Great Malvern,
in the County of Worcester, doctor of medicine, make
oath and say as follows: -
“I have known the above-named defendant, Daniel
Dunglass Home, for seven years and upwards, last past
and have during that period been in the habit of attend-
ing him professionally, and also of receiving him in my
house as a personal friend, and I have never had the
smallest reason to doubt his character as a man of
honour and proper moral feeling.
“I have during the past seven years witnessed both
in my own house, and elsewhere, in the presence of the


said Mr. Home many curious occurrences, which I am
unable to explain, in the way of singular phenomena,
such as displacement of objects without physical con-
tact, &c., and from my personal and careful investiga-
tions (which Mr. Home himself ever urges) I am positive
that it is not in consequence of any trick or device that
such phenomena occur. I have even been witness to
singular phenomena when the said Mr. Home was not in
the same room, and also when he has been asleep. I
have never known the said Mr. Home receive money for
what is termed 'a séance,’ but I have known him re-
peatedly refuse offers of as much as twenty guineas for
“J. M. GULLY, M.D."
a single séance.
Dr. Hooker, in his opening address, as President
of the British Association at Norwich in 1868,
spoke very highly of the scientific attainments of
Mr. Alfred R. Wallace, F.L.S. Mr. Wallace is an
avowed Spiritualist. Professor Hare, of Phila-
delphia, the inventor of the Hare's Galvanic Bat-
tery, once refused to witness spiritual phenomena,
alleging that Faraday’s “unconscious muscular
action” theory explained all the facts. A friend
wrote to him detailing things he had seen which
were inexplicable by that theory. Hare at once,
like a sensible man, went to see for himself. The
result was that he came into communication with
some of his own departed relatives. He then
made mechanical telegraphic machines, which
were intelligently worked by spirits while the
apparatus was screened from the sight of the
medium, and he wrote a book recording all these
facts. That book is now in the British Museum
Library. Judge Edmonds, of New York, is another
very eminent American Spiritualist, who has also
written interesting books on the subject. Recently
in England, Viscount Adare has written a book
bearing testimony to the truth of Spiritualism, and
it has a preface by Lord Dunraven. This book is
printed for private circulation only, which is an
error in judgment. Valuable evidence in favour
of Spiritualism is given by John Wesley and his
family; for spirit rapping and movements of
wooden materials by invisible agency occurred in
their own house. Documentary evidence of what
they witnessed was drawn up and signed on the
spot, and is published in Southey's Life of Wesley.
The Spiritual Magazine for October, 1869, give
the following names of friends of Spiritualism
who have now and then contributed to its pages
“Viscount Adare; John Ashburner, M.D., Translator
of Reichenbach, author of Philosophy of Animal Mag-
netism and Spiritualism; T. B. Barkas, author of Outlines
of Ten lears' Investigation into the Phenonena of Modern
Spiritualism; George Barth; Richard Beamish, F.R.S.,
author of The Life of Brunel; Rev. S. E. Bengough,
M.A.; Edward L. Blanchard; Edward Brotherton; Cap-
tain Richard F. Burton (the African traveller;) Willian
Carpenter, author of Political Letters, The English Bible;
Captain Edward Henry Chawner; Henry T. Child
M.D. (Philadelphia, U.S.A.); Benjamin Coleman, author
of Spiritualism in America; Robert Collyer, M.D., F.C.S.
Christopher Cook; Robert Cooper, author of Spiritual
Experiences; Mrs. De Morgan, author of From Matter to
Spirit; Jacob Dixon, L.R.C.P., author of Clairvoyance
Hygienic, and Medical; Hugh Doherty, M.D, author of
Organic Philosophy; Captain Drayson, R.A.; Judge
Edmonds (New York); Captain H. A Fawcett, R.N.;
John M. Gully, M.D.; Professor W. D. Gunning (Boston,
U.S.A.); Samuel Carter Hall, F.S.A.; Emma Hardinge;
George Harris, M.A., F.S.A., President of the Manches-
ter Anthropological Society; W. E. Hickson, late editor
of the Westminster Foreign Quarterly Review; Rev. A.
W. Hobson, M.A.; Baron C. Dirckinck Holmfeld; Daniel
Dunglass Home; Rev. J. Page Hopps, editor of The
Truthseeker; Mary Howitt; William Howitt; Henry D.
Jencken, M.R.I., F.G.S.; John Joncs, author of Man:
Physical, Apparitional, and Spiritual; Rev. William
Ker, M.A.: Seymour Kirkup (Florence); Andrew Leigh
ton; Robert Leighton; Kenneth R. P. Mackenzie, F.S.A.
Rev. William Mountford (Boston, U.S.A.); A. E. New
ton (Boston, U.S.A.) author of The Ministry of Angel
Realised; Mary S. Gove Nichols; J. H. Powell: Baron
Reiehenbach, author of Researches on the Dynamics of
Magnetism; Elihu Rich, author of several articles in the
Encyclopædia Metropolitana; J. Lockhart Robertson
M.R.C.P.: Mary C. Hume Rothery; Rev. W Hume
Rothery, M.A.; Epes Sargent, author of The Planchette;
Thomas Shorter; Rev. W. R. Tomlinson, M.A.; Crom
well F. Varley, F.R.G.S.; C. Staniland Wake, author of
Chapters on Man; Alfred R. Wallace; A. M. H. Watts;
William White, author of Emanuel Swedenborg: His
Life and Writings; W. M. Wilkinson, author of Spirit
Drawings; James J. Garth Wilkinson, M.D., author of
The Human Body, and its Connection with Man; Rev. F.
R. Young.
Signor G. Damiani, a Sicilian gentleman living
at Clifton, has written a pamphlet, still in print
in which he severely censures Professor Tyndall,
Mr. G. H. Lewes, and others like them, for refus-
ing to investigate the subject. He further offers a
reward of 1,000 guineas to any respectable, scien-
tific or educated men, who will investigate the
subject and prove it to be an imposture. The
following are his words:
“I now offer you two challenges
"First, I challenge you, or either of you, or any of
the public who, like you, disbelieve in the genuine cha-
racter of spiritualistic phenomena, to deposit in the
hands of any well-known London banker whom you or
they may name, the sum of five hundred guineas; and
I pledge myself to immediately deposit in the same bank
a like amount,—the ownership of such sum of one thou-
sand guineas to depend upon my proving by evidence
sufficient to establish any fact in history or in a criminal
or civil court of justice.
First—That intelligent communications and answers
to questions put, proceed from dead and inert matter in
a manner inexplicable by any generally recognised law
of nature.
“Secondly—That dead and inert matter does move
without the aid of any mechanical or kuown chemical
agency, and in deflance of all the admitted laws of gravi-
tation.
"Thirdly—That voices appertaining to no one in the
flesh are heard to speak and hold rational converse with
men.
“A jury of twenty-four gentlemen, twelve to be chosen
by each party (such jury to consist exclusively of men
bers of the learned professions and literary men), to
decide whether or not the facts contained in the above
propositions are conclusively proved per testes—ie., by
witnesses of established character. A majority of
the twenty-four to decide. If the verdict be that these
facts have not been established, the thousand guineas
are to belong to the party accepting this challenge; if
the verdict be that these facts are established, the thou
sand guineas to be mine
"Secondly—Immediately after the above wager being
decided, either way, I offer a like challenge of five hun-
dred guineas (to be met on the other side in like manner
as above)—the ownership of the second sum of one
thousand guineas to depend upon the establishment of
the facts contained in the propositions already given, by
experiments conducted in the actual presence of the twenty-
four gentlemen who have decided the previous wager
the verdict of the majority to decide in this case likewise
“In either case, the séances are to be conducted in an
public or private building which the jury may select,
and which may be available for the purpose
“The result of these challenges (if accepted and de-
cided) to be advertised by the victorious party, at the
expense of the defeated party, in all the London daily
papers.
“I hope this is plain English.


“ Awaiting a reply to this letter, and to the challenge
with which it concludes, I am, gentlemen; your obedient
servant,
G. DAMIANI
“Clifton, Oct. 1, 1868.
“P.S.—Letters addressed 'Sigr. Damiani, care of
Manager of West of England and South Wales District
Bank, Corn-street, Bristol,' will always reach the writer."
In addition to the above evidence, there is the
testimony of numbers that the modern spiritual
manifestations are realities. Mr. Hepworth Dixon
in his New America estimates the number of Spiri-
tualists in the United States at rather less than
three millions, and this is about the lowest estimate
that anybody has made. There are no accurate sta-
tistics, and different authorities vary in their esti-
mates from three to eleven millions.
All these facts, together with those which
follow, prove that Spiritualism deserves serious
investigation. Not a few learned men have pri-
vately been examining the phenomena in order to
explode the imposture,” but these extinguishers
soon catch fire themselves. In short, in the
minds of most of the English public, Spiritualism
has to pass through the following five stages :


1. The manifestations do not take place.
2. Spiritualism is a gross imposture.
3. It is a delusion.
4. It is the work of the Devil.
5. It is a great blessing, and we always said so.


Experience shows that the feebler the intellect
and the lower the standard of energy and educa-
tion, the sooner does the investigator break down
at one of the first four out of the above five steps
in the ladder of progress.


MR. HOME'S AFFIDAVIT.
In the Chancery suit of Lyon v. Home, for the
recovery of certain monies given by Mrs. Lyon
to Mr. Home against the advice of her lawyer
and her friends, Mr. Home made an affidavit, from
which the following is an extract: -
“I, Daniel Dunglass Home, of 22, Sloane-street, in
the County of Middlesex, one of the above-named de-
fendants, make oath and say as follows:
“I was born in Scotland on the 20th of March, 1833,
and from my childhood have been subject to the occa-
sional happening of singular physical phenomena in my
presence, which are most certainly not produced by me
or by any other person in connection with me. I have
no control over them whatever: they occur irregularly
and even when I am asleep. Sometimes I am many
months, and once I have becn a year without them.
They will not happen when I wish, and my will has
nothing to do with them. I cannot account for them
further than by supposing them to be effected by intelli-
gent beings or spirits. Similar phenomena occur to
many other persons. ... These phenomena occurring in
my presence have been witnessed by thousands of
intelligent and respectable persons, including men of
business, science, and literature, under circumstances
which would have rendered, even if I desired it, all
trickery impossible. They have been witnessed repeat-
edly and in their own private apartments, when an
contrivance of mine must have been detected, by their
Majesties the Emperor and the Empress of the French,
their Majesties the Emperor, Empress and late Empress
Dowager of Russia, their Imperial Highnesses the Grand
Duke and Duchess Constantine of Russia and the mem-
bers of their august family, their Majesties the King of
Prussia, the late King of Bavaria, the present and late
King of Würtemberg, the Queen of Holland, and the
members of the Royal Family of Holland; and man
of these august personages have honoured, and I be-
lieve still honour, me with their esteem and goodwill, as
I have resided in some of their palaces as a gentleman
and their guest, and not as a paid or professional pe-
son. They have had ample opportunities, which the
have used, of investigating these phenomena, and of
inquiring into my charaeter. I have resided in America,
England, France, Italy, Germany, and Russia, and in
every country I have been received as a guest and
friend by persons in the highest position in society, who
were quite competent to discover and expose, as the
ought to have done, anything like contrivance on my
part to produce these phenomena. I do not seek, and
never have sought, the acquaintance of any of these
exalted personages. They have sought me, and I have
thus had a certain notoriety thrust upon me. I do not
take money, and never have taken it, although it has
been repeatedly offered me for or in respect of these
phenomena, or the communications which appear to be
made by them. I am not in the habit of receiving those
who are strangers to me, and I never force the subject
of Spiritualism on any one’s attention. ... Some of the
phenomena in question are noble and elevated, others
gappear to be grotesque and undignifled. For this I am
not responsible, any more than I am for the many
grotesque and undignifled things which are undoubtedly
permitted to exist in the material world. I solemnly
swear that I do not produce the phenomena aforesaid,
or in any way whatever aid in producing them," &c
“I have been subjected to much persecution through-
out my life, because of my conscientious belief as to the
meaning and great purpose of spiritual phenomena
taken as a whole. That belief I have not, like the
plaintiff, foresworn. I have always courted the strictest
investigation, although I have not condescended to
notice all the attacks and anonymous slanders that have
been circulated respecting me. The book shown to me
at the time of swearing this affidavit, marked H 8, con-
tains a correct list of upwards of 1,300 letters, with the
writers' names, which I still retain (after having de-
stroyed about 10,000), written to me by persons of ever
rank and class, including persons of the highest social,
political, literary, and scientific position, who have in¬
vestigated these phenomena, and corresponded with me
about them. After the fullest opportunities of examina-
tion, they have formed different opinions as to their
origin and meaning; but I believe that all are
thoroughly satisfied of my entire honesty in the matter
and lately, while the plaintiff's base and unfounded
charges of fraud and imposition have been hanging
February, 1868, these phenomena have been thoroughly
over me, and during the months of January and
tested by another scientific man, named Mr. Hawkins
Simpson, the inventor of electrical apparatus, including
one for printing at a distance by the telegraph—a
drawing and description of which were, as I am in
formed and believe, given in the Engineer newspaper of
the 15th November, 1867.
Omitting the remainder of Mr. Home's affidavit,
the following evidence given by him before the
Dialectical Society, is of interest: -
“He had seen a pencil lifted by a spirit hand write on
paper in the presence of the Emperor Napoleon. This
took place in a large room, the Salon Louis Quinze. The
Empress was also present. The hand, after writing,
went to the Emperor, who kissed it; it then went to the
Empress; she withdrew from the touch, and the hand
followed her. The Emperor said, “Do not be fright-
ened, kiss it!' She then kissed it, and it shortly after-
wards disappeared. The writing was an autograph
of the Emperor Napoleon I. The Emperor of Russia
had also seen and handled spirit hands, which after-
wards seemed to melt away into thin air.
The Emperor Napoleon has been at a great
many of Mr. Home's séances, and Mr. Home was
asked by members of the Dialectical Society to
state other things which had been observed on
those occasions. Mr. Home said that he did not
feel at liberty to state any more than the Emperor
was in the habit of telling himself.


WHAT IS THE USE OF SPIRITUALISM?
Strange to say there are people who can ask
what is the use of communication with friends
and relatives, who have passed the great barrier
of the grave. One use of Spiritualism is, that all
Spiritualists who lead moderately good lives, are
found to gradually lose the fear of death. Spirits
through the agency of suitable media have much
power in the healing of diseases, and the removal
of deformities, though such power is far from
absolute. The following is a narrative, published
in Daybreak, of some of the powers excercised
through Mr. Newton, the best healing medium in
the United States; he is expected to visit England
in the course of the year 1870. The following ex-
ample from a very boundless field of choice, is
enough for the present on the subject of the uses
of Spiritualism: -
'Friday, May 22, of the present year (1868) will for
ever remain one of the most memorable days of my life.
It was on that day, when the sun was shining brightly
and bathing the world with its light and heat, that I
arrived at Newport, Rhode Island, and first came under
the healing powers of Dr. J. A. Newton. I had heard
of him through The Spiritual Magazine, Mr. William
Howitt, and Mr. Coleman, and was assured that if I
placed myself in his hands I should be speedily and
radically cured of the neuralgic affection in my head
for which I had been suffering for eleven years. It was
not until I had become a little more familiar with some
of the facts and phenomena of modern Spiritualism
that I felt a quiet faith in the power of Dr. Newton to
remove my disease. Having once attained to that state
of mind, and becoming satisfled that it was my duty to
cross the Atlantic in search of health, I made arrange-
ments for doing so, and left Liverpool for New York on
Saturday, May 9, arriving at the latter place on Tuesday
evening, the 19th
The moment Dr. New-
ton and I met, I found in his face and simple kindly
manner a human image of the outside sunshine, and
but few words had been spoken when I was convinced
that the errand upon which I had come would be ful-
fllled. I was about to give him the history in detail of
my affliction when he stopped me by saying, That
after I had been cured he would be very glad to listen
to anything I might wish to say, but that the cure itself
was the first matter to be attended to.' He then poured
a large quantity of very hot water upon my head while
I was leaning it over a basin into which the water fell.
After my head had been dried with a coarse towel, I
was made to sit upon a moveable seat, similar to a
music-stool, the doctor standing behind me, and placing
my head against his chest with his hands crossed upon
my forehead. He then moved my head in various
directions until all at once a clicking noise was heard af
the top of my spine. The doctor immediately cried out,
That noise is the sign that you will be cured; the dis-
turbance of the nerve current has been removed.' He
then faced me, and lifting both his hands towards
heaven, he looked me hard in the face, saying, Look a
me. In the name of God our Heavenly Father, and of
the Lord Jesus Christ the Great Healer, I bid this
disease depart from this dear suffering brother and
never more afflict him. It is gone—it is gone—it is
gone for ever, my brother; you are cured; rise up or
your feet and be cured.' At that instant I felt a strong
current of new life flowing into and through every part
of my body, and I was conscious that I had entered
upon an altogether new phase of existence. From that
day to the present hour, July 13, I have been entirely
free from my pain, and have felt as well, I should think
as it is possible for any human being to feel. Physically
speaking, I am a new creature; old things have passed
away and all things have become new. Of course it is
not for me to say absolutely that the cure will be per-
manent, but, if I may judge from my present expe-
rience, I see no reason why it should not be so.
Wonderful as my case is, it is only one of thousands, so
far as Dr. Newton is concerned. He has cured almost
every form of disease, and removed almost every kind
of suffering. In fact, he appears to have done every-
thing but raise the dead. And yet even he does not
cure all cases, and this failure enables him to keep alive
the consciousness that it is not he who cures, but God
who works in and through him. He tells me that he
has cured something like a quarter of a million of
people. * * * * Most of his cures are done without
fee or reward. In my own case he steadily refused to
take a single dollar, and I saw him act in like manner
towards several others. During my stay I witnessed
several instances of his healing power; some of them
being so manifest as to defy all attempts at explaining
them away. On the very morning that my own cure
was effected, I witnessed his cure of a paralytic who for
three years had been unable to walk without the aid of
crutches, and even then, only in a partial degree. This
woman was brought by her parents to Newport, and, in
less than five minutes from the time when she came
under Dr. Newton's hands, she got up from the couch
on which she had been laid, and walked away up the
street and baek again, a full mile, and afterwards
walked and ran and jumped and danced, as so many
signs that her cure was a complete one. I also saw him
cure a young man who had a withered hand. Indeed,
might have seen day by day, and hour by hour, ex-
amples of this healing power had I chosen to have done
so. Every now and again, there are trains from Boston
and Providence freighted with the lame, the halt, the
blind, and the diseased, sometimes to the number of
500 or 600. These come to Newport, and a large majo-
rity of them are sent away perfectly cured. In one part
of Dr. Newton’s house there is a room of considerable
size, full of crutches, sticks, spectacles, eye-shades
bandages, and other memorials of disease and sickness
which have been left behind by patients as so many
signs and trophies of their cure.


"FREDERICK ROWLAND YOUNG
“Minister of the Free Christian Church, Swindon
There are very many healing mediums in the
United States, who can do good only in certain
diseases, or whose powers are so feeble that suc-
cessful results may with more probability of accu-
racy be put down to the imagination of the
patient.
A great use of Spiritualism is that it demon-
strates the immortality of the soul. But why
ask, “Of what use is Spiritualism?” for here the
thing is in our midst as much a part of nature as
the trees, the clouds, and the flowers, and as it
cannot be abolished there is no alternative but to
subject it to investigation, or to look,on in igno-
rauce.


HOW TO FORM SPIRIT CIRCLES
An experimental trial at home, among famil-
friends and relatives, often gives the most satis-
factory evidence of the reality of spiritual pheno-
mena. At the same time, as no fully developed
medium is present among those who have never
obtained manifestations before, the probability is
that there will be no results. Nevertheless, it is
a very common thing for striking manifestations
to be obtained in this way at the first sitting of a
family circle; perhaps for every one successful
new circle thus started without a medium, there
are six or seven failures, but no accurate statistics
on this point have yet been collected. When
once manifestations have been obtained they will
gradually increase in power and reliability at suc-
cessive sittings. The following is a good plan of
action.


1. Let the room be of a comfortable temperature, but
cool rather than warm; let arrangements be made that


16


THE SPIRITUALIST.


DEC. 3, 1869.


nobody shall enter it, and that there shall be no inter-
ruption for one hour during the sitting of the circle.
Wet, damp, and foggy weather is bad for the production
of physical phenomena.
2. Let the circle consist of four, five, or six individuals
about the same number of each sex. Sit round an un-
covered wooden table, with all the palms of the hands
in contact with its top surface. Whether the hands
touch each other or not is usually of no importance.
Any table will do, just large enough to conveniently
accommodate the sitters. The removal of a hand from
the table for a few seconds does no harm, but when one
of the sitters breaks the circle by leaving the table it
sometimes, but not always, very considerably delays the
manifestations.
3. Before the sitting begins, place some pointed lead-
pencils and some sheets of clean writing paper on the
table, to write down any communications that may be
obtained.
4. People who do not like each other should not sit in
the same circle, for such a want of harmony tends to
prevent manifestations, except with well-developed
physical mediums; it is not yet known why. Belief or
unbelief has no influence on the manifestations, but an
acrid feeling against them is a weakening influence.
5. Before the manifestations begin, it is well to engage
in general conversation or in singing, and it is best that
neither should be of a frivolous nature. A prayerful,
earnest feeling among the members of the circle is likely
to attract a higher and more pleasing class of spirits.
6. The first symptom of the invisible power at work is
often a feeling like a cool wind sweeping over the hands
The first manifestations will probably be table tiltings or
raps.
7. When motions of the table or sounds are produced
freely, to avoid confusion, let one person only speak,
and talk to the table as to an intelligent being.
Let him tell the table that three tilts or raps mean
“Yes," one means “No,” and two mean “Doubtful
and ask whether the arrangement is understood. If
three signals be given in answer, then say, “If I speak
the letters of the alphabet slowly, will you signal ever
time I come to the letter you want, aud spell us out
message?" Should three signals be given, set to work
on the plan proposed, and from this time an intelligent
system of communication is established.
8. Afterwards the question should be put, “Are we
sitting in the right order to get the best manifestations:
Probably some members of the circle will then be told
to change seats with each other, and the signals will be
afterwards strengthened. Next ask, “ Who is the
medium?“ When spirits come asserting themselves to
be related or known to anybody present, well-chosen
questions should be put to test the accuracy of the
statements, as spirits out of the body have all the virtues
and all the failings of spirits in the body.


sible to comply with his demand. Faraday also
required an answer to the following questions,
among others, before attending :
“Would he [Mr. Home] be glad if their [the manifesta
tion’s] delusive charaeter were established and exposed
and would he gladly help to expose it, or would he be
annoyed and personally offended? [The italics in this
sentence are not in the original.]
“Does he consider the effects natural or supernatural?
If natural, what are the laws which govern them? or
does he think that they are not subject to laws? If
supernatural, does he suppose them to be miracles, or
the work of spirits? If the work of spirits, would an
insult to the spirits be considered as an insult to
himself?"
Mr. Home took no notice of tho above insults,
and, it is believed, never wrote Faraday in the
first instance, or took any notice of him whatever.
He never even saw his letters
Dr. John Tyndall, F.R.S., in a note dated May
8, 1868, commenting upon Faraday's letter just
mentioned, wrote:
“I hold myself in readiness to witness and investigate,
in the spirit of the foregoing letter [of Faraday's], such
phenomena as Mr. Home may wish to reveal to me
during the month of June."
A few days previously Mr. Home had written
in the Pall Mall Gazette:
“It will give me pleasure to meet Professor Tyndall
and any two gentlemen he shall designate. On my side
I shall have at least two gentlemen whose names and
position plaee them above the suspicion of aiding on
a betting a fraud. I will meet Professor Tyndall and
these gentlemen when and where they please, and
under such circumstances as they may decide on.
must only crave their patience if nothing should occur
at the first, or even the second, séance."
From that day to this Dr. Tyndall has not
accepted the above invitation.
A demand for a programme where no programme
can be given, and the writing of supercilious
letters in reply to eivil invitations, amounts prac-
tically to a refusal to observe faots. Dr. Tyndall,
and men who act like him, are recommended to
bear in mind the following words of Galileo:
“Oh, my dear Kepler, how I wish that we could have
our hearty laugh together. Here, at Padua, is the prin-
cipal professor of philosophy, whom I have repeatedly
and urgently requested to look at the moon and planets
through my glass, which lie pertinaciously refuses to do.
Why are you not here? What shouts of laughter we
should have at this glorious folly ; to hear the Professor
of Philosophy at Pisa, labouring before the Grand Duke
with logical arguments, as if with magical incantations
to charm the planets out of the sky!"
A little society known as the Dialectical Society,
is now investigating Spiritualism. It number
among its members many shrewd and intelligent
men, belonging chiefly to the legal and medical
professions. Spiritualists watch its proceedings
with a moderate amount of interest; nothing that
any man or body of men may say or do can alter
the established phenomena and laws of nature.
THE LITERATURE OF SPIRITUALISM.
The literature of Spiritualism now consists of
several hundreds of volumes, good, bad, and indif-
ferent, and almost entirely of American origin.
Among the best volumes on the subject are Mrs
De Morgan's From Matter to Spirit (Longmans)
with a preface by Professor De Morgan, President
of the Mathematical Society of London; The
Planchette, by Epes Sargent; Spiritualism (2 vols.)
by Judge Edmonds and G. T. Dexter, of New
York; a History of Spiritualism, by Emma Hard-
inge; and The Autobiography of Andrew Jackson
Davis. An interesting book, consisting simply of
narrations of facts witnessed at remarkable seances,
is Incidents of My Life (Longmans), by D. D.
Home. The Soul of Things, by Denton, is a curious
book indirectly connected with Spiritualism, and
worth reading. Those unacquainted with Spiri-
tualism are recommended to read these books in
the order in which they have just been mentioned.
The only large lending library of Spiritual books
in Great Britain is that belonging to Mr. J. Burns
15, Southampton-row, High Holborn, London,
W.C. The English periodicals on the subject
are, The Spiritual Magazine, Human Nature, Day-
break, and The Spiritualist.


inquirers; the sittings exhaust their vitality like a
hard days’ work, and they have to put up with
much abuse when uneducated roughs unaccus-
tomed to investigation persecute them by attend
ing. The inquirer should mention to the medium
civilly and kindly, his doubts respecting the
phenomena he may witness; the invisible beings
around will at once, on the spot, do their best to
remove those doubts, or an explanation will be
obtained from the medium. When there is real
foundation for suspicion, the best plan is to go
often to the medium, accompanied by witnesses
detect the imposture, and prosecute the medium
for obtaining money under false pretences.
Genuine manifestations are not under the control
of the medium, so that a paid medium who does
not get manifestations, is under a great temptation
to try to make them. This fact makes it difficult
for Spiritualists to speak absolutely as to the relia-
bility of any paid mediums, however genuine the
majority of the manifestations may be which occur
in their presence. After getting thoroughly inte-
rested in Spiritual phenomona, the inquirer should
take his friends to see them, and afterwards get up
a private circle in his own house. Manifestations
will most likely not be obtained at the first sitting,
but after very few or very many sittings they will
come; gradually the great barrier of the grave
whieh now separates friends will be broken down,
and after the experience of a year or two the
dread of the beautiful natural process, called
"death,” will be destroyed, as it is destroyed in
the minds of all experienced Spiritualists, except
those who during life have done harm to thein
fellow-creatures. Very high spirits and their
homes are perfectly invisible to very low spirits
this, coupled with the fact that there is no more
uniformity in the next world than there is here
accounts for the endless contradictions about spirit
life given in Spiritual communications.
An investigator of a logical and scientific turn of
mind may possibly have to closely follow up the
subject for some weeks before gaining the absolute
knowledge that the manifestations come fron
spirits. Unlike Mr. Homc and a few other excep-
tional individuals, most mediums are developed
for one or two special purposes only. Thus, vio-
lent physical manifestations, inexplicable by an
of the recognised laws of matter, may be seen in
the presence of one medium, but mental tests and
questions may bring forth a majority of inaccurate
aud unreliable answers. Where good mental tests
are obtainable through a medium, the physical
manifestations may be altogether absent.
There are so few public or semi-public spirit
circles at work in London, and the pressure for
admission is so great where the manifestations are
good, that the best plan for novices is usually to
try to get manifestations at home among their own


JOSEPH BARKER'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Now ready, neatly bound in cloth, price 2s. 6d.
TEACHINGS OF EXPERIENCE; or
Lessons I have Learned on my Way through
Life.
“At the time he told me of these things, I had become
rather uncharitable towards the Spiritualists, and very
distrustful of their statements, and the consequence was
that my friend’s acconnt of what he had witnessed,
and of the effect it had on his mind, made but little im-
pression on me. But when I saw things resembling
what my friend had seen, his account of what lie had
witnessed came back to my mind with great power, and
helped to increase my astonishment. ...“The result of
my visit to Dr. Redman was, that I never afterwards
felt the same impatience with Spiritualists, or the same
inclination to pronounce them foolish or dishonest, that
I had felt before. It was plain, that whether their theory
of a spirit world was true or not, they were excusable in
thinking it true. It looked like truth."—Pp. 163, 164
London: JAMES BEVERIDGE, 9, 10, 11, Fullwood's-rents,
Holborn, W.C


T LIFE POLICY-HOLDERS.
The
recent disclosures in the Chancery Court indis-
putably prove that neither the antiquity of a life office
nor the magnitude of its income, affords to the public
any security that the premiums they have paid for the
purpose of securing a sum of money to their families
may not be frittered away in costly amalgamations, or
jeopardised by fire, marine, or accidental risks
In order to remove this insecurity the BRITISH IM-
PERIAL INSURANCE CORPORATION was esta-
blished on the principle substantially adopted by Her
Majesty's Government for small policies, and carried out
through the medium of the Post-office.
The Life Funds of the British Imperial Corporation
are placed beyond the control of the Directors, being in-
vested in the Government Funds (for the sole purpose
of meeting policy claims) in the names of trustees, who
act independent of the Directors, and solely on behalf of
the policy-holders.
The system of investing Insurers' net premiums in
Consolidated three per cent. Annuities in Trustees'
names for the sole purpose of meeting Policy Claims
combined with the creation of a number of Separate
Trusts, presents entirely new elements of security to
Insurers.
Any section of the community who are dissatisfied
with the ordinary plan of entrusting their premiums to
the care of the Directors of a life office may, without
cost or risk, constitute themselves into a separate sec-
tion of the British Imperial Corporation, and appoint
their own trustees to control the life insurance funds
contributed by them.


Trustees:
Christopher Weguelin, Esq., Director of the Bank of
England (Messrs. Thomson, Bonar, and Co.)
Charles Oppenheim, Esq., Director of the Union Bank of
London (Messrs. S. Oppenheim and Sons).
William G. Goodliffe, Esq., Accountant-General, India
Office, Westminster.
Augustus F. Bayford, Esq., LL.D., Senior Registrar,
Court of Probate, Doctor's-commons, Chancellor of
the Diocese of Manchester.
Alderman Thomas Dilworth Crewdson, J.P., Greenheys,


Head Offices:
81, KING-STREET, AND 60, SPRING-GARDENS.
MANCHESTER
Chief Offices for London:
20, COCKSPUR-STREET, PALL-MALL


FEMALE MEDICAL SOCIETY.
Vice-Patrons:
His Grace the Duke of Argyll, K.T
Her Grace the Duchess of Argyll.
The Baroness do Rothschild.
The Countess de Noailles.
President:
The Right Honourable the Earl of Shaftesbury, K.G.
Treasurer:
Henry Charles Stephens, Esq., 171 Aldersgate-street, E.C.
Honorary Secretary:
James Edmunds, Esq., M.D.
Lady Secretary:
Mrs. Blangy.
Auditors:
Colonel Oldfleld, Ticehurst, Sussex.
Captain Webber, 94, Gower-street, W.C.
Bankers:
The London and County Bank, 441, Oxford-street.
Temporary Offices:
4, Fitzroy-square, Loudon, W


The Female Medical Society is established for the
following objects:
1.—To promote the employment of properly educated
women in the practice of Midwifery, and the treatment
of the Diseases of Women and Children.
2.—To provide educated women with proper facilities
for learning the theory and practice of Midwifery, and
the accessory branches of Medical Science.
Midwifery and the accessory branches of medicine
offer a wide fleld of honourable and lucrative employ-
ment for educated women; also a means of intellectual
culture and social usefulness to ladies who may not be
dependent upon their own exertions. For want of
properly qualifled ladies the best portion of the practice
of midwifery has drifted into the hands of gentlemen
though female practitioners still attend the bulk of the
population. But any person may undertake the duties
of a midwife. Proper means of study have never been
provided for women, and there has never been any
public examination, by which women when well qualified
might be distinguished from those who are illiterate and
unqualified.
The Society has carried on for five years the Ladies
Medical College, which has taught the theory and prac-
tice of Midwifery and the accessory branches of medi-
cine. Eighty-two ladies have alreadyavailed themselves
of its advantages, and many of these ladies are settled
in practice, and succeeding admirably.
A life subscription of ten guineas, or an annual sub-
scription of one guinea, constitutes a member of the
Society, but stamps or other small contributions will be
gladly received.
Lady subscribers of not less than one guinea are
invited to visit any Lectures in which they are likely to
be interested.
The addresses of skilled Lady Midwives, Prospectuses
of the College, and all particulars as to the operations of
the Society, may be obtained of the Lady Secretary.
Temporary Offices—4 Fitzroy-square, W.
Cheques to be crossed London and County Bank


Possibly at the first sitting of a circle symptoms
of other forms of mediumship than tilts or raps
may make their appearance. Information respect-
ing the many kinds of mediumship will be found
in Mrs. Professor De Morgan’s book, From Matter
to Spirit, published by Longmans; and this is a
good book to read before trying to start a new
circle. It usually takes several years for an
medium to attain full power, and it is not an
uncommon although not an everyday thing, for
chairs and other articles to move about in the
presence of a good well-developed physical medium
without anybody touching the articles at all. This
fact effectually disposes of Faraday’s “unconscious
muscular action” theory. Some have suggested
that the phenomena are all mental, since mental
conditions influence their production, and that
those present all believe they see and hear things
which they do not in reality see and hear. The
answer is that there is sometimes such a noise
with improperly powerful manifestations that the
sounds are heard all over the house by persons
not in the room; the furniture sometimes gets
broken by movements of too violent a character
and the broken portions remain as evidence that
the phenomena were not of a mental character.
The upholsterers' bills which result also serve to
convince that the occurrences are facts. The
ligher spirits seem to have little power over
common matter, and the highest communications
are not usually obtained through physical mani-
festations.
There are in England several very interesting
circles for physical manifestations, where the
spirits speak with audible voices, but, unfortu-
nately, total darkness is a necessary condition.
Non-spiritualists who are inquiring into the sub-
ject should have nothing to do with dark séances
which should be held only by those who know
each other, since they offer so many facilities for
fraud. When any circle regularly obtains power
ful physical manifestations, they may desire to sit
for the voices. The very slightest glimmer of
light must be exeluded from the room, while the
members of the circle sit round the table in the
ordinary way. One or two paper tubes, each
twelve or eighteen inches long, with an orifice
about an inch-and-a-half in diameter, should be
placed on the table. They may be readily made
by rolling up a piece of music and tying a few
pieces of cotton round the rough tube thus formed.
In the early stages of a voice-circle these tubes
are necessary for the use of the spirits, but after-
wards they may be dispensed with except when
the weather and other conditions are unfavour
able. When first trying to obtain the voices the
spirits may not be able to lift the tubes from the
table, afterwards they often get them up in the
air a foot or two and let them drop again. When
they get full control over them they can carry
them about up to the ceiling and to all parts of
the room, and they talk to the members of the
circle often while floating about above their heads.
Very beautiful luminous phenomena are some-
times shown by the spirits at dark circles. While
sitting for the voices, the spirits will tell by the
ordinary table signals how they are progressing in
their work of getting control of the tubes.
Every human being is surrounded by an atmo-
sphere which to the spirits is luminous and mate
rial, and this atmosphere is largely used by the
spirits in the production of the physical manifes-
tations. Baron Reichenbach, while he knew
nothing of Spiritualism, discovered by experiment
the presenee of unknown forces emauating from
human bodies, and published the results in his
Researches on Animal Magnetism. All the pheno-
mena of Spiritualism draw temporarily upon the
vital powers of those composing the circle, but
the medium is the chief source of energy.
A still atmospliere and subdued light in the
room are favourable conditions for the physical
manifestations.


ADVICE TO INQUIRERS.
Those who know no intelligent Spiritualists,
and nothing about Spiritualism, yet who want to
investigate, are recommended to begin by reading
the first two books mentioned in the preceding
paragraph. Then they should call upon the chief
publisher of Spiritual books in London, Mr. J.
Burns, 15, Southampton-row, Holborn (where they
are sure to be treated with attention and courtesy
and ask for the names and addresses of say four
good professional or non-professional mediums
accessible to the public, and “ recognised by Spiri-
tualists as reliable for powerful physical manifes-
tations.” There are plenty of mediums or of people
whofancy themselves mediums, who can rarely show
anything satisfactory, and with whom an inquire:
might waste much time. He should then get sa-
two sittings by daylight in his own house with
each of the four mediums, because the power
varies in strengtlh at times with every medium
at the end of the eight sittings he is sure to be
thoroughly interested in Spiritualism, and to have
thrown overboard the imposture theory, which is
the clumsiest and most superficial one of all.
Many of the public have vague ideas that electri-
city can do all kinds of unaccountable things, but
A GENUINE MEDIUM NEVER HAS ANY HESITATION
IN SITTING WITE A CIRCLE IN A HOUSE AND AMONG
FURNITURE WHICH HE OR SHE HAS NEVER SEEN IN
HIS OR HER LIFE BEFORE. Even with a good
medium it is best, if time be valuable, not to
investigate at crowded public circles, because,
assuming imposture to be at work, there is no
telling who may not be aiding, among the
numerous spectators. Besides, where so many
people want to ask questions of the spirits, the
investigator has not time to put many himself.
Investigators are recommended to be thus careful
in the selection of mediums, because as public
attention is gradually more rivetted upon Spiri-
tualism, impostors are sure to spring up, and even
to advertise in Spiritual periodicals, for the editors
manifestly cannot investigate the claims of ever
professing medium. At present (November, 1869)
thero is very little imposture mixed up with the
Spiritual movement in Great Britain, and there are
only four or five paid mediums in all London.
Good paid mediums deserve high praise rather
than that censure which is thrown upon them even
by Spiritualists; they find house-room; they are
ready to receive strangers at stated times when
private circles could not sit for the convenience of


HUMAN NATURE, a Monthly Record
of Zoistic Science, Intelligence, and Popular
Anthropology. Recent numbers give full details of the
extraordinary Manifestations through the celebrated
Medium, D. D. Home, Esq., with philosophical reason
ings as to the nature and cause of the phenomena: a
new series of lessons on Phrenology and the Tempera-
ments is being given, containing some new instructions
of great value to the student; first-class Portraits of
eminent men and women, with Biographies and Phreno-
logical delineations are frequently introduced; a serial
Tale of great power and beauty; articles on Physiology,
Diet, Temperance, and Health; translations from Con-
tinental Works and Periodicals; treatises on Mesmerism.
Clairvoyance, Spiritualism; reviews of Books; reports
of Lectures, Meetings, and Societies, renders this the
cheapest, most varied, and instructive Periodical of the
kind in the world. The fact that this Periodical is en-
tirely unbiased and devoted to the truth respecting all
the topics on which it treats, is a point not to be over
looked by all earnest investigators, whatever their
opinions may be. Post free, 7s. per annum, or 6d. per
month from the Booksellers. JAMES BURNS, Progres-
sive Library, 15, Southampton-row, Bloomsbury-square,
Holborn, London, W.C.


THE PROGRESSIVE LIBRARY and
SPIRITUALIST DEPOSITORY has been re-
moved from Camberwell to No. 15, Sonthampton-row
Bloomsbury-square, Holborn, W.C.
There is a Publishing Office and Shop for the sale of
Books; a Circulating Library of all Works on Spiritualism
&c.; a Reading-Room supplied with the Spiritual and
Progressive Publications of the World; a Drawing
Room for the special use of Ladies and Subscribers;
Private Rooms for Séances, Committees, Meetings, &c.,
and where all information respecting the Cause and the
Progress of events may be obtained
The Subscription, entitling to all the privileges of the
Establishment, including the use of two Books at a
time from the Library for home perusal, is 21s. per annum
A well-assorted Stock of Stationery, Periodicals, cur-
rent Progressive Literature, Standard Works, Cheap
Books and Tracts, Planchettes, Materials for Writing
and Drawing Mediums; also Works and Appliances or
Phrenology, Physiology, Health, and Dietctic Reform
Temperance, Hydropathy, Gymnastics, Mesmerism
Clairvoyance, Anthropology, &c., will be kept on sale
As the responsibilities incurred in establishing this
“Home for Spiritualism" and the Science of Man are
very heavy, the Proprietor carnestly solicits the kind
co-operation and support of all who sympathise with
the enterprise. Strangers in London should at once
call at the Progressive Library, where they may hear of
Lodgings and get other useful information
J. BURNS, Progressive Library, 15, Southampton-row,
Bloomsbury-square, Holborn, London, W.C.


R. J. L. OLIVE, Professor of Modern
Spiritual Science, 6, The Junction, Cambridge-
road, Kilburn, W. Mr. Olive is prepared to afford infor-
mation relative to Spiritualism, the Development on
Mediumistic power, &c., with facilities for investigation
of Phenomena. Reliable advice based on large medica
experience, and aided by beneficent Spirit Intelligences
may also be obtained for the relief of ailments of Body
or Mind. Consultation Fee, One Shilling


Contents.


Faraday’s Refusal to Observe Facts.
9
Spirit-rapping in John Wesley’s Family. Part II
9
... 10
Reichenbach at a Spirit Circle
REPORTS OF MEETINGS:—East London Association
of Spiritualists.—The Dialectical Society.
... 10
Lecture on Witchcraft
... 11
NEWSPAPER ABUSE:—Untruth from the Daily News 11
Spiritualism in all Ages ..
... 12
GENERAL NEWS:—The Dialectical Society.—Spirit
Identity.—Carlyle on Spiritualism.—Mrs. Gerald
Massey.—The Spiritual Magazine.—Anti-Spiritual
ism in West Hartlepool.—Lectures on Spiritualism
—East London Association of Spiritualists.—Spirit
Circles in London.—Mesmerism and Clairvoyance
—Spiritualism in Bristol.—Darwin on Man.—The
Value of Reason.—An Eccentric Wil
... 12
LEADER:—The Philosophy of Spiritual Manifesta-
tions
... 13
The Psychology of Children’s Books...
13
POETRY:—On Injudicious Attempts to make Prose-
lytes—Birdie's Song
... 14
CORRESPONDENCE:—A Cornish Ghost Story.—Evi-
dence at the Dialectical Society.— A Haunted Castle 14
Scientific Aid to Spiritualism
... 14
PARAGRAPHS:— What the North Londoner thinks, 11
Mr. Pepper's Last Ghost, 11.—Curious Suspension
of Speech, 11.—Plasticity of the Mind, 11.—The
Effects of Mediumship, 11—"Assumptions," 11
The “Spiritualist," 11.—Fear of the Unknown, 12.
Periodical Literature, 14.—Thoughts of a Mole, 14.


SPIRITUALISM AND MEN OF SCIENCT
Sir J. Emerson Tennent once invited Faraday
to a séance at which Mr. Home was to be the
medium. Faraday wrote and asked for a pro-
gramme of the manifestations, and as nobody
knows beforehand what will take place at a circle
any more than the details of an expected star-
shower can be given in advance, it was not pos-


"THE NEWSPAPER PRESS"—THE PRESS ORGAN
HIS JOURNAL is the adopted and re-
cognised Representative of the Newspaper in
terests, and the medium of intercommunication between
Proprietors, Editors, Reporters, Correspondents, Pub-
lishers, Printers, and all parties associated with News-
papers.
Subscriptions, 4s. per annum, post free, payable in ad-
vance.
London: E. W. ALLEN, Publisher, 11, Ave Maria-land


Printed for the Proprietor by JAMES BEVERIDGE, at the
Holborn Printing Works, Fullwood’s Rents, High
Holborn, in the Parish of St. Andrew-above-Bar and
St George the Martyr, London, and publislied by E
W. ALLEN, Ave Maria-lane, London, E.C.


2


THE SPIRITUALIST.


Nov. 19, 1869.


GOD IS LOVE.' At each letter of the name of God a
tremulous motion of the table was perceptible.
At Mr. Home’s suggestion one of the sceptics asked
that the table should be made light, and to his surprise
when he placed his hand under the edge of the table it
moved up as lightly as a sheet of paper. He then said,
'Please let it be heavy,' and it required considerable
exertion to move it off the ground. Each of the sceptics
tried this experiment in turn, and with the same result.
Two of them then went with Mr. Home into another
room where there was a heavy mahogany loo table on
a pillar and claw, and immediately they placed their
hands on it, it tilted from one side to the other; and
when Mr. Home was sitting some three feet away from
it, it moved about two feet in the opposite direction to
that in which Mr. Home was sitting. The table be-
came very light and very heavy by turns, and oscillated
violently without shaking off a small statuette standing
under a glass shade in the centre of it. The chairs
also moved, and the room appeared to shake, whilst
raps were heard on the walls, the windows, and on the
table itself. Returning to the other room, the whole
party sat again round the table, and an accordion of
Mr. Jones’s, which had been previously inspected by
the sceptics, was observed to rock upon the table; and
Mr. Home, having asked whether the spirits wished to
play upon it, and being answered in the affirmative, he
held the accordion at arm’s length by the lower end of
it (that is, not the key end) under the table, one of the
sceptics moving his seat so that he could observe the
movements of the accordion. The accordion then com-
menced playing, and the 'Blue Bells of Scotland’ being
mentioned by Mr. Bremner, a bar or two of that air
was played; then Mr. Jones asked for some echoes, and
a series of echoes proceeded from the accordion with
remarkable precision and a very beautiful effect. Some
louder strains then proceeded from the accordion, and
Mr. Home held the accordion close to the feet of the
writer hereof, so that he could feel the keys moving up
and down against his feet. Mr. Ward was asked to
look under the table ; he did so, and saw the accordion
playing—Mr. Home only holding it by the reverse end,
and with one hand, his other hand being upon the
table. The accordion then ceased playing, and repeated
raps being heard, the alphabet was ealled over, and the
following words spelt out : 'We regret that we can do
no more.'
“We do not intend to enter upon any speculations
as to the cause of the manifestations we have related
We are not believers in Spiritualism, although we
confess ourselves totally unable to discover the cause,
or the motive power of what we here relate. Mr. Home
was at times sitting away from the table when raps
were heard and movements felt. The accordion he
eertainly only held by one hand. We were allowed
to watch him as closely as we pleased. He did not
fix his attention upon any of us, or we might have
imagined ourselves under mesmeric influence. We
were permitted to examine the furniture, to move it
about, to make any remarks, and to ask any questions
we pleased. We were perfectly sober. Some tea and
coffee had been served out—the writer partook of none;
and we are as we have said, utterly unable to say from
what cause or by what power the various incidents
occurred. We can only say that they certainly hap-
pened very nearly as we have recorded them, and we
have to thank Mr. Jones and Mr. Home for thein
courtesy towards us. We went to Mr.Jones’s house disbe-
lieving his statements of fact: we saw phenomena which
were sufficient to show us that all he has related could
occur by the same power, whatever that power may be."


WHY GALILEO WAS PERSECUTED.
In the days of old, men who taught unpopular
scientific truths received proper attention at the hands
of the Holy Inquisition. In these days things are not
so bad. Because of the backward state of education in
England, the public and the newspapers begin by ridi-
culing and abusing unpopular facts, but when they find
the facts too strong for them, it is possible to raise the
cry of—“ Investigate ! investigate !”—which cry ought
to be raised at the outset. The reason why Galileo
was imprisoned, and threatened with (if he did not
actually receive) the torture, is shown in the official
condemnation giving the following dogmatical declara-
tion of the Cardinals :—“ That the sun is the centre of
the world, and immoevable in respect of local motion, is
an absurd proposition, false in philosophy, and formally
heretical ; seeing it is expressly contrary to Holy Scrip-
ture. That the earth is not the centre of the world,
nor immoveable, but moves even with a diurnal motion,
is also an absurd proposition, false in philosophy, and
considered theologically, is at least an error in faith."
For these heretical, absurd propositions, Galileo was
condemned to the prison of the Holy Inquisition, and
enjoined, under the title of salutary penitence, that
during three years he was to recite once a week the
seven penitential psalms. At seventy years of age he
was compelled on his knees to abjure and recant the
false dogma, that the sun is the centre of the motion of
the world, and immoveable, and that the earth is not the
centre, and moves.


ST. JOHN'S ASSOCIATION OF SPIRITUALISTS.
ON Thursday, November 4th, a lecture on Spiritualism was
delivered in connection with the St. John’s Association of
Spiritualists, at the St. John’s Temperance Hall, 7, Corpora-
tion-row, Clerkenwell, by Mr. John Jones, of Enmore-park
South Norwood. Mr. Jones is a retired City merchant, and a
well-known friend of Spiritualism. The admission was free,
and the room was completely filled with an audience who
listened to the lecturer with respectful attention through-
out. The lecture was illustrated by a series of dissolving
views, painted and thrown on the screen by Mr. Henry Biel-
field.
Mr. JONES said that his lecture was probably but the first
of a series of the same description, which it is intended to
deliver in all parts of London during the coming winter. At
one time the public when speaking of a Spiritualist would
tap their foreheads with the finger, and say, "Ah! poor
fellow ! There’s something wrong here!"
Now, all that
feeling is dying out, and one of deep and absorbing interest
in Spiritualism is taking its place. Many now wish to under-
stand it, which it is not so easy to do ; the supernatural can
not be understood because it is so high above our own powers
of mind and body. On the preceding evening he had been
present at a meeting of the Dialectical Society—a body of
materialists, who look upon themselves as something like
grasshoppers, having a brief existence here, and then going
off somewhere, they are not sure where, but they believe
neither in devils nor in angels. In a reply which he (Mr.
Jones) read on the preceding evening at the Dialectical
Society, in answer to some attacks on Spiritualism, he ven-
tured to give definitions of his opinion of the natural
and supernatural. In one sense there is nothing super-
natural, for all universal nature seen or unseen is natural,
whether organic or inorganic. He stated that there were
two classes of intelligent beings in nature, some of them
in a body of flesh, and the others outside of it. All
movements which man can make, whether physical or chemi-
cal, he defined to be natural. All movements which spirits
can make by means of the visible or invisible forces of
nature which man cannot make, he defined as supernatural.
Spiritual ideas are difficult of acceptance to thorough ma-
terialists. If one fish told another that there were strange
beings in another atmosphere, who did not use fins for loco-
motion, but who walked on two legs, other fishes, materialists,
would laugh at the statement. In like manner spirits are in a
different state to man, and they think and act differently
from us. People often say in a conceited way, “ Well, if there
are spirits in our midst, why don’t they do so and so ?"—ex
pecting beings in a higher state of existence to be at the
beck and call of anybody who makes idle suggestions. Even
though spirits be but human beings out of the flesh, the
stand upon a higher plane of existence. To go into some of
the details of the subject, he would state that there are
essences or forces emanating from all substances, which pro
duce effects on matter visible to the eye. He might, for
illustration, quote the fact that if a plate of bright easily
oxidisable metal was suspended for a moderate length
of time over a manure heap, its surface would become tar-
nished by the simple chemical action of the gases emanat-
ing below, but there are also emanations of a more subtle
nature from all substances. God had given him (Mr. Jones)
thirteen children, five of whom are now alive, and as he was
a man who never sought publicity or public honours of an
description, his delight had always been to spend his evenings
with his children at home trying experiments of a somewhat
strange nature. He had thus found out many curious facts as
to the action of the emanations from shells and minerals upon
clairvoyant sensitives, and when he first heard of Spiritualism
he came to the conclusion that it was all caused by the action
upon clairvoyants of the forces emanating from surrounding
material objects, but the sight of a few of the simplest of the
phenomena of Spiritualism soon convinced him of his error.
His experiments with shells and mincrals were conducted in
a room absolutely and perfectly dark. One of his best clair-
voyant patients was a lady, and in her presence he one by
one took some English and foreign shells out of the paper in
which they were wrapped, and placed them on the top of the
piano. The sensitive, who saw luminous emanations from the
shells, would say of one shell, “ That’s blue,” and of another,
“That’s pink.” From some she saw long lambent flames and
smoke arising, which sometimes reached as high as the ceil
ing; some shells looked dark like pewter, and had a painful
influence upon the clairvoyant. After being in the dark roon
some time she said she could see him and everything in it
quite distinctly. His hearers might say, “ How did he know
Well, he tested that by
that he was not duped by the girl?"
means of a fresh lot of perhaps two dozen shells, bringing
each of them for a short time within range of her eyes in the
dark room, and then taking it into the light, and writing
down what she said about each shell. The clairvoyant never
saw them in the light at all. He then placed them on the
top of the piano, and told the clairvoyant to write out in the
pitch dark room a description of the emanations from each
shell, and place the description on the shell itself. This was
done, and when lights were admitted he found that the two
descriptions of each shell agreed exactly, in every case but
one. Lately he had been regretting that he did not think at
the time to break up that one sbell, and give her the pieces to
examine separately, to see whether there was much difference
in the emanations from the different parts. The aura from
the shells is disturbed by the motion of the air, and sensitives
are sometimes made very ill by shells containing traces of
putrefying matter. The lecturer then spoke of the aura fron
magnets, as seen in the experiments of Reichenbach and
others, and pointed out how iron filings or Taranaki iron sand
may be sifted over a table, and the particles made to arrange
themselves in the lines of magnetic force, when a magnet is
placed at some little distance beneath. Here, then, is an
invisible force proceeding right through a wooden table, and
moving solid matter on the other side. Give a spirit the
necessary conditions, and it can also throw invisible power to
make solid objects move. A mesmeric aura, seen by sensi-
tives, proceeds from every human being, and influences the
actions of people more than most of them are aware. As
combustion of the elements of food goes on in the body, this
aura is thrown out, and by the exercise of the will-power it
can be sent in any desired direction. This aura often has
health-giving properties, so that certain individuals have the
power to a large extent of curing the sick by mesmeric influ-
ence. Many may doubt the reality of these emanations
because they themselves cannot see them, still that is no
proof that they do not exist. Sunlight is built up of many
colours, which nobody can see in the light itself, but the


philospher takes his prism, disentangles the mixed rays in
white light, and spreads them out in all the beautiful colours
of the rainbow. By invisible forces then, the spirits, when
the necessary conditions are supplied them, can act upon solid
matter. He had seen an accordion belonging to himself, with
no hidden machinery inside, which, when held in only one of
the hands of Mr. Home, the medium, produced the most ex-
quisite music. The accordion is so much used by spirits
because no tricks of man can possibly get music out of it
under these conditions. The spirits give different tunes
grave or gay, according to the humour of the circle at the
time, and when in a serious mood they will sometimes give
music of the most exquisite and ethereal beauty, now swelling
out with a grand roll as if from a great organ, and gradually
dying away. Such music no man could bring out of the same
instrument.
A VOICE—Did the accordion move, sir?
Mr. JONES—Yes; it expanded and contracted. He con
tinued by saying that he had seen it sometimes travel round
the room playing in the air, touched by no visible person, and
this too in the presence of from eight to twelve witnesses.
He had seen a table go up to the ceiling in the presence of
seven individuals, holding distinguished positions in life, and
one of them wrote about it in The Cornhill Magazine, in an
article headed “Stranger than Fiction.” Friends of his,
whose statements he could perfectly trust, had seen three
tables floating round the room at the same time, but he had
not seen this himself. Sometimes the spirits controlled the
hand of a person—of a writing medium—and while he was
talking with those around him, would make him write out
intclligent messages, sometimes with as much velocity as if
his arm were driven by a steam engine.
A VOICE—I suppose you want us to believe all this?
Mr. JONES calling attention to a very pretty picture of a
chrysalis, caterpillar, and butterfly, upon the screen, said that
it was a picture of a natural resurrection, and asked if they
had never seen the insect except in this condition (the cater-
pillar), would they ever believe it would come to that (point
ing to the butterfly). Very beautiful invisible phenomena
are diffused everywhere in nature. The rose and the flower
of the garden throw off their invisible fragrance, and where
there is fragrance there must be substance. To spirits, who
see the aura thrown off by flowers, a garden glows with all
the varied hues of the rainbow. [At this point another pic-
ture was thrown upon the screen, representing the spirit leav-
ing the head of a dying woman, and angels receiving the
newly-born spirit].
Here, said Mr. Jones, is the spiritual
resurrection. Here is the thing called death. I know some
thing of death, for I have lost eight children, and have also
sat by the dying bed of brothers and sisters. Once I sat at
such scenes weeping and wailing, but now I no longer grieve
so deeply, and sorrow only because they are leaving me alone
in my old age, though going from me to a land of beauty,
light, and love. Mr. Jones continued that the next picture
represented an angel pointing out to St. John the beauties
the New Jerusalem, and he had had the picture introduced
because he was one of those who believed in the Old and
New Testaments. They would remember that when the
angel gave St. John the Revelation, the latter fell down on his
knees to worship, but the angel said to him, “ I am of thy
fellow-servants and thy brethren the prophets.” An angel
then, is only a spiritualised prophet. The very best text-book
of Spiritualism is the Bible. (Applause). Nearly all the
phenomena seen at the present day in spiritual circles, are
clearly described in the Bible, though in those days there
may have been greater power at work. Still Spiritualism is
spreading in England far and wide. The literature of Eng-
land is saturated with Spiritualism, for very many of the
writers are well up in the subject, though most of them do
not wish it to be known; it has even forced its way among
the scientific journals, and the literature of England works
its way all over the world.*
The lecturer then sat down amid loud applause, and the
meeting closed with the usual votes of thanks.


SUMMARY OF THE EVIDENCE GIVEN BEFORE
THE DIALECTICAL SOCIETY.
OF all the subjects that ever engaged the attention of a
learned society, Spiritualism has proved to be the strangest
as shown by the evidence given before the Dialectical Socicty
and reported in a fragmentary way by most of the daily
papers during the present year. Portions of the evidence
of those witnesses who would allow their statements to be
made public were regularly reported in a good east-Londor
paper, called The Eastern Post. Some of the witnesses. in
consequence of fear of adverse public opinion, or of injury to
business reputation, would not let their evidence be reported
at all in the public papers; others requested the suppression of
their names, but most of them took no shelter of this kind.
The following information is abstracted by us for the most
part from long reports in The Eastern Post, extending over the
issues of some months.
The London Dialectical Society was established three years
ago ; to consider "all subjects with a view to the elucidation of
truth," taking up questions not ordinarily investigated by
other scientific societies. Sir John Lubbock, Bart., F.R.S., is
the president of the Society, and among the vicc-presidents
are Professor Huxley, F.R.S., Lord Amberley, Mr. G. H.
Lewes, and Miss Frances Power Cobbe. At one of the meet-
ings a physician read a paper on some very extraordinary
phenomena which he had witnessed himself, and it was stated
that the physical and other facts of Spiritualism were believed
to be real by Professor De Morgan (President of the Mathe-
matical Society of London), Mr. C. F. Varley, C.E., F.R.G.S.
Mr. Robert Chambers, Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall, Mr. William
Howitt, aud others of like eminence. A somewhat acrimonious
debate followed, in which the Spiritualists were in a great
minority, and a committee of thirty persons was appointed to
investigate the phenomena alleged to be spiritual manifesta-
tions, and to report thereon.” This committee, under the
chairmanship of Dr. Edmunds, comprises members of the
legal, medical, and clerical professions, as well as a few engi-
neers and architects, and some gentlemen of general scientific
and literary attainments. Mr. Serjeant Cox has all along
taken a very prominent part in questioning the witnesses.
The plan of proccedings is to take the evidence of witnesses
which will be published hereafter in a book), and to witness
all the phenomena which can be brought under the notice of
the investigators. Of the great quantity of testimony already
given, the following are a few of the most striking items :


* Practical information about sensitives, who are very numerous in
society, and how to perform many of the curious experiments mentioned
by Mr, Jones, will be found in Baron Von Reichenbach’s book on Mag-
netism. There is a work on tho action of shells and minorals upon sensitives
entitled The Soul of Things, by Denton.—ED


Reports of Meetings.


Nov. 19, 1869.


THE SPIRITUALIST.


3


Mr. H. D. JENCKEN, M.R.I., F.R.G.S., Barrister-at-Law,* of
Kilmorey House, Penge, deposed that he had often seen the
levitations of Mr. Home’s body. He had seen Mr. Home’s
bodyrise in the air, and pass out of one open window and into
another at Ashley House, near the Victoria Railway Station
and he had seen him gliding in the air, several feet above the
ground, at Adare Manor. He had often heard the raps, and
seen tables suspended in the air without visible means of sup-
port, and once, at the house of Dr. Gully, at Great Malvern,
he had seen an accordion suspended in space, and played by
invisible agencies, the music being accompanied by three
spirit voices chanting a hymn. He also deposed that he had
seen Lord Adare hold in his bare hand, without pain, a burn-
ing live coal which Mr. Home had placed there, and which
burnt the hands of other persons who only touched it momen-
tarily. He had likewise seen a burning coal similarly placed
on the top of the head of Mr. S. C. Hall, F.S.A., Barrister
at-Law, without any injury resulting. He had seen Mr. Home
place his head in the flames of the grate, and seen the flame
playing between the locks of Mr. Home’s hair, but no injury
or pain resulted. He had seen the elongation and the con-
traction both of the body of Mr. Home and Miss Bertolacci;
he had also often seen spirit hands and forms at circles.
Many witnesses besides himself had seen these things at the
same time.
The Rev. J. MURRAY SPEAR, of 14, Ampthill-square, Hamp-
stead-road, N.W., deposed that he was an American, and had
no belief in Spiritualism, till one day he found his hand moved
as a writing medium. The first message was— "We wish yor
to go to Abingdon to see David Binning.” He knew no such
person, but made inquiries for David Binning at Abingdon
U.S., and found him very ill with neuralgia. Instantly some-
thing passed from his (Mr. Spear’s) hand to Mr. Binning, the
latter felt a shock or two, then all pain ceased, and he was
cured. These facts he considcred proved intelligence and
benevolence on the part of the unseen power. Mr. Spear nar-
rated also other incidents.
Mr. E. L. BLANCHARD, the well-known author, deposed
that he went to Marshalls’, the paid mediums, for the express
purpose of showing them up in the newspapers. The mani-
festations he saw there compelled him to know that they came
from spirits. He had seen a small spark appear on the floor
and gradually grow into a hand, which had power to lift up a
handkerchief when thrown upon it. He had been uplifted by
the spirits himself, and kept for some time in the air, but for
somc years past he had refused to let them use him as a
medium, as it was inconvenient to be interfered with by them
when printers were waiting for “copy."
Mr. J. JONES, of Enmore-park, South Norwood, deposed
that when in Mr. Home’s presence he had seen a chair floating
through the air, and had seen his own mother, an aged lady,
raised off the ground, chair and all, by invisible agencies.
These things all occurred in the presence of many witnesses,
Apart from the physical manifestations, the communication
made by the spirits were of a high order of intelligence and
benevolence, and had done much good in his family.
Mr. C. F. VARLEY. C.E., F.R.G.S., the electrician, deposed
that the first spiritual message he ever received told him that
on a certain day, hour, and minute, an ulcer would break in
the throat of a lady relative, and that if he made certain pre-
parations there was a chance that she would survive the trial.
Everything took place as predicted. As he did not knov
beforehand that the ulcer would break then, and as the lady
did not know it, and was not told of the message till the
danger was over, he believed that his communicants told the
truth when they said they were spirits. He also narrated hov
a spirit gave the same message to himself at Beckenham, and
to a gentleman at Birmingham on the same night, neither of
them expecting any such message, or anticipating the con-
tents. The forces called electricity and magnetism by Spiri-
tualists are not electricity, and are not magnetism. He said
that all who give evidence on Spiritualism should always
doubt the accuracy of the observing instrument, namely,
“themselves,” and chiefly select cases in which their testi-
mony can be amply supported by other witnesses of the same
facts. †
Mrs. HONEYWOOD said that at one of her sittings, at which
Mr. Home was the medium, the table rose, and the roon
vibrated so violently that an engineer present said that
nothing but the strongest machinery would cause such oscilla-
tion. An accordion was played in the air, Mr. Home holding
one strap. Three or four persons mentally wished for par-
ticular tunes, unknown to Mr. Home, and they were played.
The Hon. Mrs. EGERTON deposed—Tle most remarkable
manifestations I have seen were those of last Sunday evening
at my house. We were scated in a room which would have
been dark but for the light outside. We first heard raps, and
then we saw a figure at the window. It entered, and then
figures came trooping in by dozens. One waved its hand and
passed through us—the atmosphere became fearfully cold. A
figure—that of a relative—passed behind my chair, leaned
over, and brushed my hair lightly with its hand. It was eight
feet high, and approaching the person of Lindsay, passed
through him. He sobbed hysterically from the intense cold
But the most extraordinary thing of all was, the laughter
One of us said something, and all the spirits laughed with
joy. The sound was indescribably strange, and it appeared to
us as if it came from the ground. We were seven in number.
Five of the seven saw just what I have described, and the
others saw something, but not so distinctly. Mr. Home said
there were nineteen spirits in the room at one time, and I
could see their eyes—peculiarly brilliant cyes—looking at us
Mr. Home said to me, “Don’t be frightened, there is a spirit
coming to you !” and in a few moments I saw the bright eyes
of the spirit looking at me. The figure was defined. There
were no clothes, but there was a peculiar rustle like that of
silk. The faces were not defincd to my view, but Mr. Home
said he could see them; they had bare faces. Mr. Home was
in the trance state, walking about the room. I did not sleep
much that night, for the spirits followed me to my room.
Mr. Home had no previous access to the room where the
séance took place beyond having dined there.
Mr. DANIEL D. HOME, in the course of his deposition, said
that once his body was elongated about eight inches, when
Lord Adare had hold of his head, and the Master of Lindsay
had hold of his feet. He had seen a pencil lifted by a spirit
hand write on paper in the presence of the Emperor Napoleon.
This took place in a large room, the Salon Louis Quinze. The
Empress was also present. The hand, after writing, went to
the Emperor, who kissed it; it then went to the Empress; she
withdrew from the touch, and the hand followed her. The


The English gentleman who was recently nearly murdered by a mob in
Spain, as reported in The Times.
† A burlesque of the weakest part of Mr. Varley’s evidence was published
in The Echo newspaper. In the report he was made to speak in the first
person words which he never uttered, and the few paragraphs forming the
burlesque were printed as if they constituted the whole of his evidence
before the Dialectical Society, which occupied more than an hour in delivery.


Emperor said, “ Do not be frightened, kiss it!”. She then
kissed it, and it shortly afterwards disappeared. The writing
was an autograph of the Emperor Napoleon I. The Emperor
of Russia has also seen and handled spirit hands, which after-
wards seemed to melt away into thin air.
Mrs. Cox, of Cox’s Hotel, Jermyn-street, said that she had
seen Mr. Home, as well as furniture, floating in the air, and
that the spirits had cured her of an ailment (something the
matter with her side) of many years’ standing.
The COUNTESS DE POMAR said that she had witnessed the
handling of red hot coals with bare fingers without pain
resulting.
Signor DAMIANI, a Sicilian gentleman, residing at Clifton
Bristol, said that at Mrs. Mary Marshall’s, who did not knov
him, a spirit had communicated with him, professing to be his
sister. He replied that he had never had a sister of that name.
The spirit answered that he was mistaken. Accordingly, he
wrote to his mother, then in Sicily, and leart that a sister or
that name had died in infancy. The spirits, he said, are good
bad, and indifferent, as upon earth, and some of them are
ragamuffins.
The MASTER OF LINDSAY, Grosvenor-square, deposed that
he had seen Mr. Home elongated, that he had seen him float-
ing through the air, and that he had seen him float out of the
window at Ashley House, as narrated by Mr. Jencken. He
had also, while in bed in the same room with Mr. Home, seen
the spirit of Mr. Home’s wife in a long, flowing gown, which
hung without belt from the shoulders. The figure appeared
quite solid, and not at all transparent.
Mr. B. COLEMAN, Bernard-villas, Upper Norwood, said that
some years ago, soon after he had arrived in New York, he
called upon Miss Kate Fox, the celebrated American medium,
and expressed his curiosity to learn something of this latest
and most remarkable phase of Spiritualism. While seated by
her side on the sofa three loud raps were heard on the table
(which was in the centre of the room), apparently in answer
to some jocular remark he had made. “It seems we have
listeners here,” he said. The three raps were repeated. It
may be remarked, for the sake of the uninitiated, that in the
spiritualistic system of telegraphy three raps are generally
understood to imply an affirmative. “ Shall we come to the
table?” Three raps. “Is there any spirit here waiting to
communicate with me?”. Three raps again. “Will you tell
me your name?” he asked. The answer was spelt out by
means of an alphabet, “ Your stepson Harry.
(The medium
could scarcely have known the fact of his having a stepson of
that name, for he was an entire stranger in the city.) “How
happy I am to be able once more to converse with you.” Here
there appeared to be a break in the sentence, for the table
proceeded to rap out the words, “ Let me speak;” and Miss
Fox suggested that it was perhaps another spirit who desired
to speak to him. The table rapped assent. “ Is there another
spirit present, then, who wishes to communicate with me?” I
then asked. “Yes.” “Are you a friend of mine?”. “Yes."
“A relative?” “Yes.” “Your name?” “Annie.” Mr.
Coleman assured the committee that he had been unable at
the moment to recollect any one in his family of that name
and that he had accordingly denied stoutly that he had an
such relative. The words were then spelt out—“ O how your
voice recalls the memory of the past. How rejoiced I am to
be able to thank you for your kindness to my daughter Eliza.”
It was his wife’s mother who had “passed away” twenty-five
years ago. He also mentioned a rather remarkable fact that
had occurred while he was staying at Malvern. He had been
conversing on Spiritualism with the family at whose house he
was lodging, and had afterwards gone out to see a friend in
the neighbourhood. On his return he was proceeding straight
way to bed, when the master of the house came rushing into
his room, and asked him, for Heaven’s sake, to come down
stairs immediately. He accordingly went, and upon entering
the drawing-room a strange sight met his gaze. Miss
-, a
young lady who was staying in the house, was lying on the
sofa in violent hysterics. Mrs.
appeared overwhelmed
with terror, and a small tripod table was dancing frantically
up and down the room, as if delighted beyond measure at the
consternation it had created. On Mr. Coleman’s entrance the
table ambled towards the door, made a low bow to him, and
then proceeded to execute a series of Terpsichorean extrava-
gances of a most curious and remarkable description. He then
strove to calm the young lady; she was just beginning to re-
cover when the table came bobbing towards her in a most
extraordinary manner, and sent her off again. Mr. Coleman
then went to the table, and placing his hand upon it, said
“We have had enough of this nonsense. In God’s name, go;"
when the movemonts instantly ceased. Upon explanation, it
appeared that during his absence they thought they would try
for themselves whether there was any truth in Spiritualism on
not. A circle was formed, consisting of the father, mother
and daughter, her friend Miss
and a bluff, incredulous
Yorkshireman. The most surprising results were obtained
“It was the most extraordinary thing I ever saw,” said the
Yorkshireman afterwards to me, “that table talked to me
and told me of my father and mother for all the world like a
human” [sic]. At another séance at which Mr. Coleman had
been present with Mr. D. D. Home, the table rose right up to
the ceiling, he all the time holding Mr. Home’s hands firmly
in his own. This, too, was in a private house, where all the
persons in the circle were friends of his own, and incapable of
trickery or imposture. He had also seen, while sitting with
the same circle, a beautiful hand and arm, which he was cer-
tain could not have belonged to any one present, appear above
the table and ring a bell. The same hand was afterwards
placed in his hand.
Mr. Serjeant Cox remarked that he had heard of women
who could make people believe they were tormented by a
wasp; that they could smell flowers, and so on, by the mere
exercise of their will. He desired to ask Mr. Coleman how he
could be certain he was not biologised at the time, and merely
imagining these things.
Mr. COLEMAN said—Biology might explain some of the
phenomena, but there were others that it could not possibly
account for—such, for instance, as spirit drawings. He had
been present at the production of several elaborate crayon
drawings in spaces of time varying from seven to ten seconds.
He had himself previously marked the paper so as to enable
him with certainty to identify it. These drawings were still
in his possession, and he would be glad to exhibit them to the
committee. The modus operandi for the production of these
spirit drawings was very remarkable. Clean pieces of paper
with crayons, were placed in a covered box; a rapid
scratching of the paper was then heard, and in a few seconds
the crayons were heard to fall, and the drawing was ready for
inspection. He would like to know how biology could account
for this.
Mr. BORTHWICK said that without desiring to propound an
theory with regard to the phenomena, he could certainly
substantiate the statement of Mr. Coleman with regard to


spirit drawings. The blank paper was marked by those
present and placed under a shawl which had been tied round
the table; a scratching noise was then heard, and in from
seven to nine seconds the drawing was completed.
M. CHEVALIER expressed his belief that the manifestations
were diabolical, and said that one spirit had candidly acknow-
ledged to him that he was the Devil. The manifestations at
his house always stopped at the name of the Trinity.
The Countess ADELINA DE POMAR then made a few re-
marks to the effect that it was very narrow-minded and wrong
to drive away as diabolical those poor spirits who chanced
not to believe in the Trinity.
Miss HOUGHTON, of 20, Delamere-crescent, Westbourne
square, W., deposed that for years she had refused to com-
municate with any spirits but those who confessed their belief
in the Trinity, and joined with the members of the circle in
prayer. The manifestations did not stop at the name of the
Trinity, and her spirit friends were good ones.
Miss ANNA BLACKWELL, of the Avenue d’Eylau, Paris, deposed
that at her séances they always began with prayer. Once at
Mr. S. C. Hall’s the spirits said, “ Now, pay attention, and we
will show you how we form things out of the air!"
They
watched, and presently they saw the air become thick, fog
like, in one spot, and then it became solidified into cloth.
That cloth was passed around, examined, pulled, and was
seen to be such a piece of cloth as might be sewn on a
trowsers. It was then put down, and gradually melted away
into the air.
Mr. PERCIVAL, an officer in the Guards, narrated several
instances in which, after prayer, he had seen some of the
future events of his life pass before his eyes, and that these
visions, together with the persons represented in them, were
afterwards met with in reality.
Mr. HAIN FRISWELL. author, deposed that he had seen the
manifestations in Mrs. Marshall’s presence in his own house.
He knew they were real, and the ladies of his family had
even searched Mrs. Marshall, clothes and all, thoroughly.
Raps and table movings had also been obtained by the mem-
bers of his own family without the presence of a professional
medium. He regarded it all as the work of the Devil.
A great many other persons also deposed that they had seen
certain remarkable manifestations. At one of the meetings
of the society, when fifty or sixty ladies and gentlemen were
present, including the reporters of several London news-
papers, Mrs. Mary Marshall, the medium, of 2, Bennett-street
St. James’s, W., attended. A public séance was the result.
The mental tests were failures in all cases but one, when a
name asked for and unknown to the medium was signalled
out. The physical manifestations were successful, as the
table bounced about the room, and got up on a sofa, without
anybody being able to detect trickery. Raps also came upon
one of the folding doors, at a distance from the medium, in a
good light, with plenty of witnesses looking on. The pro-
ceedings were fully reported in the Daily Telegraph next
morning. The other practical investigations made by the
Dialetical Society have been conducted in private, and have
not yet been published. The inquiry into this subject will be
continued during the winter months


THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY
On the evening of Tuesday, November 2nd, the first meeting
of the present session of the Anthropological Society was held
at 4, St. Martin’s-place, Trafalgar-square, Mr. Hermann
Beigel, M.D., M.R.C.P., in the chair.—Mr. L. O. Pike, M.A.
read a long paper upon “ Methodical Anthropological Re-
search,” in the course of which he made a casual remark about
the psychological branch of the subject.—After a few remarks
from Mr. Braybrook and Mr. J. Gould Avery, Mr. John
Jones said that the society ought to give more study to
psychology, and he had often said so to various mem-
bers of the society, although his suggestion was generall
“ pooh poohed.” Psychology, he said, is to a considerable ex-
gent an index to race, for local superstitions prevalent in par-
ticular districts in the United Kingdom can often be traced to
their sources. Slavonic superstitions exist in our midst
although often no tradition or historical connection can be
traced in the same direction. He should like to have permis-
sion to bring this subject more prominently before the society
on a future occasion.—Dr. Carter Blake, after a few remarks
on the study of skulls, said that the society was in a state
of the most profound and entire ignorance about the alleged
psychological forces.—Major S. R. J. Owen, F.L.S., said that
the society in its researches might investigate many things
some of which he was almost afraid to name—the Davenport
Brothers, for instance; their manifestations might be all
“humbug”—he would not say they were not—still, he thought
the subject a fair one for investigation.—Mr. W. Dendy sug-
gested that as many of the members seemed afraid to talk
about spiritual things, or psychology, they should coin some
new word to represent the science of the mind.—After some
remarks by Mr. Mackenzie and the Rev. Dunbar Hoath
Mr. T. Bendyshe, M. A., of Cambridge University, called
attention to an article in the North British Review or
“The Early History of Man,” which he said well de-
served consideration by the members of the society. He
also recommended the perusal of a book on “The Origin
of Religion and its Developments,” by the Rev. Baring
Gould, a minister of the Church of England.—Mr. L. O.
Pike said that the word “psyche” in the original Greek
meant both “the soul” and “the breath,” wherefore it
may be logically used by those who do not wish to be under-
stood to be speaking of “the soul,” leaving also no necessity
for the coining of a new word, as Mr. Dendy had suggested.
Dr. Beigel, in conclusion, said a few respectful words on
the great loss sustained by the society in the death of its
founder, Dr. James Hunt, and added that he would have
spoken further on the subject were it not that it would be
brought before a future meeting of the society by the presi-
dent. The proceedings then closed.


A SPIRIT ON “GHOSTs.”—The editor of an old-estab-
lished scientific periodical recently attended the “voice"
circle at the house of the non-professional medium, Mr. E.
Childs, 21, Offord-street, Caledonian-road, N. The visitor
who had previously thoroughly tested the genuine character
of the manifestations, remarked that he should not feel in the
slightest degree nervous if any or all of the spirits there
present made themselves visible to him at any time. A spirit
calling himself “Alonzo Bates” replied—“ What! Not if I
suddenly appeared before you in a white sheet on a dark
night?” “No,” said the editor, “but surely you would not
be so foolish as to put on a white sheet?”. “Certainly not.'
replied the spirit, “but you know that such is the orthodox
ghost of the servant girls!”. The pressure on the part of the
public for admission to Mr. Child’s séances is now very great.


4


THE SPIRITUALIST.


Nov. 19, 1869.


SPIRIT GREETINGS
SOME very interesting spirit communications from
Swedenborg and Lord Bacon were received in the
course of the years 1853 and 1854, at Judge Edmonds
circle in New York. These communications were after-
wards published in a work on Spiritualism, in two
volumes, by Judge Edmonds, Mr. G. T. Dexter, M.D.
and the Governor of Wisconsin. The messages de-
scribed much of the life and habits of tbe spirits in the
condition of life incidental to the two spirits who com-
municated, and the opening greetings of the spirits
every evening before the real work began were of a
very pleasing nature. On the evening of May 1, 1850,
Swedenborg said:
"With feelings of affection and love to you all, and
with my spirit gushing forth with joy for the opportu-
nitics I enjoy in communicating with you, I again most
sincerely greet you in God’s most holy name."
On April 24, 1853, he said:—
“In our circle, where the spirits of those we love
most do congregate, are gathered together once more,
weekly, this number, and we celebrate what to us is
the Sabbath-day. It is indeed a beautiful thought to
you, dear friends, that we live and act almost as you
do, that we cherish a thousand associations which on
earth were most dear. With all my feelings alive to
the affectionate remembrances of life with my friends
and eternity with my spirit companions too, I this
night greet you cordially, heartily, and truthfully, in
the name of our heavenly Father."
On May 8, 1853, he said:—
“ The night is dark and stormy, and the air should
be chill and uncomfortable. You draw near your fire-
sides and sit conversing with one another, and opening
your hearts to the genial influence of social connections.
With us, we do not feel the effects of storm or cold when
approaching your earth, and our spirits are not clothed
with such garments as hide the true purposes of our
hearts. We converse with one another, but our mean-
ing is perceived without the expression of thought; and
the farther we progress the more is our spirit manifest
through all the developments of its covering. But to-
night, in spite of rain and chill, I meet warm hearts
and strong desires to excel, and I give you a response
founded on the very basis of our creation—a response o
love and truth, and greet you in the name of God."
On May 19, 1853, he said:
“There are to-night with me many spirits of your
friends, who have met accidentally, but who delegate
me to say that their affection surrounds you, and their
love is a part of your existence, as through it you may
receive many impressions for good, and by it you are
supported to endure many of the troubles and ills of
life. Cordially, heartily, and affectionately they, witl
me, greet you to-night."
On May 22, 1853, he said
“ While we are listening to thoughts from the spirit-
land, and wonder at the developments made of what
have been mysteries, have we, when our hearts have
been filled with joy at the description of the beautiful
abodes of the just, and the happiness diffused like air
through all the higher sphercs of the spirits’ dwelling -
place, have we ever asked ourselves the question, for
what purpose are these teachings? Why have spirits
left their homes, their pursuits, their affections, their
upward flight towards the ultimate point of their exist
ence?
Why have they come to us, and why have they
taught us the higher truths of spirit-revelation? Why
have they selected us as the recipients of spirit-bounty?
“ Is it not that your own natures should be made to
correspond with the pure and holy existences of those
good spirits whose habits, life, and progress we have de-
scribed? Is it not that you should struggle to elevate
your own internal natures, and divest yourselves of
those charactcristics which mark you as still bound in
the fetters of error?
"How hard have you struggled? How much have
you succeeded? And how long will it be before you
shall have cast off all that cloaks your true feelings, and
manifest the true condition and action of your life?
How long will you battle with causes which you suffer
to influence you, and not purge yourselves of all un-
righteousness?
“ These are grave and important inquiries, which
should be put to every heart, and earnestly too, sinccrely
too, in the spirit of truth, of love, and of strong desire
to answer truly the respouses of our own hearts, before
our friends who know and the God who made us.
“ In a spirit, to-night, of affection that brings you
near my soul, and with a love that brings me to you for
the high object of doing you good, do I greet you in the
name of God."
On June 16, 1853, Swedenborg said:
“ My friends, could you but know the great joy there
is among us, could you see the unspeakable happiness
which animates every countenance at the spread of the
glorious truths which are being revealed to man, and
could you know the dcep earnest faith we have in those
selected to give to the world the first revelations of the
higher spirits to man, you would then realise the emo-
tions of spirit in the spheres, the emotion of unmixed love
at the dawningof truth. Our blessings with each and all.”


General News.
THE SPIRITUALIST.—The first number of this Journal has
to meet a demand which at the present time is to large extent
unknown, hut it is helieved that a supply considerably in
At the
excess of the probable sale, has been printed.
same time, as new journals of this kind, connected with a
growing movement, often run out of print before the demand
ceases, subscribers who wish to preserve copies for binding
had either hetter keep those they receive in the first instance
or let orders for additional copies reach the publisher by
Wednesday next. Up to that day this number will be still in
type, so that more copies can he printed if they are likely to
be wanted. Stiff covers, with elastic strings at the back, to
hold for reference many copies of THE SPIRITUALIST, and
to kecp them clean till required for hinding, may he obtained
of Mr. H. K. Judd, bookhinder, 15, Little New-street, Farring-
don-street, E.C., at various prices.
THE DIALECTICAL SOCIETY.—A summary of the past pro-
ccedings of the Dialectical Society is printed on another page,
and their future meetings will he regularly reported in this
journal. The evidence already given necessarily relates
mostly to physical manifestations, since these, when proved
to be facts, are beyond the reach of fancy, and cannot he con-
sidered as obscure psychological phenomena incidental to
human beings in an abnormal state. Still, non-Spiritualist
should understand that physical phenomena at circles are
usually followed, or accompanied, by spirit communications.
After the production in our presence of some of the wonderful
phenomena incidental to Mr. Home’s mediumship, the spiritis
once gave an address to the effect that they only gave the
manifestations to demonstrate that a real, practical, and intel-
ligent power was at work. These high-class spirits disclaimed
the possession of miraculous powers, and said that they were
able to produce the effects simply hecause they have learnt
more of the laws of Nature than we have. Sometimes they
fail when they attempt to give manifestations.
THE GOWER-STREET CONFERENCE.—In November, 1868
a Conference of London Spiritualists began to he held weekly
at Lawson’s Rooms, Gower-street, close to the Metropolitan
Railway-station. Non-spiritualists also attended largely ; the
meetings were of an interesting character ; so much so that
on nearly every evening many persons could only find stand
ing room. These meetings lasted till the summer of 1869.
the addresses of Mrs. Emma Hardinge, the logical inspira-
tional speaker, being a great attraction. At present it is un
decided when the meetings shall begin again, but the Secre-
tary has enough surplus cash in hand from last season to
clear the expenses incidental to the next five meetings. The
committee of management consists of Mr. Luxmoore (pre-
sident), Mr. and Mrs. Everitt, Mrs. Hardinge, Mr. T. Shorter,
Mrs. Floyd, Mrs. Wilkinson, and Mr. T. Slater.
SPIRITUALISM IN NEW ZEALAND.—Mr. W. D. Meers
medium, in a letter dated Dunedin, New Zealand, Sept. 2,
1869, written to Mr. and Mrs. Everett, of Penton-street, Pen-
tonville, gives some information about Spiritualism in his
neighbourhood. He says that before his arrival there had
been much talk about Spiritualism, and the periodicals on the
subject had been very generally read, but few persons had
tried any practical experiments. His séances contributed to
give fresh impetus to the subject, and the result was that one
of the ministers in Dunedin gave a lecture on Spiritualism
beginning by saying that it was all animal-magnetism, and
ending by saying that it was all the work of the Devil. He
did not deny the facts, for he admitted he had been to one
séance himself, and had had his test questions about departed
friends correctly answered—a result which he ascribed to
thought-reading. Somehow the devil-theory people are
almost always persons who have been only to three or four
séances, or who have investigated only a week or a month, and
then rushed before the public with their very valuable and
deep experience. The result of the lecture was a newspaper
war, and as the editors gave fair-play to both parties, the
Spiritnalists, supported by hard well-attested facts, neces-
sarily came off best. Mr. Meers is a very good seeing medium
and is able to describe accurately the appearance and dresses
of the spirit-friends of persons present at his circles. He
also sees them at work while they are producing the physical
manifestations which are obvions to the senses of others
SPIRITUALISM IN EAST LONDON.—An East London Asso=
ciation of Spiritualists was formed a year or two ago, and
now has a large number of spirit-circles at work, easy of
access to those of the public who really desire to investigate.
Particulars about the Association will he published in an
early numher of this Journal. It is getting difficult to ohtair
sittings with some of the highly-developed media whose
séances have been often recorded in the Spiritual periodicals
most of these being persons who will not take payment, and
who cannot accommodate the large number of people who
want to be present.
SPIRITUALISM IN CLERKENWELL.—The St. John’s Asso-
ciation of Spiritualists was formed in May last, and at start-
ing had twenty-seven members, but the number has since
increased to forty. A great many strangers from all parts of
London attend its meetings at intervals. The members sub-
scribe, when necessary, enough to clear the expenses of the
room, gas, and advertising. Séances are held every Thursda
cvening at St. John’s Temperance Hall, 7, Corporation-row,
Clerkenwell, when from forty to sixty persons are usually in
attendance. The mediums are Mr. Davis and Mr. Woolnough,
who obtain trance manifestations, and a few of the physical
description also. Mr. Herne and Mr. Morse are sometimes in
attendance. During the winter it is the intention of the
society to have lectures or social meetings monthly. Strangers
are admitted by tickets, obtainable of Mr. Steele, 36, Great
Sutton-street, Clerkenwell. At one time anyhody was ad-
mitted without a ticket, but the present arrangement became
necessary hecause sometimes roughs attended for the express
purpose of making a disturbance. The hon. secretary is Mr.
R. Pearce, 34, Halliford-street, Downham-road, N.
SPIRITUALISM IN BLOOMSBURY.—Every Friday evening
a semi-public séance is held at the Spiritual Library, 15 South-
ampton-row, High Holborn, W.C. Admission is by introduc-
tion, which may very easily be obtained by any stranger really
desirous to investigate ; also, a fee of one shilling each person
is charged. The medium is Mr. Morse, who does not obtain
physical manifestations, therefore this circle is not the best
for a notice to attend ; but many of the communications
received through the mediumship of Mr. Morse are of a highly
mental charactcr. The séances begin at eight o’clock, afte
which hour the doors are closed against all comers, to preven-
the annoyance of interruptions caused in many circles by the
entrance of those who are not punctual.


General News.


THERE are many Spiritualists, and persons interested in
Spiritualism, living in the neighbourhood of Kingsland and
Dalston. The result is likely to he the early formation of a
local society in that district. Spiritualists are numerous in
the picturesque district surrounding the Crystal Palace.
There are also many at Kingston-upon-Thames.
MESMERISM AND CLAIRVOYANCE.—Dr. Sheldon Chadwick
is now giving a course of four lectures on Mesmerism and Clair-
voyance, at the British Schools, Stoke Newington. Three out
of the four have been delivered, and the last one will be given
next Wednesday evening, at eight o’clock. One of the most
curious of the experiments is one wherein Miss Montague, a
pretty little girl about thirteen years of age, is seated by her-
self in the middle of a large platform, with her eyes bound
with a handkerchief. The lecturer then walks about among
the audience, and the name of anything which those present
choosc to take ont of their pockets and show the lecturer is
spoken by the little girl. It is a common conjuring trick to
get in this way the names of ordinary articles of dress and of
figures, by wording the questions according to preconcerted
arrangement, and having a sharp grown-up blindfolded col-
league on the platform to catch the signals and give the replies
To Dr. Chadwick, however, nothing came amiss, whether the
articles were purses, babies’ shoes, red tape, lockets, or the
proper names inside the crowns of hats. For instance, on
Wednesday, November 10, a perfect stranger to Dr. Chadwick
wrote two words (chosen as being difficult to guess) on a
piece of paper, and suddenly pushed them into the hands of
the lecturer, by whom the action was totally unexpected.
“What name is this?” said the lecturer. “Carter, said the
hlindfolded little girl. “ What is the other name ?” “Blake
was the reply. “Right,” said the lecturer. The distance
between them was about ten feet, and no other words were
exchanged. Ahont 200 witnesses were present. Dr. Chad-
wick stated that the result was obtained by his “willing"
very strongly that Miss Montague should give certain answers,
and they always came. In fact, it seemed to be a clear case
of trance mediumship, only the patient was influenced by a
spirit in the hody, instead of a spirit of of the body. He
then exhibited some of the usual mesmeric experiments, from
fifteen to twenty-two persons being influenced each evening
and sometimes more than a dozen of them at the same time.
He remarked that too many were influenced, and they had too
many friends among the listeners, for the collusion theory to
held good. A single word from the lecturer would make those
under his influence exhibit the most violent activity and
passions; another word would instantly fix them with all the
rigidity of stone, and that, too, in uncomfortable positions
with countenances still and immoveable. The lecturer stated
that in the first instance he gave them eoins to look at, to
withdraw their attention from surrounding objects, and to
concentrate it upon one point. “Then,” said he, “ the various
faculties of their mind began to sleep and fold up like the
leaves of a flower, and when, with a strong will, I imperiously
told them that they could not open their eyes, some of them
were unable to do so. I then had the wills of these in my own
possession, and the will is the governing power of the whole
body, so that I could make them perform many things, but
could not influence all of them in the same degree. When I
told them to wake up, it meant practically 'I give you your
will back again, and then they were all right once more.” In
answer to the theological charge that the curative powers of
mesmerism are due to demoniacal agency, he said that it was
prepesterous to suppose that God sends diseases and the devil
cures them. Dr. Chadwick has lectured before the royal
household at Windsor Castle.
CHARGE OF IMPOSTURE.—A Mr. Addison has been writing
to the Standard, alleging that he, in the presence of some of
his friends, had detected Mrs. Mary Marshall doing “ spirit
writing” under the tahle, with a pencil held between her toes.
and that he than seized hold of her naked foot. His letters
were very rough in their style, and contained insulting remarks
about the personal appearance of Mrs. Marshall’s mother-in-
law. Mrs. Marshall wrote that his tale was wholly natrue
and narrated instances of his misconduct. Mr. Addison then
called two of his friends to support his assertions, which they
did not do, but they went half-way, and said they saw Mrs
Marshall writing with her foot. One of these witnesses was a
comic actor, wbo spent most of his time at the séance by roll-
ing about on the floor, pretending to be in a fit, and frighten-
ing the Mrs. Marshall’s considerably. The other witness spent
some of his time in drawing a caricaturc of the elder Mrs,
Marshall. In opposition to the testimony of these highly
respectable gentlemen, attention may be called to the evidence
given before the Dialectical Society, and printed in another
column, wherein Mr. E. L. Blanchard, the author, testifies
that his body has been uplifted and held in the air by the
spirits at Mrs. Marshall’s séances. Mr. Hain Friswell, author
testifies that table manifestations have taken place in Mrs.
Marshall’s presence in his own house, and were obtained after
she had been searched, as well as among his own relatives
after she had left the premises. The evidence given hy Signor
Damiani should also be read. Mr. Epes Sargent, in his book,
The Planchette, narrates that Baron Reichenbach attended a
circle in London in 1861, at the house of Mr. Cowper, son-in-
law of Lord Palmerston ; the media present were the two
Mrs. Marshall’s. Violent physical manifestations were ob-
served, which the Baron was convinced were not caused by
imposturc. The correspondence in The Standard ended with
a letter from a philosophical instrument maker, named
Faulkner, who wrote that he was a manufacturer of goods for
spirit-rapping people, he having fitted up their houses with
wires and concealed electro-magnets, to make raps. Mr.
Faulkner has since been asked for references to those whose
houses he has so fitted up, and the only reference he gives is
to Mr. Addison. Genuine spiritual phenomena go on in any
house, which the medium has never entered till the time of
the séance, and Mrs. Mary Marshall has for years been in the
habit of acepting such out-door engagements. Charges of
the kind mentioned in this paragraph, more or less beset every
paid medium, and are among the disagreeable things the-
have to endure, even when the manifestations are genuine.
WHERE THE LIARS GO TO. —An anecdote is told by a
correspondent of the New York World, the editors of which,
in printing it, seem charmingly unconscious of its personality.
A clergyman, catechising a little hoy, was trying to impress
on his tender mind some useful lessons from the Bible.
“Where, my child, do the liars go to?” “To New York, sir,
to write for the newspapers.” We think some of them have
found their way to London.—Spiritual Magazine.
THE public Spiritual circles once held at 2, Great Coram
street, under the mediumship of Mr. F. Herne, have bcen
given up.
MR. D. D. HOME has been giving public readings during
the past few months in Bristol and other large towns in the
West of England. He is a good speaker.


Nov. 19, 1869.


CHARGES FOR ADVERTISEMENTS
1. Advertisements of Public Companies, Half-a-guinea per
sixth of a column, or every portion of sixth of a column.
2. General Advertisements, Five Shillings per twelfth of a
column, or portion of twelfth of a column.
Note.—Advertisements at the foregoing rates will be
“ displayed” so as to occupy the full space paid for, but
advertisements at the following rates will be in closely se
type.
3. General Advertisements, Half-a-crown per first five
lines or portion of five lines, and Fourpence for every line in
addition.
4. Situations Wanted, or Apariments to Let. One Shilling
per first four lines, or portion of four lines; Threepence for
every line in addition.
Ten words are allowed to the line, and six figures or
initial letters count as one word.
When five or more insertions of the same advertisement
are paid for, twenty per cent. reduction will be made in the
above rates.
The power is reserved of refusing to insert any advertise-
ment.
Advertisements and remittances should be sent to the
Publisher, Mr. E. W. ALLEN, Ave Maria-lane, St. Paul's
Church-yard, London, E.C., or to Mr. J. BURNS, 15,
Southampton-row, High Holborn, London, W. C.


THE SPIRITUALIST.


regularly, so that every number of THE SPIRITUALIST
will be an efficient instrument in the hands of friends of
the movement to draw the attention of the outside
public to Spiritualism. At first this journal will be
published fortnightly, to “feel the ground,” before its
transformation into a weekly paper—a step which, to-
gether with other improvements, is likely to be taken
before long, should all go well. Much care will be taken
to make THe SPIRITUALIST useful to the pioneers of the
greatest movement of modern times, so it is hoped that
it will meet with a friendly reception from all engaged
in the noble work of strengthening the chain of com-
munication between this world and the spirit-land, and
of clearing away the mystery which ignoranee throws
over the life beyond the grave. Nay, some of those
who are as yet unacquainted with the facts of
Spiritualism are expected to take a little kindly interest
in this journal, for their elaims to attention have not
been forgotten.


paper and postage, in addition to the printing of a few
circulars. Abbreviated reports of the results might be
published at once, not necessarily with the names of all
the witnesses, if some of them are liable to persecution
from conneetion with Spiritualism, and the authenti-
cated documents could be stored away, so as to form a
most valuable littie mine of information for the "Insti-
tution of Scientifie Spiritualists,” of the future.


WHICH IS THE BEST EVIDENCE?


To Correspondents.


All letters should be brief and to the point, as the amount
of space available for correspondence is at present small.
Communications intended for the Editor should be by
letter only, addressed to the care of the Publisher, Mr. E. W.
ALLEN, Ave Maria-lane, St. Paul's Church-yard, London,
E.C. Until the Spiritual movement in England, together
with this journal, have both grown considerably, time cannot
be spared for personal interviews on subjects connected with
the literary work of THE SPIRITUALIST, but all letters wil.
meet with careful consideration.
THe SPiRITUALIST is a periodical intended to give great
freedom of expression to all the different shades of opinion
to be found among Spiritualists. There will therefore be
very little uniformity in the ideas promulgated in this journal,
more especially in the correspondence columns. Under these
circumstances every reader will find occasionally something
in THE SPIRITUALIST which he or she does not like, but the
right of reply remains. This freedom of thought given to
others, the Editor claims for himself, and those who do not
like the contents of leading articles, can write against them
in the correspondence columns. This plan is thought better
than that of reducing the contents of the journal to a
pale weak mediocrity, by inserting only those contributions
which please everybody. The preceding remarks are not
intended to imply that those who have crotchets which the
cannot get printed anywhere else, can find an outlet for them
here, for none but those letters which are considered worth
publication will be inserted.
Notices of Public Meetings in connection with Spiritualism
should be sent to the office several days in advance.


To Non-Spiritualists.


A large amount of information is printed on the last two
pages of this journal, clearly demonstrating that the facts of
Spiritualism, highly improbable as they appear to be, are
real, and deserve serious investigation by all thoughtfu
people. In other columns of every number of THE SPIRI-
TUALIST will also be found plenty of additional evidence to
the same effect.


To Subscribers.


The first twelve numbers of THE SPIRITUALIST will be
forwarded regularly by penny post to subscribers, who remit
four shillings in payment, to Mr. E. W. ALLEN, Publisher,
Ave Maria-lane, St. Paul's-churchyard, E.C.


The Spiritualist.


FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1869


OPENING ADDRESS.


SPIRITUALISM in England has long been represented by
three periodicals, all published monthly, namely, The
Spiritual Magazine, Human Nature, and Daybreak.
The Spiritual Magazine was first published in January
1860, Human Nature in April, 1867, and Daybreak in
June, 1868. THE SPIRITUALIST, issued for the first time
this day, is not started for the purpose of competing
with these three journals just mentioned, but is in-
tended to occupy new ground, and to meet a want as
yet unsupplied. At the Gower-street Conferences last
winter, several of the speakers mentioned the want of
reports and records of public meetings connected with
Spiritualism, and one chief object of this new journal is
to chronicle the proecedings of such assemblies. Another
feature of THE SPIRITUALIST will be, its scientific cha-
racter. A third feature, of considerable value to sub-
scribers, is seen on pages seven and eight of this number,
in the shape of a large quantity of well-authenticated
evidence that Spiritualism deserves most serious investi-
gation by all thoughtful people. This evidence, written
for the benefit of non-Spiritualists, will be republished.


THE SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION OF SPIRITUAL PHENOMENA
NOT much observation of the phenomena of Spiritualism
is necessary to learn that the manifestations are
governed by physical and mental laws, though very few
of these laws are at present known,
Systematic,
seientific research applied to Spiritualism would there-
fore, in the course of a few years, be sure to give very
valuable results, by clearing away much of the mystery
overhanging the border land between this world and
the next, and by strengthening the conditions which
now enable spirits to communicate. At the present
time, while most of the English people are innocently
swallowing the highly reliable information about
Spiritualism given them by the daily papers, and while
the orthodox scientific world is standing aloof, afraid to
search after truth beeause of the apparent danger of
being caught in the investigation of nonsense, there
may still be a sufficient number of persons in the ranks
of Spiritualism competent to begin the work of reducing
its facts to a science. In general society the proportion
of people experienced in experimental natural philoso-
phy and mental science is very small, partly because
these subjects are generally neglected in schools and
universities, and partly beeause everybody has not a
liking for such pursuits. Probably the necessary mate-
rials may now be found within the ranks of Spiritualism
to found a scientific society, but if not, the work need
not be altogether neglected.
Supposing a scientifie society were formed, its first
work must be to collect a large mass of authenticated
facts, and then try to extricate some few general prin-
ciples from the tangled mass. Anonymous articles in
periodicals cannot be accepted as good evidence, neither
can facts long stored up in the memory of witnesses be
accepted as free from error. But this necessary work
of collecting authenticated facts might as well be begun
at once, with or without the formation of a scientific
society. Perhaps the best way to begin would be to
arrange with different cireles, to write down all the
manifestations observed, and all the information ob-
tained as to how they are produced, sueh documents to
be drawn up directly the sittings are over, signed with
the names and addresses of witnesses, and posted to a
central quarter where the records should be preserved.
The documents should be short, and
contain nothing but scientific facts, for a scientific body
would have nothing to do with the good or evil of
Spiritualism, or with the religious aspect of the ques-
tion ; its only business would be to find out what
natural laws give the observed results.
If a system of this kind were now at work, evidently
great additional power in the way of investigation
would be gained. For instance, if a notification were
sent to all the different circles, asking them at the next
sitting to “ learn as mueh as possible about how the
moving of wooden articles is effected,” when the reports
afterwards came in from each circle, there would of
course be a great mass of contradictions, arising from
imperfections of spirits both in and out of the body
but soon a few glimpses of daylight would begin to
shine through the mist. The comparison of the in-
formation thus obtained by a few dozen well educated
and intelligent circles, independently of each other,
would be highly interesting to all engaged in the work,
and the plan is good because it would cost nothing but


Two statements of facts observed are quoted below, one of
the statements being made by Dr. John Tyndall, F.R.S., M.R.I.
and the other by Mr. S. C. Hall, F.S.A., Editor of the Art
Journal. The first of the two statements was published in
No. 105 of The Proceedings of the Royal Society, in a paper
wherein Professor Tyndall describes the formation of incipient
clouds produced in certain vapours by the action of light. He
used a glass tube 2•8 feet long and 2•5 inches internal diameter,
closed with flat discs of glass at the ends. By means of a
stopcock and air-pump the air was removed from the tube, after
which a few bubbles of air were re-admitted after passing
through certain volatile liquids, from which the air took up
traces of vapour. A bright parallel or conical beam of light
from the electric lamp, was then passed along the axis of the
tube, and the chemical rays in the light at once began to
decompose the transparent vapour, and to form very curious
clouds. The following quotation shows what he says he saw,
when experimenting thus with vapour of hydriodic acid: -
HOW PROFESSOR TYNDALL SAW A FISH!
I have seen nothing so astonishing as the effect obtained,
on the 28th of October, with hydriodic acid. The cloud ex-
tended for about eighteen inches along the tube, and gradually
shifted its position from the end nearest the lamp to the most
distant end. The portion quitted by the cloud proper was
filled by an amorphous haze, the decomposition which was
progressing lower down, being here apparently complete. A
spectral cone turned its apex towards the distant end of the
tube, and from its circular base filmy drapery seemed to fall.
Placed on the base of the cone was an exquisite vase, from
the interior of which sprung another vase of similar shape;
over the edges of these vases fell the faintest clouds, resem-
bling spectral sheets of liquid. From the centre of the upper
vase a straight cord of cloud passed for some distance along
the experimental tube, and at each side of this cord two in-
volved and highly iridescent vortices were generated. The
frontal portion of the cloud, which the cord penetrated, as-
sumed in succession the forms of roses, tulips, and sunflowers.
It also passed through the appearance of a series of beautifully
shaped bottles, placed one within the other. Once it pre-
sented the shape of a fish, with eycs, gills, and feelers.
The witnesses who saw Dr. Tyndall’s tube experiments
performed, were his two assistants, and Mr. Ladd, the
philosophical instrument maker. Now for Mr. S. C. Hall’s
narrative, which was written in a letter from him to Judge
Edmonds of New York, and is here quoted from the British
Journal of Photography: -


HOW MR. S. C. HALL SAW A SPIRIT!
I have a fact to relate, apropos of the trial of Mumler—par-
ticulars of which have reached me. It is this :—A few days
ago, sitting with Daniel Home and seven other friends, my
venerable and truly Christian sister, who passed from earth
about eight months ago, was enabled to be visible to me and
those who were with me. She was not only not a spiritualist
but strongly and sternly objected to the principle, as anti-
Christian or demoniacal. She had never been present at any
manifestation, never would be. But not long before her de-
parture, I said to her, “I am sure God will permit you to visit
me after you leave earth. You will be permitted to do so for
my comfort, and as a helper on my way to Christ. I wish you
to promise that you will do so, if God gives you power."
She
did not absolutely make me the promise ; but she did say
“ My dear brother, if it be for your good, and God’s permits it
-and He may do so—I will be with you when He has called
me from earth.” When she appeared to us in my drawing-
room, her face was so healthy—so full of the red and white
that exhibit health—that at the moment I did not recognise
her ; for she had been two years confined to bed, “ died ” of
cancer, was a great sufferer, and was naturally reduced to a
skeleton—so to speak. Suddenly I said, with an exclamation
"It is my sister !” Three blows were struck on the table. The
eyes were closed—she had been blind during the last ten
years of her earth-life—possibly but forthat I should not have
recognised her ; there was so marvellous a contrast between
the face, as I saw it on her “death” bed, and the face as I saw
it then; so healthful, so beautiful, so happy, smiling ; but the
likeness was exact, for I recognised every feature after my
exclamation ; the hair exactly as she wore it, or plaited back,
and the cap exactly as she wore it also, which the Master of
Lindsay, the Hon. Mr. Lindsay. called a “mutch,” i. e.. the
cap of the old Scottish model. She remained before us thus
palpably for about two minutes—certainly more than one
long enough for any photographer to have made a photograph
of her ; and I am very sure there would have been no difficulty
whatsoever in taking such a photograph if the apparatus had
been ready ; that it would have been at once recognised by
any person who knew her during her “life” here, and that it
would have been as distinct and palpable as any photograph
of any (so-called) living persons. I have no doubt that each
of the eight persons present would make exactly the statement
I have made
Dr. Tyndall says he saw a fish form in the air, and his state-
ment is corroborated by three witnesses. Mr. S. C. Hall says
he saw a spirit form in the air, and his statement is corrobo-
rated by eight witnesses. Which is the best evidence?


BELIEF.—Belief is not a voluntary or a meritorious act
and is no more under the control of the individual than the
colour of the eyes or the length of the nose. For instance, no
reader of these lines can, by the hardest efforts of his own
possibly believe that the moon is a cucumber, yet it would be
possible to do so if belief were under control, which it is not.


6


THE SPIRITUALIST.


Nov. 19, 1869.


Poetry.


THE POETRY OF SCIENCE.
These verses, by the Editor of THE SPIRITUALIST, have been previously published
in several journals.


O say not Science lacketh charms
To woo the poet's pen,
To swell the pages of romance.
Or thrill the souls of men;
Her’s is a realm of fairy-land,
A scene of endless change,
Wliere eye and ear are all confused
With wonders passing strange.


She binds the eternal elements,*
She yokes them to the plough,
And iron steeds with hearts of fire
Speed at her bidding now;
Deep in the Ocean's solitude
She her bright name engraves
Unscathed she treads its golden sands
And cleaves its surging waves.


She joins the nations of the earth
With mystic net-work bands,
Binding in common brotherhood
The dwellers in all lands,
Whilst through these wondrous arteries
The lightning pulses thrill,
Bearing glad news of "Peace on Earth,"
To all mankind, "Goodwill."


She bends their orbits, and the stars
Speed on their track of light,
Sparkling afar in heaven's dark hall
Like glories in the night;
The planets feel her lion grasp
As their bright paths they run,
And with relentless laws she guides
The Chariot of the Sun


The trees relate their fairy-tales,
The plants unfold their store
Of wisdom and design, and tell
Truths never dreamt before
The lightning plays around her feet
And does her bidding well,
The very stones break forth in song,
List' to the tales they tell : -


They tell how chaos ruled—how earth
Lay wrapped in deathlike sleep,
How silence reigned in majesty,
And darkness veiled the deep.
They tell how life uprose on earth,
How forests clothed the land,
And step by step reveal the work
Of HIS Almighty hand.


Calmly in silence and in gloom,
In caverns of the earth,
They teach vain man the nothingness
Of his ephemeral birth.
Show him dread scenes of former life
Long to destruction hurled,
And on earth’s pillars bid him read
The history of a world.


Behold another votary still-
The light her aid has given,
Light, whose bright beams of purity
Rushed angel-winged from heaven.
Then fair Aurora lit the north,
And shook her streaming bars,
Then earth awoke, awoke to life-
Then sang the morning stars.


Yet learn, Enchantress, thy domain
A limit still must know,
Thus far, O Science, is thine own -
Further thou canst not go.
In the councils of eternity
His wondrous ways were planned;
Ways that clude thy piercing eye,
Defy thine iron hand.


some spirit wished to communicate, and we replaced our
hands on the table, when my brother-in-law immediately
manifested himself in his usual manner; but he had no mes-
sage to give, appearing only to have come in response to my
thought. I then asked if my brother and nephew were there
both of whom have lately passed into the spirit-world. I
received an affirmative answer; and then I told the latter that
I wished him to give me a sign, adding that he would know
of what character I wished it to be.
The table moved gently backwards and forwards a few times
with a kind of undulating motion ; it then bent quite down
into Mrs. Marshall’s lap, and after remaining thus for a few
seconds, rose to its place, and then bent for the second time
into her lap; when suddenly it turned aside, and slipped off
down to the ground. The poor old lady was quite startled
and could not think what it meant, but to me it was quite
clear :—first, the gentle waves of the sea, then the two days
that the unfortunate Carnatic was on the rock, and finally
the sudden slip, when the vessel sank, and my dear nephew
Mr. Warren, was drowned ! I had wanted something ex-
pressive of the wreck, but had not formed any idea in my own
mind as to how it was to be exemplified.
GEORGIANA HOUGHTON.
20, Delamere-crescent, W.


TRANCE MEDIUMSHIP.
SIR,—I hail with pleasure the contemplated appearance of
a fortnightly paper devoted to the science and facts of Spiri-
tualism. Although we have two able monthly exponents,
Human Nature and the Spiritual Magazine, yet we need a
sound weekly or bi-monthly organ ; therefore I bid the Spiri-
tualist God speed. The other evening, while sitting with my
wife and a friend, I was entranced by an influence purporting
to be the spirit of a fire-worshipper. The language was a
strange one, of which my friend can only remember one word
viz., “ Sin Syu.” Can you, or any of your readers, tell me the
meaning of this phrase, as it would be a good test?
I send you a tracing of some characters written by me while
JOHN DE MORGAN.
in a trance state on Sunday last.
Cork, Nov. 17.


[It is an established fact in Spiritualism that trance media are sometimes
made to converse accurately in languages which they do not understand in
their normal state. There is a kind intention in complimentary remarks
still their omission in letters intended to be printed would be preferred, in
order that the small space at present at disposal may be economised for
strictly useful purposes.—ED.]


FRIENDS OF SPIRITUALISM.—At a time when Spiritualism
was far more unknown and unpopular in England than at
present, Mr. C. F. Varley, the electrician, came publicly for-
ward, and on oath, before the Court of Chancery, bore testi-
mony that the facts of Spiritualism were true. That affidavit
will be found on page seven of this journal. By thus risking
a high scientific reputation, at a time when many others who
were asked to bear testimony to what they knew to be true
were afraid to do the same, Mr. Varley earned a very deep
amount of respect from all Spiritualists. Accordingly, the
following testimonial, which probably has never been pub-
lished before, will be read with all the more interest : -
ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY. Instituted 1774. For the recovery of per-
sons apparently drowned or dead. Patroness, Her Majesty the Queen;
Vice-Patron, His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, K.G.; Pre-
sident, His Grace the Duke of Norfolk, E.M., K.G.—At a committee
holden at the society’s office, 3, Trafalgar-square, on Wednesday, the 16th
day of January, 1850, Benjamin Hawes, Esq., in the chair, it was resolved
unanimously "That the grateful and sincere thanks of this committee are
hereby most cordially presented to Mr. Cromwell Fleetwood Varley, for his
courage and humanity in going upon unsound ice to the relief of Mr
Joseph Gay, who had become exhausted while rescuing a boy immersed in
a deep pond at Hampstead, on the 6th January, 1850, and by whose timely
aid, assisted by others, two lives were saved.—(Signed) Norfolk, E.M., pre
sident; Benjamin Hawes, chairman; J. Chailier, secretary."


DR. THOMAS YOUNG ON SPIRITS.
DR. THOMAS YOUNG, the colleague of Sir Humphrey
Davy, and one of the predecessors of Faraday and
Tyndall, as Professor of Natural Philosophy at the
Royal Institution, has placed on record some specula-
tions of his own respecting Spiritual beings, considered
from a physical science point of view. Dr. Young was
the first in this country to work out and advocate the
wave theory of light, but he was crushed for the time
being by the great weight of authority brought to bear
against him by Sir Isaac Newton and Lord Brougham,
who held that light was not wave motion, but consisted
of particles shot out with infinite velocity from the
luminous source. It is now known that Dr. Thomas
Young was in the right, and Professor Tyndall, F.R.S.,
has scarcely delivered a single lecture on light within
the last two years, in which he has not called attention
to the eminence of Young as a philosopher, and pointed
out how his labours were long overlooked because of the
eminence of those who held opposing opinions.
Strange to say, Young held more accurate views in
his day as to the nature of spiritual beings than Fara-
day and Tyndall ever attained, notwithstanding the rich
rain of evidence falling on every side of the latter
philosophers—evidence whieh they refused to examine.
Here is a long-forgotten paragraph written by Dr.
Thomas Young, and the words thereof will live in
history: -
"We see forms of matter differing in subtilty and
mobility under the names of solids, liquids, and
gases; above these are the semi-material existences
which produce the phenomena of electricity and
magnetism, and either caloric or universal ether
higher still perhaps are the causes of gravita-
tion, and the immediate agents in attractions of
all kinds, whieh exhibit some phenomena apparently
still more remote from all that is compatible with
material bodies ; and of these different orders of beings
the more refined and immaterial seem to freely pervade
the grosser. It seems, therefore, natural to believe that
the analogy may be continued still further, until it
rises into existence absolutely immaterial and spiritual.
We know not but that thousands of spiritual worlds
may exist unseen for ever by human eyes; nor have
we any reason to suppose that even the presence of
matter in a given spot necessarily excludes those exist-
ences from it. Those who maintain that nature always
teems with life wherever living beings can be placed,
may therefore speculate with freedom on the possibility
of independent worlds; some existing in different parts
of space, others pervading each other, unseen and un-
known, in the same space, and others again to which
space may not be a necessary mode of existence.


Ages of dim futurity
Shall own thy powerful sway,
Till man with all his noble works
Shall pass from earth for aye.
For ever teach him Nature’s laws,
Unfold his Maker’s will,
Guide him in paths of light and truth,
And lead him upwards still.


Correspondence.


[Great freedom is given to correspondents, who sometimes express opinion
diametrically opposed to those of this journal and its readers].


THE SEPARATION BETWEEN SPIRIT SOCIETIES.
SIR,—As I chance to be aware that in the first number of
the new journal you intend to advocate an organised system
of questioning the spirits at different circles, at the same time
and upon the same subject, in order to compare the answers
thus independently obtained, I have a suggestion to make.
Very often; in fact in the majority of cases, many of the
spirits surrounding a circle cannot see each other, any more
than we can ordinarily see them. Very high spirits are
usually, if not always, quite invisible to very low spirits,
though I do not know whether the reverse is also the case.
Therefore, when questioning spirits, no two circles may be
questioning beings in the same conditions of existence, and
the answers given at the two circles, as to the mode of life of
the spirits, will be as different as answers from a German and
a Hottentot when questioned separately about their daily life.
What I suggest is, that at the very outset some knowledge
should be gained as to the amount and the causes of the sepa-
rations. If well-educated people, who can ask questions with-
out putting their own theories into the mouths of the spirits,
would only get all the information they can on these points at
circles, and briefly send you the results, I am sure that the
publication of the answers would be very interesting, and of
use in further research.
A TRUTH-SEEKER.


THOUGHT-READING AND PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS.
SIR,—I called on the afternoon of Sunday, October 31st, on
the elder Mrs. Marshall, medium, 13, Bristol-gardens, W.
After chatting for some little time, she suggested that we
should have a séance, so we placed our hands on the table
only she and I being present. There were some taps, as if in
response to questions, and she enquired if I were asking any-
thing ; but as I had nothing to ask, we took our hands off.
I had, however, wondered (mentally) whether a brother-in-
law of mine was present, whosc movement of the table is
peculiar to himself. Presently, rappings were heard, one just
under my arm, so Mrs. Marshall considered those a sign that


Mr. Varley has also saved other persons than the above fron
death by drowning. The following passage from the Buchs
Herald narrates some of Mrs. Varley’s abilities as an amateur
operatic actress. It is taken from an account recently pub-
lished therein, describing an amateur performance of “Lucrezia
Borgia” at Winslow.: “Lucrezia (Mrs. Varley) then entered,
wearing a mask, and sang the difficult and touching song ad
dressed to her son in a style worthy of an artiste, the florid
passages being well executed, and taken with a precision which
showed that she was quite equal to the part. We have seldom
seen a Lucrezia who so thoroughly looked 'the Duchess’ as
this lady, her dress and whole appearance being quite magni-
ficent. She pleads for the life of Gennaro, at first mildly, but
receiving denials from the duke, her anger is gradually raised
into fury, and she bursts forth in a splendid air, full of ven-
geance. It was the first time either Mrs. Varley or Mrs. Frend
had ever undertaken anything of the kind.


SOLOMON, KING OF ISRAEL.—Nobody knows better than
Mrs. Emma Hardinge, the eminent medium, how to narrate a
good story with effect. In one of her anecdotes she tells how
she was dining with friends, in some American town, we
forget where, and a messenger arrived in breathless haste,
inviting her immediate attendance at a new circle then
sitting in a neighbouring street. "Please come at once,” said
the excited messenger,  "Solomon wants to speak to you."
“Solomon !” said Mrs. Hardinge, “Solomon who?” “Solo-
mon, King of Israel,” was the reply. “I suppose you obtained
that name through the physical manifestations?” said Mrs.
Hardinge. “Yes,” replied the bearer, who did not know the
full force of the remark. Mrs. Hardinge continued—“Then
tell Solomon, King of Israel, I am engaged at dinner with
friends, and can’t come.” The messenger seemed to be very
much startled by the answer, which, however, he delivered to
the circle, but soon returned, saying, "That she really must
come, Solomon wanted to speak to her very badly indeed."
She accordingly went, and being a good seeing medium, a
once knew more of the facts of the case than did the members
of the circle. The table, which before her entrance had been
bouncing up and down, and making a great clatter, then
edged about very shyly and quietly. The members of the
circle expressed their surprise at the falling off in the vigour
of the manifestations. Mrs. Hardinge said, “Go on, Solomon
Don’t be afraid of me. Let me see what you can do."
Accordingly, up and down went the table with a violence.
which placed its legs in danger of breaking.
"Solomon,"
buying up old hats about the streets of this city?” “Three
months, was the reply. “ Solomon, now, tell me, what do
you mean by coming here to deceive these good people in this
manner?” “Well, said Solomon, who was not a bad sort of
fellow at bottom, “They wouldn’t have nothin’ else, and so
give it ’em !” A warning, this, to Spiritualists who have a
weak reverence for great names; the supply is sure to meet
the demand.


THE SPIRITUAL LIBRAY—The only lending library in
London for books on Spiritualism and kindred subjects is that
belonging to Mr. James Burns, bookseller and stationer, 15,
Southampton-row, Holborn, W.C. Mr. Burns has fitted up
rooms on the premises wherein friendly meetings for the
furtherance of the Spiritual cause often take place. In the
course of September last a meeting was held in these rooms
under the presidency of Mr. Coleman, to welcome an eminent
American medium, Mr. J. M. Peebles, consul at Trebizonde
to the Government of the United States, and one of the
editors of The Banner of Light, the chief newspaper of the
American Spiritualists. At that meeting Mr. Burns narrated
how he first began the formation of the Spiritual Library by
the importation of a small box of books from New York, and
how the undertaking grew gradually until his little establish
ment in Wellington-road, Camberwell, became very well
known to those who required scarce books on progressive sub-
jects connected with man. The growth of modern Spiritualism
at last rendered it advisable for him to take his present more
extensive and central premises. Spiritualism is known to
have no more unselfish and hard-working advocate anywhere
than Mr. Burns, in evidence of which it may be stated that
although he is the owner of one Spiritual periodical, Human
Nature, he placed every facility in the way of the issue of this
new journal, The Spiritualist, because he thought it would helt
the movement. There are so many points wherein the two
periodicals entirely differ from each other that it is hoped
that injurious competition has been avoided. The work that
Mr. Burns has performed for many years past, makes it a duty
on the part of Spiritualists to strengthen his hands in ever
possible way in his new establishment.
APPARITIONS.— You can scarcely select hap-hazard a
dozen families, without finding one or two members of them
who have received at the moment of the death of some near
relative, a communication announcing the fact at a distance.
These communications are often made by the dying person
appearing to some member of the family at the moment of
passing away. The death moment seems the most easy one
in which tomake such communications. Notwithstanding the
enormous number of such cases, some of them supported with
such striking collateral proof as to remove all doubt, the pos-
sessors of such information are afraid to narrate these interest-
ing facts except under the seal of confidence, because the world
at large ridicules that which it does not understand.— Varley.


* “ Bridges unsupported by arches can be made to span the foaming
current; man shall descend to the bottom of the Ocean safely, breathing
and treading with firm steps on the golden sands, never brightened by the
light of day. Call but the secret powers of Sol and Luna into action, and
behold a single steersman sitting at the helm guiding the vessel, which
divides the waves with greater rapidity than if she had been filled with a
crew of mariners toiling at the oars. And the loaded chariot, no longer
encumbered with panting steeds, darts on its course with relentless force
and activity. Let the simple elements do their duty; bind the eternal
elements, and yoke them to the same plough."—Friar Bacon's Prophecy.


ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
B. EDINBURGH.—Evidence is best obtained by industry in visiting
different circles, selecting at first those where powerful physical
manifestations are common, since these cannot be the result of
imagination or credulity. Much depends upon the medium; in
London good physical media are rare, and the rush to obtain
sittings with them is now very great. This is caused partly by
the fact that it usually takes several years to develop the most
striking manifestations through a medium, and partly because
very many who see symptons of mediumship appearing in them-
selves, get frightened, and will not allow the spirits to use them
for manifestations. Good physical media are much wanted in
Glasgow; and perhaps you find it the same in Edinburgh. We
thank you for your good wishes.


Nov. 19, 1869.


THE SPIRITUALIST.


FACTS FOR NON-SPIRITUALISTS.
As this Journal will necessarily often come
under the observation of those who are not
Spiritualists, it has been thought judicious to
reprint regularly on this and the next page
the following condensed evidence that spiri-
tualism deserves serious investigation. The
phenomena witnessed in spiritual circles are
so extraordinary, and so unlike those coming
within the ordinary range of human experi-
ence, that it is quite right not to accept them
on the testimony of others. Each individual
should witness and test them personally, and
believe nothing until the absolute knowledge
is gained that denial is impossible.


EVIDENCE THAT SPIRITUALISM DESERVES INVES-
TIGATION.
The testimony of reliable and respectable wit-
nesses that the phenomena of Spiritualism are
actual facts, and not imposture or delusion, has of
late years so accumulated as to possess very great
weight. In the case of Lyon v. Home, Mr. Robert
Chambers, Mr. C. F. Varley, Dr. Gully, Mr. and
Mrs. S. C. Hall, and others, all mado affidavits
strongly in favour of Mr. Home. The following
was the affidavit of Mr. C. F. Varley, C.E.,
F.R.G.S., M.R.I.:
“I. Cromwell Fleetwood Varley, of Fleetwood House
Beckenham, in the Couuty of Kent, Esquire, make oath
and say as follows
“I have been a student of electricity, chemistry, and
natural philosophy for twenty-six years, and a tele-
graphic engineer by profession for twenty-one years,
and I am the consulting electrician of the Atlantic Tele-
graph Company, and of the Electric and International
Company.
“About nine or ten years ago, having had my atten-
tion directed to the subject of Spiritualism by its spon-
taneous and unexpected development in my own family
in the form of clairvoyant visions and communications,
I determined to test the truth of the alleged physical
phenomena to the best of my ability, and to ascertain
if possible, the nature of the force which produced them.
“Accordingly, about eight years ago, I called on Mr
Home, the defendant in this suit, and stated that I had
not yet witnessed any of the physical phenomena, but
that I was a scientific man and wished to investigat-
them carefully.
“He immediately gave me every facility for the pur-
pose, and desired me to satisfy myself in every possible
way, and I have been with him on divers occasions
when the phenomena have occurred. I have examined
and tested them with him and with others, under con-
ditions of my own choice, under a bright light, and have
made the most jealous and searching scrutiny. I have
been, since then, for seven months in America, where
the subject attracts great attention and study, and where
it is cultivated by some of the ablest men, and having
experimented with and compared the forces with elec-
tricity and magnetism, and after having applied me-
chanical and mental tests, I entertain no doubt whatever
that the manifestations which I have myself examined
were not due to the operation of any of the recognised
physical laws of nature, and that there has been present
on the occasions above-mentioned some intelligence
other than that of the medium and observers.
“The subject of course offers many opportunities and
inducements for fraud, and I only speak of what I have
myself seen and tested. Since my acquaintance with
Mr. Home began I have pursued the enquiry, and I have
found engaged in it able, learned, and scientific men
who are convinced as I am, that the physical manifesta-
tions are but the introduction to an extensive fleld of
mental and physical knowledge which will in a great
measure explain and reconcile the beliefs of all ages and
nations. I know of several instances both in Europe
and America in which this course of study has awak-
ened the perception of the purest and loftiest truths and
principles. There have been no doubt cases in which
the intellect has been too feeble for the stimulus, and
has been overpowered by it, just as frequently results
from excessive application to religion and other exciting
topics, but such cases have not come within my own
observation.
“Mr. Home, like several other non-professional me-
diums whose cases I have studied, was passive during
the occurrence of the manifestations. He, like the
other mediums, is extremely susceptible to external in-
fluences, and has a mind better suited to receive impres-
sions than to prosecute enquiries. I willingly testify my
entire conviction of his truthfulness and honesty.
“C. F. VARLEY"


It also came out in the evidence given at the
trial, that Mr. Home had been the invited and un-
paid guest of the Emperor and the Empress of the
French, the Emperor, Empress, and the late Em-
press Dowager of Russia, the Grand Duke Con-
stantine, the King of Prussia, the late King of
Bavaria, the late King of Wurtemburg, and the
Queen of Holland. Mr. Home says that all his
life he has never taken a farthing of pay for his
séances. In March, 1869, the Spiritual Magazine
gave the names of the following gentlemen as
those who have long been investigating the sub-
ject: -
“Cromwell F. Varley, Esq., Fleetwood-house, Becken-
ham; Alfred R. Wallace, Esq., 9, St. Mark’s-crescent
N.W.; Professor De Morgan, 91, Adelaide-road, N.W.;
Captain Drayson, R.A., Woolwich; Dr. J. M. Gully
The Priory, Great Malvern: Dr. J. J. G. Wilkinson, 4
St. John’s-wood-villas, N.W.; Dr. Dixon, 8, Great Or-
mond-street, W.C.: S. C. Hall, Esq., 15, Ashley-place
Victoria-street, S.W.; Newton Crosland, Esq.; William
Howitt, Esq., The Orchard, Hare-green, Esher, Surrey
Robert Chambers, Esq., St. Andrew’s, Ediuburgh; H.
D. Jencken, Esq., Kilmorey-house, Norwood; J. G.
Crawford, Esq., 52, Gloucester-crescent, N.W.; W. M.
Wilkinson, Esq., Oakfleld, Kilburn; Lord Adare, 5,
Buckingham-gate; The Master of Lindsay, Grosvenor-
square.


said Mr. Home many curious occurrences, which I am
unable to explain, in the way of singular phenomena
such as displacement of objects without physical con-
tact, &c., and from my personal and careful investiga-
tions (which Mr. Home himself ever urges) I am positive
that it is not in consequence of any trick or device that
such phenomena occur. I have even been witness to
singular phenomena when the said Mr. Home was not in
the same room, and also when he has been asleep. I
have never known the said Mr. Home receive money for
what is termed 'a séance,' but I have known him re-
peatedly refuse offers of as much as twenty guineas for
“J. M. GULLY, M.D."
a single séance.


Dr. Hooker, in his opening address, as President
of the British Association at Norwich in 1868
poke very highly of the scientific attainments of
Mr. Alfred R. Wallace, F.L.S. Mr. Wallace is an
avowed Spiritualist. Professor Hare, of Phila-
delphia, the inventor of the Hare's Galvanic Bat-
tery, once refused to witness spiritual phenomena,
alleging that Faraday's “unconscious muscular
action” theory explained all the facts. A friend
wrote to him detailing things he had seen which
were inexplicable by that theory. Hare at once,
like a sensible man, went to see for himself. The
result was that he came into communication with
some of his own departed relatives. He then
made mechanical telegraphic machines, which
were intelligently worked by spirits while the
apparatus was screened from the sight of the
medium, and he wrote a book recording all these
facts. That book is now in the British Museum
Library. Judgo Edmonds, of New York, is another
very eminent American Spiritualist, who has also
written interesting books on the subject. Recently
in England, Viscount Adare has written a book
bearing testimony to the truth of Spiritualism, and
it has a preface by Lord Dunraven. This book is
printed for private circulation only, which is an
error in judgment. Valuable evidence in favour
of Spiritualism is given by John Wesley and his
family; for spirit rapping and movements of
wooden materials by invisible agency occurred in
their own house. Documentary evidence of what
they witnessed was drawn up and signed on the
spot, and is published in Southey's Life of Wesley.
The Spiritual Magazine for October, 1869, gives
the following names of friends of Spiritualism
who have now and then contributed to its pages:
“Viscount Adare; John Ashburner, M.D., Translator
of Reichenbach, author of Philosophy of Animal Mag-
netism and Spiritualism; T. B. Barkas, author of Outlines
of Ten Years’ Investigation into the Phenomena of Modern
Spiritualism; George Barth; Richard Beamish, F.R.S.,
author of The Life of Brunel; Rev. S. E. Bengough,
M.A.; Edward L. Blanchard; Edward Brotherton; Cap-
tain Richard F. Burton (the African traveller;) William
Carpenter, author of Political Letters, The English Bible;
Captain Edward Henry Chawner; Henry T. Child,
M.D. (Philadelphia, U.S.A.); Benjamin Coleman, author
of Spiritualism in Anerica; Robert Collyer, M.D., F.C.S.
Christopher Cook; Robert Cooper, author of Spiritual
Experiences; Mrs. De Morgan, author of From Matter to
Spirit; Jacob Dixon, L.R.C.P., author of Clairvoyance
Hygienic, and Medical; Hugh Doherty, M.D, author of
Organic Philosophy; Captain Drayson, R.A.; Judge
Edmonds (New York); Captain H. A Fawcett, R.N.;
John M. Gully, M.D.; Professor W. D. Gunning (Boston,
U.S.A.); Samuel Carter Hall, F.S.A.; Emma Hardinge
George Harris, M.A., F.S.A., President of the Manches
ter Anthropological Society; W. E. Hickson, late editor
of the Westminster Foreign Quarterly Review; Rev. A
W. Hobson, M.A.; Baron C. Dirckinck Holnifeld; Daniel
Duuglass Home; Rev. J. Page Hopps, editor of The
Truthseeker; Mary Howitt; William Howitt; Henry D.
Jencken, M.R.I., F.G.S.; John Jones, author of Man:
Physical, Apparitional, and Spiritual; Rev. William
Ker, M.A.: Seymour Kirkup (Florence); Andrew Leigh
ton; Robert Leighton; Kenneth R. P. Mackenzie, F.S.A.;
Rev. William Mountford (Boston, U.S.A.); A. E. New
ton (Boston, U.S.A.) author of The Ministry of Angels
Realised; Mary S. Gove Nichols; J. H. Powell: Baron
Reichenbach, anthor of Researches on the Dynamics of
Magnetism; Elihn Rich, author of several articles in the
Encyclopædia Metropolitana; J. Lockhart Robertson,
M.R.C.P.: Mary C. Hume Rothery; Rev. W Hume
Rothery, M.A.; Epes Sargent, author of The Planchette;
Thomas Shorter; Rev. W. R. Tomlinson, M.A.; Crom
well F. Varley, F.R.G.S.; C. Stauiland Wake, author of
Chapters on Man; Alfred R. Wallace; A. M. H. Watts
William White, author of Emanuel Swedenborg: His
Life and Writings; W. M. Wilkinson, author of Spirit
Drawings; James J. Garth Wilkinson, M.D., author of
The Human Body, and its Connection with Man; Rev. F.
R. Young.


“ Awaiting a reply to this letter, and to the challenge
with which it concludes, I am, gentlemen; your obedient
servant,
G. DAMIANI.
“Clifton, Oct. 1, 1868.
“P.S.—Letters addressed 'Sigr. Damiani, care of
Manager of West of England and South Wales District
Bank, Corn-street, Bristol, will always reach the writer.
In addition to the above evidence, there is the
testimony of numbers that the modern spiritual
manifestations are realities. Mr. Hepworth Dixon
in his New America estimatcs the number of Spiri-
tualists in the United Statcs at rather less than
three millions, and this is about the lowest estimate
that anybody has made. There are no accurate sta-
tistics, and different authorities vary in their esti-
mates from three to eleven millions.


All these facts, together with those which
follow, prove that Spiritualism deserves serious
investigation. Not a few learned men have pri-
vately been examining the phenomena in order to
“explode the imposture," but these extinguishers
soon catch fire themselves. In short, in the
minds of most of the English public, Spiritualism
has to pass through the following five stages :
1. The manifestations do not take place.
2. Spiritualism is a gross imposture.
3. It is a delusion.
4. It is the work of the Devil
5. It is a great blessing, and we always said so


Experience shows that the feebler the intellect
and the lower the standard of energy and educa-
tion, the sooner does the investigator break down
at one of the first four out of the above five steps
in the ladder of progress.


MR. HOME'S AFFIDAVIT.
In the Chancery suit of Lyon v. Home, for the
recovery of certain monics given by Mrs. Lyon
to Mr. Home against the advice of her lawyer
and her friends, Mr. Home made an affidavit, from
which the following is an extract:
“I, Daniel Dunglass Home, of 22, Sloane-street, in
the County of Middlesex, one of the above-named de-
fendants, make oath and say as follows :
“I was born in Scotland on the 20th of March, 1833,
and from my childhood have been subject to the occa-
sional happening of singular physical phenomena in my
presence, which are most certainly not produced by me
or by any other person in connection with me. I have
no control over them whatever: they occur irregularly
and even when I am asleep. Sometimes I am many
months, and once I have been a year without them.
They will not happen when I wish, and my will has
nothing to do with them. I cannot account for them
further than by supposing them to be effected by intelli-
gent beings or spirits. Similar phenomen occur to
many other persons. ... These phenomena occurring in
my presence have been witnessed by thousands of
intelligent and respectable persons, including men of
business, science, and literature, under circumstances
which would have rendered, even if I desired it, all
trickery impossible. They have been witnessed repeat-
edly and in their own private apartments, when any
contrivance of mine must have been detected, by their
Majesties the Emperor and the Empress of the French,
their Majesties the Emperor, Empress and late Empress
Dowager of Russia, their Imperial Highnesses the Grand
Duke and Duchess Constantine of Russia and the mem-
bers of their august family, their Majesties the King of
Prussia, the late King of Bavaria, the present and late
King of Würtemberg, the Queen of Holland, and the
members of the Royal Family of Holland; and man
of these august personages have honoured, and I be-
lieve still honour, me with their esteem and goodwill, as
I have resided in some of their palaces as a gentleman
and their guest, and not as a paid or professional per-
son. They have had ample opportunties, which the
have used, of investigating these phenomena, and of
inquiring into my character. I have resided in America,
England, France, Italy, Germany, and Russia, and in
every country I have been received as a guest and
friend by persons in the highest position in society, who
were quite competent to discover and expose, as the
ought to have done, anything like contrivance on my
part to produce these phenomena. I do not seek, and
never have sought, the acquaintance of any of these
exalted personages. They have sought me, and I have
thus had a certain notoriety thrust upon me. I do not
take money, and never have taken it, although it has
been repeatedly offered me for or in respect of these
phenomena, or the communications which appear to be
made by them. I am not in the habit of receiving those
who are strangers to me, and I never force the subject
of Spiritualism on any one’s attention. ... Some of the
phenomena in question are noble and elevated, others
appear to be grotesque and undignifled. For this I am
not responsible, any more than I am for the man
grotesque and undignified things which are undoubtedly
permitted to exist in the material world. I solemnly
swear that I do not produce the phenomena aforesaid
or in any way whatever aid in producing them," &c
“I have been subjected to much persecution through
out my life, because of my conscientious belief as to the
meaning and great purpose of spiritual phenomena
taken as a whole. That belief I have not, like the
plaintiff, foresworn. I have always courted the strictest
investigation, although I have not condescended to
notice all the attacks and anonymous slanders that have
becn circulated respecting me. The book shown to me
at the time of swearing this affidavit, marked H 8, con-
tains a correct list of upwards of 1,300 letters, with the
writers' names, which I still retain (after having de-
stroyed about 10,000), written to me by persons of ever
rank and class, including persons of the highest social
political, literary, and scientific position, who have in
vestigated these phenomena, and corresponded with me
about them. After the fullest opportunities of examina-
tion, they have formed differeut opinions as to thein
origin and meaning ; but I believe that all are
thoroughly satisfled of my entire honesty in the matter
and lately, while the plaintiff’s base and unfounded
charges of fraud and imposition have been hanging
over me, and during the months of January and
February, 1868, these phenomena have been thoroughly
tested by another scientific man, named Mr. Hawkins
Simpson, tho inventor of electrical apparatus, including
one for printing at a distance by the telegraph—a
drawing and description of which were, as I am in-
formed and believe, given in the Engineer newspaper of
the 15th November, 1867.


WHAT IS THE USE OF SPIRITUALISM?
Strange to say there are people who can ask
what is the use of communication with friends
and relatives, who have passed the great barrier
of the grave. One use of Spiritualism is, that all
Spiritualists who lead moderately good lives, are
found to gradually lose the fear of death. Spirits
through the agency of suitable media have much
power in the healing of diseases, and the removal
of deformities, though such power is far from
absolute. The following is a narrative, published
in Daybreak, of some of the powers excrcised
through Mr. Newton, the best healing medium in
the United States ; he is expected to visit England
in the course of the year 1870. The following ex-
ample from a very boundless field of choice, is
enough for the present on the subject of the uses
of Spiritualism:
'Friday, May 22, of the present year (1868) will for
ever remain one of the most memorable days of my life
It was on that day, when the sun was shining brightly
and bathing the world with its light and heat, that
arrived at Newport, Rhode Island, and first came under
the healing powers of Dr. J. A. Newton. I had heard
of him through The Spiritual Magazine, Mr. William
Howitt, and Mr. Coleman, and was assured that if I
placed myself in his hands I should be speedily and
radically cured of the neuralgic affection in my head,
for which I had been suffering for eleven years. It was
not until I had become a little more familiar with some
of the facts and phenomena of modern Spiritualism
that I felt a quiet faith in the power of Dr. Newton to
remove my disease. Having once attained to that state
of mind, and becoming satisfied that it was my duty to
cross the Atlantic in search of health, I made arrange-
ments for doing so, and left Liverpool for New York on
Saturday, May 9, arriving at the latter place on Tuesday
evening, the 19th. * * * * The moment Dr. New-
ton and I met, I found in his face and simple kindly
manner a human image of the outside sunshine, and
but few words had been spoken when I was convinced
that the errand upon which I had come would be ful-
filled. I was about to give him the history in detail of
my affliction when he stopped me by saying, “That
after I had been cured he would be very glad to listen
to anything I might wish to say, but that the cure itself
was the first matter to be attended to. He then poured
a large quantity of very hot water upon my head while
I was leaning it over a basin into which the water fell.
After my head had been dried with a coarse towel,
was made to sit upon a moveable seat, similar to a
music-stool, the doctor standing behind me, and placing
my head against his chest with his hands crossed upon
my forehead. Ho then moved my head in various
directions until all at once a clicking noise was heard at
the top of my spine. The doctor immediately cried out
That noise is the sign that you will be cured ; the dis-
turbance of the nerve current has been removed.' He
then faced me, and lifting both his hands towards
heaven, he looked me hard in the face, saying, Look at
me. In the name of God our Heavenly Father, and of
the Lord Jesus Christ the Great Healer, I bid this
disease depart from this dear suffering brother and
never more afflict him. It is gone—it is gone—it is
gone for ever, my brother; you are cured; rise up on
your feet and be cured.' At that instant I felt a strong
current of new life flowing into and through every part
of my body, and I was conscious that I had entered
upon an altogether new phase of existence. From that
day to the present hour, July 13, I have been entirely
free from my pain, and have felt as well, I should think
as it is possible for any human being to feel. Physically
speaking, I am a new creature; old things have passed
away and all things have become new. Of course it is
not for me to say absolutely that the cure will be per
manent, but, if I may judge from my present expe-
rience, I see no reason why it should not be so.
Wonderful as my case is, it is only one of thousands, so
far as Dr. Newton is concerned. He has cured almost
every form of disease, and removed almost every kind
of suffering. In fact, he appears to have done every-
thing but raise the dead. And yet even he does not
cure all cases, and this failure enables him to keep alive
the consciousness that it is not he who cures, but God
who works in and through him. He tells me that he
has cured something like a quarter of a million of
people. * * * * Most of his cures are done without
fee or reward. In my own case he steadily refused to
take a single dollar, and I saw him act in like manner
towards several others. During my stay I witnessed
several instances of his healing power; some of then
being so manifest as to defy all attempts at explaining
them away. On the very morning that my own cure
was effected, I witnessed his cure of a paralytic who for
three years had been unable to walk without the aid of
crutches, and even then, only in a partial degree. This
woman was brought by her parents to Newport, and, in
less than five minutes from the time when she came
under Dr. Newton's hands, she got up from the couch
on which she had been laid, and walked away up the
street and back again, a full mile, and afterwards
walked and ran and jumped aud danced, as so many
signs that her cure was a complete one. I also saw him
cure a young man who had a withered hand. Indeed,
might have seen day by day, and hour by hour, ex-
amples of this healing power had I chosen to have done
so. Every now and again, there are trains from Boston
and Providence freighted with the lame, the halt, the
blind, and the diseased, sometimes to the number of
500 or 600. These come to Newport, and a large majo-
rity of them are sent away perfoctly cured. In one part
of Dr. Newton’s house there is a room of considerable
size, full of crutches, sticks, spectacles, eye-shades
bandages, and other memorials ,of disease and sickness
which have been left behind by patients as so many
signs and trophies of their cure


Mrs. De Morgan has written a book, entitled
From Matter to Spirit (Longmans), where she
gives many interesting particulars, the result of
ten years' experience in Spiritualism. Professor
De Morgan, President of the Mathematical Society
of London, in his preface to the book, says:
“I am perfectly convinced that I have both seen and
heard, in a manner which should make unbelief impos-
sible, things called spiritual, which cannot be taken by
a rational being to be capable of explanation by impos-
ture, coincidence, or mistake. So far I feel the ground
firm under me."


The following is an extract from another
affidavit, made in the suit of Lyon v. Home:
“I, James Manby Gully, of The Priory, Great Malvern,
in the County of Worcester, doctor of medicine, make
oath and say as follows:
“I have known the above-named defendant, Daniel
Dunglass Home, for seven years and upwards, last past,
and have during that period been in the habit of attend-
ing him professionally, and also of receiving him in my
house as a personal friend, and I have never had the
smallest reason to doubt his character as a man of
honour and proper moral feeling.
“I have during the past seven years witnessed both
in my own house, and elsewhere, in the presence of the


Signor G. Damiani, a Sicilian gentleman living
at Clifton, lias written a pamphlet, still in print,
in which he severely ensures Professor Tyndall
Mr. G. H. Lewes, and others like them, for refus-
ing to investigate the subject. He further offers a
reward of 1,000 guincas to any respectable, scien-
tific or educated men, who will investigate the
subject and prove it to be an imposture. The
following are his words:
“I now offer yon two challenges
“First, I challenge you, or either of you, or any of
the public who, like you, disbelieve in the genuine cha-
racter of spiritualistic phenomena, to deposit in the
hands of any well-known London banker whom you or
they may name, tho sum of five hundred guineas; and
I pledge myself to immediately deposit in the same bank
a like amount,—the ownership of such sum of one thou-
sand guineas to depend upon my proving by evidence
sufficient to establish any fact in history or in a criminal
or civil court of justice.
First—That intelligent communications and answers
to questions put, proceed from dead and inert matter in
a manner inexplicable by any generally recognised law
of nature.
“Secondly—That dead and inert matter does move
without the aid of any mechanical or known chemical
agency, and in deflance of all the admitted laws of gravi-
tation.
“Thirdly—That voices appertaining to no one in the
flesh are heard to speak and hold rational converse with
men.
A jury of twenty-four gentlemen, twelve to be chosen
by each party (such jury to consist exclusively of mem-
bers of the learned professions and literary men), to
decide whether or not the facts contained in the above
propositions are conclusively proved per testes—ie, by
witnesses of established character. A majority of
the twenty-four to decide. If the verdict be that these
facts have not been established, the thonsand guineas
are to belong to the party accepting this challenge; if
the verdict be that these facts are established, the thou-
sand guineas to be mine.
“Secondly—Immediately after the above wager being
decided, either way, I offer a like challenge of five hun-
dred guineas (to be met on the other side in like manner
as above)—the ownership of the second sum of one
thousand guineas to depend upon thee establishment of
the facts contained in the propositions already given, by
experiments conducted in the actual presence of the twenty
four gentlemen who have decided the previous wager
the verdict of the majority to decide in this case likewise
“In either case, the séances are to be conducted in an
public or private building which the jury may select,
and which may be available for the purpose.
“The result of these challenges (if accepted and de-
cided) to be advertised by tho victorious party, at the
expense of the defeated party, in all the London daily
papers.
“I hope this is plain English.


Omitting the remainder of Mr. Home's affidavit,
the following evidence given by him before the
Dialectical Society, is of interest :
“He had seen a pencil lifted by a spirit hand write on
paper in the presence of the Emperor Napoleon. This
took place in a large room, the Salon Louis Quinze. The
Empress was also present. The hand, after writing,
went to the Emperor, who kissed it; it then went to the
Empress; she withdrew from the touch, and the hand
followed her. The Emperor said, Do not be fright-
ened, kiss it!' She then kissed it, and it shortly after
wards disappeared. The writing was an autograph
of the Emperor Napoleon I. The Emperor of Russia
had also seen and handled spirit hands, which after
wards seemed to melt away into thin air."


The Emperor Napoleon has been at a great
many of Mr. Home's séances, and Mr. Home was
asked by members of the Dialectical Society to
state other things which had been observed on
those occasions. Mr. Home said that he did not
feel at liberty to state any more than the Emperor
was in the habit of telling himself.


"FREDERICK ROWLAND YOUNG,
“Minister of the Free Christian Church, Swindon.
There are very many healing mediums in the
United States, who can do good only in certain
diseases, or whose powers are so feeble that suc-
cessful results may with more probability of accu-
racy be put down to the imagination of the
patient.
A great use of Spiritualism is that it demon-
strates tho immortality of the soul. But why
ask, “ Of what use is Spiritualism ?” for here the
thing is in our midst as much a part of nature as
the trees, the clouds, and the flowers, and as it
cannot be abolished there is no alternative but to
subject it to investigation, or to igno-
rance.


HOW TO FORM SPIRI
An experimental trial at home, among family
friends and relatives, often gives the most satis-
factory evidence of the reality of spiritual pheno-
mena. At the same time, as no fully developed
medium is present among those who lave never
obtained manifestations before, the probability is
that there will be no results. Nevertheless, it is
a very common thing for striking manifestations
to be obtained in this way at the first sitting of a
family circle; perhaps for every one successful
new circle thus started without a medium, there
are six or seven failures, but no accurate statistics
on this point have yet been collected. When
once manifestations have been obtained they will
gradually increase in power and reliability at suc-
cessive sittings. The following is a good plan of
action: -
1. Let the room be of a comfortable temperature, but
cool rather than warin; let arrangements be made that


8


THE SPIRITUALIST.


Nov. 19, 1869.


nobody shall enter it, and that there shall be no inter-
ruption for one hour during the sitting of the circle.
Wet, damp, and foggy weather is bad for the production
of physical phenomena.
2. Let the circle consist of four, five, or six individuals
about the same number of each sex. Sit round an un-
covered wooden table, with all the palms of the hands
in contact with its top surface. Whether the hand
touch each other or not is usually of no importance.
Any table will do, just large enough to conveniently
accommodate the sitters. The removal of a hand from
the table for a few seconds does no harm, but when one
of the sitters breaks the circle by leaving the table it
sometimes, but not always, very considerably delays the
manifestations.
3. Before the sitting begins, place some pointed lead-
pencils and some sheets of clean writing paper on the
table, to write down any communications that may be
obtained.
4. People who do not like each other should not sit in
the same circle, for such a want of harmony tends to
prevent manifestations, except with well-developed
physical mediums; it is not yet known why. Belief or
unbelief has no influence on the manifestations, but an
acrid feeling against them is a weakening influence.
5. Before tlie manifestations begin, it is well to engage
in general conversation or in singing, and it is best that
neither should be of a frivolous nature. A prayerful,
earnest feeling among the members of the circle is likely
to attract a higher and more plcasing class of spirits.
6. The first symptom of the invisible power at work is
often a feeling like a cool wind sweeping over the hands.
The first manifestations will probably be table tiltings or
raps.
7. When motions of the table or sounds are produced
freely, to avoid confusion, let one person only speak,
and talk to the table as to an intelligent being.
Let him tell the table that three tilts or raps mean
"Yes," one moans “No," and two mean “Doubtful"
and ask whether the arrangement is understood. If
three signals be given in answer, then say, “If I speak
the letters of the alphabet slowly, will you signal ever
time I come to the letter you want, and spell us out a
message?" Should three signals be given, set to work
on the plan proposed, and from this time an intelligent
system of communication is established
8. Afterwards the question should be put, “Are we
sitting in the right order to get the best manifestations?"
Probably some members of the circle will then be told
to change seats with each other, and the signals will be
afterwards strengthened. Next ask, “ Who is the
medium?“ When spirits come asserting themselves to
be related or known to anybody present, well-chosen
questions should be put to test the accuracy of the
statements, as spirits out of the body have all the virtues
and all the failings of spirits in the body.


Possibly at the first sitting of a circle symptoms
of other forms of mediumship than tilts or raps
may make their appearance. Information respect-
ing the many kinds of mediumship will be found
in Mrs. Professor De Morgan's book, From Matter
to Spirit, published by Longmans; and this is a
good book to read before trying to start a new
circle. It usually takes sevcral years for any
medium to attain full power, and it is not an
uncommon although not an everyday thing, for
chairs and other articles to move about in the
presence of a good well-developed physical medium
without anybody touching the articles at all. This
fact effectually disposes of Faraday’s “unconscious
muscular action” theory. Some have suggested
that the phenomena are all mental, since mental
conditions influence their production, and that
those present all believe they see and hear things
which they do not in reality see and hear. The
answer is that there is sometimes such a noise
with improperly powerful manifestations that the
sounds are heard all over the house by persons
not in the room; the furniture sometimes gets
broken by movements of too violent a character
and the broken portions remain as evidence that
the phenomena were not of a mental character.
The upholsterers' bills which result also serve to
convince that the occurrences are facts. The
higher spirits seem to have little power over
common matter, and the highest communications
are not usually obtained through physical mani-
festations.
There are in England several very interesting
circles for physical manifestations, where the
spirits speak with audible voices, but, unfortu-
nately, total darkness is a necessary condition.
Non-spiritualists who are inquiring into the sub-
ject should have nothing to do with dark séances,
which should be held only by those who know
each other, since they offer so many facilities for
fraud. When any circle regularly obtains power
ful physical manifestations, they may desire to sit
for the voices. The very slightest glimmer of
light must be excluded from the room, while the
members of the circle, sit round the table in the
ordinary way. One or two paper tubes, ech
twelve or eighteen inches long, with an orifice
about an inch-and-a-half in diameter, should be
placed on the table. They may be readily made
by rolling up a piece of music and tying a few
pieces of cotton round the rough tube thus formed.
In the early stages of a voice-circle these tubes
are necessary for the use of the spirits, but after-
wards they may be dispensed with except when
the weather and other conditions are unfavour-
able. When first trying to obtain the voices the
spirits may not be able to lift the tubes from the
table, afterwards they often get them up in the
air a foot or two and let them drop again. When
they get full control over them they can carry
them about up to the ceiling and to all parts of
the room, and they talk to the members of the
circle often while floating about above their heads.
Very beautiful luminous phenomena are some-
times shown by the spirits at dark circles. While
sitting for the voices, the spirits will tell by the
ordinary table signals how they are progressing in
their work of getting control of the tubes.
By the aid of the mediumship of Mr. D. D. Home,
whose sittings nearly always take place either in
bright or subdued light, the spirits sometimes
make themselves visible, so as to be recognised
by those who know them, and to be seen by all
present. There are two ways of seeing spirits:
in the first case the spirits materialise their own
forms till they becomc visible to everybody; in
the second the spiritual powers of the individual
are temporarily or permanently brought into play,
and he becomes a "seeing medium."
Every human being is surrounded by an atmo-
sphere which to the spirits is luminous and mate-
rial, and this atmosphere is largely used by the
spirits in the production of the physical manifes-
tations. Baron Reichenbach, while he knew
nothing of Spiritualism, discovered by experiment
the presence of unknown forces emanating fron
human bodies, and published the results in his
Researches on Animal Magnetism. All the pheno-
mena of Spiritualism draw temporarily upon the
vital powers of those composing the circle, but
the medium is the chief source of energy.


A still atmosphere and subdued light in the
room are favourable conditions for tlie physical
manifestations.
SPIRITUALISM AND MEN OF SCIENCE
Lord Brougham and Sir David Brewster many
years ago had a séance with Mr. Home. Ever,
facility was given them for investigation; they
witnessed some remarkable manifestations, and
deeply impressed, parted with Mr. Home on the
most friendly terms. Some little time afterwards
Brewster, finding that he was much laughed a
for his testimony, began gradually to back out of
his first position, and to say that possibly trickery
was at the root of the manifestations. This led
to angry letters in the newspapers. Full par-
ticulars are published in Mr. Home's Incidents of
My Life. Lord Brougham did not support Brews-
ter in his later assertions.
Sir J. Emerson Tennant once invited Faraday
to a séance at which Mr. Home was to be the
medium. Faraday wrote and asked for a pro-
gramme of the manifestations, and as nobody
knows beforehand what will take place at a circle
any more than the details of an expected star-
shower can be given in advance, it was not pos-
sible to comply with his demand. Faraday also
required an answer to the following questions,
among others, before attending:
“Would he [Mr. Home] be glad if their [the manifesta
tion's] delusive character were established and exposed,
and would he gladly help to expose it, or would he be
annoyed and personally offended? [The italics in this
sentence are not in the original.]
“Does he consider the effects natural or supernatural?
If natural, what are the laws which govern them? or
does he think that they are not subject to laws? If
supernatural, does he suppose them to be miracles, of
the work of spirits? If the work of spirits, would an
insult to the spirits be considered as an insult to
himself?"
Mr. Home took no notice of the above insults,
and, it is believed, never wrote Faraday in the
first instance, or took any notice of him whatever.
He never even saw his letters.


Dr. John Tyndall, F.R.S., in a note dated May
8, 1868, commenting upon Faraday's letter just
mentioned, wrote:
“I hold myself in readiness to witness and investigate
in the spirit of the foregoing letter [of Faraday's], such
phenomena as Mr. Home may wish to reveal to me
during the month of June."


A few days previously Mr. Home had written
in the Pall Mall Gazette:
“It will give me pleasure to meet Professor Tyndall
and any two gentlemen he shall designate. On my side
I shall have at least two gentlemen whose names and
position place them above the suspicion of aiding or
abetting a fraud. I will meet Professor Tyndall and
these gentlemen when and where they please, and
under such circumstances as they may decide on. I
must only crave their paticnce if nothing should occur
at the first, or even the second, séance."


From that day to this Dr. Tyndall has not
accepted the above invitation. Possibly it would
be no usc if he did, for Mr. Home is like a sens-
tive plant, which is one reason why he is so pliant
in the hands of spirits, and the presence of any-
body he does not like interferes seriously with
the very wonderful manifestations which we have
seen take place in his presence. Dr. Tyndall's
best plan, if he desire to gain knowledge, is to
invite some medium, who gets common violent
physical manifestations, to meet him at the Royal
Institution.


These great errors on the part of Faraday and
Tyndall are here put on record with regret, for
men of their stamp deserve higher honours at the
hands of a nation than any others whatever; their
intellectual standing is of the very noblest order
but, from a psychological point of view, their
letters show them to be imperfect. Faraday is
now im a position to know and repent of his errors.
As for Dr. Tyndall, assuming that the dwellers in
the spirit land wish to and know how to commu-
nicate with men, a glimmering of a great idea may
at last get inside his head, namely, that it is just
possible that the hosts of heaven may go on with
their work without asking his consent. However,
we believe him to be very honourable and fearless
and think that when he knows the facts to be true
hè will go behind the Royal Institution table and
say so publicly.
A demand for a programme where no programme
can be given, and the writing of supercilious
letters in reply to civil invitations, amounts prac-
tically to a retusal to observe facts. Dr. Tyndall,
aud men who act like lim, are recommended to
bear in mind the following words of Galileo :
“Oh. my dear Kepler, how I wish that we could have
our hearty laugh together. Here, at Padua, is the prin-
cipal professor of philosophy, whom I have repeatedly
and urgently requested to look at the moon and planets
through my glass, which he pertinaciously refuses to do.
Why are you not here? What shouts of laughter we
should have at this glorious folly ; to hear the Professor
of Philosophy at Pisa, labouring before the Grand Duke
with logical arguments, as if with magical incantations
to charm the planets out of the sky!"
Several eminent members of the Royal Society
and of the Institution of Civil Engineers, have
recently been privately investigating Spiritualism,
and know it to be true. Till they choose to attach
thcir names publicly to an unpopular truth, it it
not our business to do it for them, so names must
be withheld.
A little society known as the Dialectical Society,
is now investigating Spiritualism. It number
among its members many shrewd and intelligent
men, belonging chiefly to the legal and medical
professions. Spiritualists watch its proceedings
with a moderate amount of interest; nothing that
any man or body of men may say or do can alter
the established phenomena aud laws of nature.
THE LITERATURE OF SPIRITUALISM
The literature of Spiritualism now consists of
several hundreds of volumes, good, bad, and indif-
ferent, and almost entirely of American origin.
Among the best volumes on the subject are Mrs
De Morgan’s From Matter to Spirit (Longmans)
with a preface by Professor De Morgan, President
of the Mathematical Society of London; The
Planchette, by Epes Sargent; Spiritualism (2 vols.)
by Judge Edmonds and G. T. Dexter, of New
York; a History of Spiritualism, by Emma Hard-
inge; and The Autobiography of Andrew Jackson
Davis. An interesting book, consisting simply of
narrations of facts witnessed at remarkable seances
is Incidents of My Life (Longmans), by D. D
Homc. The Soul of Things, by Denton, is a curious


ADVICE TO INQUIRERS
Those who know no intelligent Spiritualists
and nothing about Spiritualism, yet who want to
investigate, are recommended to begin by reading
tho first two books mentioned in the preceding
paragraph. Then they should call upon the chief
publisher of Spiritual books in London, Mr. J
Burus, 15, Southampton-row, Holborn (where the
are sure to be treated with attention and courtesy),
and ask for the names and addresses of say four
good professional or non-professional mediums
accessible to the public, and “recognised by Spiri-
tualists as reliable for powerful physical manifes-
tations.” There are plenty of mediums or of people
who fancy themselves inediums, who can rarely shov
anything satisfactory, and with whom an inquirer
might waste much time. He should then get say
two sittings by daylight in his own house with
each of the four mediums, because the power
varies in strength at times with every medium;
at the end of the eight sittings he is sure to be
thoroughly intcrested in Spiritualism, and to have
thrown overboard the imposture theory, which is
the clumsiest and most superficial one of all.
Many of the public have vague ideas that electri
city can do all kinds of unaccountable things, but
A GENUINE MEDIUM NEVER HAS ANY HESITATION
IN SITTING WITH A CIRCLE IN A HOUSE AND AMONG
FURNITURE WHICH HE OR SHE HAS NEVER SEEN IN
HIS OR HER LIFE BEFORE. Even with a good
medium it is best, if time be valuable, not to
investigate at crowded public circles, because
assuming imposture to be at work, there is no
felling who may not be aiding, among the
numerous spectators. Besides, where so many
people want to ask questions of the spirits, the
investigator has not time to put many himself.
Investigators are recommended to be thus careful
in the selection of mediums, because as public
attention is gradually more rivetted upon Spiri-
tualism, impostors are sure to spring up, and even
to advertise in Spiritual periodicals, for the editors
manifestly cannot investigate the claims of ever
professing medium. At present (November, 1869)
there is very little imposture mixed up with the
Spiritual movement in Great Britaiu, and there are
only four or five paid mediums in all London.
Good paid mediums deserve high praise rather
than that censure which is thrown upon them even
by Spiritualists; they find house-room; they are
ready to receive strangers at stated times when
private circles could not sit for the convenience of
inquirers ; the sittings exhaust their vitality like a
hard days' work, and they have to put up with
much abuse when uneducated roughs unaccus-
tomed to investigation persecute them by attend-
ing. The inquirer should mentiou to the medium,
civilly and kindly, his doubts respecting the
phenomena he may witness; the invisible beings
around will at once, on the spot, do their best to
remove those doubts, or an explanation will be
obtained from the medium. When there is real
foundation for suspicion, the best plan is to go
often to tle medium, accompanied by witnesses,
detect the imposture, and prosecute the medium
for obtaining money under false pretences.
Genuine manifestations are not under the control
of the medium, so that a paid medium who does
not get manifestations, is under a great temptation
to try to make them. This fact makes it difficult
for Spiritualists to speak absolutely as to the relia-
bility of any paid mediunis, however genuine the
majority of the manifestations may be which occur
in their presence. After getting thoroughly inte-
rested in Spiritual phenomena, the inquirer should
take his friends to see them, and afterwards get up
a private circle in his own house, Manifestations
will most likely not be obtained at the first sitting
but after very few or very many sittings they will
come; gradually the great barrier of the grave
which now separates friends will be broken down
and after the experience of a year or two the
dread of the beautiful natural process, called
death," will be destroyed, as it is destroyed in
the minds of all experienced Spiritualists, except
those who during life have done harm to their
fellow-creatures. Very high spirits and thein
homes are perfectly invisible to very low spirits
this, coupled with the fact that there is no more
uniformity in the next world than there is here,
accounts for the endless contradictions about spirit
life given in Spiritual communications.
An investigator of a logical and scientific turn of
mind may possibly have to closely follow up the
subject for some weeks before gaining the absolute
knowledge that the manifestations come from
spirits. Unlike Mr. Home and a few other excep-
tional individuals, most mediums are developed
for one or two special purposes only. Thus, vio-
lent physical manifestations, inexplicable by any
of the recognised laws of matter, may be seen in
the presence of one medium, but mental tests and
questions may bring forth a majority of inaccurate
and unreliable answers. Where good mental teste
are obtainable through a mediuin, the physical
manifestations may be altogether absent.


To LIFE POLICY-HOLDERS.
The
recent disclosures in the Chancery Court indis-
putably prove that neither the antiquity of a life office
nor the magnitude of its income, affords to the public
any security that the premiums they have paid for the
purpose of securing a sum of money to their families
may not be frittered away in costly amalgamations, on
jeopardised by fire, marine, or accidental risks.
In order to remove this insecurity the BRITISH IM-
PERIAL INSURANCE CORPORATION was esta-
blished on the principle substantially adopted by Her
Majesty's Government for small policies, and carried out
through the medium of the Post-office.
The Life Funds of the British Imperial Corporation
are placed beyond the control of the Directors, being in-
vested in the Government Funds (for the sole purpose
of mecting policy claims) in the names of trustees, who
act independent of the Directors, and solely on behalf of
the policy-holders.
The system of investing Insurers’ net premiums in
Consolidated three per cent. Annuities in Trustees
names for the sole purpose of meeting Policy Claims
combined with the creation of a number of Separate
Trusts, presents entirely new elemeuts of security to
Insurers. Such principles are in contradistinction to
those of ordinary Life Insurance, where all the premiums
paid by Insurers are under the sole control of a Central
Board, exercising power to invest them in almost any
description of sccurity at home or abroad.
Any section of the community who are dissatisfied
with the ordinary plan of entrusting their premiums to
the care of the Directors of a life office may, without
cost or risk, constitute themselves into a separate sec-
tion of the British Imperial Corporation, and appoint
their own trustees to control the hfe insurance funds
contributed by them.
Life policies, if only in force for one, two, or three
years, may be transferred to the British Imperial Cor¬
poration on equitable terms.


Trustees
Christopher Weguclin, Esq., Director of the Bank of
England (Messrs. Thomson, Bonar, and Co.)
Charles Oppenheim, Esq., Director of the Union Bank of
London (Messrs. S. Oppenheim and Sons).
William G. Goodliffe, Esq., Accountant-General, India
Office, Westminster
Augustus F. Bayford, Esq., LL.D., Senior Registrar
Court of Probate, Doctor's-commons, Chancellor of
the Diocese of Manchester
Uderman Thomas Dilworth Crewdson, J.P., Greenheys
Manchester
Head Offices
81, KING-STREET, AND 60, SPRING-GARDENS.
MANCHESTER.
Chief Offices for London
20, COCKSPUR-STREET, PALL-MALL.


HUMAN NATURE, a Monthly Record
of Zoistic Science, Intelligence, and Popular
Anthropology. Recent numbers give full details of the
extraordinary Manifestations through the celebrated
Medium, D. D. Home, Esq., with philosophical reason-
ings as to the nature and cause of the phenomena: a
new series of lessons on Phrenology and the Tempera-
ments is being given, containing some new instructions
of great value to the student; first-class Portraits of
eminent men and women, with Biographies and Phreno-
logical delineations are frequently introduced; a serial
Tale of great power and beauty; articles on Physiology,
Diet, Temperance, and Health; translations from Con-
tinental Works and Periodicals; treatises on Mesmerism,
Clairvoyance, Spiritualism; reviews of Books; reports
of Lectures, Mectings, and Soeieties, renders this the
cheapest, most varied, and instructive Periodical of the
kind in the world. The fact that this Periodical is en-
tirely unbiased and devoted to the truth respecting all
the topics on whieh it treats, is a point not to bo over-
looked by all earnest investigators, whatever their
opinions may be. Post free, 7s. per annum, or 6d. per
month from the Booksellers. JAMES BURNS, Progres
sive Library, 15, Southampton-row, Bloomsbury-square
Holborn, London, W.C.


THE PROGRESSIVE LIBRARY and
SPIRITUALIST DEPOSITORY has been re-
moved from Camberwell to No. 15, Southampton-row
Bloomsbury-square, Holborn, W.C J. BURNS has much
pleasure in announcing that he now occupies the above
named commodious Premises, which he intends to de-
vote to the furtherance of the cause of Spiritualism aud
Kindred Studies.
There is a Publishing Once and Shop for the sale of
Books: a Circulating Library of all Works on Spiritualism
&c.; a Reading-Room supplied with the Spiritual and
Progressive Publications of the World: a Drawing
Room for the special use of Ladies and Subscribers;
Private Rooms for Séances, Committees, Meetigs, &c.
and where all information respecting the Cause and th
Progress of events may be obtained.
The Room will be furnished with interesting Speci-
mens of Spirit Drawings, Paintings, Photographs. Direct
Writings, Portraits, Devices, and all that can interest
and instruct those who inquire into the subject of
Spiritualism.
The Subscription, entitling to all the privileges of the
Establishment, including the use of two Books at a
time from the Library for home perusal, is 21s. per
annum.


A well-assorted Stock of Stationery, Periodicals, cur-
rent Progressive Litcrature, Standard Works, Cheap
Books and Tracts, Pianchettes, Materials for Writing
and Drawing Mediums; also Works and Appliances on
Phrenology, Physiology, Health, and Dietetic Reform,
Temperance, Hydropathy, Gymnastics, Mesmerism
Clairvoyance, Anthropology, &c., will be kept on sale.
As the responsibilities incurred in establishing this
"Home for Spiritualism" and the Science of Man are
very heavy, the Proprietor earnestly solicits the kind
co-operation and support of all who sympathise with
the enterprise. Strangers in London should at once
call at the Progressive Library, where they may hear of
Lodgings and get other useful information
J. BURNS Progressive Library, 15, Southampton-row,
Bloomsbury-square, Holborn, London, W.C.


Contents.


book indirectly connected with Spiritualism, and
worth reading. Those unacquainted with Spiri-
tualism are recommended to read these books in
the order in which they have just been mentioned.
The only large lending library of Spiritual books
in Great Britain is that belonging to Mr. J. Burns
15, Southampton-row, High Holborn, London
W.C. The English periodicals on the subject
are, The Spiritual Magazine, Human Nature, Day-
break, and The Spiritualist.


JOSEPH BARKER’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Now ready, neatly bound in cloth, price 2s. 6d.
TEACHINGS OF EXPERIENCE; or
Lessons I have Learned on my Way through
Life.
“At the time he told me of these things, I had become
rather uncharitable towards the Spiritualists, and very
distrustful of their statements, and the consequence was
that my friend’s account of what he had witnessed,
and of the effect it had on his mind, made but little im-
pression on me. But when I saw things resembling
what my friend had seen, his account of what he had
witnessed came back to my mind with great power, and
helped to increase my astonishment." ... “The result of
my visit to Dr. Redman was, that I never afterwards
felt the same impatience with Spiritualists, or the same
inclination to pronounce them foolish or dishonest, that
I had felt before. It was plain, that whether their theory
of a spirit world was true or not, they were excusable in
thinking it true. It looked like truth."—Pp. 163, 164.
London: JAMES BEVERIDGE, 9, 10, 11, Fullwood's-rents
Holborn, W.C.


Spirit-rapping in Jolin Wesley's Family
1
Philosophy of Death
1
Number of Spiritualists in America...
1
Testimony of Non-Spiritualists...
Why Galileo was Perseeuted
2
REPORTS OF MEETINGS:—St. John's Association of
Spiritualists. 2—Summary of Evidence Given be-
fore the Dialectical Society—The Anthropological
Society
...2
...
Spirit Greetings
GENERAL NEWS:—The Spiritualist—The Dialectical
Society—The Gower-street Conference—Spiritual-
ism in New Zealand—Spiritualism in East London
-Spiritualism in Clerkenwell — Spiritualism in
Mesmerism and Clairvoyance
Bloomsbury
Charge of Imposture—Where the Liars go to...
LEADERS:—Opening Address—The Scientiflc Inves-
tigation of Spiritual Phenomena
5
Which is the Best Evidence
5
POETRY
6
CORRESPONDENCE—The Separation between Spirit
Societies—Thought-reading and Physical Manifes-
... 6
tations—Trance Mediumship...
Dr. Thomas Young on Spirits
... 6
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS ...
... 6
PARAGRAPHS:—A Spirit on Ghosts, 3—Friends of
Spiritualism, 6—Solomon, King of Israel, 6—The
Spiritual Library, 6 —Apparitious, 6.


Printed for the Proprietor by JANES BEVERIDGE, at the
Holborn Printing Works, Fullwood’s Rents, High
Holborn, in the Parish of St. Andrew-above-Bar and
St. George the Martyr, London


The Spiritualist


No. 3
-VOL. I.


A RECORD OF THE PROGRESS OF THE SCIENCE AND ETHICS OF SPIRITUALISM


LADIES IN THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
SPIRITUALISM demonstrates that no immediate im-
provement is made in the moral or mental condition of
any human being, after passing through the process
called “ death.” Hence, everything done on this earth
to improve human bodies and human minds, causes a
higher class of spirits to enter the next world. Such
facts have a very useful and beautiful practical teach-
ing, for they let us know that to raise the present
average condition of this world and the next, we must
begin by doing everything possible to improve the
bodies and souls of man and woman-kind. Why
should women be in a worse condition upon earth than
men, and be cut off so much from freedom of action, as
well as from facilities to earn an independent liveli-
hood? Why should they not have equal opportunities
with men to gain a good education, when any of them
desire so to do? The sight of the advertisement about
the Female Medical Society, printed on the last page of
this journal, led us to make a few inquiries about this
new opening for female industry, and the remainder of
this article is a summary of the information received
upon the subject.
During the last few weeks the University of Edin-
burgh has opened its doors to ladies who wish to study
medicine, on the sole condition that they comply with
the same regulations, and undergo the same graduated
examinations, as the students of the other sex. The
classes, however, are to be kept separate, each of the
university professors having a second-class for women
only, so that the sexes do not attend in mixed classes.
The women students, while so few in number, will have
to subscribe a large quota of the expenses of the course
in order to furnish a reasonable honorarium to the
respective teachers, and on that point the students wil
have to arrange for themselves with the professors.
But the class-rooms, the museums, and the thousand
other standing accessories associated with the great
school of Edinburgh, are now as freely at the disposal
of women as of men. The professors have promised to
give separate courses of lectures, for a mere nominal
acknowledgment in the shape of fee, in some cases
indeed allowing the women simply to pay the same
small fees as are paid by the men students in their
very large classes. Five women have already presented
themselves in the medical matriculation examination,
two of whom were “ honours students ” at the Obstet-
rical College of the Female Medical Society in Fitzroy
square, London—Mrs. Isabel Thorne and Miss Matilda
Chaplin—one was a lady from America—Miss J. Blake
and the two other ladies were Miss Peachey and Mrs.
Evans. The ladies came out almost at the top of the
lists, and one of the past students of the Female
Medical Society obtained special commendation.
On the bare question of right it has been a monstrous
violation of equity that women have been so long ex-
cluded by technical means, from disposing of themselves
and their abilities as they choose, and as they can get
the public to employ them. The Female Medical So-
ciety, a semi-benevolent society, founded on a purely
public basis, has not contemplated eleemosynary help
to ladies desiring to practice as physicians, or as general
practitioners, but seems to have thought that ladies of
that rank of ability were quite able to help themselves
and that the proper way would be for them to gain that
access to the existing medical schools which has now
been gained at the Universities of Edinburgh, Paris,
Zurich, and some other places. Similar facilities must
ere long be given by all the medical colleges.
A very valuable and practically useful auxiliary
college has, however, been kept in operation for now five
years by the Female Medical Society, in order to teach
for a small fee the theory and practice of midwifery
and the accessory branches of medical science, to educated
women. When it is considered that more than a million
births occur every year in this country, and that probably
more than half-a-million sterling is paid annually for
professional attendances in that respect, which could be
infinitely better rendered by women than by men,
manifestly this branch of medical practice would be a
most valuable addition to the now narrow and over
crowded fields of usefulness which are open to women.
Of late years women have been artificially excluded
from the practice of midwifery, because they have had
no proper aids to study, and have had access to no
public examinations which would enable skilled women


to distinguish themselves from the drunken old women
into whose hands the female practice has drifted, and
who are of course quite unable to compete with the
well-educated “gentlemanly” person whom recent
collegiate medical teaching and certificating has intro-
troduced in displacement. With singular acumen the
new order of men-midwives still hold that women are
the proper persons to attend—paupers—but that it is
highly improper and even dangerous for women to
attend patients of that class who are accustomed to
remunerate their attendants handsomely. It is very
noteworthy, however, that even illiterate old women
have fewer casualties and fewer deaths among their
lying-in patients than occur with educated medical
gentlemen, and Dr. Edmunds and other authorities have
proved that this fact is due to the circumstance that
medical men engaged in general practice, and having
to pass from cases of fever to those under notice, convey
upon their hands an animal virus which produces by
direct infection those febrile diseases which in the deli-
cate condition of the recipient are so fatal and unman-
ageable. Some additional facts about the Female Medical
Society are set out in our advertisement pages, and the
addresses of lady midwives, prospectuses of the college,
and all particulars as to the operations of the society,
may be obtained by writing to the lady secretary.
We may add that the society is much in need of
additional subscriptions in order to carry out its objects
more effectively, and that there are few directions in
which money could be better utilised in helping women
to help themselves, and at the same time to render
valuable service to the public.


SPIRIT-RAPPING IN JOHN WESLEY’S FAMILY.
IN TEN PARTS.—PART THREE
THE following is the account written and published
by John Wesley himself, about the spirit-rapping dis-
turbances in the house of his brother:
"When I was very young, I heard several letters
read, wrote to my elder brother by my father, giving
an account of strange disturbances, which were in his
house at Epworth, in Lincolnshire.
“ When I went down thither, in the year 1720, I
carefully inquired into the particulars. I spoke to each
of the persons who were then in the house, and took
down what each could testify of his or her own know-
ledge. The sum of which was this:—
"On Dec. 2, 1716, while Robert Brown, my father's
servant, was sitting with one of the maids a little
before ten at night, in the dining-room which opened
into the garden, they both heard one knocking at the
door. Robert rose and opened it, but could see nobody.
Quickly it knocked again, and groaned. “It is Mr.
Turpine, said Robert, he has the stone, and uses to
groan so.’ He opened the door again twice or thrice,
the knocking being twice or thrice repeated; but still
seeing nothing, and being a little startled, they rose
and went up to bed.
When Robert came to the top of
the garret stairs, he saw a handmill, which was at a
little distance, whirled about very swiftly. When he
related this, he said, 'Nought vexed me, but that it was
empty. I thought, if it had but been full of malt, he
might have ground his heart out for me.'
When he
was in bed, he heard as it were the gobbling of a
turkey-cock close to the bed-side; and soon after, the
sound of one stumbling over his shoes and boots; but
there were none there, he had left them below. The
next day he and the maid related these things to the
other maid, who laughed heartily, and said, What a
couple of fools are you ! I defy anything to fright me.'
After churning in the evening, she put the butter in
the tray, and had no sooner carried it into the dairy,
than she heard a knocking on the shelf where several
puncheons of milk stood, first above the shelf, then
below. She took the candle, and searched both above
and below; but being able to find nothing, threw down
butter, tray, and all, and ran away for life. The next
evening, between five and six o’clock, my sister Molly,
then about twenty years of age, sitting in the dining-
room reading, heard as if it were the door that led into
the hall open, and a person walking in, that seemed to
have on a silk night-gown, rustling and trailing along.
It seemed to walk round her, then to the door, then
round again; but she could see nothing. She thought,


'It signifies nothing to run away; for, whatever it is,
it can run faster than me.' So she rose, put her book
le under her arm, and walked slowly away.
After
it supper she was sitting with my sister Sukey (about
year older than her), in one of the chambers, and
telling her what had happened; she made quite light
of it, telling her, I wonder you are so easily frighted
I would fain see what would fright me.' Presently
knocking began under the table. She took the candle
and looked, but could find nothing. Then the iron
casement began to clatter, and the lid of a warming
pan. Next the latch of the door moved up and down
without ceasing. She started up, leaped into the bed
without undressing, pulled the bed-clothes over her
head, and never ventured to look up till next morning.
A night or two after my sister Hetty, a year younger
than my sister Molly, was waiting as usual, between
nine and ten, to take away my father’s candle, when
she heard one coming down the garret stairs, walking
slowly by her, then going down the best stairs, then up
the back stairs, and up the garret stairs; and at every
step it seemed the house shook from top to bottom.
Just then my father knocked. She went in, took his
candle, and got to bed as fast as possible. In the
morning she told this to my eldest sister, who told her
'You know I believe none of these things ; pray let me
take away the candle to-night, and I will find out the
trick.’ She accordingly took my sister Hetty’s place,
and had no sooner taken away the candle, than she
heard a noise below. She hastened downstairs to the
hall, where the noise was; but it was then in the
kitchen. She ran into the kitchen, where it was drum-
ming on the inside of the screen.
When she went
round, it was drumming on the outside : and so always
on the side opposite to her. Then she heard a knock-
ing at the back kitchen door. She ran to it, unlocked
it softly, and when the knocking was repeated, suddenly
opened it; but nothing was to be seen. As soon as
she had shut it, the knocking began again. She
opened it again, but could see nothing. When she
went to shut the door, it was violently thrust against
her; she let it fly open, but nothing appeared. She
went again to shut it, and it was again thrust against
her; but she set her knee and her shoulder to the door,
forced it to, and turned the key. Then the knocking
began again; but she let it go on, and went up to bed
However, from that time she was thoroughly convinced
that there was no imposture in the affair.
“ The next morning, my sister telling my mother
what had happened, she said, 'If I hear anything
myself, I shall know how to judge.' Soon after, she
begged her to come into the nursery. She did, and
heard in the corner of the room, as it were, the violent
rocking of a cradle ; but no cradle had been there for
some years. She was convinced it was preternatural,
and earnestly prayed it might not disturb her in her
own chamber at the hours of retirement; and it never
did. She now thought it was proper to tell my father.
But he was extremely angry, and said, 'Sukey, I am
ashamed of you: these boys and girls frighten one
another; but you are a woman of sense, and should
know better. Let me hear of it no more.'
"At six in the evening, he had family prayers as
usual. When he began the prayer for the king, a
knocking began all round the room; and a thundering
knock attended the Amen. The same was heard fron
this time every morning and evening, while the prayer
for the king was repeated. As both my father and
mother are now at rest, and incapable of being pained
thereby, I think it my duty to furnish the serious
a reader with a key to this circumstance.
“The year before King William died, my father
observed my mother did not say Amen to the prayer
for the King. She said she could not, for she did not
believe the Prince of Orange was king. He vowed he
never would cohabit with her till she did. He then
took his horse and rode away; nor did she hear any
thing of him for a twelvemonth. He then came back,
and lived with her as before. But I fear his vow was
not forgotten before God.
"Being informed that Mr. Hoole, the vicar of Haxey
(an eminently pious and sensible man), could give me
some farther information, I walked over to him. He
said, 'Robert Brown came over to me, and told me
your father desired my company. When I came, he
gave me an account of all that had happened, particu-


LONDON: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1869


Price Threepence.


Published Fortnightly.


18


THE SPIRITUALIST.


DEC. 17, 1869.


larly the knocking during family prayer. But that
evening (to my great satisfaction) we had no knocking
at all. But between nine and ten a servant came in
and said, '"Old Jeffrey is coming (that was the name of
one that died in the house), for I hear the signal."
This, they inform me, was heard every night about a
quarter before ten. It was toward the top of the
house, on the outside, at the north-east corner, resem-
bling the loud creaking of a saw, or rather that of a
windmill, when the body of it is turned about, in order
to shift the sails to the wind. We then heard a knock-
ing over our heads; and Mr. Wesley, catching up a
candle, said, '"Come, Sir, now you shall hear for your-
self.'" We went upstairs; he with much hope, and I(to
say the truth) with much fear. When we came into the
nursery, it was knocking in the next room; when we
were there, it was knocking in the nursery. And there
it continued to knock though we came in, particularly
at the head of the bed (which was of wood), in which
Miss Hetty and two of her younger sisters lay. Mr.
Wesley, observing that they were much affected, though
asleep, sweating and trembling exceedingly, was very
angry; and pulling out a pistol, was going to fire at the
place from whence the sound came. But I catched him
by the arm, and said, '"Sir, you are convinced this is
something preternatural. If so, you cannot hurt it
but you give it power to hurt you.'"
He then went
close to the place, and said stemly, '"Thou deaf and
dumb devil, why dost thou fright these children, that
cannot answer for themselves ? Come to me in my study
that am a man?'". Instantly it knocked his knock,
(the particular knock which he always used at the gate
as if it would shiver the board in pieces; and we heard
nothing more that night.' Till this time my father
had never heard the least disturbances in his study.
But the next evening, as he attempted to go into his
study (of which none had any key but himself), when
he opened the door, it was thrust back with such vio-
lence as had like to have thrown him down. However,
he thrust the door open, and went in. Presently there
was knocking, first on one side, then on the other; and
after a time, in the next room, wherein my sister Nancy
was. He went into that room, and (the noise con-
tinuing) adjured it to speak, but in vain. He then
said, 'These spirits love darkness; put out the candle
and perhaps it will speak.' She did so, and he repeated
his adjuration ; but still there was only knocking, and
no articulate sound. Upon this he said, Nancy, two
Christians are an overmatch for the devil. Go all of
you downstairs ; it may be when I am alone, he will
have courage to speak. When she was gone, a thought
came in, and he said, 'If thou art the spirit of my son
Samuel, I pray knock three knocks, and no more.'
Immediately all was silence ; and there was no more
knocking at all that night. I asked my sister Nancy
(then about fifteen years old) whether she was not
afraid when my father used that adjuration? She
answered, she was sadly afraid it would speak, when
she put out the candle; but she was not at all afraid in
the day-time, when it walked after her, as she swept
the chambers, as it constantly did, and seemed to sweep
after her; only she thought he might have done it for
her, and saved her the trouble. By this time all my
sisters were so accustomed to these noises, that they
gave them little disturbance. A gentle tapping at their
bed-head usually began between nine and ten at night.
They then commonly said to each other, Jeffrey is
coming; it is time to go to sleep. And if they heard
a noise in the day, and said to my youngest sister,
'Hark, Kezzy, Jeffrey is knocking above;’ she would
run upstairs, and pursue it from room to room, saying
she desired no better diversion.
“ A few nights after, my father and mother were just
gone to bed, and the candle was not taken away, when
they heard three blows, and a second, and a third three,
as it were with a large oaken staff, struck upon a chest
which stood by the bed-side. My father immediately
arose, put on his night-gown, and hearing great noises
below, took the candle and went down; my mother
walked by his side. As they went down the broad
stairs, they heard as if a vessel, full of silver, was
poured upon my mother’s breast, and ran jingling down
to her feet. Quickly after there was a sound, as if a
large iron ball was thrown among many bottles under
the stairs; but nothing was hurt. Soon after, our
large mastiff dog came, and ran to shelter himself
between them. While the disturbances continued, he
used to bark and leap, and snap on one side and the
other; and that frequently before any person in the
room heard any noise at all. But after two or three
days, he used to tremble, and creep away before the
noise began. And by this the family knew it was at
hand; nor did the observation ever fail. A little
before my father and mother came into the hall, it
seemed as if a very large coal was violently thrown
upon the floor, and dashed all in pieces ; but nothing
was seen. My father then cried out, “Sukey, do you
not hear? All the pewter is thrown about the
kitchen.' But when they looked, all the pewter stood
in its place. There then was a loud knocking at the
back-door. My father opened it, but saw nothing.
It was then at the fore door. He opened that, but it
was still lost labour. After opening first the one, then


the other, several times, he turned, and went up to bed.
But the noises were so violent all over the house, that
he could not sleep till four in the morning.
“ Several gentlemen and clergymen now earnestly
advised my father to quit the house. But he constantly
answered, “No ; let the devil flee from me; I will
never flee from the devil.' But he wrote to my eldest
brother at London to come down. He was preparing
so to do, when another letter came, informing him the
disturbances were over; after they had continued (the
latter part of the time day and night) from the second
of December to the end of January."


Reports of Meetings.


[When reports of the speeches of spirits are printed in this Journal, non-
Spiritualists should understand that spirits out of the body are wise of
foolish, truthful or untruthful, just the same as spirits in the body. More-
over, they are but individuals, so do not know everything. The statements of
a spirit are but the assertions of an individual; but by comparing the state-
ments of many spirits, it may in time be possible to discover in what points
they agree, and to sift out the unreliable communications. Many spirits
cannot see each other, any more than we can see them, and as some of them
are thus in different states of life, it does not follow that contradictory
messages are therefore untruthful. Spirits are of different religions, conse-
sequently their teachings do not altogether agree; there is no more uniformity
in the next world than in this one.]


ON Thursday evening, December 9th, a social meeting of
the St. John’s Association of Spiritualists was held in St.
John’s Hall, Corporation-row, Clerkenwell, the proceedings
beginning with tea, and ending with speeches. When the
business of the evening began, Mr. W. Cresswell was voted
into the chair.
The CHAIRMAN said that it had been thought desirable to
spend the rest of the evening in the public narration of the
experience of each speaker on the subject of Spiritualism.
Many years ago he had discarded an intimate friend because
that friend took up the imposture of Spiritualism, and it was
not till the winter of 1860-61 that he (the Chairman) saw an
manifestations himself. After investigating the reality of the
common table manifestations, he satisfied himself that the
were true. He knew that much which is seen in Spiritualism
taken separately, could be explained without assuming the in-
tervention of disembodied spirits, but considering the pheno-
mena as a whole, that spirits are at the bottom of them is
certain. Since 1861 he had been a very active worker in the
movement.
Mr. J. S. STEELE, watchmaker, of 36, Great Sutton-street,
Clerkenwell, E.C., said that he first saw the spiritual mani-
festations in the room in which he was speaking, and Messrs.
Cresswell, Davis, and Blackwell were present. He thought all
he then witnessed was contemptible rubbish, but he attended
twice more, and, his curiosity being aroused, he joined the so-
ciety for the sake of obtaining regular admittance. After a
time he discontinued his visits, and at last said to his wife,
who had been a Spiritualist for some time, “ If you go to that
place again I’II go to St. Luke’s madhouse and get one
straight jacket for you and another for Davis.” (Laughter.)
However, he attended once more, and the spirits selected him
and ten other persons to sit at a dark séance. At that séance
Mr. Davis was entranced, and repeated to him the dying
words of his son. This son had died a year before he knew
Mr. Davis, and he had never spoken to the latter on the sub-
ject. The words were, “Good bye, God bless you. You'll
never forget me, will you?” Davis finished by saying, “Is
there anybody here who remembers these words?” He (Mr.
Steele) shouted “Yes, I do.” Davis replied, “I should think
you do, father.”. His wife was not present at the séance. A
short time afterwards, a medium, Miss Dixon, came to his
house. He entered the parlour to speak to her, and she went
off into a trance upon the sofa. He felt very uncomfortable
to see a strange young woman apparently fainting away in
his house, as he did not know how to bring her round, and
was not used to that sort of thing. He thought to himself
“Here’s a pretty pickle I’m in !"
She rose from the sofa,
bent one foot so that she walked on the edge of it, drew up
one arm into a cramped position, and limped in a peculiar
way across the room. He said, “Why, that’s my mother."
The medium, who never knew his mother, replied, “ Yes, my
boy, I should think it is.” His mother had died many years
before, and she was much afflicted with paralysis. Another
spirit, purporting to be his son, spoke to him through Miss
Dixon, and said, “ Father, you once made me an earthly pro-
mise.” He replied,“Yes, for shortly before his son died the
boy asked him to always wear a ring on his finger in remem-
brance of him, with the date of his birth, death, and burial
engraved upon it. He (Mr. Steele) had not kept the promise
and had not told his wife about it, because he knew that if he
did she would always be pressing him to wear the ring. His son
through the medium, continued, “ Will you now make me a
spiritual promise?”. He replied, “ Yes, but will you tell me
what was to be inside the ring?”. The answer was, “Do you
want me to tell you more than the three dates?” “No, he
said, “I am satisfied.” And he was satisfied, for no being on
earth knew anything about the private conversation between
him and his son about the ring.
Mr. AVERY, an American, said that in the August of 1861
he was told through a trance medium that his little daughter
who was very ill, was suffering from a bad rupture, and would
soon enter the spirit world, although a short time before the
change she would appear to be much better. In October he
received, through a drawing medium, an accurate likeness of
his grandfather, who had then been in the spirit world for
sixty years. The medium was a stranger to him, and lived
500 miles from the locality where his grandfather spent his
life while on earth. The portrait was recognised by all who
once knew his grandfather. About this time his daughter got
worse again. She was very sick, and she told him that she
would come back to him sometimes from the spirit world if
she could. Through his own mediumship he was told several
days in advance that she would pass away on one particular
Sunday, a little after twelve o’clock. Everything took place
as predicted. In the following December he went to New
York, and while in his sister’s house a woman, a medium, en-
tered in the trance state, and he heard his child’s voice saying,
"Where’s Pa?” She added, "I’m Lavinia. Pa! Didn’t I
tell you I’d come back again?”. She chatted with him for
some time, told him that "he was going crazy about Spiritual-
ism,” and that in a short time she would find out a way of
convincing her mother through a medium. She finished by
saying, “ Oh, l’m so sick, I can’t stay longer.”. She then left,
and the medium appeared to be very unwell, though other


spirits soon brought her round again.* The following summer
his wife went to Philadelphia, and said she was going to see
some clairvoyance, “ because that’s not Spiritualism, you
know.” (Laughter.) She went, and received more than she
expected. When she entered the room, the clairvoyant walked
up to her and said, “ Mother ! mother !” and the spirit of her
child forthwith told her the whole history of her life, as well
as many things which occurred before she was born, and
which were known to nobody but the listener. From that
time forth his wife never said another word about the foolish-
ness of Spiritualism. “ It is one thing,” said the speaker, “to
get evidence like this, and another thing to obtain the pure
love which belongs to the spirit world, and then act it out in
daily life. God is love, and to be true Spiritualists, you must
love everybody and everything. When you do that, heaven is
within you, and it is yours.” (Applause.)
Mr. J. DAVIS said that he was an unlettered man, that he
once thoroughly disliked Spiritualism, though his prejudices
were overruled by a friend who induced him to go and see
“the jugglery ” at the house of Mr. Blackwell in Bunhill-row.
Many of the persons present on that occasion he saw among
the listeners before him. He saw the table moving about, and
said, with a laugh, “ Why, anybody can do that.”. He said to
his friend,“ Let’s put our hands on this table, and see whether
it will move for us.” It was a heavy four-legged table, with
coffee cups on it, and directly their four hands touched it, it
began to move. He turned red, and said to his friend, “ You
did that.” “No, I didn’t,” said the friend, “ you did it, and
they began to quarrel. He said, “ Well, let’s try again, and
you be honest this time." “I was before,” said the friend.
“No you wasn’t,” was the answer, and the quarrel was re-
sumed. However, they tried again, and not only did the
table move, but another small table, with nobody near it
quietly walked by itself, in three strides, several feet along the
floor up to him (Mr. Davis). He jumped up and laid hold of
the table, which he examined for strings and wires, but could
find nothing. He did not follow up the subject for some
months afterwards, but he was very much perplexed, and, at
last, he joined an experimental circle of six persons who re-
solved to try for themselves, and to investigate Spiritualism
thoroughly. They obtained the manifestations, they searched
the Bible to discover its connection with the subject, and they
found out that both taught that men should love God with all
their hearts and minds, and love their neighbour as them-
selves ; that they need not care for this, that, or the other
"ism,” but should go about doing good everywhere. A few
weeks after the formation of the circle the spirits told him
that they were going to make him a trance medium ; he re-
plied that "he should not like to be entranced except by some
relation who would not hurt him.” However, he was en-
tranced by not a very high influence, and “ a pretty figure he
cut," for he frightened everybody in the room ; he was rather
ill afterwards from the physical effects. Afterwards partial
entrancement came on at times, but he had no confidence in
his mediumship, and thought it was something springing from
his own brain or physical body, and not from spirits. One
night, at a circle, he had this thought in his mind, and a
writing medium present wrote out very swiftly, “ You have
been doubting your own entrancement ; don’t do it again, on
it will be to your own destruction.” From that time his
doubts about the reality of the power were gradually re-
moved, and he had found his mediumship to be a great bless-
ing—a source of happiness, quietness, and ease of mind—a
divine influence springing from the love of the Almighty
God.
The CHAIRMAN said that he was one of the circle of six
persons mentioned by Mr. Davis. The spirits who came to
that circle professed the Christian religion, and gently lec-
tured the members when they did not act up to its principles ;
once they spoke to Mr. Davis about his not having spent a
Sunday in a proper way. One day Davis asked them for an
evening off, when he did not want to attend circle, and they
told him he might go; but they let the other members know
that they would bring him that evening as usual. While the
circle was sitting they heard a noise, saw the handle of the
door turn, saw the door open, and saw Mr. Davis just mount-
ing the top stair, which was about six feet from the door
Davis was in an entranced state, and had been walked by the
spirits in that condition all the way from Lincoln’s-inn-fields
to Bunhill-row. Those who witnessed his entrance into the
room have no reason to doubt that, in ancient times, spirits
could open prison doors.
Mr. WOOLNOUGH said that he first heard of Spiritualism in
the adjoining coffee-house, and he asked Mr. Davis, “ When
does the performance come off?"
He indignantly replied
that it was “no performance,” and brought him into the
room ; but the spirits turned him and others out again, saying
that their presence interfered. During the short time he was
in the room he saw nothing very striking, except that one of
the legs of a four-legged table rose off the floor, whilst the
other three stood firm, the table appearing to bend in the
middle ; this perplexed him a little, as he could not see how it
could be done. He thought it peculiar, and followed up the
subject for twelve months. They had pipes and coffee at the
circles on Sunday; the spirits said nothing about this habit at
first; they did not knock their pipes out of their mouths
but slowly and gently, as is ever their way, they spoke to
them of the impropriety, and induced them to break off the
custom. One evening, at Mr. Cresswell’s, an aunt of his
signalled through the table. This aunt died before he was
born, and he (Mr. Woolnough) did not know that such a
person had ever lived, neither did his friends at home know of
her; but after searching for the particulars in a book, the
found out that what was said at the circle was quite true. He
had had eight years experience of the sayings and doings of
his spirit friends, and he had always found that when there
was a quarrel between members of the circle they never took
any part in it, and when they rebuked anybody, it was always
done gently and mildly ; they are good guides, and set a good
example. When entrancement comes on slowly it is accom-
panied by a feeling of intense happiness and pleasure, and if
death resembled entrancement, death would have no terrors
for him. When the entrancement comes suddenly, for the
instant the feeling is as if the head werc dashed in, and is not
pleasant. When he first saw Mr. Blackwell, the medium, he
thought he looked very much like a conjuror ; and, as for Mr
Davis, he thought him stupid; but having now become a
medium himself, his views were altered.
The CHAIRMAN said that he was very pleased to see Mr
Shorter present, as he had not attended one of their meetings
for a very long time previously, and he was sure that every-
body present would like to hear a few words from him.


* In the trance mediumship of Mrs. Olive, of 6, The Junction, Cambridge
road, Kilburn, W., it has often been noticed that after the spirits have left
Mrs. Olive has felt symptoms of the diseases which afflicted them when they
died. Some spirits will not stay long, lest she should be too much incon-
venienced in this way. Have similar facts been noticed elsewhere ?—ED.


DEc. 17, 1869.


THE SPIRITUALIST


19


Mr. T. SHORTER said that Spiritualism has no class-sympa-
thies or prejudices, and is adapted to meet the wants of
humanity at large. It is a boon to sorrowing, struggling
humanity. Sore and severe are the trials of the labouring
classes ; but Spiritualism strengthens them in their times of
weakness, and makes life more cheerful, more happy, and
more noble, for, among other things, it takes away all doubt
and distress of mind about the nature of the future life. It is
a noble movement, and though some of the manifestation
may seem to be trivial, it should be remembered that Franklin,
simply by flying a kite with a key ticd to the end of the wet
string, learnt much about electricity, and Watt, while watch-
ing the movements of the lid of a kettle, conceived the idea
of a steam-engine ; great things, therefore, may spring from
small motions, even though the articles moved be tables.
Spiritualism teaches men to realise more than they ever did
before, that they are preparing for a higher and better life
hereafter ; it teaches that our former friends, whose bodies are
laid away in the grave, still really and actually are with us
and that their love still surrounds us. Death is not the grim
monster and the grisly image which he has bcen pictured;
for, although he strips us of our robes of clay, he is a benefi-
cent angel who opens to us the flower-encircled door of the
summer land, and introduces us once more to those we love.
(Applause).
Mr. OVERTON said that he knew that spirits still live with
their friends on earth, and guide them, as he was a little bit
of a medium himself. He had travelled much in the world
and found that when he was humble enough to be guided by
them, they had done him and others a great deal of good
still, he often resisted their influence.
Mr. TOWNs said that he never sought Spiritualism, but
Spiritualism sought him. He knew the preceding speaker
Mr. Overton, six years ago, when they were both living in
Melbourne, Australia. They lost sight of each other, and
both came to England about the same time, though neither
knew that the other was returning also. One day on returning
to his house in Clerkenwell, his wife told him that Mr. Overton
had called to see him, which surprised him very much, as he
did not know how Mr. Overton could be in England, or how
he discovered his address. Next day Mr. Overton called
again, and said that he had been told to come to that address
by the spirits, who had also stated that he (Mr. Towns) was a
medium. He told Mr. Overton he should like to see some-
thing of Spiritualism. and on the following Sunday Mr. Over-
ton brought a Mr. Hillman with him, and they had a séance.
His wife did not approve of the step, and went upstairs into a
bedroom, where she locked herself in. They sat round a table
which soon began to move, and presently they said, “ Your
father’s here.”
He replied with a knowing look, “ Oh ! is
he!” (Laughter.) But then the table spelt out his father
name, next where he used to live, and then came statement
of fact which he knew could not be known to Messrs. Overton
or Hillman. After they had gone, he sat down very seriously
and told his wife he would try for half-an-hour if he could get
some more communications. After earnest prayer he made
the trial ; the manifestations soon began, and answers were
given to mental and other questions, at which Mrs. Towns
was much frightened. From that time he began to attend
many spirit circles. Soon he began to feel the effects upon
himself of this strange power, which on some few occasions
has made him hold his hands in gas-flames, where they were
not hurt. Once he, Mr. Jones, and Mr. Childs, went to the
Marshall’s to hear the voices at a dark séance. He remarked
to his friends that he did not like the look of the tubes upon
the table; they agreed to seize them directly the lights were
put out, and they did so. John King’s voice roared out
“George Childs.” “Yes, was the answer. “ What are you
doing with our trumpets? However, never mind, you may a
well keep them.”. Katie was there, and talked a great deal
and grapes were given him, with the remark, “There’s one
apiece for each of your five children at home ; the other six
are with us here.” A gentleman on a visit to London, who
was then stopping at the Norfolk Hotel in the Strand, was at
the séance, and considered it to be all an imposture, and next
day he brought a letter which he had written to publicly ex-
pose it, to him (Mr. Towns) to read. Before taking further
steps they went to the Marshalls again, wherc Katie at once
told them that she had heard the letter read in his house, and
she narrated some little incidents which took place on the
occasion. Since then he had seen many wonderful manifesta-
tions. He had been to church and chapel till he had been
preached outside of both (hear hear), and never could believe
that God would hereafter cook him like a leg of mutton, for
ever. Would any earthly father do such a thing to even the
worst of his children, or would any mother present ever do so
and listen eternally without relenting, to cries of the child
subjected to the torture ? He entreated his hearers to use
their common sense, to investigate honestly, and they would
discover the truth.
Mr. MORSE, trance medium, said that he first heard of Spiri-
tualism by reading the particulars of the trial of Lyon v. Home
and he told his friends that he considered it to be partly mesmer-
ism, partly imagination, and partly trickery. Still he saw
that respectable persons, more intelligent than himself, testi-
fied to its truth, so he thought he was not justified in con-
demning it without investigation. Accordingly he went to
Mr. Cogman’s circle, at the East-end, to expose it. After sit-
ting about twenty minutes he felt as if his head was split
open and a shovel-full of sand dropped in. Then a power
stronger than himself made him get up and begin to roar and
bellow, though all the time he was conscious of his acts, and
very much ashamed of his behaviour. Mr. Cogman told the
spirit to leave him, and the reply through his (Mr. Morse’s)
lips was, “ Sit down, you old fool!”. The influence made hin
misbehave himself for half-an-hour, and then it left him. He
was very much exhausted, and not a little out of temper, for
he felt that he had attended there to expose others and been
“taken in” himself. On the fourth Sunday of his attendance
at Mr. Cogman’s circle better influences controlled him, and
he was made to take the Bible, give out a text, and preach a
sermon for half-an-hour, and those present declared the dis-
course to be very good. He himself now and then had a
faint, dreamy consciousness of what his mouth was saying.
For a long time the control of the spirits over him was imper-
fect, and there was much stuttering when they tried to speak
through him. For months he did not belicve that spirits had
anything to do with it, and thought that it was something
connected with his own bodily or mental organisation which
he did not quite understand. But on one occasion he chanced
to be at a circle where a seeing medium was present, who not
only described his spirit friends most accurately, but gave
their names in addition. He thought this rather singular, as
the young man was a stranger to him, and had never seen him
but once before. Later still he had been developed as
writing medium, and had received a long communication
signed with the name of his mother, telling him much about


his future life. The first part of it had since proved true, and
he hoped that it would be the same with the rest. Then
seeing-mediumship came on at intervals. The spirits had
made him lead a better life than he ever did before. The
had made him break off several bad habits by gently reason-
ing with him, and pointing out what the consequences would
be if he persisted. His guardian spirit had, by advice, in-
duced him to leave off smoking tobacco and drinking intoxi-
cating liquors. He thought that the true saviour of mankind
was knowledge. He could feel the spirit influence beginning
to act upon him as he stood upon that platform.
Mr. STEELE said that he was present when Mr. Morse first
attended Mr. Cogman’s circle, and he could bear witness to the
fact that Mr. Morse made the disturbance stated, and alto-
gether cut a most ridiculous figure. He was sorry to see the
young man in that state, especially as it was his first expe-
rience of the subject, so he walked part of the way home with
him to see that he was all right. Mr. Morse remarked to him
on the road, “I know I have been doing something wrong
What is the matter with me ?"
The CHAIRMAN asked Mr. Landore to say a few words to
the meeting.
Mr. LANDORE replicd that he had nothing to say, but that
Mr. Morse sitting by his side was evidently “going off,” so
that probably the spirits wanted to say a few words on their
own account.
Mr. MORSE then mounted the platform again, passed into
the trance state, and in an impressive manner delivered the
short address, which is printed on another page.
Mr. CROCKETT then stated that he had seen a young man
lifted chair and all, three times off the floor, without visible
agency, in the presence of some dozens of persons, at the Star
Inn, Golden-lane.
Mr. YOUNG narrated evidence in favour of Spiritualism,
and said that he would leave it to his wife to say whether
their home had been made more like hell or more like heaven
since he became a Spiritualist.
Mr. R. PEARCE proposed a vote of thanks to the chairman
and speakers, and Mr. DAVIS seconded the motion, which was
carried by acclamation.
The CHAIRMAN said that sometimes it was grievous to see
how Spiritualism interferes with the preconceived notions of
people, who have grown aged in old ideas ; it is also trying to
be constantly told by them that research into the facts of
Spiritualism is a wrong step, but people must look at these
things in a rational way, and think for themselves. He was
sorry that a Christian minister could so thoroughly condemn
Spiritualists as the Rev. Mr. Brock had done recently in Mr
Spurgeon’s Chapel, but words such as those uttered by Mr.
Brock gave him (Mr. Cresswell) greater energy to go on in
the work.
The proceedings then closed.


SEANCES AT THE SPIRITUAL LIBRARY.
ON Friday, December 3rd, one of the weekly séances was
held at the house of Mr. Burn’s, the Progressive Library
Southampton-row, Holborn, under the trance mediumship of
Mr. Morse.
The circle sat punctually at eight p.m., in a well-lighted
room, and in a few minutes the medium was influenced by
spirits purporting to be his uncle and a friend, who endeavoured
to elongate his body in a manner similar to that which has
caused so much astonishment and controversy at the séances
given by Mr. Home. They failed, and the circle was subse
quently informed by the guardian spirit of the medium, that
their failure was attributable to the absence of the spirit of
Anton Mesmer, who usually superintended the operation.
A spirit then entranced Mr. Morse, who did not give his
name, but said he had been in life a staunch Wesleyan
Methodist, and quoted the text, “If I tell you of earthly
things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you
of heavenly things ?”. It was a hard task to make such of his
earthly friends who had been trained, as he had, to ignore the
very idea that spirits could return to earth, as foolish or pre-
sumptuous, appreciate any narrative from him of what was
going on in the spirit world. Such an idea had never been
countenanced by his own strict earthly religion, about the
truth of the dogmas of which, although of a questioning in
tellect, he had never cared to inquire. In the world, there-
fore, he had never heard of Spiritualism ; if he had, he would
have set it down as untrue, or the work of the devil. Nor did
he learn, until he had been out of his earthly body for eight
years, that it was possible for him to return, and communicate
with man. When brought down to earth by kind spirit
friends, and shown how he could do so by means of physical
manifestations, he was terrified by the mistaken notion that it
was evil and wrong, and begged to be taken from the circle.
Two years more elapsed before he fully comprehended the
value and blessedness of the privilege, after much patient
teaching from spirit tutors. He comprehended now what he
would have given much to have known in his earthly life
that spiritual communication was right and good, and consis
tent with the great plan of the Deity. Those people whe
knew of, and could appreciate Spiritualism in life, were, or
the entry into the next world, far in advance of those who
had died ignorant of such a grand truth.
Another spirit, who gave us her earthly name, “ Maria
Thompson,” but said she was known among her spirit friends
as the“ Little Forget-me-Not,” then took up the discourse of
the former spirit so quickly, and almost imperceptibly, that the
change was only noticed at first by one member of the circle.
She stated that the wonder of most spirits was great, when
after death, they found that in their new condition the
could, under fitting circumstances, not only influence the
minds of those left on earth, but also exert forces to convince
them that could move common matter. There was much
that Spiritualists should learn before they commenced higher
experimental investigation. It would be best to study well
the subject in its early stages first. It was far better to work
upwards from the commencement, and not jump half way
over the bridge, and begin in the middle. Gradual develop-
ment, both for mediums and inquirers, was best.
The highly intelligent guardian spirit of the medium, who
states that in life, long ago, he was a Chinaman named Tien
Sien Tie, then entranced him, and gave a long and eloquent
discourse, chiefly on mesmeric and clairvoyant phenomena, to
which, in this necessarily short report, we can hardly do jus-
tice. He said that the diversity of minds on earth required
that spirits should manifest themselves there by diversity of
phenomena, wide in their range. These various modes all re-
flected the Divine wisdom, from whence comes universal good
The use of the odic force, which is thrown off by human
bodies, chiefly from the extremities, is one great agent for
producing high results. A person with much of this force
could, by his will, influence the body and spirit of another
person, throwing the former into profound slumber, and send


ing the latter to far distant places, there to gather informa-
tion, and state, by means of the controlled bodily organs, what
was passing there. During natural sleep natural clairvoyance
took place, and the spirit left the body and visited the other
world. In answer to a question, the spirit said that he knew
of no one instance in his long experience, of the spirit of an
living person that had not, at some period of life, during
slumber, visited one or more of the planets. The reason why
so few persons remembered their spiritual travels on awaking
was, because their clairvoyant faculties were uneducated and
undeveloped. A mesmeric operator, who had studied the sub-
ject, and influenced patients while on earth, would, after
leaving it, naturally return and operate upon the same persons
and in most cases it was as easy and natural for him to do so
in the spirit as it was while in the body. Hence it was that
clairvoyants so often astonished their friends by going into
their peculiar condition uninfluenced apparently by any one
present. In answer to questions, the spirit said that the un-
satisfactory result of many clairvoyant experiments was owing
to the fact that the patient had learnt an inkling of what in-
formation was to be sought for through him, and so confused
ideas filled his brain. That retarded the efforts, and stood in
the way of the will of the operator. He said, speaking of
mental culture, that it was a great mistake to put books at
first into the hands of young children at schools. The primary
education of a tender child should be in the sunshine, among
the works of Nature, that the young mind might first learn
through the wonderful and beneficent works of the Deity to
study His Divine attributcs of wisdom, justice, and love.


On Friday evening, December 10th, at eight o’clock, another
séance was held at the Spiritual Library, Mr. Morse being the
medium ; twenty ladies and gentlcmen were present
The medium having passed into the trance state, the first
spirit did not speak, but began pulling the little finger of the
left hand of Mr. Morse, and bending its joints to and fro. In
reply to a question why he did so, he said that it was a very
peculiar sensation to be back on earth in the body again, but
stranger still to have a little finger, for he had lost his by an
accident before his death. A lady present asked him to tell
his history, more particularly that part of it relating to his
death, and his after-life in the next world.
The spirit said that he would do his best. He began life as
a boy baby, he grew into a boy child, and at last became a
young man. There was nothing very good or very bad about
him ; he was considered to be the fool of the family, and he was
continually in mischief, which was the cause of his losing his
little finger. He was taken ill with inflammation of the chest
and could feel some of its pains coming back again while he
was speaking through the medium. This inflammation at last
brought him to what people call “ death,” and as he lay on his
dying bed, he thought to himself, “I have been a fool, and
never prepared myself for the life to come. Lord help me ;
what shall I do?"
His sister-in-law was a good girl, and a
religious young woman, so she sat by his bedside and talked to
him. She asked him “If he did not love Jesus, and whether
he did not feel himself to be a miserable sinner?”. He replied
that he “ did not see why he should not love Him, as by all
accounts He was a very good sort of person."
Then she
prayed, after which he praycd too, and then he felt much
better. One afternoon, just as the sun was setting, he went
into a kind of sleep—half asleep and half awake ; it seemed
as though one side of the room had fallen away, and through
the opening he saw a beautiful country, with men, women,
and children walking about. Two of them came out and said
Timothy, my boy, you’ll soon be with us ; good-bye,” and
then all faded away. He at once thought that he was feverish,
or that his imagination was excited, or that he was a little
mad, for those two people were his father and mother, who
had been dead some years. He told his sister-in-law, who said
that he had better dismiss the subject from his mind. Next
day he felt numbed all over ; he could not open or shut his
eyes and he laid on the bed like a log of wood. Then he felt
as if he were falling a very very long way, through the floor,
and next he lost consciousness. When he came to himself he
had lost the pain in his chest, and felt better in health than
ever, so he thought that he had been to sleep and got over his
illness. But he was down in the front parlour, whereas he
went to sleep in his bed on the first floor. Folks came into the
room, and he said to them, “ Oh, l'm beautiful ! l'm first-rate!
How are you?"
They never took any notice of him, which he
thought very unkind. He went upstairs, where he found his father
and mother, and the latter said to him, “ You have got over
the river none the worse for it.”. He replied, “ What do you
mean
She said, “ You are what the world calls dead.'
He answered, “ What do you mean? I have got a body, what
do you call this?”. She told him that his body was dead
and, pointed to his former house of clay, lying on the bed
before him. He looked at it, and then at himself—there was
no mistake about it, it was a clear case of the Corsican
brothers. (Laughter). They left the house together, and he
found that he could pass up through the air with ease, and
at last they reached what the Spiritualists call the “Summer
Land,” but in reality the compound essence of seventeen
summers distilled into one, would not equal it in loveliness
They were in a place surrounded by trees and flowers ; a path
covered with beautiful shells led through a grove, and at the
end of the path was a house, where his father and mother said
that they lived, and that he might stay there with them as
long as he liked. His father took him into a little room
filled with pictures, and each picture represented the leading
events of his (the son’s) life, and they showed him how, while
upon earth, he had been saved from getting into man
little scrapes through the guiding spiritual influence of his
unseen father and mother. One picture, representing him on
his sick bed, was unfinished at the upper part when he cast
his eyes upon it, but while he gazed the smudge cleared away
the colours seemed to spread out, and the picture was finished.
Well, this was all very nice, and very strange, and very unex-
pected. He asked, “ How is it that I have been good enough
to come here? What do they do with the wicked folks, if a
place like this is the home of half-aud-half people like me
Where’s that place that people are turned into for offending
God?"
A solemn look came over his mother’s face as she
aid, “Ah, my child, you’ll have to look a long time before
you find that.” As he was very selfish he did not trouble
much about it, and did not feel inclined to go and look for
the place, being perfectly contented where he was. In the
large hall of the house he found plenty of friends, grandfather
and grandmothers, and great-grandmothers, and so on, but all
very bright, and beautiful, and happy. Next came a very
strange thing, and his listeners ought not to think his state-
ments to be untrue, because they in earth-life never saw or felt
anything of the kind. He felt drawn, he did not know how
or why, and he passed through the crowd of friends to the
other side of the room. There he saw a person, a lady, ad
vancing in the same way to meet him, and they both felt very


20


THE SPIRITUALIST.


DEC. 17, 1869


pleased to have met each other, and had never parted since.
This was all very peculiar, and they told him that the lady
was his “ spiritual affinity.” Her name was Rose. His own name
was Timothy. His hearers must excuse his jumbling material
and spiritual things together. Everybody there was very
happy and comfortable, and everybody helped everybody else,
and it is astonishing what a lot of labour and unhappines
that plan saved. They followed whatever pursuits they liked
best. In the garden was a fountain of what his listeners
would call “water,” but which the spirits call “magnetism."
They were in the habit of sitting near it to study, and it had
a very soothing influence. The spirits among whom he dwelt
were not entirely free from sorrows. They had cares and
troubles about friends left behind on earth, as well as about
other matters. One society in his sphere was fond of travel-
ling. Its members sometimes made excursions, not onl
throughout their spirit land, but to some of the planets seen
from the earth. He once travelled with some members of
this society for two years, reckoning by earthly time. They
visited the earth, and when he got home again it was astonish-
ing what a lot of knowledge he had gained, how strongly he
felt what a little mite in creation he was, and how little he
knew. He found that he did not understand himself, so what
right had he to judge other people ? He felt that he was very
selfish, and that God had been very good to give him a much
better place to live in than he deserved, so he tried to make
himself better, and his father took him to a teacher, full of
knowledge and wisdom, who helped him. Once he could only
see a little good in the universe, and a great deal of evil, but
now he could see good in everything, because it comes from
the source of all good. He should like everybody to see these
things the same as he saw them, and a great deal better. He
said that his name was Timothy Martin ; in earth-life he was
a grocer’s assistant in Hull, and he entered the spirit world
about twenty-three years ago.
Another spirit then took possession of the medium, and said
that he was “only a poor nigger,” with no soul, born to put
dollars in the pocket of his master, who often beat him, and
treated him very badly. He hated that master, but the first
thing his teachers did in the next world was to send him to do
good to the man, and he didn’t at all like the job, but he did
it, and felt all the better and happier afterwards. That master
is now in the spirit world too, with nobody to attend upon
him, and he goes about “cussing” and swearing, and longing
to be back once more in his earthly body. The nigger was
much the happiest man of the two.
The question was asked, “ Was his spirit body black in
colour?” and he replied, “ No. The black man has a white
soul, so when he dies he is turned inside out.” (Laughter.)
The next influence purported to be the spirit of an Indian,
who said, “ Brothers and sisters, I cannot say much through
this medium to-night, but I'll do the best I can. I am glad to
see that many love the red man better than they used to do.
Things are changing here, where all is endless progression,
and ere many moons have passed away his whole race will be
above in the happy land, where all must come. Clear you
minds of all that is wrong, for that is the only thing to carry
you happily onwards to the land of light.
Next came the guardian spirit, who gives the name of Tien
Sien Tie, and he said, “Good evening, friends. How strange
it is that man has overlooked one fact belonging to his nature.
If he studied the evidence, he would find that his religion is
but the highest result of individual expressions of opinion
and knowledge. Certain minds see the same object in the
same light, and, forming a nucleus, they think that they have
all truth. So a religion is formed. They overlook the fact
that others have not the same religion. But men afterwards
spring up who see principles more clearly, and form the nucleus
of a higher religion ; at once a war begins between the
higher and the lower, and the followers of the latter say,
They would draw us from the truth, and from our ancient
allegiance.' This is true, not only in matters of religion, but
in all things appertaining to your daily life ; it is true of the
vices and the virtues, of beauty and ugliness ; it is the same in
all things. What is vice and virtue to you, is your highest know-
ledge of your individual self, and your perception of the things
around you. When things do not harmonise with your
interior light, you call that 'evil.' Then how charitable we
ought to be to our brothers and sisters around us. It shows us
that where another sins, he is but acting in accordance with
the light he has got. A man who has passed through life clad
in robes of light, and wisdom, and love, has only done what
his brother has done—acted up to his light. That poor one is
just beginning his earthly development, and the interior mind
is only just beginning to get the proper control of its bodily
covering ; it gets experience, it builds by the aid of its mis-
takes, and plaits a grand cable of evidence harmonious in its
interweavings. Be charitable then, and bear with all around
you. Great changes in a few months will sweep over your
earth, and people will see the falsity of creedal opinions,
which are but the expression of individual ideas. It would
be a good plan for a few of the wisest men, of all nations, to
meet together to consider their religions, and to select the one
which can be supported by the largest amount of evidence."
A visitor said, “ But some people do wrong, and know that
they are doing wrong."
The Chinese philosopher replied, that when a man does a
thing knowing that he is doing wrong, he breaks a law, and
the law punishes him; but if his perceptions were fully
awakened, he would not do wrong. There is nothing but
universal law everywhere, although the laws may be un-
written, and every law carries with it its own punishment for
those who break it. For instance, if a man break the laws
which govern the health of his physical frame, say, by eating
too much, the breaking of the law also inflicts the penalty.
In answer to the question of how many spiritual spheres
there are, he said that each spirit will give different state-
ments according to the states or conditions of spirit life
through which he has passed. There is no defined separation
between them, but the states of spirit life merge into one
another like the colours of the solar spectrum.
In answer to a question as to how spirit hands and voices
are produced at circles, he said that the hands are formed
sometimes by the spirits covering their own hands with ema-
nations from the medium, and sometimes by their making
separate hands out of the same emanations by the aid of their
knowledge of the laws of chemistry. The voices are produced
in several ways. Sometimes the spirits make a tube out of
the emanations from the medium, and some of those who are
experienced at the work will even form a throat.
In answer to the question whether the spirits, who produce
physical manifestations, are of a lower order than the others,
he said that generally it is so, though not always, so a safe
rule cannot be laid down. The lower spirits live upon the
earth, and are more earthy in their natures and atmospheres
than the higher ones, so, as a general rule, with exceptions
they have more power over common matter.


A VISITOR—But how can they be lower since some of then
speak loudly and clearly?
TIEN SIEN TIE—You can see upon this earth, my brother
that loud speaking is not a test of knowledge.
Many other questions were briefly asked, and promptly
answered, and the séance closed at about ten o’clock.


General News.


Mr. JAMES BURNS has during the past fortnight been
lecturing in Wales on Spiritualism and kindred subjects
THE British and Foreign Mechanic has been printing
some inaccurate statements about spirit photographs. The
articles are so poorly written as to be not worth quoting.
The watching of the Welsh fasting girl by four profes-
sional nurses from Guy’s Hospital, began yesterday week, and
up to the present time, they have not detected her taking an
food.
MR. S. C. HALL, F.S.A., will give a lecture at the
Literary Institute, Newington Causeway, on the evening of
the 10th of February next. The subject he has chosen is,
“The Fairy Legends of Ireland.” The chair will be taken a
half-past eight o’clock.
Mr. C. F. VARLEY, C.E., has been in the course of the
past fortnight, assisting in the work of laying a submarine
cable between the south coast of England and Cape Finisterre,
for the purpose of establishing more direct communication
between London and New York, via the French Atlantic
cable.
VISCOUNT ADARE is one of the Committee of “The Rev.
Charles Voysey’s Defence Fund.” Among the other member
of the Committee are Sir Charles Lyell, Bart., F.R.S., and
Dean Stanley, of Westminster. Subscriptions are received
by Messrs. Robarts, Lubbock, and Co., 15, Lombard-street
E.C. ; and subscribers are not considered to pledge them-
selves to any of the Rev. Charles Voysey’s opinions.
Mr. JOHN DE MORGAN, public lecturer and trance medium,
Cork, is about to publish a “Guide to Health,” in which he
says that all the systems of medical treatment will be reviewed
and explained in clear and simple language ; instructions wil
be given as to the treatment of diseases, and the best methods
of keeping the body in good condition.
SPIRITUALISM IN EAST LONDON.—For a long time the
circle of of Mr. R. Cogman, 22, New-road, Whitechapel-road
E.C., has been one of the best known and most popular in
East London. Mr. Cresswell writes that Mr. Cogman’s
mediumship has begun to change ; the physical manifestations
are on the decline, and trance speaking has begun, though as yet
it is only at times that the spirits have their vocal organs under
full control. At one seance he poured forth streams of de
votional poetry, “of a character that fully established its origin
ality.” Mr. Herne, medium, was present, and was influenced
in like manner. This mediumship is of the character men
tioned in the November number of Temple Bar Magazine
but not having been present at the manifestations, we cannot
say whether the poetry is of the same high character as that
quoted in the periodical just mentioned.
SPIRIT IDENTITY.—Mr. R. Pearce, of 34, Halliford-
street, Downham-road, N., first had evidence of the truth of
Spiritualism in the January of this year, through a good
trance medium, Mrs. John Olive, 6, The Junction, Cambridge-
road, Kilburn, W. While he was present, Mrs. Olive passed
into the trance state, and letting down her back hair, she
motioned him to a low seat in front of the fire, then sat down
by his side, and chatted to him at a madcap rate, every now
and then calling him “ Dicky.” Mr. Olive asked Mr. Pearce
whether he knew what it all meant. He said, “Yes, my
little sister before she died, was in the habit of sitting like
this, and playing with me nearly every Sunday. Afterwards
while in her normal state, Mrs. Olive’s hand was moved by
spirit influence, and she drew a picture of the front of Mr
Pearce’s early home in Cornwall. There were three window
above, and two below, with a door in the corner. The bottom
windows had a few large panes of glass, and the upper
windows many small ones. A creeping plant growing up the
front of the house, was also represented ; and a willow-tree,
as well as shrubs, and a garden path, were all drawn in their
proper places. Since then he has followed up the subject
and is now the Hon. Secretary to the St. John’s Association
of Spiritualists in Clerkenwell.
TRANCE MEDIUMSHIP.—In this number of the SPIRI-
TUALIST there is very much about trance-mediumship, and
many persons may very reasonably ask “ What is the evidence
that such manifestations are genuine?” The evidence that
trance manifestations are real, is of the same nature as the
proof that headaches are real. If an individual who all his
life had not heard of such a thing as a headache, nor had met
anybody so afflicted, were introduced to a person who said lie
suffered from the complaint, the listener might think it was
not true, it being contrary to his experience. But when he
saw headaches breaking out among his own friends and rela-
tions, he would gradually know that they were real, and by ex-
perience would begin to know pretty accurately the symptoms
which indicate whether they are real or assumed. The com-
munications received by trance-mediumship, are often very
much higher and more intelligent than could be given by the
medium in the normal state, and sometimes they are lower.
We have been told of a fashionable lady who was suddenly
convinced of the truth of trance-mediumship by seeing one of her
daughters influenced at a circle, and made to whistle a tune
with great vigour, to the great horror of the mother at the
vulgarity of the act. Experienced Spiritualists do not care
so much for the physical manifestations as strangers do, be-
cause so much time is saved by getting communications
through the higher forms of mediumship. Signalling by table
movements or raps is slow work.
EAST LONDON ASSOCIATION OF SPIRITUALISTS. — On
Tuesday, December 7th, Mr. R. Cogman, who intended to
deliver a lecture to the East London Association of Spiri-
tualists, upon “Facts and Gleanings from the Science of
Mind,” was unable to be present. Mr. S. C. E. Goss kindly
supplied the place of Mr. Cogman, and gave a lecture upon
“The Pioneers of Human Regeneration." He said that in
examining the growth of a tree, its progress would be watched
from the bursting of the germ-seed, to the development of
trunk, branches, leaves, blossom, and fruit. In like manner
he would trace the growth of the different religions of the
earth, and show how they improved in quality as man grew
sufficiently advanced to be able to appreciate higher teachings.
After reviewing the religions of Buddha, Zoroaster, and man
other teaehers, he spoke of Christianity, pointed out the


atrocities which have been committed in its name, and said
that even now men have forgotten its primary objects, the
fostering of brotherly love, and doing good to everybody.
These principles are much hidden by a mass of dead leaves,
in the shape of unmeaning dogmas and foolish ceremonies.
He thought that people should preach more by deeds and less
by speech, and should cease multiplying professions of faith
and creeds. He said that the vice of intense love of self, is
the only barrier to universal happiness and human brother-
hood. The lectures in connection with the East London As-
sociation of Spiritualists, will be resumed after Christmas.
THE SPIRITUAL LIBRARY.—In other columns will be
found reports of two of the séances held every Friday even-
ing, under the mediumship of Mr. Morse, at the Spiritual
Library, 15, Southampton-row, High Holborn, W.C. Mr.
Morse is a very good trance medium. A week or two ago he
was at Cambridge, and had a séance with some of the under-
graduates of the University there. The philosophical Chinese
spirit, some of whose sayings are recorded at length in these
pages, took possession of the medium, and carried on an
animated debate with those present on theological subjects.
The opinion some of them expressed about the manifestations
was, that they were “very curious, and probably arose from
some abnormal state of the brain.” Admission to the séances
on Friday evenings is by introduction, readily obtainable by
those who really desire to investigate, and an entrance fee of
one shilling is charged. Trance mediumship, however, is
rarely convincing to beginners; and Mr. Burns, the pro-
prietor of the establishment, is, we are told, likely, before
long, to get up regular séances for the physical manifestations.
Such a circle would be a great attraction. Addresses through
the mediumship of Mr. Morse would well sustain the interest
of the Gower-street conferences, should they be resumed.
THE FAMINE FEVER. —Great Britain, although not the
most thickly-populated nation in Western Europe, has for
many long years had more paupers in proportion to the total
population than any other country in the world. During the
last few years also the pauperism has been greatly on the in-
crease, as shown by the Government returns. The result is
another outbreak of what is known as the “famine fever” in
London, and the Medical Department of the Privy Council
has just issued a circular to the London Vestries and District
Boards of Works detailing what precautions should be adopted.
Famine fever has not been epidemic in London since 1855.
In 1861 England had an average population of 373 persons,
and Wales 150 persons, to the square mile. At that time
Belgium had 400 persons to the square mile. Last Sunday
morning the Rev. Mr. Pennefather, Incumbent of St. Jude’s,
Islington, told his congregation that in his district not only
were the ordinary poor in great distress, but that actually he
knew many families in respectable houses, to look at from the
outside, in want of bread to eat, and suffering from starvation.
The proceeds of the collection, he said, would not be given to
the poor in money, but would literally be expended in food to
go direct to the mouths of the hungry. English pauperism is
chiefly caused by the depopulation of agricultural districts.
For twenty years past, as shown by the census returus, all
the agricultural districts of England and Wales, except the
Midland counties, have been in course of depopulation of their
agricultural labourers — men and women. Ireland, which
once had 8,000,000 inhabitants, now has but 5,000,000.
Many of these agricultural paupers emigrate, but most of
them pour into towns seeking work, thus reducing wages by
an over-supply of labour, increasing competition in business
and filling the poor-houses and prisons. The destitution will
keep on increasing till the over-crowding of great towns is
stopped, and the population of agricultural districts is allowed
to rise to its natural level.
SPIRITUALISM IN CLERKENWELL.—On Sunday evening
December 5th, a semi-public séance was held at the house of
Mr. J. Steele, 36, Great Sutton-street, Clerkenwell. About
thirty visitors were present. The proceedings began by the
reading of the 17th chapter of John, after which those present
sang the anthem, “I will arise and go to my father, and will
say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and be
fore thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.'"
This was followed by prayer, after which a table with a circle
of seven persons sitting round it began to move, and signalled
out a message for all present to remain quiet, and wait a short
time for further manifestations. Three mediums, Messrs.
Woolnough, Davis, and Towns, then passed in succession into
the trance state, and delivered addresses of a sermonising
character. The burden of the teachings was, “ Love God, and
love one another."
A statement was made by one of the
spirits that many spirits directly after they are released from
the body at death do not know at first that they have passed
through the change. They feel as if they have lost a burden,
and then they see the house that they formerly inhabited lying
motionless, their will-power over the organisation being
severed. “Therefore," said the communicating spirit, “we
want you to improve yourselves, that spirits of higher quality
may come amongst us, and work with us in unity and love."
He continued, that when the body sleeps the spirit does not,
and that all human beings pass hours in other scenes, of
which they know nothing when they awake in the body.
There is no time wasted, for while the body sleeps the spirit
is still progressing, though sometimes people are permitted to
remember what they see while in the spirit world. In the
course of another communication it was stated that the mind
has a dual nature, that there is a spiritual and a bodily mind,
and that the two are often not developed to the same extent
and do not harmonise as they should do. This is the reason,
it was said, why some highly intellectual men, so far as the
bodily mind is concerned, are slow to search after truth in
particular directions, and cannot investigate spiritual subjects
so readily as should be the case were they more perfect.
THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY.—Last Tuesday even-
ing, the Anthropological Society met, under the chairmanship
of Dr. R. S. Charnock, F.S.A., and Mr. C. Staniland Wake,
F.A.S.L., read a paper upon “The Race Affinities of the
Natives of Madagascar.” The paper and the discussion
proved that, in the shape of the skull, the Hovas of Mada-
gascar bear resemblances to the Kaffirs; but that the Kaffirs
have woolly heads, whereas the Hovas have hair. In gram-
matical structure, the language of the Hovas resembles that
of the Hottentot Bushmen of the mainland, whereas in verbal
points it resembles the language of the Malays : the numerals
and commonest words being the same in both. On the whole,
the discussion perhaps tended to show that the Hovas are
more nearly allied to the Malays, than to the negroes of the
east coast of Africa. Traces of tree and serpent worship are
found in Madagascar, as well as in nearly every other part of
the world. The speakers were, Dr. Berthold Seemann, F.L S.,
Lieutenant Olliver, Mr. W. C. Dendy, Mr. Mackenzie, Mr.
Macgrigor Allen, and Dr. Carter Blake.


DEC. 17 1869.


THE SPIRITUALIST


21


CHARGES FOR ADVERTISEMENTS.
1. Advertisements of Public Companies, Half-a-guinea per
sixth of a column, or every portion of sixth of a column.
2. General Advertisements, Five Shillings per twelfth of a
column, or portion of twelfth of a column.
Note.—Advertisements at the foregoing rates will be
“displayed” so as to occupy the full space paid for, but
advertisements at the following rates will be in closely set
type.
3. General Advertisements, Half-a-crown per first five
lines or portion of five lines, and Fourpence for every line in
addition.
4. Situations Wanted, or Apartments to Let, One Shilling
per first four lines, or portion of four lines; Threepence for
every line in addition.
Ten words are allowed to the line, and six figures or
initial letters count as one word.
When five or more insertions of the same advertisement
are paid for, twenty per cent. reduction will be made in the
above rates.
The power is reserved of refusing to insert any advertise-
ment.
Advertisements and remittances should be sent to the
Publisher, Mr. E. W. ALLEN, Ave Maria-lane, St. Paul's
Church-yard, London, E.C., or to Mr. J. BURNS, 15
Southampton-row, High Holborn, London, W. C.


To Correspondents.


of one second as the time lost between each letter of
the alphabet, manifestly much time is lost before such
letters as T, W, and Y, are reached. This loss may
be obviated by writing the alphabet in the following
way, and by getting the spirits to adopt a method of
signalling hereinafter described :
A
B
C
D
E
G
H
F
I
J
K
I
M
C
N
Q
P
R
S
T
U
W
X
Y
V
Z


The six crosses in the foregoing alphabet should be
pointed to one after the other, and when the cross in
the same line with the letter wanted is touched, the
spirits should be requested to give one, two, three, four,
or five raps or tilts, to denote the identical letter. If
the letter be the third in the horizontal line, three raps
should be given. Thus, to get the letter Y, five crosses
only have to be touched in succession, instead of twenty-
five letters, as would be the case by the ordinary plan,
so the saving of time is very great, and three or four
messages may be obtained in the time now occupied in
getting one only.


WANTED a Ghost, of whatever variety,
Fitted to mingle in learned society:
Able to work on the feelings electric
Of savans devoted to themes dialectic!
Wanted—a house full of murderous hoards,
Bells autophonic and creakiest boards!
Regions by restless departed ones haunted,
That’s what, to keep up the spirits, is wanted.
Wanted to sit up the whole of the night
Waiting the advent of goblin or sprite!
Wanted from t’other side Jordan to roam,
Vampires inclined for a go-in "at Home !"
Wanted some damon to give us a note
What it is keeps airy DANIEL afloat!
Wanted at least elementary traces
What is the power that elongates his braces.
Wanted to know what on earth are the merits
That make Mrs. MARSHALL affected by “sperrits.”
Wanted to know why respectable dead
Come back to life at five shillings a-head.
Wanted old ladies and children to fright,
Waked up by cats in the dead of the night!
Wanted this age of inquiry to daunt-
That’s what these pseudo-philosophers want.
Wanted to galvanise once and again
All the exploded old tricks of Cock Lane!
Wanted to make a white sheet and a post
Go down once more as a genuine ghost!
Wanted—how idle such needs ’tis to flaunt !
Blessed if I think they know what ’tis they want.
Wanted—it seems to me : don’t it to you?—
Dialecticians want something to do!


All letters should be brief and to the point, as the amount
of space available for correspondence is at present small.
Communications intended for the Editor should be by
letter only, addressed to the care of the Publisher, Mr. E. W.
ALLEN, Ave Maria-lane, St. Pauls Church-yard, London
E.C. Until the Spiritual movement in England, together
with this journal, have both grown considerably, time cannot
be spared for personal interviews on subjects connected with
the literary worh of THE SPIRITUALIST, but all letters will
meet with careful consideration.
THE SPIRITUALIST is a periodical intended to give great
freedom of expression to all the different shades of opinion
to be found among Spiritualists. There will therefore be
very little uniformity in the ideas promulgated in this journal
more especially in the correspondence columns. Under these
circumstances every reader will find occasionally something
in THE SPIRITUALIST which he or she does not like, but the
right of reply remains. This freedom of thought given to
others, the Editor claims for himself, and those who do not
like the contents of leading articles, can write against them
in the correspondence columns. This plan is thought better
than that of reducing the contents of the journal to a
pale weak mediocrity, by inserting only those contributions
which please everybody. The preceding remarks are not
intended to imply that those who have crotchets which the
cannot get printed anywhere else, can find an outlet for them
here, for none but those letters which are considered worth
publication will be inserted.
Notices of Public Meetings in connection with Spiritualism
should be sent to the office several days in advance.


To Non-Spiritualists,


A large amount of information is printed on the last two
pages of this journal, clearly demonstrating that the facts of
Spiritualism, highly improbable as they appear to be, are
real, and deserve serious investigation by all thoughtful
people. In other columns of every number of THE SPIRI-
TUALIST will also be found plenty of additional evidence to
the same effect.


To Subscribers.


The first twelve numbers of THE SPIRITUALIST will be
forwarded regularly by penny post to subscribers, who remit
four shillings in payment, to Mr. E. W. ALLEN, Publisher
Ave Maria-lane, St. Paul's-churchyard, E.C.


The Spiritualist.


FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1869.


ECONOMY OF TIME IN SPIRITUAL RESEARCH.
THOSE who are in the habit of attending miscel-
laneous spirit circles, for the purpose of collecting in-
formation about spirit life, and the methods employed
to produce the manifestations, soon discover that a
very large amonnt of time must be consumed to gain a
very small quantity of thoroughly reliable knowledge.
This is caused, partly by the uncertainty of the com-
munications, partly because half-an-hour or so some-
times passes away before the manifestations begin,
partly because some of the statements made are unre-
liable, and partly because everybody present at a circle
wants to put questions, and one person cannot arrogate
the whole of the conversation with the spirits to him-
self.
A great deal of time may be saved when receiving
communications by the ordinary tilts or raps, if the
alphabet be appealed to in a different way to that noy
in vogue. By the present plan a member of the circle
points to all the letters of the alphabet slowly and
deliberately, and a rap or tilt is given by the spirit
when the right letter is reached. Allowing an interval


The speed of signalling may be still further increased,
by arranging the letters so that those which occur most
frequently shall be in the upper lines. Printers’ com-
positors know very well which are the letters most
commonly used in the words of the English language
and the best order of arrangement is as follows:
O
E
A
T
I
D
S
H
R
N
L
U
M
F
C
B
G
P
Y
W
K
Q
X
V
J
Z


With the alphabet thus arranged, the greater num-
ber of the letters in all words will be obtained by
pointing only to three crosses in succession. The
plan here described was tried once at Messrs. Mar-
shalls, the professional mediums, who looked on for
some minutes in a manifest state of perplexity at the
celerity with which the messages were obtained, for
the spirits understood the plan at once, and talked
away for several minutes before the mediums say
clearly the nature of the new system of signalling.
Much time that might be saved, is wasted in other
ways in Spiritualism. The primary measure of the
value of anything, whether in the heavens above of
upon the earth beneath, is its use, beauty being a
secondary consideration—in fact, there is a use in
beauty. When spirits in the body waste years in use-
less pursuits—such, for instance, as in elaborately carv-
ing a piece of ivory, it is only right that their wiser
brethren should point out the folly of such reckless waste
of time. So, likewise, when spirits out of the body
spend much time, as very many of them do, both in
England and America, in making mediums draw fan-
tastical designs, which are of no use when finished, it
is only common sense to break off such mediumship,
after giving the spirits say two or three weeks trial, to
see whether the work actually results in something
useful or instructive. Raps and tilts are always useful
messages be wise or foolish, because the
movements and sounds are evidence to non-Spiritualist
of some very remarkable power being at work, but un-
meaning drawings executed through the hand of a
medium have not even this to recommend them. These
remarks are not intended to apply to the works of art
which are sometimes executed in this way, and are
ornamental enough to deserve framing and suspension
in the drawing-room, because then some good is done
by work. Neither are the remarks intended to apply
to direct drawings by spirits, without the intervention
of human hands, for the production of such designs is
splendid evidence of an independent intelligence and
power at the root of the manifestations. Spirits who
spend much time in the useless though harmless way
herein described, should be taught by the medium to
act more wisely, just as undeveloped spirits in the body
ought to be taught better under the same circumstances.


AN ADDRESS FROM A SPIRIT.
ON Thursday evening, December 9th, a public meet-
ing of the St. John’s Association of Spiritualists was
held in St. John’s Hall, Corporation-row, Clerkenwell,
and the proceedings are reported upon another page.
In the course of the evening, Mr. Morse, medium, was
entranced by one of his guardian spirits, who gives the
name of Tien Sien Tie, and states that he was a Man-
darin of the Second Order, who passed from earth at
Pekin a little more than one hundred years ago.*
Under this inspirational influence the following speech
was given from the platform :—
“ Brothers and sisters still journeying along the path
of time, pleased am I and the invisible host with me
here, to be able to speak a few words of love and
sympathy. Many ask,  What is the use of the mani-
festations?' Let the minds of all here to-night
travel back to their inmost recesses, and ask if there is
anything in nature which is not useful? No. All
things are useful, for they reflect the source from
whence they came for universal good. The manifesta-
tions open the dark portals of the tomb, and permit
you to see the bright and glorious path beyond, thickly
dusted with the diamonds and flowers of affection and
love. They show you that communication exists be-
tween the two worlds, that the friends who by the
love of God you have been permitted to love, remember
you when they have passed through the change called
'Death.' They show how loving that Being is, by
opening the gates for you. Is there no use in know-
ing that the wife, father, husband, brother, whom you
have loved long and tenderly, still entertains remem-
brances of you, and can still speak to you? Greater
than the consolation of that, is the knowledge of the
great stream of love, pouring down from the higher
spheres, trying to draw you upwards and onwards,
teaching you that you contain that priceless gem, a
human spirit, endowed with the attributes of the Deity
from whence it came. Cradled in the bosom of infini-
tude, man—so far as I can read—has eternally existed,
world without end. When you feel happy within your-
selves—when the silver cord of the soul is struck, and
you feel full of happiness, you desire that others shall
share that happiness also. You talk about the manifesta-
tions with your friends, who in their turn become
centres of another circle spreading the truth, and so on
through infinity of extension. See the good, then, you
do by getting up meetings such as this to-night, faint
foreshadowings of those in the summer land, so called
Think of the great truths we teach, but remember
especially these three principles : let your relations be
love—let justice govern your love—and let wisdom
govern both, that you may be perfection ; then will
heaven be within and around you. Friends, farewell
and carry away with you messages of affection from
the immortal host awaiting your entrance into tho
realms of everlasting light and love. Farewell.”
Silence followed the delivery of this address, which
was spoken in a very impressive manner, and nobody
seemed inclined to say anything for the next few


We regret to see from a notice in Daybreak, that it is
possible that it will be discontinued very shortly. There can-
not be too many workers in the field of the literature of Spi-
ritualism, since every journal meets the wants of certain
readers. The December number of Daybreak contains some
very interesting information about spirit life, furnished by
Mrs. De Morgan.


Mr. J. M. PEEBLES has arrived at Trebizond, but is ex-
pected in England again in two months.—Dr. Willis is now in
the South of France.—Miss Hay has arrived in New York
quite safe and sound, and is comfortably located at the Hygienic
Institute. She produced some remarkable spirit drawings on
board ship, when the roll was so great that she could not
write.—Daybreak.


*Those of our readers who chance to have friends in China, are re-
quested to try whether they can get this statement substantiated.—ED.


WANTED A GHOST
(From last week's PUNCH)
“ To Proprietors of Haunted Houses.—A few gentlemen wish
to have the opportunity of visiting a house said to be haunted,
situate in or near London, for the purpose of scientific obser-
(See Advertisement.)
vation."


22


THE SPIRITUALIST


DEC. 17, 1869.


Are there spirits floating round us,
Sinking from the Tranquil Land
Breaking through the chains that bound us
To this melancholy strand:
Where the surge of being’s ocean
Ever roars in tempest strife,
And its flerce continual motion
Wearies out the heart of life?


London, December, 1869.


Poetry.
"QUID VERUM?"


Faintly dawns the longed-for morning,
Dim and vaguo the mountains show;
Will the sun arise, adorning
Earth and heaven with gorgeous glow?
Is it but a faithless glimmer
Born of some electric blast,
Like those northern lights that shimmer
Through the sky, and then are past?


May the gloom be really over
And its grief and sadness gone!
May the earth, an ardent lover,
Rise to heaven, its glorious throne
While the choirs of morn awaking
Pass to us in bright array,
And the night's dominion breaking,
Open out the awful day!
H. C.


BELSHAZZAR


Belshazzar is King! Belshazzar is Lord!
And a thousand dark nobles all bend at his board;
Fruits glisten, flowers blossom, meats steam, and a flood
Of wine that man loveth runs redder than blood:
Wild dancers are there, and a riot of mirth,
And the beauty that maddens the passions of earth;
And the crowds all shout,
Till the vast roofs ring,
“ All praise to Belshazzar—Belshazzar the King!"


“Bring forth," cries the monarch, “the vessels of gold
Which my father tore down from the temples of old:
Bring forth—and we’ll drink, while the trumpets are blown,
To the gods of bright silver, of gold, and of stone.
Bring forth!"—and before him the vessels all shine,
And he bows unto Baal, and he drinks the dark wine;
Whilst the trumpets bray,
And the cymbals ring,
“Praise, praise to Belshazzar—Belshazzar the King!"


Now what cometh?—Look! Look! Without menace or call
Who writes with the lightning's bright hand on the wall?
What pierceth the King like the point of a dart?
What drives the bold blood from his cheek to his heart?
“Chaldeans! Magicians! The letters expound!"
They are read—and Belshazzar is dead on the ground!
Hark! The Persian has come
On a conqueror's wing,
And a Mede’s on the throne of Belshazzar the King!
Barry Cornwall.


THE CHILD'S QUESTIONS


Where will his house be now, mother? Beyond the bright blue sky?
Will he gather roses there, mother? Or chase the butterfly?
And will he play with the stars there, those shining twinkling things?
Will he ride through the air there, with angels on golden wings?
Will he be near the sun, mother? Close to the Lady Moon?
Will there never be night, mother? All light as day at noon?
Will he see the lightning made, mother? And climb on the hills of snow,
Go where the thunder’s kept, and where sleep the rough winds that blow?
Will he never be sad, mother? And never wish in vain?
But live for years and years, mother, without a single pain?
That must be very beautiful,—a land all joy and flowers:
I would we went there too, mother, and his bright home were ours.
Tait's Magazine.


Newspaper Criticism.


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.'


THE GLORIES OF THE HEAVENS.
Translated from the German.
“ GOD called up from dreams a man into the vestibule
of Heaven, saying, “Come thou hither, and see the
glory of my house. And to the servants that stood
around his throne, he said, 'Take him, and undress him
from his robes of flesh : cleanse his vision, and put a
new breath into his nostrils; only touch not with any
change his human heart—the heart that weeps and
trembles.' It was done: and, with a mighty angel for
his guide, the man stood ready for his infinite voyage
and from the terraces of heaven, without sound or
farewell, at once they wheeled away into endless space.
Sometimes with the solemn flight of angel wing they
fled through Zaarahs of darkness, through wildernesses
of death, that divided the worlds of life ; sometimes
they swept over frontiers, that were quickening under
prophetic motions from God. Then, from a distance
that is counted only in heaven, light dawned for a time
through a sleepy film; by unutterable pace the light
swept to them ; they, by unutterable pace, to the light.
In a moment, the rushing of planets was upon them
in a moment, the blazing of suns was around them.
“ Then came eternities of twilight, that revealed,
but were not revealed. On the right hand and on the
left, towered mighty constellations, that, by self-repeti-
tions and answers from afar, that, by counter-positions,
built up triumphal gates, whose architraves, whose
archways, horizontal, upright, rested, rose, at altitude
by spans that seemed ghostly from infinitude. With-
out measure were the architraves, past number were
the archways, beyond memory the gates. Within
were stairs that scaled the eternities bclow; above was
below, below was above, to the man stripped of gravi-
tating body: depth was swallowed up in height insur-
mountable—height was swallowed up in depth un-
fathomable. Suddenly, as thus they rode from infinite
to infinite,—suddenly, as thus they tilted over abysmal
worlds, a mighty cry arose, that systems more
mysterious, that worlds more billowy, other heights and
other deptbs were coming, were nearing, were at hand.
“Then the man sighed, and stopped, shuddered,
and wept.
His overladened heart uttered itself in
tears ; and he said, Angel, I will go no farther; for
the spirit of man acheth with this infinity. Insuffer-
able is the glory of God. Let me lie down in the
grave and hide me from the persecution of the infinite;
for end, I see, there is none.'
And from ail the listen-
ing stars that shone around issued a choral voice, 'The
man speaks truly : end there is none, that ever yet we
heard of!’ 'End is there none ? ’ the angel solemnly
demanded : 'Is there indecd no end ? and is this the sor-
row that kills you?'
But no voice answered, that he
might answer himself. Then the angel threw up his
glorious hands to the heaven of heavens, saying, 'End
is there none to the universe of God. Lo ! also there
is no beginning.'"


THE “GLASGOW HERALD” ON SPIRITUALISM.
THE Glasgow Daily Herald has the honour of being the
first morning paper which has told anything like a portion of
the truth in a leading article about Spiritualism. The follow-
ing is its article of November 27th last:—
“Spiritualism in the 19th century is either a great fact or a
gigantic delusion, or both. That faith in spiritual manifesta-
tions is, at all events, a fact, there can be no doubt whatever
unless we are prepared to set down millions of men and
women as deep, designing knaves, and wilful impostors. It
would be unreasonable, as well as unjust, to adopt such an
alternative. The charge of knavery and imposture would be
too sweeping in any view of the case, and, besides, the charac-
ter of not a few of the firmest devotees is far above such a
suspicion. When we find the names of such men as Professor
de Morgan, Robert Chambers, William Howitt, Judge Ed-
monds, C. F. Varley, and S. C. Hall on the roll of believers
we must discard once for all the theory of universal imposi-
tion. On the other hand, it seems nearly as hard to believe
that such men are simplctons or fools—the innocent dupes of
vulgar “mediums, and the supporters of a doctrine or creed at
variance with the laws of nature, human experience, and
common sense. How are we to deal with such phenomena
The faith cannot be laughed down ; exposure has also failed
and persecution in these days is out of the question. Spiri-
tualism, in short, is a fact, just as Mormonism is a fact ; and
moreover, its progress has been infinitely more wonderful than
that of the faith propounded by Saint Joseph Smith. In the
United States, where both beliefs or systems originated, we
find the Spiritualists far outstripping the Mormons in num-
bers, as well as in respectability and intelligence. The Mor-
mons can scarcely show a thousand adherents for every year
that has elapsed since the advent of their original High-Priest,
while the Spiritualists in the States have been variously esti-
mated within the last two years at from three to thirteen
millions. They are to be found in greater numbers than some
people are willing to believe in this country, on the Continent
in India, and at the Antipodes, and they are increasing instead
of diminishing every year. They have magazines, newspapers,
lecturers, and mediums by the hundred ; and they have lately
commenced to defend their faith at the meetings of learned
societies.
“A movement such as this in an age which has been called
materialistic and sceptical may well be considered remarkable,
even by its most resolute opponents. It is too important, in
fact, to be ignored altogether by the public, and too energetic
and persevering to remain in obscurity. Not a few of its
leading lights have published their experiences and their testi-
mony, and challenge investigation and defy contradiction.
At a recent meeting of the Dialectical Society, of which Sir
John Lubbock is President, and Professor Huxley, Lord Am-
berley, and Mr. G. H. Lewes are Vice-Presidents, a paper or
Spiritualism was read which attracted much attention, and
the result was the appointment of a committee to investigate
the subject and to report thereon. This committee has already
examined a considerable number of witnesses, and the follow-
ing may be taken as a fair sample of the evidence as we find
it recorded in the first number of a new publieation called


“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.


Mrs. HARDINGE'S LECTURES.—If the following statement
which we extract from the Banner of Light, be true, Mrs
Hardinge is engaged to lecture in the United States until the
end of April next. “Mrs. Emma Hardinge will lecture in
Philadelphia, Pa., during October and November; in Boston
Mass., during December and April. For lectures during other
months, and week-evenings, address care of Mrs. J. M. Jackson.
229, East Sixtieth-street, New York, or M. B. Dyott, Esq., 114,
South Second-street, Philadelphia."
WILL-POWER.—An interesting fact in mesmerism was
stated one evening to the Dialectical Society by Mr. J. S.
Bergheim, a powerful mesmerist. He said that one night he
sat among the public at a lecture on Mesmerism, and, without
saying anything to anybody, willed strongly and constantly
that the lecturer should have no power over the individuals
he tried to influence. Failure upon failure was the result of
all the lecturer’s exertions, and while much perplexed at this
he caught sight of Mr. Bergheim, whom he knew, and guessed
the interference at work. He accordingly came to Mr. Berg-
heim, and told him that “if he could not sit there without in-
terrupting the lecture, he had better walk out."
With the
same will-power some unintelligent, strong-minded persons
are able to stop weak physical manifestations at Spirit circles
and when they chance to mentally or vocally utter a religious
formula at the same time, have been known to ascribe the re-
sulting stoppage to the efficacy of their theological adjuration.
A SPIRIT ON “SPACE.”—The following remarks by a
spirit, were recently made through the mediumship of Mrs. J.
H. Conant, 158, Washington-strect, Boston, United States :
“Space, as defined, doubtless, by your correspondent, is not
what we understand it to be. Go wherever we may, we find
no condition where there are not atmospheric tides ; electric
conditions, that in their action are capable of generating life
all kinds of life of which we can conceive. Could you,
with your spiritual eyes, behold this atmosphere, you would
find an infinite number of electric ramifications, coming out
seemingly, from no centre except the earth centre. They are
shooting north and south, and east and west. Then there are
cross-lines; and each one is connected with all the rest, and
acts upon all the rest. And each one is connected with every
body in the universe, is acted upon by everybody, and, in
turn, acts upon everybody. Every living thing that is capable
of being sustained, or of living at all in this condition of
being—the animal, vegetable, mineral, and spiritual life
must, of necessity, be wedded to all those different currents
that are passing to and fro through space. And if we go
outside of the earth’s atmosphere, we find the same magnetic
and electric wires stretching from planet to planet, and de-
terming the course of each one ; and binding each one to a
certain relationship with all the rest. Where is the vacuum?
I fail to find it."


ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
A COUNTRY JOURNALIST.—Your letter in our next.


DEC. 17, 1869.


THE SPIRITUALIST.


23


FACTS FOR NON-SPIRITUALISTS.
As this Journal will necessarily often come
under the observation of those who are not
Spiritualists, it has been thought judicious to
reprint regularly on this and the next page
the following condensed evidence that spiri-
tualism deserves serious investigation. The
phenomena witnessed in spiritual circles are
so extraordinary, and so unlike those coming
within the ordinary range of human experi-
ence, that it is quite right not to accept them
on the testimony of others. Each individual
should witness and test them personally, and
believe nothing until the absolute knowledge
is gained that denial is impossible.


EVIDENCE THAT SPIRITUALISM DESERVES INVES-
TIGATION.
The testimony of reliable and respectable wit-
nesses that the phenomena of Spiritualism are
actual facts, and not imposture or delusion, has of
late years so accumulated as to possess very great
weight. In the case of Lyon v. Home, Mr. Robert
Chambers, Mr. C. F. Varley, Dr. Gully, Mr. and
Mrs. S. C. Hall, and others, all made affidavits
strongly in favour of Mr. Home. The following
was the affidavit of Mr. C. F. Varley, C.E.,
F.R.G.S., M.R.I.:
“I, Cromwell Fleetwood Varley, of Fleetwood House,
Beckenham, in the County of Kent, Esquire, make oath
and say as follows:—
“I have been a student of electricity, chemistry, and
natural philosophy for twenty-six years, and a tele-
graphic engineer by profession for twenty-one years,
and I am the consulting electrician of the Atlantic Tele-
graph Company, and of the Electric and International
Company.
“About nine or ten years ago, having had my atten-
tion directed to the subject of Spiritualism by its spon-
taneous and unexpected development in my own family
in the form of clairvoyant visions and communications,
I determined to test the truth of the alleged physical
phenomena to the best of my ability, and to ascertain,
if possible, the nature of the force which produced them.
“Accordingly, about eight years ago, I called on Mr.
Home, the defendant in this suit, and stated that I had
not yet witnessed any of the physical phenomena, but
that I was a scientific man and wished to investigate
them carefully.
“He immediately gave me every facility for the pur-
pose, and desired me to satisfy myself in every possible
way, and I have been with him on divers occasions
when the phenomena have occurred. I have examined
and tested them with him and with others, under con-
ditions of my own choice, under a bright light, and have
made the most jealous and searching scrutiny. I have
been, since then, for seven months in America, where
the subject attracts great attention and study, and where
it is cultivated by some of the ablest men, and having
experimented with and compared the forces with elec-
tricity and magnetism, and after having applied me-
chanical and mental tests, I entertain no doubt whatever
that the manifestations which I have myself examined
were not due to the operation of any of the recognised
physical laws of nature, and that there has been present
on the occasions above-mentioned some intelligence
other than that of the medium and observers.
“The subject of course offers many opportunities and
inducements for fraud, and I only speak of what I have
myself seen and tested. Since my acquaintance with
Mr. Home began I have pursued the enquiry, and I have
found engaged in it able, learned, and scientific men
who are convinced as I am, that the physical manifesta-
tions are but the introduction to an extensive field of
mental and physical knowledge which will in a great
measure explain and reconcile the beliefs of all ages and
nations. I know of several instances both in Europe
and America in which this course of study has awak-
ened the perception of the purest and loftiest truths and
principles. There have been no doubt cases in which
the intellect has been too feeble for the stimulus, and
has been overpowered by it, just as frequently results
from excessive application to religion and other exciting
topics, but such cases have not come within my own
observation.
“Mr. Home, like several other non-professional me-
diums whose cases I have studied, was passive during
the occurrence of the manifestations. He, like the
other mediums, is extremely susceptible to external in-
fluences, and has a mind better suited to receive impres-
sions than to prosecute enquiries. I willingly testify my
entire conviction of his truthfulness and honesty.
"C. F. VARLEY."


It also came out in the evidence given at the
trial, that Mr. Home had been the invited and un-
paid guest of the Emperor and the Empress of the
French, the Emperor, Empress, and the late Em-
press Dowager of Russia, the Grand Duke Con-
stantine, the King of Prussia, the late King of
Bavaria, the late King of Wurtemburg, and the
Queen of Holland. Mr. Home says that all his
life he has never taken a farthing of pay for his
séances. In March, 1869, the Spiritual Magazine
gave the names of the following gentlemen as
those who have long been investigating the sub-
ject.
Cromwell F. Varley, Esq., Fleetwood-house, Becken-
ham; Alfred R. Wallace, Esq., 9, St. Mark’s-crescent
N.W.; Professor De Morgan, 91, Adelaide-road, N.W.
Captain Drayson, R.A., Woolwich; Dr. J. M. Gully,
The Priory, Great Malvern: Dr. J. J. G. Wilkinson, 4,
St. John’s-wood-villas, N.W.; Dr. Dixon, 8, Great Or
mond-street, W.C.: S. C. Hall, Esq., 15, Ashley-place,
Victoria-street, S.W.; Newton Crosland, Esq.; Willian
Howitt, Esq., The Orchard, Hare-green, Esher, Surrey;
Robert Chambers, Esq., St. Andrew’s, Edinburgh; II.
D. Jeneken, Esq., Kilmorey-house, Norwood; J. G.
Crawford, Esq., 52, Gloucester-crescent, N.W.; W. M
Wilkinson, Esq., Oakfleld, Kilburn; Lord Adare, 5,
Buckingham-gate; The Master of Lindsay, Grosvenor-
square.


said Mr. Home many curious occurrences, which I am
unable to explain, in the way of singular phenomena,
such as displacement of objects without physical con-
tact, &c., and from my personal and careful investiga-
tions (which Mr. Home himself ever urges) I am positive
that it is not in consequence of any trick or device that
such phenomena occur. I have even been witness to
singular phenomena when the said Mr. Home was not in
the same room, and also when he has been asleep. I
have never known the said Mr. Home receive money for
what is termed 'a séance', but I have known him re-
peatedly refuse offers of as much as twenty guineas for
“J. M. GULLY, M.D."
a single séance.
Dr. Hooker, in his opening address, as President
of the British Association at Norwich in 1868
spoke very highly of the scientific attainments of
Mr. Alfred R. Wallacc, F.L.S. Mr. Wallace is an
avowed Spiritualist. Professor Hare, of Phila-
delphia, the inventor of the Hare’s Galvanic Bat-
tery, once refused to witness spiritual phenomena
alleging that Faraday's “unconscious muscular
action” theory explained all the facts. A friend
wrote to him detailing things he had seen which
were inexplicable by that theory. Hare at once,
like a sensible man, went to see for himself. The
result was that he came into communication with
some of his own departed relatives. He then
made mechanical telegraphic machines, which
were intelligently worked by spirits while the
apparatus was screened from the sight of the
medium, and he wrote a book recording all these
facts. That book is now in the British Museum
Library. Judge Edmonds, of New York, is another
very eminent American Spiritualist, who has also
written interesting books on the subject. Recently
in England, Viscount Adare has written a book
bearing testimony to the truth of Spiritualism, and
it has a preface by Lord Dunraven. This book is
printed for private circulation only, which is an
error in judgment. Valuable evidence in favour
of Spiritualism is given by John Wesley and his
family; for spirit rapping and movements of
wooden materials by invisible agency occurred in
their own house. Documentary evidence of what
they witncssed was drawn up and signed on the
spot, and is published in Southey's Life of Wesley.
The Spiritual Magazine for October, 1869, gives
the following names of friends of Spiritualism
who have now and then contributed to its pages:
“Viscount Adare; John Ashburner, M.D., Translator
of Reichenbach, author of Philosophy of Animal Mag-
netism and Spiritualism; T. B. Barkas, author of Outline
of Ten Tears Investigation into the Phenomena of Modern
Spiritualism; George Barth; Richard Beamish, F.R.S.
author of The Life of Brunel; Rev. S. E. Bengough
M.A.; Edward L. Blanchard; Edward Brotherton; Cap-
tain Richard F. Burton (the African traveller;) William
Carpenter, author of Political Letters, The English Bible;
Captain Edward Henry Chawner; Henry T. Child,
M.D. (Philadelphia, U.S.A.); Benjamin Coleman, author
of Spiritualism in America; Robert Collyer, M.D., F.C.S.
Christopher Cook; Robert Cooper, author of Spiritual
Experiences; Mrs. De Morgan, author of From Matter to
Spirit; Jacob Dixon, L.R.C.P., author of Clairvoyance
Hygienic, and Medical; Hugh Doherty, M.D:, author of
Organic Philosophy; Captain Drayson, R.A.; Judge
Edmonds (New York); Captain H. A Fawcett, B.N.
John M. Gully, M.D.; Professor W. D. Gunning (Boston,
U.S.A.); Samuel Carter Hall, F.S.A.; Emma Hardinge
George Harris, M.A., F.S.A., President of the Manches-
ter Anthropological Society; W. E. Hickson, late editor
of the Westminster Foreign Quarterly Review; Rev. A
W. Hobson, M.A.; Baron C. Dirckinck Holmfeld; Daniel
Dunglass Home; Rev. J. Pago Hopps, editor of The
Truthseeker; Mary Howitt; William Howitt; Henry D.
(Jencken, M.R.I., F.G.S.; John Jones, author of Man:
Physical, Apparitional, and Spiritual; Rev. William
Ker, M.A.: Seymour Kirkup (Florence); Andrew Leigh-
ton; Robert Leighton; Kenneth R. P. Mackenzie, F.S.A.
Rev. William Mountford (Boston, U.S.A.); A. E. New-
ton (Boston, U.S.A.) author of The Ministry of Angel.
Realised; Mary S. Gove Nichols; J. H. Powell: Baror
Reichenbach, author of Researches on the Dynamics
Magnetism; Elihu Rich, author of several articles in the
Encyclovædia Metropolitana; J. Lockhart Robertson,
M.R.C.P.: Mary C. Hume Rothery; Rev. W Hume
Rothery, M.A.; Epes Sargent, author of The Planchette;
Thomas Shorter; Rev. W. R. Tomlinson, M.A.; Crom
well F. Varley, F.R.G.S.; C. Staniland Wake, author of
Chapters on Man; Alfred R. Wallace; A. M. H. Watts
William White, author of Emanuel Swedenborg: His
Life and Writings; W. M. Wilkinson, author of Spirit
Drawings; James J. Garth Wilkinson, M.D., author of
The Human Body, and its Connection with Man; Rev. F.
R.
Young"


“Awaiting a reply to this letter, and to the challenge
with which it concludes, I am, gentlemen; your obedient
servant.
G. DAMIANI
“Clifton, Oct. 1, 1868
“P.S.—Letters addressed “Sigr. Damiani, care of
Manager of West of England and South Wales District
Bank, Corn-strect, Bristol,' will always reach the writer."
In addition to the above evidence, there is the
testimony of numbers that the modern spiritual
manifestations are realities. Mr. Hepworth Dixon
in his New America estimates the number of Spiri-
tualists in the United States at rather less than
three millions, and this is about the lowest estimate
that anybody has made. There are no accurate sta-
tistics, and different authorities vary in their esti-
mates from three to eleven millions.


All these facts, together with those which
follow, prove that Spiritualism deserves serious
investigation. Not a few learned men have pri-
vately been examining the phenomena in order to
“explode the imposture,” but these extinguishers
soon catch fire themselves. In short, in the
minds of most of the English public, Spiritualism
has to pass through the following five stages :
1. The manifestations do not take place.
2. Spiritualism is a gross imposture
3. It is a delusion.
4. It is the work of the Devil.
5. It is a great blessing, and we always said so.
Experience shows that the feebler the intellect
and the lower the standard of energy and educa-
tion, the sooner does the investigator break down
at one of the first four out of the above five steps
in the ladder of progress.


MR. HOME'S AFFIDAVIT.
In the Chancery suit of Lyon v. Home, for the
recovery of certain monies given by Mrs. Lyon
to Mr. Home against the advice of her lawyer
and her friends, Mr. Home made an affidavit, from
which the following is an extract:—
“I Daniel Dunglass Home, of 22, Sloane-street, in
the County of Middlesex, one of the above-named de-
fendants, make oath and say as follows:
“I was born in Scotland on the 20th of March, 1833,
and from my childhood have been subject to the occa-
sional happening of singular physical phenomena in my
presence, which are most certainly not produced by me
or by any other person in connection with me. I have
no control over them whatever: they occur irregularly,
and even when I am asleep. Sometimes I am many
months, and once I have been a year without them.
They will not happen when I wish, and my will has
nothing to do with them. I cannot account for them
further than by supposing them to be effected by intelli-
gent beings or spirits. Similar phenomena occur to
many other persons.... These phenomena occurring in
my presence have been witnessed by thousands of
intelligent and respectable persons, including men of
business, science, and literature, under circumstance
which would have rendered, even if I desired it, all
trickery impossible. They have been witnessed repeat-
edly and in their own private apartments, when an
contrivance of mine must have been detected, by their
Majesties the Emperor and the Empress of the French
their Majesties the Emperor, Empress and late Empress
Dowager of Russia, their Imperial Highnesses the Grand
Duke and Duchess Constantine of Russia and the mem-
bers of their august family, their Majesties the King of
Prussia, the late King of Bavaria, the present and late
King of Würtemberg, the Queen of Holland, and the
members of the Royal Family of Holland; and man
of these august personages have honoured, and I be-
lieve still honour, me with their esteem and goodwill, as
I have resided in some of their palaces as a gentleman
and their guest, and not as a paid or professional per-
son. They have had ample opportunities, which they
have used, of investigating these phenomena, and of
inquiring into my character. I have resided in America
England, France, Italy, Germany, and Russia, and in
every country I have been received as a guest and
friend by persons in the highest position in society, who
were quite competent to discover and expose, as the
ought to have done, anything like contrivance on my
part to produce these phenomena. I do not seek, and
never have sought, the acquaintance of any of these
exalted personages. They have sought me, and I have
thus had a certain notoriety thrust upon me. I do not
take money, and never have taken it, although it has
been repeatedly offered me for or in respect of these
phenomena, or the communications which appear to be
made by them. I am not in the habit of receiving those
who are strangers to me, and I never force the subject
of Spiritualism on any one’s attention. ... Some of the
phenomena in question are noble and elevated, others
appear to be grotesque and undignified. For this I am
not responsible, any more than I am for the many
grotesque and undignified things which are undoubtedly
permitted to exist in the material world. I solemnly
swear that I do not produce the phenomena aforesaid,
or in any way whatever aid in producing them,” &c.
“I have been subjected to much persecution through-
out my life, because of my conscientious belief as to the
meaning and great purpose of spiritual phenomena
taken as a whole. That belief I have not, like the
plaintiff, foresworn. I have always courted the strictest
investigation, although I have not condescended to
notice all the attacks and anonymous slanders that have
been circulated respecting me. The book shown to me
at the time of swearing this affidavit, marked H 8, con-
tains a correct list of upwards of 1,300 letters, with the
writers' names, which I still retain (after having de-
stroyed about 10,000), written to me by persons of every
rank and class, including persons of the highest social,
political, literary, and scientific position, who have in-
vestigated these phenomena, and corresponded with me
about them. After the fullest opportunities of examina-
tion, they have formed different opinions as to their
origin and meaning ; but I believe that all are
thoroughly satisfled of my entire honesty in the matter;
and lately, while the plaintiff's base and unfounded
charges of fraud and imposition have been hanging
over me, and during the months of January and
February, 1868, these phenomena have been thoroughly
tested by another scientific man, named Mr. Hawkins
Simpson, the inventor of electrical apparatus, including
one for printing at a distance by the telegraph—a
drawing and description of which were, as I am in-
formed and believe, given in the Engineer newspaper of
the 15th November, 1867."


WHAT IS THE USE OF SPIRITUALISM?
Strange to say there are people who can ask
what is the use of communication with friends
and relatives, who have passed the great barrier
of the grave. One use of Spiritualism is, that all
Spiritualists who lead moderately good lives, are
found to gradually lose the fear of death. Spirits
through the agency of suitable media have much
power in the healing of diseases, and the removal
of deformities, though such power is far from
absolute. The following is a narrative, published
in Daybreak, of some of the powers exercised
through Mr. Nowton, the best healing medium in
the United States; he is expected to visit England
in the course of the year 1870. The following ex-
ample from a very boundless field of choice, is
enough for the present on the subject of the uses
of Spiritualism:
Friday, May 22, of the present year (1868) will for
ever remain one of the most memorable days of my life
It was on that day, when the sun was shining brightly
and bathing the world with its light and heat, that
arrived at Newport, Rhode Islaud, and first came under
the healing powers of Dr. J. A. Newton. I had heard
of him through The Spiritual Magazine, Mr. William
Howitt, and Mr. Coleman, and was assured that if I
placed myself in his hands I should be speedily and
radically cured of the neuralgic affection in my head,
for which I had been suffering for eleven years. It was
not until I had become a little more familiar with some
of the facts and phenomena of modern Spiritualism
that I felt a quiet faith in the power of Dr. Newton to
remove my disease. Having once attained to that state
of mind, and becoming satisfied that it was my duty to
cross the Atlantic in search of health, I made arrange-
ments for doing so, and left Liverpool for New York on
Saturday, May 9, arriving at the latter place on Tuesday
evening, the 19th.*
The moment Dr. New-
ton and I met, I found in his face and simple kindly
manner a human image of the outside sunshine, and
but few words had been spoken when I was convinced
that the errand upon which I had come would be ful-
filled. I was about to give him the history in detail of
my affliction when he stopped me by saying, That
after I had been cured he would be very glad to listen
to anything I might wish to say, but that the cure itselt
was the first matter to be attended to.' He then poured
a large quantity of very hot water upon my head while
I was leaning it over a basin into which the water fell.
After my head had been dried with a coarse towel, I
was made to sit upon a moveable seat, similar to a
music-stool, the doctor standing behind me, and placing
my head against his chest with his hands crossed upon
my forehead. He then moved my head in various
directions until all at once a clicking noise was heard at
the top of my spine. The doctor immediately cried out,
'That noise is the sign that you will be cured; the dis-
turbance of the nerve current has been removed. He
then faced me, and lifting both his hands towards
heaven, he looked me hard in the face, saying, 'Look at
me. In the name of God our Heavenly Father, and of
the Lord Jesus Christ the Great Healer, I bid this
disease depart from this dear suffering brother and
uever more afflict him. It is gone—it is gone—it is
gone for ever, my brother; you are cured; rise up on
your feet and be cured.' At that instant I felt a strong
current of new life flowing into and through every part
of my body, and I was conscious that I had entered
upon an altogether new phase of existence. From that
day to the present hour, July 13, I have been entirely
free from my pain, and have felt as well, I should think
as it is possible for any human being to feel. Physically
speaking, I am a new creature; old things have passed
away and all things have become new. Of course it is
not for me to say absolutely that the cure will be per-
manent, but, if I may judge from my present expe-
rience, I see no reason why it should not be so
Wonderful as my case is, it is only one of thousands, so
far as Dr. Newton is concerned. He has cured almost,
every form of disease, and removed almost every kind
of suffering. In fact, he appears to have done every-
thing but raise the dead. And yet even he does not
cure all cases, and this failure enables him to keep alive
the consciousness that it is not he who cures, but God
who works in and through him. He tells me that he
has cured something like a quarter of a million of
people. * * * * Most of his cures are done without
fee or reward. In my own case he steadily refused to
take a single dollar, and I saw him act in like manner
towards several others. During my stay I witnessed
several instances of his healing power; some of them
being so manifest as to defy all attempts at explaining
them away. On the very morning that my own cure
was effected, I witnessed his cure of a paralytic who for
three years had been unable to walk without the aid of
crutches, and even then, only in a partial degree. This
woman was brought by lier parents to Newport, and, in
less than five minutes from the time when she came
under Dr. Newton’s hands, she got up from the couch
on which she had becn laid, and walked away up the
street and back again, a full mile, and afterwards
walked and ran and jumped and danced, as so many
signs that her cure was a complete one. I also saw him
cure a young man who had a withered hand. Indeed,
might have seen day by day, and hour by hour, ex-
amples of this healing power had I chosen to have done
so. Every now and again, there are trains from Boston
and Providence freighted with the lame, the halt, the
blind, and the diseased, sometimes to the number of
500 or 600. These come to Newport, and a large majo-
rity of them are sent away perfectly cured. In one part
of Dr. Newton’s house there is a room of considerable
size, fun of crutches, sticks, spectacles, eye-shades,
bandages, and other memorials of disease and sickness
which have been left behind by patients as so many
signs and trophies of their cure.


Mrs. De Morgan has written a book, entitled
From Matter to Spirit (Longmans), where she
gives many interesting particulars, the result of
ten years’ experience in Spiritualism. Professor
De Morgan, President of the Mathematical Society
of London, in his preface to the book, says:
“I am perfectly convinced that I have both seen and
heard, in a manner which should make unbelief impos-
sible, things called spiritual, which cannot be taken by
a rational being to be capable of explanation by impos-
ture, coincidence, or mistake. So far I feel the ground
firm under me.
The following is an extract from another
affidavit, made in the suit of Lyon v. Home
“I, James Manby Gully, of The Priory, Great Malvern
in the County of Worcester, doctor of medicine, make
oath and say as follows:
“I have known the above-named defendant, Daniel
Dunglass Home, for seven years and upwards, last past
and have during that period been in the habit of attend-
ing him professionally, and also of receiving him in my
house as a personal friend, and I have never had the
smallest reason to doubt liis character as a man of
honour and proper moral feeling.
“I have during the past seven years witnessed both
in my own house, and elsewhere, in the presence of the


Signor G. Damiani, a Sicilian gentleman living
at Clifton, has written a pamphlet, still in print
in which he severely censures Professor Tyndall
Mr. G. H. Lewes, and others like them, for refus-
ing to investigate the subject. He further offers a
reward of 1,000 guineas to any respectable, scien-
tific or educated men, who will investigate the
subject and prove it to be an imposture. The
following are his words:
“I now offer you two challenges
“First, I challenge you, or either of you, or any of
the public who, like you, disbelieve in the genuine cha-
racter of spiritualistic phenomena, to deposit in the
hands of any well-known London banker whom you or
they may name, the sum of five hundred guineas; and
I pledge myself to immediately deposit in the same bank
a like amount,—the ownership of such sum of one thou-
sand guineas to depend upon my proving by evidence
sufficient to establish any fact in history or in a criminal
or civil court of justice.
First—That intelligent communications and answers
to questions put, proceed from dead and inert matter in
a manner inexplicable by any generally recognised law
of nature.
Secondly—That dead and inert matter does move
without the aid of any mechanical or known chemical
agency, and in deflance of all the admitted laws of gravi-
tation.
“Thirdly—That voices appertaining to no one in the
flesh are heard to speak and hold rational converse with
men.
A jury of twenty-four gentlemen, twelve to be choser
by each party (such jury to consist exclusively of mem-
bers of the learned professions and literary men), to
decide whether or not the facts contained in the above
propositions are conclusively proved per testes—i.e., by
witnesses of established character. A majority of
the twenty-four to decide. If the verdict be that these
facts havo not been established, the thousand guineas
are to belong to the party accepting this challenge; if
the verdict be that these facts are established, the thou-
sand guiueas to be mine.
“Secondly—Immediately after the above wager being
decided, either way, I offer a like challenge of five hun-
dred guineas (to be met on the other side in like manner
as above)—the ownership of the second sum of one
thousand guineas to depend upon the establishment of
the facts contained in the propositions already given, by
experiments conducted in the actual presence of the twenty-
four gentlemeu who have decided the previous wager,
the verdict of the majority to decide in this case likewise.
“In either case, the séances are to be conducted in an
public or private building which the jury may select,
and which may be available for the purpose.
“The result of these challenges (if accepted and de-
cided) to be advertised by the victorious party, at the
expense of the defeated party, in all the London daily
papers.
I hope this is plain English.


Omitting the remainder of Mr. Home’s affidavit
the following evidence given by him before the
Dialectical Society, is of interest:
“He had seen a pencil lifted by a spirit hand write on
paper in the presence of the Emperor Napoleon. This
took place in a large room, the Salon Louis Quinze. The
Empress was also present. The hand, after writing,
went to the Emperor, who kissed it; it then went to the
Empress; she withdrew from the touch, and the hand
followed her. The Emperor said, Do not be fright-
ened, kiss it!' She then kissed it, and it shortly after-
wards disappeared. The writing was an autograph
of the Emperor Napoleon I. The Emperor of Russia
had also seen and handled spirit hands, which after-
wards seemed to melt away into thin air.
The Emperor Napolcon has been at a great
many of Mr. Home's séances, and Mr. Home was
asked by members of the Dialectical Society to
state other things which had been observed on
those occasions. Mr. Home said that he did not
feel at liberty to state any more than the Emperor
was in the habit of telling himself.


"FREDERICK ROWLAND YOUNG,
“Minister of the Free Christian Church, Swindon.
There are very many healing mediums in the
United States, who can do good only in certain
diseases, or whose powers are so feeble that suc-
cessful results may with more probability of accu-
racy be put down to the imagination of the
patient.
A great use of Spiritualism is that it demon-
strates the immortality of the soul. But why
ask, “ Of what use is Spiritualism ?” for here the
thing is in our midst as much a part of nature as
the trees, the clouds, and the flowers, and as it
cannot be abolished there is no alternative but to
subject it to investigation, or to look on in igno-
rance.


HOW TO FORM SPIRIT CIRCLES.
An experimental trial at home, among family
friends and relatives, often gives the most satis-
factory evidence of the reality of spiritual pheno-
mena. At the same time, as no fully developed
medium is present among those who have never
obtained manifestations before, the probability is
that there will be no results. Nevertheless, it is
a very common thing for striking manifestations
to be obtained in this way at the first sitting of a
family circle; perhaps for every one successful
new circle thus started without a medium, there
are six or seven failures, but no accurate statistics
on this point have yet been collected. When
once manifestations have been obtained they will
gradually increase in power and reliability at suc-
cessive sittings. The following is a good plan of
action:
1. Let the room be of a comfortable temperature, but
cool rather than warm let arrangements be made that


24


THE SPIRITUALIST.


DEC. 17, 1869.


nobody shall enter it, and that there shall be no inter-
ruption for one hour during the sitting of the circle.
Wet, damp, and foggy weather is bad for the production
of physical phenomena.
2. Let the circle consist of four, five, or six individuals
about the same number of each sex. Sit round an un-
covered wooden table, with all the palms of the hands
in contact with its top surface. Whether the hands
touch each other or not is usually of no importance.
Any table will do, just large enough to conveniently
accommodate the sitters. The removal of a hand from
the table for a few seconds does no harm, but when one
of the sitters breaks the circle by leaving the table it
sometimes, but not always, very considerably delays the
manifestations.
3. Before the sitting begins, place some pointed lead¬
pencils and some sheets of clean writing paper on the
table, to write down any communications that may be
obtained.
4. People who do not like each other should not sit in
the same circle, for such a want of harmony tends to
prevent manifestations, except with well-developed
physical mediums; it is not yet known why. Belief or
unbelief has no influence on the manifestations, but an
acrid feeling against them is a weakening influence.
5. Before the manifestations begin, it is well to engage
in general conversation or in singing, and it is best that
neither should be of a frivolous nature. A prayerful,
earnest feeling among the members of the circle is likely
to attract a higher and more pleasing class of spirits.
6. The first symptom of the invisible power at work is
often a feeling like a cool wind sweeping over the hands.
The first manifestations will probably be table tiltings or
raps.
7. When motions of the table or sounds are produced
freely, to avoid confusion, let one person only speak,
and talk to the table as to an intelligent being.
Let him tell the table that three tilts or raps mean
“Yes," one means “No," and two mean “Doubtful",
and ask whether the arrangement is understood. If
three signals be given in answer, then say, “If I speak
the letters of the alphabet slowly, will you signal ever
time I come to the lettor you want, and spell us out a
message?" Should three signals be given, set to work
on the plan proposed, and from this time an intelligent
system of communication is established.
8. Afterwards the question should be put, “Are we
sitting in the right order to get the best manifestations
Probably some members of the circle will then be told
to change scats with each other, and the signals will be
afterwards strengthened. Next ask, “ Who is the
medium?" When spirits come asserting themselves to
be related or known to anybody present, well-chosen
questions should be put to test the accuracy of the
statements, as spirits out of the body have all the virtues
and all the failings of spirits in the body.


sible to comply with his demand. Faraday also
required an answer to the following questions,
among others, before attending
“Would he (Mr. Home) be glad if their (the manifesta-
tion's) delusive character were established and exposed,
aud would he gladly help to expose it, or would he be
annoyed and personally offended? [The italics in this
sentence are not in the original.]
“Docs he consider the effects natural or supernatural?
If natural, what are the laws which govern them? or
does he think that they are not subject to laws? If
supernatural, does he suppose them to be miracles, or
the work of spirits? If the work of spirits, would an
insult to the spirits be considered as an insult to
himself?"


Mr. Home took no notice of the above insults
and, it is believed, never wrote Faraday in the
first instance, or took any notice of him whatever.
He never even saw his letters.
Dr. John Tyndall, F.R.S., in a note dated May
8, 1868, commenting upon Faraday's letter just
mentioned, wrote:
“I hold myself in readiness to witness and investigate,
in the spirit of the foregoing letter [of Faraday's], such
phenomena as Mr Home may wish to reveal to me
during the month of June."
A few days previously Mr. Home had written
in the Pall Mall Gazette:
“It will give me pleasure to meet Professor Tyndall
and any two gentlemen he shall designate. On my side
I shall have at least two gentlemen whose names and
position place them above the suspicion of aiding or
abetting a fraud. I will meet Professor Tyndall and
these gentlemen when and where they please, and
under such circumstances as they may decide on. I
must only crave their patience if nothing should occur
at the first, or even the second, séance"


From that day to this Dr. Tyndall has not
accepted the above invitation.
A demand for a programme where no programme
can be given, and the writing of supercilious
letters in reply to civil invitations, amounts prac-
tically to a refusal to observe facts. Dr. Tyndall
and men who act like him, are recommended to
bear in mind the following words of Galileo:
“Oh, my dear Kepler, how I wish that we could have
our hearty laugh together. Here, at Padua, is the prin-
cipal professor of philosophy, whom I have repeatedly
and urgently requested to look at the moon and planets
through my glass, whieh he pertinaciously refuses to do.
Why are you not here? What shouts of laughter we
should have at this glorious folly; to hear the Professor
of Philosophy at Pisa, labouring before the Grand Duke
with logical arguments, as if with magical incantations
to charm the planets out of the sky!"
A little society known as the Dialcctical Society
is now investigating Spiritualism. It number
among its members many shrewd and intelligent
men, belonging chiefly to the legal and medical
professions. Spiritualists watch its proceedings
with a moderate amount of interest; nothing that
any man or body of men may say or do can alter
the established phenomena and laws of nature.


inquirers; the sittings exhaust their vitality like a
hard days’ work, and they have to put up with
much abuse when uneducated roughs unaccus-
tomed to investigation persecute them by attend-
ing. The inquirer should mention to the medium
civilly and kindly, his doubts respecting the
phenomena he may witness; the invisible beings
around will at once, on the spot, do their best to
remove those doubts, or an explanation will be
obtained from the medium. When there is real
foundation for suspicion, the best plan is to go
often to the medium, accompanied by witnesses
detect the imposture, and prosecute the medium
for obtaining money under false pretences.
Genuine manifestations are not under the control
of the medium, so that a paid medium who does
not get manifestations, is under a great temptation
to try to make them. This fact makes it difficult
for Spiritualists to speak absolutely as to the relia-
bility of any paid mediums, however genuine the
majority of the manifestations may be which occur
in their presence. After getting thoroughly inte-
rested in Spiritual phenomena, the inquirer should
take his friends to see them, and afterwards get up
a private circle in his own house. Manifestations
will most likely not be obtained at the first sitting
but after very few or very many sittings they will
come; gradually the great barrier of the grave
which now separates friends will be broken down,
and after the experience of a year or two the
dread of the beautiful natural process, called
“death,” will be destroyed, as it is destroyed in
the minds of all experienced Spiritualists, except
those who during life have done harm to their
fellow-creatures. Very high spirits and their
homes are perfectly invisible to very low spirits
this, coupled with the fact that there is no more
uniformity in the next world than there is here,
accounts for the endless contradictions about spirit
life given in Spiritual communications.
An investigator of a logical and scientific turn of
mind may possibly have to closely follow up the
subject for some weeks before gaining the absolute
knowledge that the manifestations come from
spirits. Unlike Mr. Home and a few other excep-
tional individuals, most mediums are developed
for one or two special purposes only. Thus, vio-
lent physical manifestations, inexplicable by an
of the recognised laws of matter, may be seen in
the presence of one medium, but mental tests and
questions may bring forth a majority of inaccurate
and unreliable answers. Where good mental tests
are obtainable through a medium, the physical
manifestations may be altogether absent.
There are so few public or semi-public spirit
circles at work in London, and the pressure for
admission is so great where the manifestations are
good, that the best plan for novices is usually to
try to get manifestations at home among their own
friends.


TO LIFE POLICY-HOLDERS. — The
recent disclosures in the Chancery Court indis-
putably prove that neither the antiquity of a life office
nor the magnitude of its income, affords to the public
any security that the premiums they have paid for the
purpose of securing a sum of money to their families
may not be frittered away in costly amalgamations, or
jeopardised by fire, marine, or accidental risks
In order to remove this insecurity the BRITISH IM-
PERIAL INSURANCE CORPORATION was esta-
blished on the principle substantially adopted by Her
Majesty’s Government for small policies, and carried out
through the medium of the Post-office.
The Life Funds of the British Imperial Corporation
are placed beyond the control of the Directors, being in-
vested in the Government Funds (for the sole purpose
of meeting policy elaims) in the names of trustees, who
act independent of the Directors, and solely on behalf of
the policy-holders.
The system of investing Insurers’ net premiums in
Consolidated three per cent. Annuities in Trustees'
names for the sole purpose of meeting Policy Claims
combined with the creation of a number of Separate
Trusts, presents entirely new elements of security to
Insurers.
Any section of the community who are dissatisfied
with the ordinary plan of entrusting their premiums to
the care of the Directors of a life office may, without
cost or risk, constitute themselves into a separate sec-
tion of the British Imperial Corporation, and appoint
their own trustees to control the life insurance funds
contributed by them.
Trustees:
Christopher Weguelin, Esq., Director of the Bank of
England (Messrs. Thomson, Bonar, and Co.)
Charles Oppenheim, Esq., Director of the Union Bank of
London (Messrs. S. Oppenheim and Sons)
William G. Goodliffe, Esq., Accountant-General, India
Office, Westminster
Augustus F. Bayford, Esq., LL.D., Senior Registrar
Court of Probate, Doctor's-commons, Chancellor of
the Diocese of Manchester.
Alderman Thomas Dilworth Crewdson, J.P., Greenheys
Manchester
Head Offices
S1, KING-STREET, AND 60, SPRING-GARDENS
MANCHESTER.
Chief Offices for London
20, COCKSPUR-STREET, PALL-MALL.


Possibly at the first sitting of a circle symptom
of other forms of mediumship than tilts or raps
may make their appearance. Information respect
ing the many kinds of mediumship will be found
in Mrs. Professor De Morgan's book, From Matter
to Spirit, published by Longmans; and this is a
good book to read before trying to start a nev
circle. It usually takes several years for an
medium to attain full power, and it is not an
uncommon although not an everyday thing, for
chairs and other articles to move about in the
presence of a good well-developed physical medium
without anybody touching the articles at all. This
fact effectually disposes of Faraday's “unconscious
muscular action” theory. Some have suggested
that the phenomena are all mental, since mental
conditions influence their production, and that
those present all believe they see and hear things
which they do not in reality see and hear. The
answer is that there is sometimes such a noise
with improperly powerful manifestations that tlie
sounds are heard all over the house by persons
not in the room; the furniture sometimes gets
broken by movements of too violent a character
and the broken portions remain as evidence that
the plienomena were not of a mental character.
The upholsterers' bills which result also serve to
convince that thie occurrences are facts. The
higher spirits seem to have little power over
common matter, and the highest communications
arc not usually obtained through physical mani-
festations.
There are in England several very interesting
circles for physical manifestations, where the
spirits speak with audible voices, but, unfortu-
nately, total darkness is a necessary condition.
Non-spiritualists who are inquiring into the sub-
ject should have nothing to do with dark séances,
which should be held only by those who know
each other, since they offer so many facilities for
fraud. When any circle regularly obtains power-
ful physical manifestations, they may desire to sit
for the voices. The very slightest glimmer of
light must be excluded from the room, while the
members of the circle sit round the table in the
ordinary way. One or two paper tubes, each
twelve or eighteen inches long, with an orifice
about an inch-and-a-half in diameter, should be
placed on the table. They may be readily made
by rolling up a piecc of music and tying a few
pieces of cotton round the rough tube thus formed,
in the early stages of a voice-circle these tubes
are necessary for the use of the spirits, but after-
wards they may be dispensed with except when
the weather and other conditions are unfavour-
able. When first trying to obtain the voices the
spirits may not be able to lift the tubes from the
table, afterwards they often get them up in the
air a foot or two and let them drop again. When
they get full control over them they can carry
them about up to the ceiling and to all parts of
the room, and they talk to the members of the
circle often while floating about above their heads.
Very beautiful luminous phenomena arc some-
times shown by the spirits at dark circles. While
sitting for the voices, the spirits will tell by the
ordinary table signals how they are progressing in
their work of getting control of the tubes
Every human being is surrounded by an atmo-
sphere which to the spirits is luminous and mate-
rial, and this atmosphere is largely used by the
spirits in the production of the physical manifes
tations. Baron Reichenbach, while he knew
nothing of Spiritualism, discovered by experiment
the presence of unknown forces cmanating from
human bodies, aud published the results in his
Researches on Animal Magnetism. All the pheno-
mena of Spiritualism draw teniporarily upon the
vital powers of those composing the circle, but
the medium is the chief source of energy.
A still atmosphere and subdued light in the
room are favourable conditions for the physical
manifestations.


TIIE LITERATURE OF SPIRITUALISM
The literature of Spiritualism now consists of
several hundreds of volumes, good, bad, and indif-
ferent, and almost entirely of American origin.
Among the best volumes on the subject are Mrs
De Morgan's From Matter to Spirit (Longmans
with a prefacc by Professor De Morgan, President
of the Mathematical Society of London; The
Planchette, by Epcs Sargent; Spiritualism (2 vols.)
by Judgo Edmonds and G. T. Dexter, of Nev
York; a History of Spiritualism, by Emma Hard-
inge; and The Autobiography of Andrew Jackson
Davis. An interesting book, consisting simply of
narrations of facts witnessed at remarkable seances
is Incidents of My Life (Longmans), by D. D.
Home. The Soul of Things, by Denton, is a curious
book indirectly connected with Spiritualism, and
worth reading. Those unacquainted with Spiri-
tualism are recommended to read these books in
the order in which thcy have just been mentioned.
The only large lending library of Spiritual books
in Great Britain is that belonging to Mr. J. Burns
15, Southampton-row, High Holborn, London,
W.C. The English periodicals on the subject
are, The Spiritual Magazine, Human Nature, Day-
break, and The Spiritualist


ADVICE TO INQUIRERS
Those who know no intelligent Spiritualists
and nothing about Spiritualism, yet who want to
investigate, are recommended to begin by reading
the first two books mentioned in the preceding
paragraph. Then they should call upon the chief
publisher of Spiritual books in London, Mr. J
Burns, 15, Southampton-row, Holborn (where the
are sure to be treated with attention and courtesy)
and ask for the names and addresses of say four
good professional or non-professional mediums
accessible to the public, and “recognised by Spiri
tualists as reliable for powerful physical manifes-
tations.” There are plenty of mediums or of people
who fancy themselves mediums, who can rarely show
anything satisfactory, and with whom an inquirer
might wasto much time. He should then get say
two sittings by daylight in his own house with
cach of tho four mediums, because the power
varies in strength at times with every medium
at the end of the eight sittings he is sure to be
thoroughly interested in Spiritualism, and to have
thrown overboard tho imposture theory, which is
the clumsiest and most superficial one of all.
Many of the public havo vague ideas that electri-
city can do all kinds of unaccountable things, but
A GENUINE MEDIUM NEVER HAS ANY HESITATION
IN SITTING WITE A CIRCLE IN A HOUSE AND AMONG
FURNITURE WHICH HE OR SHE HAS NEVER SEEN IN
HIS OR HER LIFE BEFORE. Even with a good
medium it is best, if time be valuable, not to
investigate at crowded public circles, because
assuming imposture to be at work, there is no
telling who may not be aiding, among the
numerous spectators. Besides, where so man
people want to ask questions of the spirits, the
investigator has not time to put many himself.
Investigators are recommended to be thus careful
in the selection of mediums, because as public
attention is gradually more rivetted upon Spiri-
tualism, impostors are sure to spring up, and even
to advertise in Spiritual periodicals, for the editors
manifestly cannot investigate the claims of ever
professing medium. At present (November, 1869)
there is very little imposture mixed up with the
Spiritual movement in Great Britain, and there are
only four or five paid mediums in all London.
Good paid mediums deserve high praise rather
than that censure which is thrown upon them even
by Spiritualists; they find house-room ; they are
ready to receive strangers at stated times when
private circles could not sit for the convenience of


JOSEPH BARKER'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Now ready, neatly bound in cloth, price 2s. 6d.
TEACHINGS OF EXPERIENCE; or
Lessons I have Learned on my Way through
Life.
London: JAMES BEVERIDGE, 9, 10, 11, Fullwood’s-rents,
Holborn, W.C.


HUMAN NATURE, a Monthly Record
of Zoistic Science, Intelligence, and Popular
Anthropology. Recent numbers give full details of the
extraordinary Manifestations through the celebrated
Medium, D. D. Home, Esq., with philosophical reason
ings as to the nature and causc of the phenomena: a
new series of lessons on Phrenology and the Tempera
ments is being given, containing some new instructions
of great value to the student; first-class Portraits of
eminent men and women, with Biographies and Phreno
logical delincations are frequently introduced; a serial
Tale of great power and beauty; articles on Physiology,
Diet, Temperance, and Health; translations from Con
tinental Works and Periodicals; treatises on Mesmerism
Clairvoyance, Spiritualism; reviews of Books; reports
of Lectures, Meetings, and Societies, renders this the
cheapest, most varied, and instructive Periodical of the
kind in the world. The fact that this Periodical is en
tirely unbiased and devoted to the truth respecting all
the topics on which it treats, is a point not to bo over
looked by all earnest investigators, whatever their
opinions may be. Post free, 7s. per annum, or 6d. per
month from the Booksellers. JAMES BURNS, Progres-
sive Library, 15, Southampton-row, Bloomsbury-square,
Holborn, London, W.C.


THE PROGRESSIVE LIBRARY and
SPIRITUALIST DEPOSITORY has been re-
moved from Camberwell to No. 15, Southampton-row,
Bloomsbury-square, Holborn, W.C.
There is a Publishing Office and Shop for the sale of
Books; a Circulating Library of all Works on Spiritualism.
&c.; a Reading-Room supplied with the Spiritual and
Progressive Publications of the World; a Drawing
Room for the special use of Ladies and Subscribers
Private Rooms for Séances, Committecs, Meetings, &c.,
and where all information respecting the Cause and the
Progress of events may be obtained.
The Subscription, entitling to all the privileges of the
Establishinent, including the use of two Books at s
time from the Library for home perusal, is 21s. per annum
A well-assorted Stock of Stationery, Periodicals, cur-
rent Progressive Literature, Standard Works, Cheap
Books and Tracts, Planchettes, Materials for Writing
and Drawing Mediums; also Works and Appliances on
Phrenology, Physiology, Health, and Dietetic Reform
Temperance, Hydropathy, Gymnasties, Mesmerism,
Clairvoyance, Anthropology, &c., will be kept on sale
As the responsibilities incurred in establishing this
“Home for Spiritualism" and the Science of Man are
very heavy, the Proprietor earnestly solicits the kind
co-operation and support of all who sympathise with
the enterprise. Strangers in London should at onee
call at the Progressive Library, where they may hear of
Lodgings and get other useful information.
J. BURNS, Progressive Library, 15, Southampton-row,
Bloomsbury-square, Holborn, London, W.C.


THE SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE, pub-
lished Monthly, contains all the news of Spiri-
tualism, and psychological articles by writers of ability.
Publisher, JAMES BURNS, 15, Southampton-row, Holborn
W.C.


THE BANNER OF LIGHT, the Chief
Weekly Newspaper on Spiritualism in the United
States, may be ordered through Mr. JAMES BURNS, 15
Southampton-row, Holborn, W.C


20, COCKSPUR-STREET, PALL-MALL.
FMALE MEDICAL SOCIETY.
Vice-Patrons
His Grace the Duke of Argyll, K.T.
Her Grace the Duchess of Argyll.
The Baroness de Rothschild
The Countess de Noailles
President
The Right Honourable the Earl of Shaftesbury, K.G.
Treasurer
Henry Charles Stephens, Esq., 171 Aldersgate-street, E.C
Honorary Secretary
James Edmunds, Esq., M.D
Lady Secretary
Mrs. Blangy
Auditors
Colonel Oldfleld, Ticehurst, Sussex
Captain Webber, 94, Gower-street, W.C.
Bankers
The London and County Bank, 441, Oxford-street.
Temporary Offices
4, Fitzroy-square, London, W
The Female Medical Society is established for the
following objects:
1.—To promote the employment of properly educated
women in the practiee of Midwifery, and the treatment
of the Diseases of Women and Children
2. - To provide educated women with proper facilities
for learning the theory and praetiee of Midwifery, and
the accessory branches of Medical Science
Midwifery and the accessory branches of medicine
offer a wide field of honourable and lucrative employ
ment for educated women; also a means of intellectual
culture and social usefulness to ladies who may not be
dependent upon their own exertions. For want of
properly qualified ladies the best portion of the practice
of midwifery has drifted into the hands of gentlemnen
though female practitioners still attend the bulk of the
population. But any person may undertake the duties
of a midwife. Proper means of study have never beer
provided for women, and there has never been an
public examination, by which women when well qualified
might be distinguished from those who are illiterate and
unqualified.
The Society has carried on for five years the Ladies
Medical College, which has taught the theory and prac-
tice of Midwifery and the accessory branches of medi-
cine. Eighty-two ladies have already availed themselves
of its advantages, and many of these ladies are settled
in practiee, and succeeding admirably.
A life subscription of ten guineas, or an annual sub-
scription of one guinea, constitutes a member of the
Soeiety, but stamps or other small contributions will be
gladly received.
Lady subscribers of not less than one guinea are
invited to visit any Lectures in which they are likely to
be interested.
The addresses of skilled Lady Midwives, Prospectuses
of the College, and all particulars as to the operations of
the Society, may be obtained of the Lady Secretary
Temporary Ofices—4 Fitzroy-square, W.
Cheques to be crossed London and County Bank


"THE NEWSPAPER PRESS"—THE PRESS ORGAN
THIS JOURNAL is the adopted and re-
cognised Representative of the Newspaper in-
terests, and the medium of intercommunication between
Proprietors, Editors, Reporters, Correspondents, Pub-
lishers, Printers, and all parties associated with News-
papers.
“We hail with satisfaction the addition of the News-
paper Press to the journalism of the United Kingdom."
Saunders' News Letter.
“Information of a kind peculiarly valuable to every
one connected with newspapers."—Dublin Freeman
Journal.
"We feel it our duty especially to commend it to all
newspaper men."—Brighton Gazette
Subscriptions, 4s. per annum, post free, payable in ad-
vance.
London: E. W. ALLEN, Publisher, 11, Ave Maria-lane


Contents.


Ladies in the Medical Profcssion
17
Spirit-rapping in John Wesley’s Family. Part III. 17.
REPORTS OF MEETINGS:—St. John's Association of
.. 18
Spiritualists
Séances at the Spiritual Library
... 19
GENERAL NEWS:—Spiritualism in East London.
Spirit Identity - Trance Mediumship - East Lon=
don Association of Spiritualists.—The Spiritual
Library—The Famine Fever. — Spiritualism in
Clerkenwell.—The Anthropological Society
20
LEADER:—Economy of Time in Spiritual Research 21
21
Wanted a Ghost
21
An Address from a Spirit
POETRY:— "Quid Verum."- Belshazzar.—The Child's
22
Questions
NEWSPAPER CRITICISM:—The Glasgow Herald on
22
Spiritualism
22
The Glories of the Heavens
PARAGRAPHS:—THE SPIRITUALIST, 22.— Will-Power
22.—A Spirit on “Space," 22.—Mrs. Hardinge's
Lectures, 22.


SPIRITUALISM AND MEN OF SCIENCE
Sir J. Emerson Tennent once invited Faraday
to a séance at which Mr. Home was to be the
medium. Faraday wrote and asked for a pro-
gramme of the manifestations, and as nobody
knows beforehand what will take place at a circle
any more than the details of an expected star-
shower can be given in advance, it was not pos-


R. J. L. OLIVE, Professor of Modern
Spiritual Science, 6, The Junction, Cambridge
road, Kilbarn, W. Mr. Olive is prepared to afford infor-
mation relative to Spiritualism, the Development of
Mediumistic power, &c., with facilities for investigation
of Phenomena. Reliable advice based on large medical
experience, and aided by beneficent Spirit Intelligences
may also be obtained for the relief of ailments of Body
or Mind. Consultation Fee, One Shilling.


Printed for the Proprietor by JAMES BEVERIDOE, at the
Holborn Printing Works, Fullwood’s Rents, High
Holborn, in the Parish of St. Andrew-above-Bar and
St. George the Martyr, London, and published by E.
W. ALLEN, Ave Maria-lane, London, E.C.


The Spiritualist


No. 4.—VoL. I.


A RECORD OF THE PROGRESS OF THE SCIENCE AND ETHICS OF SPIRITUALISM


THE TESTIMONY OF A SPIRIT
On Friday, December 17th, at a séance held at the
Spiritual Library, and reported in another column, a
spirit gave the following communication:
“ Friends, I am a stranger among you. I was born
of religious parents—of parents really and truly religious
and good, acting up to the light which they had re-
ceived. I was taught that God chastens those whom
He loves, and I was chastened many, many times, and
each stroke of the rod I esteemed as a blessing. Gene-
rally, I said, with my lips, 'Lord, I thank thee for my
chastening,' but in the inmost recesses of my soul a
cry arose, 'Unjust! unjust ! Why should I be punished
thus?' Years rolled on, and I became the wife of one
I loved and respected; we were both of us regular
attendants at a place of worship, and week by week
I tried to draw nearer to the throne of mercy. Soon
we were blessed with a little blue-eyed daughter, whom
I loved most dearly, yet but five summers rolled over
her pretty little head, when the angel of death called
her away. Friends counselled and prayed, but she had
gone to heaven, and they told me that “it was a mercy,'
that “it was loving of God to call her from this sinful
world.’ Outside I was calm, but what a sea was raging
within, to hear them say so calmly and coldly, 'It is
loving of God to take her away!' My heart rebelled
though my lips were silent; I struggled against what I
thought was the devil, but which I now know to have
been my better nature. Again years rolled on, and a
son was born. He was a wilful boy and wayward, and
as he grew up to be a young man he became worse;
he proved to be what those in earth life call 'a curse'
in all his acts. His father and mother could not reclaim
him; religion had no charms for him ; he could see no
beauty in the Atonement, and said, 'I will trouble no
Saviour with my sins, but be responsible for my own
deeds.’ This led him into company I abhorred. Then
my husband passed away, but still it was, 'Thy will be
done.' Oh, the loneliness of the long winter months,
with no kind husband with endearing attentions and
loving words. Then I prayed, and asked for courage
and hope. My life, as I now see, was a continual war
between my inner nature and my outer. My son went
abroad, sickened, and died. The news came home.
Like a stone I sat; all life seemed to have deserted my
frame; I neither moved nor stirred ; I merely thought.
My other faculties were dead. I was pointed to my
religion and told that there I could get happiness and
hope, and should at last sit on the right hand of the
throne. But where was my son? Friends held back
what they would say, but the words rose in their minds
like the whisper of a hissing serpent -
'He is gone, we
hope, to heaven; but, we fear, to hell.'
Worse, worse
and worse. Disease came, and death changed all. I re-
covered consciousness on the shores of the other life;
saw my husband, daughter, and son, so bright and
glorious—the face of my son shone like a star fron
heaven, and I was happy under his love. Still I could
not understand how or where I was. I asked why they
tarried on the way to God. My husband said, 'This is
our home.'
I said, 'Shall we never see the Saviour?'
He replied, 'I cannot say; I have never seen Him; I
have heard His precepts in spirit life, and I do not care
to see him, for I have His precepts, and they are as
good as His presence.' 'But why is our son here?
They told me that he had gone to perdition.' 'Those
words hastened thy departure; but see, he is here ! It
is not a dream; it is real. You are a spirit—an
“angel”
so-called ; all around you is real, even as you
are real.’ I replied, 'As God has been so good, so
loving, surely He will extend the same clemency to
all?' My husband said, 'True, it is so. All will be
happy. and the fearful place the Church tells you about
has no existence beyond their fevered imaginations.
This bright and beautiful place is the inheritance of all
God’s children.' Then, I said, with both my heart and
my lips, 'Lord, be praised!' and from that moment I
began to worship God in spirit and in truth. I trust
that you will all be the happier for this ray of truth de-
scending from above; I hope that the history I have
related to you will never find its parallel, and that the
way of people through life will not be so full of thorns
as mine was. Love the truth. It is the brightes
jewel in the treasury of the Deity. Friends, having
passed through the narrow influences of an earthly life,
I here tell you the truth. I find that creeds and dogmas


have little influence for good on the spirit life ; it is by
actions that we know each other. Your thoughts and
actions here govern your state upon entering spirit life; if
you have been good and noble here, you will find the home
for the good and noble awaiting you on the other side
if you were not good and noble, you cannot at first pass
into that state, as it would be unnatural, and it is
only by patient working that you will rise to gain
wisdom."
In answer to questions, the spirit said that her name
was Catherine Plunkett, and that she “died” five years
ago, at Lee, in Kent. The wayward nature of the son
born of such quiet parents, she had recently discovered
to be hereditary; it came from his grandmother on his
mother’s side, and the conditions were such that the
nature reappeared in the boy. He had entered the
same state of life as herself, because he had been truer
to his inner nature than she had, and had not artificially
fettered himself with creeds and dogmas.


TESTIMONY OF A NON-SPIRITUALIST
THE following is an extract from a theological book
just published, called Teachings of Experience,* an
autobiography, by the Rev. Joseph Barker
“The most credible testimony in the world was
utterly powerless, so far as things spiritual were con-
cerned. And when the parties, whose patience I tried
by my measureless incredulity, entreated me to visit
some celebrated medium, that I might see and judge
for myself, I paid not the least regard to their entreaties.
I was wiser in my own conceit than all the believers or
earth.
“ At length, to please a particular friend of mine in
Philadelphia, I visited a medium, called Dr. Redman
It was said that the proofs which he gave of the exist-
ence and powers of departed spirits were such as no
one could resist.
My friend and his family had
visited this medium, and had seen things which to
them seemed utterly unaccountable, except on the
supposition that they were the work of disembodied
spirits.
“ When I entered Dr. Redman’s room, he gave me
eight small pieces of paper, about an inch wide and
two inches long, and told me to take them aside, when
no one could see me, and write on them the names of
such of my departed friends as I might think fit, and
then wrap them up like pellets, and bring them to him.
I took the papers, and wrote on seven of them the
names of my father and mother, my eldest and my
youngest brothers, a sister, a sister-in-law, and an
aunt, one name on each, and one I left blank. I
retired to a corner to do the writing, where there was
neither glass nor window, and I was so careful not to
give anyone a chance of knowing what I wrote, that I
wrote with a short pencil, so that even the motion of the
top of my pencil could not be seen. I was, besides, en-
tirely alone in that part of the room, with my face to
the dark wall. The bits of paper which the medium
had given me were soft, so that I had no difficulty in
rolling them into round pellets, about the size of small
peas. I rolled them up, and could no more have told
which was blank and which was written on, nor which,
among the seven I had written on, contained the name
of any one of my friends, and which the names of the
rest, than I can tell at this moment what is taking
place in the remotest orbs of heaven. Having rolled
up the papers as described, I laid them on a round
table, about three feet broad. I laid on the table at
the same time a letter, wrapped up, but not sealed,
written to my father, but with no address outsided. I
also laid down a few loose leaves of note-paper. The
medium sat on one side the table, and I sat on the other;
the pellets of paper and the letter lay between us. We
had not sat over a minute, I think, when there came
very lively raps on the table, and the medium seemed
excited. He seized a pencil, and wrote on the outside
of my letter, wrong side up, and from right to left, se
that what he wrote lay right for me to read, these
words: 'I came in with you, but you neither saw me
nor felt me.
WILLIAM BARKER.' And immediately
he seized me by the hand, and shook hands with
me.
* This rather startled me. I felt very strange. For
William Barker was the name of my youngest brother,


*London: James Beveridge, Fallwood's rents, High Holborn, W.C.


who had died in Ohio some two or three years before.
I never named him, I believe, in Philadelphia, and I
have no reason to suppose that any one in the city was
aware that I had ever had such a brother, much less
that he was dead. I did not tell the medium that
the name that he had written was the name of
brother of mine ; but I asked, 'Is the name of this
person among those written in the paper pellets on the
table ?'
“ The answer was instantly given by three loud raps,
'Yes.'
“I asked, 'Can he select the paper containing his
name?'
“ The answer, given as before, was 'Yes.'
“ The medium then took up first one of the paper
pellets and then another, laying them down again, till
he came to the fifth, which he handed to me. I opened
it out, and it contained my brother’s name. I was
startled again, and felt very strange. I asked, 'Will
the person whose name is on this paper answer me
some questions?'
“ The answer was,' Yes.'
“I then took part of my note-paper, and with my left
hand on edge, and the top of my short pencil concealed,
I wrote, 'Where d -,'
intending to write, 'Where
did you die?'
But as soon as I had written 'Where
d -,'
the medium reached over my hand and wrote,
upside down, and backwards way, as before,-
“'Put down a number of places and I will tell
you.'
"Thus answering my question before I had had time
to ask it in writing.
" I then wrote down a list of places, four in all, and
pointed to each separately with my pencil, expecting
raps when I touched the right one ; but no raps
came.
“ The medium then said, 'Write down a few more.'
I then discovered that I had not, at first, written down
the place where my brother died: so I wrote down two
more places, the first of the two being the place where
he died.
The list then stood thus: Salem, Leeds
Ravenna, Akron, Cuyahoga Falls, New York.
“The medium then took his pencil, and moved it
between the different names, till he came to Cuyahoga
Falls, which he scratched out. That was the name of
the place where he died.
" I then wrote a number of other questions, in no case
giving the medium any chance of knowing what
wrote by any ordinary means, and in every case he
answered the questions in writing as he had done
before ; and in every case but one the answers were
such as to show, both that the answerer knew what
questions I had asked, and was acquainted with the
matters to which they had referred.
“ When I had asked some ten or a dozen questions,
the medium said, 'There is a female spirit wishes te
communicate with you.'
“'Is her name among those on the table?’ I asked.
“ The answer, in three raps, was, 'Yes.'
"' Can she select the paper containing her name ?" I
asked.
The answer again was, 'Yes.'
“ The medium then took up one of the paper pellets,
and put it down; then took up and put down
a second; and then took up a third and handed it
to me.
“ I was just preparing to undo it, to look for the name,
when the medium reached over as before, and wrote on
a leaf of my note paper -
“ It is my name. ELIZABETH BARKER'


And the moment he had written it, he stretched out
his hand, smiling, and shook hands with me again
Whether it really was so or not, I will not say, but his
smile seemed the smile of my mother, and the expression
of his face was the old expression of my mother’s face
and when he shook hands with me, he drew his hand
away in the manner in which my mother had always
drawn away her hand. The tears started into my eyes,
and my flesh seemed to ereep on my bones. I felt
stranger than ever. I opened the paper, and it was
my mother’s name : ELIZABETH BARKER. I asked a
number of questions as before, and received appropriate
answers.
But I had seen enough. I felt no desire to multi-
ply experiments. So I came away—sober, sad, and
thoughtful.


LONDON: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1869.


Prubished Fortnighly.
Price
Threepence.


26


THE SPIRITUALIST.


DEC. 31, 1869.


EVIDENCES OF SPIRITUALISM.
In Plato’s Divine and moral works, subject, “Theages"
or “ Wisdom," Socrates tells Theages— "I have had by
the favour of God, ever since I was born, a genius that
always accompanies and governs me. This genius is a
voice which, whenever it speaks to me, always diverts
me from what I have a mind to do, and much more to
the same effect. Socrates boldly told the truth, and for
exposing the superstition of the day was killed, but not
until he had demonstrated, on the morning of his exe-
cution, the immortality of the soul.
Joan of Arc, who led the French successfully against
our soldiers, was burnt to death, not because the English
were beaten, but because she declared that she was in-
structed by a voice from an unseen intelligence which
she called “ God,” and as her conscience would not
allow her to recant she was burnt, and as the flames
approached her she exclaimed, “ Yes, my voices were
from God!”
Galileo, who taught that the earth rotated on its
axis and revolved around the sun, only saved his life by
going down on his knees and recanting.
These are sufficient warnings of the state of public
opinion respecting those who have the courage to avoy
a knowledge of facts, dissonant with popular prejudices.
Wesley, the founder of a religion bearing his name
was a witness of the spiritual phenomena called raps,
which occurred in a marked manner in his own family
one or more of whom were rapping media. All the
details are perfectly authenticated by documents written
and signed upon the spot, and many of the facts will be
found in Southey’s Life of Wesley. Swedenborg, again
a scientific writer of no small power, had most remark-
able expcriences as a conscious clairvoyant.
In the case of the Sceress of Prevorst many instances
are given, attested by declarations of medical men and
state functionaries, of remarkable phenomena similar to
many I have personally witnessed. Dale Owen's list of
cases in his Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World
are well worth perusal.
The Indian Government, some years since, caused an
official inquiry to be made into the reality of certain
mesmeric phenomena among the natives, and the result
of the inquiry confirmed the truth of the facts of mes-
merism. Notwithstanding all these and many other
existing records of unusually well-authenticated cases,
it is surprising how few people in this country have at-
tempted to inquire into or know anything about the
subject. I know many medical men who, when the
study-door is locked, freely and earnestly discuss these
matters, and tell their own experiences, but at the same
time confess that they dare not open their mouths to
others, fearing the fate of Dr. Elliotson, who lost a
practicc of thousands a year for telling the truth.
Varley.


AGASSIZ ON EDUCATION.—At the close of the exercises of
the Association of Science, which held its convention at
Salem, U.S., recently, a compliment having been paid by
one of the speakers to Mr. George Peabody, as the founder
and patron of the Academy of Science which bears his
name, Professor Agassiz rose and delivered himself of some
remarks on the general subject of scientific education and
its tendencies, which deserve to be repeated in their tenor in
this place. He told the people of Salem that they scarcely
realised what embryo they were trying to rear in ther
academy, nor what was to be the result of its final intel-
leetual growth. Its influenee over the community, he said
could not fail to be wide. In regard to the plan of in-
struction which had been adopted, he thought he could de-
tect in it something which would dispel from the minds of
the community certain obstructions to the truth concerning
matters in which we are all interested — our future eternal
life—but of which he said we now scarecly dared to speak
because what we should have to say might go contrary to
certain established doctrines and to certain long-cherished
convictions with which the community was imbued, holding
them as sacred, when well informed men knew better
And he further said, what intelligent Spiritualists have long
held, that the teaching which scientific institutions were to
furnish, would tend to bring about a new era in that system
of popular education of which they were all so proud, but
which at present was merely a system of routine teaching
in comparison to that rational study of Nature which ele-
mentary education might become. It is a timely admission
and from the foremost of our scientific men.—Banner of Light
THE ROYAL INSTITUTION —The Royal Institution session
began last Tuesday afternoon, when Dr. John Tyndall, F.R.S.
delivered the first of a course of six lectures upon “Light,"
adapted to a juvenile auditory. The theatre of the Institution
was full to overflowing, so that many were unable to obtain
seats. Among the lectures to be delivered this session, con-
nected with man and his development, are six by Professor
Humphry. M.D., F.R.S., on “The Architecture of the Human
22nd. Two lec-
Body;” Tuesdays January 18th to February
tures on “ Plant Life as Contrasted with that of Animals, by
Dr. Masters, F.L.S.; Tuesdays March 1st and 8th. Four
lectures by Professor Rolleston, M.D., F.R.S., on “ Deductions
from the Comparative Anatomy of the Nervous System,"
Tuesdays March 15th to April 5th. Four lectures on “The
Science of Religion,” by Professor Max Muller, M.A., LL.D.
Saturdays February 19th to March 12th. Four lectures on
“The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy,” by Pro-
fessor Blackie, Tuesdays April 26th to May 17th. Among the
lectures delivered during past sessions at the Royal Institution,
there were two in which the subject of Spiritualism was
largely introduced. One of these lectures was by Mr. E. B
Tylor, on “ The Survival of Savage Thought in Modern Civi-
lisation,” and the other was by Dr. Carpenter, Vice-President
of the Royal Society, on “The Unconscious Action of the
Brain."
The president of the Royal Institution is Sir Henry
Holland, Bart., F.R.S.


Reports of Meetings.


[When reports of the speeches of spirits are printed in this Journal, non-
Spiritualists should understand that spirits out of the body are wise of
foolish, truthful or untruthful, just the same as spirits in the body. More
over, they are but individuals, so do not know everything. The statements of
a spirit are but the assertions of an individual; but by comparing the state-
ments of many spirits, it may in time be possible to discover in what points
they agree, and to sift out the unreliable communications. Many spirits
cannot see each other, any more than we can see them, and as some of them
are thus in different states of life, it does not follow that contradictory
messages are therefore untruthful. Spirits are of different religions, conse-
sequently their teachings do not altogether agree; there is no more uniformity
in the next world than in this one. It is the business of this journal to report
facts, so we are in no way responsible for the religions, scientific, or any other
teachings given by individual spirits,]


SEANCES AT THE SPIRITUAL LIBRARY.
SEEING MEDIUMSHIP—MR. CLEGG OF YORK—SOMNAMBULISM—DISTURBING
INFLUENCES AT CIRCLES—PURGATORY—BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT—PR-O
GRESSION IN THE ANIMAL WORLD— SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATIONS—AN
EARTH-BOUND SPIRIT—EARTHLY IMPEDIMENTS TO DEVELOPMENT—THE
FORMATION OF THE SPIRIT WORLDS—GRINDSTONES—AUDIBLE SPIRIT
VOICES—DEPARTED FRIENDS.
ON Friday evening, Deeember 17th, at eight o’clock, the
ordinary weekly séance was held at the Spiritual Library, 15
Southampton-row, High Holborn, W.C., under the medium-
ship of Mr. J. J. Morse. Rather more than twenty ladies and
gentlemen were present.
Mr. MORSE, who at times is a seeing medium, suddenly
became fixed and rigid, and said that he saw a rough and
angry sea, with a steamer coming towards him, which all at
once tilted up, and went down. No explanation of the cir-
cumstanee was given, and the medium said that the sight had
made him feel nervous.
A spirit then attempted to obtain control of the medium in
order to speak, but failed, and then by writing mediumship
said that she was Mrs. E. Farnham.
Another spirit then obtained control of the medium, who
with great gravity and deliberation began rubbing his knees
and legs with his hands. He said that when in earth-life he
was troubled with rheumaties, and felt them very badly when
thus coming back through a medium ; the pains would sub-
side presently, and then he would speak.
Mr. BURNS—Why don't you take a Turkish bath? Accord-
ing to some people you onght to have plenty of heat to prepare
one, in your world. (Laughter).
The spirit said that those who thought so had the heat in
their own brains; he knew that many people believed that
there was plenty of heat in the regions he came from, and as
he himself held the same opinions while on the earth, the
stone thrown at random by Mr. Burns had hit rather hard.
Still, he always thought that he should not go to the hot regions
himself, because he had been purified by suffering; now he
felt all his pains coming back again, because being in an
earthly body again brought back his old ideas, and the thought
of the spirit acts upon the instrument it uses. It is on enter-
ing and leaving the medium that the pains are always worst,
but he had been told by old hands at speaking through
mediums, that in time such effects would wear off ; he had
been in attendance, like many other spirits, at previous
séances, anxious to come before public, and this was the first
opportunity he had had of doing so ; not that he got anything
himself for speaking to them, but he came for the purpose of
doing good to those present. He said that when he first woke
up after passing through the dying process he found himself
neither in heaven, hell, earth, or anywhere else, but passing
through space with great velocity, with two spirit gentlemen
one on each side of him, supporting him by the arms. He
was very mueh startled, but directly afterwards felt “Oh,
I’m all right. It’ll be all right presently,” so waited pa-
tiently to see what would be the end of it. Soon they came
in sight of a very beautiful island, with the ocean breaking
against its rocks, and taking him to a large house near the
shore, they told him that he would have to stop there till his
mind became all right. “ Oh !” said he in reply, “then I
don’t care how long my mind takes to get right. But when
left to himself he began to think differently, and to remember
very elearly some awkward little acts in earth-life which he
had committed “on the quiet,” for nobody took any notice of
what the “rheumaticky old man” said or did. He found
that these thoughts gave him great pain, and made him very
uncomfortable. Then one of the gentlemen—his teacher and
guardian spirit—asked him to come with him to revisit the
earth once more. He replied that he would rather stop where
he was, “besides, you know, my mind’s not right yet.'
His
teacher told him that that was precisely why it was
necessary for him to return to earth, and added that he could
bring his present residence with him. He laughed, and
said that “ he must be pretty strong to be able to do that
but strange to say, he found the assertion true, and that he
brought his residence with him in his mind.* However, he
returned with a party of spirits, and found that some of them
began to work hard at influencing the minds of individuals
upon earth who harboured bad feelings, and in this way they
in time undid the evil they themselves had committed. But
it is slow and tiresome work—very much against the grain.
Although he did not wish it, he felt that he must do the
same. He met a friend he had injured, and had to trace out how
far the injury extended ; it was astonishing how many people,
in addition to the one who directly receives the injury, suffer
from it ; a bad act is like a stone dropped into the water, for
it throws out circles in all directions, and very hard and slow
work it is for spirits to undo the evil they have committed
They cannot feel at ease till it is done. The rheumatics
were so bad he could not stand it any longer, so must leave
the medium. His name was Walter Arthur Clegg.
What was your occupation, and where did you live?
Mr. CLEGG—He wants to know the occupation of the
rheumaticky old man ! (Laughter.) Well, I was a carter at
York, and died about nine years ago.
Mr. MORSE then woke up, and complained of feeling pains
all over his body.
The next spirit gave the name of Catherine Plunkett, and
said that she died about five years ago, at Lee, in Kent. Her
narrative is printed on another page.
TIEN SIEN TIE, the guardian spirit of Mr. Morse, took pos-
session of the medium while the company were speaking
about the possibility of somnambulic phenomena being ade-
quate to explain away the spiritual origin of the manifesta-
tions. Tien then said that by putting leading questions to
somnambulists it is possible to lead them on, and to make
them bring out things which are in the mind of the ques-
tioner, but that where there is an external intelligence at
work the plan will fail, although with a weak, imperfectly de-


veloped medium it might be difficult at times to tell the dif-
ference betwecn spiritual and somnambulic control.
Mr. BURNS—Once I made a journey of twelve miles to a
séance in Yorkshire, thinking upon one subject all the way
and when I reached the circle the medium, a young man, ut-
tered all my previous thoughts, and then carried on the subject
much further. How do you explain that?
TIEN SIEN TIE said that the mind of Mr. Burns might have
been influenced by a spirit, who afterwards gave out the
thoughts through the medium, and then pursued the subject
further. In this case the mind of the medium was probably
negative to the mind of Mr. Burns, and the thoughts of the
latter might to some extent, have spoilt the integrity of the
remarks by the communicating spirit.
Mr. BURNS—Once I entered a room where a circle was
sitting, so quietly that those present neither saw nor heard me,
yet at once distinctly felt my presence. How was that?
TIEN SIEN TIE said that “the sphere” had probably been
formed round the circle by the spirits, and Mr. Burns being
positive to members of the circle, they all felt his influeuce
when he entered. Had he been negative, probably only one
or two of the greatest sensitives present would have felt his
entrance. In all circles where weak physical manifestations
are obtained, the presence of persons of a sceptical or positive
nature often overpowers the control of the presiding intelli-
gence.
Mr. BURNS - I have heard of circles where one of the persons
present could, by his will, cause the table to move.
TIEN SIEN TIE said that that could only be where the pre-
siding spirit had not had sufficient experience in his work
and because of this want of knowledge the will of the person
in the body acted upon the link formed by the presiding in-
telligence.
How do you know that you, and the spirits with you, are not
in an intermediate state of life, awaiting the final judgment?
TIEN SIEN TIE said that he could see nothing in his sphere
of life to warrant such an opinion. He saw around him
Christians of all denominations, as well as people of other re-
ligions, and countries, and planets. He found that, in their
present state of existence, they were all improving in wisdom
and love, and growing in goodness and happiness.
There
would be no use in being permitted to increase thus in love
and wisdom were they simply waiting for hell and the judg-
ment day.
What is the difference between the soul, the spirit, and the
body?
TIEN SIEN TIE said that the soul is the garment of the spirit
and the spirit cannot lose its soul, which is its outer conscious-
ness. The persons in the room had each of them a physical
organisation, and permeating the whole of it was a “life prin-
ciple,” which continuously draws around it and spiritualises
what it requires from the physical nature. At death, the
physical body is no longer required, but the spiritualised par-
ticles within ascend upwards in a bright golden shower; a
principle of elective affinity runs through these particles, so
that each one goes to its proper place, and a new body is
formed, finer and rarer than his hearers could comprehend.
This body is the soul, and it is animated by the spirit of the
Deity.
Is the spirit body composed of carbon, phosphorus, iron, and
such-like substances?
TIEN SIEN TIE said that all chemical substances containg
within them an essential life, which is spirit, and is always
subject to sublimation, the lower continually giving birth to
something of a higher order. Those particles containing the
essential life, form the spirit body. The spirit world is a
natural world—as natural as the one on which his hearers
lived.
Do stones and minerals grow?
Yes. All things improve and live, and clairvoyant sensitives
are often affected by the action going on in minerals and
stones.
Does thought of a departed friend reach and influence that
friend in the spirit world?
Yes.
Can you tell us the nature of animal life?
TIEN SIEN TIE said that the development of all forms of life
is progressive. The formation of the brain of animals is not
so complete as in man, and when the change comes the
animal dies, and gives out its as yet unindividualised spirit
which floats out into the ocean of spirit. Men breathe the
unseen spirit life of material essences. The body of the dying
animal helped to give birth to a higher form of vegetable life
which, again, eliminated a higher form of animal life. When
the ultimate of materiality was reached, the spirit gained
power, and became master of matter, so as to be able to control
it progressively. Step by step the brain was elaborated. The
first men were not individualised spirits, but were animals
their brain being so sniall. In the slow course of time, spirit
gained (complete mastery over matter, and man became a
living soul—the breath of life was breathed into him, and he
became a living soul for ever. Self-control only begins when
development has reached a certain point.
Are you spirits now communieating with earth according to
a settled plan arranged among yourselves, or are the communi-
cations given by individual spirits without any settled system?
TIEN SIEN TIE—We are acting by a settled plan known to
very high spirits, but, as in earth life, we often obey laws
without knowing the existence of those laws, or whence they
come.
How far are you from the medium?
TIEN SIEN TIE—I am six feet above the roof of the house in
which you meet, and am acting upon the brain of the medium
who gives forth my thoughts, clothed in his own words. The
spirit then exhorted those present to improve their minds, to
grow in wisdom, and to study nature, the Divine book of the
Deity. Let them take the simplest flower that grows in the
garden and ask themselves “ Am I not a flower? Have I not
successively developed, step by step, as this flower has done
Do not I also contain a spirit, and may I not become a brighter
and a better being than I am now?"
He desired them to
think over these things, and when they felt the happiness
which such thoughts would be certain to bring them, they
should spread that happiness among their friends. He con-
cluded by saying, “Farewell. Peaee be with you."


* Some German and English metaphysicians have recently raised the
question “Is there an external world?” and have tried to prove that what
are supposed to be external phenomena, are merely mental impressions. -
ED.


On Friday, December
24th, the usual weekly séance was
held at the Spiritual Library, but, it being Christmas eve, only
nine visitors were present. Mr. Morse went into the trance
state, and the first spirit, who gave the name of “ Mary
Willett,” delivered an address, whieh is printed in another
column.
The next one who came was a plain business man, who
seemed dissatisfied with his state, and gave a very poor
account of himself. His life, he said, had been orthodox
enough, but, “on reaching the other side, the bank dis-
honoured the note, when it was presented for payment."
He


DEC. 31, 1869.


THE SPIRITUALIST.


27


was still wandering about this planet, and wanted very much
to get away from it ; he had been taken in once, and would
not believe anything in future till he saw it. When other
spirits told him about the “ spheres,” he should put it down
that they were “ gammoning” him. He died, he ex-
pected to go to heaven and play a harp eternally, and when
he found he had not to do so, his being the nature of an india-
rubber ball, he bounded back from the wall of facts, into the
valley of ignorance. There were plenty to teach him, who
wanted him to become as a little child, to learn, and to fit
himself for a higher life ; but when a person has got old in
particular ideas, it takes long to get right again ; and it was
this artificial nature which he had to work off. On earth he
was in the habit, at present, of looking about for a medium
who might be either a duke or a beggar, for he had his choice
and he could partake of all the pleasures of the medium, see
all that he saw, get the spirit portions of the food he ate, and
could enjoy himself generally. All his education and belief
in life had been superficial, and did not appeal to the inner
man; the body and the clothes believed it, but not the soul
within. Now he went to church sometimes, and when he saw
the minister, he felt inclined to sit on him and extinguish him
knowing that half the congregation would be very likely to
take the same road that he had taken himself, and it made
him feel very nasty towards the ministers. The worst of it
was, that many of the ministers know about Spiritualism, and
attend séances, but when they get back in the pulpit they are
“mum ;“ they get wheat for themselves, and deal out fire and
brimstone to their flocks. To return to himself—Wasn’t he a
beautiful plant out of the garden of theology? (Laughter.)
The worst of it was, he had not been allowed to use his
reason ; he was not surrounded on earth by the right con-
ditions, so the wrong flower had been blown. However, he
was getting better, and went among benevolent people
through whom he was gaining knowledge.
What was your name, address, and occupation?
That is too hard upon me. I would not have said so much,
if I had known you were going to ask that. I am not going
to tell you.
After some pressing, he yielded a little to the ladies, and
said his name was Michael Clarke ; he had been a baker, but
would not give his address.
Why don’t you go to the higher spirits to gain knowledge?
If you were fond of chemistry, you would not go to a linen-
draper to be taught. It is no use your going to the spirit
world to learn what ought to have been learnt in the body in
this world ; you cannot rise to a certain spiritual level, until
you have worked up to it ; you cannot understand the higher
till you apprehend the lower.
TIEN SIEN TIE, the guardian spirit of the medium, then
came as usual and said—Good evening, friends. You have
seen this evening two opposing types of the development of
the mind. Such an exhibition should carry with it a lesson -
a lesson which I will endeavour to point to your understand
ings. There are many well-disposed honest minds that would
have welcomed with open heart and hand our sister who con-
trolled the medium first, but who would have said to our
brother who came next—“ You have a deal to learn. You had
better learn manners before you come here again."
Now,
considering all the causes that act around individuals upon
this planet, how charitable we ought to be. Our brother was
placed in conditions not suitable for his spiritual faculty, and
he had a superficial mentality ; the germs of spiritual truth
are not developed. He was born of parents who of themselves
had had no education in earthly things, and who by their
occupation strove hard to sustain their existence, so rose not
above the level of their wants. This was the first cause of
the lack of development. The mind of the child therefore is
not developed and enabled to bring itself to earth’s literature
it cannot read, its chance of gaining knowledge from that
source is closed. There are other sources than books, but the
social status of the family still interferes. There is the school
for daily instruetion, but the social condition of the parent
makes it a necessity that as soon as the child can carry a mes-
sage or work with its hands, the child must work to sustain
itself. Yes, but we have another chance ; there is the Sabbath
school. Still carrying with us the social status of the family
the child is opposed to religious teaching and rebels against
the Sabbath-school ; it is repugnant to the mind of the child
and often more so to the minds of the parents. There are
good folks who go about, and would instruct these waifs and
strays of society, and make them good and useful. Yes, they
instruct the child in matters beyond its comprehension; they
try to force the mind of the child into blossom before its time,
so the child feels a repulsion and will not listen. The spiri-
tual things lie dormant within the mind ; it sees nothing be-
yond its immediate wants and necessities ; and it would say of
the future—“ When the future comes that will be time enough
to attend to it ; I must attend to the present, else I starve."
That condition is carried up through many grades of society.
If right conditions are brought to bear upon an organisation,
it is improved and purified, and the mind can improve itself
and ascend to the limits of our system. But let the mind be
of the lowest development, it will one day be greater than we
at present believe to be possible. You should all love justice
and wisdom for they are the attributes of the Deity. I am
ready to answer any questions.
How is it that though the two spirits were on earth both
surrounded by the same hard conditions, one is now so much
in advance of the other?
Because our sister had naturally a higher spiritual nature
and shook off many of the influemces of unfavourable sur-
roundings.
Is the spirit world objective or subjective?
The spirit world is a real objective world, because man
physically is the ultimate of all the developments of matter.
Man contains within himself the elemental life of all forms
and substances ; be may be compared to a “mill” grinding
down these particles into a spirit body ; when the change
comes, these particles for the most part escape upwards to
form the free spirit body, but a portion of these particles
remains in the earthly form, which is placed in the ground.
Chemical action dissolves the remains, but the refined ma-
terial particles (not quite so fine as those which composed the
spirit body) then rise from the ground, and they are too re-
fined to remain in the atmosphere of the earth. Each atom
thus released, is itself an atom of a particular elemental life.
The stream which thus rises from your planets is immense
for you know how very many bodies are daily placed in the
ground. Floating upwards, all these particles find their level
they naturally unite according to their elemental life, and
form the strata of an objective world. The flower particles
are liberated, the tree particles are liberated, and they are
prone to take the same forms as before, but their elemental
life is then of a higher grade, and a further development or
the vegetable kingdom takes place. There is nothing but
external progression for the ultimates of matter.


Do grindstones go to the spirit world? (Laughter).
The grindstone consists of rock-particles, which at last
crumble into dust. By many conditions extending over a
long period of time, this dust gets into the soil, and rises into
vegetable life. Then at last it is absorbed by man, and aids
to form the spirit world in the way already stated.
The houses in the spirit world are not the spirits of houses
in this one?
As the refined elements necessary for houses are in the spirit
world, they are used. The houses are built by spirits with
more extended knowledge and better appliances than you
have here. Remember, all objective things are at first subjec-
tive. Before a house is built, the idea of it exists in the brain
of the designer.
Will you give us a little morc information about how spirits
produce audible voices.
There are many ways. Sometimes they form a tube out of
the emanations from the medium, and in connection with the
medium, and are able to speak through it. Sometimes, in the
atmosphere of the medium, they are able to make themselves
heard, and are quite unconscious how or why they are audible.
It is necessary that the medium should be very passive, that
the emanations may be given off in a steady uninterrupted
flow.
Do spirits ever produec audible voices by sticking lips on the
front of the tube, and lungs and bellows behind, so as to make
an automatic voice?
TIEN SIEN TIE (with a smile).—No. Never that I know of
Such a case never came under my observation. And now, my
friends, I must draw my control of the medium to a close.
Ere I meet you again a season of festivity will have come
and gone. In many homes will be marked a vacant chair
many a half-suppressed sigh will rise as they gaze in the
vacant corner, and they will pass through life with the sad
remembrance that one of the circle is gone. You are Spirit-
ualists, and you desire good for humanity, so tell them how
to fill, once again, the vacant seat and the vacant corner.
Stop the sigh of sadness, and turn sorrow to beaming joy and
love, by giving them knowledge of the return of their friends.
Good night.


PRIVATE SEANCES.
CLAIRVOYANCE—SPIRIT MAGNETISM—THE DEITY—JESUS OF NAZARETH-
THE DOUBLE—MEDIUMSHIP—MARTYRDOM—THE FUTURE OF THE PHYSICAL
BODY—BODILY DEFORMITIES—UNDEVELOPED SPIRITS—CAPITAL PUNISH
MENT—RESPONSIBILITIES OF JUDGES—SPIRIT POETRY—SPIRIT VOICES
SEEING MEDIUMSHIP—TABLE MOTIONS WITHOCT CONTACT WITH HUMAN
BEINGS.


ON Thursday, December 16th, a private séance took place
at the residence of Mrs. C. Berry, a well-known Spiritualist.
The medium was Mrs. P. Perrin, of 11, Westmoreland-place
Southampton-street, Camberwell, S.E., and the other members
of the circle were Mr. G. Perrin, Mrs. A. Cooper, Mrs. George
Oliver, Mr. N. F. T. Daw, and the reporter to this journal.
The medium passed into what was supposed to be the trance
state, and described seenes in the life of a gentleman, begin-
ning with one of bloodshed and battle. The narrative threw
one of the ladies present into a state of intense excitement.
She said that the medium had accurately described scenes in
the past life of her husband and herself at the antipodes
that she had gone further, and told her what was probably
taking place at present, and could be verified on the arrival of
an early mail from Australia and New Zealand. She had also
told her of the future. The details are necessarily of a private
nature. The lady and the medium had never met each other
in their lives until a few minutes before the séance began.
A spirit, who gave the name of Mrs. Farnham,* then spoke
through the medium, and said that the preceding remarks
were made by the medium herself, whose spiritual powers had
been temporarily developed, so that she had been able to see
into the past, the present, and the future, and had stated
what she saw in her clairvoyant vision—it was not a spiritual
communication. She (Mrs. Farnham) was glad to see that
the members of the circle sat to accumulate facts and facts
alone, so if what had already been stated proved to be true in
the end, so much the better for the cause of Spiritualism.
She would not speak much longer, for she knew that physical
manifestations were desired. She was ready to answer an
questions.
Some physical manifestations require darkness. Shall we
ever be able to get them in the light?
The SPIRIT—By constant sitting and keeping together you
will get much in the light, but not all. Some things I think
you will never get in the light, for great laws stand against it.
They have been laid down from the foundation, and can never
be altered.
Do you, who speak to us, move tables?
The SPIRIT said that she could move a table spiritually, but
not physically.
Please explain the difference between the two.
The SPIRIT said that she could move it gently to answer
questions, but those spirits who had power to carry it from
place to place, did it by physical force.
How do you move tables?
The SPIRIT said that tables are moved in many ways.
Sometimes spirit hands are placed over the hands of the
members of the circle, and they can draw the table up; some
times they lift it by concentrating force underneath ; some
times, also, the power falls from above, looking like light, and
lifts the table. It is a power composed of magnetic forces.
Magnetism as we understand it?
The SPIRIT—What is your magnetism?
The force which makes an iron needle, balanced on a pivot,
swing round to the north.
The SPIRIT—No. It is totally different from your magnetic
forces. It is a power I cannot explain, and even to us it is
mysterious. It is given us by the great Creator. I see it used
and use it myself, yet cannot explain it any more than you
can.
Have you ever seen God?
The SPIRIT—We are still in ignorance what is the great
“I AM,” and have never seen Him, as some on earth say we
have, except in surrounding objects, in landscapes bright and
fair, in the hues of the rainbow, and in the emotions of the
bosom. Thus do we behold God, but in no other way.
Have you ever seen Jesus?
The SPIRIT—I have never seen Jesus of Nazareth, but have
heard Him spoken of as a great prophet inspired beyond the
ordinary degree ; a prophet is a medium. This medium has
seen Him three times.
But He worked miracles?
THE SPIRIT—We do not acknowledge miracles ; there are


* Mrs. Farnham, an American lady, was the authoress of the tale, “The
Ideal Attained," which was recently re-published in Human Nature.
During the late American war she spent her time in nursing and tending
sick and wounded soldiers, and she “died," as the phrase is, very soon
after the suppression of the rebellion.—ED.


nothing but natural laws. We know that upon earth there
will again be greater men than Jesus of Nazareth, and why
will men keep on saying that he is higher than others? Why
ignore the prophets before Him, and the martyrs after Him,
who also laid down their lives for the truth ?
Is Jesus God?
The SPIRIT—No.
Is He the principal representative of God?
The SPIRIT—No. God is so grand that He needs no form
like that of man to represent Himself ; He has stamped Him-
self and His divinity in His laws. God is not the Trinity
which man, for His own purposes, has set Him forth to be.
Do you consider the Bible to be accurate history?
The SPIRIT—Yes, it is true. It is the prophecy of the past,
the present, and the future, but it is not Divine. Take from
it whatever will do you good.
What is the difference between soul and spirit?
The SPIRIT—If your spirit or vital spark once left your
earthly body, it would never return, but the soul might go
carrying some of your brain power with it, and could then
even move a table at a spirit circle ; this is “the double” as
known to you Spiritualists. In such cases the body of the
person who thus acts at a distance, is always in a state of
sleep or stupor.
But while I have been awake I have manifested at a circle.
The SPIRIT—I, as a spirit, cannot take what you say as a
truth. Another may have been using your name, or you must
have been unconscious.
Mrs. Hardinge has often manifested at circles.
The SPIRIT—Yes. We know Mrs. Hardinge well. She is
never in her normal state when she is lecturing, and while
the spirits are speaking to English audiences through her
bodily organs, she may be moving tables in America.
Is not Theodore Parker one of her guardian spirits?
The SPIRIT—Yes, he is almost always with her, and another
of her guardians is Pierpoint.
In a general conversation that followed the name of Andrew
Jackson Davis was mentioned.
The SPIRIT said: Andrew Jackson Davis is a great favourite
with the spirits, but all is not truth he tells ; there is some-
thing of the medium in every communication you receive
from us. Give fifty pieces of linen to fifty work-girls, let the
linen and the thread be exactly the same, yet every girl will
leave her own impression on her work. So with every
medium. While I talk to you now you have my words but
the mode of language of the medium ; I cannot take away
the identity of the girl.
Where are you yourself now?
The SPIRIT—I am in the medium. Her vital spark is here
[pointing to the space between the right shoulder and the ear.]
Her soul is at home with her babe, but in an instant I can call
back the soul or “double,” and all will be right again.
Does this tire the medium?
The SPIRIT—No. I could talk to you all night, and in the
morning she would think that she had had a good night’s rest.
The conversation again turned upon the Trinity, and the
spirit said that people would do well to imitate the purity,
innocence, and truth of Jesus.
He died upon the cross.
The SPIRIT said that he did do so, but martyrs after him
when brought face to face with the pile refused to be saved
from this worse death, yet Jesus asked that the cup might be
passed from him. Joan of Arc never asked for life. The
cross is not so bad as subjection to the thumbscrew and the
torture, and being allowed to recover to be tortured and re-
tortured. Spirits know, and doctors perhaps can bear witness
that when a certain quantity of blood has left the body, either
on the cross or elsewhere, all pain ceases, and torture may be
defied. In the new Testament times a priesthood ruled the
people ; an Intelligent Mind saw how priestcraft was deluding
its dupes, and tried to persuade the people not to pin their
faith to another man’s elbow, but to serve God freely and
alone. When the priests saw that their craft was being exposed
by the Nazarene, they thought it time to stop him. When in
their power, he would not deny the truth within him—he had
to lie or to die—so, as a man of truth, he died. Still he very
naturally wished to live, and to go on in his noble work till he
had grown grey in the scrvice of his Great Creator.
Will our bodies rise again?
The SPIRIT—Not your physical frame. Your bones will
never come together again. Your clay body will manure the
earth, and the trumpet will never wake it up again ; the earth
wants what it lent you for a time.
The body may go to feed the fishes.
The SPIRIT—Well, that is not a pleasant thought for those
who eat fish.
Are ignorant and wise people equal after death?
The SPIRIT—For a time ignorant people will be cramped in
the next world, till they outgrow the narrow minds you give
your children.
Have deformities of the earthly body an injurious effect upon
the spirit body?
The SPIRIT—Those who have deformed bodies here, at first
have undeveloped spirit bodies in the spirit world. Then
comes the question, “ Who will suffer most—the giver or the
receiver?"
Parents, by their habits, hand down injuries to
their children, and great will be their remorse hereafter. God
has made His laws perfect ; and after planting the tree of
humanity, left man with sufficient freedom to perfect himself ;
if you do not act up to the laws of reason in bringing forth
children, that is your fault. If you pollute yourselves, you
cannot possibly have good children.
Some low spirits say they come from spheres lower than this
earth. Is it true?
The SPIRIT—They tell you that, because you in the circle
form a sphere of your own, which looks beautiful to such
spirits, because you are higher than they. When very low
spirits quit the body, they go prowling about the earth, and
they are not good. The drunkard would go to his old haunts,
and act and talk as he did before, though these things would
be to the spirit imaginary. When such spirits wish to rise,
there are plenty to help them.
What do you think of capital punishment?
The SPIRIT—Let your criminals live, but let him not go at
large again who has imbued his hands in his brother’s blood.
Let every compassion be about him, but no reproof or chas-
tisement, and let man, innocent, pure, and noble, and woman,
loving and gentle, hesitate not to call him “ brother,” and he
will repent. Killing him is an awful crime under the name of
justice—it is a most awful crime on the part of the man who
condemns his brother; yes, ten times more black in the sight
of angels than the act of the wretched criminal. And I will
tell you the reason. The man who did it, must, in a degree,
have been insane, or fired by passion, and not altogether in
his normal state ; but the judge who condemns him, does it in
cold blood ; and he is completely without excuse when he
goes above.


28


THE SPIRITUALIST.


DEC. 31, 1869.


But laws make the judge act so.
The SPIRIT—Well, when those laws were made, there were
men who suggested them, and others who accepted them ; in
that day they should have been rejected. Man made them
and not God. As for the judge, a man should not accept an
office for the sake of gold, where he will be expected to kill
his brother. If hanging were done away with, murder in
some degree would cease ; the murderer knows that he will be
hanged, and has but an indefinite idea of what will follow
if he knew that he must live with a murder on his conscience
the fear of living would be great.
"An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!"
The SPIRIT—What was the punishment of Cain?—“ I will
set a mark upon him, lest any man find him and slay him.” “Eye
for eye, tooth for tooth, life for life,” is a law which never
came from God. “Thou shalt not murder,
and hanging a
man is murder vile and gross ; murder in its most horrid form
—premeditated murder.
Other questions and answers followed, and just before de-
parting, the spirit, in a low sweet voice, sang the following
melody:


The gaudy day is dying,
The hours of evening flying
Chasc household cares away;
But while soft daylight lingers,
Till night with gentle fingers
Shall close the weary eye of day -


LORD it is thy hand that guides us,
And with all good provides us,
In this our pilgrim age.
Then be our love unceasing,
And that each day increasing,
Till life’s remote and latest stage.


Then let us, o’er we slumber,
Heaven's bounties try to number.
Too great for tonguc to tell.
For Thou wilt ne’er forsake us,
But in the morning wake us, 
Here, or in blest Eternity -
Here, or in blest Eternity -


The sitting then came to an end, the foregoing conversation
having been so much prolonged that there was no time to
wait for physical manifestations, which the spirits were pre-
pared to give. But at supper afterwards, the table with all
the things on it moved about very freely when requested, and
answered questions in the ordinary way.


On Thursday, December 23rd, the samc circle met again
Mrs. Olliver was absent, but Mrs. Mary Marshall, Mr. and
Mrs. Cogman, and another lady and gentleman were present,
in addition to those named in the foregoing report, making
eleven persons in all. A sitting took place in the dark to
obtain the voices, two light tubes, about 14 inches long, and
14 inch in aperture, being provided as usual. Each consisted
of a peee of cardboard rolled into a rough tube, and tied with
pieces of cotton at the two ends. John King soon made his
debut, as well as a spirit who gives the name of Ambo. The
voice produced by the latter was as clear as a bell, but shrill
and piercing, amounting almost to a whistle. The conversa-
tion was of a very jocular nature. John King was asked how
he produced the voice. He said that he formed lips, which
were placed at one end of the tube; that at the other end
were artificial lungs, and behind the lungs a pair of bellows ;
the tube acted as a windpipe. The voice, he said, was not his
own, but one produced entirely automatically, common ait
from the room being used for breath in the apparatus. This
statement appeared to be made serionsly, but it is difficult to
tell when he means what he says, or the reverse. Katie was
also there, and held a conversation with Mrs. Marshall, warn-
ing her seriously against a danger which was stated to
threaten her on the following evening. Attempts were made
to produce visible spirit-hands and forms, and three-fourths of
the persons present having more or less the gift of clairvoyant
vision, these forms were seen by them in proportion to the
development of the power in themselves. It is a common
thing at circles for such formations to gradually become
visible to one person after another in this way, according to
their ascertained powers of spiritual vision. Necessarily this
raises the question whether the impression is not of a purely
mental character, but a letter written by Mr. C. F. Varley
C.E., to the Dialectical Society, and published in the Daily
Telegraph, narrated how, at a circle under Mr. Home’s me-
diumship, at which several members of the Institution of Civil
Engineers were present, those who had clairvoyant vision saw
a spirit hand forming above a smelling bottle on the table.
Soon afterwards the bottle began to rock about and twist
round upon the smooth table before the eyes of the nine per-
sons prescut, none of whom were touching it. At Mrs
Berry’s séance, which we are now describing, a clerical gentle-
man present said that hands were formed at the same circle a
fortnight previously, and that one of them manifestly belong-
ing to a little child, took two or three minutes to pull a very
tight ring off his finger, which ring was afterwards found tied
in the curls of one of the ladies present. In short, it is a com-
mon occurrence at spirit circles for seers to state they see
hands or spirits about to move certain things, and directly
afterwards the things are moved, to the satisfaction of the
whole company. At the dark séance now under notice, the
writer, and one or two others, saw nothing. Afterwards, at
supper-time, in the light, quite unexpectedly, one of the
supper tables, of oval shape, and averaging, perhaps, four fees
or a little more in diameter, began to move about, making
short runs of about a foot in various directions, with all the
things on it. Two or three times it rose quite off the ground
and was let down without breaking any of the glass or china.
A small table, with nobody touching it, then began to rock
about, and glided up to the larger table. Somebody asked,
“ Would it like a tart ?” It then rose a little to slide over the
larger table, pushed its edge under a plate with a tart on it
and then, with a sudden upward motion, tried to jerk the
plate over. Afterwards it retired from the larger table, and
with nobody touching it, was raised vertically in the air two
or three times, to the height of about a foot. So much for
Faraday’s “unconscious muscular action” theory.
Eleven persons saw this, and, so far as we know, the full
names and addresses of all of them may be obtained by any-
body who wishes to thoroughly authenticate the narrative.
Nine of them are certainly ready to thus authenticate the
facts, if any useful purpose should make it worth the trouble.
The remaining one or two may be liable to suffer considerably
were it publicly known that they consented only to observe
such unpopular facts of nature as spiritual phenomena. Plenty
of evidence as to facts like the above has already been given
by other persons before the Dialectical Society.


General News.


A CURIOUS case of somnambulism was published in the
Echo newspaper, of last Saturday week. In bitterly cold
weather a girl, walking in her sleep, left her room and wan-
dered through the streets to the police-station of the L divi-
sion, where she woke up and was much frightened. She was
then conducted to her home.
A NEWSPAPER BURLESQUE.—A journal called the Civilian
published for circulation among clerks in the Civil Service,
contains the following exaggerated narrative, drawn from the
unhealthy imagination of the writer thereof, coupled perhaps
with a few highly coloured facts :—“ Scene, a poorly-furnished
room in the East-end of London. By the light of the moon
which ever and anon breaks from behind a heavy mass of
clouds, we can distinguish some fifteen to twenty people, the
majority of whom are clustered round a large round table.
They meet in silence, and take their accustomed places with
out making any remark, or giving more than a furtive glance
of mutual recognition. When they are all seated, they pro-
ceed to join in a strain of weird, unearthly music, which is
followed by a few moments of solemn and impressive quiet.
We have now time to notice the appearance of our fellov
guests ; the majority are women,—nearly all, we should judge
of a more or less unhealthy tone of mind and body, their
complexions are sallow, their foreheads low, and their fingers
lank and bony. Of the men, at least some two or three, we
should say, have come like ourselves, from curiosity. The rest
are characterised by much the same peculiarities as the women.
A slight tremulous movement is observable in the hands of some
of those who are seated round the table. One of the women
slowly rises to her feet, and commences to move her arms and
body about, as if she were wrestling with some unseen foe.
Her tortuous and convulsive movements affect her companions
in a remarkable manner; some of them stand up and go
through a scries of strange and uncouth gestures. They all
seem as though they were “possessed."
There is a wild
vacant look about their eyes which strikes the observer with
horror. One begins to chatter in a quick, sharp, inconsequent
manner; another pours forth a torrent of rhetorical gibberish;
a third, a young girl of about seventeen years of age, rushes
into the adjoining room and shrieks as though in the last
agonies of death. The rest troop after her, yelling, whooping,
and blaspheming in a most awful manner, and the noise and
riot is kept up for some ten or fifteen minutes. At last the girl
is exhausted, and lies foaming, breathless, and insensible on
the floor, while the others return to the room they had left. It
is impossible in words to give more than a very faint and in-
adequate sketch of this extraordinary performance ; the scene
itself beggars description. From Shoreditch to Belgravia ! We
have seen witchcraft lurking in the purlieus of the East ; let
us see if it has met with any encouragement from people of a
higher order of intelligence and culture. A party of eight,
three ladies and five gentlemen, are seated round the dining
room table of a West-end mansion. It is Sunday evening.
Although the gas is lowered, you may distinguish, and pro-
bably recognise, the features of most of those present. Two
of the ladics are of high rank, one being the wife of a quondam
Cabinet Minister, the other a lady of title. Of the male mem-
bers of the company, one holds a distinguished position on the
Bench, another is well known as a man of science, a third
is among the most popular of writers of fiction, and the
fourth is a physician of high—we may almost say, the
highest—standing and repute. One other among the guest
still remains to be described; it is the seeress, the witch.
Possessed of more than ordinary beauty and intelligence,
young, handsome, accomplished, and unmarried, she is yet
of that peculiar abnormal constitution of body which would
appear to be the unfailing characteristic of seeresses, witches,
and “mediums’ in every age and country. She is somnambu-
listic, hysterical, subject to ecstatic visions, and the favourite
'case’ of her physician, who has for years been endeavour
ing to discover the nature of her complaint. As we enter
the room she is chaunting a mournful ditty, to which an
accompaniment of raps is heard, proceeding apparently from
the table. The song over, some questions are asked of the
spirit whom this incantation is thought to have conjured
up; and answers are clearly spelt out from the rappings
and creakings of the table. The information thus obtained
is not, perhaps, very valuable, nor the language in which
it is conveyed very choice ; yet a new poem from Mr.
Tennyson could not be more highly esteemed or more
jealously scrutinised. And this is the nineteenth century
the most critical and scientific, perhaps, in the whole history
of man. With all our boasted philosophy, and after age
of persecution, the witch is still a power among us. The
instances we have given are but samples of hundreds that
we might give—of hundreds that are almost daily occurring
within a radius of ten miles from the Royal Exchange."
THE DIALECTICAL SOCIETY.—Seventeen articles, by a
member of the Dialectical Society, on the subject of Spirit-
ualism, have been published at different times in The Queen
newspaper. There is plenty of internal evidence that the
writer is a skilled medical practitioner, and here is a brief
extract from his last article :—“ That these phenomena are
real—that they are neither delusions nor impostures—has been
ascertained, to the entire conviction of those who have been
testing them and experimenting upon them for nearly a year.
There are, of course, many great differences of opinion as to
their source, their nature, and the manner in which the visible
and audible effects are produced ; but all are satisfied that
they exist, though almost all, if not all (and the writer of this
especially), went into the investigation with entire scepticism,
and confident that they would speedily discover and expose
what they fully believed to be either a delusion or a fraud.
We now come to deal with another class of phenomena, not
physical merely, but which are controlled by intelligence ;
not meaningless motions and sounds, but motions and sounds
manifestly directed by some power, having mind, will, know-
ledge, wit, humour, and, indeed, most of the faculties of the
human mind. It is mainly upon these that the Spiritist faith
is built up. It is to these the Spiritualists point triumphantly
and say, 'Admitting that nerve force has moved the table, and
made the rappings, how could nerve force answer questions
make sensible communications, and act in obedience to re-
quests or commands?' We believe there is as sufficient an
answer to this, as to the purely physical phenomena of motion
and sound, without calling in the aid of spirits of the dead.
We believe it will be possible to show that all this may be
more probably produced by the action of the influence of the
minds of one or more of the living persons present, than by
the spiritual hands and minds of the dead. The theory—for,
as yet, it is little more—will involve some difficulties both in
explanation and in maintenance ; but it will, we believe, be
found to involve vastly less of difficulty, of contradiction, of


improbability, we might say even of impossibility, than the
spirit theory of the Spiritualists. To make the explanation
intelligible, it will be necessary to revert to certain phenomena
of that state of artificial somnambulism to which the name of
mesmerism was given ; which, under that name, was much
tried, much abused, and much ridiculed some years ago ; but
the genuineness of which, under the more scientific name of
artificial somnambulism, is now generally admitted by physio-
logists and psychologists. It will then be seen that there is a
very close connection, indeed, between those phenomena and
many of the supposed 'spiritual’ phenomena, if they be not,
as there is great reason to conclude, actually identical.” Oh !
so medical men now generally acknowledge mesmerism to be
true, but they have changed its name to “artificial somnam-
bulism,” and “mesmerism,” under another name, is to be
called in to explain away Spiritualism, by those who have
hitherto ridiculed mesmerism, and kept it back in every
possible way. However, the admission that mesmerism is
true, and that the physical manifestations of Spiritualism are
real, mark great intellectual progress on the part of the in-
vestigators. They are agreed that the phenomena are real,
but there is a division of opinion as to their spiritual origin.
The following paragraph about the Dialectical Society is from.
Daybreak:— "These strong-minded men and women when
they confronted the facts of Spiritualism, found themselves in
the presence of principles to which they were utter strangers,
and as incapable of adjudicating upon as the schoolboy or un-
lettered peasant. Yet, even the members of the Dialectical
Committee are human, beautifully human some of them, hence
these great truths found a response in their inner nature, more
or less, sooner or later. The committee of experiments deve-
loped mediums and elicited phenomena. Some of the mem-
bers tried the spirit circle in their own families, and were
astonished to find that the angels of their household were in-
deed ministering spirits or mediums for consummating com-
munion with the world of spirits. The whole committee are
now convinced that the phenomena are genuine, and many of
them incline to the spiritual hypothesis, while a fair propor-
tion are open spiritualists, visiting circles, developing mediums
reading books, and busy spreading the good news. Indeed,
they are now beginning to reap the odium that so pertinaci-
ously adheres to the term Spiritualist or any other movement
a step in advance of popular ignorance. This 'investigation
has been another triumph for Spiritualism, and also for tho
gentlemen engaged in it, in so far as they have candidly and
intelligently opened their minds to the truth."
TIEN SIEN TIE.—A statement has been made to us that
the words “ Tien Sien Tie,” forming the name of the Chinese
gentleman in the next world, who has come back to earth to
deliver addresses to the English people through the medium-
ship of Mr. Morse, were recently submitted without comment
to an eminent Chinese scholar. The latter stated that the
words mean “ The Fairy Spirit Ruler,” or, in English phrase-
ology, “The Heavenly Spirit Ruler.”
We have not tested the
authenticity of this translation as yet, but tell the tale as it
was told to us.
SPIRITUALISM IN EAST LONDON.—A spirit circle is held
twice a week at the house of Mrs. Main, 321, Bethnal-green-
road. On Sunday evenings the sittings begin at seven o’clock
and on Tuesdays at nine. Among the mediums who some-
times attend are Mr. J. J. Morse, Mr. Frank Herne, Master
Selwood, and Mrs. Fielder. All these are trance mediums
but Messrs. Herne and Selwood get physical manifestations in
addition. Several incipient mediums are developing at these
meetings. In course of time particulars respecting other East
London circles will be collected, and published in these
pages.
THe PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRIRITUALISM.—The philosophy of
Spiritualism teaches us these things :1st. That man, the in-
habitant of the universe, is endowed with an immortal spirit
and that all material creation exists only for the development
of that spirit.—2nd. That when this spirit breaks through the
clay, it finds itself in a new phase of existence.—3rd. In
this new phase the spirit works out its further advancement
by deeds of love—by acquiring knowledge, and by imparting
such knowledge to men or spirits less favoured.—4th. This
progression is infinite as knowledge. From one stage, on
phase of progress, the spirit, never losing its identity, passes
to another and higher.—Damiani.
SPIRITUALISM IN SOUTH WALES.—Until about a yeat
ago, very little about Spiritualism was known in South Wales,
though here and there in the district there were a few spirit
circles held in strict privacy. Practically speaking, the move
ment began to spread in Wales about nine months ago, in con-
sequence of some lectures delivered in the district by Mr. James
Burns, in which he incidentally introduced the subject of
Spiritualism. This attracted the attention of some few per-
sons in Merthyr, and the result was the formation of three or
four spirit circles. Some of the ordinary manifestations were
soon obtained, then many other circles were started, so that
at the present time a great deal of interest in Spiritualism has
been excited in Merthyr, Aberdare, and Hirwain. Mr. Burns
went to Merthyr to lecture in the early part of this month, and
had a crowded audience in the largest building in the town
for public meetings. In a short time, as the local mediums
become more fully developed, some of the more striking mani-
festations will be obtained. The Merthyr district is the most
populous one in the whole of Wales. All the agricultura
districts of Wales have long been in course of depopulation
of their agricultural labourers, as shown by the census returns
and very many of these men get employment in the Merthyr
mines and ironworks, before emigrating to America, con-
sequently any knowledge gained by working men in
Merthyr, spreads very rapidly among their friends in all parts
of Wales. Some little interest in Spiritualism is felt by a
few persons in Cardiff, as two deputations met Mr. Burns
there, to question him on the subject. Very few people in
Swansea as yet know anything about the reality and the im-
portance of the movement, but in Llanelly it has begun to gain
ground, and this paper has a small circulation there. We do
not know anything about Spiritualism in Newport. The rest
of the towns in South Wales, other than those mentioned. are
small, and the majority of them being dependent upon the
agricultural districts around them for support, are necessarily
declining in prosperity as the depopulation progresses, and as
the wealth accumulates in fewer hands. The great mines and
ironworks around Merthyr and Aberdare are the chief sources
of prosperity in Wales ; the other sources of strength are the
copper-smelting works at Swansea and Llanelly. Cardiff and
Newport are dependent upon the shipping trade, the coal and
iron from the hill districts of Wales being brought down to
these ports for further transport. The places in which some-
thing about Spiritualism has been known in Wales for a few
years past, are Llanelly and Hirwain, and there they first be-
came known through the publications issued by Mr. Burns.


DEC. 31, 1869.


THE SPIRITUALIST


29


CHARGES FOR ADVERTISEMENTS.
1. Advertisements of Public Companies, Half-a-guinea per
sixth of a column, or every portion of sixth of a column.
2. General Advertisements, Five Shillings per twelfth of a
column, or portion of twelfth of a column.
Note.—Advertisements at the foregoing rates will be
displayed” so as to occupy the full space paid for, but
advertisements at the following rates will be in closely set
type
3. General Advertisements, Half-a-crown per first five
lines or portion of five lines, and Fourpence for every line in
addition.
4. Situations Wanted, or Apartments to Let, One Shilling
per first four lines, or portion of four lines; Threepence for
every line in addition.
Ten words are allowed to the line, and six figures or
initial letters count as one word.
When five or more insertions of the same advertisement
are paid for, twenty per cent. reduction will be made in the
above rates.
The power is reserved of refusing to insert any advertise-
ment.
Advertisements and remittances should be sent to the
Publisher, Mr. E. W. ALLEN, Ave Maria-lane, St. Paul's
Church-yard, London, E.C., or to Mr. J. BURNS, 15
Southampton-row, High Holborn, London, W. C.


To Correspondents.


All letters should be brief and to the point, as the amount
of space available for correspondence is at present small.
Communications intended for the Editor should be by
letter only, addressed to the care of the Publisher, Mr. E. W.
ALLEN, Ave Maria-lane, St. Paul's Church-yard, London.
E.C. Until the Spiritual movement in England, together
with this journal, have both grown considerably, time cannot
be spared for personal interviews on subjects connected with
the literary work of THE SPIRITUALIST, but all letters will
meet with careful consideration.
THE SPIRITUALIST is a periodical intended to give great
freedom of expression to all the different shades of opinion
to be found among Spiritualists. There will therefore be
very little uniformity in the ideas promulgated in this journal,
more especially in the correspondence columns. Under these
circumstances every reader will find occasionally something
in THE SPIRITUALIST which he or she does not like, but the
right of reply remains. This freedom of thought given to
others, the Editor claims for himself, and those who do not
lihe the contents of leading articles, can write against them
in the correspondence columns. This plan is thought better
than that of reducing the contents of the journal to a
pale weak mediocrity, by inserting only those contribution.
which please everybody. The preceding remarks are not
intended to imply that those who have crotchets which they
cannot get printed anywhere else, can find an outlet for them
here, for none but those letters which are considered worth
publication will be inserted.
Notices of Public Meetings in connection with Spiritualism
should be sent to the office several days in advance.


To Non-Spiritualists,


A large amount of information is printed on the last two
pages of this journal, clearly demonstrating that the facts of
Spiritualism, highly improbable as they appear to be, are
real, and deserve serious investigation by all thoughtful
people. In other columns of every number of THE SPIRI-
TUALIST will also be found plenty of additional evidence to
the same effect.


To Subscribers.


The first thing to be done is to define the nature of
each force or union of forces employed by the spirits,
producing distinct effects at spirit circles, and then to
find names for each. For instance, sometimes at a par-
ticular circle, the entrance of one person will stop the
table or voice manifestations ; shall we call this force
his “spiritual atmosphere,” or what?
Again, some
persons by their will alone can make their influence
felt by clairvoyant patients miles away.
What name
shall we find for this? If those who are experienced
in the facts of spiritual manifestations like to enter
into correspondence on this matter, we shall be glad to
make room in this journal for as many as possible of
the letters, provided they be brief. Then, when ever
force or union of forces, is clearly defined, and a name
chosen for the same, a dictionary of a few words with
their accepted meanings might be printed along with
the standing matter on the two last pages of the paper,
and adopted for general use from that time forth, in
these pages at all events.
What is the meaning of
“ biologise?"
What is meant by “ psychologise,"
“mesmerise,” and “magnetise?”
Have some of those
words the same meaning? If so, why are not those
which are superfluous abolished? Until we have sen-
sible names for spiritual forces, each name conveying a
clear, distinct, and unmistakeable idea to the minds of
all persons using the same, research into Spiritualism
will be retarded, and attempts at explanation of pheno-
mena from public platforms will put the ideas of the
listeners into a muddle. The misuse of the words
“ electricity” and “magnetism" marred many of the
splendid public addresses given by Mrs. Hardinge, not
that the adoption of those particular words was in itself
a great fault, but because it threw into confusion the
ideas of most of listeners, many of the whom could not
know what meaning she intended to convey, or what
definition the words bore in her own mind. Perhaps
also the use of the word “sceptic,” as applied to non-
spiritualists is injudicious, because it is so often hurled
as an offensive term from pulpit and platform, at the
heads of thoughtful people, who will not accept the
statements of noisy orators as truth, without coolly and
calmly testing the evidence supporting their assertions.
People who will not accept anything as a fact without
reasonable evidence, make the best Spiritualists, and
those who believe everything which they are told by
spirits in and out of the body, make the worst.


become a bright amber colour, but the marks made by
each person who uses the leaves are of different colours,
but I did not understand that then. Before I saw all this
two persons came down and assisted me to rise, and de-
posited me on a bank of leaves, a peculiar scent from
which invigorated me and made me strong. One of
them began fanning me with the hands round the head
and face, and down my chest to the extremities; a
warm glow seemed to run through me ; I soon was able
to stand and look arouud me clearly, and then I saw
what I have described to you. The two friends then I
recognised to be an aunt and a cousin, who had passed
over to the other side some few years before I did.
They took me into a house and into a beautiful apart-
ment, where I saw many more that I knew. There
were pictures round the room, which seemed to be
painted upon the walls of the house; some appeared to
be portraits of people I knew, and among them was
my own. Soon I fairly knew where I was. My first
thought was, “ What has become of my child ?” and the
next was, "How is this? This is not what I expected
from my belief in the flesh."
They told me not to be
anxious about my child, and at once I felt it was true
and that I had nothing to be anxious about, though I
did not know why. I could not keep quiet about my
religion. I wanted to know, “ Was this heaven, or
what was it?” And I told them that I had been taught
of the merits of Jesus. Their answers shocked me at
first. I gave them much trouble and bother to answer
my questions, and it was long before I became recon-
ciled to my condition. I expected to be in heaven
singing Hosannas to the Lamb. I did not find the
throne of God, or the Lamb, or angels singing, and yet
had anybody said anything against that belief in the
flesh, I should have thought them very very wicked. I
find that there is no hell, and I am very glad that there
is none; I find that all people, no matter what they
are, have good in them which will be brought out soon,
and that knowledge gives me pleasure. We meet at
times for mutual instruction ; we have conversational
meetings and ask each other for advice. The patriarch
of the family gives us missions to perform. Some of us
are sent back to the earth to become masters of what
belongs to your world; others in the spirit world study
science ; some want to learn the geography of the spirit
universe, or the conditions of spiritual existence. We
come to earth and learn the conditions which govern
you, and then we can advise you. I love to remain
above with kind and tender friends. I must go now for
I cannot control the medium much longer. My name
is Mary Willett, I died giving birth to a child. The
spirit of that child fled before it came to the material
life. I was the wife of a baker, and "died" as you call
it, at Orpington, a village just outside of St. Mary’s
Cray, Kent.*
Do all spirits go where you are?
There are many who never reach the spirit world
or summer land for years. Many never pass outside
the atmosphere of your earth, but, as the Scriptures
say, “ wander up and down like a roaring lion."
The
“spirit world” is a confusing term, for it means “ the
inner life. The “spheres"
are a distinct spiritual
universe.
The spirit, whose control of the medium had been
very weak throughout, then left.


The first twelve numbers of THE SPIRITUALIST will be
forwarded regularly by penny post to subscribers, who remit
four shillings in payment, to Mr. E. W. ALLEN, Publisher,
Ave Maria-lane, St. Pauls-churchyard, E.C.


The Spiritualist.


FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1869.


THE NOMENCLATURE OF SPIRITUALISM.
WHEN educated people first begin to witness the
manifestations at spirit circles, an unfavourable im-
pression is sometimes produced, by the too frequent
misapplication of scientific words having a definite
meaning in English literature, to forces of an unknown
nature. The abuse of the words “electricity” and
“ magnetism” often grates on the ear, and spiritual
“ethers," as well as other incomprehensibilities some-
times crop up. Electricity is the force which deflects
the needle of the galvanometer, and which causes the
gold-leaves of the electrometer to diverge. Magnetism
is the power which enables a steel magnet to attract
iron. The unknown forces employed by spirits are not
magnetism, and are not electricity, nor has it yet been
demonstrated that they are even analogous thereto. As
the two words just mentioned have a clear, established,
and definite meaning, it is manifest that if they gra-
dually get thoroughly into use among thousands on
spiritualists, confusion will be the result, and eradica-
tion of the words will be more difficult than at present.


SCENERY IN THE SPIRIT WORLD.
Lasr Friday evening, at eight o’clock, at a séance
held at the Spiritual Library, 15, Southampton-row,
Holborn, and reported in another column, the following
communication was received through Mr. J. J. Morse,
the trance medium :
The first spirit who spoke through the medium said :
My friends, it is very seldom that I come to use a
medium, but perhaps I shall be able to do a little good
this evening; I feel strange, almost awed, until I get
calm again. It is now a little over five—no, let me see
-a little over six years since I gave up the natural
body in a little village a few miles out of London ; I will
give you the address before I go away. When I re-
covered consciousness after the change, I found myself
in what you would call a beautiful garden. I was lying
on a bank by the side of a stream: the stream gave
forth a gentle musical sound, and I think it was that
which brought me to consciousness again. I recovered
and felt as if I had awoke from a deep sleep, and had
been dreaming very heavily and was dreaming still.
It was a gentle sloping bank; on the top of the bank
was a broad plain, and above me were flowers distri-
buted into beds; there was a broad path of dazzling
whiteness that went right across the greensward to a
house beyond. This house was enshrouded with trees.
There was a terrace in frout of the house, with creeping
vines over the balustrade, giving forth a blue and white
flower about half as large as your hand, with fine
leaves, blue at the edges and white at the centre. The
leaf of the vine was nearly round, of a bright green
tint. I had never seen a house like it before ; it was
pure white, and I could see dimly through it shapes
and forms moving about on the other side. I could not
see clearly through it. In front of the house grew an
immense tree; its branches spread out and seemed to
shade the house from the light; the light was tempered
by the shadow of the tree. On the lawn in front of the
house were little bowers of the branches of a tree, with
flowers much like your rose, but more beautiful ; the
leaves were like silk in appearance, about a foot lon
and about as broad as the palm of your hand. They
pluck these leaves now and then and write on them;
they will serve the purpose of books, for they dry and


THE address of Mrs. John Olive, the trance-medium
mentioned in our last, has been changed, and the new one will
be found among the advertisements on the last page.
PAUPERISM AND EMIGRATION.—At the present time peti-
tions to Parliament in favour of free emigration have been
displayed for signatnres in several public thoroughfares in
London. Every person signing them gives his full address,
and tens of thousands of signatures have thus been given, as
the amount of pauperism in the country is growing so rapidly
that soon the authorities will be unable to cope with it.—A
more stringent Bankruptcy Act, re-establishing, to a large ex-
tent, imprisonment for debt, will come into force very shortly,
and as many persons know this, they are hastening to get
“whitewashed ” as soon as possible. This explains the enor-
mous number of bankrupts recorded in the daily papers during
the past fortnight. Most of these people and their families
will have to go into the poorhouse, while those who become
bankrupt under the new Act will, for the most part, have to
go to prison. Hence the necessity for facilities for emigra-
tion. Since the publication of our last issue our rulers have
poured a vast number of extra troops into Ireland ; they have
sent several additional men-of-war to guard the coast ; they
have also began to fortify the police-stations in some of the
chief Irish towns by lining the window shutters with sheet
iron plates, furnished with loopholes for musket barrels. The
daily newspapers keep as quiet as possible about all these
facts, because they have always hidden from the public those
violations of the fundamental principles of political economy
which cause all these evils, and they do so still.


* Last Monday we went to Orpington to inquire into the accuracy of this
statement. No baker of the name of Willett lives there now or is known to
have lived there within the last thirty years. A respectable baker of the
name of Tillott has been in business there for more than twenty years; he
was much surprised at the nature of the inquiries, having never heard of the
strange subject of Spiritualism before, and he stated that his brother’s wife
died at Orpington about six years ago in childbirth, but her name was
Harriett. It is more difficult to signal proper names through some me-
diums, than ideas and words which can be placed in the thought of the
medium, so this may be a case where a part of the message was spoilt in
transmission, just as telegraphic messages from India have often been spoilt,
and in a few cases have ruined great English commercial firms in conse-
quence. Or, it may be, that a Mary Tillett died at Orpington, whose hus-
band resided elsewhere. The records in the office of the local registrar will
throw light on the subject, and further inquiries shall be made and pub-
lished, since the whole value of the communications made through the
mediumship of Mr. Morse, depends upon their truthfulness.—ED.


30


THE SPIRITUALIST.


DEC. 31, 1869.


Poetry.
SPIRIT VERSES.


Three or four years ago Mr. D. D. Home lectured at Willis’s Rooms
London, on Spiritualism, and gave the following verses, which had been
dictated to him, March 25, 1851, by a spirit who gave the name of “Robert
Southey." The verses refer to Southey’s temporary loss of reason while in
earth life.


Night overtook me e’er my race was run,
And mind—which is the chariot of the soul
Whose wheels revolve in radiance like the sun
And utter glorious music as they rol
To the eternal goal -
With sudden shock stood still. She heard the boom
Of thunders. Many cataracts seemed to pour
From the invisible mountains; through the gloon
Flowed the great waters ; then I knew no more
But this—that thought was o'er


EXTRACT FROM “THE MOURNING BRIDE."


Almeria.
It was a fancy’d noise; for all is hushed,
Leonora.
It bore the accent of a human voicc.
Almeria.
It was thy fear, or else some transient wind
Whistling through hollows of this vaulted aisle :
We'll listen -
Leonora.
Hark!
Almeria.


without having actually seen any manifestations. All that
Spiritualists should ask for is a fair hearing, and after that
fair hearing has been accorded I think that some people
who now set them down to be “knaves and fools," will
ultimately confess themselves dreadfully mistaken.
Dec. 14th, 1869
A COUNTRY JOURNALIST.
P.S.—That remarkable account of the cure of Leon Favre
Consul-General of France, which appeared in the Spiritual
Magazine, ought to have been condensed and then printed on
a separate slip and forwarded to every newspaper editor in
England. Such testimony as is given by the Count in favour
of Spiritualism should be circulated far and wide.
[Several editors of standard London newspapers do know that Spiritual-
ism is true, but are afraid to say so. Did one of them print the truth, the
pulpit and the public would say that it was an untruthful “infidel” paper,
and its closest competitor would write articles to the effect that the editor
of its rival had gone mad, and put his lunacy in print. Consequently the
circulation of the honest journal would be injured. This all arises from the
low state of education in Great Britain, for the general public prefer pre-
conceived notions, however foolish, to investigation after truth; therefore
they are continually paying penalties for the sin of ignorance. Some edi-
tors, also, who know the facts of the case, may not desire to speak of them
just as most of the London daily papers purposely suppress facts which
political-economists know to deeply injure the nation, though they benefit
the private material interests of a few. What does our correspondent do in
his own journal? We know several country newspapers which could ruin
themselves in three weeks by speaking the truth about Spiritualism.—ED.]


Book Notices.


PURPOSE AND PASSION, by Keningale Robert Cook,
B.A. London: Virtue and Co.—This book is of in-
terest chiefly to those who have a taste for classical
poetry.
Some very prettily-written deseriptions of
flowers, sunlight, and scenery are seattered here and
there in the poems, and a few specimens may be quoted.
Here, for instance, are a few selections from some
verses on "Enthusiasm," whose praises are thus sung
by the writer:


Come all sweet loves in clusters round my head,
Come scarce seen hyacinths of the forest dells,
Come singing softly how ye filled and fed
From out free skies your wealth of dripping bells.


Calm me ye tcachings of the world-old hills,
Whose ways lead up to where my maiden stands,
Pointing down vistas that great hope fulfils -
The brightest stardrop made of God’s fair hands.


No, all is hushed, and still as death.—Tis dreadful!
How reverend is the face of this tall pile;
Whose ancient pillars rear their marble heads,
To bear aloft its arched and ponderous roof,
By its own weight made steadfast and immoveable -
Looking tranquility! It strikes an awe
And terror on my aching sight: the tombs
And monumental caves of death look cold,
And shoot a chillness to my trembling heart
Give me thy hand, and let me hear thy voice:
Nay, quickly speak to me, and let me hear
Thy voice—my own affrights me with its echoes.
Congreve.


NIGHT.


Oh! sweet and beautiful is night, when the silver moon is high,
And countless stars, like clustering gems, hang sparkling in the sky;
When the balmy breath of the summer breeze, comes whispering down the
glen.
And one fond voice alone is heard—Oh, night is lovely then!


But when that voice in feeble moans of sickness and of pain,
But mocks the anxious ear that strives to catch its sounds in vain,
When silently we watch the bed by the taper’s flickering light,
And all we love is fading fast—how terrible is night!
Ingoldsby.


Correspondence.


[Great freedom is given to correspondents, who sometimes express opinion.
diametrically opposed to those of this journal and its readers].


THE BEST WAY TO SPREAD SPIRITUALISM.
SIR.—I hail with satisfaction the publication of a periodical
like THE SPIRITUALIST, and I trust that its bi-monthly issue
will be continued.
I presume that it is the desire of all true Spiritualists to
spread a knowledge of the things they themselves understand
but (excuse me for saying so), I fancy that most of them do
not take the best means to extend their faith, and others are
very uncharitable if scepticism is strongly exhibited.
Allow me to make a remark or two on these points. In the
first place, I do not think that Spiritualism will rapidly grow
until a great opposing power—the metropolitan and provincial
press of this country—has been won over to admit its miracles.
Ten newspaper editors can do more to extend a knowledge of
spiritual truths than ten thousand less influential people.
Nothing succeeds now-a-days unless the press has smiled
upon it. A new entertainment, a new book, a new pill, with-
out the aid of the press, seldom takes. There are hundreds of
thousands in this country who place implicit reliance on their
weekly or daily newspaper, and accept its dictum almost for
gospel. I would advise Spiritualists on all occasions to en
deavour to secure the support of “ the fourth estate.” But, it
may be asked, how is this support to be obtained. I would
reply—in this manner. Whenever a trustworthy and good
medium, like Mr. Home, visits the provinces, let a special in-
vitation—if necessary, a personally-solicited one—be given to
the local editors to attend at the séances, and let some mutual
friend make it his duty to prevail on the editor (not the mere
reporter) to be present. I was reading the interesting account
of the recent seances at the house of Mr. Beattie, at Clifton
and I thought what an oversight it was not to have invited
the conductors of all the Bristol papers to be present. The
would have narrated their experiences to the world, and must
have confessed, in doing so, their inability to comprehend or
explain away the phenomena, and the result would have been
that a discussion would have croppod up in which thousands
would have been interested. I think I am speaking the truth
when I say that nine out of every ten people you meet, and
who judge Mr. Home from the reports which appeared of him
in the Home v. Lyon case, set him down to be a “ humbug,"
and all Spiritualists, as a rule, are classed by unbelievers
in the same interesting category. We should endeavour,
I think, to remove this incorrect impression, not because
we are individually injured by it, but because it is
an obstacle to the advancement of our beautiful science. There
is a great disposition on the part of many to convert medical
men, but I think it is a sheer waste of precious time to dally
too much with these gentlemen. They always have such
grand theories—such hair-splitting and confusing explanations
of what they have observed, and they usually only make
matters worse. Besides an “ M.D.” if he does confess that the
physical and mental phenomena of Spiritualism arise from an
unseen intelligence, has but a very small influence over public
opinion, and is generally afraid to utter forth the conclusions
he has been compelled to arrive at. The conversion of a pro-
fessional literary man, however, is a different thing. He sees
in broad daylight inert matter move without visible help—he
receives strange communications which only the so-called dead
could communicate, and fairly non-plussed he goes straight
away and publishes to the world those things, confessing his
inability to account for them, but declaring them to be
nevertheless facts. Suppose that Tyndall, Lubbock, Huxley,
and Darwin (with Professor Pepper thrown in), were all read;
to admit that the facts of Spiritualism are facts, that would
be of far less importance than if the editors of the Saturday
Review, the Spectator, the Pall Mall Gazette, and the Times
were to depose to the same thing.
Spiritualists should not be hard on those who are sceptical.
It requires a great amount of credibility to accept many of
the statements which appear in the spiritual publications.


SOCIETY.
Mr. CHARLES DICKENS, in one of his tales, narrates how
Mr. Chops, the dwarf, one of the attractions of Magsman’s
show, came into a fortune of twelve thousand five hundred
pounds, owing to a successful speculation in a lottery ticket.
He therefore had no further occasion to send round the saucer
to collect halfpence, but he took a house at Pall-mall, and
“went into society." His experience of the materiality of
society, as narrated below, is forcible and valuable in the
extreme:
“One night when we had played the last company out,
which was a shy company through its raining heavens hard, I
was takin’ a pipe in the onc-pair-back along with the young
man with the toes, which I had taken on for a month (though
he never drawed, except on paper), and I heard a kickin’ at
the street door. “Halloa !' I says to the young man, what
up?'
He rubs his eyebrows with his toes, and he says, 'I
can’t imagine, Mr. Magsman’—which he never could imagine
nothin’, and was monotonous company.
“ The noise not leavin’ off, I laid down my pipe, and I took
up a candle, and I went down and opened the door. I looked
out into the street, but nothin' could I see, and nothin' was
aware of, until I turned round quick, because some creetur run
between my legs into the passage. There was Mr. Chops!
“ 'Magsman,’ he says, “take me on the hold terms, and
you’ve got me ; if it’s done, say done!'
“I was all of a maze, but I said, Done, sir.'
"'Done to your done, and double done !’ says he. 'Have
you got a bit of supper in the house?'
“Bearin’ in mind them sparklin’ warieties of foreign drains
as we’d guzzled away at in Pall-mall, I was ashamed to offer
him cold sassages and gin-and-water ; but he took ’em both
and took ’em free ; havin’ a chair for his table, and sittin'
down at it on a stool, like hold times—I all of a maze all the
while.
“It was arter he had made a clean sweep of the sassages
(beef, and to the best of my calculations two pound and a
quarter), that the wisdom as was in that little man began to
come out of him like prespiration.
“'Magsman,’ he says, 'look upon me ! You see afore you
one as has both gone into society, and come out.'
“'O, you are out of it, Mr. Chops? How did you get out,
sir?'
“'SOLD OUT!' says he. You never saw the like of the wis-
dom as his Ed expressed when he made use of them two
words.
“ My friend Magsman, I’ll impart to you a discovery l’ve
made. It’s wallable ; it’s cost twelve thousand five hundred
pound ; it may do you good in life. The secret of this matter
is, that it ain’t so much that a person goes into society, as that
society goes into a person.'
“Not exactly keeping up with his meanin’, I shook my
head, put on a deep look, and said, 'You’re right there, Mr.
Chops.'
“ 'Magsman,’ he says, twichin me by the leg, Society has
gone into me, to the tune of every penny of my property.'
“I felt that I went pale, and though not nat’rally a bold
speaker, I couldn’t hardly say, 'Where’s Normandy?'
“ 'Bolted. With the plate,' said Mr. Chops.
“And t’other one?'
meaning him as formerly wore the
bishop’s mitre.
“ 'Bolted. With the jewels,’ said Mr. Chops.
“I sat down and looked at him, and he stood up and looked
at me.
“ 'Magsman,’ he says, and he seemed to myself to get wiser
as he got hoarser, 'Society, taking in the lump, is all dwarfs
At the court of Saint James’s thcy was all a-doin’ my hold
bisness—all a-goin' three times round the cairawan in the
hold court-suits and properties. Elsewheres, they was most
of ’em ringin’ their little bells out of make-believes. Every-
wheres the sarser was a-goin’ round. Magsman, the sarser is
the uniwersel institution !'"


She is the happiest maiden in the world,
Though beaten down a thousand times a day
By winds and storm that round her feet are curled,
By weight of mist that spheres the rose with grey.


The next verse of the same poem shows some of the
defeets of the author’s style :


As earth-born monster, sorely maimed and spent,
Cleaves close unto the nursing-mother’s breast,
And, nostril-fed by breaths thus nurture-blent,
Gains greater strength the more he is opprest -


The following are the opening verses of another
poem, entitled “ The World before Man ”:


A sky of swollen mists exhaled
From seething marsh and boundless green ;
A Titan crowd of stems and reeds,
Wide lakes and burning plains between.


Mad riot and luxuriant growth,
Festoonery upon each tree ;
Gross life of verdure sweeping down
By calm grey rivers to the sea.


The panther’s roar is on the air,
And full of song the jungle-wood;
The blue snake winds his coils along,
And seeks the singing bird for food.


The heron by the loamy marge
Of sheltered shallows, marks the smooth
Bright silver fishes flash along,
Taught keenness by her hunger’s tooth.


The following lines again, from “ The Romance of
Rest,” tell in very beautiful language how the poet and
his friend were woocd on a summer’s day, to leave the
house for the open air:


Long converse had we in the window niche,
While winds impatient in the ivy leaves,
Said “ Come, O come to us,” and whispered low
Their tales of couches with the heaven for roof,
Tapping the lattice in their ecstacies;
Till I, in envy of their joyous hearts,
Longed to drink in the air, and be a boy,
Taught by the breezes of the hill-side school.
We wandered out by sheep-paths toward the moor,
Staying our feet, where all things scemed to join
With summer to make glad.


From the song of “ Fairyland,” and from the lines
“ To a Dying King," other quotations possessing beauty
and foree might be made, but here are some verses of a
different description:


The ripple of music flows;
Who knows, who knows?
The kisses blossom like the rose
Only the happy summer knows.


Sunlights, rose lights, white lights,
In the sweep of their fingers are music to us;
Here and there idle thus,
Hither and thither across the lattice see floating, how
marvellous.


THE Two GHOSTS.—Sir Walter Scott used to tell, with
much zest, a story of a man who tried to frighten his friend
by encountering him at midnight on a lonely spot which was
supposed to be the resort of a ghostly visitant. He took his
seat on the haunted stone, wrapped in a long white sheet.
Presently, to his horror, the real ghost appeared, and sat down
beside him with the ominous ejaculation, “You are a ghost
and I am a ghost; let us come closer and closer together.
And closer and closer the ghost pressed, till the sham ghost,
overcome with terror, fainted away.
THE WELSH FASTING GIRL.—After being watched for
eight days by nurses from Guy’s Hospital, the Welsh fasting
girl died, and the jury at the inquest have returned a verdict
equivalent to that of “ manslaughter” against the parents.
The members of the first committee who watched the child
are strongly divided in opinion as to the guilt of the parents
who, for the most part, have been condemned by the general
public and the newspapers. Professional mesmerists, who are
few in number, and free from the ignorance of medical men
about many abnormal conditions of the body, think the facts
to be in favour of the innocence of the parents, though pro
bably thcy have too little influence to secure for the father
and mother the benefit of the doubt when the case comes on
for trial.


Most of the classical poems in the book are elaborately
finished works of art. They appeal not to the feelings,
but they show considerable—sometimes too much
knowledge on the part of the writer of the capabilities
of the English language, and are adapted to please the
conventional taste of the few, and not the natural taste
of the many. Literature whieh meets a demand, caused
by temporary and artificial conditions, will soon vanish
beneath the effacing fingers of father Time. In our
opinion Mr. Cook has been most successful in those
poems wherein he has been most simple and most
natural, as in some of the verses whieh have here been
quoted. These specimens show for themselves that the
author has some of the true spirit of poetry in him.
The book is neatly bound, and altogether is creditable
to the author, printers, and publishers.


ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
I. F. Y.—The lecturer deserves all you say, but we have no space
to spare for strings of complimentary remarks. Some practical
statistical information about Spiritualism in your town, with par-
ticulars as to the number of mediums, and what kind of manifes-
tations they get would be useful.
J. M.—Clearly “coincidence.” One part of your friend’s story is
certainly inaccurate; who can say on what particular day a tree
dies, the process being so slow?
NORWICH.—Your alphabet received. Shall have something to say
about it at a future time.
ISLE OF WIGHT.—Too late for this issue.


DEC. 31, 1869.


THE SPIRITUALIST.


31


FACTS FOR NON-SPIRITUALISTS
As this Journal will necessarily often come
under the observation of those who are not
Spiritualists, it has been thought judicious to
reprint regularly on this and the next page
the following condensed evidenee that spiri-
tualism deserves serious investigation. The
phenomena witnessed in spiritual circles are
so extraordinary, and so unlike those coming
within the ordinary range of human experi-
ence, that it is quite right not to accept them
on the testimony of others. Each individual
should witness and test them personally, and
believe nothing until the absolute knowledge
gained that denial is impossible.
EVIDENCE THAT SPIRITUALISM DESERVES INVES-
TIGATION.
The testimony of reliable and respectable wit-
nesses that the phenomena of Spiritualism are
actual facts, and not imposture or delusion, has of
late years so accumulated as to possess very great
weight. In the case of Lyon v. Home, Mr. Robert
Chambers, Mr. C. F. Varley, Dr. Gully, Mr. and
Mrs. S. C. Hall, and others, all made affidavits
strongly in favour of Mr. Home. The following
was the affidavit of Mr. C. F. Varley, C.E.,
F.R.G.S., M.R.I.:
“I, Cromwell Fleetwood Varley, of Fleetwood House
Beckenham, in the County of Kent, Esquire, make oatj
and say as follows:
“I have been a student of electricity, chemistry, and
natural philosophy for twenty-six years, and a tele-
graphic engineer by profession for twenty-one years,
and I am the consulting electrician of the Atlantic Tele-
graph Company, and of the Electric and International
“About nine or ten years ago, having had my atten-
Company.
tion directed to the subject of Spiritualism by its spon-
taneous and unexpected development in my own family
in the form of clairvoyant visions and communications.
I determined to test the truth of the alleged physical
phenomena to the best of my ability, and to ascertain,
if possible, the nature of the force which produced them.
“Accordingly, about eight years ago, I called on Mr.
Home, the defendant in this suit, and stated that I had
not yet witnessed any of the physical phenomena, but
that I was a scientific man and wished to investigate
them carefully.
He immediately gave me every facility for the pur-
pose, and desired me to satisfy myself in every possible
way, and I have been with him on divers occasions
when the phenomena have occurred. I have examined
and tested them with him and with others, under con-
ditions of my own choice, under a bright light, and have
made the most jealous and searching scrutiny. I have
been, since then, for seven months in America, where
the subject attracts great attention and study, and where
it is cultivated by some of the ablest men, and having
experimented with and compared the forces with elec-
tricity and magnetism, and after having applied me-
ehanical and mental tests, I entertain no doubt whatever
that the manifestations which I have myself examined
were not due to the operation of any of the recognised
physical laws of nature, and that there has been present
on the occasions above-mentioned some intelligence
other than that of the medium and observers.
“The subject of course offers many opportunities and
inducements for fraud, and I only speak of what I have
myself seen and tested. Since my acquaintance with
Mr. Home began I have pursued the enquiry, and I have
found engaged in it able, learned, and scientific men
who are convinced as I am, that the physical manifesta-
tions are but the introduction to an extensive fleld of
mental and physical knowledge which will in a great
measure explain and reconcile the beliefs of all ages and
nations. I know of several instances both in Europe
and America in which this course of study has awak-
ened the perception of the purest and loftiest truths and
principles. There have been no doubt eases in which
the intellect has been too feoble for the stimulus, and
has been overpowered by it, just as frequently results
from excessive application to religion and other exciting
topies, but such cases have not come within my own
observation.
“Mr. Home, like several other non-professional me-
diums whose cases I have studied, was passive during
the occurrence of the manifestations. He, like the
other mediums, is extremely susceptible to external in-
fluences, and has a mind better suited to receive impres-
sions than to prosecute enquiries. I willingly testify my
entire conviction of his truthfulness and honesty.
“C. F. VARLEY."


It also came out in the evidence given at the
trial, that Mr. Home had been the invited and un-
paid guest of the Emperor and the Empress of the
French, the Emperor, Empress, aud the late Em-
press Dowager of Russia, the Grand Duke Con-
stantine, the King of Prussia, the late King of
Bavaria, the late King of Wurtemburg, and the
Queen of Holland. Mr. Home says that all his
life he has never taken a farthing of pay for his
séances. In March, 1869, the Spiritual Magazine
gave the names of the following gentlemen as
those who have long been investigating the sub
ject:
“Cromwell F. Varley, Esq., Fleetwood-house, Becken-
ham; Alfred R. Wallace, Esq., 9, St. Mark's-crescent
N.W.; Professor De Morgan, 91, Adelaide-road, N.W.;
Captain Drayson, R.A., Woolwich; Dr. J. M. Gully,
The Priory, Great Malvern: Dr. J. J. G. Wilkinson, 4
St. John’s-wood-villas, N.W.; Dr. Dixon, 8, Great Or
mond-street, W.C.: S. C. Hall, Esq., 15, Ashley-place
Victoria-street, S.W.; Newton Crosland, Esq.; William
Howitt, Esq., The Orchard, Hare-green, Esher, Surrey
Robert Chambers, Esq., St. Andrew’s, Edinburgh; H.
D. Jeneken, Esq., Kilmorey-house, Norwood; J. G.
Crawford, Esq., 52, Gloucester-crescent, N.W.; W. M.
Wilkinson, Esq, Oakfield, Kilburn; Lord Adare, 5,
Buckiugham-gate; The Master of Lindsay, Grosvenor
square."
Mrs. De Morgan has written a book, entitled
From Matter to Spirit (Longmans), where she
gives many interesting particulars, the result of
ten years' experience in Spiritualism. Professor
De Morgan, President of the Mathematical Society
of London, in his preface to the book, says:
“I am perfectly convinced that I have both seen and
heard, in a manner which should make unbelief impos-
sible, things called spiritual, which cannot be taken be
a rational being to be capable of explanation by impos-
ture, coincidence, or mistake. So far I feel the ground
firm under me."
The following is an extract from another
affidavit, made in the suit of Lyon v. Home
“I, James Manby Gully, of The Priory, Great Malvern
in the County of Worcester, doctor of medicine, make
oath and say as follows:
“I have known the above-named defendant, Daniel
Dunglass Home, for seven years and upwards, last past
and have during that period been in the habit of attend-
ing him professionally, and also of receiving him in my
house as a personal friend, and I have never had the
smallest reason to doubt his character as a man of
honour and proper moral feeling.
“I have during the past seven years witnessed both
in my own house, and elsewhere, in the presence of the


Dr. Hooker, in his opcning address, as President
of the British Association at Norwich in 1868
spoke very highly of the scientific attainments of
Mr. Alfred R. Wallace, F.L.S. Mr. Wallace is an
avowed Spiritualist. Professor Hare, of Phila-
delphia, the inventor of the Harc’s Galvanic Bat-
tery, once refused to witness spiritual phenomena
alleging that Faraday's “unconscious muscula-
action” theory explained all the facts. A friend
wrote to him detailing things he had seen which
were inexplicable by that theory. Hare at once,
like a sensible man, went to see for himself. The
result was that he came into communication with
some of his own departed relatives. He then
made mechanical telegraphic machines, which
were intelligently worked by spirits while the
apparatus was screened from the sight of the
medium, and he wrote a book recording all these
facts. That book is now in the British Museum
Library. Judge Edmonds, of New York, is another
very eminent American Spiritualist, who has also
written interesting books on the subject. Recently
in England, Viscount Adare has written a book
bearing testimony to the truth of Spiritualism, and
it has a preface by Lord Dunraven. This book is
printed for private circulation only, which is an
error in judgment. Valuable evidence in favour
of Spiritualism is given by John Wesley and his
family; for spirit rapping and movements of
wooden materials by invisible agency occurred in
their own house. Documentary evidence of what
they witnessed was drawn up and signed on the
spot, and is published in Southey's Life of Wesley.
The Spiritual Magazine for October, 1869, gives
the following names of friends of Spiritualism
who have now and then contributed to its pages:
“Viscount Adare; John Ashburner, M.D., Translator
of Reichenbach, author of Philosophy of Animal Mag-
netism and Spiritualism; T. B. Barkas, author of Outline
of Ten Years Investigation into the Phenomena of Modern
Spiritualism; George Barth; Richard Beamish, F.R.S.,
author of The Life of Brunel; Rev. S. E. Bengough
M.A.; Edward L. Blanchard; Edward Brotherton; Cap-
tain Richard F. Burton (the African traveller;) William
Carpenter, author of Political Letters, The English Bible;
Captain Edward Henry Chawner; Henry T. Child
M.D. (Philadelphia, U.S.A.); Benjamin Coleman, author
of Spiritualism in America; Robert Collyer, M.D., F.C.S.
Christopher Cook; Robert Coopor, author of Spiritual
Experiences; Mrs. De Morgan, author of From Matter to
Spirit; Jacob Dixon, L.R.C.P., author of Clairvoyance
Hygienic, and Medical; Hugh Doherty, M.D, author of
Organic Philosophy; Captain Drayson, R.A.; Judge
Edmonds (New York); Captain H. A Fawcett, R.N.;
John M. Gully, M.D.; Professor W. D. Gunning (Boston,
U.S.A.); Samuel Carter Hall, F.S.A.; Emma Hardinge
George Harris, M.A., F.S.A., President of the Manches-
ter Anthropological Society; W. E. Hickson, late editor
of the Westminster Foreign Quarterly Review; Rev. A.
W. Hobson, M.A.; Baron C. Dirckinck Holmfeld; Daniel
Dunglass Home; Rev. J. Page Hopps, editor of The
Truthseeker; Mary Howitt; William Howitt; Henry D.
Jencken, M.R.I., F.G.S.; John Jones, author of Man:
Physical, Apparitional, and Spiritual; Rev. William
Ker, M.A.: Seymour Kirkup (Florence); Andrew Leigh
ton; Robert Leighton; Kenneth R. P. Mackenzie, F.S.A.
Rev. William Mountford (Boston, U.S.A.); A. E. New
ton (Boston, U.S.A.) author of The Ministry of Angel
Realised; Mary S. Gove Nichols; J. H. Powell: Baron
Reichenbach, anthor of Researches on the Dynamics of
Magnetism; Elihu Rich, author of several articles in the
Encyclopædia Metropolitana; J. Lockhart Robertson,
M.R.C.P.: Mary C. Hume Rothery; Rev. W Hume
Rothery, M.A.; Epes Sargent, author of The Planchette;
Thomas Shorter; Rev. W. R. Tomlinson, M.A.; Crom-
well F. Varley, F.R.G.S.; C. Staniland Wake, author of
Chapters on Man; Alfred R. Wallace; A. M. H. Watts;
William White, author of Emanuel Swedenborg: His
Life and Writings; W. M. Wilkinson, author of Spirit
Drawings; James J. Garth Wilkinson, M.D., author of
The Human Body, and its Connection with Man; Rev. F.


Signor G. Damiani, a Sicilian gentleman living
at Clifton, has written a pamphlet, still in print
in which he severely censures Professor Tyndall
Mr. G. H. Lewes, and others like them, for refus-
ing to investigate the subject. He further offers a
reward of 1,000 guineas to any respectable, scien-
tific or educated men, who will investigate the
subject aund prove it to be an imposture. The
following are his words:
“I now offer you two challenges.
“First, I challenge you, or either of you, or any of
the public who, like you, disbelieve in the genuine cha-
racter of spiritualistic phenomena, to deposit in the
hands of any well-known London banker whom you or
they may name, the sum of five hundred guineas; and
I pledge myself to immediately deposit in the same bank
a like amount,—the ownership of such sum of one thou-
sand guineas to depend upon my proving by evidence
sufficient to establish any fact in history or in a eriminal
or civil court of justice.
"First—That intelligemt communications and answers
to questions put, proceed from dead and inert matter in
a manner inexplicable by any generally recognised law
of nature.
“Secondly—That dead and inert matter does move
without the aid of any mechanical or known chemical
agency, and in deflance of all the admitted laws of gravi-
tation.
"Thirdly—That voices appertaining to no one in the
flesh are heard to speak and hold rational converse with
men.
“A jury of twenty-fonr gentlemen, twelve to be chosen
by each party (such jury to consist exclusively of mem-
bers of the learned professions and literary men), to
decide whether or not the facts eontained in the above
propositious are conclusively proved per testes—i.e., by
witnesses of established character. A majority of
the twenty-four to decide. If the verdict be that these
facts have not been established, the thousand guineas
are to belong to the party accepting this challenge; I
the verdict be that these facts are established, the thou-
sand guineas to be mine.
“Secondly—Immediately after the above wager being
decided, either way, I offer a like challenge of five hun-
dred guineas (to be met on the other side in like manner
as above)—the ownership of the second sum of one
thousand guineas to depend upon the establishment of
the facts contained in the propositions already given, by
experiments conducted in the actual presence of the twenty
four gentlemen who have decided the previous wager
the verdict of the majority to decide in this case likewise
“In either case, the séances are to be conducted in an
public or private building which the jury may select,
and which may be available for the purpose.
“The result of these challenges (if accepted and de-
cided) to be advertised by the victorious party, at the
expense of the defeated party, in all the London daily
papers.
"I hope this is plain English.


MR. HOME'S AFFIDAVIT
In the Chancery suit of Lyon v. Home, for the
recovery of certain monies given by Mrs. Lyon
to Mr. Home against the advice of her lawyer
and her friends, Mr. Home made an affidavit, from
which the following is an extract:
“I, Daniel Dunglass Home, of 22, Sloane-street, in
the County of Middlesex, one of the above-named de-
fendants, make oath and say as follows:
“I was born in Scotland on the 20th of March, 1838,
and from my childhood have been subject to the occa-
sional happening of singular physical phenomena in my
presence, which are most certainly not produced by me
or by any other person in connection with me. I have
no control over them whatever: they occur irregularly
and even when I am asleep. Sometimes I am many
months, and once I have been a year without them.
They will not happen when I wish, and my will has
nothing to do with them. I cannot account for then
further than by supposing them to be effected by intelli-
gent beings or spirits. Similar phenomena occur to
many other persons.... These phenomena occurring in
my presence have been witnessed by thousands of
intelligent and respectable persons, including men of
business, science, and literature, under circumstance
which would have rendered, even if I desired it, all
trickery impossible. They have been witnessed repeat-
edly and in their own private apartments, when any
contrivance of mine must have been detected, by their
Majesties the Emperor and the Empress of the French,
their Majesties the Emperor, Empress and late Empress
Dowager of Russia, their Imperial Highnesses the Grand
Duke and Duchess Constantine of Russia and the mem-
bers of their august family, their Majesties the King of
Prussia, the late King of Bavaria, the present and late
King of Würtemberg, the Queen of Holland, and the
members of the Royal Family of Holland; and many
of these august personages have honoured, and I be-
lieve still honour, me with their esteem and goodwill, as
I have resided in some of their palaces as a gentleman
and their guest, and not as a paid or professional per-
son. They have had ample opportunities, which the
have used, of investigating these phenomena, and of
inquiring into my character. I have resided in America,
England, France, Italy, Germany, and Russia, and in
every country I have been received as a guest and
friend by persons in the highest position in society, who
were quite competent to discover and expose, as the
ought to have done, anything like contrivance on my
part to produce these phenomena. I do not seek, and
never have sought, the acquaintance of any of these
exalted personages. They have sought me, and I have
thus had a certain notoriety thrust upon me. I do not
take money, and never have taken it, although it has
been repeatedly offered me for or in respect of these
phenomena, or the communications which appear to be
made by them. I am not in the habit of receiving those
who are strangers to me, and I never force the subject
of Spiritualism on any one’s attention. ... Some of the
phenomena in question are noble and elevated, others
appear to be grotesque and undignified. For this I am
not responsible, any more than I am for the many
grotesque and undignifled things which are undoubtedly
permitted to exist in the material world. I solemnly
swear that I do not produce the phenomena aforesaid,
or in any way whatever aid in producing them," &c.
“I have been subjected to much persecution through
out my life, because of my conscientious belief as to the
meaning and great purpose of spiritual phenomena
taken as a whole. That belief I have not, like the
plaintiff, foresworn. I have always courted the strictest
investigation, although I have not condescended to
notice all the attacks and anonymous slanders that have
been circulated respecting me. The book shown to me
at the time of swearing this affidavit, marked H 8, con-
tains a correct list of upwards of 1,300 letters, with the
writers' names, which I still retain (after having de-
stroyed about 10,000), written to me by persons of every
rank and class, including persons of the highest social,
political, literary, and scientiflc position, who have in
vestigated these phenomena, and corresponded with me
about them. After the fullest opportunities of examina-
tion, they have formed different opinions as to thein
origin and meaniug ; but I believe that all are
thoroughly satisfied of my entire honesty in the matter;
and lately, while the plaintiff's base and unfounded
charges of fraud and imposition have been hanging
over me, and during the months of January and
February, 1868, these phenomena have been thoroughly
tested by another scientific man, named Mr. Hawkins
Simpson, the inventor of electrical apparatus, including
one for printing at a distance by the telegraph—a
drawing and description of which were, as I am in
formed and believe, given in the Engineer newspaper on
the 15th November, 1867."
Omitting the remainder of Mr. Home's affidavit,
the following evidence given by him before the
Dialcctical Society, is of interest:
“He had seen a pencil lifted by a spirit hand write on
paper in the presence of the Emperor Napoleon. This
took place in a large room, the Salon Louis Quinze. The
Empress was also present. The hand, after writing,
went to the Emperor, who kissed it; it then went to the
Empress; she withdrew from the touch, and the hand
followed her. The Emperor said, “Do not be fright-
ened, kiss it!' She then kissed it, and it shortly after
wards disappeared. The writing was an autograph
of the Emperor Napoleon I. The Emperor of Russia
had also seen and handled spirit hands, which after-
wards seemed to melt away into thin air."
The Emperor Napoleon has been at a great
many of Mr. Home's séances, and Mr. Home was
asked by members of the Dialectical Society to
state other things which had been observed on
those occasions. Mr. Home said that he did not
feel at liberty to state any more than the Emperor
was in the habit of telling himself


Friday. May 22, of the present year (1868) will for-
ever remain one of the most memorable days of my life.
It was on that day, when the sun was shining brightly
and bathing the world with its light and heat, that I
arrived at Newport, Rhode Island, and first came under
the healing powers of Dr. J. A. Newton. I had heard
of him through The Spiritual Magazine, Mr. William
Howitt, and Mr. Coleman, and was assured that if I
placed myself in his hands I should be speedily and
radically cured of the neuralgic affection in my head
for which I had been suffering for eleven years. It was
not until I had become a little more familiar with some
of the facts and phenomena of modern Spiritualism
that I felt a quiet faith in the power of Dr. Newton to
remove my disease. Having once attained to that state
of mind, and becoming satisfied that it was my duty to
cross the Atlantic in search of health, I made arrange-
ments for doing so, and left Liverpool for New York on
Saturday, May 9, arriving at the latter place on Tuesday
evening, the 19th.
The moment Dr. New-
ton and I met, I found in his face and simple kindly
manner a human image of the outside sunshine, and
but few words had been spoken when I was convinced
that the errand upon which I had come would be ful-
filled. I was about to give him the history in detail on
my affliction when he stopped me by saying, 'That
after I had been cured he would be very glad to listen
to anything I might wish to say, but that the cure itself
was the first matter to be attended to.' He then poured
a large quantity of very hot water upon my head while
I was leaning it over a basin into which the water fell.
After my head had been dried with a coarse towel, I
was made to sit upon a moveable seat, similar to a
music-stool, the doctor standing behind me, and placing
my head against his chest with his hands crossed upon
my forehead. He then moved my head in various
directions until all at once a clicking noise was heard at
the top of my spine. Tlie doctor immediately cried out
'That noise is the sign that you will be cured; the dis-
turbance of the nerve current has been removed.' He
then faced me, and lifting hoth his hands towards
heaven, he looked me hard in the face, saying, 'Look at
me. In the name of God our Heavenly Father, and of
the Lord Jesus Christ the Great Healer, I bid this
disease depart from this dear suffering brother and
never more afflict him. It is gone—it is gone—it is
gone for ever, my brother; you are cured; rise up on
your feet and be cured.' At that instant I felt a strong
current of new life flowing into and through every part
of my body, and I was conscious that I had entered
upon an altogether new phase of existence. From that
day to the present hour, July 13, I have been entirelyl
free from my pain, and have felt as well, I should think,
as it is possible for any human being to feel. Physically
speaking, I am a new creature; old things have passed
away and all things have become new. Of course it is
not for me to say absolutely that the cure will be per-
manent, but, if I may judge from my present expe-
rience, I see no reason why it should not be so.
Wonderful as my case is, it is only one of thousands, so
far as Dr. Newton is concerned. He has cured almost
every form of disease, and removed almost every kind
of suffering. In fact, he appears to have done every-
thing but raise the dead. And yet even he does not
cure all cases, and this failure enables him to keep alive
the consciousness that it is not he who cures, but God
who works in and through him. He tells me that he
has enred something like a quarter of a million of
people. * * * * Most of his cures are done without
fee or reward. In my own case he steadily refused to
take a single dollar, and I saw him act in like manner
towards several others. During my stay I witnessed
several instances of his healing power; some of them
being so manifest as to defy all attempts at explaining
them away. On the very morning that my own cure
was effected, I witnessed his cure of a paralytic who for
three years had been unable to walk without the aid of
crutches, and even then, only in a partial degree. This
woman was brought by her parents to Newport, and, in
less than five minutes from the time when she came
under Dr. Newton's hands, she got up from the couch
on which she had been laid, and walked away up the
street and back again, a full mile, and afterwards
walked and ran and jumped and danced, as so many
signs that her cure was a complete one. I also saw him
cure a young man who had a withered hand. Indeed, I
might have seen day by day, and hour by hour, ex-
amples of this healing power had I chosen to have done
so. Every now and again, there are trains from Boston
and Providence freighted with the lame, the halt, the
blind, and the diseased, sometimes to the number of
500 or 600. These come to Newport, and a large majo-
rity of them are sent away perfectly cured. In one part
of Dr. Newton's house there is a room of considerable
size, full of crutches, sticks, spectacles, eye-shades,
bandages, and other memorials of disease and sickness
which have been left behind by patients as so many
signs and trophies of their cure.


“FREDERICK ROWLAND YOUNG,
“Minister of the Free Christian Church, Swindon
There are very many healing mediums in the
United States, who can do good only in certain
diseases, or whose powers are so feeble that suc-
cessful results may with more probability of accu-
racy be put down to the imagination of the
patient.
A great use of Spiritualism is that it demon-
strates the immortality of the soul. But why
ask, “Of what use is Spiritualism?” for here the
thing is in our midst as much a part of nature as
the trees, the clouds, and the flowers, and as it
cannot be abolished there is no alternative but to
subject it to investigation, or to look on in igno-
rance.


HOW TO FORM SPIRIT CIRCLES
An experimental trial at home, among family
friends and relatives, often gives the most satis-
factory evidence of the reality of spiritual pheno-
mena. At the same time, as no fully developed
medium is present among those who have never
obtained manifestations before, the probability is
that there will be no results. Nevertheless, it is
a very common thing for striking manifestations
to be obtained in this way at the first sitting of a
family circle; perhaps for every one successful
new circle thus started without a medium, there
are six or seven failures, but no accurate statistics
on this point have yet been collected. When
once manifestations have been obtained they will
gradually increase in power and reliability at suc-
cessive sittings. The following is a good plan of
action :
1. Let the room be of a comfortable temperature, but
cool rather than warm—let arrangements be made that


said Mr. Home many curious occurrences, which I am
unable to explain, in the way of singular phenomena,
such as displacement of objects without physical con-
tact, &c., and from my personal and careful investiga-
tions (which Mr. Home himself ever urges) I am positive
that it is not in consequence of any trick or device that
such phenomena occur. I have even been witness to
singular phenomena when the said Mr. Home was not in
the same room, and also when he has been asleep. I
have never known the said Mr. Home receive money for
what is termed 'a séance,' but I have known him re-
peatedly refuse offers of as much as twenty guineas for
“J. M. GULLY, M.D."
a single séance.


“ Awaiting a reply to this letter, and to the challenge
with which it concludes, I am, gentlemen; your obedient
servant.
G. DAMIANI.
“Clifton, Oct. 1, 1868.
“P.S.—Letters addressed Sigr. Damiani, care of
Manager of West of England and South Wales District
Bank, Corn-street, Bristol,' will always reach the writer."
In addition to the above evidence, there is the
testimony of numbers that the modern spiritual
manifestations are realities. Mr. Hepworth Dixon
in his New America estimates the number of Spiri-
tualists in the United States at rather less than
three millions, and this is about the lowest estimate
that anybody has made. There are no accurate sta-
tistics, and different authorities vary in their esti-
mates from three to eleven millions.
All these facts, together with those which
follow, prove that Spiritualism deserves serious
investigation. Not a few learned men have pri-
vately been examining the phenomena in order to
“explode the imposture,” but these extinguishers
soon catch fire themselves. In short, in the
minds of most of the English public, Spiritualism
has to pass through the following five stages :


WHAT IS THE USE OF SPIRITUALISM?
Strange to say there are people who can ask
what is the use of communication with friends
and relatives, who have passed the great barrier
of the grave. One use of Spiritualism is, that all
Spiritualists who lead moderately good lives, are
found to gradually lose the fear of death. Spirits
through the agency of suitable media have much
power in the healing of diseases, and the removal
of deformities, though such power is far from
absolute. The following is a narrative, published
in Daybreak, of some of the powers exercised
through Mr. Newton, the best healing medium in
the United States ; he is expected to visit England
in the course of the year 1870. The following ex-
ample from a very boundless field of choice, is
enough for the present on the subject of the uses
of Spiritualism:


1. The manifestations do not take place.
2. Spiritualism is a gross imposture.
3. It is a delusion.
4. It is the work of the Devil.
5. It is a great blessing, and we always said so.


Experience shows that the feebler the intellect
and the lower the standard of energy and educa-
tion, the sooner does the investigator break down
at one of the first four out of the above five steps
in the ladder of progress.


32


THE SPIRITUALIST.


DEC. 31, 1869.


nobody shall enter it, and that there shall be no inter-
ruption for one hour during the sitting of the circle.
Wet, damp, and foggy weather is bad for the production
of physical phenomena.
2. Let the circle consist of four, five, or six individuals
about the same number of each sex. Sit round an un-
covered wooden table, with all the palms of the hands
in contact with its top surface. Whether the hands
touch each other or not is usually of no importance.
Any table will do, just large enough to conveniently
accomodate the sitters. The removal of a hand from
the table for a few seconds does no harm, but when one
of the sitters breaks the circle by leaving the table it
sometimes, but not always, very considerably delays the
manifestations.
3. Before the sitting begins, place some pointed lead
pencils and some sleets of clean writiug paper on the
table, to write down any communications that may be
obtained.
4. People who do not like each other should not sit in
the same circle, for such a want of harmony tends to
prevent manifestations, except with well-developed
physical mediums; it is not yet known why. Belief or
unbelief has no influence on the manifestations, but an
acrid feeling against them is a weakening influence.
5. Before the manifestations begin, it is well to engage
in general conversation or in singing, and it is best that
neither should be of a frivolous nature. A prayerful,
earnest feeling among the members of the circle is likely
to attract a higher and more pleasing class of spirits.
6. The first symptom of the invisible power at work is
often a feeling like a cool wind sweeping over the hands.
The first manifestations will probably be table tiltings or
raps.
7. When motions of the table or sounds are produced
freely, to avoid confusion, let one person only speak,
and talk to the table as to an intelligent being.
Let him tell the table that three tilts or raps mean
"Yes," one means “No,” and two mean “Doubtful,"
and ask whether the arrangement is understood. If
three signals be given in answer, then say, “If I speak
the letters of the alphabet slowly, will you signal ever
time I come to the letter you want, aud spell us out
message?“ Should three signals be given, set to work
on the plan proposed, and from this time an intelligent
system of communication is established.
8. Afterwards the question should be put, “Are we
sitting in the right order to get the best manifestations
Probably some members of the circle will then be told
to change seats with each other, and the signals will be
afterwards strengthened. Next ask, “ Who is the
medium?“ When spirits come asserting themselves to
be related or known to anybody present, well-chosen
questions should be put to test the accuraey of the
statements, as spirits out of the body have all the virtues
and all the failings of spirits in the body.


sible to comply with his demand. Faraday also
required an answer to the following questions,
among others, before attending:
“Would he [Mr. Home] be glad if their (the manifesta¬
tion's] delusive character were established and exposed,
and would he gladly help to expose it, or would he be
annoyed and personally offended? [The italics in this
sentence are not in the original.]
"Does he consider tlie effects natural or supernatural?
If natural, what are the laws which govern them? or
does he think that they are not subject to laws? If
supernatural, does he suppose them to be miracles, or
the work of spirits? If the work of spirits, would an
insult to the spirits be considered as an insult to
himself?"
Mr. Home took no notice of the above insults
and, it is believed, never wrote Faraday in the
first instance, or took any notice of him whatever.
He never even saw his letters.
Dr. John Tyndall, F.R.S., in a note dated May
8, 1868, commenting upon Faraday's letter just
mentioned, wrote:
"I hold myself in readiness to witness and investigate,
in the spirit of the foregoing letter [of Faraday's], such
phenomena as Mr Home may wish to reveal to me
during the month of June."
A few days previously Mr. Home had written
in the Pall Mall Gazette:
“It will give me pleasure to meet Professor Tyndall,
and any two gentlemen he shall designate. On my side
I shall have at least two gentlemen whose names and
position place them above the suspicion of aiding ot
abetting a fraud. I will meet Professor Tyndall and
these gentlemen when and where they please, and
under such circumstances as they may decide on. I
must only crave their patience if nothing should occur
at the first, or even the second, séance."
From that day to this Dr. Tyndall has not
accepted the above invitation
A demand for a programme where no programme
can be given, and the writing of supercilious
letters in reply to civil invitations, amounts prac-
tically to a refusal to observe facts. Dr. Tyndall
and men who act like him, are recommended to
bear in mind the following words of Galileo:
“Oh, my dear Kepler, how I wish that we could have
our hearty laugh together. Here, at Padua, is the prin-
cipal professor of philosophy, whom I have repeatedly
and urgently requested to look at the moon and planets
through my glass, which he pertinaciously refuses to do.
Why are you not here? What shouts of laughter we
should have at this glorious folly ; to hear the Professor
of Philosophy at Pisa, labouring before the Grand Duke
with logical arguments, as if with magical incantations
to charm the planets out of the sky!"
A little society known as the Dialectical Society
is now investigating Spiritualism. It numbers
among its members many shrewd and intelligent
men, belonging chiefly to the legal and medical
professions. Spiritualists watch its proceeding
with a moderate amount of interest; nothing that
any man or body of men may say or do can alter
the established phenomena and laws of nature.
THE LITERATURE OF SPIRITUALISM.
The literature of Spiritualism now consists of
several hundreds of volumes, good, bad, and indif-
ferent, and almost entirely of American origin.
Among the best volumes on the subject are Mrs
De Morgan’s From Matter to Spirit (Longmans)
with a preface by Professor De Morgan, President
of the Mathematical Society of London; The
Planchette, by Epes Sargent; Spiritualism (2 vols.)
by Judge Edmonds and G. T. Dexter, of New
York; a History of Spiritualism, by Emma Hard-
iuge; and The Autobiography of Andrew Jackson
Davis. An interesting book, consisting simply of
narrations of facts witnessed at remarkable seances,
is Incidents of My Life (Longmans), by D. D.
Home. The Soul of Things, by Denton, is a curious
book indirectly connected with Spiritualism, and
worth reading. Those unacquainted with Spiri-
tualism are recommended to read these books in
the order in which they have just been mentioned.
The only large lending library of Spiritual books
in Great Britain is that belonging to Mr. J. Burns,
15, Southampton-row, High Holborn, London,
W.C. The English periodicals on the subject
are, The Spiritual Magazine, Human Nature, Day-
break, and The Spiritualist.


inquirers; the sittings exhaust their vitality like a
hard days' work, and they have to put up with
much abuse when uneducated roughs unaccus
tomed to investigation persecute them by attenc
ing. The inquirer should mention to the medium
civilly and kindly, liis doubts respecting the
phenomena he may witness; the invisible beings
around will at once, on the spot, do their best to
remove those doubts, or an explanation will be
obtained from the medium. When there is real
foundation for suspicion, the best plan is to go
often to the medium, accompanied by witnesses
detect the imposture, and prosecute the medium
for obtaining money under false pretences.
Genuine manifestations are not under the control
of the medium, so that a paid medium who does
not get manifestations, is under a great temptation
to try to make them. This fact makes it difficult
for Spiritualists to speak absolutely as to the relia-
bility of any paid mediums, however genuine the
majority of the manifestations may be which occur
in their presence. After getting thoroughly inte-
rested in Spiritual phenomena, the inquirer should
take his friends to see them, and afterwards get up
a private circle in his own house. Manifestatious
will most likely not be obtained at the first sitting,
but after very few or very many sittings they will
come; gradually the great barrier of the grave
which now separates frieuds will be broken down
and after the experience of a year or two the
dread of the beautiful natural process, called
“death,” will be destroyed, as it is destroyed in
the minds of all experienced Spiritualists, except
those who during life have done harm to their
fellow-creatures. Very high spirits and their
homes are perfectly invisible to very low spirits
this, coupled with the fact that there is no more
uniformity in the next world than there is here
accounts for the endless contradictions about spirit
life given in Spiritual communications.
An investigator of a logical and scientific turn of
mind may possibly have to closely follow up the
subject for some weeks before gaining the absolute
knowledge that the manifestations come fron
spirits. Unlike Mr. Home and a few other excep-
tional individnals, most mediums are developed
for one or two special purposes only. Thus, vio-
lent physical manifestations, inexplicable by an
of the recognised laws of matter, may be seen in
the presence of one medium, but mental tests aud
questions may briug forth a majority of inaccurate
and unreliable answers. Where good mental tests
are obtainable through a medium, the physical
manifestations may be altogether absent.
There are so few public or semi-public spirit
circles at work in London, and the pressure for
admission is so great where the manifestations are
good, that the best plan for novices is usually to
try to get manifestations at home among their own
friends.


JOSEPH BARKERS AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
Now ready, neatly bound in cloth, price 2s. 6d
TEACHINGS OF EXPERIENCE; or
Lessons I have Learned on my Way through
Life.
London: JAMES BEVERIDGE, 9, 10, 11, Fullwood's-rents,
Holborn, W.C


of Zoistic Science, Intelligence, and Popular
HUMAN NATURE, a Monthly Record
Anthropology. Recent numbers give full details of the
extraordinary Manifestations through the celebrated
Medium, D. D. Home, Esq., with philosophical reason-
ings as to the nature and cause of the phenomena : a
new series of lessons on Phrenology and the Tempera
ments is being given, containing some new instructions
of great value to the student; first-class Portraits of
eminent men and women, with Biographies and Phreno-
logical delineations are frequently introduced; a serial
Tale of great power and beauty; articles on Physiology
Diet, Temperance, and Health; translations from Con-
tinental Works and Periodicals; treatises on Mesmerism
Clairvoyance, Spiritualism; reviews of Books; reports
of Lectures, Meetings, and Societies, renders this the
cheapest, most varied, and instructive Periodical of the
kind in the world. The fact that this Periodical is en-
tirely unbiased and devoted to the truth respecting all
the topies on which it treats, is a point not to be over
looked by all earnest investigators, whatever their
opinions may be. Post free, 7s. per annum, or 6d. per
month from the Booksellers. JAMES BURNS Progres-
sive Library, 15, Southampton-row, Bloomsbury-square
Holborn, London, W.C.


To LIFE POLICY-HOLDERS.
The
recent disclosures in the Chancery Court indis-
putably prove that neither the antiquity of a life office
nor the magnitude of its income, affords to the public
any security that the premiums they have paid for the
purpose of securing a sum of money to their families
may not be frittered away in costly amalgamations, or
jeopardised by fire, marine, or accidental risks.
In order to remove this insecurity the BRITISH IM-
PERIAL INSURANCE CORPORATION was esta-
blished on the principle substantially adopted by Her
Majesty's Government for small policies, and carried out
through the medium of the Post-office.
The Life Funds of the British Imperial Corporation
are placed beyond the control of the Directors, being in-
vested in the Government Funds (for the sole purpose
of meeting poliey claims) in the names of trustees, who
act independent of the Directors, and solely on behalf of
the policy-holders.
The system of investing Insurers’ net peomiums in
Consolidated three per cent. Annuities in Trustees
names for the sole purpose of meeting Policy Claims,
combined with the ereation of a number of Separate
Trusts, presents entirely new elements of security to
Insurers.
Any section of the community who are dissatisfied
with the ordinary plan of entrusting their premiums to
the care of the Directors of a life office may, without
cost or risk, constitute themselves into a separate sec-
tion of the British Imperial Corporation, and appoint
their own trustees to control the life insurance funds
contributed by them.
Chief Offices for London
20, COCKSPUR-STREET, PALL-MALL.


FEMALE MEDICAL SOCIETY.
Vice-Patrons:
His Grace the Duke of Argyll, K.T.
Her Grace the Duchess of Argyll.
The Baroness de Rothschild
The Countess de Noailles.


President:
The Right Honourable the Earl of Shaftesbury, K.G
Treasurer:
Henry Charles Stephens, Esq. 171 Aldorsgate-street, E.C
Honorary Secretary:
James Edmunds, Esq., M.D.
Lady Secretary:
Mrs. Blangy.
Bankers:
The London and County Bank, 441, Oxford-stree


The Female Medical Society is established for the
following objects
1.—To promote tho employment of properly educated
women in the practice of Midwifery, and the treatment
of the Diseases of Women and Children.
2.—To provide educated women with proper facilitios
for learning the theory and practice of Midwifery, and
the accessory branches of Medical Science.
Midwifery and the accessory branches of medicine
offer a wide fleld of honourable and lucrative employ-
ment for educated women; also a means of intellectual
culture and social usefulness to ladies who may not be
dependent upon their own exertions. For want of
properly qualifled ladies the best portion of the practice
of midwifery has drifted into tho hands of gentlemen
though female practitioners still attend the bulk of the
population. But any person may undertake the duties
of a midwife. Proper means of study have never been
provided for women, and there has never been an
public examination, by which women when well qualifled
might be distinguished from those who are illiterate and
unqualifled.
The Society has carried on for five years the Ladies'
Medical College, which has taught the theory and prac-
tice of Midwifery and the accessory branches of medi-
cine. Eighty-two ladies have already availed themselves
of its advantages, and many of these ladies are settled
in practice, and succeeding admirably.
A life subscription of ten guineas, or an annual sub-
scription of one guinea, constitutes a member of the
Society, but stamps or other small contributions will be
gladly received.
Lady subscribers of not less than one guinea are
invited to visit any Lectures in which they are likely to
be interested.
The addresses of skilled Lady Midwives, Prospectuses
of the College, and all particulars as to the operations of
the Society, may be obtained of the Lady Secretary.
Temporary Offices—4 Fitzroy-square, W.
Cheques to be crossed London and County Bank.


Possibly at the first sitting of a circle symptoms
of other forms of mediumship then tilts or raps
may make their appearauce. Information respect-
ing the many kinds of mediumship will be found
in Mrs. Professor De Morgan’s book, From Matter
to Spirit, published by Longmans; and this is a
good book to read before trying to start a nev
circle. It usually takes several years for any
medium to attain full power, and it is not an
uncommon although not an everyday thing, for
chairs and other articles to move about in the
presence of a good well-developed physical medium
without anybody touching the articles at all. This
fact effectually disposes of Faraday’s “unconscious
muscular action" theory. Some have suggested
that the phenomena are all mental, since mental
conditious influence their production, and that
those present all believe they see and hear things
which they do not in reality see and hear. The
answer is that there is sometimes such a noise
with improperly powerful manifestations that the
sounds are heard all over the house by persons
not in the room; the furniture sometimes gets
broken by movements of too violent a character
and the broken portions remain as evidence that
the phenomena were not of a mental character.
The upholsterers’ bills which result also serve to
convince that the occurrences are facts. The
higher spirits seem to have little power over
common matter, and the highest communications
are not usually obtained through physical mani-
festations.
There are in England several very interesting
circles for physical manifestations, where the
spirits spcak with audible voices, but, unfortu-
nately, total darkness is a necessary condition.
Non-spiritualists who are inquiring into the sub-
ject should have nothing to do with dark séances,
which should be held only by those who know
each other, since they offer so many facilities for
fraud. When any circle regularly obtains power-
ful physical manifestations, they may desire to sit
for the voices. The very slightest glimmer of
light must be excluded from the room, while the
members of the circle sit round the table in the
ordinary way. One or two paper tubes, each
twelve or eighteen inches long, with an orifice
about an inch-and-a-half in diameter, should be
placed on the table. They may be readily made
by rolling up a piece of music and tying a few
pieces of cotton round the rough tube thus formed.
In the early stages of a voice-circle these tubes
are necessary for the use of the spirits, but after
wards they may be dispensed with except when
the weather and other conditions are unfavour-
able. When first trying to obtain the voices the
spirits may not be able to lift the tubes from the
table, afterwards they often get them up in the
air a foot or two and let them drop again. When
they get full control over them they can carry
them about up to the ceiling and to all parts of
the room, and they talk to the members of the
circle often while floating about above their heads.
Very beautiful luminous plienomena are some
times shown by the spirits at dark circles. While
sitting for the voices, the spirits will tell by the
ordinary table signals how they are progressing in
their work of getting control of the tubes.
Every human being is surrounded by an atmo-
sphere which to the spirits is luminous and mate-
rial, and this atmosphere is largely used by the
spirits in the production of the physical manifes-
tations. Baron Reichenbach, while he knew
nothing of Spiritualism, discovered by experiment
the presence of unknown forces emanating from
Researches on Animal Magnetism. All the pheno-
human bodies, and published the results in his
mena of Spiritualism draw temporarily upon the
vital powers of those composing the circle, but
the medium is the chief source of energy.
A still atmosphere and subdued light in the
room are favourable conditions for the physical
manifestations.


ADVICE TO INQUIRERS.
Those who know no intelligent Spiritualists,
and nothing about Spiritualism, yet who want to
investigate, are recommended to begin by reading
the first two books mentioned in the preceding
paragraph. Then they should call upon the chief
publisher of Spiritual books in London, Mr. J.
Burns, 15, Southampton-row, Holborn (where the
are sure to be treated with atteution and courtesy),
and ask for the names and addresses of say four
good professional or non-professional mediuins
accessible to the public, and “recognised by Spiri
tualists as reliable for powerful physical manifes-
tations." There are plenty of mediums or of people
who fancy themselves mediums, who can rarely show
anything satisfactory, and with whom an inquire
might waste much time. He should then get say
two sittings by daylight in his own house with
each of the four mediums, because the power
varies in strength at times with every medium
at the end of the eight sittings he is sure to be
thoroughly interested in Spiritualism, and to have
thrown overboard the imposture theory, which is
the clumsiest aud most superficial one of all.
Many of the public have vague ideas that electri-
city can do all kinds of unaccountable things, but
A GENUINE MEDIUM NEVER HAS ANY HESITATION
IN SITTING WITH A CIRCLE IN A HOUSE AND AMONG
FURNITURE WHICH HE OR SHE HAS NEVER SEEN IN
HIS OR HER LIFE BEFORE. Even with a good
medium it is best, if time be valuable, not to
investigate at crowded public circles, because,
assuming imposture to be at work, there is no
telling who may not be aidimg, among the
numerous spectators. Besides, where so man
investigator has not time to put many himself.
people want to ask questions of the spirits, the
Investigators are recommended to be thus careful
in the selection of mediums, because as public
attention is gradually more rivetted upon Spiri-
tualism, impostors are sure to spring up, and even
to advertise in Spiritual periodicals, for the editors
manifestly cannot investigate the claims of ever
professing medium. At present (November, 1869)
there is very little imposture mixed up with the
Spiritual movement in Great Britain, and there are
only four or five paid mediums in all London.
Good paid medinms deserve high praise rather
than that censure which is thrown upon them even
by Spiritualists; they find house-room; tliey are
rcady to receive strangers at stated times when
private circles could not sit for the convenience of


THE PROGRESSIVE LIBRARY and
SPIRITUALIST DEPOSITORY has been re-
moved from Camberwell to No. 15, Southampton-row,
Bloomsbury-square, Holborn, W.C.
There is a Publishing Office and Shop for the sale of
Books; a Circulating Library of all Works on Spiritualism.
&c.; a Reading-Room supplied with the Spiritual and
Progressive Publications of the World; a Drawing
Room for the special use of Ladies and Subscribers;
Private Rooms for Séances, Committees, Meetings, &c.
and where all information respecting the Cause and the
Progress of events may be obtained.
Establishment, including the use of two Books at a
The Subscription, entitling to all the privileges of the
time from the Library for home perusal, is 21s. per annum
A well-assorted Stock of Stationery, Periodicals, cur-
rent Progressive Literature, Standard Works, Cheap
Books and Tracts, Planchettes, Materials for Writing
and Drawing Mediums; also Works and Appliances or
Phrenology, Physiology, Health, and Dieletic Reform
Temperance, Hydropathy, Gymnastics, Mesmerism.
Clairvoyance, Anthropology, &c., will be kept on sale.
As the responsibilities incurred in establishing this
"Home for Spiritualism" and the Science of Man are
very heavy, the Proprietor earnestly solicits the kind
co-operation and support of all who sympathise with
the enterprise. Strangers in London should at one-
call at the Progressive Library, where they may hear of
Lodgings and get other useful information.
J. BURNS, Progressive Library, 15, Southampton-row.
Bloomsbury-square, Holborn, London, W.C.


THE SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE, pub-
lished Monthly, contains all the news of Spiri-
Publisher, JAMES BURNS, 15, Southampton-row, Holborn,
tualism, and psychological articles by writers of ability
W.C.


THE BANNER OF LIGHT, the Chief
Weekly Newspaper on Spiritualism in the United
States, may be ordered through Mr. JAMES BURNS, 15,
Southampton-row, Holborn, W.C.


ginning to end a compact mass of good evidence
NO. 1 of THE SPIRITUALIST is from be-
that the facts of Spiritualism are true. It contains a
summary of the evidence given before the Dialectical
Society by twenty witnesses of eminence and ability; it
also gives the testimony of respectable non-Spiritualists
therefore it is a valuable publication to place in the
hands of non-Spiritualists, and should be selected for
that purpose rather than later numbers of the same
journal, as the later numbers will run out of print first.
and should be ordered while they are still obtainable by
those who wish to preserve them for binding. A few
copies of No. 1 should be kept on hand for the benefit of
non-Spiritualists, but later numbers should be retained in
the possession of tho early friends of the movement,
before they become scarce and unobtainable. Cover
with stringed backs, to keep copies clean till required
for binding, 3s. each.
London: E. W. ALLEN, Ave Maria-lane, E.C.; or J
BURNS, 15, Southampton-row, Holborn, W.C


Contents.


The Testimony of a Spirit
25
Testimony of a Non-Spiritualist
... 25
Evidences of Spiritualism
... 26
REPORTS OF MEETINGS:—Séances at the Spiritual
Library.—Seeing Mediumship—Mr. Clegg of York
-Somnambulism—Disturbing Influences at Cir-
cles Purgatory—Body, Soul, and Spirit—Progres-
sion in the Animal World—Spiritual Communica-
tions—An Earth-bound Spirit—Earthly Impedi-
ments to Development—The Formation of the
Spirit Worlds - Grindstones - Audible Spirit Voices
—Departed Friends
... 26
Private Séances.—Clairvoyance—Spirit Magnetism-
The Deity—Jesus of Nazareth—The Double—Me-
diumship-Martyrdom- The Future of the Physi-
cal Body— Bodily Deformities — Undeveloped
Spirits—Capital Punishment—Responsibilities of
Judges—Spirit Poetry—Spirit Voices—Seeing Me-
diumship—Table Motions without Contact with
Human Beings
... 27
GENERAL NEWS:—A Newspaper Burlesque—The
Dialectical Society—Tien Sien Tie—Spiritualism in
East London—The Philosophy of Spiritualism-
Spiritualism in South Wales
LEADERS:—The Nomenclature of Spiritualism - 28
Scenery in the Spirit World..
29
POETRY:—Spirit Verses—Extract from the “Mourn-
ing Bride "—Night
30
CORRESPONDENCE:—The best way to spread Spiri-
tualism...
... 30
Society
... 30
BOOK NOTICES:—Purpose and Passion
... 30
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENT.
... 30
PARAGRAPHS:—Agassizon Education, 26—The Royal
Institution, 26—Pauperism and Emigration, 29
The Two Ghosts, 30—The Welsh Fasting Girl, 30


SPIRITUALISM AND MEN OF SCIENCE
Sir J. Emerson Tennent once invited Faraday
to a séance at which Mr. Home was to be the
medium. Faraday wrote and asked for a pro-
gramme of the manifestations, and as nobody
knows beforehand what will take place at a circle
any more than the details of an expected star
shower can be given in advance, it was not pos-


MR. J. L. OLIVE, Professor of Modern
Spiritual Science, 1, Gibson-place, Warrington-
crescent, Maida Vale, W. Mr. Olive is prepared to afford
information relative to Spiritualism, the Development of
Mediumistic power, &c., with facilities for investigation
of Phenomena. Reliable advice based on large medica
experience, and aided by beneficent Spirit Intelligences
may also be obtained for the relief of ailments of Body
or Mind. Consultation Fee, One Shilling.


Printed for the Proprietor by JAMES BEVERIDGE, at the
Holborn Printing Works, Fullwood’s Rents, High
Holborn, in the Parish of St. Andrew-above-Bar and
St. George the Martyr, Loudon, and published by E
W. ALLEN, Ave Maria-lane, London, E.C.


The Spiritualist


A RECORD OF THE PROGRESS OF THE SCIENCE AND ETHICS OF SPIRITUALISM


The Human "Double"
THE most perplexing of all the phenomena of Spiri-
tualism are perhaps those in which the spirits of persons
still living in the body have manifested or made them-
selves visible at spirit circles. At one of the meetings of
the Gower-street conference, this subject occupied the
whole evening, and we have notes of the whole of
the proceedings, so that out of the valuable information
given at those meetings, a portion has been saved from
the general loss. The following is the testimony given
by Mrs. Emma Hardinge in her opening address at the
meeting of the conference just mentioned:
Mrs. Hardinge said that she would state some
facts that had come under her own observation
in connection with the subject of the “ double.” The
Rev. S. Binning, of New York, who is now living-
anybody could write to him to get the facts authenti-
cated—was eighteen years ago, a Wesleyan Methodist;
he afterwards became a Spiritualist, and joined what
was then known as the “ New York Circle” (consisting
of about twenty individuals), which had several branch
circles connected with other towns. One of these
circles met one night at Troy, 160 miles from New
York. There were twenty persons present. Accord-
ing to their rules each member had to be in the room
twenty minutes before the circle began sitting, and to
stop the sitting out. One Saturday evening, when both
circles, so far apart, were sitting, the Rev. S. Binning
was expected in Troy. He did not come at the set
time, and they began to sit at eight o’clock, when a
ring was heard at the door. Two of the members rose,
and answered the bell; Mr. Binning entered, much to
their surprise, as they had ceased to expect his coming
that time. He muttered some indistinct words, and
pushed past them in tho hall passage, opened the door
where the circle was sitting, and was beheld by eighteen
of the members. He again spoke indistinctly, and
quitted the room. The two who had been to the door
then came in and asked for him—“ Had they not seen
him again at the door?” “No!” They searched the
passage and the house, but he could not be found. Next
day, a telegram was received from him, stating that he
was seriously ill, and could not attend. He had started
the telegram from New York the night before, but
owing to bad weather the wires had met with an acci-
dent, and it did not reach its destination till the follow-
ing morning. He stated afterwards, that at the very
time he was seen his thoughts were earnestly fixed
upon the circle, and he felt anxious they should get his
message. In this case of the “ double ” it would be
seen that three senses were appealed to—sight, touch,
and hearing.
Another case occurred in a family of the name of
Dorchenbach at Wisconsin. The aged mother of the
family had bought some land, and with somewhat of
the childishness of extreme old age, was in, the habit
of going very often to see it on a Sunday. One week she
bought a new dress, and determined to first wear it
when visiting her land next Sunday; but she was ill,
and at the usual time of paying her visit was seized
with a swoon, from which she recovered in about half -
an-hour. Her son, who had fetched the doctor, then
went back with him to the inn where he had left his
horse.
The landlord asked him who was ill, and the
told him. He said, “That is quite impossible, for she
passed through my back kitchen, and went out to see
her land as usual."
The landlady also declared she
had seen her, and described her new dress, which had
never yet been worn. A lad here came in from the
land, and said he had seen Madame Dorchenbach there.
She had been seen by three persons
Another case occurred in Salem, Illinois. I was
staying at the house of a lady friend whose last hour
was approaching. She grieved at the absence of all
her children ; especially of one, a little cripple, and
bemoaned herself bitterly. I left her at four o’clock
and called again late at night, when she was better,
and said—“ I have seen my children, and dear little
Jessie sitting on the grass in the midst of her sisters,
playing with roses.
She passed away for the better
world. Some days afterwards we learned by letter
that at the time when she saw her children, little
Jessie, the cripple, who had been put out of doors to
play, was heard to scream. Her sisters ran out, and
found her covered with roses. She said she had seen
her mother, and although there were rose bushes not


No. 5.—VoL. I.




far off, they were much too far away for little Jessie to
reach them and pluck them for herself. These sister
are all now living, and can corroborate the facts
“Some five years ago I was lecturing in Dickson,
Illinois, and one evening had some visitors to see me
In the middle of our conversation I felt so weary that
I asked permission to leave my friends for a short time
It was twenty minutes to one o’clock. I went into my
chamber and looked out upon the broad prairie, and
there I saw a spirit, which did not surprise me, as I
have been in the habit of seeing them from infancy
He was a sullen, strange-looking spirit, with a very
woful face, sitting in a chair, appearing to look out of a
window something like my own, and looked as if
mimicking, in an unpleasant manner, my own actions.
Then I saw him draw a knife across his throat, and
nearly sever his head from his body. I gazed for nearly
five minutes on the horrid spectacle, and I could see all
the details, even to the complete anatomy of the visible
portions of the severed head. I returned to the parlour
and told my visitors what I had seen (here Mrs. Har-
dinge gave the names of some of those who were pre-
sent at the time), and shortly afterwards I had a letter
from one of them, who is a Government official, stating
that the postmaster of Dickson had committed suicide
four days later, but in exactly the same way in all the
minute particulars as I had witnessed the act. Several
other persons also wrote to me, stating that the details
of my vision were perfect. There are many in this
country who have proved to me most conclusively, again
and again, that they have beheld me at a time when I
have been distant from them, while I have been un-
eonscious of thus manifesting myself."


SPIRIT-RAPPING IN JOHN WESLEY'S FAMILY
IN TEN PARTS.—PART FOUR
LETTER  I.—To MR. SAMUEL WESLEY, from his MOTHER
“January 12, 1716-17
“ DEAR SAM,—This evening we were agreeably su-
prised with your packet, which brought the welcom
news of your being alive, after we had been in the
greatest panic imaginable, almost a month, thinking
either you were dead, or one of your brothers had by
some misfortune been killed.
“ The reason of our fears is as follows :—On the first
of December our maid heard at the door of the dining
room several dismal groans, like a person in extremes
at the point of death.
We gave little heed to her rela-
tion, and endeavoured to laugh her out of her fears.
Some nights (two or three) after, several of the family
heard a strange knocking in divers places, usually three
or four knocks at a time, and then staid a little. This
continued every night for a fortnight; sometimes it was
tin the garret, but most commonly in the nursery, or
green chamber.
We all heard it but your father, and
I was not willing he should be informed of it, lest he
should fancy it was against his own death, which, in-
deed, we all apprehended. But when it began to be so
troublesome, both day and night, that few or none of
the family durst be alone, I resolved to tell him of it
being minded he should speak to it. At first he would
not believe but somebody did it to alarm us; but the
night after, as soon as he was in bed, it knocked loudly
nine times, just by his bedside. He rose, and went to
see if he could find out what it was, but could see
nothing. Afterwards he heard it as the rest.
“ One night it made such a noise in the room over
our heads as if several people were walking, then run
up and down stairs, and was so outrageous that we
thought the children would be frighted; so your father
and I rose, and went down in the dark to light a
candle. Just as we came to the bottom of the broad
stairs, having hold of each other, on my side there
seemed as if somebody had emptied a bag of money at
my feet ; and on his, as if all the bottles under the
stairs (which were many) had been dashed in a
thousand pieces. We passed through the hall into the
kitchen, and got a candle, and went to see the children,
whom we found asleep.
“ The next night your father would get Mr. Hoole to
lie at our house, and we all sat together till one or two
o’clock in the morning, and heard the knocking as
usual.
Sometimes it would make a noise like the
winding up of a jack; at other times, as that night Mr.


Hoole was with us, like a carpenter planing deals; but
most commonly it knocked thrice and stopped, and then
thrice again, and so many hours together. We per-
suaded your father to speak, and try if any voice would
be heard. One night, about six o’clock, he went into
the nursery in the dark, and at first heard several deep
groans, then knocking. He adjured it to speak, if it
had power, and tell him why it troubled his house ; but
no voice was heard, but it knocked thrice aloud. Then
he questioned it if it were Sammy; and bid it, if it
were, and could not speak, knock again; but it knocked
no more that night, which made us hope it was no
against your death.
“ Thus it continued till the 28th of December, when
it loudly knocked (as your father used to do at the gate)
in the nursery, and departed. We have various con-
jectures what this may mean. For my own part, I fear
nothing, now you are safe at London hitherto; and
hope God will still preserve you. Though sometimes I
am inclined to think my brother is dead. Let me know
your thoughts on it.
S. W."
LETTER II.—From MR. S. WESLEY to his FATHER
“January 30, Saturday
“HONOURED SIR,—My mother tells me a very strange
sort of disturbances in your house. I wish I could have
some more particulars from you. I would thank Mr
Hoole if he would favour me with a letter concerning it.
Not that I want to be confirmed myself in the belief on
it, but for any other person’s satisfaction. My mother
sends to me to know my thoughts of it, and I cannot
think at all of any interpretation. Wit, I fancy, might
find many, but wisdom none. Your dutiful and loving
son,
“ S. WESLEY.”
LETTER III.—From MR. S. WESLEY to his MOTHER
“ DEAR MO THER, —Those who are so wise as not to
believe any supernatural occurrences, though ever so
well attested, could find a hundred questions to ask
about those strange noises you wrote me an account of
but for my part, I know not what question to put
which, if answered, would confirm me more in the belief
of what you tell me. Two or three I have heard from
others. Was there never a new maid or man in the
house that might play tricks? Was there nobody above
in the garrets when the walking was there? Did all
the family hear it together when they were in one room,
or at one time? Did it seem to all to be in the same
place, at the same time? Could not cats, or rats, or
dogs be the sprites? Was the whole family asleep
when my father and you went down stairs? Such
doubts as these being replied to, though they could not
as God Himself assures us, convince them who believe
not Moses and the Prophets, yet would strengthen such
as do believe. As to my particular opinion concerning
the events foreboded by these noises, I cannot, I must
confess, form any. I think, since it was not permitted
to speak, all guesses must be vain. The end of spirits
actions is yet more hidden than that of men, and ever
this latter puzzles the most subtle politicians. That we
may be struck so as to prepare seriously for any ill
may, it is possible, be one design of Providence. It is
surely our duty and wisdom to do. Dear mother, I beg
your blessing on your dutiful and affectionate son.


“S. WESLEY."
Jan. 19, 1716-7, Saturday
Dean’s-yard, Westminster
“I expect a particular account from every one."
LETTER IV.—From MRS. WESLEY to her son SAMUEL.
"Jan. 25 or 27, 1716-7
“ DEAR SAM,—Though I am not one of those that
will believe nothing supernatural, but am rather inclined
to think there would be frequent intercourse between
good spirits and us, did not our deep lapse into sen-
suality prevent it ; yet I was a great while ere I could
credit anything of what the children and servants re-
ported concerning the noises they heard in several part
of our house. Nay, after I heard them myself, I was
willing to persuade myself and them that it was only
rats or weasels that disturbed us; and having been
formerly troubled with rats, which were frighted away
by sounding a horn, I caused a horn to be procured, and
made them blow it all over the house. But from that
night they began to blow, the noises were more louc
and distinct, both day and night, than before; and that
night we rose and went down I was entirely convinced.


LONDON: FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 1870.


Published Monthly
Price Threepence


34


THE SPIRITUALIST.


JAN. 14, 1870.


A LECTURE BY MRS. HARDINGE.


A LECTURE BY MRS. HARDINGE.
THE following is a slightly abbreviated report of a
lecture delivered by Mrs. Emma Hardinge, a few Sun-
days ago, in the Music Hall, Boston, United States, and
published in the Banner of Light of the first of this
month:
“ Entering upon a fresh scene of inquiry to-day, we
advance one step further, and question, Who am I? A
single identity amid the vast masses of humanity, who
on every side of me present structures as grand, micro-
cosms as complete, powers as mighty as mine; in the
midst of a multitude all fashioned with equal wisdom
beneficence and care—Who am I? Whether I place
myself on the lowest round of the ladder amid the out
easts of the city streets, or picture myself achieving the
highest conditions of human greatness, still there are
minds—many higher, some lower than my own. Let
me once more turn my thoughts inward, and through
my own special identity strive to solve the question:
Who am I? I will remove myself in imagination from
amid the surrounding masses, and stand alone in the
wilderness, far from the throng of my fellow-men, with
none to rival me in power or beauty, save the blooming
flowers, the sighing wind, and the waving grass, living
isolated and unmatched. Here will I question of my-
self, Who am I? As a mere external being I stand
possessed of all the powers which constitute the gran
deur of humanity; but I stand alone beneath the cold
blast of winter, or the scorching heat of summer, with
no one to construct me a shelter, none to fashion my
garments ; my feeble hand unaided cannot execute these
duties. I have neither the architect’s skill, nor the
weaver’s craft. I can neither build nor clothe me in
the fabrics which the hands of so many artisans must
help to complete. My unaided power cannot accumulate
the implements of use, nor get together all those condi-
ments for which the whole civilized globe is taxed to
spread the table of luxury. I cannot reproduce the
forms of beauty which the painter imprints upon the
canvas, nor hew out the marble into the living glory of
the sculptor’s art. I stand a poor solitary unit, and
what am I alone? As the snows of winter silver my
head, and I bend beneath the infirmities of age, where
are the kind hands of youth and strength to uphold m
fading powers? Where the loving lips that shall whisper
consolation in mine ears? Where the friendly eyes that
shall look on me with assurances of undying love, when
I tread the silent valley that leads me to the unknown
land of souls? Living alone, dying alone, Who am I?
I must be one amongst my kind—and hence I must hie
me back to the multitudes who absorb me—and amongst
them endeavour to find my identity and my place,
though it should be one of the least that make up the
sum of humanity.
“ Now I return, and now once more resume my in-
quiries. I place myself on the lowest round of the
ladder of civilized existence. I behold myself plodding


through the city streets, where all I behold speaks of
plenty, wealth, ay, even luxury and splendour— a beg-
gar, homeless, friendless, alone; I gaze with wistful
face into the eyes of every passer-by, seeking one to
whom I may appeal for bread. Hungry and fainting,
I ask of some wealthy stranger, but he spurns me from
him, and rudely denies me the poor pittance which I
seek. Who am I, that I ask alms of him?
Who is he
that he should thus deny me? He is God’s steward
entrusted with wealth and plenty, but only to be dis-
pensed again to necessitous fellow-men like me. He is
God’s vicegerent, commissioned to feed His poor.
have tempted him, and he falls. I have demanded of
him the store with which God trusted him. and he has
failed in his commission. For this act my mark is set
on him; his lack of charity to me is a failure in his
duty—a sign on him which shall remain forever. Un-
known by name yet in eternal destiny I am known to
him as some one forever. We may never meet again
I may look upon his face no more, but forever and
forever he carries the stamp of my individuality through
the temptation, to good or evil, which I became to him.
“I pass on, and another gives me the alms which he
has denied. We, too, part, perhaps forever, but the
deed of kindness wrought on me can never die. Or
that man’s fate my need has written mercy, and charity
and through my agency there has a record gone up to
heaven for him, and I have been the means. Though
we may never more stand face to face on earth, yet in
the great day of account, when God numbers up His
jewels, that stranger’s deed wrought out through me,
the beggar, shall be remembered. I am something then
to him. And to both these strangers I am a part of
destiny.
“I pass on still further. There are curious eyes
gazing upon me; there are inquiring lips, demanding
of me my history; they give me neither alms nor scorn
but they listen to my story, and in the organization of
city life they cite me as an example—the pauper, and
to them the representative of pauperism; they leave
me to devise some schemes for remedying the condition
of the poor, so that in all the reforms suggested by my
condition, how much of consequence I have become to
my kind!
"I am no more the mere waif on the ocean of life.
Society changes, and people think of and care for me.
Though I know not my identity, yet I am one of those
who form the sub-stratum of society. Beneath their
feet my tears are falling; they tread upon my woes,
and shape their pathways in my griefs. I am a motor
in life’s noblest schemes of reformation, and when the
world shall be made wiser, and society more equal, my
name shall be found recorded in the series of causation.
Pauper as I am, when night’s shadows fall around my
way, I, like more favoured beings, seek some place of
rest, and, no matter where I sleep or lay me down, be-
neath the tattered banner of my wretchedness and rags
there cluster round me some who love or own me.
Perhaps it is a father, mother, or relative; perhaps
some poor companion, but some one there is who knows
and cares for me, to help me; and beneath the ragged
vest burns human love as tender as fills the heart which
throbs beneath the silken robe.
"No ! in my houseless wanderings I am not alone.
There are loving eyes that looked upon my own in
unconscious infancy; there are kind voices still to
bid me welcome, though it be but to the shelter of the
wayside ; there is ever some one to love me, and for me
to love. I am something to my kind, and millions such
as I exist; millions, that walk the city streets—some
to love, and some to hate—but all to make some mark
upon the eternal page of human destiny.
"I pass on. I am now the toiling operative ; there
are thousands of rough coats, and blistered hands, and
breaking backs and hearts like mine. Who knows me
among the masses, as I carry my hod, or wield my
hammer, and toil from early dawn to sinking sun?
Who cares for me? I am weary now, and seek my
humble home, and as I go, I look upon the various
buildings of the splendid city, the bridges, dykes, roads,
and canals which my hands, or the hands of such as I.
have helped to form. Who am I?
Why, I and mine
are the thews and sinews, nerves and muscles of the
world, and through our veins rushes the tide of power
which brings the result of perfected civilization. The
do not write my name on the shining roll of fame, on
emblazon it on monuments of bronze or stone ; but the
world is rife with me, and temples of worship, galleries
of art, lyceums of science and works of use, are monu-
mental tributes to my deeds and the deeds of such as I.
We are all and each identities in the midst of masses;
we can each say to the world, This I have done for you
—what have you done for me?
“ Let me enter my humble dwelling. Everywhere
I see the good and use another’s hands have wrought
the planks beneath my feet have been felled fron
primeval woods, and sawed and laid down for my use
the hands of toil erected the walls around me ; around
me are the images of well-known faces which the sun
god majesty of the heavens have traced for me—faces of
loved ones, drawn by the magic finger of the sunbeam;
the jet of flame which lights my humble home is a
mighty gospel, written by God Himself; He laid the


foundations of the coal in the ancient forests, and, as
they fell, He packed them closely, during the process of
ages, upon the floor of the heated earth, banked them
up with mountains, and, in time, came man, to drag
this wealth of treasure into light, and through veins
and arteries beneath the city’s streets it circulates,
until it gleams with equal splendour as a jet of flame,
in the abode of the artisan and the prince alike ; the
table is spread for me with the products of another’s
toil; the fragrant tea that now invigorates my frame,
was gathered in far-distant lands; the spices, from
islands of the sea, are here; bread, from ears of wheat,
prepared by toil and labour ; roots and fruits, gathered
by many hands for me. The poor rough cloth that
covers my board, is woven by the samc machinery that
spins the fabric for the richest lady.
All of man's
toil I share in. I cannot number up the million hands
that have been busy for my comfort. I cannot tell the
gospel of eternal use mapped out around me ; for in all
the perfections of the age in vast machinery, and all
that is useful in civilization, I partake with all man-
kind. My toil, too, blesses some who are dependent on
me—an aged sire, or tender wife or child—for I am not
alone, poor toiling operative though I be; this world is
my world, and its heart-affections are as truly mine as
thine, oh sovereign of my nation.
“ And now I must pass away, and whether beggar
artisan or king, poet, player, merchant or musician, I
must die. To-day I am—to-morrow I shall be for
gotten. Not so. Whatever has been my use will never
die.
Whatever place I have filled will send down its
uses through all time. The works of my hands will
still live on, or prompt men to imitation or improve-
ment. Still, who am I? Granted that I may leave
the world made better than I found it ; granted that its
wheels roll smoother for my labours, what is that to
me? Andwhen I am gone and my labours left behind,
where am I gone? and what of the soul that enabled
me to become the minister of use ?
When my foot no
more treads the earth, when I am not, what for me
And here it is that my speculation fails, and the dark
cloud of mystery settles down upon my future. Only as
the hand of the spirit opens it; only as I shall know that
I shall live beyond the uses of the passing hour ; only as
I can realize that I may carry fruit with me to another
life, will the uses of this be found. Beggar though I
have been, crushed down beneath the load of poverty
when I pass out to the vast unknown, what shall I
carry with me? I know that the prince carries not
with him the value of his shroud. What my place or
mission may have been among men, earth alone can
answer. But earth has ended for me, when the heart
ceases to beat, the light is gone from the eye, and the
curtain is dropped forever ! Oh raise it, lift it, souls of
the mighty dead ! rend it asunder, oh spirits of the im-
mortals ! leave me not in the dark mystery of material
existence only! Religion answers me with the faint
voices of the long ago which have come so far through
the arches of time that their echoes are lost; and when
I ask of the fathers for light, they answer me with
strange, vague words. Sometimes they tell me I shall
go to the Great Spirit, far off in some dim, mysterious
land; sometimes, that I shall sleep the sleep that knows
no waking till some distant day of wrath and doom ;
sometimes they answer me with the cold external voice
of science, and point to the fires extinguished, the mate-
rial form fading into decay with no higher result than
memory of its perished loveliness; sometimes they
whisper of a life to come, but never tell me that my
uses shall follow me—that the life I have lived on earth
I shall carry with me to that land beyond.
“ But behold the gates are opened to me, and there I
see stored up in the spirit-world all that I did on earth.
and there I can trace the results of every deed I’ve done
there I may discover the resignation of the beggar, the
tears and sighs of the poor. I see them woven into
those crowns of glory and robes of transfigured beauty.
I behold all treasured up; the works of the operative,
the struggles of the player, the ideas of poet, sculptor
and artist—all preserved.
“ All that we have done is there ; I know that after
I have fulfilled my mission I still shall be the man I
was on earth, for I shall carry all my manhood with
me. It only remains for me to return to my spirit and
question whether I have made the most of its endow
ments, and put to its best uses the life which has been
entrusted to me. Have I borne as best I might the
cross of the beggar? Have I done my duty as the
toiling labourer? Have I, as the poor player, acted
well my part? Have I striven for goodness?
Have I
sought to help some other more feeble than myself?
Have I, as the merchant, faithfully discharged God’s
commission entrusted to me? Have I been the soldier
of the Lord in whatever place He has commissioned
me to fight? Who am I? It matters not what round
of the ladder my feet may tread—the lowest or the
highest; the beggar is of as much worth as the king
the poet as the mightiest onc who gives him patronage.
Wherever the foot of man may tread, wherever he can
toil, there is his mission marked out in the woof of
existence. It is enough that around me lies my duty
and my use; it is enough that I have seen that within


that it was beyond the power of any human creature to
make such strange and various noises.
“ As to your questions, I will answer them particu
larly: but withal, I desire my answers may satisfy
none but yourself; for I would not have the matter
imparted to any. We had both man and maid new this
last Martinmas, yet I do not believe either of them
occasioned the disturbance, both for the reason above-
mentioned, and because they were more affrighted than
anybody else. Besides, we have often heard the noises
when they were in the room by us; and the maid par-
ticularly was in such a panic that she was almost in
capable of all business, nor durst ever go from one room
to another, or stay by herself a minute, after it began
to be dark.
“ The man, Robert Brown, whom you well know
was most visited by it, lying in the garret, and has been
often frighted down barefoot, and almost naked, not
daring to stay alone to put on his clothes; nor do I
think, if he had power, he would be guilty of such vil-
lany. When the walking was heard in the garret,
Robert was in bed in the next room, in a sleep so sound.
that he never heard your father and me walk up and
down, though we walked not softly I am sure. All the
family has heard it together, in the same room, at the
same time, particularly at family prayers. It always
seemed to all present in the same place at the same
time; though often before any could say, It is here
it would remove to another place.
All the family, as well as Robin, were asleep when
your father and I went down stairs, nor did they wake
in the nursery when we held the candle close by them
only we observed that Hetty trembled exceedingly in
her sleep, as she always did, before the noise awaked
her. It commonly was nearer her than the rest, which
she took notice of; and was much frightened, because
she thought it had a particular spite at her. I could
multiply partieular instanccs, but I forbear. I believe
your father will write to you about it shortly. What-
ever may be the design of Providence in permitting
these things, I cannot say. Secret things belong to
God. But I entirely agree with you, that it is our
wisdom and duty to prepare seriously for all events
“ S. WESLEY."


JAN. 14, 1870.


THE SPIRITUALIST.


35


the vast confines of the eternal world those uses are
never lost. If I have played well the part—however
small or large—which He has given me, I shall surely
reap my harvest in eternity; and not only so, but I
shall continue the uses commenced on earth, and rise to
others of which earth is but the corner stone. Since
bright spirits have opened up the view of the land
beyond, I have learned that nothing on earth is lost in
the heavens eternal—for pain and toil and grief there
is compensation, glory for the thorns of martyrdom
and a crown for every cross. I will return to my life
of effort, and never more may the voice of questioning
murmur pass my lips. I live for ever; I shall be an
immortal spirit ; and though here none may know like
my Heavenly Father who I am, in the thought that I
live for ever all my destiny here and hereafter is accom-
plished."


Reports of Meetings


[When reports of the speeches of spirits are printed in this Journal, non-
Spiritualists should understand that spirits out of the body are wise or
foolish, truthful or untruthful, just the same as spirits in the body. More
over, they are but individuals, so do not know everything. The statements of
a spirit are but the assertions of an individual; but by comparing the state-
ments of many spirits, it may in time be possible to discover in what points
they agree, and to sift out the unreliable communications. Many spirit
cannot see each other, any more than we can see them, and as some of them
are thus in different states of life, it does not follow that contradictor
messages are therefore untruthful. Spirits are of different religions, conse-
sequently their teachings do not altogether agree; there is no more uniformity
in the next world than in this one. It is the business of this journal to report
facts, so we are in no way responsible for the religions, scientific, or any other
teachings given by individual spirits.]


SEANCES AT THE SPIRITUAL LIBRARY.


CRUSHED TO DEATH—THE CONSEQUENCES OF CRIME—REMORSE IN THE
SPIRIT WORLD—RESTITUTION AND REPENTANCE—THE EQUILIBRIUM OF
THE MENTAL FACULTIES—PROPER NAMES IN TRANCE-MEDIUMSHIP.
ON Friday evening, December 31st, the ordinary weekly
séance was held at 15, Southampton-row, High Holborn.
Twenty-two ladies and gentlemen were present.
Master SELWOOD, a physical medium, being in attendance,
a few of those present were formed into a circle for physical
manifestations. After the lapse of considerable time, genuine
raps and table motions were obtained, but under conditions in
no way satisfactory to strangers. Manifestly it is necessary
that the medium should be well developed beforehand, that
the time of a large company may not be wasted in witnessing
weak manifestations.
Mr. J. J. MORSE, medium, then passed into the trance state,
and the first spirit influence acting upon him made him cry
bitterly. The spirit gave the name of Ellen Jones ; she said
that she had been crushed to death at Bristol, and that her
father was a carrier living at Weston-Super-Mare. Her con-
trol of the medium only lasted for about two minutes, and she
said—“ My friends cry and grieve a great deal about me.
Can this be death? I wish
So many think about me.
father were here. Oh, do for pity’s sake tell father that
Ellen’s not dead. Do tell him."
She was promised that her message should be delivered, and
she left the medium ; the intense grief displayed during this
short communication, made the scene a painful one.
A hard heavy look then came over the face of the medium
and the next spirit said:—It very often strikes the minds of the
listeners at these meetings, and the readers of the accounts of
what transpires at these meetings, something like this—“ What
fools those spirits must be to come back and tell people all about
their past lives ; if I had done a dirty action and found that I
was obliged to wipe out the smudge, I would do it in silence and
try to do my best to put the wrong right, but I would not go
Let such people enjoy
to preach about my wrong-doing."
that frame of mind as long as they can, and that will not be
long; it is a state of mind that will not last for ever. The
will become wiser, and do the same thing themselves, and lay
themselves open to the same charge. It is not with any desire
to show ourselves in brighter colours individually to you that
we come. We don’t come to tell you these little histories to
make ourselves appear as saints in your eyes. The motive we
have is a deeper one ; it is to give you a practical lesson, so
that you shall see for yourselves, reflected in the mirror of
your minds, the consequences of your acts whether they be
good or bad. It is to show you the certainty of the curse
coming home to roost, of the dove returning with the olive
branch of love in its mouth, that we come back to tell you
these histories. With that short preface, I'll now give you
mine, and you'll say as the scroll unfolds itself, that it is
a somewhat strange one. The society of the world you move
in knew nought of the story. When I was ushered into the
physical life, and as I grew up to be a child, a temper sullen
and morose manifested itself ; underneath this sullenness was
a fierce vindictive nature—the nature of the cat that glides
stealthily along the ground, fair to look at, yet when the prey
is within its grasp the eyes dilate, the claws come forth, and
the spring is made. I was feared and hated in my childhood’s
day. I was strong physically ; few could match me in physical
sports, and as my physical nature was well-known, all were
very careful that they did not offend me. I rose to no heighr
in earthly life, but I became acquainted with a young girl
who in every way was unfitted to share a life with me. She
saw this, and after a little time we parted—she with fair
promises and kindly wishes to myself. But every kind wish was
but a burning stone to my nature, and I swore a deadly ven-
geance, not for disappointed love, but for disappointed calcula-
tions, for I always prided myself that I could see so far ahead,
and my pride was wounded. Some of you know what it is to
have the pride touched to the quick. No opportunity presented
itself for vengeance for a long time. She met with another, and
according to the laws of your land became his wife. He was
called away from home, and was expected to be absent for
three days, and here the opportunity came that I had been
watching for for several years then. “Vengeance” is an easy
word to say, but how painstaking are we in our endeavours to
accomplish a thing of that description. I knew her brother
and you may be sure that I had no love for him. He called to
visit his sister while her husband was away, and while I was
drinking I had witnessed the call and the departure. While I
was drinking it was easy to improve upon the hint, and to set
a story afloat in our community, and these things slide glibly
from the tongue. He returned. His wife was all smiles and
happiness. But here and there he heard a rumour; bit by bit
his confidence was usurped. He dared not accuse her, for he
had no proof, but little by little he took to drink, and when
once a man does that, he goes down the hill very rapidly.
With all his drunkenness he still hid from his wife the real


cause of his discontent, till from drinking he came to quar-
relling about the slightest thing, then to cursing, and from
cursing to blows, and from ill-usage and starvation (for he
was carried to the poorhouse), he slowly drove her to her
grave. He rapidly carried himself after her, for no mortal
frame could bear the usage he threw upon his. All this gave
me a fiendish joy I could scarcely conceive. It was I who
plied him with liquor; it was I who excited to frenzy while
appearing to calm him ; it was I who did it all.
But he passed
on. The children—there were two—became beggars, and
were charged to the parish. One night, by some strange
means, my walk led me to their old house, and I felt a strange
uncomfortable fecling ; I don’t know why, but his wife’s face
seemed to be before me. and I felt that I was a murderer.
had no creature to whom I could confide my sorrow, because
all feared and hated me. Then I sank deeper into the curse
of drunkenness, until at last I became a wretched outcast
myself. I had never married. What employment I had was
taken from me because of my dissolute habits, till no one
would give me a kind word or a crust of bread. I wandered
through the country. I was a monster, the lowest of the low
I was glad to herd with thieves and murderers for the sake of
getting a meal ; but everybody seemed to give it under pro-
test ; it seemed indeed as if the mark of Cain had been set
upon my brow. Ten years I led that life. Let our orthodox
friends talk of hell and of flames mountains high, and of
caverns of boiling brimstone, they could not picture one line
of the agonies I suffered. I was but mortal, and had to bow
to the inevitable laws of nature. The change came to
me. It was an easy sleep, for I was but a shadow, and
had not tasted food for three days. The bright sun was
shining, and the hay-field was my bed. I arose; stag-
gering I became faint; it was a field by the wayside
close to the town. I sank, and passed on.
When I re-
covered she was before me, bright to look upon, but sad
to gaze on long, for though she was bright when I first saw
her, a deep sadness came over her face. He was there, but
not with her. He looked fierce and revengeful. I had lost
my old vindictive feelings, and was afraid ; I crouched down
and shut him out of sight. And she spoke, and this is what
she said—“ Go. Undo what you have done. Then shall yor
find peace, but not till then.” I looked up and she was gone
not a sight of her could I see. But there was he, fierce and
vindictive, ready to tear me to pieces, and I fled from him
aye, fled like a cur. I felt myself drawn, I did not know
where, but I followed my inclination to go, and I stood before
a house on your planet, and sitting by the fireside saw an aged
couple bowed down with grief and sorrow, and saying in thein
hearts bitter things about the poor thing’s husband. A voice
said to me, “ See what you have done.” Then the attraction
ceased, and I was off again. This time it was the children
in a poor house, alone, though with many, their little hearts
sighing for their mother and the father who had ill-used then
so. One sank on her knees, and offered up a prayer for
“mother” and “ dear father.” I could not stay long, and felt
forsaken worse than ever. I felt that I was not fit to speal
to the meanest among men or spirits. The curtain lifted, and
continued to lift. until at last the picture before my mental
eye was so fearful, so awful, that I prayed to be crushed fron
existence. I traced the lie through the minds of hundreds
each turn of the lie had done its work, and a voice said
“ That is thy work. There is much for thee to undo. No
rest till you have made right that which you have made
wrong."
Many years of your time rolled on before I righted
one consequence of my original lie. Time and time rolled
on, and the unweaving of the web I once taugled is drawing
near its completion. Those who suffered so much have passed
on to spirit life, and are far higher in their development than
I am, and sometimes indeed I scarcely dare to hope to be equal
with them. They visit me, but it is the visit of the angel to the
penitent man. Such, friends, is my history. It is a sad one
but I begin to see glimpses now of the causes which produce
the effects I have described. Much was caused by lack of
knowledge in the world of time. They knew not how to
instruct children. There was too little attention paid to the
true principles of right and wrong; everyone had a standard
for himself. I was gross and undeveloped physically, and no
means were provided to refine the grossness of my disposition
and so I entailed upon myself the consequences which I have
had to bear. Truly does the proverb say “Curses, like
chickens, come home to roost.”. My name was Arthur Samuel
Walker, and all I have told you took place many of your
years ago—more than a hundred. The scene of my life was
Blackheath Vale, and I passed away on the outskirts of the
city of Bath.
TIEN SIEN TIE, the guardian spirit of the medium, then
came as usual, and said : Good evening, my friends. The
whole of the faculties of the human mind are given for the
beneficial use of mankind, and when you have discovered the
use of each faculty, aud have applied it to its proper use
benefit results to yourselves and to those connected with you.
But if one portion of the mind be unduly taxed, a derange-
ment of the organs of expression takes place, and insant
results. There are many mad persons that the world of your
passes by, and takes no heed of. There are many who so use
their physical nature that all spiritual perception is ignored
The base of the brain is entirely devoted to the action of the
individual’s life ; the lower faculties are unduly used, and the
result is a man or woman gross and physical in desires and acts
with no perception of spiritual truths, incapable of under-
standing spiritual existences or spiritual teaching, incapable
of appreciating the mental labours of others. With them the
most sublime mental efforts pass as commonplace and dull
But give them a class of food suitable to their minds; they
appreciate it. The mind, in fact, is diseased, and the brain is
thrown from its balance
; the man passes through the world,
but not as mad. The same result is produced by the excessive
use of any one of the faculties of the mind. Excessive use of
the mental or spiritual faculties of the mind will throw the
triangle of the brain from its balance, but each in its proper
place assists the other. The physical portion takes note of a
thing, the mental faculties analyse it, and the spiritual per-
ceptions show the principle, or the real attributes, of the
thing perceived. When the faculties are properly used the
mind is “circular,” by which I mean “harmonious,” and
principles as well as attributes are arrived at. Where we
find excessive predominance of one portion of the mind, we
should try to remove it, first by taking away the attraction
and then by introducing a corresponding attraction to the
higher portion of the brain; if it be done harmoniously
equilibrium will be restored. Then raise the top of the
triangle, and a better spirit will be sent to the other life,
better acts will flow from the brother or sister, and better
consequences will return to both. It is simple, but it is true
The greater the truth, and the grander the principle, the more
simple is the action. All great things are simple, like the
causes of all things in this portion of space inhabited by


worlds and spheres ; those who have a knowledge of the
causes know them to be simple as the simple fact I have given
you this evening. I cannot at present show you the sustaining
causes of this system of universes, for you are not yet prepared
for it, and it would occupy too much time now. The causes
of existence and of the sustaining power of existence in your
worlds and spheres as described by your modern seer,* are
capable of being analysed, in fact they have been analysed
and found to be sound. One day you shall know the results
of our researches; till then we must crave your patience.
Time with you is measured by periods, and with us by events
your time is unkuown to us. Another division of your time
will soon be numbered with eternity. Truth such as I have
told you, you have. Commence the new division with new
efforts to get the truth from all mediums, and when you get
the truth by careful investigation, hide it not, but give to thy
brother lest he faint by the wayside for want of spiritual
water. By patience you may dcvelope your physical mani-
festations. It will require patience, but I will see that too
much of your evening is not occupied by your patience. You
have the means, and it rests with you whether they shall be
used; you are each and every one to act as a free agent
there is no compulsion. Farewell, peace be with you.


ON Friday evening, January 7th, at the ordinary weekly
séance, much of the time of those present was again wasted
in witnessing a few feeble physical manifestations, and in
receiving some inaccurate communications, through the
mediumship of Master Selwood. He will be a capital
medium in time, but the mistake on the part of the manage-
ment of taking up the time of a large company in witnessing
the unsatisfactory results of partly-developed mediumship, will
assuredly lead to the breaking up of the weekly meetings, if
the plan be persisted in.
Next came some communications through Mr. J. J. Morse
but the control was very weak. In answer to questions, his
guardian spirit said that there is great difficulty in getting
proper names through the brain and mouth of a trance
medium. In the case of Mr. Morse probably one in three of
the names and addresses are given with absolute freedom
from error, but nearly all of them are sufficiently accurate to
serve for the identification of the communicating spirit. He
closed by controlling Mr. Morse as a writing medium, and by
this method stated that he had been requested to say that the
name Mary Willett given at a former séance, should have been
Harriet Tillot, and that the name of the doctor who attended
her was “Fulcher.“ He said that when the names given
through his medium are not accurate, they will be found to
much resemble the real ones in sound.
Mr. J. M. Peebles, who was present, said that there are
three ways of controlling mediums, namely, “mechanically,
psychologically, and inspirationally;” the control of Mr.
Morse seemed to be a mixture of the psychological and the
inspirational, in which case it is difficult to give proper
names. †


BIBLE SPIRITUALISM.


IN the last number of the Spiritual Magazine is a long
article on Spiritualism and the Bible, from which we make the
following extract:
“ Our American brethren direct us also to the East, for a
proof of the mere modern and mythic character of Christianity
- that only religion in the world which possesses a clear and
connected historic basis, unequivocal, positive, and predomi-
nant over all myth and fable, running from the creation until
now. Mr. Peebles, in his Seers of the Ages, tells us that the
historic Jesus is copied from the Crishna of India, and that
the close and almost perfect parallelisms between the Crishna
of the Bhagavat Gita and the Christ of the Gospels is suffi-
cient evidence that one was borrowed from the other, or that
they were both copies from some older myth.'
“Now certainly no man well acquainted with the ancient
theology of the Hindoos could for a moment doubt which of
these relations was borrowed from the other, if there were
such a borrowing. In the one case we have in the Bible a
plain, clear, uninterrupted history from the very earliest era
of history down to the time of Christ, in which the founder of
Christianity is most unequivocally and luminously heralded
and graphically described, His person, His career and His doc-
trine. This is done, not by one prophet, but by a score, all
living in succession; and, therefore, incapable of together
concocting such a story. These prophets prove their mission
to be genuine by simultaneously prophecying the fates of all
the nations surrounding them, and some of those nations then
the most powerful in the world. Profane history has most
absolutely shown the truth of these predictions; and that
truth is every day in our own time being re-confirmed by the
discoveries on the sites of those nations. Egypt, Nineveh.
Babylon and Syria, have all yielded up to the researches of
travellers and archaeologists the most amazing proofs of these
prophetic announcements of from two to four thousand years
ago. The Assyrian relics of art in the British Museum, the
bricks and manuscripts of Babylon, the latter now in prepara-
tion for publication ; the discoveries of the giant cities of
Bashan, still existing, these and the condition of a thousand
objects in Palestine, place the Hebrew history on such a basis
of demonstrated truth as no other history of the ancient world
possesses.
“Turn from this solid and sunlit plane of history, stretching
without a break from the very dawn of history, to the litera-
ture of India—and we plunge at once into a region of dark-
ness illuminated only by partial light, into a chaos of myths
and legends. There is no such thing as a clear matter-of-fact
continued history of national events, philosophy, or religion.
We gather our scattered incidents from different, quite dis-
tinct, and often most contradictory books, and all mingled
with the wildest and most absurd fables. We have nothing to
assure us of the dates of many of the half fact half saga state-
ments, but such as we can draw from the antiquity of the lan-
guage in which thcy occur. Some of the greatest authorities
such as Max Müller, tell us that probably these mystical, rathei
than historic productions, may be as old as the Hebrew
history.
“ Let us suppose them to be so old ; nay, let us suppose some
of them to be as old as the early days of the human race, ere
the different tribes had dispersed themselves into different
and distant regions, what then? We come merely to that
primal period in which the human race possessed, most pro0
bably in common, the divine revelations of those leading
truths which should become the ultimate springs of universal
civilization and religion. Those truths have maintained them-


* Who is he? Andrew Jackson Davis?—ED.
† We will make inquiries into the accuracy of the names given through
Mr. Morse’s mediumship. The views of Mr. Peebles, as to the methods of
giving proper names through trance mediumship, are given more in detail
in another column.—ED.


36


THE SPIRITUALIST.


JAN. 14, 1870.


selves on a sound and palpable and unbroken highway of
history, through the Hebrew, and through no other race what
ever. In all others, Egyptian, Indian, Chinese, they have be-
come swamped and swallowed up in the vast volumes of
heathen darkness and sensualized fable.
“ These gentlemen lay much stress on the assertion that some
of the Indian resemblances to Christian facts are much prior
to the Christian era. Suppose this to be actually so, the fact
remains that the predictions of Christ, and of the incidents of
His earth life, also stood fixed thousands of years in the Hebrew
Scriptures before He Himself came ; and it is much more
likely that in the intercourse known to have existed between
the eastern nations for thousands of years before Christianity
the Hindoos and others should have received, through then
learned men, knowledge of these wonderful predictions, than
that the Hebrews should have gleaned them from theirs so
mixed with fantastic fable. The whole history of the Jews
so proud of their superior knewledge, so exclusive in their
character, is wholly opposed to the idea of such a borrowing
and in the whole Hebrew history there is no trace of any such
infusion from the far East. In fact the ancient and complete
body of Jewish revelation had no need of it. It is far more
likely that the fleets of Solomon conveyed copies of the
Hebrew writings to India, which would be amazingly curious
to the learned men of the Orient. Again, the Ten Tribes
when carried away eastward, and absorbed in the Eastern
nations, no doubt carried with them their prophets and pro-
phetic knowledge ; and traces of these Ten Tribes are asserted
to remain among the Afghans, and even in peoples more
eastern.
“It is further admitted by oriental scholars that the modern
doctrines and rites of both Buddhism and Brahminism are
very different from the ancient ones ; and it is far more legi-
timate for us to suppose that St. Thomas, in his mission to
India, immediately after the death of Christ, carried widely
through India the new ideas and faith which led to these
modifications. His Church, discovered in India in our time
and described in the Christian Rescarches in Asia of the Rev.
Claudius Buchanan, London, 1841, must through this long
period have disseminated amongst the learned Hindoos man,
Christian facts and ideas. Besides, who can doubt that the
spirit of God’s wisdom and love, which is Christ, has in all
ages and nations been stirring and moving in the minds and
hearts of all mankind, and more or less revealing Himself
there, according to the assurance of St. Paul that God had
never left Himself, even amongst the heathen, without a
witness?
I observe that our friend, Mr. Peebles, in his Seers of the
Ages, rests too much on the Anacalypsis of Godfrey Higgins
a work in which there is the most eonstant straining to draw
Christianity from the fragmentary passages of Hindoo mytho-
logy rather than from the full and positive records of the Jews
themselves. Mr. Peebles and the Americans of that school do
injustice to their own intellectual acumen in relying on the
interested patchwork of Higgins to produce a caricature of
Christ rather than on the authentic annals of Christ’s own
people. Besides, who on reading, himself, the story of Crishna
in the Bhagavat Gita, a philosophic poem, or in the Vishnu
Purano, can recognise the pretended identity of that god with
Christ? He is but one of the ten Avatâras of Vishnu, and so
far from being the gentle, loving, wise, self-sacrificing being
which Christ was, he is in his youth an imp of mischief and
practical tricks amongst the cowboys and shepherdesses of
Vrindâvana. Is it in playing pranks with Indra—in mocking
his elders—in lifting a mountain into the air, with all its cow-
herds and cattle—in slaying a demon—in building a town
with his own hands—in marrying sixteen thousand wives, and
having a hundred and eighty thousand sons ; or in being
killed himself by a hunter, that we recognise the likeness to
Christ? These attempts, in truth, are as absurd as they are
unhistorical. For what is the fact? Whatever may be the
date or the character of the myths of India, Christ is no mythi-
cal, but an absolute and altogether historical personage. His
history stands in plainest terms in the book which is as much
the history of the Jews as the history of England is of the
English. It is not the fable of a fabled people. That people
exists amongst us and the other modern nations to-day ; is
exists in fulfilment of the same age-long chain of prophecies
which foretold and attested Christ; on every page of that
history, from its first to its last, stands the declarations of the
coming of Christ, and when He did come it was in no obscure
or mythical age, but in a comparatively modern period, amid
the blaze of Greek and Roman civilization, which attest, in
fullest evidence, His life, death, and eternal doctrines.
“To attempt to reduce to a level with pagan writers or with
easter mythical deities, this Divine Man, with whom all the
prior ages are filled by anticipation, and all the subsequent
ones by the light and life and civilisation springing from His
Gospel, is a perversion of intellect, only to be accounted for
by the influence of those lying spirits, who were announced as
the dark deceivers of these latter times.


THERE is a probability that the Gower-street conferences
will begin again very shortly.
ATMOSPHERICAL INFLUENCES ON MANIFESTATIONS.—A
the meeting of Mrs. C. Berry’s circle, on Thursday, December
30th, the spirits said that the weather was very bad indeed
for physical manifestations ; it was scarcely possible for it to
be worse. The sky was overcast with thin cloud, and a thaw
had set in, with a light wind from the south-west. The dry-
bulb thermometer on the 28th, stood at 25 degrees ; on the
29th, at 31 degrees ; and on the 30th, at 37 degrees. The
barometer on the same three days stood at 29.95, 30.22, and
30.00 inches respectively.
THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY.—On Tuesday evening
January 4th, at the ordinary fortnightly meeting of the
Anthropological Society, at 4, St. Martin’s-place, Trafalgar
square, Dr. R. S. Charnock, F.S.A. presided. A paper by Mr
L. O. Pike, M.A., was read in the absence of its author, by Dr.
Carter Blake, upon “The Psychical Elements of Religion."
The writer said that in his paper he intended to exclude all
revelations from God from consideration, but to include all
the other numerous religions, from fetishism upwards. He
would not attempt to draw a line between religion and super-
stition, because every man puts down his own as the true reli
gion, and all others as superstitions. He said that every
people who have handed down a literature have handed down
a creed, and that these crceds all agree with one another, in
that some angry being has to be propitiated, and that the God
or gods are represented as having the passions and feelings of
men ; the higher the race of men, the higher is the ideal
standard which they call God. All tbe ancient religions
therefore, agree by acting largely upon the fears of those who
follow them. The Rev. Dunbar Heath, Mr. Dibley, Mr. W.
Dendy, Mr. Charlesworth, Mr. Macrae Moir, Mr. Moncure
D. Conway, and Dr. Carter Blake took part in the discussion.


General News.


The
SPIRITUALISM is gaining ground in Australia.
Melbourne Daily Telegraph of Oct. 12th last, reports that Mr.
Nayler delivered a lecture on the subject at the Mechanics
Institute, Melbourne, and that he asserted the King of Bavaria
the Emperor Napoleon, and Queen Victoria, to be Spiri-
tualists.
SPEAKING IN UNKNOWN TONGUES.—It will be remembered
how, several years ago, considerable excitement was caused in
London, by the psychological phenomena of the speaking in
unknown tongues, breaking out in one of the religious sects.
The well-known mediumship of Mr. R. Cogman, 22, New-road
Whitechapel-road, E., has recently undergone a change, and
he is sometimes made to talk vigorously in some language
which neither he, nor anybody else who has heard it, can
understand, This apparently useless phase of mediumship, is
not pleasant to Mr. Cogman himself, who says that the words
seem to roll up from his stomach, and they hurt his throat as
they come up. It is manifestly a language, and not gibberish
which he is made to speak, and one linguist has expressed an
opinion that it is probably a Polynesian language, as nearly if
not all the words end in vowels. If the language can be
identified, it will be capital proof that spiritual communica-
tions are sometimes very foreign to the mind of the medium
but in the meantime this form of mediumship is unpleasant
enough to Mr. Cogman, and void of instruction to the hearers


TABLE SIGNALS AND THE ALPHABET.—A few weeks ago
we pointed out the saving in time that might be effected
when receiving messages by means of raps or tilts, if the
alphabet were written in the following way, and a particular
method of signalling adopted:
I
O
E
A
T
1
R
D
S
N
H
2
C
M
L
U
3
G
4
B
V
P
W
K
Q
X
J
V
5
6
Z


A friend at Norwich has written to say that he places this
alphabet on the table, and asks the spirits to tilt first the
number of the horizontal line in which the letter is placed
then to make a pause, and afterwards to tilt the number of
the letter itself according to the position it occupies in the
line. Thus the calling over of the alphabet by anybody
present is rendered unnecessary. At some American circles
the spirits have been taught to signal by means of the Morse
alphabet, as follows :—


A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M


N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z


The above alphabet consists of long and short dashes. A
short dash means a little tilt of the table, and a long dash a
great tilt; a pause of longer duration must be made to sepa-
rate the letters. This system is troublesome and requires
patience to learn, but afterwards messages can be signalled
with great rapidity by its aid.
THE SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE.—The Spiritual Magazine is
now ten years old, and is justly very elated by the fact. The
: “The work goes bravely and
editor says in the last number
steadily on ; without hurry and without pause. It is true we
have had our difficulties and discouragements; no work
worth engaging in was ever without them ; but Time, which
tries all things, has but deepened our convictions, and
strengthened our resolves to persevere in the work in which
we are engaged, and shown how impregnable are the founda-
tions of our faith, and taught us more fully how great the need
of its corrective lessons, and how wide, and ever widening an
horizon it opens out before us. Our work is, and has even
been purely a labour of love. and therefore one whose rewards
though unsought, have been the most satisfying and ample
far higher in kind than any of an external sort could pos-
sibly be. Our contributors, too, one and all, have had and
have sought no compensation other than arises from the satis-
faction of bearing testimony to the truth. We thank them on
our own behalf and on that of our readers for their disin-
terested and efficient co-operation."
PROPER NAMES AND TRANCE MEDIUMSHIP.—Last Friday
Mr. J. M. Peebles, medium, and Consul at Trehizond to the
Government of the United States, was present at the public
séance at 15, Southampton-row, Holborn, when the subject of
the difficulty of forcing proper names through trance media
came up. He then said that he has noticed that there are
three ways of controlling trance mediums—“ mechanically
We have since asked
psychologically, and inspirationally."
him to define the ideas conveyed to his own mind by these
three terms, since his large experience of spiritual phenomena
in America, makes his testimony valuable. He says that
sometimes the spirits have complete control of the body of the
medium, moving fingers, arms, legs, muscles, and mouth with
the greatest ease, without exercising much action, if any, upon
the brain. This he calls mechanical control, and by it the
spirits, he says, can bring out proper names with the greatest
ease and accuracy. By psychological control, he means that
wherein the medium speaks according to the will of the person
or spirit controlling him. He (Mr. Peebles) has asked the
spirits to leave a medium, and let him control the mediun
himself by his will-power, and he has done so successfully
but found that he must put his thoughts very clearly into
words, to make the medium speak them. There is liability to
error, in giving proper names by this method. By “ inspira-
tional” mediumship he means mediumship wherein great
ideas lie dormant in the mind of the medium, and a high
spirit or band of spirits, direct a stream of the spiritual forces
upon the brain of the medium, and raise his intellect to a
high and abnormal state of activity ; acting in fact somewhat
as a blast of pure oxygen gas would act upon a dull coal fire.
It is very difficult, if not impossible, to get out proper names
with accuracy by this kind of mediumship. He thinks the
mediumship of Mr. J. J. Morse to be a mixture of the psycho-
logical and the inspirational. The control of the physical
frame of Mr. Morse is imperfect, for when he is made to write
the lines run into each other, he has difficulty in folding tho
paper when he tries to do so, and he has difficulty in carrying
it to, and in seeing the person he wants to give it to.


“THE REALITY OF A SPIRIT WORlD DEMONSTRATED."
Under this title, Mr. R. F. Rippon, who has visited our town
under the auspices of the Ryde Dialectical Society, delivered
two lectures on Spiritualism, in the Town Hall, on Thursday
and Friday last. He pointed out that the subject had of late
years attracted a good deal of attention, in both the old and
new worlds ; and that it had of late years been much written
spoken, and he believed, even preached about ! The doctrine
had made numerous disciples, and as some of its adherents
were composed of men whose minds were of the highest calibre
and who occupied good social positions—as it was not confined
to the low and the ignorant (although that, in his opinion
would not be a proof that the reverse was the case), it was evi-
dent that there was some truth in Spiritualism and that it was
worth investigation. He defined Spiritualism as embracing all
spiritual or miraculous phenomena, both of ancient and modern
days, and above all, what he considered as its highest mani-
festation, as the power of addressing ourselves to Jehovah and
holding close communion with Him. He gave many interest
ing details of his experiences as a Spiritualist; and played
several impromptu pieces, which, he said, were direct inspira-
tions from the spirit world. He added that at times he could
see the spirits of eminent composers standing by his side
whilst he was playing, and that sometimes his hand was raised
from the piano, whilst the keys were pressed by supernatural
agency. His playing was of the most wonderful description
we have ever heard, and at the same time there was an inex-
pressible wcirdness in the sounds which cmanated from the
instrument. Some of the audience declared that thcy could
hear the tones of a human voice issuing from the pianoforte.
He also exhibited some beautifully correct drawings and paint-
ings of insects and other natural objects, which he had made,
he said, by spiritual agency. He was not, naturally, he de
clared, endued with any talent for drawing, and it was only
after a drawing medium had laid his hand on his that he ac-
quired the wonderful power he now possesses. Of the paint-
ings exhibited by Mr. Rippon, it would be imposssible for a
naturalist to speak too highly. His flowers stand out upon
the background in all the transparent delicacy, richness of
colouring, and charm of actual life. His insects are, if pos-
sible, even still more wondrously perfect. Surely art never
more successfully invaded the confines of nature than in the
enchanting portraitures of Mr. Rippon’s. Those who have had
the privilege of knowing this remarkably gifted man will join
us in the wish that he may have a safe and successful return
from the sunny lands of Arabia; and that he may be spared
many years of life to depict with his marvellous fidelity those
glorious objects which he so loves, and which now allure him
from the studio and home to the wild regions of Algeria.—Isle
of Wight Times.
SPIRITUALISM IN THE ISLE OF WIGHT.—Mr. F. N.
Broderick, of Ryde, in the course of a letter to the editor of
the Isle of Wight Times, about the preceding paragraph, said
““So far as I have been able to learn, all those persons who
wcre present on the first of Mr. Rippon’s entertainments
noticed the remarkable semblance to a human voice referred
to in your report. The illusion was so perfect that I turned
involuntarily to the gentleman sitting next to me, convinced
that he was violating good taste by joining in the air, but I
found that he was silently absorbed in the performance.
During Mr. Rippon’s rendering of “Home, sweet Home,' the
rich cadence of what seened unmistakably a human voice was
particularly noticeable even above the full power of the bass
notes. From subsequent observation, I was convinced that the
sound emanated from the pianoforte, but the nature of the
magical manipulation which produced it can best be solved by
those who are familiar with that superb instrument. To satisfy
some persons who wished to have an authoritative opinion or
the real value of Mr. Rippon’s music, I wrote to a lady who
was present on the second evening, and whose musical educa-
tion and great experience I judged well qualified her to form
a scientific estimate of the performances. As the lady is in
no way associated with the spiritualistic movement, it may
fairly be presumed that her critique will on that account be
free from bias in Mr. Rippon’s favour. Subjoined is her
courteous reply ; I must, however, ask you to omit name and
address.— 'Sir.—I have much pleasure in giving you my
opinion on the subject named in your letter. Mr. Rippon’s
style of playing is perfectly artistic, combining great facility
of execution with excellent expression, which latter quality
was particularly noticeable in his treatment of “Ah, che la
morte.” In fact, with the exception of a few instances of too
great a preponderance of bass, his whole performance was not
only faultless, but exceedingly beautiful."
THe SPIRIT WORLD.—Mrs. De Morgan reeently furnished
Daybreak with the following interesting spirit message:
“The subject of the locality of the spirit land is, in truth
beyond the power of the finite mind to comprehend. As I
have told you many times, your earthly atmosphere teems
with the spirits who are in sympathy with the lower order of
development or spirit-life found there. But on your earth, in
the body also, are many pure and aspiring spirits who are in
closer communion with the far and higher regions than any of
the undeveloped disembodied spirits who readily communicate
their ignorance through their earthly mediums. The casting
aside of the earthly frame does not exalt the spirit that is not
exalted by its aspirations and longings to attain the higher
God-spheres: spheres and localities beyond the ken of man-
kind. Think not that any can solve the deep and high
mysteries of the higher spirit-spheres, for only they who have
attained thereto can form a conception of what they are, the
spiritual sphere being not only localised, but a state far more
than a locality.” “I would teach you that the teachings of
the spirits are rcally true. Your earth in its objectiveness is
the type of this sphere. You take from us, not we from you.
All the varied descriptions must truly be in accordance with
the medium’s own power of perception and reception, but to
each medium comes the spirit most suited to his powers, and
all is true in the description of our home. It is very real.
We need, spiritually, in our early spirit-life, the same things
that we long for on earth in a higher and fuller degree. Life
is purer and truer, but it is as real, objectively and subjec-
tively, as on your earth. We have all the adjuncts here, but
as we advance they become purer and more ethereal."
“ When we speak of curtains, we mean, literally, a light divi-
sion between the parts of the room in the same way as you
use such on earth. But we have such, as all else, in the most
ethereal and beautiful material, formed from the essence of
the flowers around. This is a very favourite material, to use
your earthly words, with us. Our dresses are formed of it ;
and as they float in the ether, they give out sweetness and
harmony in accordance with all around. It is truly impos-
sible so to impress our earthly medium as to give you an idea
of the fulness of the beauty of our home ; but nothing can
too fully assure you of the reality and substantiality of it.”-
Given through F. J. T.


JAN. 14, 1870.


CHARGES FOR ADVERTISEMENTS.
1. Advertisements of Public Companies, Half-a-guinea per
sixth of a columu, or every portion of sixth of a column.
2. General Advertisements, Five Shillings per twelfth of a
column, or portion of twelfth of a column.
Note.—Advertisements ot the foregoing rates will be
“displayed” so as to occupy the full space paid for, but
advertisements at the following rates will be in closely set
type.
3. General Advertisements, Half-a-crown per first five
lines or portion of five lines, and Fourpence for every line in
addition.
4. Situations Wanted, or Apartments to Let. One Shilling
per first four lines, or portion of four lines; Threepence for
every line in addition.
Ten words are allowed to the line, and six figures or
initial letters count as one word.
When five or more insertions of the same advertisement
are paid for, twenty per cent. reduction will be made in the
above rates.
The power is reserved of refusing to insert any advertise-
ment.
Advertisements and remiltances should be sent to the
Publisher, Mr. E. W. ALLEN, Avc Maria-lane, St. Paul.
Church-yard, London, E.C., or to Mr. J. BURNS, 15
Southampton-row, High Holborn, London, W. C.


To Correspondents.


All letters should be brief and to the point, as the amount
of space available for correspondence is at present small.
Communications intended for the Editor should be by
letter only, addressed to the care of the Publisher, Mr. E. W.
ALLEN, Ave Maria-lane, St. Pauls Church-yard, London.
E.C. Until the Spiritual movement in England, together
with this journal, have both grown considerably, time cannot
be spared for personal interviews on subjects connected with
the literary work of THE SPIRITUALIST, but all letters will
meet with careful consideration.
THE SPIRIRUALIST is a periodical intended to give great
freedom of expression to all the different shades of opinion
to be found among Spiritualists. There will therefore be
very little uniformity in the ideas promulgated in this journal
more especially in the correspondence columns. Under these
circumstances every reader will find occasionally something
in THE SPIRITUALIST which he or she does not like, but the
right of reply remains. This freedom of thought given to
others, the Editor claims for himself, and those who do not
like the contents of leading articles, can write against them
in the correspondence columns. This plan is thought better
than that of reducing the contents of the journal to a
pale weak mediocrity, by inserting only those contribution.
The preceding remarks are not
which please everybody.
intended to imply that those who have crotchets which they
cannot get printed anywhere else, can find an outlet for them
here, for none but those letters which are considered worth
publication will be inserted.
Notices of Public Meetings in connection with Spiritualism
should be sent to the office several days in advance.


To Non-Spiritualists,


A large amount of information is printed on the last two
pages of this journal, clearly demonstrating that the facts of
Spiritualism, highly improbable as they appear to be, are
real, and deserve serious investigation by all thoughtful
people. In other columns of evcry number of THE SPIRI-
TUALIST will also be found plenty of additional evidence to
the same effect.


To Subscribers.


The first twelve numbers of THE SPIRITUALIST will be
forwarded regularly by penny post to subscribers, who remit
four shillings in payment, to Mr. E. W. ALLEN, Publisher,
Ave Maria-lane, St. Pauls-churchyard, E.C.


The Spiritualist


FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 1870.


THE SPIRITUALiST will from and after this
date be published monthly instead of fortnightly.
It will be issued on the 15th day of every month,
and the next number will come out on Tuesday
the 15th of February.


For a new paper THE SPIRITUALIST has been very
favourably received, and it finds its way regularly to
all parts of the three kingdoms.
But the advertising
public know comparatively little about Spiritualism,
regarding it as a delusion or something worse, hence a
journal on this subject stands on a worse commercial
footing than ordinary newspapers do with the same
circulation. Experience shows that it is unreasonable
to continue this as a fortnightly journal at present, but
THE SPIRIRUTALIST is progressing steadily, and we hope
to again supply news at short intervals at no very
distant date. Much mutual friendliness has sprung up
between this journal and some of its leading sup-
porters, and, as will be seen in a short article in an-


other column, the systematic recording of facts in these
pages has begun to bear practical fruit, by the elucida
tion of some general principles incidental to trance-
mediumship.
With the Spiritual Magazine and the
other periodicals issued at the beginning of each month,
and this journal published in the middle of every month
there will still be a fortnightly supply of news in con-
nection with this noble movement.
THE ACTION OF LIGHT UPON SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS.
THERE are certain spiritual manifestations which can
be obtained only in darkness, such, for instance, as the
ordinary spirit voices; and subdued light is a favour-
able condition for nearly all the phenomena, trance-
What is this “ light ” which exer-
speaking included.
cises so much influence upon the manifestations
According to modern philosophers it is the wave-motion
of an infinitely elastic fluid known as the “ interstellar
ether," which fills all space, stretches from star to star
and bathes the vibrating atoms of all solid bodies. The
vibrating atoms of luminous bodies ’throw the ether
into waves, and these waves beat against the retina of
the human eye, just as the waves of the ocean break
upon the sea-shore. But the eye is so far an imperfect
instrument that it is insensitive to the shortest of the
ether waves, and cannot see them, neither can it see
the longest waves. The longest waves emanating from
the sun, which warm our backs and melt the mountain
snows, are nearly all invisible to the eye. The invi-
sible waves contain about cight times more heat than
the visible waves. A few days ago, Professor Tyndal
at the Royal Institution filtered away the visible waves
from the electric light, by means of a glass vessel filled
with a solution of iodine in bisulphide of carbon ; the
invisible waves passed freely through this opaque liquid
and were made to set fire to paper at a distance of
several yards from the electric lamp. The red waves
are the longest which can be seen by the eye, and the
violet and blue waves are the shortest ; in fact, the
sensation of colour is due simply to variations in wave
length.
The spirits who speak at Mrs. Mary Marshall’s
séances, on being questioned upon the subject said that
there was so much motion in light that it “ burnt up
the atmospheres they used to produce the voices.” By
“ atmospheres” they perhaps meant the emanation
from the medium. Accordingly some experiments were
once tried, by giving them a cool light, containing very
much less wave motion than ordinary white light.
It was produced by passing the rays from a paraffin
flame, first through a glass trough filled with a solutior
of alum, and, secondly, through another glass trough
filled with a solution of ammonio-sulphate of copper.
A cold blue light, of feeble intensity, was thus em-
ployed to illuminate the room. It was a failure so far
as seeing the tubes was concerned, as the voices could
only be produced in those parts of the room where the
darkness was too deep for the eyes of the witnesses to
penetrate. There are other ways by which the diffi-
culty may perhaps be overcome, and further experi-
ments will be made.
Mr. Mumler is as busy as ever producing spirit pho-
tographs, and defying all the photographers in New
York to detect imposture.
As Judge Edmonds and
Mr. Livermore, the banker, pronounce Mr. Mumler to
have produced
accurate portraits of their departed
friends, we presume them to be right in considering it a
case of genuine mediumship. Assuming the pictures
to be genuine spirit photographs, the question arises
How do the spirits produce them?
Short waves of
ether, too short to be visible to the eye, act upon pho-
tographic films, it being therefore possible for photo-
graphs to be taken very slowly indeed, in a peculiar
kind of pitch darkness, which the philosopher knows
how to produce. The editor of the British Journal of
Photography once suggested that perhaps the bodies of
spirits can be materialised sufficiently to reflect these
short invisible waves, by which means a photograph
could be taken. But the fact is that in Mr. Mumler's
pictures, the spirit forms produce more photographic
action on the plates than the human forms in the same
space of time, whieh could not be the ease if the spirit
bodies set up an action upon the sensitive film by means
of the extra-violet rays, since these rays act very feebly.
In short, the way in which these pictures are produeed,
is as great a mystery as ever.


Many modern philosophers think that in the vibra-
ting atom and the ether-wave, they have reached the
boundaries of creation, just as the Jews and their
prophets believed that the earth was a flat plain, with a
crystal vault confining the waters above the firmament,
and that the sun and moon were small lights hung up
for the benefit of the flat plain and the chosen people.
That organised beings like spirits can be moving in the
interstellar ether, complicates the theories of modern
philosophers as much as the discovery of the rotation of
the earth upset the astronomical notions of the Jews
and their successors.
In all directions in creation there
is probably nothing but infinity, but man sets up tem
porary boundaries of his own here and there, as fixed
points on which to rest for a time his aching mind.


A FEATURE OF TRANCE-MEDIUMSHIP.
IN the philosophical examination of any new and
perplexing phenomena, the only safe plan is to have no
preconceived ideas at all, to note accurately all the
facts, and then examine the collected facts in scarch of
principles. This plan has been followed in this journal,
and now we have one golden little bit of clear know
ledge revealed in the mass of evidence.
On Thursday, December 9th, Mr. Avery, a well-
known American Spiritualist, now resident in London,
made a speech at the St. John’s Association of Spiritua-
lists, in Clerkenwell, and said that when his little
daughter first came back to speak to him through a New
York medium, the spirit and the medium both felt the
pains of the sickness which afflicted the daughter on her
death-bed. We called attention at the time to the circum-
stance that Mrs. John Olive, trance medium, of 1, Gib-
son-place, Warrington-crescent, W., also feels the pain-
of those spirits who had not easy beds of “ death; in
fact, if memory does not err, we think that on one
occasion spots came temporarily out on her face, after a
spirit had been speaking through her who died of small
pox. Next, on the 17th December, Mr. Clegg, of
York, who suffered from rheumatism in earth life, gave
Mr. Morse, the medium, some bad symptoms of the
complaint at a public séance at 15, Southampton-row.
Lastly, in this number of the SPIRITUALIST is a narra-
tive showing how the spirit of William Young, on the
8th November last, caused Mrs. Conant, the medium
of Boston, U. S., to feel his death pains. Or rather
the spirits feel the pains while in the mediums, and the
latter feel them temporarily when they wake up after
the manifestations are over.
All these various instances, collected from widely
separated sources, have unexpectedly come together
among the facts in these pages, so that it is now pretty
clearly established that one feature running through the
whole range of trance-mediumship, is the fact that the
media very commonly feel symptoms of the death pains
of the communicating spirits. Also, that the spirits
feel these pains while en rapport with each medium, so
are not themselves quite in their normal state whilst
delivering their messages.
Daylight also is beginning to shine upon another
feature of trance-mediumship, namely, the difficulty
of getting proper names accurately through the me-
diums, and before long it is hoped that sufficient evidence
will be collected to disrobe this branch of the subject of
all its present mystery.
There are those who do not like the publication of
the details of séances, on the ground that non-Spiritua-
lists will leamn much of the difficulties of the subject.
and how great are the cobwebs of ignorance at present
enshrouding the nature of spiritual manifestations. The
systematic search after truth is not to be fettered by any
sensitiveness to the sayings and doings of uninformed
outsiders, nor by deference to publie opinion, which in
the present state of national education is worth little
and is often manufactured by keen heads for the pur-
pose of duping the populace.


“JOHN KING."


BY THE EDITOR.


AT different times some of the periodicals devoted to
Spiritualism, have expressed doubts as to the genuine
character of the voices obtained through the medium-
ship of Mr. and Mrs. Marshall. A very intelligent
Spiritualist one evening attended a dark séance at 13
Bristol-gardens, Paddington, W., and afterwards printed
in Daybreak a statement to the effect that the voice
purporting to belong to the spirit “ John King,” was
Mr. Marshall’s voice, which statement, as I shall now
prove, was not true. Also, there are three or four
Spiritualists, who often relate in the most circumstantial
way, how they detected Mr. and Mrs. Marshall “ doing
the voices,” but who have not published their detection
of the imposture, therefore have made themselves ac-
complices if imposture it be, by sitting down quietly
with the belief that scores of people are constantly
being duped, who would not be duped did the detec-
tives put in print what they assert in private.
Soon after I first witnesed Spiritual manifestations,


THE SPIRITUALIST.


37


38


THE SPIRITUALIST.


JAN. 14, 1870.


about two years ago, I was taken to see the phenomena
which occur under the mediumship of Mrs. Mary
Marshall, who then resided at 13, Bristol-gardens, but
now at 2, Bennett-strect, St. James’s. Tables and
chairs moved about in daylight, and sometimes rose
from the ground, whilst at the dark séances voices were
heard, and luminous manifestations seen; all these
things purported to come from spirits. I therefore re-
solved to be a constant visitor at the séances, and to
stick at the work till I either discovered the assertions
to be true, or detected the imposture with sufficient
aecuraey and certainty to expose it in the presence of
witnesses, and to be able to publish the facts with com-
plete sectional drawings of the apparatus used.
The voice calling itself “ John King” is backed by
an intelligence apparently entirely different in kind
from that of Mr. or Mrs. Marshall. However, I pri-
vately assumed that Mr. Marshall did the voice, and by
attending a few séances found that it was a common
thing for Mr. Marshall and John King to speak at the
same time, so I was obliged to throw over that theory.
Next I assumed that Mrs. Marshall did it, till one
evening I sat next her; she was on my right hand-
side, I had hold of her hand and arm, and John King
came and talked into my left ear, Mrs. Marshall being
perfectly motionless all the time, so over went the other
Next, I assumed that a confederate, among
theory.
the visitors to the circle did John King’s voice, so had
a séance with Mr. and Mrs. Marshall alone; John was
there, and talked for an hour. Lastly, I assumed that
a concealed confederate did the voice, so attended two
séances where Mrs. Marshall was present among strangers
to her, in a strange house, and again John King was as
lively as ever. Finally, on Thursday evening, Decem-
ber 30th, 1869, John King came and talked to eleven
persons at Mrs. C. Berry’s circle, in the absence of Mr
and Mrs. Marshall, the medium being Mrs. Perrin.
I only certify to the genuine character of such of the
manifestations as I have tested, and no more, but trust
that these facts will clear away some of the doubts in
cautiously thrown over Mrs. Mary Marshall’s medium-
ship by Daybreak and the Spiritual Magazine.


Poetry.


THE LAST SCENE OF LIFE
THE blush that made her beautiful
Came back—but faint and weak,
For seventy summers had gone by
Since first it bloom'd her cheek;
The light that used to make her eye
Shed heaven about her brow,
Returned to gleam a little while
In timid lustre now.


They placed her, at her soft request
Beside a cabinet:
They saw the fringes of her eyes
With quiet tears were wet;
They saw her all-transparent hand
Move tremblingly to lift
A little locket from a drawer-
Perhaps ’twas love's first gift.
They stood—Who stood? Alas, a few
Who knew her but of late;
For time had taken one by one
Each friend of earlier date;
And nothing but her heart—her mind,
Which death alone could blast,
Kept these kind spirits round her then
To watch her to the last.


“Behold," she cried, “this temple, where
My heart's hoard long hath slept;
Here, all that love, fame, friendship gave,
With gratitude l’ve kept.
No line that left a loving hand
I ever have effaced;
But fondly, in its fitting place,
With tears the token placed.
Praise that onee made my young heart glad,
And vows which made it warm,
Have lain within this cabinet,
A hoard, my heart to balm.
Now, cast them for me on the fire,
And let me see the flame!
First, here are all the offerings
Whieh fed my hopes of fame:
Among them notes from fleeting friends,
The shooting stars that threw
A passing light upon my path -
Unfixed, but not untrue.
I will not leave it to the world,
To mock with dull disdain
These little meteors of the minds
That flash and fade again.


“Here, here are words of holier weight,
From friends most fond they came!
Oh, they make balm about the room!
Behold how bright their flame!


"Your hands, kind friends, for I would rise,
Oh, not thus felt each limb,
When first the pulses of my heart
Awakened unto him."


She had a packet in her hand;
She slowly reached the fire;
She strewed it on the rising flame;
She saw it blaze—expire


“Tis over," then she murmured low,
“This locket, on my breast,
When in the coffin lies my clay,
Consent to let it rest.
My bones and that will long defy
The demons of decay:
My spirit, and my love’s, my friends-
Great Power
," she passed away.
And soon the greensward covered her,
And memory, pity, fame,
Preserved alone, of all the past,
A little while—a name.


Correspondence.


[Great freedom is given to correspondents, who sometimes express opinion.
diametrically opposed to those of this journal and its readers].


was between twenty-seven and twenty-eight ycars old when I
diid. I have not been gone quite a year yet—it will be a
year in January. I have left a wife and two children. My
wife is sick—in the last stages of consumption. She is most
twenty-five years old, as nigh as I can reckon it. My chil-
dren, two girls, Emma and Mary—one five years old and the
other three, and, as nigh as I can reckon it, they have been
about a month in the Somerset County workhouse, in England.
I have communicated by spelling out what I wanted, and
with three or four on our side to help me, to a curate in our
country, and I have asked him to take my children, and he
said if I could find out where they were he would. I could not
tell him then. I did not know—could only tell him that they
were in Axcbridge, but could not get any further. I had
several good kind spirits, who have been teaching me since I
died, to aid me—they are some friends of his—have been very
kind to me, and they have come here with me—one of them,
Mr. Hacker, is going to write to this curate, Mr. Young. [Dr.
Young ?]
Yes; do you know him? [I think so—a Unitarian
minister?]
Yes. Well, Mr. Hacker has written for me there,
at Mr. Young’s house, in Swindon, several times, and others
have, too. But I never could tell them, because I never could
go there to see where my children were. I knew where I left
them—could tell that pretty well—but, you know, where it is
sifted down through four or five sources, it is apt to be very
weak before it gets to its destination. Now I come first-
handed. I am ignorant. I never had any education here-
could read a little, but not much—was a carpenter by trade.
I have told you, as nigh as I can make out, they are in
Somerset County workhouse, been there about a month, and
their mother is just about gone with consumption. Her
name is Mary. My name is William Young, but I am no
relation, as I know of, to the curate. He asked me, when I
communicated in England, if I was, but I couldn’t tell him.
I don’t know, but I don’t think I am. I’ve looked it up, and
don’t think I am. I don’t ask him to take my children for
money, or because I think they will have better position, but
I want them to be taught good spiritual truths, and they will
get it there—a kind, good man, and a blessing to his parish.
It is no wonder, is it? I have tried hard to get my poor little
ones under his wing, because I know their mother is going to
leave them, and a workhouse life is a terrible life. It hardens
the heart, and makes you what you wouldn’t be if you was out
of it. English workhouses are terrible places—terrible places
I came to this medium last night, and I learned how I should
proceed of some of her attendants—how I should proceed to
find my children, and I did this forenoon, and got all rcad,
and come here this afternoon. Mr. Hacker is going to write
to Mr. Young. He will probably get his written message
before he gets mine, but no matter—and he can write to the
workhouse and find out, if it’s too much trouble for him to go.
And I want to tell Daisy—she is a medium out there in
England—that I will bless her as long as I live for helping
me as she las.
[The one through whom you made raps?]
No, I wrote through some kind of a thing. [Planchette?]
I don’t know. They called it an indicator, or something.
But, you know, I told you I couldn’t come first-handed. I
think there were five nearer the earth than I was; but I am
right here myself to-day. I am weak. I died—some of the
doctors here tell me—of marasmus, induced by poor living
a kind of consumption all over. [You can come next time
with more strength.]
Oh, I have got along right well to-day.
Now, you know, you are to send, don’t you? [Yes Dr.
Young takes the paper.]
Oh yes—well. Mr. Hacker will
write him. They told me the message would be delayed
about a month, and Mr. Hacker will write him, so he
will get word from here.. [Through some medium?]
Here,
this one
that gentleman, Mr.
what do you call him ?
a curate here, or something. I don’t know what he was -
preacher, was he? that comes to her [Mr. Parker?]
Yes;
he said as soon as it was right that I should have a fair and
square opportunity to do just what I had to do. He told Mr.
Hacker that he should write just as soon as a fair opportunity
presented itself, and that it would be very quick.
[Your
name will be announced next week.]
Oh yes; then it will
be known that I have been here. I thank you, I thank you."


THE CURE OF M. LEON FAVRE.—The Revne Spiri-
tualiste of September last contains an account written by M.
Leon Favre, Consul-General of France, narrating how he was
cured of a complaint of 42 years standing, by a spirit. He says
— "I was in 1826 at Livorno. I was there poisoned by eating of
a large sort of lobster, probably cooked in a copper vessel in bad
condition. I was saved by medical energy, but the poison
left the most terrible effects on my stomach; the most singular
symptoms seized me. I had a gastric complaint which lasted
seven years, and which was succeeded by nervous maladies
strange lethargies, and morbid effects which defied ever
scientific remedy. The crises were marked by the most
frightful circumstances. Sometimes my eyes were convulsed
the pallor of death, overspread my features which were dis¬
torted by the most painful contractions ; my cheeks instantly
sunk, all my limbs became rigid ; my body was stretched out
like a corpse, I often fell with my head against the wall, and
I lay in this state of catalepsy. Sometimes the attack seemed
to come down on me like a bird of prey ; my intestines
stomach and chest seemed wrenched and twisted violently.
The paroxysm lasted for an hour at most, but it left a fearful
havoc in the system. Frequently it produced aberrations of
vision which caused me te see every object triple, always fol-
lowed by a prostration and temporary exhaustion of all my
He then narrates how in the course of years this cruel
forces.
malady increased in virulence, and the attacks succeeded each
other at shorter intervals. Medical skill failed to remove the
disease. At last a spirit, acting through the mediumship of a
young schoolmistress of the name of Catarina, prescribed for
M. Leon Favre. The spirit "declared his name to be Giacomco
Giaferro; that he was born at Venice in 1418, and died in
1510, at the age of 92, at Verona, where he practised medic-
cine. Generally, medical healers proceed on the system of
the somnambules. They inspect the patient and prescribe
their remedies without the subject being required to give an
explanation. Giaferro acted like a living doctor. The patient
gave the history of his complaints without omitting the
smallest detail. Giaferro listened scrupulously to the present
diagnosis, but he rarely foresaw that which might unexpectedly
arise. I assembled often with me three or four physicians to
act as a check upon him. I have heard them dispute with
him, make fresh consultation of the patient according to his
indications, find that they were wrong, and that he (Giaferro)
the invisible, was right ! His appreciations were marked by
an exactness remarkable, and nearly always I have seen the
doctors adopt his opinion in the treatment of the case. It
was under the direction of this invisible doctor, at first watched
by my friend Cogevina, that I placed myself, as I have said
on the 5th of March, 1868. Reversing the method of Mans-
dorf, he placed the silver on my stomach, and the zinc under
the soles of my feet, commencing by an application of ten
minutes, which augmented every day by as much additional
time, arrived finally at nine hours. During three months
examining me every week, oftener twice than once, at first
with the concurrence of Dr. Cogevina, then by himself alone
he alternated the poles, placing on the stomach sometimes the
positive, sometimes the negative, varying the duration of the
applications, suspending them occasionally for some days, and
taking as the principal basis of his internal treatment bismuth,
caleined magnesia, and the codeine of Berthé. At the end of
three months he declared that I was cured of my cramps, and
that they could never return. He continued, however, till
December, the use of the apparatus, increasing progressively
the intervals between the applications. He ended by sus-
pending them altogether. In fact, I was well. Cured by an
invisible hand after having suffered 42 years, and having
exhausted all known medieal remedies ! It is impossible to
retrace here the minnte cares, the extreme tenderness, the
expression of love which accompanied this prolonged treat-
ment. The soul of this man seemed to follow me everywhere,
to watch over me, and, let the sceptics smile, to knit up with
my own a holy and fraternal relation which my gratitude has
sealed for eternity.” M. Leon Favre’s narrative is published
in full in the December number of the Spiritual Magazine.


WAS SARAH JACOBS STARVED TO DEATH
SIR,—On New Year’s-eve, for the second time my wife saw a
spirit purporting to be that of Sarah Jacobs. She appeared to
be between ten and eleven years old, and was dressed as she
used to be when on earth—viz., in a brown stuff frock, with low
neck and short-puffed slecves. She said she was not starved
to death ; that she had on several occasions gone some weeks
without the slightest particle of food or nourishment, and
accounted for her living so long a time without the usual
necessaries of life, through being incessantly mesmerised by
spirits, of which there were half-a-dozen, who relieved each
other when exhausted.
What is there improbable in the above cxplanation
coupled with the evidence given at the inquest, showing that
the body did not present all the usual signs of death being
caused throngh starvation? Is it not a fact that a band of
or even one powerful mesmerist, could keep a sensitive
some considerable time without food and without causing in
the slightest degree any of the usual tokens of starvation?
Again, is it not a fact well-known to every medical practi-
tioner that numbers of persons on beds of sickness, have lived
out not the starvation period of eight days, but twiee, three
times, and I believe in some cases, four times that period, with
a supply of nourishment that would starve a rat in a quarter
of the time? In such cases as these, when worn-down with
disease, will our infallible medical savans inform us what
keeps them alive? Whether it is the stimulants we moisten
their lips with? Is the elixir of life in the medical com-
pounds we force down their throats ? Or are their lives really
kept and nourished by the divine, powerful, and unseen help
of our ever present guardian spirits, till the period arrives to
leave this world for a purer and holier one above?
12, Forrest-road, Dalston.
G. B.


THE “BANNER OF LIGHT” CIRCLE.
THE following communication from a spirit who gave the
name of William Young, was received through the medium
ship of Mrs. J. H. Conant, at 158, Washington-street, Boston,
U.S., on Nov. 8th last. It was published in the Banner of
Light of the first of this month:
“Taking full possession of the body and of the senses of a
medium is quite different from spelling out what you wish to
say through two or three, perhaps four or five mediums on our
side. We then get clear of feeling any of the bad feelings
which we are very apt to have, they say, on taking full con-
trol. We are very apt to think of how we felt just before we
died, and that makes us feel just about the same. I didn’t
know anything about it till after I had got into what they told
me was rapport with this medium. I began to feel sick, and
said so, and then they told me that I should experience pro-
bably all the bad feelings I had just before I died. Sure
enough, here I am feeling pretty bad. But I have got a work
to do, and must do it. I have come here, where I am not at
all acquainted—away from all the circumstances of life that I
am familiar with, that I may accomplish what I believe in the
end will be a great good. I am from Axebridge, England. I


THE EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG.
"Now, close your book, Bob,” said the mother soon after I
was seated, “and Alice, give me yours. Put your hands
down, turn from the fire, and look up at me, dears. What is
the capital of Russia?"
“The Birman Empire,” said Alice with unhesitating con-
fidence.
"The Baltic Sea,” said Bob, emulous and ardent.
“ Wait—not so fast; let me see, my dears, which of you is
right."
Mrs. Thompson appealed immediately to her book, after a
long and private communication with which she emphatically
pronounced both wrong.
“ Give us a chance, mother,” said Bob in a wheedling tone
(Bob knew his mother’s weaknesses); “Them’s such hard
words. I don’t know how it is, but somehow I never can
remember ’em. Just tell us the first syllable—oh, do now
please."
“Oh! I know now!
cried Alice, “ Its something with a
'G' in it."
“ Think of the apostles, dears. What are the names of the
apostles?”
“Why, there’s Moses.” began Bob, counting on his fingers ;
“ and there’s Sammywell, and there’s Aaron, and Noah’s
Ark - "
“ Stop, my dear,” said Mrs. Thompson, who was very busy
with her manual, and contriving a method of rendering a
solution of her question easy ; “Just begin again. I said
who was Peter ?—no, not that—who was an apostle ?”
“Oh! I know now!” cried Alice again (Alice was the
sharp boy of the family); “It’s Peter. Peter’s the capital of
Russia."
“ No, not quite, my dear. You are very warm—very warm
indeed, but not quite hot. Try again."
“Paul,” half murmured Robert, with a reckless hope of
proving right.
“No. Peter’s right, but there’s something else. What has
your father been taking down the beds for?"
There was a solemn silence, and the three industrious sisters
blushed the faintest possible blush that could be raised upon a
maiden’s cheek.
“ To rub that stuff upon the walls,” said the ready Alice.
“ Yes, but what was it to kill? ” continued the instructress.
“ The fleas," said Bob.
“Worse than that, my dear."
“Oh, I know now!” shrieked Alice for the third time
“ Petersbug’s the capital of Russia."
Mrs. Thompson looked at me with pardonable vanity and
triumph.— Blackwood's Magazine.


JAN. 14, 1870.


THE SPIRITUALIST


39


FACTS FOR NON-SPIRITUALISTS.
As this Journal will necessarily often come
under the observation of those who are not
Spiritualists, it has been thought judicious to
reprint regularly on this and the next page
the following condensed evidence that spiri-
tualism deserves serious investigation. The
phenomena witnessed in spiritual circles are
so extraordinary, and so unlike those coming
within the ordinary range of human experi-
ence, that it is quite right not to accept them
on the testimony of others. Each individual
should witness and test them personally, and
believe nothing until the absolute knowledge
is gained that denial is impossible.


EVIDENCE THAT SPIRITUALISM DESERVES INVES-
TIGATION
The testimony of reliable and respectable wit-
nesses that the phenomena of Spiritualism are
actual facts, and not imposture or delusion, has of
late years so accumulated as to possess very great
weight. Iu the case of Lyon v. Home, Mr. Robert
Chambers, Mr. C. F. Varley, Dr. Gully, Mr. and
Mrs. S. C. Hall, and others, all made affidavits
strongly in favour of Mr. Home. The following
was the affidavit of Mr. C. F. Varley, C.E.,
F.R.G.S., M.R.I.:


“I, Cromwell Fleetwood Varley, of Fleetwood House
Beckenham, in the County of Kent, Esquire, make oath
and say as follows:
“I have been a student of electricity, chemistry, and
natural philosophy for twenty-six years, and a tele-
graphic engineer by profession for twenty-one years,
and I am the consulting electrician of the Atlantic Tele-
graph Company, and of the Electric and International
Company.
“About nine or ten years ago, having had my atten-
tion directed to the subject of Spiritualism by its spon-
taneous and unexpected development in my own family
in the form of clairvoyant visions and communications,
I determined to test the truth of the alleged physical
phenomena to the best of my ability, and to ascertain
if possible, the nature of the force which produced them.
“Accordingly, about eight years ago, I called on Mr.
Home, the defendant in this suit, and stated that I had
not yet witnessed any of the physical phenomena, but
that I was a scientific man and wished to investigate
them carefully.
“He immediately gave me every facility for the pur-
pose, and desired me to satisfy myself in every possible
way, and I have been with him on divers occasions
when the phenomena have occurred. I have examined
and tested them with him and with others, under con-
ditions of my own choice, under a bright light, and have
made the most jealous and searching scrutiny. I have
been, since then, for seven months in America, where
the subject attracts great attention and study, and where
it is cultivated by some of the ablest men, and having
experimented with and compared the forces with elec-
tricity and magnetism, and after having applied me-
chanical and mental tests, I entertain no doubt whatever
that the manifestations which I have myself examined
were not due to the operation of any of the recognised
physical laws of nature, and that there has been present
on the occasions above-mentioned some intelligence
other than that of the medium and observers.
“The subject of course offers many opportunities and
inducements for fraud, and I only speak of what I have
myself seen and tested. Since my acquaintance with
Mr. Home began I have pursued the enquiry, and I have
found engaged in it able, learned, and scientific men
who are convinced as I am, that the physical manifeste
tions are but the introduction to an extensive fleld of
mental and physical knowledge which will in a great
measure explain and reconcile the beliefs of all ages and
nations. I know of several instances both in Europe
and America in which this course of study has awak-
ened the perception of the purest and loftiest truths and
principles. There have been no doubt cases in which
the intellect has been too feeble for the stimulus, and
has been overpowered by it, just as frequently results
from excessive application to religion and other exciting
topies, but such cases have not come within my own
observation.
“Mr. Home, like several other non-professional me-
diums whose cases I have studied, was passive during
the occurrence of the manifestations. He, like the
other mediums, is extremely susceptible to external in-
fluences, and has a mind better suited to receive impres
sions than to prosecute enquiries. I willingly testify my
entire conviction of his truthfulness and honesty.
“C. F. VARLEY."


It also came out in the evidence given at the
trial, that Mr. Home had been the invited and un-
paid guest of the Emperor and the Empress of the
French, the Emperor, Empress, and the late Em-
press Dowager of Russia, the Grand Duke Con-
stantine, the King of Prussia, the late King of
Bavaria, the late King of Wurtemburg, and the
Queen of Holland. Mr. Home says that all his
life he has never taken a farthing of pay for his
séances. In March, 1869, the Spiritual Magazine
gave the names of the following gentlemen a
those who have long been investigating the sub
ject:
Cromwell F. Varley, Esq., Fleetwood-house, Becken-
ham; Alfred R. Wallace, Esq., 9, St. Mark’s-crescent,
N.W.; Professor De Morgan, 91, Adelaide-road, N.W.
Captain Drayson, R.A., Woolwich; Dr. J. M. Gully,
The Priory, Great Malvern: Dr. J. J. G. Wilkinson, 4
St. John’s-wood-villas, N.W.; Dr. Dixon, 8, Grcat Or
mond-street, W.C.: S. C. Hall, Esq., 15, Ashley-place,
Victoria-street, S.W.; Newton Crosland, Esq.; William
Howitt, Esq., The Orchard, Hare-green, Esher, Surrey;
Robert Chambers, Esq., St. Andrew’s, Edinburgh; H.
D. Jencken, Esq., Kilmorey-house, Norwood; J. G.
Crawford, Esq., 52, Gloucester-crescent, N.W.; W. M.
Wilkinson, Esq., Oakfield, Kilburn; Lord Adare, 5,
Buckingham-gate; The Master of Lindsay, Grosvenor-
square.


said Mr. Home many curious occurrences, which I an
unable to explain, in the way of singular phenomena,
such as displacement of objects without physical con-
tact. &c., and from my personal and careful investiga-
tions (which Mr. Home himself ever urges) I am positive
that it is not in consequence of any trick or device that
such phenomena occur. I have even been witness to
singular phenomena when the said Mr. Home was not in
the same room, and also when he has been asleep.
have never known the said Mr. Home receive money for
what is termed a 'séance,' but I have known him re-
peatedly refuse offers of as much as twenty guineas for
“J. M. GULLY, M.D."
a single séance.


Dr. Hooker, in his opening address, as President
of the British Association at Norwich in 1868
spoke very highly of the scientific attainments of
Mr. Alfred R. Wallace, F.L.S. Mr. Wallace is an
avowed Spiritualist. Professor Hare, of Phila-
delphia, the inventor of the Hare's Galvanic Bat-
tery, once refused to witness spiritual phenomena,
alleging that Faraday's “unconscious muscular
action" theory explained all the facts. A friend
wrote to him detailing things he had seen which
were inexplicable by that theory. Hare at once,
like a sensible man, went to see for himself. The
result was that he came into communication with
some of his own departed relatives. He then
made mechanical telegraphic machines, which
were intelligently worked by spirits while the
apparatus was screened from the sight of the
medium, and he wrote a book recording all these
facts. That book is now in the British Museun
Library. Judge Edmonds, of New York, is another
very eminent American Spiritualist, who has also
written interesting books on the subject. Recently
in England, Viscount Adare has written a book
bearing testimony to the truth of Spiritualism, and
it has a preface by Lord Dunraven. This book is
printed for private circulation only, which is an
error in judgment. Valuable evidence in favour
of Spiritualism is given by John Wesley and his
family; for spirit rapping and movements of
wooden materials by invisible agency occurred in
their own house. Documentary evidence of what
they witnessed was drawn up and signed on the
spot, and is published in Southey's Life of Wesley.
The Spiritual Magazine for October, 1869, gives
the following names of friends of Spiritualisun
who have now and then contributed to its pages:
“Viscount Adare; John Ashburner, M.D., Translator
of Reichenbach, author of Philosophy of Animal Mag-
netism and Spiritualism; T. B. Barkas, author of Outline.
of Ten Years Investigation into the Phenomena of Modern
Spiritualism; George Barth; Richard Beamish, F.R.S,
author of The Life of Brunel; Rev. S. E. Bengough,
M.A.; Edward L. Blanchard; Edward Brotherton; Cap-
tain Richard F. Burton (the African traveller;) William
Carpenter, author of Political Letters, The English Bible;
Captain Edward Henry Chawner; Honry T. Child,
M.D. (Philadelphia, U.S.A.); Benjamin Coleman, author
of Spiritualism in America; Robert Collyer, M.D., F.C.S.
Christopher Cook; Robert Cooper, author of Spiritual
Experiences; Mrs. De Morgan, author of Matter to
Spirit; Jacob Dixon, L.R.C.P., author of Clairvoyance
Hygienic, and Medical; Hugh Doherty, M.D, author of
Organic Philosophy; Captain Drayson, R.A.; Judge
Edmonds (New York); Captain H. A Fawcett, R.N.;
John M. Gully, M.D.; Professor W. D. Gunning (Boston
U.S.A.); Samuel Carter Hall, F.S.A.; Emma Hardinge
George Harris, M.A., F.S.A., President of the Manches-
ter Anthropological Society; W. E. Hickson, late editor
of the Westminster Foreign Quarterly Review; Rev. A.
W. Hobson, M.A.; Baron C. Dirckinck Holmfeld; Daniel
Dunglass Home; Rev. J. Page Hopps, editor of The
Truthseeker; Mary Howitt; William Howitt; Henry D
Jencken, M.R.I., F.G.S.; John Jones, author of Man:
Physical, Apparitional, and Spiritual; Rev. William
Ker, M.A.: Seymour Kirkup (Florence); Andrew Leigh-
ton; Robert Leighton; Kenneth R. P. Mackenzie, F.S.A.;
Rev. William Mountford (Boston, U.S.A.); A. E. New
ton (Boston, U.S.A.) author of The Ministry of Angel
Realised; Mary S. Gove Nichols; J. H. Powell: Baron
Reichenbach, author of Researches on the Dynamics
Magnetism; Elihu Rich, author of several articles in the
Encyclopædia Metropolitana; J. Lockhart Robertson
M.R.C.P.: Mary C. Hume Rothery; Rev. W Hume
Rothery, M.A.; Epes Sargent, author of The Planchette;
Thomas Shorter; Rev. W. R. Tomlinson, M.A.; Crom-
well F. Varley, F.R.G.S.; C. Staniland Wake, author of
Chapters on Man; Alfred R. Wallace; A. M. H. Watts;
William White, author of Emanuel Swedenborg: His
Life and Writings; W. M. Wilkinson, author of Spirit
Drawings; James J. Garth Wilkinson, M.D., author of
The Human Body, and its Connection with Man; Rev. F.


“Awaiting a reply to this letter, and to the challenge
with which it concludes, I am, gentlemen; your obedient
servant
G. DAMIANI
“Clifton, Oct. 1, 1868
“P.S.—Letters addressed Sigr. Damiani, care of
Manager of West of England and South Wales District
Bank, Corn-street, Bristol,' will always reach the writer."
In addition to the above evidence, there is the
testimony of numbers that the modern spiritual
manifestations are realities. Mr. Hepworth Dixon
in his New America estimates the number of Spiri-
tualists in the United States at rather less than
three millions, and this is about the lowest estimate
that anybody has made. There are no accurate sta-
tistics, and different authorities vary in their esti-
mates from three to eleven millions.


All these facts, together with those which
follow, prove that Spiritualism deserves serious
investigation. Not a few learned men have pri-
vately been examining the phenomena in order to
“explode the imposture,” but these extinguishiers
soon catch fire themselves. In short, in the
minds of most of the English public, Spiritualism
has to pass through the following five stages :


1. The manifestations do not take place.
2. Spiritualism is a gross imposture.
3. It is a delusion.
4. It is the work of the Devil.
5. It is a great blessing, and we always said so.


Experience shows that the feebler the intellect
and the lower the standard of energy and educa-
tion, the sooner does the investigator break down
at one of the first four out of the above five steps
in the ladder of progress.


MR. HOME'S AFFIDAVIT
In the Chancery suit of Lyon v. Home, for the
recovery of certain monies given by Mrs. Lyon
to Mr. Home against the advice of her lawyer
and her friends, Mr. Home made an affidavit, from
which the following is an extract:
“I Daniel Dunglass Home, of 22, Sloane-street, in
the County of Middlesex, one of the above-named de-
fendants, make oath and say as follows:
“I was born in Scotland on the 20th of March, 1839,
and from my childhood have been subject to the occa-
sional happening of singular physical phenomena in my
presence, which are most certainly not produced by me
or by any other person in connection with me. I have
no control over them whatever: they occur irregularly
and even when I am asleep. Sometimes I am many
months, and once I have been a year without them
They will not happen when I wish, and my will has
nothing to do with them. I cannot account for them
further than by supposing them to be effected by intelli-
gent beings or spirits. Similar phenomena occur to
many other persons. ... These phenomena occurring in
my presence have been witnessed by thousands of
intelligent and respectable persons, including men of
business, science, and literature, under circumstances
which would have rendered, even if I desired it, all
trickery impossible. They have been witnessed repeat-
edly and in their own private apartments, when an
contrivance of mine must have been detected, by their
Majesties the Emperor and the Empress of the French
their Majesties the Emperor, Empress and late Empress
Dowager of Russia, their Imperial Highnesses the Grand
Duke and Dnchess Constantine of Russia and the mem
bers of their august family, their Majesties the King of
Prussia, the late King of Bavaria, the present and late
King of Würtemberg, the Queen of Holland, and the
members of the Royal Family of Holland; and many
of these august personages have honoured, and I be-
lieve still honour, me with their esteem and goodwill, a
I have resided in some of their palaces as a gentleman
and their guest, and not as a paid or professional per-
son. They have had ample opportunities, which the
have used, of investigating these phenomena, and of
inquiring into my character. I have resided in America,
England, France, Italy, Germany, and Russia, and in
every country I have been received as a guest and
friend by persons in the highest position in society, who
were quite competent to discover and expose, as the
ought to have done, anything like contrivance on my
part to produce these phenomena. I do not seek, and
never have sought, the acquaintance of any of these
exalted personages. They have sought me, and I have
thus had a certain notoriety thrust upon me. I do not
take money, and never have taken it, although it has
been repeatedly offered me for or in respect of these
phenomena, or the communications which appear to be
made by them. I am not in the habit of receiving those
who are strangers to me, and I never force the subject
of Spiritualism on any one’s attention. ... Some of the
phenomena in question are noble and elevated, others
appear to be grotesque and undignified. For this I am
not responsible, any more than I am for the many
grotesque and undignified things which are undoubtedly
permitted to exist in the material world. I solemnly
swear that I do not produce the phenomena aforesaid,
or in any way whatever aid in producing them," &c.
“I have been subjected to much persecution through¬
out my life, because of my conscientious belief as to the
meaning and great purpose of spiritual phenomena
taken as a whole. That belief I have not, like the
plaintiff, foresworn. I have always courted the strictest
investigation, although I have not condescended to
notice all the attacks and anonymous slanders that have
been circulated respecting me. The book shown to me
at the time of swearing this affidavit, marked H 8, con-
tains a correct list of upwards of 1,300 letters, with the
writers' names, which I still retain (after having de-
stroyed about 10,000), written to me by persons of ever,
rank and class, including persons of the highest social,
political, literary, and scientific position, who have in-
vestigated these phenomena, and corresponded with me
about them. After the fullest opportunitics of examina-
tion, they have formed different opinions as to their
origin and meaning; but I believe that all are
thoroughly satisfied of my entire honesty in the matter
and lately, while the plaintiff’s basc and unfounded
charges of fraud and imposition have been hangin,
over me, and during the months of January and
February, 1868, these phenomena have been thoroughl
tested by another scientific man, named Mr. Hawkins
Simpson, the inventor of electrical apparatus, including
one for printing at a distance by the telegraph—a
drawing and description of which were, as I am in
formed and believe, given in the Engineer newspaper of
the 15th November, 1867."


WHAT IS THE USE OF SPIRITUALISM?
Strange to say there are people who can ask
what is the use of communication with friends
and relatives, who have passed the great barrier
of the grave. One use of Spiritualism is, that all
Spiritualists who lead moderately good lives, are
fonnd to gradually lose the fear of death. Spirits
through the agency of suitable media hiave much
power in the healing of diseases, and the removal
of deformities, though such power is far from
absolute. The following is a narrative, published
in Daybreak, of some of the powers exercised
through Mr. Newton, the best healing medium in
the United States; he is expected to visit England
in the course of the year 1870. The following ex-
ample from a very boundless field of choice, is
enough for the present on the subject of the uses
of Spiritualism:
'Friday. May 22, of the present year (1868) will for
ever remain one of the most memorable days of my life.
It was on that day, when the sun was shining brightly
and bathing the world with its light and heat, that I
arrived at Newport, Rhode Island, and first came under
the healing powers of Dr. J. A. Newton. I had heard
of him through The Spiritual Magazine, Mr. William
Howitt, and Mr. Coleman, and was assured that if I
placed myself in his hands I should be speedily and
radically cured of the neuralgic affection in my liead
for which I had been suffering for eleven years. It was
not until I had become a little more familiar with some
of the facts and phenomena of modern Spiritualism
that I felt a quiet faith in the power of Dr. Newton to
remove my disease. Having once attained to that state
of mind, and becoming satisfied that it was my duty to
cross the Atlantic in search of health, I made arrange-
ments for doing so, and left Liverpool for New York on
Saturday, May 9, arriving at the latter place on Tuesday
evening, the 19th.
The moment Dr. New-
ton and I met, I found in his face and simple kindly
manner a human image of the outside sunshine, and
but few words had been spoken when I was convinced
that the errand upon which I had come would be ful-
filled. I was about to give him the history in detail of
my affliction when he stopped me by saying, That
after I had been cured he would be very glad to listen
to anything I might wish to say, but that the cure itself
was the first matter to be attended to.' He then poured
a large quantity of very hot water upon my head while
I was leaning it over a basin into which the water fell
After my head had been dried with a coarse towel, I
was made to sit upon a moveable seat, similar to a
music-stool, the doctor standing behind me, and placing
my head against his chest with his hands crossed upon
my forehead. He then moved my head in various
directions until all at once a clicking noise was heard at
the top of my spine. The doctor immediately cried out
That noise is the sign that you will be cured; the dis-
turbance of the nerve current has been removed. He
then faced me, and lifting both his hands towards
heaven, he looked me hard in the face, saying, 'Look at
me. In the name of God our Heavenly Father, and of
the Lord Jesus Christ the Great Healer, I bid this
disease depart from this dear suffering brother and
never more afflict him. It is gone—it is gone—it is
gone for ever, my brother; you are cured; rise up on
your feet and be cured.' At that instant I felt a strong
current of new life flowing into and through every part
of my body, and I was conscious that I had entered
upon an altogether new phase of existence. From that
day to the present hour, July 13, I have been entirely
free from my pain, and have felt as well, I should think
as it is possible for any human being to feel. Physically
speaking, I am a new creature; old things have passed
away and all things have become new. Of course it is
not for me to say absolutely that the cure will be per-
manent, but, if I may judge from my present expe-
rience, I see no reason why it should not be so.
Wonderful as my case is, it is only one of thousands, so
far as Dr. Newton is concerned. He has cured almost
every form of disease, and removed almost every kind
of suffering. In fact, lie appears to have done every
thing but raise the dead. And yet even he does not
cure all cases, and this failure enables him to keep alive
the consciousness that it is not he who cures, but God
who works in and through him. He tells me that he
has cured something like a quarter of a million of
people.'
Most of his cures are done without
fee or reward. In my own case he steadily refused to
take a single dollar, and I saw him act in like manner
towards several others. During my stay I witnessed
several instances of his heallng power; some of then
being so manifest as to defy all attempts at explaining
them away. On the very morning that my own cure
was effected, I witnessed his cure of a paralytic who for
three years had been unable to walk without the aid of
crutches, and even then, only in a partial degree. This
woman was brought by her parents to Newport, and, in
less than flve minutes from the time when she came
under Dr. Newton's hands, she got up from the couch
on which she had been laid, and walked away up the
street and back again, a full mile, and afterwards
walked and ran and jumped and danced, as so many
signs that her cure was a complete one. I also saw him
cure a young man who had a withered hand. Indeed, I
might have seen day by day, and hour by hour, ex-
amples of this healing power had I chosen to have done
so. Every now and again, there are trains from Boston
and Providence freighted with the lame, the halt, the
blind, and the diseased, sometimes to the number of
500 or 600. These come to Newport, and a large majo-
rity of them are sent away perfectly cured. In one part
of Dr. Newton’s house there is a room of considerable
size, full of crutches, sticks, spectacles, eye-shades,
bandages, and other memorials of disease and sickness
which have been left behind by patients as so many
signs and trophies of their cure.


Mrs. De Morgan has written a book, entitled
From Matter to Spirit (Longmans), where she
gives many interesting particulars, the result of
ten vears' experience in Spiritualism. Professor
De Morgan, President of the Mathematical Society
of London, in his preface to the book, says:
“I am perfectly convinced that I have both seen and
heard, in a manner which should make unbelief impos-
sible, things called spiritual, which cannot be taken by
a rational being to be capable of explanation by impos
ture, coincidence, or mistake. So far I feel the ground
firm under me."
The following is an extract from another
affidavit, made in the suit of Lyon v. Home:
“I, James Manby Gully, of The Priory, Great Malvern,
in the County of Worcester, doctor of medicine, make
oath and say as follows:
“I have known the above-named defendant, Daniel
Dunglass Home, for seven years and upwards, last past
and have during that period been in the habit of attend-
ing him professionally, and also of receiving him in my
house as a personal friend, and I have never had the
smallest reason to doubt his character as a man of
honour and proper moral feeling.
“I have during the past seven years witnessed both
in my own house, and elsewhere, in the presence of the


Signor G. Damiani, a Sicilian gentleman living
at Clifton, has written a pamphlet, still in print
in which he severely censures Professor Tyndall
Mr. G. H. Lewes, and others like them, for refus-
ing to investigate the subject. He further offers a
reward of 1,000 guineas to any respectable, scien-
tific or educated men, who will investigate the
subject and prove it to be an imposture. The
following are his words:
“I now offer you two challenges.
“First, I challenge you, or either of you, or any of
the public who, like you, disbelieve in the genuine cha-
racter of spiritualistic phenomena, to deposit in the
hands of any well-known London banker whom you or
they may name, the sum of flve hundred guineas; and
I pledge myself to immediately deposit in the same bank
a like amount,—the ownership of such sum of one thou-
sand guineas to depend upon my proving by evidence
sufficient to establish any fact in history or in a criminal
or civil court of justice.
First—That intelligent communications and answers
to questions put, proceed from dead and inert matter in
a manner inexplicable by any generally recognised law
of nature.
"Secondly—That dead and inert matter does move
without the aid of any mechanical or known chemical
agency, and in deflance of all the admitted laws of gravi-
tation.
"Thirdly—That voices appertaining to no onc in the
flesh are heard to speak and hold rational converse with
men.
“A jury of twenty-four gentlemen, twelve to be chosen
by each party (such jury to consist exclusively of mem-
bers of the learned professions and literary men), to
decide whether or not the facts contained in the above
propositions are conclusively proved per testes—i.e, by
witnesses of established character. A majority of
the twenty-four to decide. If the verdict be that these
facts have not been established, the thousand guineas
are to belong to the party accepting this challenge; if
the verdict be that these facts are established, the thou-
sand guineas to be mine.
"Secondly—Immediately after the above wager being
decided, either way, I offer a like challenge of five hun-
dred guineas (to be met on the other side in like manner
as above)—the ownership of the second sum of one
thousand guineas to depend upon the establishment of
the facts contained in the propositions already given, by
experiments conducted in the actual presence of the twenty
four gentlemen who have decided the previous wager
the verdict of the majority to decide in this case likewise.'
“In either case, the séances are to be conducted in an
public or private building which the jury may select,
and which may be available for the purpose.
“The result of these challenges (if accepted and de-
cided) to be advertised by the victorious party, at the
expense of the defeated party, in all the London daily
papers.
“I hope this is plain English.


Omitting the remainder of Mr. Home's affidavit,
the following evidence given by him before the
Dialectical Society, is of interest:
“He had seen a pencil lifted by a spirit hand write on
paper in the presence of the Emperor Napoleon. This
took place in a large room, the Salon Louis Quinze. The
Empress was also present. The hand, after writing,
went to the Emperor, who kissed it ; it then went to the
Empress; she withdrew from the touch, and the hand
followed her. The Emperor said, Do not be fright
ened, kiss it!' She then kissed it, and it shortly after-
wards disappeared. The writing was an autograph
of the Emperor Napoleon I. The Emperor of Russia
had also seen and handled spirit hands, which after-
wards seemed to melt away into thin air.
The Emperor Napoleon has been at a great
many of Mr. Home's séances, and Mr. Home was
asked by members of the Dialectical Society te
state other things which had been observed on
those occasions. Mr. Home said that he did not
feel at liberty to state any more than the Emperor
was in the habit of telling himself.


“FREDERICK ROWLAND YOUNG,
“Minister of the Free Christian Church, Swindon.
There are very many healing mediums in the
United States, who can do good only in certain
diseases, or whose powers are so feeble that suc-
cessful results may with more probability of accu-
racy be put down to the imagination of the
patient.
A great use of Spiritualism is that it demon-
strates the immortality of the soul. But why
ask, “ Of what use is Spiritualism?” for here the
thing is in our midst as much a part of nature as
the trees, the clouds, and the flowers, and as it
cannot be abolished there is no alternative but te
subject it to investigation, or to look on in igno-
rance.


HOW TO FORM SPIRIT CIRCLES
An experimental trial at home, among family
friends and relatives, often gives the most satis-
factory evidence of the reality of spiritual pheno-
mena. At the same time, as no fully developed
medium is present among those who have never
obtained manifestations before, the probability is
that there will be no results. Nevertheless, it is
a very common thing for striking manifestations
to be obtained in this way at the first sitting of a
family circle; perhaps for every one suecessful
new circle thus started without a medium, there
are six or seven failures, but no accurate statistics
on this point have yet been colleeted. When
once manifestations have been obtained they will
gradually increase in power and reliability at suc-
cessive sittings. The following is a good plan of
action :
1. Let the room be of a comfortable temperature, but
cool rather than warm—let arrangements be made that


40


THE SPIRITUALIST.


JAN. 14, 1870.


nobody shall enter it, and that there shall be no inter-
ruption for one hour during the sitting of the circle.
Wet, damp, and foggy weather is bad for the production
of physical phenomena.
2. Let the circle consist of four, five, or six individuals
about the same number of each sex. Sit round an un-
covered wooden table, with all the palms of the hands
in contact with its top surfaee. Whether the hands
touch each other or not is usually of no importance.
Any table will do, just large enough to conveniently
accommodate the sitters. The removal of a hand from
the table for a few seconds does no harm, but when one
of the sitters breaks tho eircle by leaving the table it
sometimes, but not always, very considerably delays the
manifestations.
3. Before the sitting begins, place some pointed lead-
pencils and some sheets of clean writing paper on the
table, to write down any communications that may be
obtained.
4. People whio do not like each other should not sit in
the same circle, for such a want of harmony tends to
prevent manifestations, except with well-developed
physical mediums; it is not yet known why. Belief or
unbelief has no influence on the manifestations, but an
acrid feeling against them is a weakening influence.
5. Defore the manifestations begin, it is well to engage
in general conversation or in singing, and it is best that
noither should be of a frivolous nature. A prayerful,
earnest feeling among the members of the circle is likely
to attract a higher and more pleasing class of spirits.
6. The first symptom of the invisible power at work is
often a fecling like a cool wind sweeping over the hands.
The first manifestations will probably be table tiltings or
raps.
7. When motions of thie table or sounds are produced
freely, to avoid confusion, let one person only speak
and talk to the table as to an intelligent being.
Let him toll the table that three tilts or raps mean
"Yes," one means “No," and two mean “Doubtful"
and ask whetlier the arrangement is understood. If
three signals be given in answer, then say, “If I speak
the letters of the alphabet slowly, will you signal ever
time I come to the letter you want, and spell us out
message?" Should three signals be given, set to work
on the plan proposed, and from this time an intelligent
system of communication is established.
5. Afterwards the question should be put, “Are we
sitting in the right order to get the best manifestations
Probably some members of the circle will then be told
to change scats with each other, and the signals will be
afterwards strengthened. Next ask, “ Who is the
When spirits come asserting themselves to
medium?"
be related or known to anybody present, well-chosen
questions should be put to test the accuraey of the
statements, as spirits out of the body have all the virtues
and all the failings of spirits in the body.


sible to comply with his demand. Faraday also
required an answer to the following questions
anong others, before attending:
“Would he (Mr. Home) be glad if their (the manifesta-
tion's) delusive character were ostablished and exposed,
and would he gladly help to expose it, or would he be
annoyed and personally offended? (The italics in this
“Does he consider the effects natural or supernatural?
sentence are not in the original.)
If natural, what are the laws which govern them? or
does he think that they are not subject to laws? If
supernatural, does he suppose them to be miracles, or
the work of spirits? If the work of spirits, would an
insult to the spirits be considered as an insult to
himself?"
Mr. Home took no notice of the above insults,
and, it is believed, never wrote Faraday in the
first instance, or took any notice of him whatever.
He never even saw his letters.


Dr. John Tyndall, F.R.S., in a note dated May
8, 1868, commenting upon Faraday's letter just
mentioned, wrote:
"I hold myself in readiness to witness and investigate,
in the spirit of the foregoing letter (of Faraday's), such
phenomena as Mr Home may wish to reveal to me
during the month of June."
A few days previously Mr. Home had written
in the Pall Mall Gazette:
“It will give me pleasure to meet Professor Tyndall,
and any two gentlemen he shall designate. On my side
I shall have at least two gentlemen whose names and
position place them above the suspicion of aiding or
abetting a fraud. I will meet Professor Tyndall and
these gentlemen when and where they please, and
under such circumstances as they may decide on.
must only crave their patience if nothing should occur
at the first, or even the second, séance."


From that day to this Dr. Tyndall has not
accepted the above invitation.
A demand fora programme where no programme
can be given, and the writing of supercilious
letters in reply to civil invitations, amounts prac-
tically to a refusal to observe facts. Dr. Tyndall
and men who act like him, are recommended to
bear in mind the following words of Galileo:
“Oh, my dear Kepler, how I wish that we could have
our hearty laugh together. Here, at Padua, is the prin-
cipal professor of philosophy, whom I have repeatedly
and urgently requested to look at the moon and planets
through my glass, which he pertinaciously refuses to do.
Why are you not here? What shouts of laughter we
should have at the glorious folly; to hear the Professor
of Philosophy at Pisa, labouring before the Grand Duke
with logical arguments, as if with magical incantations
to charm the planets out of the sky!"
A little society known as the Dialectical Society
is now investigating Spiritualism. It numbers
among its members many shrewd and intelligent
men, belonging chiefly to the legal and medical
professions. Spiritualists watch its proceeding
with a moderate amount of interest; nothing that
any man or body of men may say or do can alter
the established phenomena and laws of nature


inquirers; the sittings exhaust their vitality like a
hard days’ work, and they have to put up with
much abuse when uneducated roughs unaccus-
tomed to investigation persecute them by attend
ing. The inquirer should mention to the medium,
civilly and kindly, his doubts respecting the
phenomena he may witness; the invisible beings
around will at once, ou the spot, do their best to
remove those donbts, or an explanation will be
obtained from the medium. When there is real
foundation for suspicion, the best plan is to go
often to the medium, accompanied by witnesses,
detect the imposture, and prosecute the medium
for obtaining money under false pretences.
Genuine manifestations are not under the control
of the medium, so that a paid medium who does
not get manifestations, is under a great temptation
to try to make them. T’his fact makes it difficult
for Spiritualists to speak absolutely as to the relia-
bility of any paid mediuns, however genuine the
majority of the manifestations may be which occur
in their presence. After getting thoroughly inte-
rested in Spiritual phenomena, the inquirer should
take his friends to see them, and afterwards get my
a private circle in his own house. Manifestations
will most likely not be obtained at the first sitting
but after very few or very many sittings they will
come; gradually the great barrier of the grave
which now separates friends will be broken down.
and after the experience of a year or two the
dread of the beautiful natural process, called
“death,” will be destroyed, as it is destroyed in
the minds of all experienced Spiritualists, except
those who during life have done harm to their
fellow creatures. Very high spirits and their
homes are perfectly invisible to very low spirits ;
this, coupled with the fact that there is no more
uniformity in the next world than there is here
accounts for the endless contradietions about spirit
life given in Spiritual communications.
An investigator of a logical aud scientific turn of
mind may possibly have to closely follow up the
subject for some weeks before gaining the absolute
knowledge that the manifestations come from
spirits. Unlike Mr. Home and a few other excep-
tional individuals, most mediums are developed
for one or two special purposes only. Thus, vio-
lent physical manifestations, inexplicable by an
of the recoguised laws of matter, may be seen in
the presence of one medium, but mental tests and
questions may bring forth a majority of inaccurate
and unreliable answers. Where good mental tests
are obtainable through a medium, the physical
manifestations may be altogether absent.
There are so few public or semi-publie spirit
circles at work in London, aud the pressure for
admission is so great where the manifestations are
good, that the best plan for noviees is usually to
try to get mauifestations at home among their own
friends.


On the first of every month
"THE TRUTHSEEKER, a Review.
devoted to the advocacy of reverent free
thought in matters pertaining to Religion.” Edited by
the Rev. J. PAGE HOPPS. Price Threepence.
London: Trübner and Co., 60, Paternoster-row. Man-
chester: Johnson and Rawson, and John Heywood; and
through all booksellers and agents.


"THE NEWSPAPER PRESS"—THE PRESS ORGAN
THIS JOURNAL is the adopted and re-
cognised Representative of the Newspaper in-
terests, and the medium of interecommunication between
Proprietors, Editors, Reporters, Correspondents, Pub-
lishers, Printers, and all parties associated with News
papers.
“We hail with satisfaction the addition of the News-
paper Press to the journalism of the United Kingdom.'
Saunders' News Letter.
“Information of a kind peeuliarly valuable to cver
one connected with newspapers.—Dublin Freeman's
Journal.
“We feel it our duty especially to commend it to all
newspaper men."—Brighton Gazette.
Subscriptions, 4s. per annum, post free, payable in ad-
vance.
Loudon: E. W. ALLEN, Publisher, 11, Ave Maria-lane


The only Cheap Weekly Horticultural Journal.
2d. Weekly; and in Monthly Parts, 10d.
THE GARDENER'S MAGAZINE for
Amateur Cultivators, Collectors, and Exhibitors
of Plants, Flowers and Fruits, for Gentlemen's Gar-
deners, Florists, Nurserymen, and Seedsmen; for Na-
turalists, Botanists, Bee-keepers, and Lovers of the
Country. Conducted by SHIRLEY HIBBERD, Esq.
F.R.H.S.
London: E. W. ALLEN, 11, Ave Maria-lane, E.C.
And by Order of all Booksellers and Newsagents in
Town and Country.


FEMALE MEDICAL SOCIETY.
Vice-Patrons:
His Grace the Duke of Argyll, K.T
Her Graee the Duchess of Argyll.
The Baroness de Rothschild.
The Countess de Noailles.


President:
The Right Honourable the Earl of Shaftesbury, K.G.
Treasurer:
Henry Charles Stephens, Esq., 171 Aldersgate-street, E.C
Honorary Secretary:
James Edmunds, Esq., M.D
Lady Secretary:
Mrs. Blangy
Bankers:
The Londou aud County Bank, 441, Oxford-street.


Possibly at the first sitting of a eircle symptoms
of othier forms of mediumship than tilts or raps
may make their appearance. Information respect
ing the many kinds of medinmship will be found
in Mrs. Professor De Morgan's book, From Matte
to Spirit, published by Longmans; and this is a
good book to read before trying to start a nev
circle. It usually takes several years for au¬
medium to attain full power, and it is not an
uncommon although not an everyday thing, for
chairs and other articles to move about in the
presenceofagoodwell-developed physieal mediun
withont anybody touching the articles at all. Thi¬
fact effectually disposes of Faraday's “unconscious
muscular action” tlicory. Some have suggested
that the phenomena are all mental, since mental
conditions influence their production, and that
those present all believe they sec and hear thiugs
which they do not in reality see and hear. The
answer is that there is sometimes such a noise
with improperly powerful manifestations that the
sounds are heard all over the house by persons
not in the room ; the furniture sometimes gets
broken by movements of too violeut a character
and the broken portions remain as evidence that
tlie phenomena were not of a mental character.
The upholsterers' bills which result also serve to
convince that the occurrences are faets. The
higher spirits scem to have little power over
common matter, and tlie highest communications
are not usually obtained through physical mani
festations.
There are in England several very interestin,
cireles for physical manifestations, where the
spirits speak with audible voices, but, unfortu¬
nately, total darkness is a necessary condition.
Non-spiritualists who are inquiring into the sub
ject should have nothing to do with dark séances,
which should be held only by those who knov
cach other, since they offer so many facilities for
fraud. When any circle regularly obtains power
ful physical manifestations, they may desire to si
for the voices. The very slightest glimmer of
light must be excluded from the room, while the
members of the cirele sit round the table in the
ordinary way. One or two paper tubes, each
twelve or eighteen inches long, with an orifice
about an inch-and-a-half in diameter, should be
placed on the table. They may be readily made
by rolling up a piece of musie and tying a fev
pieces of cotton round the rough tube thus formed.
In the early stages of a voice-cirele these tubes
are necessary for the use of the spirits, but after
wards tlicy may be dispensed with except when
the weather and other conditious are unfavour
able. Wheu first trying to obtain the voices the
spirits may not be able to lift the tubes from the
table, afterwards they often get them up in the
air a foot or two and let tliem drop again. When
they get full control over them they cau carr,
them about up to the ceiling and to all parts of
the room, and they talk to the members of the
cirele often while floating abont above their heads.
Very beautiful luminous phenomena are some¬
times shown by the spirits at dark circles. While
sitting for the voices, the spirits will tell by the
ordinary table signals how they are progressing in
their work of getting control of the tubes
Every human being is surrounded by an atmo¬
sphere which to the spirits is luminous and mate¬
rial, and this atmosphere is largely used by the
spirits in the production of the physical manifes¬
tations. Baron Reichenbach, while he knew
nothing of Spiritualism, discovered by experiment
the presence of unknown forces emanating from
human bodies, and published the results in hi¬
Rescarches on Animal Magnetism. All the pheno
mena of Spiritualism draw temporarily upon the
vital powers of those composing the circle, but
the medium is the chief source of energy.
A still atmosphere and subdued light in the
room are favourable couditions for tlie physieal
manifestations.


THE LITERATURE OF SPIRITUALISM.
The literature of Spiritualism now consists of
several hundreds of volumes, good, bad, and indif-
ferent, and almost entirely of American origin.
Among the best volumes on the subject are Mrs
De Morgan's From Matter to Spirit (Longmans)
with a preface by Professor De Morgan, President
of the Mathematical Society of London; The
Planchette, by Epes Sargent; Spiritualism (2 vols.)
by Judge Edmonds and G. T. Dexter, of New
York; a History of Spiritualism, by Emma Hard
inge; and The Autobiography of Andrew Jackson
Davis. An interesting book, consisting simply of
narrations of facts witnessed at remarkable seances,
is Incidents of My Life (Longmans), by D. D.
Home. The Soul of Things, by Denton, is a curious
book indirectly connected with Spiritualism, and
worth reading. Those unacquainted with Spiri-
tualism are recommended to read these books in
the order in whieh they have just been mentioned.
The only large lending library of Spiritual books
in Great Britain is that belonging to Mr. J. Burns
15, Southampton-row, High Holborn, London,
W.C. The English periodicals on the subject
are, The Spiritual Magazine, Human Nature, Day-
break, and The Spiritualist.


ADVICE TO INQUIRERS.
Those who know no intelligent Spiritualists,
and nothing about Spiritualism, yet who want to
investigate, are recommended to begin by reading
the first two books mentioned in the preceding
paragraph. Then they should call upon the chief
publisher of Spiritual books in Londou, Mr. J.
Burns, 15, Southampton-row, Holborn (where they
are sure to be treated with attention and courtesy),
and ask for the names and addresses of say four
good professional or non-professional mediums,
accessible to the public, and “ recognised by Spiri-
tualists as reliable for powerful physical manifes
tations.” There are plenty of mediums or of people
who fancy themselves mediums, who can rarely show
anything satisfactory, and with whom an inquirer
might waste much time. He should then get say
two sittings by daylight in his own house with
each of the four mediums, because the power
varies in strength at times with every medium;
at the end of the eight sittings he is sure to be
thoroughly interested in Spiritualism, and to have
thrown overboard the imposture theory, which is
the clumsiest and most superficial one of all.
Many of the publie have vague ideas that electri-
city can do all kinds of unaccountable things, but
A GENUINE MEDIUM NEVER HAS ANY HESITATION
IN SITTING WITH A CIRCLE IN A HOUSE AND AMONG
FURNITURE WHICH HE OR SHE HAS NEVER SEEN IN
HIS OR HER LIFE BEFORE. Even with a good
medium it is best, if time be valuable, not to
investigate at crowded public circles, because,
assuming imposture to be at work, there is no
telling who may not be aiding, among the
numerous spectators. Besides, where so many
people want to ask questions of the spirits, the
investigator has not time to put many himself.
Investigators are recommended to be thus careful
in the selection of mediums, because as public
attention is gradually more rivetted upon Spiri-
tualism, impostors are sure to spring up, and even
to advertise in Spiritual periodicals, for the editors
manifestly cannot investigate the claims of ever
professing medium. At present (November, 1869)
there is very little imposture mixed up with the
Spiritual movement in Great Britain, and there are
only four or five paid mediums in all London.
Good paid mediums deserve high praise rather
than that censure whieh is thrown upon them even
by Spiritualists ; they find house-room; they are
ready to receive straugers at stated times when
private circles could not sit for the convenience of


JOSEPH BARKER'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
Now ready, neatly bound in cloth, price 2s. Gd
TEACHINGS OF EXPERIENCE; or,
Lessons I have Leamned on my Way through
Life.
London: JAMES BEVERIDGE, 9, 10, 11, Fullwood's-rents
Holborn, W.C.


HUMAN NATURE, a Monthly Record
of Zoistic Seience, Intelligence, and Popular
Authropology. Recent numbers give full details of the
extraordinary Manifestations through the celebrated
Medium, D. D. Home, Esq., with philosophical reason-
ings as to the nature and cause of the phenomena: a
new series of lessons on Phrenology and the Tempera-
ments is being given, containing some new instructions
of great value to the student; first-class Portraits of
eminent men and women, with Biographies and Phreno-
logical delineations are frequently introduced; a serial
Tale of great power and beauty; articles on Physiology,
Diet, Temperance, and Health; translations from Con-
tinental Works and Periodicals; treatises on Mesmerism
Clairvoyance, Spiritualism; reviews of Books; report-
of Lectures, Meetings, and Societies, renders this the
cheapest, most varied, aud instructive Periodical of the
kind in the world. The fact that this Periodical is en-
tirely unbiased and devoted to the truth respecting all
the topies on which it treats, is a point not to be over
looked by all earnest investigators, whatever their
opinions may be. Post free, 7s. per annum, or Gd. per
month from the Booksellers. JAMES BURNS, Progres-
sive Library, 15, Southampton-row, Bloomsbury-square
Holborn, London, W.C.


THE PROGRESSIVE LIBRARY and
SPIRITUALIST DEPOSITORY has been re-
moved from Camberwell to No. 15, Southampton-row,
Bloomsbury-square, Holborn, W.C.
There is a Publishing Office and Shop for the sale of
Books; a Circulating Library of all Works on Spiritualism
&c.; a Reading-Room supplied with the Spiritual and
Progressive Publications of the World; a Drawing
Room for the special use of Ladies and Subscribers
Private Rooms for Séances, Committees, Meetings, &c.
and where all information respecting the Cause and the
Progress of events may be obtained.
The Subscription, entitling to all the privileges of the
Establishment, includiug the use of two Books at a
time from the Library for home perusal, is 21s. per annum
A well-assorted Stock of Stationery, Periodicals, cur-
rent Progressive Literature, Standard Works, Cheap
Books and Tracts, Planchettes, Materials for Writing
and Drawing Mediums; also Works and Appliances on
Phrenology, Physiology, Health, and Dietetic Reform
Temperance, Hydropathy, Gymnastics, Mesmerism,
Clairvoyance, Anthropology, &c., will be kept on sale.
As the responsibilities incurred in establishing this
“Home for Spiritualism" and the Science of Man are
very heavy, the Proprietor earnestly solicits the kind
co-operation and support of all who sympathise with
the enterprise. Strangers in London should at once
call at the Progressive Library, where they may hear of
Lodgings and get other useful information.
J. BURNS, Progressive Library, 15, Southampton-row,
Bloomsbury-square, Holborn, London, W.C.


THE SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE, pub-
lished Monthly, contains all the news of Spiri-
tualism, and psychological articles by writers of ability.
Publisher, JAMES BURNS, 15, Southampton-row, Holborn,
W.C.


THE BANNER OF LIGHT, the Chief
Weekly Newspaper on Spiritualism in the United
States, may be ordered through Mr. JAMES BURNS, 15
Southampton-row, Holborn, W.C.


The Female Medical Society is established for the
following objects:
1.—To promote the employment of properly educated
women in the practice of Midwifery, and the treatment
of the Diseases of Women and Children.
2.—To provide educated women with proper facilities
for learning the theory and praetice of Midwifery, and
the accessory brauches of Medical Science.
Midwifery and the accessory branches of medicine
offer a wide field of honourable and lucrative employ-
ment for educated women; also a meaus of intellectual
culture and social usefulness to ladies who may not be
dependent upon their own exertions. For want of
properly qualified ladies the best portion of the practice
of midwifery has drifted into the hands of gentlemen
though female practitioners still attend the bulk of the
population. But any person may undertake the duties
of a midwife. Proper means of study have never been
provided for women, and there has never been an
public examination, by which women when well qualified
might be distinguished from those who are illiterate and
unqualifled.
The Society has carried on for five years the Ladies'
Medical College, whieh has taught the theory and prac-
tice of Midwifery and the accessory branches of medi-
cine. Eighty-two ladies have already availed themselves
of its advantages, and many of these ladies are settled
in practice, and suceceding admirably.
A life subscription of ten guineas, or an annual sub-
scription of one guinea, constitutes a member of the
Society, but stamps or other small contributions will be
gladly received
Lady subseribers of not less than one guinca are
invited to visit any Lectures in which they are likely to
be interested.
The addresses of skilled Lady Midwives, Prospectuses
of the College, and all particulars as to the operations of
the Society, may be obtained of the Lady Secretary.
Temporary Offices—4 Fitzroy-square, W
Cheques to be crossed London and County Bank.


NO. 1 of THE SPIRITUALIST is from be-
ginning to end a compact mass of good evidence
that the facts of Spiritualism are true. It contains a
summary of the evidence given before the Dialectical
Society by twenty wituesses of eminence and ability; in
also gives the testimony of respectable non-Spiritualists:
therefore it is a valuable publication to place in the
hands of non-Spiritualists, and should be seleeted for
that purpose rather than later numbers of the same
journal, as the later numbers will run out of print first
and should be ordered while they are still obtainable by
those who wish to preserve them for binding. A few
copies of No. 1 should be kept on hand for the benefit of
non-Spiritualists, but later numbers should be retained in
the possession of the early friends of the movement
before they become scarce and unobtainable. Cover-
with stringed backs, to keep copies clean till required
for binding, 3s. each.
London: E. W. ALLEN, Ave Maria-lane, E.C.; or J.
BURNS, 15, Southampton-row, Holborn, W.C.


Contents.


The Human “ Double
33
Spirit-rapping in John Wesley's Family. Part IV. 33
Lecture by Mrs. Hardinge
... 34
REPORTS OF MEETINGS:—Séances at the Spiritual
Library. - Crushed to Death—The consequences o
Crime—Remorse in the Spirit World—Restitution
and Repentance—The Equilibrium of the Mental
Faculties—Proper Names in Trance-Mediuship. 3
... 35
Bible Spiritualism
GENERAL NEWS:—Speaking in Unknown Tongues
Table Signals and the Alphabet—Proper Names
and Trance-Mediumship—The Spiritual Magazie
“The Reality of a Spirit World Demonstrated"
—Spiritualism in the Isle of Wight—The Spirit
World
... 36
LEADER:—The Action of Light upon Spiritual Mani-
... 37
festations..
37
A Feature of Tranee-Mediumship
... "
“John King"
.. 37
POETRY:—The last Scene of Life
... 38
CORRESPONDENCE:—Was Sarah Jacobs Starved to
... 38
Death
The “ Banner of Light" Circle...
... 38
... 38
The Education of the Young
PARAGRAPHS:—Atmospherical Influences on Mani-
festations, 36; The Anthropological Society, 36
The Cure of M. Leon Favre, 38.


SPIRITUALISM AND MEN OF SCIENCE
Sir J. Emerson Tennent once invited Faraday
to a séance at which Mr. Home was to be the
medium. Faraday wrote and asked for a pro-
gramme of the manifestations, and as nobody
knows beforehand what will take place at a circle
any more than the details of an expected star-
shower can be given in advance, it was not pos-


R. J. L. OLIVE, Professor of Modern
Spiritual Science, 1, Gibson-place, Warrington¬
crescent, Maida Vale, W. Mr. Olive is prepared to afforc
information relative to Spiritualism, the Development o¬
Mediumistic power, &c., with facilities for investigation
of Phenomena. Reliable advice based on large medical
xperience, and aided by beneficent Spirit Intelligences,
may also be obtained for the relief of ailments of Body
or Mind. Consultation Fee, One Shilling.


Printed for the Proprietor by JAMES BEVERIDGE, at the
Holborn Printing Works, Fullwood’s Rents, High
Holborn, in the Parish of St. Andrew-above-Bar and
St. George the Martyr, London, and published by E.
W. ALLEN, Ave Maria-lane, London, E.C.


The Spiritualist.


A RECORD OF THE PROGRESS OF THE SCIENCE AND ETHICS OF SPIRITUALISM.


VOL. I
No. 6.


LORD BROUCHAN ON SPRTUALISM.


A WORK entitled The Book of Nature,* by Mr. Charles
O. Groom Napier, F.C.S., was published last month, and
has a preface by the late Henry Lord Brougham and
Vaux, which preface closes with the following sentence:
“There is but one question I would ask the author, is
the Spiritualism of this work foreign to our material -
istic, manufacturing age?—No; for amidst the varieties
of mind which divers circumstances produce, are found
those who cultivate man’s highest faculties ;—to these
the author addresses himself. But even in the most
cloudless skies of scepticism I see a rain-cloud,—if it be
no bigger than a man’s hand; it is Modern Spiritualism."
Many were the noble acts and deeds of Lord
Brougham, but the foregoing outspoken statement,
shows, how even in his later days, he was in advance
of many of our younger and more energetic philosophers
and statesmen, both in knowledge of facts, and in fear-
lessly and honestly publishing that knowledge.


THE ROYAL INSTITUTION
THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY


PROFESSOR HUMPHRY, M.D., F.R.S., of Cambridge
University, is now giving a course of six Tuesday morn-
ing lectures on the Architecture of the Human Body,
and the fourth lecture of the series was delivered last
Tuesday. He said that the several bones forming the
spinal column or “ backbone,” are joined together at
their outer edges by tough fibres, but the inner portion
of the space between the bones is pulpy and not fibrous,
so that the vertebrae are to all practical intents and
purposes balanced upon fluid balls, tough outside and
soft in the centre. These fluid balls prevent bad effects
from jars. By pressure and by work, some of the in-
ternal fluid is squeezed out of the balls during the day,
but the fibrous substance having a great attraction for
moisture, the loss is soon replaced. So tightly are the
bones joined together, that when the spinal column is
broken, some of the bones themselves are almost sure to
be broken also. All mammals, with a very few excep-
tions, have the same number of bones in the neck, and
there are no more bones in the neck of the giraffe than
in the neck of a man. The ribs are attached to the
spinal column, and proceed from it in a curve ; they are
inclined in a slightly downward direction, but in old
people they become more horizontal. The points of the
ribs are not directly joined to the breast-bone, but are
connected with it by ligaments which slant slightly up-
wards, so that the downward slant of the ribs, and the
upward slant of the ligaments, permit respiration to go
on more easily than would otherwise be the case. The
position of the heart, which is somewhat to the left of
the centre of the chest, seems to give it a tendency to
drive more blood to the right side, and to the right arm
so may have something to do with right-handedness.
Babies have very large skulls in proportion to the size
of the rest of the body, and this is curious, because for
many years the large brain enclosed in the skull has
very little work to do. The lower jaw is moved by a
very large and powerful muscle, which spreads upward
and outwards like a fan, so as to reach to the temples
and to cover a very large portion of the side of the
skull; it is the presence of this muscle which makes it
unpleasant to eat a hard biscuit while a tight hat is upon
the head. The thigh-bone is the longest bone in the body
it has a very shallow socket, so that it is kept in its place
principally by atmospheric pressure, and moves to and
fro, depending from the shallow socket, something like
a pendulum. The knee is one of the most complicated
joints in the whole body, and when it gets out of order
does not readily get right again. The pelvis is an inch
wider in woman than in man, therefore tends to make
women walk with a waddle, but this defect is not seen
unless they strive to keep pace with man; although
women have this disadvantage, they have graces which
man has not. After the age of twenty-five is past, exa-
mination of the bones will give very little clue to the
age at death of the individual who owned them. Madder
will colour growing bone a red colour, so that pigs fed
on madder for a time, and then killed, will be found to
have portions of their bones stained red. Anatomist
have availed themselves of this plan of colouring bone
to learn more of the method of growth of the substance.


*London: John Camden Hotten. 1870.


Bone is light in weight, yet it will bear twice the strain
of oak, and is much more elastic, so it is the very best
substance which could have been chosen for the frame -
work supporting the rest of the human body.


THE ATMOSPHERIC SOURCE OF VEGETABLE NUTRITION.
Dr. William Odling, F.R.S., in the first of twelve lec-
tures on “ The Chemistry of Vegetable Products,” said
that from an acre of meadow land some 4,000 pounds
weight of hay is usually removed, as the product of a
few months’ growth; and this great quantity of matter
has to be traced back to its source. All vegetable pro-
ducts, when subjected to a moderate heat, out of contact
with air, give a considerable quantity of charcoal or
carbon, retaining very nearly the outward form of the
original substance. In this way evidence is obtained of
the presence of carbon in vegetable products of all
kinds. The proportion of carbon in wood, corn, wheat,
and diffcrent vegetable substances varies, but it averages
about 45 or 50 per eent. of the whole weight.
When
such an enormous weight of carbon is removed from
cultivated land every year, the question arises, “ Where
does it come from originally?"
Up to about forty
years ago, the prevailing idea was that it came from
decaying and dead vegetable matter in the soil, in the
form of a brown substance called “humus."
The
vegetable mould of forest land contains about 70
per cent. of carbon ; in grass and arable land there
is also much humus rich in carbon, and to this
substance the origin of vegetable tissue was as-
scribed. This view was adopted both by Sir Hum-
phrey Davy and Berzelius, and it was not over-
thrown till Liebig, in 1840, brought the question
under the notice of the British Association; he then
heaped proof upon proof that humus was not the
source of the carbon in question, and he brought out
what is known as “the mineral theory of vegetable
nutrition."
Before humus can enter a plant it must be
dissolved; and Liebig showed that humus is very in-
soluble in water; also that, if the whole of the rainfall
upon an acre of land dissolved all the humus it could
take up, and the whole of this humus was carried into
the plant during the period of its growth, it would only
account for a very small percentage of the carbon in
the full-grown vegetable. Humus is, however, more
soluble in alkaline liquids, and Liebig proved that if al
the alkali contained in plants had been employed to aid
the rain water in dissolving humus, still it would not
account for a tithe of the carbon found in the plants.
Where, then, does the carbon come from? It must
come from water, earth, or air; and as water contains,
no carbon, attention was drawn to air. Common air
contains carbonic acid gas in small proportion, there
being about four volumes of the gas to every 10,000
volumes of air. It was found by experiment that peas
could be grown in soil consisting only of powdered
burnt brick, quite free from organie matter : also
in Chili, Peru, and other countries, vegetation is
sometimes very rich upon sandy soils, containing
little or no carbon.
The palm trees of the West
Coast of Africa, which grow upon a sandy soil,
yielded between the years 1821 and 1830 no
less than 107,000,000lbs of oil, containing 32,000
tons of carbon. Where did all the carbon come from ?
Although there are only, on an average, four volumes
of carbonic acid gas in 10,000 volumes of air, yet that
would give a volume of the gas in the theatre of the
Royal Institution half as large as the lecture table, and
a volume of solid charcoal as big as a brick ; so that
when the enormous volume of the atmosphere of the
earth is considered, there is plenty of charcoal in it.
On every square foot of the surface of the earth there
is a column of air pressing with a force of 2,000lbs.;
and this column contains about half a pound of charcoal ;
calculation, therefore, shows that the atmosphere of the
whole earth contains 3,000 billions of pounds of carbon,
or more eharcoal than is contained in the whole of the
vegetable and animal kingdoms, and in all the coal
deposits below the surface of the earth. Dr. Odling
closed his lecture by describing how it was proved by
experiment over and over again, that the leaves of
growing plants absorb carbonic acid gas from the atmo-
sphere, and appropriate the carbon contained therein.
It is, therefore, demonstrated that most of the carbon
helping to form trees, plants, grass, and corn comes
from the atmosphere, and not from Mother Earth.


THE following is a portion of a letter by Mr. D. A
Eddy, of Cleveland, Ohio, published on the 29th Jan.
1870, in The Banner of Light, the chief newspaper on
Spiritualism in the United States :—“ You are already
no doubt, somewhat familiar with the name of our
medium, Mrs. Harriet Thackerberry, who visited New
York, recently, on an invitation from a gentleman whe
saw the manifestations here, and desired to present
them to the New York Spiritualists. It is now only
two years since the spirits succeeded in attracting
attention, and making themselves known through this
medium, since which time the manifestations have gra-
dually assumed a more positive and decided character
but, till quite recently, have been mostly confined to
prescribing for invalids, and conversing freely and
audibly with any one in the audience that desired to
enter into eonversation with them. They seem to tak-
much pleasure in exhibiting their vocal powers in sing-
ing, and this constitutes one of the remarkable feature
connected with the manifestations. There are one
male and three female spirits always in attendance.
They have a great variety of songs at hand, and always
seem pleased when called on to render any particulari
one, with the time or air to which it is adapted.
The
female voices, so far as the music is concerned, wil
compare with the most celebrated singers now before
the public.
“ The presiding or controlling spirit, Benjamin Thac-
kerberry, was the husband of the medium; and was lost
on Lake Ontario nine years ago last November. By dint
of perseverance he succeeded in coming back and learn-
ing the laws of control. He was an unlettered, unedu-
cated sailor, but possessed a noble, and generous, and
enterprising spirit. His grammar was quite defective
before leaving the form—which still shows itself in
conversation—but a more accommodating or generous
spirit I have never met, in or out of the form. He was
attracted to his wife, and first succeeded in making him
self known through her. She has passed through great
trials while being developed, but through the assistance
of one kind friend, at least, has been able to outlive the
discouraging and embarrassing influences with which
she has been beset and surrounded.
“ It is now only a little over two weeks since the
manifestations that have called out this statement were
exhibited, and which took us as much by surprise as did
those which preceded them. That your readers may the
better understand, I will briefly state the conditions
preceding the manifestations in question. In order to
give satisfactory tests to sceptics and investigators
small light frame, about 3 x 2 1/2 feet square, covered
with black oil cloth, forming a cabinet, is used; the
door forming the front having an opening or aperture
say 14 x 16 inches square, covered with a drop-cur-
tain, tucked in at the top, making the inside dark, ex-
cept what little light finds its way through the imper-
fection of the framework and covering
“ When tests are to be given, the medium’s mouth is
filled with a wet sponge; her lips compressed together
and sealed securely with several pieces—one over the
other—of adhesive plaster. Her hands are then
securely tied behind, when she takes a seat in the
cabinet, and immediately passes into deep trance of
unconscious state. In from one to two minutes after
the door is closed, talking by the presiding spirit
familiarly known as 'Ben,' commences. He salutes
each one in turn in the audience with whom he is ac-
quainted, and likes to be introduced to all strangers.
These proceedings over, he solicits questions, if no one
commences without. The three female spirits, who are
always in attendance, will also converse freely when
called out by the audience. Singing, conversing, play-
ing upon instruments and writing inside the cabinet
constituted, as we supposed, the ultimatum of these
manifestations. Judge of our surprise, when suddenly
and without any previous warning, several faces ap-
peared at the opening in the door above referred to.
On inquiry, we were informed by the presiding spirit
that hereafter these exhibitions would constitute the
leading phase and most important feature in the mani-
festations, and well has he kept his word.
“ At the time these last-named manifestations ap-
peared, the medium was under an engagement to go to
New York, where she is at this time of writing. We


THE APPEARANCE OF SPIRITS AT PUBLIC
MEETINGS


LONDON: TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1870


Published on the 15th of every
Month; Price Threepence


﻿42


THE SPIRITUALIST.


FEB. 15, 1870.


succeeded in prolonging her stay some ten days, in
order to have this new development fairly and satisfac-
The result was that some fifty spirits
torily tested.
presented themselves, a large number of whom were
recognised by parties in the audience.
“ The only conditions required on these occasion-
were music, if convenient; the circle to sit from six to
eight feet from the cabinet ; the lights placed so as to
shine with full force directly on the opening in the
door when the faces presented themselves—conversa-
tion amongst the audience and with the presiding spirit
in the cabinet allowed, same as when we had only
singing and musical manifestations. The only change
in the condition of the medium was—in addition to
those above described—a veil was placed over her face
after her hands were securely tied behind. In most
cases, the spirits presenting themselves appeared to have a
light gauze or piece of white cloth over their foreheads
and sometimes over the neck and chin, but, in most
cases, exhibiting the face sufficiently to be recognised.
They informed us that the light was so severe upon
them that this precaution was necessary to enable
them to hold on, while a fair and distinct view of their
features could be seen by the audience.
“ By direction of the presiding spirit, we took the
cabinet to Mr. Beckwith’s photograph-rooms, West Side,
where five different negatives were taken in daylight
in less than an hour, three copies of which I sent you
last Saturday, 8th inst. This was the first and only
sitting the medium gave for photographs while here,
prior to leaving for New York. Most of the faces seen
at the circles, especially the select or private circles
were plainer than those I sent you, and we are assured
that after a little practice they will be able to present
themselves as plainly and distinctly for photographs as
any one could in the form.
“It may, perhaps, be well to state that the voices
which proceed from the cabinet are not produced by the
medium’s organism, but by the spirits themselves, who
possess the faculty of forming lungs and all the appa-
ratus necessary for distinct articulation. Many suppose
the talking and singing proceed, in some way, from the
medium’s organism. But this is not the case ; the con-
ditions are such that it is utterly impossible for her to
articulate. The spirits, when talking, are in the imme-
diate vicinity of the medium, but usually from one to
two feet from her, and frequently change their position."


Dr. NEWTON, the healing medium, will arrive in Eng-
land in May next.
MEDIUMISTIC DIET.— Within the past month we have met
with five mediums in London, who have been forbidden by
spirits to eat pork, on pain of having their mediumship taken
away. Mr. Peebles says that in the United States the same
objection to pork is almost universally expressed by the
spirits.
SUNDAY evening lectures are now being delivered by Dr.
Carpenter, V.P.R.S., Professor Huxley, Mr. J. Norman Lock-
yer. and others, at St. George’s Hall, Langham-place, Regent
street.
LECTURE BY MR. S. C. HALL.—Last Thursday evening
Mr. S. C. Hall, F.S.A., gave a Lecture on the Fairy Legends
of Ireland, at the Literary Institute, Newington Causeway, in
connection with “ Dunn’s Tailors’ Labour Agency.” The hall
was full to overflowing, many being unable to obtain seats
Mr. Hall began by speaking of the universality of the belief in
fairies in Ireland, and he told all about the superstitions relating
to the phooka, the banshee, the cleuricaune, the dullahaun, and
many other varieties of the “bogle” tribe. He told how St.
Kevin got rid of the last of the “sarpints” in Ireland. St.
Patrick had previously cleared out all serpents but one, whe
was too clever for him. St. Kevin then tried to annihilate the
reptile by prayer, but St. Kevin was a young man; of course
his prayers had not the full strength of an older saint, so he
failed. Then he spoke fair words to the sarpint, and one day as
they were walking arm in arm through a wood, they came to
a great trunk, and began to dispute as to its size. The ser-
pent bet the saint a gallon of spirits that the trunk would not
hold his (the serpent’s) body so a trial was made; St. Kevin
whipped down the lid of the box, and dropped the trunk and
its contents into the sea, the serpent crying out all the time,
“St. Kevin, let me out, let me out, and l’Il pay you the gallon of
sperrits like a gintleman !” Other tales did Mr. Hall relate,
one a very rich one told him by the late Master of the Rolls,
and the interest of the audicnce was well sustained through
out. At the close a vote of thanks was proposed by Mr. W.
E. Church, seconded by Mr. W. Dunn, and carried by acclama-
tion.
THE MEETINGS AT THE CAVENDISH ROOMS.—Four Sun
days ago, the first of a series of Sunday evening meetings,
partaking somewhat of the character of a religious service,
began to be held at the Cavendish-rooms, Mortimer-street
Langham-place, under the management of Mr. J. M. Peebles.
Full particulars respecting one of these meetings will be found
in another column. Already the attendance is large enough
to quite fill the hall. Steps are being taken by some leading
friends of Spiritualism to make the step a permanent one, and
an organ is shortly to be purchased, that the vocal may be
aided by instrumental music. The singing on the first two
evenings was of a doleful character, consequently a choir was
formed, and a marked improvement in this part of the service
is the result. Arrangements will also shortly be made, to de-
corate the lecture-table with flowers. A great fault connected
with ordinary religious meetings is that the preacher has it all
his own way, and listeners who are sometimes more intelli
gent than the teacher, are obliged to accept all he says in
silence. Would it, or would it not, be a good plan to an
nounce at the close of every Sunday evening lecture, that
those present may put any questions they please to the speaker
upon the platform? During the absence at Norwich of Mr.
Peebles last Sunday evening, Mr. Burns officiated in his place.
On each evening plenty of rappings were heard near seats
occupied by media, but not loud enough to interfere with the
proceedings.


Reports of Meetings.


[When reports of the speeches of spirits are printed in this Journal, non-
Spiritualists should understand that spirits out of the body are wise or
foolish, truthful or untruthful, just the same as spirits in the body. More
over, they are but individuals, so do not know everything. The statements of
a spirit are but the assertions of an individual; but by comparing the state-
ments of many spirits, it may in time be possible to discover in what point
they agree, and to sift out the unreliable communications. Many spirits
cannot see each other, any more than we can see them, and as some of them
are thus in different states of life, it does not follow that contradictory
messages are therefore untruthful. Spirits are of different religions, conse
sequently their teachings do not altogether agree; there is no more uniformity
in the next world than in this one. It is the business of this journal to report
facts, so we are in no way responsible for the religious, scientific, or any other
teachings given by individual spirits.]


A SUNDAY EVENING MEETING OF
SPIRITUALISTS.
REASON, AND THE RIGHT OF PRIVATE JUDGMENT—THE DOCTRINE OF ENDLESS
TORMENTS—THE PSYCHOLOGY OF “REVIVALS"—TRANCE MEDIUMSHIP
POWERFUL PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS—MATERIAL OBJECTS MOVED WITH-
OUT CONTACT WITH HUMAN BEINGS—THE HAPPINESS CONFERRED BY
SPIRITUALISM—HEALING MEDIUMSHIP—CURES RECENTLY EFFECTED BY
DERVISHES AT SOUTARI IN THE PRESENCE OF PRINCE FREDERICK WILLIAN
OF PRUSSIA—CARRIAGE OF NEWS FROM EUROPE TO AMERICA BY SPIRITS
-TESTIMONY OF THE DYING IN FAVOUR OF SPIRITUALISM


ON Sunday, January 30th, Mr. J. M. Peebles, American
Consul at Trebizond, delivered a lecture on Spiritualism, at
the Cavendish Rooms, Mortimer-street, Langham-place
Regent-street. These meetings will be held regularly every
Sunday evening, and the proceedings begin at seven o’clock
Mr. PEEBLES, according to a system he has long carried out
in the United States, preceded his lecture with a short reli-
gious service, and he began by giving out a hymn, which was
sung by the large number of Spiritualists and others present.
He then offered up a short prayer to the Almighty, giving
thanks to Him for the blessing of direct communication with
departed friends, and for having planted within every human
being the seeds of endless growth, and eternal progression.
Mr. PEEBLES then said that in one of the epistles of Paul
there is language something like this :—“ Be ready to give to
every man a reason for the hope that lieth in the-
Reason,
he said, is a Divine gift, one of the greatest characteristics of
true manhood, and as God has been pleased to make us
reasonable beings, we ought to exercise these reasoning
We should sanction no
powers to the best advantage.
theology, no moral teaching, and no deduction of science, till
we have brought the subject to the test of reason. Wherever
there is an effect there must have been a cause : wherever
there is motion there must have been something to produce
it, and wherever there is a house there must have been a
builder ; so, where we see millions upon millions of bright
and glorious worlds circling in their orbits, there must be
some intelligence guiding them by grand and immutable
laws.
All the conceptions of man being finite he can never fathom
the infinite ; he will always be a progressive being, and how
ever high he may ascend in the scale of creation, he wil
always find universes before him to explore. We may with
Plato call God the “ life essence,” or with A. J. Davis, “the
great positive mind of the universe”; we may accept the
teaching of the Apostle John that “God is love,” or what is
better we may say with Jesus that “ God is a Spirit ”—the
Infinite Spirit of the universe. There is imparted to every
man a portion of that Infinite Spirit. The spiritual body of
man moves the earthly body, but what moves the spirit
body? It is moved by the power of the Infinite Spirit ; God
is a living fountain, acting continually upon this innermost
spirit—the spirit of man. Mind is unseen, it is the great
motive power of the universe, yet the scales cannot weigh it
nor can it be analysed by the blowpipe, but an idea often
exerts great force. Martin Luther once said that “ every
man had the right of private judgment,” and that idea had
sufficient inherent power to shake the church of Rome to it
foundations. That idea has since grown till all are much
agreed that no man, or bishop, or pope, has any right to ster
in between a man and his private judgment, and to dictate
what he shall think or do.
He would tell his listeners some of his own experiences in
the matter of Spiritualism. He was born in one of the Nev
England States, and his parents were Calvinistic Baptists
His early schooling was all coloured by the strict dogmas of
that sect, and on Sundays he listened to long sermons, and
fearful hymns ; one of these hymns he remembered contained
the following verse:


Eternal chains and heavy plagues
Tormenting rocks and fiery coals,
And darts to inflict immortal pains
Dipped in the blood of damned souls.


Another hymn closed thus
The sinner must be born again,
Or sink to endless woe
He was taught in his Sunday-school that he was a sinner by
nature, that he had sinned in Adam, “our federal head,"
before he was born, and that he lived under the curse of God
This teaching had such an effect, that when he was ten or
twelve years old, he was afraid to go to sleep, lest he should
die in the night, and wake up in the flames of hell. When
he was about fifteen years of age, a revival clergyman visited
the village of Chenango, where he then lived. Numbers or
the people went to the revivalist to “ get religion,” and some
of them wanted him to go and get religion too. The revival
preacher was, by nature, a keen psychologist, well able to in-
fluence more negative minds than his own, and he preached a
powerful discourse from the text—“ When the Lord Jesus
shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance
on them that know not the Gospel."
It was a fearful sermon about the torments of hell, and
worked strongly upon his youthful mind. Soon after it was
over, the preacher took him by the hand—just what a mes-
merist would do when influencing his subject—and told him
that he was a sinner, but that if he believed in Jesus, all
would be well. The minister added, “ Say you believe."
“Well, I believe,” was the reply. “Another soul saved,"
exclaimed he. The psychological effect of this was that he
felt relieved in mind (he knew why now), and he began to go
about with his precious Bible in his pocket, striving to con-
vert others, while less than sixteen years of age himself.
Some little time afterwards, the same Elder Bush, revivalist
preacher, left his wife and children, and went to parts un
known with his servant girl. This fact had a great effect
upon his (Mr. Peeble’s) mind; he thought that the teaching
of such a man could not be influenced by the Spirit of God
and he threw over all his teachings as nothing but priestcraft
and delusion. Then came a dreamless night, with no ray of
hope, and he became a student of the works of Voltaire and
Tom Paine. About two years afterwards a “ Universalist"


clergyman came to his village ; the Universalists are a reli-
gious sect in the United States, who teach the universal sal-
vation of all men through Jesus Christ. He was a tall
solemn, dark-haired man ; in his sermons he preached that
God loves all, and that His tender mercies are over all His
works; he referred to the love displayed in the works of
nature, and he showed that there is harmony between the
works of God and the Bible. This loving teaching was very
attractive to him (Mr. Peebles), so he prepared himself to
become a minister of this church, and for twelve years from
that time he was a Universalist clergyman.
One afternoon, about sixteen years ago, he was walking
with a member of the New York Legislative, the Honourable
V. Kenyon, who told him that hc had been to witness some
of the “spirit-rappings,” which had then only just begun to
attract public attention. He replied that he was astonished
that his friend should go to witness such tricks. Mr. Kenyon
said that he was very much surprised at the communications
and the manifestations, and asked him to come and witness
them also. He (Mr. Peebles) consented, but requested that
the appoiutment should be fixed for some evening, as he
should not like to be seen going by daylight to a rapping
medium. (Laughter). When he got there he saw the lady
her husband, and child, put their nands upon the table ; he
heard raps, and, of course, thought that they made them
He asked to be permitted to examine the table, and he did
so, but found nothing. Then he said, “If you are spirits,
please rap somewhere else ;” then he heard the noises upon
the wall, and all round the room. Next the raps and tremu
lous movements came upon his coat-collar, and as he knew
that no machinery was concealed there, he was startled ; but
he thought it due to some unknown force playing round the
room, and making noises. Then the raps told him the name
of a cousin of his who had died, together with her age, and
the text chosen for her funeral sermon. He ascribed this to
thought-reading. The name and address of the medium was
Mrs. Tomlin, ot Auburn, New York.
The second time he attended a séance he saw furniture
moving about with nobody touching it. Soon afterwards a
trance medium, a lad about fourteen or fifteen years of age
came to Elmira, New York, with a gentleman, and they
asked for the use of his church for the public exhibition of
the spirit power. He made no objection ; in fact, he had an
itching curiosity about the subject, and he wished to expose
the delusion. The beardless vouth took his seat upon the
rostrum, and the gentleman, who accompanied him, asked the
audience to appoint a committee to select a subject for the
medium to speak upon while in the trance state. He (Mr.
Peebles) was made chairman of the committee, and was
allowed to choose the subject, so he thought “That’s good !
l’ve got him now!”. The subject given was, “ What is the
philosophical influence of the nations of antiquity upon the
civilisation and science of modern Europe and America?"
The boy at once stepped forward and commenced, and, for
one hour and three-quarters, one continual stream of history
and philosophy fell from his lips ; the beauty of the language
was astonishing, and the names of well-known and little-
known sages of antiquity fell glibly from his lips. He began
by speaking of the old Aryan race, and he spoke as if he had
the whole history of India, Egypt, Greece, and Rome at his
fingers' ends. He (Mr. Peebles) knew the work necessary to
get up sermons before they are preached, and he was perfectly
astonished at the address given by the boy, and he went home
thinking that there must be some power at the root of
Spiritualism.
About six months later Dr. Redman, a very celebrated
American test-medium, visited the city. He (Mr. Peebles)
called upon him, like Nicodemus, by night, and saw a table
moving about with much force whilst nobody was near it ; he
also heard rappings. Then Dr. Redman took a pencil and
wrote swiftly, backwards and bottom upwards. The message
was from James Kenyon, a good old Quaker preacher in earth-
life, and it told things which nobody but their two selves
knew. Yet he (Mr. Peebles) could not say that even then he
was quite a believer. Soon after two of the members of his
church became Spiritualists. Others of his church became
media, and gave him test upon test, yet he could hardly say
that he was a believer.
About twelve years ago he chanced to pay a visit to Mr.
and Mrs. Odell, in Cleveland, Ohio, at a time that the Daven
port brothers were stopping in the house. A public séance
was held in the afternoon, and the manifestations were ver
powerful ; he thought that some years ago the manifestations
through the Davonport boys, were more powerful than they
have been since. Whilst the audience were holding hands
and the Davenports were tied, with flour in their hands, and
chalk-marks round their feet, there was just light enough to
see the musical instruments flying about the room, and they
could be heard playing tunes. The spirits requested the
witnesses to keep passive, and said that they would try and
materialise themselves sufficiently to be seen. A faintly
luminous cloud was then seen to form near the ceiling; it
gradually shaped itself into a human figure with hands
upraised, and then it vanished. Everybody in the room saw
it. He (Mr. Peebles), at the close of the séance, said, “We
read that spirits once rolled away a stone from Christ’s sepul-
chre, and unlocked prison doors ; if you be spirits, I defy you
to do the same.” That evening, at the house of Mr. Odell
while the room was brilliantly lighted with gas, and the
Davenports were tied, he and all the company saw peacocks
plumes floating about the room, and a book walked across
the floor with nobody touching it. Some unseen power then
laid hold of his ankles, and jerked him out of his chair, so
that he came to the ground in a very undignified way, and
hurt his arm. That night the two Davenports slept in a bed
at one end of a very large room, and he and Mr. J. K. Brown.
of Buffalo, New York, slept in the other. The light of the
moon made objects in the room pretty clearly visible. Three
loud raps came upon the door, so he said, “ Come in,” as he
thought it was Mr. Odell. The door opened and shut, but
nobody came in. Next he felt one great blow on his fore-
head, and a second on the pit of his stomach. “The spirits :
said the media, and immediately there was a tremor of the
whole house ! His bed was then upraised, and began to rock
in the air with such vigour, that some of the castors dropped
off the bedposts. Brown said, “ For God’s sake, Peebles, get
a light ;” he jumped out of bed to do so ; just as he reached
the door a great big hand hit him on the back, and he jumped
back into bed again, being frightened. Afterwards the spirits
told him that they manifested so violently not to do him any
harm, but because he had dared them to do their worst or
their best.
At last he became a medium himself, he knew these pheno-
mena to be the work of spirits, and then came the greatest
ordeal of his life. He knew that departed loved ones could
still converse with their friends, and the question was “ Shall