The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1876-09-12 00:00:00

AMERICAN NOTIONS OF ENGLAND.

A New York paper has the following notions of an
American Lady,- Mrs. MOULTON, now in London :
" There is something pitiful in the abject humility of
Ike lower orders in England. They are a sad-faced and
solemn set. They never expect to rise. They quite under-
stand Carlyle's theory that half mankind are born with
saddles on their backs ready to be ridden, and the other
half are born booted and spurred ready to ride them. The
common people have felt the saddle on their back so long
that they do not object to it now; I presume, in fact, that
they scarcely feel its pressure. The whole of life ia
England seems to me to be arranged for the benefit of the
upper classes ; one of whose distinguishing characteristics
is • very wholesome, or rather avery unwholesome, con-
tempt for those people who are beneath them. On the
day, for instance—the eigth of February last —when the
Queen was to open Parliament in person, from early
morning until late afternoon, the streets were absolutely
packed with common people waiting to see the show; and
I could tell you of noble ladies who watched the scene
from the windows of stately houses, and wished, actually
wished, that the soldiers would charge upon the populace,
'just to keep them in their place, you know--aw, really,
they are so obetrusive.' I have spoken of the dress of
English women. A card of aduzisaion for the opening of
Parliament afforded me an opportunity to see the highest
ladies in the land in their most gorgeous apparel, with all
the 'blazonry of their ancestral jewels. It was a brilliant
scene, and I am bound to confess that the young and
pretty peeresses many of them, were attired in exquisite
taste. It was quite evident that their dresses were made
In Paris, and their hair-dresser, also, had crossed the
Channel. They were fair and graceful, these daughters
and sisters of noble earls and (hikes. Like the lilies of
the field, they toil not, neither do they spin, and neither
Solomon nor any other man was ever arrayed like one of
them. But shall I say of the peeresses who were neither :
young nor pretty? Why, this only, that their attire
magnified every defect, drew attention to every lack of
charm. Full dress is passion in England. Full dress
means dress-coats for srentlemen, and low-necked and
short-sleeved gowns for the ladies On the tickets of
admission for Parliament it was printed; 'No one
admitted except in fiat dress,' the ' full' being italicized
to make sure it should not be oi erlooked. There waA
therefore, a necessity that even the oldest and ugliest of
the noble ladies should bare her shoulders to the blast;
but need the dresses have been so very low 1--and, good
matrons of England, what need that you should wear
whole flower-gardens on your beads, and bedeck yourselvee
with gewgaws, enough for an Indian begum I The Queen
sets good example, it is true. Her black velvet dress was
not too low, did not reveal too much of her portly figure.
It was quietly made, and was sumptuous only through its
richness. She wore no vulgar mixture of colours. Her
sole jewels were diamonds ; but who would not be content
with • superb simplicity in the centre of which the great
K064-floor blazed like another sun risen at mid-day for
glory The Queen could never have been beautiful; but
they say she wea marvellously graceful once. She has
certainly lost her grace now, and seemed quite heavy and
puffy ; but she looked a good sort of woman, as she sat
there surrounded by her daughters and daughter-in-law."

SPIRITUALISM AND SPIRITUALISTS.
THE NEW LONDON lIKDIUX.
Some time ago in France the method of a certain
person, named Buguet, who trafficked in " spirit-
photographs," was exposed, by his own confession, in
open court. He produced the box containing a number
of dolls, which he had employed as his spiritual sitters.
In spite of this two elderly and educated witnesees
refused to believe that the photographs of deceased
relations supplied to them were the result of trickery.
One of them persisted that the portrait was so like his
deadivrifelthat it must have been taken from life—or
rather from death. "Had you," asked the President
of the Court of the accused, "any means of knovring
the features of Madame 0.? , ' "No," replied
the prisoner; "one of my dolls happened, I mime*,
to bear some likeness to her." "You hear," said the
President, "from the man's own lips how the trick
was done." "No matter; I am perfectly convinced it
was no trick."
This is an admirable illustration of the state of
mind into which spiritualists work themselves. They
cling to their cherished belief as limpets to a rock..
They are led to do so partly perhaps from a vain desire
to possess mysterious knowledge, and partly from •
longing to have some visible proof that Ille is not
ended by death upon this plaint. One might have
thought that people who wished to believe in the
Bible and • future state could do so without the advice
of spirit messages But it would seem that ill-written
communications on • slate, purporting to come from
the dead wife of an American, have greater anthority
over some pioun persons than Moses and the prophets
have. " Dr." Slide's manifestations are produced by
a clever but tolerably transparent piece of trickery.
The unusual success which they have tad is due to
the " doctor's " knowledge of human nature, and to
the simplicity of the means which he employs. He is
aware that mast of the people wno come to him long
to see and believe in something marvellous, and that,
in nine cases out of ten, they will themselves do •
great deal of his work for him. He knows also that
people who can come to observe his mode of working
wonders will, unless they have some special training,
see nothing, and go away, if not believing in spirit-
ualism, at least completely mystified. Much of his
performance depends upon his skill in calling the
attention of his sitters to come unimportant matter,
while under their very eyes, if they know how to use
them, he is preparing and carrying out an important
" manifestation. ' In order to show the difference
between skilled and unskilled observers in these
matters, we here print two accounts of one and the
same " mance," the first written by a person not the
least inclined to believe in spiritualism, and not a
good observer; the second by one who, as he says in
his account, has for some fifteen years made a special
study of art magical.
" On entering the back room of the first-floor which
hr. Slade uses for his seances, I found a room furnished
in the nsual way with easy chairs and a small square
table. Dr. Slade removed the cover from the table,
and invited me to take a ,hair at one side while he sat
at the other. On joining hands. rapping's were heard
under and on the table, and Dr. Slade 's own chair.
These rapping also obeyed his orders, and produced
themselves by command at various parts of the table.
They seemed also, but of this I am not quite sure, to
proceed from a table or sideboard be me. Dr.
Slade then produced a slate on which he placed a very
small piece of slate pencil. He asked the rapping
spirit, whom he asserted to be that of his depart.
wife, if she would write. The reply was given in the
usual manner of expressing an affirmative by three
rape. He then, keeping my two hands touched with
the fingers of his left, held the slate under the table
with his right, the wrist and part of the thumb being
distinctly visible. A sound of writing was heard, and
on its ceasing, the slate was found to be covered with
writing of a loose and running character, exceedingly
difficult to read. It was a message of the kind com-
mon among spiritualist circles, and sp,ke of those who
blind their eyes to the truth in the effort to discover
tricks. Several messages of this sort were written in
the same way. Dr. Slade then took the date, care-
fully cleaned both sides, a fact of which I NM quite
sure, and laying it on the table, not holding it under,
inviting the spirit f his wife to write me a letter. His
left hand was in mine, his right hand open, meting
the tips of the fingers on the top of the slate. A noise
as of writing was clearly heard, and immediately after
it had finished Dr. Slade turned the slate over and
ehowed the side covered with writing freshly written.
The letter was of no importance whatever, but the
fact remains that the slate was shown to me, clean
both sides, before it was laid on the table, and that if
Dr. Slade had written any portion of the letter he
must have turned over the slate and *Men it before
my eyes. But this he did not do. How, then, was
the writing produced?
"Again, I wrote at my own request a question on
the slate, carefully holding it so that Dr. Slade could
not possibly read my message, unless the slate had been
transparent. It was not • common question—not,
that is, a I luestion which was within any reasonable
probability being guessed. Now, Dr. Slade did not,
could not, see that question. Yet, on his holiling it
under the table, I heanl as before the writing, and
presently read the reply. The writer, whoever it was,
knew what the question was, because she or he referred
to it The fact that she did not give me the informa-
tion asked for is comparatively irrelevant, my
difficulty is that she or he could read the question.
"It will be seen, however, that Dr. Slade, by some
power or some conjuring apparatus of an unknown or
extraordinary kind, succeeds in getting messages,
written on slates which are held under tables and on
slates which are laid on tables. If it is a cheat, then
surely eyes were never no cheated before. If it is an
actual manifestation of spiritual power, it seems to me
a distinct advance on the old and well-known tappings
of the usual séances. I may add that there were other
things. A chair situated at the corner of the table
where Dr. Slade could not passible reach it, was
violently overturned; my coat, on the side furthest
from the medium, was strongly pulled. The slate
was written upon when held upon my head. And I
was touched by soft hands on the side away from Dr.
Slade. Add to this that the SeNDICaI are in broad
daylight."
So much for the first account of what was seen by an
untrained eye. Now let us see what the expert makes
of the same performance.
"I was induced to Attend a 'spiritualistic sianee'
at Dr. Slaite'e, having heard and read glowing
accounts of the new medium, who, it was confidently
asserted, was elOg to convert all London to the
, spiritualistic faith. Going as a thorough sceptic and
also suspecting trickery, I was at least prepared to
see something clever on the part of the medium, as it
seemed no one had been able to account in any way
for the manifestations produced. I never wan so dis-
appointed in all my life. I saw through the whole of
the miserable business from the beginning to the end.
The rape on the table and on the chair, the jumping
chair, the rising table, the playing of the accordion,
and, above all, the so.called messages on the slate,
were to ins clear and palpable (ramie, and were so
clumsily 11.fike that it is a wonder they have escaped
detection fur 130 long a thee. The anima Was carried
out under no test conditions whatever, so that the
Illedilllll was free to do as lie willed, and need I say
that he took advantage .4 this state of things to fool
me to the top of my bent? All the accounts in the
newspapers that I had seen were inaccurate, because
the writers, suspecting no trickery, had not been on
the alert, and therefore erthing appeared to them
to be perfectly fair and ist tforward. In one most
important particular were these accounts wrong, for
they stated that both sides of the slate were shown by
the medium, then the elate was laid on the top of the
table, hands joined together, and that, on turning the
slate over, it was found covered with writing. An
expert sees' at once this is not the case, for although
the elate is shown on both sides, prior to the
commencement of the signer, it certainly is not shown
on both aides/oar es-selves to Its being laid flat on the
table. I unhesitatingly assert that the whole of thaw
manifestations are not due to no-called spiritualism,
but are produced by the medium himself, aided by •
few mechanical appliances and not a few falsehoods.
The utter eheeralty of the whole affair may be
Imagined when it is stated that the medium pushes a
slate towards the sitter NSA kis owe hoed, and then
tells you it is coming of its own freewill. If one
could swallow that, one's gullibility would be bound-
less, and probably it is put forward by the medium as
a test of one's credulity. 'After that the Deluge.'
Your coat in pulled violently, you are touched on the
knee by a soft hand (at least so the medium said, but
I happen to know it was not a hand at all), • chair
rises, and appears to adhere to the under pert of the
table, and then falls violently on the floor, and the
table rises some ten or twelve niches in the air, whilst
the hands of the persons present lying on the top of
It. These two latter manliestations are accomplished
In an absurdly simple manner, and, indeed, the
whole busbies' is airried out by equally ample means.
The writing on the slate (if mien. 4 can be •11ed)
Is • mere scrawl in the first few onowinaleatices, anti

NEW YORK MADHOUSES.
Rumours had gone abroad in the United States that the
chief lunatic asylum of New York, known as Baldric's,
was badly constructed. The editor of the New York
eraid was pestered by the proprietor to send a special
commissioner. An ides struck him. Ile would send a
special commissioner; one of his " young men" should
feign madness and learn all about the place. The young
man fixed upon was Mr. Julius Chambers, who undertook
the duty, and has given the world the result in a volume
published by Sampson. Low. it Co., and entitled "A Mad
World," whose liveliness is eyen exciting. Mr. Chambers
first studied the symptoms of insanity ; then after much
practice, reproduced them in • public hotel: found no
difficulty in passing as a lunatic ; discovered that the safe-
guards against wrongful imprisonment were a delusion
and • snare, got into the lunatic asylum by the aid of two
friends, who assumed to be respectively uncle and
acquaintance: and then. • Perfectly lane man, acting
sanely all the time he was in the institution, was not only
kept for a fortnight without any medical examination of
his condition, but when his "acquaintance" came to ask
for him was declared to be still in • dangerous state
of mind. Two doctors were deceived, and they
perhaps, are not greatly to be blamed, for the acting, as
described in the book, would have deceived any, the most
conscientious, medical man, the judge, who should have
had a personal interview with the lunatic, passed him
without even seeing a hair of his head ;the asylum doctors,
after they had been paid three months in advance, did not
trouble themselves further about their patient, and his
condition was no business of the "keepers." For •
fortnight he was kept in durance, and during that time
saw all the arrangements of the " swell" asylum of New
York. Ile paid to live "as • gentleman." He found
those who had been among the wealthiest, or the most
refined, of the States before they entered the asylum.
And the story he tells is of their treatment. As to his
Incarceration, that is • minor matter. The main point is
that he saw what no man who could be trustedlto speak
probably saw before him—the internal daily life of a place
where the wandering wits of men ought to have been
conjured, by every kindness, back again to their places in
the diseased brains of the most unfortunate people on
God's earth.
Once in the building he was debarred from the slightest
correspondence with his friends. Fen and ink were for-
bidden him, except once, and then the letter he wrote was
confiscated. With difficulty could his f riend see him when
he called; only by Severe and prolonged insistence did he
gain his point, and then he saw him with an attendant
for five minutes only, though Mr. Chambers had shown
not the slightest sign of aberration. Fruit and flowers
sent to the asylum for other patients, he discovered,
never reached them. They were cut off from outside
contact. Being once pronounced insane, they were
doomed to the company of the mad from that time
forth, until the doctors, who benefited by their seclusion,
chaise to let them free. It is too horrible to think of s
man being sent, froin no rightful cause, into such society,
under such gaolers. Let his friends once get him there,
he might stay for the term of his life, until he became
mail from very terror at his fearful position. However
good the treatment in such a place, with such
unscrupulous men to watch over him and gaining money
by his retention, the misery of his position is almost
unutterable. Though he knew that his incarceration
would be short, Mr. Chambers passed some hours in that
terrible establishment, which he would hardly care to
have repeated in his life.
And what a place he found I Nothing to soothe a
troubled mind, nothing to heal a diseased brain; these
were left to take care of themselves. He was simply in
the worst of prisons, in a prison where not the slightest
lingering respect was paid to his manhood. Ilia smallest
articles of jewellery were stolen. He was treated like •
dog. He was housed worse than • criminal. Here is his
description of his bedroom:—
The cell was more uninviting than any I had e‘er
before seen, even in the lowest prisons. It was not more
than six feet in width by nine in length, and was without
any furniture, save a small iron cot with a straw mtratesa.
It was only faintly illuminated, when the door was open,
by the dull light from the ball; and as there was no
transom over the door, I realised in an instant that the
cell would be utterly dark as soon as I was locked up for
the night. The walls were rough finished and white-
washed, and their dreariness chilled my heart I should
have rejoiced at the presence, even pasted flat against the
walls, of the cheapest daubs in the shape of pictures.
However unlikely I was to hang myself. I could not
expect framed works of art swinging from nails in the
wall. Yet, for any poor wretch who might have cared to
indulge either his fancy or his curiosity in that direction,
the absence of the cord and the nails need not have dis-
couraged him; all he needed te do was to crowd his head
through the large openings in the iron lattice-work of the
windows, and then kick the cat away from his feet Bet
the latter mode had a decided favour in heart of the
suave Dr. Baldric, because the most vigorous investiga-
tion would have failed to censure his institution for •
suicide through such instrumentality. The window was
a poor affair; without glass, grated by iron bare, and so
high from the floor that to look out of it one must stand
upon the cot. With one ray of hope, I turned to put my
hand upon the door-knob, but, to my surprise, I found
that the inside of the door was smooth, and, when closed,
would be flush with the wall. I had never before
Imagined how essential to the proper appearance of a
room were the knobs of its doors. The last apparent
medium of communication with the outside world was
gone ! The floor had been scrubbed in anticipation of my
occupancy, and I disoovered, upon removing my shoes,
that it was still damp: and the odour of chloride of lime,
which had been mingled with the water, was so offensive
that it made the quarters untenable to any man whose
'sense of smell was not totally destroyed.
When he got into bed his clothes, spite of his expostu-
lations, were flung upon the damp floor. In his cell he
heard the moans of the really mad, enough of themselves
to excite the brain. The food in this establishment, for
which so much was paid, was of the worst. Hungry with
his exertions before entering, Mr. Chambers looked
forward ravenously to his the "Imagine," he SAYN "My
chagrin, when I sat down to • cup of weak tea and a
small dry roll of bread, to be eaten without butter. What
little milk there was had already been put into the tea,
and there was no temptation to take any sugar, for the
bowl was swarming with small red anti. The meal was
not only uninviting, but absolutely deficient in quantity
for even sick men. Almost as hungry as when I entered,
I returned upstairs." His breakfast next morning in the
dining-room was not much better.
Only • meagre impression * best can be conveyed of
the dreariness and squalor of tfie room, and the nauseating
manner in which this maniacs' morning meal WM served.
The tables, without any cloths, were greasy and slimy,
the food brought in in large tin wash-dishes without
covers, already cooked, from the main buikling, was
nearly cold. The serving of the meal was allotted to the
caterer, an unwashed, frousy individual, who looked as
though he had resigned from • Baxter-street restaurant to
accept the situation he then held. He belonged to that
low-born, race of people who eat with their
knives. Upon each plate, unceremoniously huddled
together, were a small piece of boiled beef (possessing
rather more smell than taste), two potatoes (boiled in
their skins), some sliced tomatoes, bread, and a mere atom
of strong butter. The coffee, containing only a trace of
sugar and milk, was doled out in large white ware slop'
bowls. The knives and forks had evidently not been
seoured for months: they wore filthy beyond description.
Their handles were stinky, their blades rusty—in a much
worse condition than there to be found in the dirtiest and
cheapest midnight lunch-stalls of Fulton Market or St
Giles. Yet, across the table from ine, in the midst of this
squalor and dirt, sat an heir of the wealthiest family of
America, who, if only sane, would have been the inheritor
of millions. Near him, munching hie food, I saw a loan
of noble face and Iron-grey hair, whine eloquence was UllO6
the pride of the Senate Chemise., and his dinners and
receptions the envy of all Washington.
The treatment of the lunatics was brutal in the
extreme. He could hardly lie restrained from taking
their part by remembering that it would mean a strait
waistcoat or bang played upon for • considerable tinie by
a heavy stream of water in one of the cellars—the latter •
method of punishment adopted to prevent the generous
lunatic of the company from standing up for his less
powerful brethren. The result of Mr. Chambers's inquiry
was the appointment of a Co./mission of Inquiry. The
proprietor of the asylum fell into the snare. Ha refused
to liberate the author, when, without, of 001171 e, revealing
the secret of his purpose in being there, his friends applied
for his release. Application was, therefore, made in open
court, and then the facts were made public. Dr. nal
in alarm, next day freed no fewer than 12 men all a,
them presumably sane, held imprisoned for the doctor's
profit.

EPPS'S Oooos.--Gasawrut AND Oonrownso.--" By •
thorough knovjilips of the motet* laws tvhich govern the
operations of en and nutrition, and by a oareful ep-
plication of the fine properies of well-selected coo" .
Epps has provided our breakfast tables with • delicately
flavoured beverage which may save us many heavy
doctors' bills. It is by the judicious use of such articles of
diet that a constitution may be gradually built up unti
strong enough in resist every tendency to
Hundreds of subtle ntedadkss sea floating around us ready
to attack wherever there is a weak point. We may esmq
many a fatal shaft by keeping ourselves well fortified with
pure blood and a properly nourished frame."—Cisil Serene
Oaten.
FITS. —EPILEPTIC FITS OR FALLING SICKNESS. --A
certain method of cure has been discovered for this
distressing complaint by a physician, who is desirous
that all sufferers may benefit from this providentiAt
discovery; it is never known to fail, and will ,sare
the most hopeless came after all other means have been
=tried. freefuliTeasooleg:ticulanchsrgnya.delddremundon.b.:—.llrt .fri—P°l4Wll,Lialts,t°

puts one in mind of the marks that would be made by SIR W: A. ROBE AM ODA
blackbeetle just escaped from a treacle pot. The T ICIRTHOUSI OOLIA OIL
hmurriedie7ilywreadsho saYea
Pet issenatemnome.l7:ndfrolienth.hadtlidy 11""tEliminwimiluiesof Incalakinasanof
wipes the scrawl out, as though ashamed of the PIKS LIM PUN our tressearna.
production. The laet, and what may be termed the Masa SR Uppw Thema Weak Landau, EC.
• long communication,' was well written, and could be
read by anybody, which shows that it was previously
prepared. I asked to be allowed to make a communi•
cation, or rather to write • question on the slate.
This was acceded to, and I wrote a question that the
medium could not answer, I knew; but if the spirits
did, I could then have claimed £l,OOO reward for
that is the sum publicly offered for the information
required. The medium took the slate, and affected
not to notice what I had written (indeed, looked
quite another way) whilst putting the slate under the
table, yet I caught that artful medium's eye furtively
reading my question, and I need hardly say there
came up some evasive answer just such as might have
been expected by one well versed in the arts of
mystery. You will probably want to ask me two
questions—(l) 'lf you have discovered the source of
the manifestations to be the medium's trickery, why
not make an expooilef the modes operand; ' ; and (2)
'By what authority do you declare these manifesta-
tions to be frauds on the public?' My answer to the
first question is, that if I were to explain the manner
in which the public are chested the medium would
simply adopt a different way of doing the same thing,
and I should be branded as a perverter of truth,
whose testimony was utterly untrustworthy. To the
second I reply that I speak as one having authority,
froin the fact that I have been engaged for nearly
fifteen years in the study of the mysterious, and that
all the tricks of the most celebrated persons, be they
conjurers or mediums, are known to me, or have been
fathomed by me. and I think you will admit that
some weight should surely be attached to my gate
-
lima. I enclose my card, and from that you will
gather I am no 'prentice hand, and, moreover, I will
undertake to reproduce all the manifestations I saw
on that occasion, if it be so desired.
To these two accounts, which may be advantageously
compared by any unpredjudiced person, we would ada
two observations drawn from our personal experience.
The writer of the first account says that the chair
placed at the corner of the table and raised was
'situated where Dr. Slade could not possibly reach it."
This is of course the mere guess-work of an unskilful
eye, when moved accidently or intentionally before the
trick of raising it, has been immediately put hack to
its original place on some pretext by the medium.
But this is smatter of comparatively small importance.
There is more than one way of raising a chair. Our
mound observation is that on one occasion "Dr."
Blade, probably from carelessness,
_produced a long
well-written message on his slate without putting any
pencil underneath it. This will of course be hailed
by spiritualists as a new and marvellous proof of the
medium's power; for if the spirits can write where
there is no room for human writing, it is but a little
more wonderful that they should produce the noise
of writing and a legible communication on a slate
without the use of a elate-pencil. People who are not
Infected with spiritual folly may possibly draw another
conclusion from this fact. —Ezaramer.

A, D. P. BRIAR PIPE& Briar Pipes, Wasoped A. D. P., on
.;rrntoed. spina buroZaldkorooidni. bowl ot
p. PI confabs • mod goorsotwo. Price Irmo
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