The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-12-26 00:00:00

THE MYSTERIES OF SPIRITUALISM-

Mr. Novra, an English conjuror, has been unveiling'
the mysteries of spiritualism before a London audience.
Mr. Novra told his audience that he determined to
investigate the wonderful phenomenon which had stag-
gered Lord Brougham and Sir David Brewster. In the
spring of 1859 he was living at Dr. Wilson's hydropathic
establishment, at Malvern. and met there with rtetend
gentlemen who expressed a wish to join him f Mitt
inquiries. The fame of Mrs. Marshall and her niestel
was then at its zenith, their wonderful performanue
having found an exponent in Mr, William Howitt. The
services of these ladies were obtained- Mr. Novra was
introduced to them. There was nothing remarkable, he
says, in their appearance. Mrs. Marshall was am elderly
and buxom widow. The niece was less plump, but she
displayed a more than average development of muscle
and sinew—Mr. Novra noticed the fact. There was'
something peculiar in the appearance of both radiesr
which for a moment baffled the conjurer. But I.;e soon'
discovered what it was. There was a want of crinolines.. This'
was another fact. The first st'anrc commenced. Twelve'
spirits were summoned from tlredeep, and proved to beiii
perfect working order. They made a great variety or raps--
raps on the table, raps on a tea-tray, raps on the wall, and
raps on the roof. A gentleman, who accompanied the
ladies in a professional capacity, remarked, moreover,
that the spirits were weak that evening. Then a food
and hollow knock interrupted the proceedings. That is
the "cooper's knock," said one of the party—the de-
ceased husband of Mrs. Marshall having- been a cooper
—whose spirit exhibits the interest it takes in one once
so near and dear to it by dropping in unbidden to all the
,sesorces in which she takes a part. The spirits lifted!
books, and folded down their pages. They next began;
to crawl about the floor, every now and then grasping-
and pinching, unmercifully the legs and ancles of the-
observers, by what are said to be claws and hands, but
letting go their hold the moment the sufferers looked
down to the spot. The crowning feat came : the party
sat down to a table and put their hands upon it, when
it arose under the influence of sonic mysterious force no
less than two feet from the ground, at which height it
remained for a time, and then gracefully subsided. Mr.
Novra had noted the pitch of the imitated sounds made
by the spirits, and he found that lie could produce them
all. The raps from the table could be produced by
rubbing the tip of the middle finger in lees'. Irtrt,
and letting it start forward in short unobtrusive jerkss
on the smooth mahogany. The raps from the tea tray
could be produced in a similar way by the nail of the'
forefinger bent under the hand. The " cooper's knock"'
could be imitated with the heel of the boot on the floor:.
'The lesser sounds which proceeded from distant part*
of the room could be produced by rubbing the toe-nail*
acr'inst the soles of the boot inside, in a way explained
by wizard Anderson. But why, it may be asked, did
these sounds proceed from the chimney, the wfrulows,
the cupboard, and the roof? Conjurers have non&
culty, says Mr. Norva, in answering that question.. 'ld
is a hard matter, in a room, to tell whence any soar&
comes; and if the direction from which it is expectrag
is indicated, those who hear it, will not believe it pro-
ceeds from any other spot. This the lecturer illustrated.-
With a knife lie appeared to strike a tumbler which
stood on his desk, and to make it ring loud and clear
throughout the hall. No one in that vast audience
discovered that his blows were mere feints, till lie called
out an assistant from behind a screen at the other end
of the room, who showed the instrument which had really
made the sound—a glass vessel of a totally different kinds
and yielding a different sound from that used by the'
lecturer. In the same manner Mr. Novra showed hoar
the spirits might be made to write on the floor, pinch andl
gripe, and fold down the leaves of books To divert the•
attention from the spot where the work is done, and to.
do with the feet what is generally done with the bandit,
arc indeed, he says, the great secret of the success
jugglers. Well-trained conjurors, by placing the sole of
one foot on the top of another, are able to hold and
snatch away slates and books, and much heavier articles,
and, in short, to perform all the tricks performed by Mrs.
Marshall and her niece. They would have no diiffealty
in pinching and grasping the legs of a person at a se'rrner,
by clasping them between the soles of the feet curved
over each other, when a pinch is meant. and between the
upper leathers when a gripe is given. Mr. Novra con-
cluded, from the filet that, gripes and pinches were only
felt near the undistended petticoat of the ladies, and close
to the floor, that they had been produced after this fashion.
He therefore felt anxious to see the upper leathers of
Mrs. Marshall's boots—the wear and tear of which he,
felt certain would exhibit traces of what they bad under--
' gone. The table trick, too, he thought he could account
for. Placing his right leg over his left knee, and using':
the latter as a fulcrum, he found that lie could, seated
on a chair, without great muscular effort, raise an ordi-
nary cheap and light round table, with a centre
column and three feet. He felt convinced, too,
that the sinewy limbs of the younger performer
had a share in this phenomenon. At another slants
his surmises were to be tested. The spirits wet"
not at all shy; the first se'ance had given them Confi-
dence. The table rose to the former level. Ile. sooner
was it poised, than the Hercules of the party, as arrhArds
quickly threw out his foot, and held it tight against the)
lower surface of the pillar. Another limb he cainsfitt•
therea limb of flesh and blood, active and muscular--
which, despite its frantic efforts to escape, was firmlar
clutched until it was found to belong to the person Of.
the younger lady. " Perhaps," inquired Mrs. Marshall,
little moved, " you can do the raps too ?" The answer
was a request that she would exhibit her boots, which,
in the confusion of the moment, she did, and all the
s ispicions of the conjurer were confirmed. They were
worn where hoots never are worn, all over the instep,
the prumlla being cut into holes and shreds, like a pair
of housemaid's gloves, by the long habit of pinching
and grasping to which they had been used. A per-
former in female attire, with a black veil, and without
crinolines, illustrated all the phenomenon as they were
referred to by the lecturer. The lecturer, as she raised
the table, read the description given of the process bey
the author of the famous article in the Corn4ill Maga-
' zinc, and proved its accuracy by showing that the jerks it
makes in starting frem the floor, the curves it forms in its
ascent, the slope of the top towards the medium when it
is fairly poised, and the graceful motion with which it
subsides to its old place, are all the necessary conditions
of the process he has had the quickness to detect, In
conclusion, Mr. Norva said that he bad explained all the
spiritual manifestations he had been permitted to wit,
ness ; and that, if means of observation were offered to
him, he would undertake to explain all others. Taking
up le gauntlet, a young lady (in spiritualist circles
known as the "infant magnet," but now turned fifteen),
ascended the platform, and raised a heavy tailor's goose
from its long to its narrow end by touching it with her
little finger, and defied the sceptical lecturer to follow
her example. But Mr. Novra knew the trick, and suc-
cessfully performed it. An old gent:;:man then protested
against Mr. Novra's explanation baing received as
accounting for the phenomena of spiritua?ism. Seated
in his arm-chair, lie had flaated about under the ceiling
of his own room, as in a balloon, supended an .11 poised
in that position by jets of magnetic fluid, projethld athim from the finger-tips of a wonder-stricken circle of
friends on the floor. The remainder of the old gentle-
man's tale was drowned in the laughter of the audience,
and so ended the lecture.