New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-08-02

bearing on favorite dogmas; nor does she claim
such a fun, precise and completely rounded &C
ouaintance with the mysteries of the spiritual
world. whether from intuition or revelation, as not
to believe that there may be more thngsia heay-
on and earth than is dreamt of IN our philosophy
In tits respect II must be owned that she has not
the advantage of certain religious journals in this
City, like the Chnstian Inquirer and The Iade-
1endenf for instance-which have been 30 fully in. +
tated into the secrets Of universal truth as to re-
gard all inquiry into such subjects either as TOO val
gar for Christian gentleman CONNIE a. fdut, or as /
giving "sanction 20 the atheistc deusion that /
there may be a spiritual or supernatural agency
in Manifestations which are not accounted for by
the New.Enslend Primer. Mrs. Grove, on the
contrary, supposes that there may be something
worthy of philosophical investigation in those sin
guar pheromeD Ia, which, surprising the limits OF
usual experience, have not yet found any adequate
explanation.
The phrase Night Side Of Nature" is borrowed
from the Germans, who derive It from the language
of astronomers, designating the side OF a planet
that is turned from the sun, as its Night side The
Germans draw 4 parallel between our vague and
misty perez ptons, when deprived Of the light OF
the SUD. and the obscure and uncertain gImpses
We obtain OF the yelled department OF nature, Of
which, though comprising the ISOLATION OF the most
important questions, we are in state OF almost
total ignorance. In writing book on these sub
iects. the author disclsms the intention Of enforc
ing any ioactie opinions. She wishes only to sug
gest inquiry and stimulate observation, in order
to cain all possible light on our spiritual nature,
both AZ it now exilts in the flesh and is to exist
hereafter out Of II.
1t is but justice to say, that the present volum,
is successful realization Of the purpose thus an
pounced ItpreGents as full a collection Of facts on
the subject as is probably to be found in any work
in the English language, furnishing materias ior
the formation Of tbeoretic views, AID Illustrating
an obscure but most Interesting chaPIer In 'no
marvellous history OF human nature. 1t is written
.. .o,c.ct ,nodesty. and freedom from pretense,
doing credit to the ability Of the author as nara
tor an well as to her fairness and integrity as a
,es,oper. But we will not detaiD our readers from
The oooious extracts which we propose to make.
The author, in the first place, explains her posi-
ton with commendable irankness;
A great many things have been pronounced IN
true and absurd and even Impossible oy the nigh
eat authorities of the age in which they lived,
wbicb have alterwsrd, and indeed within very
short period. been found 70 be both possible and
true 1 confess myself, for one, to have no respect
whatever for these dogmatlcsl denlals ana ainrma'
tons and am quite of opinion that vugarlnered
Inv is a much more contemplate thing than vulgar
credulity. We know very little Of what IS, and
still less of what may be and TIL thing has been
proved, by induction, logically Impossible, we nave
no RIG bit whatever To pronounce thar us so. AS
have said before priOrt conclusions are perfectly
worthless and the sort OF investigation that is
bestow ed upon subjects of the class OF which am
treating, something worse-inasmuch as they de-
oeive tin.id and the ignorant and that very Ru;
merous class which pins its faith on authority and
never ventures 70 think for itself, by an assumption
of wisdom and knowledge, which, II examined and
anal, zed would very frequently prove TO be moth.
ing more respectable than obstinate prejudice and
rash assertion.
For my own part, l repeat insistupOn nothing.
The opinions have formed from the evidence col
lected may be quite erroneous If so, as seek
only the truth shall be Had to be undecelved, and
shall be quite ready TO accept better explanation
of these facts, whenever 1t is offered to me butt
isin vain 10 tell me that this explanation IS to be
found in what is called imagination, or in morbid
state of the nerves, or unusual excitement oil
the organs of color and form, or In lmPosturei or
in all these together. The existence oil all such
sources OF error and deinslon am lar from deny
ing but find instances that IL quite lnpossl0eto
reIuce under any one Of those categorles as we at
pr.seut understand them. The multiplicity oil
these instances tOO-ior, not to mention the large
number that are never made known or carefully
concealed if | were TO avail myself literally OF
case, already recorded in various works, many Of
which know, and many others hear OF as exist.
ing but W hich cannot conveniently get access TO,
mis- bt fill volumes German literature a0ounds IN
tbeml-the number of the examples, l repeat
even on the suppo,ition that they are not facts,
would of Itself form the subject oil a very curious
physiological or psychological inquiry. liso many
people in respectable situations Of life, and IN ap
parently a normal state OF health, are capable oil
either such gross impostures, or the subjects OF
such extraordinary spectral Illusions, 1t would GER
tsiny be extremely satisfactory to learn something
OF the conditions that induce these phenomena in
such abundance; and all | expect from my book at
present is, to induce suspicion that we are mol
quite 40 wise as we think ourselves and that II
might be worth while to inquire little seriously
into reports " hch may perchance turn out to have
deeper interest for than all those various ques
tons public aud private, put together, with WINCH
We are daily agitatlDg ourselves
Under the head Of WRATH" she gives mum
Der of curious instances selected from variety
sources:
Alsdy, with whose family am acquainted ma
n son abroad. One night she was lying III ooe
with door open which led into an adJoininS I S
where there vas a fire. She had not oeen a'.O ~,
whsn abe saw her son CROSS this ADJOINING foo
and approach the lire, over which he leaned Us
yery cold She saw that he was shivering az
dripping wet She imme diatey exclaimed, " ina'
INV GS-p The figure turned its face roun
Iooked at her sadly, and disappeared. That san
night the young man was drowned
P, the American manager, in one Of b
Es,ud Ssns w Usa Uas h Sy
49, coming into bis cabin, dripping with vat
I ss ysoncucsd that the person had fallen OyorbO
a.S ssSed him why he came to disturb him, VIII
there was plenty Of other places tor h@ to 60 70
Tbe man muttered something lndistlncuy and
P~-then perceive cd that 1t was his own broth
Thi. reused him completely. and feeling quite C
tain that somebody had been there, he got out
bed to feel il the carpet was wet on the spot as
his brother stood IL was not, however; and VIII
he questioned bis shipmates, the following morniI
they assured him ihs, nobody had been oyerbos