Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1852-08-04

now endeayer to give reason for the
RAISING of the table Samson is famed as
the strongest man that ever lived, and all
the other spirits are supposed to have
great mower. and from this fact, their
Supposed ability to do the work, and
treat desire in the operator to see that
work accomplished, no difference whether
that desire originates in mere curiosity or
a firm belief of tue power OF the spirits
and wish to be informed by them as TO
some past or future event, 1T matters NOT.
the excitement naturally arising operates
on the nervous system and they unconsci-
ously exert sufficient power on the leaf
that acts as lever on the body OF the ta-
Bile. to raise it and to make the operators
themselves wonder their faith is so great
Ia the powers Of the spirits that il em-
ploys the greatest share of their thoughts.
Thus they are rendered unconscious of
what they do and give Samson credit for
their own works. The spirits viii also
answer any questions known to the per-
formers or to- majority of them, with
great precision, and they say without any
effort, and suppose really without any,
while to questions that are unknown to
any of the operators, they give the most
incorrect answers, proof of my first po-
sition Their faith in the spirit renders
them unconscious Of the power they exert
in raising the table, and their knowledgS
of the true answer set a bound to their
faith, and when the table has tapped a
sufficient number of times they are salts
fed, and believing in the wisdom of the
oracle, they cannot have faith thatit will
- rfl.ar ffsVna lNy IL HES
not hence we see the reason that it gives
correct answers to questions that are
known to the operator, or to those per-
sons among them that exercise more than
half the faith necessary to divert the mind
from the true object, and to render them
unconscious of what they themselves do.
The other persons at the table Who had
no knowledge of the answer might be led
to wonder at its precision when they be-
| come acquainted with the question and to
believe in the mysterious power OF the
oracle but If the truth was fully and fair
ly explained they would have no cause to
wonder or believe. Tho table will
also keep time while the operator sings
any slow and solemn tune, but will not in
quick and lively one and for an obvious
reason That, in the first instance the
mind, besides the labor of retaining the
various changes of sound, has time suffi
cient to exercise considerable degree of
faith in the power of the spirits and thus
to operate unconsciously through the me-
dium of the body on the table as before
stated, whereas, in the second instance,
the whole mind is employed in the per-
Torrance of the quick and varied changes
of tune and sound and has not space to
exercise sufficient faith to produce uncon-
seriousness, therefore, the table must fail
to keep time. 1t is an indisputable fact
that physical power does raise the table.
yet believe many of The knockers are
sincere and arc totally ignorant 0 the
weight they apply while in state Of cx.
element so naturally attendant on an
earnest expectation. REASON.
"The table answers questions by numbers oil
degrees, tapping tho answer of the question: