New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1853-02-28

statssmap now in Washington, whose name IL
al The service Of the party interested, is also
admitted. TIE writer quotes the mstefial
,yerraent Of tic Buffalo Doctor and proceeds
10 say.
To-day Deb. az called On the Msses Fox, vho
sye now II syashipgfon, and showed them the con-
pusieaiion 10 The Tribune They said they had been
tested In III way, and in AZ other ways that cou De
Invented To sa;isfy they got two pillow, TOOK
sess In the middle Of large paror. far away rsn the
table or anything ese except the chars on which tney
sat- psoed their feet heels and all 50 thss they res'e1
entirely on the pilows a. know from personal o's>r
walton and Immediately the ras came just as lonf aad
were as etDetly heard ever beard them snd hsye
besrd them very een) when they were sitting at the
table They then asked the spirits 70 rap on the pillow
Forthwith the rsps were made on the pillow, and
sounded precisely The same ss If person himself
should rsp on pillow placed my hand on the pil-
low and could feel the jar Of it, the a. i'll myself
had been rsppiDe it.
~Thus the Buffalo Doctors experiment has been
fsrly tried and has entirely failed The result pre-
seely the reverse Of what he predicted To you, my
nsDs win be good for the (aca his Is for the money
Iwi.h you, therefore to receive the amount and APP
proprsie 1t TO such charitable institution in Sew.York
City, as you think proper IT.
Remarks
We ought to have said, in publishing A Buf-
flo Doctors article, that il evinced the gross
est ignorance of facts sbuDdantly established
All manner Of cushion and glass (iusulating)
experiments we're tried in Rochester, by most
responsible and sceptcal Committees, in the
outset Of the Spiritual business, and their re-
ports abundanily upset the 'knee-paD' or ankle
joint hypothesis. But, putting the Fox family
entirely out of the question, the established In
tegrity Of many of the alleged mediums (and
there are thousands Of them scattered all over
. the country renders that hypothesis utterly
untensble. That there are hundreds counter
feitipg the Rsppipgs by some 'knee-pan,
ankle, joint, or other juggle, ia highly probable
nay, We knop that such have been-but if
the whole business had originated in such
juggle, and been kept up only by means Of it,
month would have sufiiced to explode it for
ever.
No, gentlemen Doctors, whether Of Buffalo
or Of Divinity, there is something in this Rap
ping business which your philosophy does not
make plain That the spirit of departed friends
Cor foes) have any thing to do with it, We do
not know, and it is the obvious dictate of rea-
son nsrer 10 assume a supernatural origin for
any phenomenon so long as natural origin is
possible. What We have seen Of Mcsmerism,
Clairvoyance and the kindred phenomena,
alns eli IN limit h
esis based on a limitation Of the powers
Of our proper Human Nature, righthere in the
6esh This must be supernatural say many,
because Nature is bounded thus aud So But
who bounded Nature for you ! And what do
you knOW Of its boundaries We frankly ac-
knowledge our ignorance in this regard yetit
may not very greatly transcend yours.
Now one obvious mischief Of such assertions
rs our Buffalo Doctors is that they prepare
people To rush beadlong from incredulOus s,ep
tcism into the broadcast and most credulous
Spiritualism. Joe Bumphin swallows the Doc
tors bolus and is perfectly sure that he UNDER
stands the whole thing-that il is nothing
but paltry kneejcint jugele SO he rushes
into the next gathering OF Spiritualists he
can hear Of TO explode the whole cheat, aud
there gets exploded himself His cushions aud
bis glass tumblers don't stop the Rappngs'
ON the contrary, be secs furniture raised by
some invisible agency and has messages spelt
out TO him that set his cheap dogmatism com
Pletely at defiance, Bewildered, COMPOUNDED
used up, he rushes from one extreme TO the
other, and is henceforth an unquestioning de-
votee of SpiritualSm.' Aud if he don't get
his brains turned in the operation, it will prob.
ably be owing 10 the lucky circumstance Of his
not having any.
Wherefore, we affectionately advise Mr..
pumpkin not TO adopt any theory, whether of
Buffalo or Of Rochester origin, with regard to
this matter, until he is quite sure that he has
weighed all the facts and apprehends the prin-
eiples which underie them-not 70 lose his
wits in puzzling over Rapping' or other phe-
nemena; for, however small in amount or in
considerable in value, they must be more inn
portant TO the loser than To any possible finder
and not to neglect his blowing planting, or
whatever work he may have in hand, for "in-
vestigating" any sort of glamour or mystery,
whatsoever There are more things in Heaven
and Earth, my pumpkin, than are dreamt ofin
yosr philosophy; but hyou mind your proper
business and borrow no needless trouble about
them, they will all be made plain TO you in due
season. Ed