The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1853-07-21
SPIRITUAL ,RAPPlNGS.

Lisbon and Madrid, even in old Rohe' Tue PRIV
fsssors of the occult art of"table turning, are
ds;lv. winning proseytes. Ii seems OF no
nossible use TO demonstrate the utter aosurdity
of the theory advanced, or the utter improba-
h;l;tv of the phenomena which are said TO
,,rs.ent themselves. The spiritual world has
undergone a complete metamorphosis. We
ran now communicate with the departed,
through the medium of traps" as easily as
with the living, by the ordinsry telegraph
What is the use of the Bible if we can have a
fresh revelation every morning, piping hot,
from the other world We can, according to
the veracious advocates Of spiritual manifesto
lions, call up the spirits Of the apostles, saints,
or martyrs, of the olden time, or interrogate
our great grandfathers, as to all past transac-
tons, at will. When this fact is well ascer
tained, we intend to employ a corps ofthe most
approved rappers, and have, as regular stand
ing head to one of our columns-of Latest
News from the Celestial and Internal Regions,
received from cur agent, Cesar Borgia or Iul'
lus Hostilius." Then, for occasional items OF
news received, we should often have TO make
an acknowledgement, somewhat after the fol
lowing fashion. We quote from ourselves by
anticipation
sScipio Africanus sends a communlca alton,
in which he claims to have been the originator
of the plan of attack which was followed by
Gen. Worth a ionterey. He says that he led
his troops through the walls of the houses Of
Carthage, demolishing them as he advanced,
to avoid the missiles which the besieged were
hurting on all sides, from the house tops
Gen. Worth, he says, only copied after him."
"The Maccabees wish us TO announce for
them new treatise on Military Campaigns,
in which they propose TO show that they were
well posted up on the subject three or four
thousand years ago, and that there is not so
much originality in modern tactics as is gem
orally supposed
"Our thanks are due to Mr.. Methuseleh for
some interesting information as TO the preser.
walton of the teeth, and the prevention of rheu.
matism in old age"
ave are sorry to hear from Captain Noah,
who landed some time ago at Ararat, that his
bill of lading for the last cruse..is missing, and
thank him sincerely for furnishing US, as near
" as possible, with list of his cargo, from
memory"
"Mr. Christopher Columbus, formerly of
Genoa, sends US a long account of his discove-
ny OF America, indicating his claim, and in,
curing why this continent was not named az
ter him. 1t is well written, bn too long for our
Columns. we may sir~ aLsuraUt ia a fu
ture number. We assure our respected cor
respondent that we had no hand in robbing him
of the honor of giving his name to the new
world"
"Sampson, the Jewish Hercules, who had so
many. ups-and downs with the Philstnes, com
municates some very interesting things. Among
them he says: that Mr.. Gibbons render
ing of the Hebrew text about his tying or link.
ing together three hundred shocks of pheat in
the field of the Phistnes, and setting them on
fire, is correct. King James translation, which
makes it the tying of three hundred tores'
tails together, the attaching fire brands to
them, and turning them loose upon the wheat,
is all wrong. The Philistines had just reaped
their wheat with the ancient reap hook, fin
vogue when our neighbor Syme, of the In
telligencer, was a boy,l and put it up in
shocks when the strong man linked them
together, set them on fire, and burned them
up. This will clear up the doubts of some
old ladies on this portion of scripture
"Mr. Dionysius the Elder, formerly man of
considerable note in Syracuse, wishes us to
correct the prevailing opinion, that the Asiatc
cholera is new disease. He states that il
broke out in the Carthaginian army, some 400
years before the christian era, while they were
attacking his city, and destroyed two.thrds of
them. From the symptoms given, we are in |
clined to think that Donysius is right"
alexander the Great, sends to order the |
Daily Dispatch. He says, that when he went
because there were mo more worlds left TO |
Conquer he had no idea that America existed. |
He means TO keep posted up hereafter and |
promises TO be on hand in case Of future dis |
coveries. He adds, that there is nothing new
in the art of war except gunpowder, and CON.
plains that this robs war of all its chivalry."
But what is there in all this "spiritrap
ping, "table.turning" operation lfit is true,
then are the limits of human knowledge abol
ished, and we may be ''as Gods" for no truth
in this, or any other world, is beyond the reach
of the spirit-rapper. Pandemonium or Para
disc are as open to our gaze as the Crystal
Palace or Barnum's American Museum
Time was when the "sheeted Dead" the spi.
MS OF the departed, were beings to make the
hair rise, and who were so chary of their pre-
sence' that it was only once perhaps in life.
ume That one of them would escape the "pon-
aefoos and marblejaws" of the tomb, to visit
inc ising upon some message of awful import
rev Ind seen, and all feared them. Now, on
the contrary. they come at bidding and in we'll
lighted and carpeted saloons, deal ont their
messages with as much non eha,an.e as a
clerk in the post Office. Ghosts thus b.come
useful citizens, and the most enlightened oi
newsmongers.
One 'hlng has always struck us as remark
@oe' and that is the prediction manifested Nv
khosis Tor tables. Other forms of msbousny
OF o.nsf timber, they never NEEDLE with 7,
We Dy the aid of the tenants of the inv;,;bl,