The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-01-01

| The Spir1tualistS In Congress.
Stockholders, contractors, railroad companies
steamboat companies, mail carriers. patentees
ct hoe genus omne, are by no means the only
people now engaged in petitioning Congress
There are enough here one would imagine, tc
engross the leisure time of every individual
member, and to fill every nook and Granny of the
Hobbies; but more leisure and more room must
be found, for the spiritualists have Joined the
throng and insist on their right to pour their
sorrows into the Congressional breast. They do
not ask for money or grants of land; they have
not begged single dollar for collegiate nstitu-
ton at which the hopeful youth ofAmerica might
be instructed in the beautiful science of table,
moving; they have not asked single acre for an
enceinte to be devoted to dancing dining-tabes
and peripatetic foot-stools. Such sordid mate
rial considerations are beneath the notice of the
| high priests of the new religion" In the me
mortal, which will be found in another column,
their simple prayer is for I" a scientific conven-
ton to which this subject a. e., jumping tables
and Rochester knocks) may be referred 1t is
true that something is said respecting an ap-
preparation" for the convention, and that the
amount of the appropriation is alarmingly
| suggested by the request that it be
such las shall enable the commissioners
to prosecute their inquiries to successful
| termination" Base minds will infer from this
clause Of the petition that the leading profess
sors of the art of rapping want to be housed in
snug berths as commissioners, and that by fix
ing the period for the close of their labors at a
/ II 10, IL
have no desire to part with the salary for some
years to come. But those who utter such
shocking calumnies as this, deserve general re-
probation. Do not the spirit rappers, like the
Mormons, preach universal brotherhood. and
disinterested Indifference to pecuniary consi-
derationss Has any one ever suspectee Par
fridge Il Britain of calculating dollars and
cents in the publication Of the Telegraph or
the Shekinah7
BY no means. All that is wanted is scien-
tifc investigation Of the phenomena. Outside
barbarians, like ourselves, are under the i'm
preston that the subject has already received
some investigation at the hands Of such men as
the late Arago in Paris, Reichenbach in Ger.
many, and Faraday in London: but this goes
for nothing in the eyes OF our New York philoso
piers. They want a fresh inquiry-an inquiry
into the Sliding, raising. arresting holding
suspending, and otherwise disturbing, Of nu
merous ponderable bodies'-such as din
ing tables and hats. An inquiry into phospho
resent lights in dark rooms. An inquiry into
mysterious rappings," sometimes like sounds o
hammer at others like the roaring of the waves
at others 'harsh, creaking sounds''-at Others
sounds resembling the human voice, the fife
drum trumpet guitar and piano" An en-
quiry into the checking Of the animal fluids,
and the reduction of certain portions Of The
body to q deathlike stiffness and rigidty.'
Travelling under the emotions produced by
these various inscrutable phenomena--witf
their chairs and tables dancing around them
their dark rooms illuminated by lights fol
which no mortal grocer or gas agent claimed
fee or reward, their solitude rudely disturbed
by unearthly sounds, in which the familiar tone.
of the fife and drum were only occasionally
perceptible-our believers in spiritualism have
thrown aside the staff of faith and the lantern
of science, and have appealed to Congress FOL
support in their affection. Who SO unfeeling as
to'mock their cry' Shall we allow the slum
bers of our fellow-citizens to be disturbed, with
out lending them our sympathy and aid? Shall
we suffer animal fluids" to be checked" with
out word Of protest? Can we hear that in Q
large and respectable class Of this community
certain portions of the body" are periodically
reduced" to ''deathlike GOODNESS" or ''rigid
ty," without exclaiming to the demon Hold
thine hand
III hasty glance at the facts had at first de
luded us into belief that we could, the concud
ing paragraphs of the memorial would soon dis
abuse our minds. We are therein assured, with al
the solsmnity due to the subject, that the jump
ing tables and the roaring sounds" and the
automaton flies and drums" and the stagnani
animal fluids" and the rightly Of certain
portions Of the body" are likely to produce
important and lasting results, permanently
affecting the physical condition, mental deve
lopement and moral character of a large number
Of the American people"-that they may b.
destined to modify the conditions Of our being
the faith and philosophy of the age. and tn,
government of the world Let no man SPEAK
irreverently of fife or a dining table after
thisl
The memorialists speak for themselves. o.
course, and not for the public Thus, when