New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-08-03


vain it could bot surmount the obstacle. The ned I'm
was then Impressed by the spirits 70 write, aud
seizng pencil, hastily wrote that If The fore iefs
were fitted the bar they "a. the sprts thougnt
hey could push the others over. Ihs was done, ana
the motion kept on. Once twice Dr.. Bel requested
al TO withdraw little further from the table, 20 see
"how far The influence would Extend IL was ionia
that whenever a much greater distance say Two ieel
wss reached TIE movement ceased, and delay OF
three or four minutes occurred before it RECOMMENDED
giving the idea that. l. broken OF, eTian resc.u-
mutation Of force neeiful 10 put in motion gam
The table reached the upper end OF the parior, from
which it he'd started bu was left some four fee rom
the mediau LIE Of the room. d.. Bel expressed ,he
thanks Of II COMPANY FOR he very complete exhDi-
ton with which they had been favored but re1srAei
that he obligation )ulI be enhanced II the rprits
would the table about four feet at rght alses'
80 that the chairs would right for their late occu
pants This was immed ately done, and The Pc m
ence ives deemed so perfectly I'M and satisfactory ha'
uothing nor, was asked al this session.
Dr. Bell ives understood 10 ssy that this made some
five or s1 times in which be ! seen the table move
without bun al contact, and a! under circumstances
apparently 80 free from snspieo1 AZ tins Just Ieihteu.
He sko stated that the Rev. Mr.: r, clergyman o.
extraordinary sagacious lercep' ons, and mechaioi
skil took this sane medium TO hs Own house WIN,
out previous theught, where she never before hsd
been and where biz table, in the presence OF NJ
own family alone, went through The es'locomonon
without bnusD touch. DR.. Bel mentioned, that, IN
bis last txt eriment-tt8t Just neTated-tLe eh'He
space moved through was over nity ieet
Or. Bell then passed 10 TIE topic OF responses 10
mental and verbs questions and gave several narIh-
tyes OF long satious with what purpoIed 20 %
the sprits OF persons dead for twenty-five 70 ioiy
veArs in whh every question he could devise relating
TO II cir ooneic history and 70 tvenis III 1t, known
oply 10 theM and him, hal been truly answered.
Some Of the subiec,s pat mentally c., without
sreeking or wriing-lSi half dozen correct replies,
forbiddiJg Of eourse completely on any doctrine OF
chances he contingency of accident o. COINCIDENCE,
ne such mental question:, PER sc, negative TIE explain
alton Of previous knowledge ca the part OF the me
a brief abstract OF one Of these viii give general
IDEA of tier character. Or. Bel had frequently re-
La ked 10 Lis spiritual friends, that II any nelian
could repf Dddce the essential PARTICULARS oil hlal
interview which had occurred between himself ana
deceased brother IN 1896 he should be elmost CON-
relied TO admit that il came from his spirit, because he
was sure that be DR.. Bell never had communicates II
to any living being Hence as II had never been known
TO but two peuOns, ana was OF 20 pecUilaT Well
marked a character, not 10 be capable OF being
COMPOUNDED by gercra!ties, he should hardly re aDle
Otherwise to explain it. few Ks aiterrard, what
purportCd 10 be the pit Of that brother narrated ne
essential particulars Of the interview, the place where
down TO the wel-recoeced fact that he ras ad listing
the strups u has horse preparatory TO distant Jour
ney, when il was held
Pretty carly, however, in bis investigations, Dr. Bel
began TO fHd that however correct bis spiritual con-
ferees were most of their responses, the moment
question VS. put involving response the truth of
which was Unknown TO him, uniform failure occurred.
Sometimes. there he believed al Inc u1e tIdt MS
questions were truly answered subsequent information
had shown him tina; he had been mistaken. He had
answers which he believed 10 be true when The lasts
were decideny Otherwise.
Pursuing This train Of inquiry, he found the
"spits' while averrng that they could see h.n dis
tioctly face 10 face" never could read the sigma
lures taken from an old he. and uni0ded ich0W ms
hdring seen he Wr,tHg. Yet IA soon a. he had cast
his eve upon the signature, without allowing any one
else = see il, il was promptly and correctly repro
duo. "A l.v no ~ \
be had made previous arrangement with MS family
that they should do certain things ever quarter OF an
hour at hOmC-he, OF course, nc. knowing what
while he vus TO ak the spirit what Was done at the
instant, Uniform failure occurred. He proved too,
that the q cory of the "Spirluallsts 70 meet such
dfculties viz. that evil or Iihing spirits interfered
at their end of the elegraph-wes MOI tenable. For
the rspoBses lust before aud after these gross failures
had b, en- emiuently and wonderfully accurne and Tire
"spnis' not only declared that they saw Win per-
feet cearness what going on at us house but de-
MED that there had been sny interruption or iater'r
6Bce
Dr. Bel also gave examples where test questions in
yovg II plies uHkR mourn 20 the interrogation had been
dosic1edly iiermixed with those which were known
The result uniformly was that the known responses
however curious aid Ear remote, were c0TIecy repro
duced the unknown were a set of perfectly wild ani
blu1dcring errors the responses often beng Obviously
formed out of the pLraseoog of the question, az
stuck schooLboy guesses out Iepiy I'D.
The r,sult of the inquiries OF Dr. Bell and rs ilehas
for several gentlemen of emlIenly hitting talents
pursued the investigation with mm-~as Drieny lhls:
that ukat tie qaesttOner kaocs, HePiri's kR0" v@qt
The questioRc does not kRot7, the sprhs are eltrGy
ighoront ot In other words that there are really no
tuutrhumau agencies IN the mater at ell-no cJAnsc-
ton wi aooher state Of existence but tat u oe7ss
certain strong aDalOges 20 some OF the experiences Vi
clQ,rropQEce i'll that my sterous science OF gnai sg-
Ietism as has been proirudDg and recedlus Tor the
last hundred wears. DR.. Bell thought there was some
reason to believe that the matter reproduced may come
not only fIOm the QucsOncr, but IN the nina Oh any
one at The circle that IL might be evovled lie mede
some observations upon the evidences OF spnt exist
euce drawn from the cka acter OF the matter commu-
nj ,ated by the mediums III state OF impression Wneh'
a. s believed, spriis express themselves through tne
human agent OF course, the qualt! Oi slcn cJup0-
siiion is more or less question Of taste Mueh OF II
il elevated indicating high intellectual ard moral ca
pacities in the mind 10 which YES ls ors'n Mueu
/ more il absurd, puerlle aud Disgusting lhhHlS.y
! below the grade of the human productions OF the
! came persons from whom il Proitssedly eomee. Yet
the spiritual revelation has given US nOthlng oil such
extraordinary value novelty as 10 stamp ~ ~ tie
judgment of UNI Teludced minds "a oi super-nuhdahe
/ production. pr. Bell aluced 10 q realise which mad
been put into h hands by earnest spinuais' pur-
porting to be he work OF Thomas Paine tie author
| of The Age OF Reason &c, which was thought
would carry conviction body, a. II purpOfed 70
be full explanation of the formation and changes OF
this earth by who, from his staS, mus know all
about Il. The truth was that the work was the pro-
ductiou of some mind celestial mundane. iSuorant
of the very first rudiments OF chemical Philosophy, IN
\ which the moot ridiculous bunders were made on
/ every page in matters which are IA demonstrabe as
mathematics, ard where, of course the answer can
rot be made that the revelation too high Tor CON-
mon readers. Nor does DR.. Bell believe, from bis o.
servations that the waters from this fountain ever
reach hi her Level than their source The mos, ee-
waited specimen Of the spiritual literature would no
doubt be found in the communications from Swelen-
| bog and Lord Bacon, in Judge Edmondss and DIR.
/ ID, xier's first and second volumes. Yet whoever
reads the very elegant and powerful preliminary irea
tises of these gentlemen which DR. Bel thought wodl
compare favoTably with any writings OF the kind
I st.ef 80. .a.l.s