The Daily Nashville true Whig. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1851-1855, 1855-08-23

from any apprehension of ridiculeor of degrading
their dignity.
DR.. Gray inquired il there we're any perceptible
effects produced upon the feelings or health of the
mediums by the exercise Of this power.
Dr. Bell replied that his inquiries of them led him
TO suppose that there were no papable influences
from this cause. One of the most intelligent and
successful OF these, in public practice Mrs. Hayden,
now In England, assured him that she was conscious
OF no III effects or feelings, beyond the tedium of
prolonged, monotonons sessions with her crowd of
| visitors, whose wonderful recogntions of deceas-
ed aunts, parents and friends although very surpris
ing to them, were ''thricetold tales" to her.
DIR. Cutter wished to know if DR.. Bell supposed
that the medium conscious of what was passing
/ in the mind Of the questioner. BfJ
! DR.. Bell thought such not the case. The
mediums all concur land many of those in private
lite, at least are OF the highest worth-and indeed
/ he believed that many of those who gratiied those
interested by paid sessions to be less worthy in
declaring that they have no consciousness of any
participation in what is going on. before them Nor
could be see, in the temperaments or other indica
| uons oil the mediums, any thing in common. They
run through wide expansion of intelligence from
Judge Edmonds down to the most moderate in.
tellectual development.
DR.. Gutter inquired bow DR. Bell supposed the
! raps to be made.
/ Sest now, any more than why the magnetic needle
should insist upon turning towards the north, in.
stead of S. S. Z.
DIR. Bell remarked that there were a great mum.
! Der of curious facts connected with the various
branches into which these phenomena had run off
which he had not time to enter into the considera
ton of. He considered them all as Of less intense
interest than the great question of the veritable
existence OF the "Spirits" The trance speaking
| the impresSOns of a viaual panora,,x;o AZ :,
composition OF all sorts of prose end poetry, the
curious spirit drawings" and still other manifesto
tons; OF some OF them it is very difficult to make an
explanation; others may hereafter be found in the
class OF hysterico nervous excitements, in which
the individual, without any intention to deceive is
SO wrapped up in an internal flow of fances as to
lose consciousness of external things; vet the in.
tellectual processes go on. -.
Still other phenomena may, perhaps, be proved tn
be connected with the duality of the brain. 1t is
| undoubted that that organ is like the ear and eve
each of which is one of two symmetrical dupIicates
When both act concurrently but one class OF effects
is produced. When the ear or eve becomes dis
located from its fellow, double vision and disturbed
auditlon result One eye may be habituaIly passive,
as seems to be one perfect optic of the cross eyed
and the attention is not called to the images which
it presents, although these images may be all dis.
| lnctly pictured on the retina, and NAV by some
| association or diseased action, be subsequently,
reproduced. The analogy of the brain to these
facts is shown in the phenomena of dreaming. when
We do and say and think things which are utterly
foreign to our habitual feelings and views as much
| as one mind could vary from another. Or again.
| it is Illustrated in not infrequent examples OF
periodical mania, where, for a period of weeks, or
months, or years the patent lives in certain state
moral, intellectual and affective existence perfect
| ly unlike the other remnant of his life Were q
new guide or governor know to enter the sensorium
and assume the reins, more completely distinct
set OF result cold not be expected. In ebriety the
| same facts exist.
The phenomena of impressions made upon an
organ, and afterwards reproduced in disease, are
common In the books.
DIR. Bell admitted that many Of the responses
made by the purporting "spirits of YOUR friends
are SO odd and unnatural, as compared with your
own thoughts or manner of speech, as to make it
difficult to believe that they ever from your own
habitual braiu-that is, that part of your brain
which you recognize as responsible to your own in
dviduahty.
He related an incident illustrative of his mean
ing. he was once attending a session, or circle
where his position was at the bottom of a Ion9
table, at the head of which the medium " sat, and
on each side of her were some other persons All
had paper and pencils in hand to minute down the
| responses, &c. Owing to some "want of harmony
or other cause, the "spirits failed in correct re-
plies and good deal of confusion and repetition
occurred. Often their reply, through the ab labet
was, ave don't know, ave can't tel &c
DIR. Bell was amusing himself under these DELAYS. in
drawing with his pencil a grotesque figure of an
imaginary anmal-a sort of griffin, with horns.
tusks, &c, &c. After one of the replies of the
"spirits " that. they didn't know" the Doctor
rather pettshly lifted his pencal from the paper and
said, "Weli, do you know what this is ?" The
response was at once raped out 1T would be
hard naming thar beast!" As be was in position
where no eye could overlook him, and where no
person besides himself could know what was drawn,
he was at loss TO know out of whose brain, ex.
cept his own, the quick repartee could originate.
He certainly had no Consciousness of it.
Dr. Bell also mentioned other cases where the
idea in the questioners mind was reproduced, but
in different phraseology from that he held A
Esprit" for example, was asked where she had
been buried The true answer was ST. Augustine
The letter 3 was first raped; he waited at 4,
having no idea that the contraction would be used
but IL iOds, the rap being made at T.
DR.. Nichols inquired whether Dr. Bell had any
further experiences aud observations in the curious
inverted reUerss handwriting, of which he had given
an account last year.
DIR. Bell replied that he understood that that
phenomenon of handwriting, where the pencil be.
gan at the last part of the last letter Of the last
word of the last sentence, and run back rapidly to
the beginning, being also upside doVn to the writer,
was not uncommon, although he had not again met
with it. In one instance, in his experience lately
the medium wrote in a reversed manner, so that
the writing could be read in mirror, or BY being
held up to the, light back to the reader-an obvi.
ously very easy thing as compared with that Just
described.
Dr. Bell had seen many of the ''spirit drawings "
which seemed like tincongruous grotesque speci.
mems OF Chinese arthowers, fruit and leaves being
aggregated against all the precedents of nature or
laws OF botanical philosophy. They were only
remarkable from being the production of persons
unskilled in the use of the pencil. as was declared
to be the case.
Dr. Bell concluded by remarking that he regarded
the question, whether spirits of the dead had any
thing to do with these phenomena, to be go much
more important in practical point of view. than
any other minor facts connected with them, that ne
had pretermitted much Of bis attention to these
curious incidents, in order direct his investipa
tons more TO the other point, the result Of which
| ha had md rod - '~-