The Washington union., 1857-04-25

MODERN sPIRITUAIIsM.


fev year, ago we accustomed, ON all ieslal oc-
- celebrate the intellectual glores OF the present
- Ne have not wholly abandoned the practice now
Nd, i;,en with complacency TO the statements annually
IA. by village town and city authorities as TO the
id ,,ogress of education in our Commonwealth We
,t hack with contempt and pity to the superstltions
md delsions under which less enlightened ancestors
l,bored Mr. Uphanl admirable book ON the wltcheIut
fupostres ills us with astonishnent ana we cohsraiu-
Iaie ourselves in our oyerweenng seestimaon, that
- live In a ater and better age In the midst OF this
,lr olorReation there springs up in rapid growth new
.lson spreading far and wide, carrying The most hid
c,ns evils in lis tmn extraordinary than ever be-
fore appeared 10 the worlds history IL may seem
strong assertion TO make. We make Il advisediy We
,ay il deliberately, that any man who should twenty
Years ago have predicted the present state OF things IN
u.ssoebusetts would have been seohed at beer Of
,be common sense of the Old Ba, State Twenty years
h.pcs ii any one shall describe irathfnlly what is
takng place every day and every night in hundreds Of
ircles he viii scarcely he believed The prevalence of
ths heicf In the claims of the socaed spualism and
tho rperstous performance Of lis rites, certainly
amonp the things that future generations will find il
hardest 10 credit The difficulty attending this spe
ces Of superstition lies not in explaining what is actually
done y the nysiagogues and witnessed and testified to
X the neophytes but il is in comprehendng and ex
slinna how so many people be brought under SO
slsS and disrepuiable ,ieision
Ne assert Il ns fact that the 'sfox girls they are
called and rightly named they who began the inn
nosture have bocn many times detected twice within
our own knowledge in the trick by which they never
heless continue to cheat so many willing victims The
same is true Of many others The female medium who
50 long astonished the wondcrccke Of Boston and who
made 50 profitable business for a short time by cheating
49, ta-l
agan exposed Nj Hume, the greatest wonder-workcr
Of all who Is said have lately puzzled the Emperor OF
the French BY style Of legerdcman superior his own
ronld not he induced to exhibit his performances where
Il was understood that "a professor in the Scientific
Sboo intended to pierce the spiritual hand with dis
secting knife which he known TO WELD with uner-
ring precision.
We assert il al ndsputabe fact, that wherever pre-
cautions have been taken which exclude the possibility
al fraud or deception the pretended phenomena OF spirit
uaiisn hare aa atea place Even the most common and
,sIy produced result such the moving of table, has
no, pader ae,e conditions taken place We further Assert that
in all where the phenomena hds occurred the
ditto Us and arrangements have been made by the medium
az exhibitor which favorable to fraud Rooms have
hen darkene tables covered with table cloths and the
snectatas not allowed to look under them. Persons
showing disposition to scrunize have been denounced
for the alleged reason that the spirits required their alb
ne as condition precedent to the performances These
We ias known to all who in the habit of frequent
Inc the spiritua!ist circles The mysagogues Of the
M, nave great aatages allowed them over the Jug
er Uomlin OF Paris aid sgnor Btz, two OF the most
npenos and entertaining of ci class, do not think OF
as,o ncb nriycges. The works they perform are PER
,rmcd ndcr real difficulties and how much superior
they 10 the beN of the performances exhibited by thc
mediums, OF wha tever sort
We Law down an, ,ther proposition, which no one who
has looked into the er mpartially will be able or will
inc to eontroyert We affirm that all the mediums who
pretend to carry ON what may be designated the active
operations ofpthe craft such as rappng under tables
tipping tables dancing piinos with stout sitting
Them throwing furniture about darkened rooms touch
ing ladies shoulders with spiritual hands which shoot of
into space in blazing stream of light, calling up the
ghosts OF departed friends and making them ques
tcns-we say that the mediums who pretend to exhibit
these results and who claim that they brought about
by spiritual agencies mposers and ought to be stern
~ dealt with as such We readily admit the honesty
OF many who believe they have mored tables with,
out the application OF adequate physical force.
We have seen il done too often to doubt il !; but
never saw it done without seeing precisely where
the mechanical force necessary TO produce the
suit was actually applied. Some Of the writing me-
di,ms doubtless honestly believe that the pen pen
,ir held in their hands is guided by an unseen spirit
se words and sentences. unknown to them until they
read them after they written The TACT doubtless may
be So We mean that when the writing il finished the
person holding the pen may not be o what he has
wrten But the rne explanation is, not that the spirits
have written but that the writer has forgotten what he
has lsi done that i the separate yotions Of his own
mind which alone guided the pen in forming the letters
and the words have left trace behind Ia the memory
This is Intellectual phenomenon which takes place
whenever performer on the piano passes his fingers rap
Idly over the keys.
He has not moment aiterwafds the slightest recol-
lection OF the sryera volons by which each note
moot certainly produced, and yet IS fact which exces
no wonder a slight knoyledge Of metaphysics and
he practice 10 applying principles universally aonowl
edged in set o to another set o analogous cases.
soad many honest people from delung others and
themselves
There is doubt the mnlaly is widespread and that
works dcsolang ehects IL is unhnging the intellect
aud crowtng the mad house with unatics II is break
ng up religious soceties and substituting in their places
spiritual cinls Instead Of ministers OF the Gospel,
We have men and women. called trance nleinna, hold
ing forth to crowded audiences, In crazy rhapsodcs be
Eeyei to come from dsmbocd spirits from Divine in
sISa,ion In the place of the old fashioned fortune tel
lers We have consulting mediums, occupying rooms
ohee in toSgs mud cities which the daily resort OF
thonFands OF lelieWgs We have travelling mediums,
like travelling lecturers, We arrange and publish before
hand their journeys that becyers ,pm all the country
Saye men, too, who profess to procure from any
l.ls "a. -