The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-01-12
A SOBER STORY FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION

manifestations has recently appeared in Eng
land, which appeals strongly to our love of the
marvellous 1t is entitled Experiences in
Spir;tualism with Mr. D. D. Home;" by Wis
count Adare, with an introduction by the Earl
of Dunraven. AS it was printed for private
circulation among the friends OF these two
gentlemen. and is jealousy protected lest 1t
should get into general circulation in some
surreptitious manner, it is not likely to be re-
published on this side Of the water. 1t has at
tracted the attention of scientific men, how
ever, because of the extraordinary manifesto
tions therein recorded, and the numerous and
distinguished names that attest the truthful
ness of the statements.
A correspondent Of the New York Times
has been permitted to examine the book, and
has 30 far used his privilege as to give us an
abstract OF its contents. According to this
writer the moving Of objects hy Themselves,
with no visible force, was an ordinary occur
renee. Pianos, sofas, chairs, tablesand books
were moved about the rooms in which seances
were held, and appeared to rise in the air OF
their own accord. In fourteen instances, he
saTs, flowers were brought by invisible hands
and distributed among different persons.
Their fragrance was taken from them ana
thrown about the room. Brandy disappeared
from the glass containing it, and fell through
space into it. through the fingers Of Lord
Adare. 1.-The spirit was then extracted from 1t,
the water remaining. In twenty-three In
stances spirit forms were seen IN thirteen
spirit hands, and in twenty other cases they
touched persons in the room. Spirit voices
we're heard, and other interesting phenomena
of like sort were seen, and arc attcsted oy
upward of fifty witnesses.
But the more striking phenomena occurred
in connection with the medium, Mr. Home
Thus, at Ashley House, for instance, in the
presence of Lord Adare and the Master Of
Lindsay, Home was seen to rise in the air; ne
was s'carried along the wall, brushing past the
pictures, to the opposite side Of the room."
he was afterward taken in the open air, car
ried clear over wall distance of ten or
twelve yards. At Buckingham Gate No. Z, ne
was raised in the air horizontally, his "head
became luminous at the top, giving him the
appearance of having a halo around It," and
in each hand ''there came little globe Of
fire. which, says Lord Adare, had, to his eyes,
blue color, and made very pretty effect. At
another seance at Ashley House, Home was
carried out of one window and came In at an
other, at an elevation of forty-fve feet from
the ground. When he went out of the window
of one room he presently appeared at the win
dow of. another, which he opened land walked
in quite coolly."
At some of these seances his body was elon-
gated, from his usual stature Of FIVE feet ten
inches to six feet four. The measurement
was carefully taken by Lord Adare, assisted
bya Mr.. JenckeR. "He appeared to grow,
also, in breadth and size all over" This eX-
pertinent was often repeated. He was, as the
painters would say, ''foreshortened" by the
same agency. At another time his arms were
stretched out, so that, from finger tip to finger
tip, the elongation amounted to nineand half
inches beyond the natural measurement Of the
extended arms and hands. The skeleton Of
this gentleman will probably be found COM
posed of gutta percha.
But tho most remarkable test was that OF
fire. It reminds one Of the Biblical story OF
the three young Israelites who were cast into
the fiery furnace and came forth unsinged.
But we cannot do justice to the account by an
abstract, and we therefore quote fully. AT the
house of Mr.. Hennings, at Norwood, and in
the presence of several persons, whose names
are given, Lord Adare says:
he (Mr. Home) went to the fire, poked up
the Goals, and putting his hand in drew out u
hot burning ember, about twice the size OF an
orange; this he carried about the room as If to
show it to the spirits, who he said were pre-
sent, and then brought 1t to us; we all exam
ined it. He then put it back in the fire and
showed US his hands; they were not in the least
blackened or scorched, neither did they smell
of fire, but on the contrary of q sweet scent
which he threw off from his fingers at us
across the table. Having apparently spoken
with his hand stirred the embers into flame;
then kneelng down, he placed his face right
among the burning Goals, moving it about as
though bathing 1t in wafer. Then, getting up,
he held his finger for some time In the flame OF
candle. Presently, he took the same lump
Of coal which he had previously handled and
came over to us, blowing upon 1t to make it
table, and said: II want to see which Of you
will be the best subject. All Adare will be
the easiest, because he has been the most with
DAN" Mr.. Jencken held out his hand, say
ing, "Put iJ in mine." Home said, "No,
no; touch it and see. he touched it with
the tip of his finger and burned him
SELF Home then held 1t within four or
five inches of Mr.. Saal's and Mr.. Hurts
hands, and they could not endure the heat
He came to me and said, "Now, if you are not
afraid, held out your hand" / did so, and
having made two rapid passes over my hand,
he placed the coal in it. l must have held it
for halt minute--long enough to have burned
my hand fearfully; the coal felt scarcely warm
Home then took it away, laughed, and SEEM
ed much pleased AS he was going back to the
fireplace, he suddenly turned round and said,
"Why, Just fancy, some of them think that
only one side of the ember was hot" He told
me to make hollow OF both my hands; did
go, and he placed the coal in them; and then
put both his hands on the top Of the coal, so
that 1t was completely covered by our four
hands, and we held it there for some time.
Upon this occasion scarcely any heat at all
could be perceived.
Similar experiments were made at Ashley
House, and are aLtested by witnesses whose
testimony would stand unimpeached in any
community. We quote the following passages
from letter of the well known authorcss, Mrs.
S. C. Hall, who is distinguished the world
over for the purity Of her writings and the
elevated religious thought that runs through