The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1877-05-03
DO TABLES TIPf

be, even now, new religion or modi
fication of old systems of religious
faith and thinking. While this is a
question beyond the pale of newspaper
discussion, science, contemplating the
assertions of spir1tism, also contem-
plates new departure. 1t is said and |
deemed maxim by philosophers that
IL any force in nature supplsnt any |
other force without adequate cause,
science should find a neD cause. 1t |
has ever been pronounced impossible to
suspend the operation Of the law of
gravitation, and yet it is said that
the gleat South American bird, like
the eagle, cuts the cord at will that
binds it to the earth and rises till the
air is too thin to sustain life, and then
voluntarily descends, and not because
impelled by the law Of grayitation.
Will man ever discover the process by
which birds defy or suspend natures
universal law2 There is no place or
muscular cavity on mems backs for
wings, aud these adjuncts of angels,
as painted, are most absurd and need
less, and Home, the splritist, who, if
the stories Of his disciples may be
credited, has often made flights about
the ceilings of his apartments and
out into the street, has no wings. We
choose to doubt Homes flights of fact,
but not those of his fancy, and yet the
time may come when science, delving
more deeply into mysteries that every
where environ US, may learn how to
sever the unseen cord that letters us so
helplessly to the earth's surface. 1t is
only to be feared that Lord Argyle,
with steam driven balloons, will pre-
cede in practical flights those who look
TO Home and spiritism for wings.
When, however, one single table is
made by the "spirits" to dance in air,
science is mystified, its laws suspended
ana then the fight of angels in the
flesh becomes instantly possible. Who
has seen table hop bodily, without
the application OF physical force, into
the airl We are accustomed to hear
OF but never witness these facts. If
these be facts, human science is at a
standstill. Its first law in physics, that
OF gravitation, is annulled, and in
science and philosophy, as in govern
ment at this juncture, we must take
new departure. Limitless and count
less frauds and decisions are practiced
in the name of spiritism. Mems eyes
and ears are easily deceived, and
rogues resort to natural credulity and
to that vague superstition and unde-
fined hope OF immortality, cultivated
from childhood by the church, in or
der to induce acceptance of the theories
of the spiritists. In ddrkened cham
bers ghostly deeds are done and ward
robes quake like old tombs and give
up their dead. Tricks are done with
states, on which dead men write be
meath instead of on the table, and sailor
ghosts have doubtless learned to unite
worse than Gordian knots while navi-
eating the ocean of eternity. This is
very wonderful If credible, but the
simplest performance, and that sup
posed to be most common and
practicable, the suspension Of the law
of gravltation, is the first and last and
final marvel of our day and time. Other
practices, the slate writing, the discol-
Grafton OF the arm, the reading of I'M
read notes, the empty frauds of plan
Ghetto, the rappings about the table
Ill these may DO decisions and frauds of
A4egerdemain but the simplest and COM
monest, as alleged, device of spiritism
would, il really practlcel, compel q
evolution in all laws of science and
mechanics and give the world not only
new systems of thinking, but Of prac-
tical life. Who has seen or can make
a table move without the application
of adequate physical living force 2
Even in tins city idiots, last week,
were digging for treasure as directed
by table-tippers; in leading towns in
Texas there are nightly convocations
of those who believe that graves yawn
and that the dead stalk abroad as the
living; the faith OF Christians is mod
flied and the churches are full of spir-
itists; they are numbered by the score
in Houston, and yet the faith of the
many is based upon the assertions and
supposed visions of the few. And
now comes prophet among them and
his wife, and the world of spiri.ism in
Texas is agog as never before. When
we see a table animate and lift itself
from the floor we will believe that man
has learned to do like birds, alleged to
float without mechanical force above
the clouds. We would then believe
that man had learned to suspend the
operation OF a supposed law of nature,
and even then we would still await
proof OF the presence or interposition
of the dead.
People, whatever their "faith," have
keen desire to kao1 absolutely that
there is life beyond the grave, and if
; spiritism, in addition to the suspension
of the law of physics, called gravita-
ton, demonstrate the existence of an
indestructible spiritual man, the in
quiriOs instituted by those who dis
cuss and illustrate these questions haYe
infinite interest and value. Therefore
the success Of lecturers on these sub
jects and OF those who seek to show
by the devices Of spiritism the fact
that the dead still live.
GOVERNOR HUBBARD AND HIS
RIVALS.