The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-04-01

She has Seen them 10th Levitatcd aud Dis
embowciIcd- Magnetic Attraction.

| embowciIcd- Magnetic Attraction.
To THE EDITOR OF THE SUS-.Sr: How
| over ignorant may be Of the laws Of the solar
| system. am. at all events, so firm a believer IN
hello 'cntric Journal SIN that subscribe for THE
SUN | have therefore seen your remarks in
to-day's sun upon my iconoclasm."
No doubt it IL u great honor for an unpre-
tending foreigner to be thus crucincd between
tho two greatest celebrities Of your chiv-
alrous country-the truly good Deacon
Richard Smith Of the blue gauze trousers
and tho nightingale OF the willow and
the cypress. q. Washington Childs, A. NJ.
But I am not Hndoo fakir and there
fore cannot say that enjoy cruciflxion especial
y when unmcritcd. would not even fancy being
swung around the tall tower" with the steel
hooks OF your satire metaphoricaly thrust
through my back. | have not invited the
portcrs to n show. have not sought notoricty.
have only taken up quiet corner in your free
country. and. as a woman who has travelled
much. shall try to tell Western public what
strange things have seen among Eastern peo-
pies If I could have enjoyed this privilege at
home, | should not be here. Being here. shall,
as your old English provcrb expresses it, tell
the truth and shame the devil"
The World reporter who visited me wrote an
article which mingled his souvenirs OF my
and palms. with aerial music and the fitting
doDpeigdn0ers OF adopts. II was a very inter-
estng article and certainly intended to be very
impartial. II he made me appear to deny the
inmutabity OF natural law, and infercntially to
affirm the possibility Of miracle, it was, | am
sure. unintcntiOnal, and wholly due to my faulty
English
There are no such uncompromsing believers
in the immutnblity and universally Of the laws
IT nature as students Of occultsm. Let us then,
with your permission. leave the shade of the
great Newton To- rest in peace. II Is not the
iftlt Of n ion fl4p
sty Of central force Hting toward the sun,
that is denied. but the assumption that behind
the law which draws bodies toward the earths
centre. and which Is cur most familiar example
Of Rravitlton. there is not another law. equally
imnutablc. that under certain conditions APP
pears To countcract Il. II but once in hundred
years a table or takir il seen to rise in the air,
without visible mechanical cause. Then that
rising ~ manifestation 81 natural law OF
which our scientists are yet ignorant. Chris
tiuns believe in miracles; occultists credit them
oven leSs than pious scicntsts-Sir David
Brewster for instance. Show an occultst an
unfamiliar ph"n9menon and he will never
miracle. He will search for the cause in the
region Of causes.
There was an nnccdotc about Babinet. the
astronomer. current in Paris in 1854. when the
great war was raging between the Academy and
The Waiting table, TIL. skegtcal man Of
Nondes january. 1854. p. 4l4l that the levita-
ton OF furniture without contact was simply
a. impossible ~ perpetual notion" few days
later. during an experimental scance. "a table
was levtated without contact. in his presence.
me result was tnut Babnrt went straight 10 n
dentist to have n inoar tooth extracted, which
the iconoclastc table, In its aerial hight had
seriously damaged. But il was too late to recall
suppose nine men out u ten including obi
tors. would maintain that the unduatory theory
oi light is ono Of the most firmly established.
Ncw Chamisiry, .ty Professor Josiah +, Cooke.
Jr, ~ Harvard University. iNow York. 1876.
you will find him saving: " / cannot agree with
those who regard the wHvo-thcory Of light rs an
established principle OF science. - II re-
combination Of IuulIfI,as In the ether tf
space which | find it DIM ut 10 belirve are ac-
tunlly realized What j. this but icono'lasmY
Let us bear in mind that Newton himself re-
ceiygd the corpus 'ular theory ~ Pyihagoras
and his prcdec' ssors from whom he learned II.
later sccnt SIS accepted the wave theory Of D,.s-
cartos and iiuyghons; Kcpler, maintained the
lorelli anticipated Newton in his discovery,
Ehanty, liuyghens and Boyle, Horrocks and
Hookc. Haley and Wren all had ideas If Il CEN
iral force ting toward the sun. and OF the true
nrinriple 81 dimlnution Of action Of the force in
tn ratio Of the inverse square II the distance.
tn" last word has not yet been spoken with
f,spect 10 gravltatlon lie Limitations, can never
j. better understood. They are Just BE-
four Stewards lecture ut Manchester. en-
ttcl " The sun and the Earth, and Prof A.
net y the intimate connection between the suns
spots and the position Of the heavenly bodies.
The interplanetary magnets. attractions are but
understood TO be simply magnetic attraction
and rcpul~i0n and the paft played bv mnpnet-
ism it-cif in tho endless corr"9tians ~ ferses
in the ether Of srace-thnt hypothetical me-
dium." IA Webster terms tt maintain that it
either fikir or table Bodies opposii"iy eiec.
IT ned attract oaoh other: similarly electrified
ropul-. ga IA other Admit m .rrf1re thnt nuV
l,idy having weight. whether man or inanimai
object i.nn Lv any ,.,us. ,vi .ta,,sr ,...r,.,i 80
Internal IT, ,iN.sn ne sam. t,'l ritv ~ H., s,
IN which th,y stand nllI ,yhnt il Ia nrey.nt
thrirri-inS,
nbraorg charging mo witt fnl>ehooi when |