National Republican., 1883-07-09
INVESTIGATION OF sPIRITUAIIsM.
To This End n Chair i'm the University OF
'Pcnnsylvania Has Been Endowed.


PHILADELPHIA, PA, June 29-From the
material to the spiritual is only short step,
say some, and after the care of their bodies,
the future of their souls is to many persons
the subject of much speculation, hope, and
anxiety. There is no Disgusting the fact that
the modern philosophy or superstitution, as
you Will, of spiritualism has engaged the at
tention of many thousands in this country,
among them many of cool Judgment and skep-
teal minds. They have seen, when they have
investigated tho subject ut all, many
things which, while they by no means
prove to them the future existence of the soul
and its power of communicating with bodies
yet in the flesh, yet are incxplicable by any
theory yet advanced, and which suggested
mdeveloped powers in the mind or unknown
forces in nature. These powers or forces may
be as familiar to the Americans of the
twentieth century rs the ascertaned facts
concerning electricity were entirely strange
to those of the eighteenth when the very ex-
istence Of this force in nature was unknown.
These persons desire that science may turn
the cold light of her electric lamp upon the
subject, and selecting the true from the
false, may tell us if there is anything true
in it, OF if it is indeed all fraud and self-de-
ception.
They are in fair way to be gratifed.
There is said to exist in England n society
formed for this purpose which is collecting
all the literature to be had on the subject,
all the testimony of Investigators, all the
| correspondence TO be had with reputable
spiritualists, By careful collation. and COM
parison it hopes to arrive at the truth con
| cerning somethng-bo il a philosophy or
| religion-which has survived tho sneers, ex-
posures, and frauds of forty years. Had
there been an honest society of this sort in
existence 1,900 years ago it might have saved
| 1at ntn1A 10 "A
Bob lngersoll and his combaters chance to
turn their surplus energies into other chan
nels
1t may be news to many that tho flourish
| ing aud powerful University of Pennsylva-
MIA stands morally pledged to the investiga-
ton of this subject In March of this year
died Henry Seybert, a wealthy bachelor of
Philadelphia, who left n bequest Of 100000 to
endow the chair of mental and moral phi
losophy. 1t was really given before his death,
anticipating his will. In the brief and mod
est letter in which, he offered tho endowment
he requested, without making it condition,
that it be made a portion of the duties of the
incumbent of that chair ito investigate all
| systems of doctrine claiming to represent the
the truth, especially modern spiritualism." "
The university has accepted the endowment,
and with it the novel duty.
Seybert had been a student of the uni
versity and classmate of DIR. La Moyne, In
| whose crematOry furnace at Washington, Pa,
his remains, in accordance with the pro-
visions of the will, were turned to ashes. He
does not seem to have graduated in medicine.
His father left him an ample fortune, and he
engaged in no business or profession, but pur-
sued the chemical studies in which his father
had been interested. He lived quiet bach
elor flife, was little known outside his circle
of relations and friends and the Philadelphia
club until, in 1875, he offered to put ne W
/ md m "a of
hall, and, his offer being accepted, spent
$4,000 in this patriotic design.
He had long been an Investigator into the
truth fspiritualisn, and seems to have given
lit some measure of belief until his faith was
shocked by the exposure of the shameful
frauds Of Mr. and Mrs. James A. Bliss the
mediums. He is said to have been favored
with the sight of many materialized spirits
and, it is asserted, was about to be granted an
interview with the materialized Virgin Mary
when the vile deceiyers were dragged before
the ourts upon charge of criminal decep-
tion. 1t was owing to the doubts into which
he was plunged that this bequest was made
He requested that the chair be named after
his father, Adam Seybert.
BtJdes this sum he gave another $50 900 to
the medical department of the university,
and it is being used in the addition of an
other ward to the hospital to be named after
him. He also left large sums of money for
the foundation of two schools for INDECENT
children, one for boys, to be named after his
father, another for girls, which was given his
| mothers name.