Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-10-04
SPfR1rUALIsx I'M BUssrA.
MAKING Mere sc.esune than Popular Pre-.

| he"' SPhishniioui, ~ WHSty
spread in Europe and America, has
also visited Russia and penetrated into
even the most remote Of her provinces.
The Colossus has passed through ell the
phases Of table-turning, rappings, spirit
naturalization, and similar marvels,
and has had by no means q scant
harvest OF writing, rapping, curing,
and prophesying mediums" The
Russian " Mediums" however, have
never attained the world widsfeputation
Of the Homes, Davenports, Katie Kings,
and tutii quaint. They have been gene
rally Of q familiar domestic descrip-
ton, and their doings and sayings,
however remarkable, have been mostly
confined to the narrow circle Of home
and friends. But, strange to say, it is
in this country the spiritnalism, as the
development Of the science Of psy-
chology, has found its most earnest in
terpreters, and it is in St. Petersburg
and Moscow that these curious mani
festations have attracted and interested
such men as Professor Boutleref, Of
European celebrity, and Professor Wag-
ner, both attached to the Petersburg
University; the Russian savant, Mr..
Alexander Axakof, Professor Tourke-
witch, DR.. Basil Mihailof, and many
more distinguished men Of science and
letters, such as Dastoensky, Solovieff,
and Dimitri Tserteleff. Having found
hospitality in such an exalted circle,
spiritualism ceased to be an amusement
for drawing-room idlers and became
problem with pretensions to scientific
solution. The public was lost in
amazement at first to behold three
scientific stars Of capital magnitude pay
the most concentrated and serious atten-
ton to this question in its modern form,a
to the moving and rapping Of tables, the
frances of somnsmbulists and the pranks
and antics OF so-called mediums"
which the conclave Of experimenters
had over from England, Germany, and
even America, regardless Of expense.
Both MIR. Boutleref and Mr.. Wagner
had previously been declared enemies
of this movement and the most invete-
rate materialists withal, so that at first
they were supposed by their colleagues
at the University and by the students
to have gone out Of their minds.
1t may be said here that such a col
lection OF chepdiiers d'industr,e and
bold adyenturesses as those " mediums"
proved to be was rarely met with any
where out of a fair. The scientific in
vestigators were at first much discon-
certed at the evident deception played
upon them, but nevertheless persevered
and carried on series of the most mi
nutely and carefully controlled obser-
vations upon, and investigations into,
the more genuine of those phenome-
nal organizations called mediums"
and finally came to the positive
conclusion that there was something
in it after all. They then proceeded
with marvellous patience to ferret out
the small grains of truth in the midst
Of deception, bad faith, and greed for
money. The results Of this most te-
dious task, which lasted for years.
were as follows Professor Boutlereff
came to the conclusion that the mani
festations called spiritual are founded
upon a series Of curious facts having
their source in some force hitherto I'M
known, but by no means unknowable.
lie admits, together with the English
specialist in chemistry, Mr.. Crookes,
the existence of more subtle and re-
fined state Of matter than those hitherto
known, which can become perceptible
only in certain condition of the body,
condition usually produced by mag
netism and more easily attained by So
called mediums ~. e., organizations
more THAI ordinarily susceptible and
nervous. Professor Boutlereff has given
great deal Of time and care to the re-
search of this mysterious agent, and his
experiments have confirmed the discoy-
cry Of Mr.. Crookes.
The Russian Spiritualsts, who have
few adherents among their compatriots,
and have had to put up with a great
deal Of annoyance on the part of the
public as well as on that Of the Govern
ment, do not seek to popularize their
ideas as yet, but rather to consolidate
them and gather them into q scientific
formula. They consequently seek to
attract into their circle men Of science,
doctors, materialistS-in short, persons
deprived Of romantic sentimentalty
and religious enthusiasm, so as fairly to
place the question upon a new ground,
not letting it degenerate into sectlrian-
ism, giving NJ food whatever to the
imagination, and so rendering it in
teresting to positive and serious minds.
Had this programme been perse-
yeringly adhered to the question might
have made progress; but both Profess
sors Boutlereff and Wagner adopted
although most unwillingly at first the
hypothesis that these manifestations
must be produced by the spirits Of
former inhabitants of this planet; and
this point Of view having been prema-
turely given to the world in series Of
articles principally due to the pen of
Professor Wagner, and published in
one of the best periodicals, threw great
discredit on the cause at the very ont
set, and made people open their
eyes in establishment at the ere
dibility of the professors. Perceiying
their imprudence and the blows
this hypothesis was going to strike at
the whole structure, Messrs. Boutlereff
and Wagner turned abruptly on another
track, and in subsequent articles en-
deavored to keep on strictly objective
ground concerning the cause of the
manifestations. Russia now possesses
a considerable literature on the sub
ject which totally differs from produc-
tons of the same kind abroad, mas
much as these articles are stamped
with a spirit Of genuine scientific re-
search and present the subject in quite
a new light.
The Government does all in its power
TO discourage the movement, as it is
supposed to be closely allied to Social
ism. Any one having read the books
of Andrew Jackson Davis will easily
understand that such reading would
never do for the Russian people at pre-