The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1885-03-25
ESPoN NCE.
PH1LApELpHIA, March 2Oth, '8E

MeSSTS. EdItOTS, S,-Ihere are SAID to be
thirty thousand Spiritualistic mediums
in the United States, and no less than
three hundred circles in the city of Phil
delphia alone. Newspapers advertize
scores of Clairvoyants, and public exhibi-
tions of spiritualistic jugglery continue
in despite of the multiplied exposures
that have been made. Societies for Psy-
chical research have been founded in
Boston and London, and a professorship
has been founded in connection with the
University of Pennsylvania by Mr.. Sey-
bert, semi-spiritualist, for the purpose
of making a thorough scientific test of
the various phenomena of spiritualism.
One great difficulty confronts the inves-
tigator of spiritualism at the outset, viz
It's Affinity for Darkness.
1t refuses the very first condition of sci
ence-the broad day light. The standing
shame of all this clairvoyance and spirit
ualism is that it always insists on work
ing beneath tables and behind cabinet.
doors, and levitates In dark rooms
Angelique Cotton, the famous Electric
girl in France, had a wonderful power
in the way of tipping tables, repelling
books, brushes, and other small objects,
and disturbing electric needles. Her al
legged powers were carefully investigated
by committee appointed by the Acade-
my of Science In Paris, consisting of
Arago, Becquerel, st. Hilaire and others.
But the tables and books and brushes
and magnetic needles all kept unaccount-
ably quiet, and the electric girl was
consigned to oblivion. The phenomenon
of levitation, or floating through the air,
illustrates how the commones5 acts of
perception are liable, in the twilight OF
spiritualism, to be changed into halluci-
nation, and how useless it is to conjecture
what witnesses may have really seen un-
less you know the physical and mental
conditions under which the seeing has
been done. Respectable witnesses" have
been sure that they saw "an apparition
In shining raiment, and that no decep-
tion or illusion was possible under the
circumstances. But the sceptical Thomas
or the irrepressble reporter, on turning
on the gas or making the rush, have found
for the thousandth time that the floating
angel was bit of clever machinery and
specimen of flesh and blood Indeed
almost all of spiritualism cannot submit
to scientific test. 1t is for the most part
bare-faced imposture
Many persons, however, claim some of
it's phenomena as genuine, and seek to
rank them under the category of force
not yet scientifically understood. But
why seek an explanation in some unknown
Psychic Force9
Why appeal to the unknown and attempt
to connect this undiscovered psychic force
with the "spirits" Of deceased persons
That IS a leap Of inference worthy of
fetch worshippers, scarcely of intelligent
men. Beside there is no need of ap-
pealing to any new forces When we
subject these so called spiritualistic facts
to scientific experiment we discover that
all the explanation required for them is
furnished by laws and forces already well
defined. The only phenomenon, 50 far
as we know, which spiritualism consents
to perform in the presence of scientific
men is that Of ezerting pressure without
any assignable physical action The
spirituahstic operator has been able to
cause the index of a spring-balance to
descend without touching it, to register
an actual pressure of four pounds without
exerting any tactual pressure. "a clear
case Of spirits and psychic force" the
spiritualists claim. But Prof Tyndal
says THAT is not the way to progress in
science. Let us exhaust the known meth
ods Of explanation So he arranges a
similar apparatus-experiments as he