The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1889-04-11
MODERN SPIEITUALIs,r
A Lecture Delivered in the Lutheran
Church at Sewberry, S. c., by Prof.
Junius 3. Fox, A. NJ, March
goth, 1889.

oonlUs Is. FOX, A. NJ, March
goth, 1889.
publication requested ty the Editor
and Others
On the night of the 3lst of March.
lS4S, IN the village Of Hydesville, in the
State of New York, Spiritualism in its
modern form first came into existence.
Here lived family named Fox-no
lineal antecedents of mine as far as /
know-consisting of a father, mother
and two daughters, Margaretta and
Catherine, aged respectively twelve
and nine. For some months they had
been annoyed by repeated mysterious
knockings in the walls and furniture of
their cottage home. At last on the
night of March 3lst, the little girl, Kate
or Catherine, haggssGd to notice that
noises nag ssened to reply to any
fazKa chays= by the members of the
ga5fsaalEss "Do as T do," she said, snap
ping her fingers, and instantly the
undsresponded. "Count ten," she
said, and ten raps were given. "How
old is Margaret" the mother asked,
and twelve raps followed. "How old is
Kate?" nine raps. Very soon words
were spelt out, and questions answered,
and meanwhile the rappings went on
vigorously.
This was the beginning Of Modern
Spiritualism. But it was at Rochester,
New York, where the two Misses Fox
were sent on visit to their married
sister, that the strange phenomena be-
gan to attract public attention. Here
the rappings followed them, though
some were left at home to disturb the
mental peace of old Mr.. and Mrs. Fox
and their near neighbors. They were
strongest and most frequent, however,
in the presence of Miss Kate Fox, the
youngest daughter.
At length on the 18th of November,
ls4S, public lecture was delivered on
the subject at which specimens of the
rappings were given. The newspapers,
of course, took up the matter and spread
the knowledge of it throughout the
country. Persons in all the States be-
gan to develop "mediumistic power"
as it was called, and by 1850, Spiritual
ism had become recognized institu-
ton throughout America, and began to
be heard of, principally i'll the way Of
ridicule, in England and OH the Conti-
nent. Gradually the doctrine attracted
more and more attention. The Hon.
John w. Edmonds, a Judge of the
New York Court of Appeals, and
Robert Hare, NJ. D., Professor Of
-sS4sssssussistry in the University Of
Pennsylvania, both undertook to in
vestigate the matter, and expose its de-
lusions, and both ended by admitting
their conviction of the genuineness of
the facts. Such men, too, as Horace
Greely and n. P. Talmadge, Governor
of Wisconsin, bore testimony to the
genuineness Of some of the manifesto
.tiors, as clairvoyance, spirit-writing
and drawing, untying complicated
knots, lifting of immense weights, and
even the assumption of a tangible spirit
body.
By 1858 the movement had spread
over England. Especially was this
true, when Daniel Douglass Home, the
greatest perhaps Of the early Spiritual
lists, went over and gave exhibitions in
London. From this Spiritualisln began
to spread like wildtire all over Europe,
and there seemed to be perfect mania
over it everywhere, particularly for
table-turning. Some of the. most,
eminent scholars turned to the study Of
the mysterious phenomena-men like
Lord Broughman, Sir David Brewster,
Prof. DeMorgan, the eminent mathe-
matician, and Faraday, the scientist.
In 1869 the London Dialectical Society
appointed a large committee to ex-
anime into the phenomena, and from
the report which was published in 1871,
it appears that its members were
thoroughly convinced of the genuine
ness of many of the alleged manifesto
tons, though the question of their
spiritual origin was of course left en-
tirely open. Exhibitions of Spiritual
ism were given before Napoleon III. in
CCsryand Alexander II, in st. Peters
burg. Greater things were now accom-
plished-speakingin in foreign languages;
lighting a phosphoroscent light in the
dark; producing of drawings, pictures
and photographs; and finally, the COM
plete embodiment of a departed spirit,
atleast So far as to make him recogniz-
able to friends and relatives.
The extent to which Spiritualism has
spread, and the present number Of
Spiritualists are very very difficult to
determine. Vague calculations have
from time to time been attempted. In
1857 one spiritualist estimated the num-
Der at II, 900, 900; and another has held
100000, to be an extreme estimate
The periodicals devoted to spirstuallsm
may perhaps be taken to indicate the
present state of the movement. There
are two weekly newspapers in London,
called Light and The Medium and Day.
break and one of these has advertise
ments of meetings in 60 different
towns, and in so different rooms. Out
side of Great Britain, there are about
100 Spiritualistic Journals; 80 in
English, of which 26 are published in
America, and in the Australian
IN Eropob. e in (Tar-