Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-27

said lady of the court of Louis XIV, sis
marked BY this character of love for the
marvellous (I would say superstition, IT l
was not imbued with it myself, which de-
notes the decadence of society. Never
were the Bosicrusians, the adopts, the
prophets and all that pertains to them, so
numerous, SO we'll attended. Conversation
turns almost entirely to these subjects; 1t
occupies eVerybody's mind, it excites the
Imagination even of the most serious.
MarveIs of the Mystery.
Besides the blasphemous tfbleeding
Christs" exhibitions, and those grouped
under relat de mort, and the cataleptic and
physical ones, which Bertrand says were
noticeable for their characteristic of in
vulnerability of the subject, which Calmell
does not account for, but describes as costa
toconvulAive theomania, Blanc describes in
fantile conditions and characteristics sud-
denly spread over the faces of adults, accom-
panied with gestures, attitudes, move
ments and voices of children. Among
the intellectual phenomena observed
among the convulsionists, he mem
tions temporary gifts of intelli-
and stupid young girls talking with vivac-
ity, elegance and rhetoric; reading and
speaking iu languages they had never
learned, hearing with deaf ears and seeing
with closed ewes. These convulsionists
were attended by assistants, who were
called secours meurtriers. It was always
noticeable that the health of these convul-
sionists was not injured by these physical
prodigieS
Richard F. Burton, the celebrated En-
glish traveller, referring TO Methodism aud
to John Wesley and George Whitfield,
says:
latter, who died A. D. 1770, at Newberry,
New England, converted and preached to
thousands in America, there establishing
field services and campmeetings, revivals
and conferences, which, like those of the
French ConvulsIonists in the last century,
galvanized Christianity with wild and
feverish life.
Spread of the Doctrine in England.
''FalIing among educated men, the doc
trine in England and in the colonies was
received with bswiIderment of enthu-
siasm, and it soon produced the usual
fruits of such hfrenzy-prophecies that fixed
tbs en6 of the world mir
aculous discernment of angels and devils,
mighty comings of the power of God and
outpouring of the spirits rhapsodies and
prophecies, dreams and visions, accom-
panied by rollings, jerks, barks, wavings
and convulsions, syncope and catalepsy and
the other hvsterical affections and obscure
disorders of the brain forming the charac-
teristic symptoms of religious mania
In speaking of the spread of pernicious
emotionalism in the United States, Jules
Remv, the French naturalist and traveller,
in ga Journey to Great Salt Lake." re-
fers to the ceremony of endowment among
the Mormons, by which wives are sealed
for all eternity, to conversion through mes
merism; hearing voices of unseen persons
and mind reading; to the tenacity of their
faith, which has been confirmed by the evi-
dence of their senses through magical prac-
tices; to the Mormon theocratic and eclectic
svstems and to the hatred of the Catholic
Church and the Government OF the United
States
Time for the Law to Step In.
Mr. Heydenfeldt takes the ground that
legislation and treaties, with the most Sc
we're penalties, are needed to prohibit the
use of electricity on human beings under
certain conditions. He believes that the
magic sorcery and mysteries of the Middle
America, with a more scientific knowledge
of electrology.
'DemOnology (under the name of hypnot-
ism) is being practiced, including the in
generating, incubating and inhumating
from distances Con a large scale, going into
the millions), as we'll as other practices of
the demons incubi. There are sects among
them the Mormons Especially the seers
of their church hierarchy, whose
fanaticism is such that they seek to
raise what is generally called the sub
jective condition of man (of the whole
people), which is weak and sub
iect to the mental dictation, suggestion and
control of other minds, in such q manner
(there being different ways) that it can be
asserted over the objective by the aid and
power of other minds, with or without the
use of electricity, of which the objective IL
usually ignorant and assumes the originality
and responsibility of all thought, expression
and act; which is the first step and link in
lif ting the spiritual over the temporal"
Congress Called on to Act.
In view of this disturbing conditions of
affairs a resolution has been taken to excite
the interest and action of Congress, and to
this end measure has been drawn up, en-
titled can act to prohibit electromagnetic
izing, mesmerizing, or hypnotizing human
beings, or affecting one person through an
other by electricity, and to declare the
same to be a crime against the law of ma
tious, and to define its punishment This
act in substance provides that any person
who shall ''apply a current of electricity to
one person for the purpose of affecting an
other" within the boundaries of the United
States shall be deemed guilty of crime,
the punishment for which shall be death;
and any person who knows that such cur
rent is being applied and does not give in
formation to the authorities shall be deemed
an accessory, and shall be punished by
fine of not less than S., 900 and not more
than $40, 900, and by Imprisonment during
his natural life, or for a term of years not
less than two
1t is against such diabolism as is outlined
by this bill that, doubtless, Mr.. Gompers
and the entire Federation of Labor are
preparing to fight How we'll they will
succeed is question interesting to all who
will watch the experiment.
A BLIZZARD BLOWING.