Year: 1877




sciously, that somehow or somewhere


the impossible may happen?


For our part we are inclined to think


that perfect sanity, like perfect health, is


a condition impossible in the present


stage of human development. 1t is our


misfortune as well as our advantage that


we are heirs of all the ages. The past


remains with us; so that every man car


ries more or less of the imperfection, the


lower life, of all the long series of life


forms, reaching back to the beginning.


Without going the length Of the lit
anies and saying there is no health in US,


we are nevertheless compelled by every
day experience to admit that the best of


men fall far short Of that state Of perfect


healthfulness in mind and body which


we can readily conceive to be possible,
and to which the human race may some


time attain. The best of men inherit
physical and mental weaknesses-more
correctly, organic mperfections-from
ancestors near and remote, which show
themselves not only in the outer form


but also in the inner constitution, in
bodily habits and diseases. In like man
ner man in the aggregate, that is, society,
inherits creeds, customs, conditions, and
surroundings, which tend powerfully to
thwart the moral development of the in
dividual


For this reason, in the progress of ma
tions, insanities in thought and action
have not merely to be oyerthrown by
what is right and true, but slowly out
\ lived and eliminated from the constitu-
ton of the race by long process of nat
ura or artificial suppression. And often
the foremost men Of the nation have
quite forgotten or outgrown error. a once
prevalent vicious habit of thought or
phase of epidemic insanity, long before it
has entirely enthusiastically died out
among the masses. Not unfrequently,
too, some seemingly trivial occurrence
will start an astounding revival of the
long quiescent evil, causing it to burst
forth like a mental plague to ravage ma
tions supposed to De beyond its con-
tagion.


The recent widespread development
Of the delusions covered by the general
term spiritualism is an instance in point.
1t is a revival of witchcraft and devil
monging. characterized by many of the
obliquIties and intellectual vagaries of
rampant insanity. Men smitten with
the disease cease to be amenable to rea-
son in all matters connected with spir-
itualistic delusions The most patent
and ridiculous of frauds and follies, re-



diu.ns, are accepted by them with relig-
ious enthusiasm. They glory in their
shame, proud to be fools in so sublime a
cause In all other fields of thought
they may be shrewd, sensible and logical
to a degree in this, the plainest demon
strations of the eunreasonableness Of their
views, the most palpable proof Of the
dishonesty of their trusted mediums"
glance off from their minds like rain
drops from a ducks back, making abso-
lutely no impression.


The most amazing feature of the case,
regarded otherwise than as a phase Of
insanity, is the prevalence Of the delu- |
sion among the intelligent and wellto-
do. No grade of society IS exempt, |
though it runs more or less in streaks; |
and no amount of rebuff or exposure |
seems to lessen the victims confidence /
in the absolute wisdom of his foolishness. |


The numerous and curiously varied 4
clientage OF Flint, the swindling tea ket- /
tie medium, affords abundant illustra-
ton A clumsy and illterate humbug /
pretends to answer, under spirit guidance. \
sealed letters (unaddressed, though di- |
rected within the spirits of the dead), |
returning in each case the desired reply |
properly signed, with the letter of inqui-
ry unopened, all for two dollars; and
straightway men and women, of every
rank in life, food his Office with bank
notes and queries, in confident expecta-
tion that their departed friends and rel
atiyes will make them wise before their
time.


From the newly appointed minister to
England, who wants an improved family
tree to give him something more than
official rank at the Court of st. James,
1omr IN he orabipU Mia IF douhffnI I
virtue, who expects to be a medium and
wants to know whether she will wright
impressnoley or makonakley," the whole
lot of them seem to be on the same level
of intellectual imbecility the moment
they enter the spirituallstic sphere; q
level so low that the mediums silly rant
and senseless doggerel seem to each and
all to be TO be the natural talk of dead
statesmen and dead fools alike.


No doubt some of them, now that their
Stiffness has been exposed by the medi-
um's letter book, feel somewhat as the
sNindler did when he said to the reporter
in Jail: 81 feel as if / should love to get
out of here and fly Even the HonoTa-
BILE Mr.. Pierrepont must feel little like
flying when he sees his correspondence
with my dear Lady Mary" in print, and
has to face the chatting he SO richly de.
serves But will his faith in spirit com
munications, or the faith of any of them,
be shaken in the least2 We very much
doubt it. To sane people the conviction
of ninety-nine people out of every hun
dred mediums as pitiful tricksters and
knaves is presumptive evidence that the
unexposed hundreth is no better, but
not so with the faithful. With them it
is not a matter of experience or judg-
ment, but pure delusion, which no dis
honesty on the part of mediums can
stagger. The venerable and credulous
seeker for aristocratic connections did
not slacken his pursuit in the least when
the disgusted female Flint told him the
secret OF the tea kettle. What if the
medium were a beggarly fraud2 Could
not the spirit Of MY dear Lady Mary"
make use Of him all the same2


A few days ago poor lunatic, in great
agony of spirit poured into our ear pit
iiul tale of impossible ancestry his great
grandmother was-say kangaroo.


But" we objected, "all this seems to
hinge on the conjecture that your grand
father Vas a camel"


ITO be sure !" be replied, with insane
vehemence, ito be sure; but, you know,
in my clairvoyant state conjecture to me
has all the force of demonstration :"


That is precisely the mental condition
OF most spiritualists touching matters
spiritualistic. Their conjectures about
spirit life and spirit action have to them
all the force of demonstration. In other
fields of thought and action, they may be
as sane as our unhappy friend was except
where his paternity was involved but in
this field they are blindly irrational, in.
competent alike Of reasoning or of feel
ing the force of the reasoning Of others.


But-more's the pity l-spiritualists
are not the only people who lead a