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THE 
 
 PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 SPIEITTJALISM 
 
 WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, M. D., 
 
 Professor of Diseases of the Mind and Nervous ByBtem, and of Clinical Medicine, in 
 the Bellovne Hospital Medical ColleKo; Physician-io-chief to the Hew York 
 State Hospital for Diseases of the Nervous System ; Fellow of the College 
 of Physicians of Philadelphia; Member of the Academy of the Natu- 
 ral Sciences of Philadelphia; of the Amft-ican Philosophical Socie- 
 ty ; of the Medical Society of the County of New Tork ; of the 
 Now Tork Medico-Legal Society; Honorary Member of 
 the British Medical Association; Corresponding Mem- 
 ber of the Anthropological Society of London; 
 Member of the Verein Wiirtembergischer 
 Wundarzto und Geburtshelfer, etc., etc. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 D. APPLETON" & COMPANY, 
 
 90, 92 & 94 GEAND STREET. 
 1871. 
 
Entjsbbd, aecording to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, Isy 
 
 WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, 
 
 in tlie Office of the Lihrarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
THIS LITl'LE VOLUME IS DEDICATED TO 
 MY JEIEND 
 
 JAMES E, WOOD, M. D., LL. D., 
 
 EMEEITDS PKOFESSOR OF BURGEET IN THK BELLETtJE HOSPITAL MEDICAt 
 COLLEGE, NEW YORK, 
 
 WnOSB nONESTY OF tUKPOSE 
 
 AND WnOSE SOIESTIFIO TEAINING WIl/L, 
 
 1 AM BVEE, 
 
 CAUSE niM TO BEGAED WITH FAVOE 
 
 AN ATTEMPT TO GITE COEEBOT IDEAS OF 
 
 A GEEAT DELUSION. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The basis of this monograph is an essay contributed 
 to the North American Meview for April, 1870. 
 
 Besides a very thorough revision, it has received 
 large additions, which, it is hoped, will render it in 
 some degree worthy of the good opinion with which it 
 was originally honored. 
 
 162 West Thirty-fourth Street, 
 
 New York, October 20, 18T0. 
 
THE 
 
 PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 SPIEITTJALISM. 
 
 Theee is an inherent tendency in the mind of man 
 to ascribe to supernatural agencies those events the 
 causes of which are beyond his knowledge ; and this is 
 especially the case with the normal and morbid phe- 
 nomena which are manifested in his own person. But, 
 as his intellect becomes more thoroughly trained, and 
 as science advances in its developments, the range of 
 his credulity becomes more and more circumscribed, 
 his doubts are multiplied, and he at length reaches 
 that condition of "healthy skepticism" which allows 
 of no belief without the proof. Thus he does not now 
 credit the existence of an a/rchmus dwelling in the 
 stomach and presiding over its function, for he knows 
 by experiment that digestion is a purely physical pro- 
 cess, which can be as well performed in a teacup, with 
 a little pepsin and dilute chlorhydric acid, as in the 
 
8 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 stomacli with the gastric juice ; he does not now be- 
 lieve that the bodies of lunatics, epileptics, and hysteri- 
 cal women, are inhabited by devils and demons, for he 
 has ascertained by observation that the abnormal con- 
 ditions present in such persons can be accounted for by 
 material derangements of the organs or functions of 
 the system. He has learned to doubt, and, therefore, 
 to reason better ; he makes experiments, collects facts, 
 does not begin to theorize until his data are sufficient, 
 and then is careful that his theories do not extend be- 
 yond the foundation of certainty, or at least of proba- 
 bility, upon which he builds. 
 
 But there have always been, and probably always 
 will be, individuals whose love for the marvellous is so 
 great, and whose logical powers are so small, as to ren- 
 der them susceptible of entertaining any belief, no matter 
 how preposterous it may be ; and others, more numer- 
 ous, who, staggered by facts which they cannot under- 
 stand, accept any hypothesis which may be offered as 
 an explanation, rather than confess their ignorance. 
 
 The real and fraudulent phenomena of what is called 
 spiritualism are of such a character as to mq,ke a pro- 
 found impression upon the credulous and the ignorant ; 
 and both these classes have accordingly been active in 
 spreading the most exaggerated ideas relative to mat- 
 ters which are either absurdly false or not so very as- 
 tonishing when viewed by the cold light of science. 
 Such persons have, probably, from a very early age, 
 believed in the materiality of spirits ; and, having very 
 little knowledge of the forces inherent in their own 
 bodies, have no difficulty in ascribing occurrences, 
 
OF SPEErrUALISM. 9 
 
 whicli do not accord with their experience, to the agen- 
 cy of disembodied individuals whom they imagine to 
 be circulating through the world. In this respect they 
 resemble those savages who regard the burning-lens, 
 the mirror, and other things which produce unfamiliar 
 effects, as being animated by deities. Their minds 
 are decidedly fetish-worshipping in character, and are 
 scarcely, in this respect, of a more elevated type than 
 that of the Congo negro who endows the rocks and 
 trees with higher mental attributes than he claims for 
 himself. 
 
 Then it is possible for the most careful and experi- 
 enced judgment to be deceived by false sensorial impres- 
 sions of real objects, or by non-existing images created by 
 the mind. In the first case a gleam of moonlight passes 
 for a ghost, the stump of a tree becomes a robber, and 
 the rustling of leaves blown by the* wind is imagined 
 to be the whispering of voices. No one possesses an 
 absolute perfection of sensation, and thus things are 
 never seen, or heard, or smelt, or tasted, or felt exactly 
 as they exist. In the dark, or in the uncertain light 
 of the moon, or of artificial illumination, the liability 
 to self-deception is very much increased ; and if, in ad- 
 dition to the defect of light, there are continual sounds 
 and other means of engaging the attention, it is exceed- 
 ingly easy to induce sensorial confusion, and thus to 
 impose upon the intellect. 
 
 As regards purely imaginary images — that is, im- 
 ages not based on any sensorial impression — the diffi- 
 culty is in the brain. An excess or deficiency of blood 
 circulating through this organ, or a morbid alteration 
 
10 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 of its quality, sueli as is induced by alcohol, opium, 
 belladonna, and other similar substances, will often 
 lead to hallucinations. Those of De Quincey, Cole- 
 ridge, and other opium-eaters, are well known, and sev- 
 eral striking instances have come under my own notice. 
 
 Various mental emotions act in a like manner by 
 their influence in deranging the central circulation. 
 A young lady, who had overtasked her mind at school, 
 was thrown thereby into a semi-hysterical condition, 
 during which she saw spectres of various kinds which 
 passed and i-epassed rapidly before her all day long. 
 Every thing at which she looked appeared to her of enor- 
 mous size. A head, for instance, seemed to be several 
 feet in diameter, and little children looked like giants. 
 When I took out my watch while examining her pulse, 
 she remarked that it was as large as the wheel of a 
 carriage. Sauvages refers to a somewhat similar case,, 
 in which a young woman, suflfering from epilepsy, saw 
 dreadful images, and to whom real objects appeared to 
 be greatly magnified. A fly seemed as large as a 
 chicken, and a chicken equalled an ox in size. 
 
 Physical causes, calculated to increase the amount 
 of blood in the brain or to alter its quality, may give 
 rise to hallucinations of various kinds. A gentleman, 
 under the professional charge of the writer, can always 
 cause the appearance of images by tying a handker- 
 chief moderately tight around his neck ; and there is 
 one form which is always the first to come and the last 
 to disappear. It consists of a male figure clothed in 
 the costume worn in England three hundred years ago, 
 and bearing a striking resemblance to the portraits of Sir 
 
OF SPIEITUALISM. 11 
 
 Walter Kaleigh. This figure not only imposes on the 
 sight, but also on the hearing ; for questions put to it are 
 answered promptly, and with much more intellectual 
 force than those addressed to the so-called "spirits." 
 How easy would it be for the gentleman siibject to this 
 hallucination, were he a believer in spiritualism, and 
 less intelligent, to imagine that his visitor was a spirit, 
 and that he held converse with, the real Sir Walter 
 Ealeigh ! 
 
 The fact that multitudes may be simultaneously 
 impressed with the same belief, is no guaranty that this 
 belief is founded on reality. A great many otherwise 
 sensible people have been convinced that the blood of 
 Saint Januarius periodically undergoes liquefaction ; 
 yet those, whose education and habits of thought teach 
 them to look upon such so-called miracles with distrust, 
 are not brought to accept the truth of the legend, be- 
 cause many thousands of other persons have received it 
 in full faith. 
 
 There are two forces resulting from vitality, which 
 may or may not be correlative, but which are of such a 
 nature that some of their more unusual manifestations 
 excite the astonishment of the vulgar, and are inexpli- 
 cable to many who consider themselves learned. These 
 are the mind and animal electricity. The latter, thanks 
 to the investigations of Nobili, Matteucci, Miiller, Du 
 Bois-Eeymond, and others, is beginning to be under- 
 stood, and its phenomena reduced to fixed laws. All 
 our knowledge of animal electricity tends to show that 
 it does not difi'er in any essential particular from the 
 galvanism developed outside of the body by chemical 
 
12 TUE PHYSIOS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 action ; and that the tissues of the organism, the bones, 
 muscles, nerves, etc., act toward it precisely as they do 
 toward the galvanism which passes along an iron or 
 copper wire and sets a telegraphic instrument in opera- 
 tion. It is impossible for us, therefore, to attribute 
 any of the real or false manifestations of modern spir- 
 itualism to this force ; and those persons who do so 
 show themselves to be not fully acquainted either with 
 what is asserted of spiritualism, or with electricity in its 
 internal or external relations with the animal body. 
 The idea that tables are moved, knocks made, and ap- 
 paritions produced by the electricity of the body, is 
 simply absurd. 
 
 The mind — under which term are included percep- 
 tion, the intellect, the emotions, and the will — ^is ordi- 
 narily supposed to have its seat wholly in the brain. 
 That its higher manifestations are due to cerebral 
 action is doubtless true ; but holding the view that 
 where there is gray nerve-tissue, there nervous power 
 is generated, the writer believes — and physiology and 
 pathology fully support the opinion — that the spinal 
 cord and sympathetic system are capable of originating 
 certain kinds of mental influence, which, when the 
 brain is quiescent, may be wonderfully intensified. 
 The physiology of the nervous system is by no means 
 even tolerably well understood. Science has, for ages, 
 been fettered by theological and metaphysical dogmas, 
 which give the mind an existence independent of the 
 nervous systeiq, and which teach that it is an entity 
 which sets all the functions of the body in action, and 
 of which the brain is the seat. There can be no scien- 
 
OF SPIRITUALISM. 13 
 
 tific inquiry relative to matters of faith — facts alone 
 admit of investigation ; and hence, so long as psychol- 
 ogy was expounded by teachers who had never even 
 seen a human brain, much less a spinal cord or sympa- 
 thetic nerve, who knew absolutely nothing of nervous 
 physiology, and who, therefore, taught from a stand- 
 point which had not a single fact to rest upon, it was 
 not to be expected that the true science of mind could 
 make much progress. It is different now, but the great 
 mass of physiologists have scarcely yet thrown off the 
 trammels of the past, and, therefore, barely going a 
 step in advance of Descartes — who confounded the 
 mind with the soul, and lodged it in the pineal gland 
 — they attribute all mental action to the brain alone. 
 
 Before we can be qualified to inquire into the 
 powers of the mind, we must have a definite conception 
 of what mind is. To express the idea in sufficiently 
 full, but yet concise, language is difficult, and perhaps 
 no definition can be given which will be entirely free 
 from objection. For the purposes, however, of the 
 present memoir, the mind may be regarded as a force 
 the result of nervous action, and characterized by the 
 ability to perceive sensations, to be conscious, to under- 
 stand, to experience emotions, and to will in accordance 
 therewith. Of these qualities consciousness resides ex- 
 clusively in the brain, but the others, as is clearly shown 
 by observation and experiment, cannot be restricted to 
 this organ, but are developed with more or less intensity 
 by other parts of the nervous system. It would be out 
 of place to enter fully into the consideration of the im- 
 portant questions thus touched upon, but in the fact 
 
14 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 that tte spinal cord and sympathetic ganglia are not 
 devoid of mental power we find an explanation of some 
 of the most striking phenomena of what is called spirit- 
 ualism. 
 
 II. 
 
 It has been supposed that magnetism — a force cor- 
 relative with electricity — resides in the body, and that 
 some persons are peculiarly sensitive to the influence of 
 the magnet and to the magnetism evolved by other in- 
 dividuals. This subject has been thoroughly investiga- 
 ted by the Baron von Eeichenbach, a very learned, but 
 certainly a- very imaginative man, who has developed 
 from his inquiries some truth and a great deal of fancy. 
 He sought to give an explanation of mesmerism, and 
 really succeeded, to a certain extent. The following 
 observation is certainly true : 
 
 " If a strong magnet, capable of supporting about 
 ten pounds, be drawn downward over the bodies of 
 fifteen or twenty persons, without actually touching 
 them, some among them will always be found to be 
 excited by it in a peculiar manner. The number of 
 people who are sensitive in this way is . greater than is 
 generally imagined. . . . The kind of impression pro- 
 duced on these excitable people, who otherwise may be 
 regarded as in perfect health, is scarcely describable ; it 
 is rather disagreeable than pleasant, and combined with 
 a slight sensation of cold or warmth, resembling a cool 
 or gently warm breath of air, which the patients ima- 
 gine to blow softly upon them. Sometimes they feel 
 sensations of drawing, pricking, or creeping; some 
 
OF SPIEmrALISM. 15 
 
 complain of sudden attacks of headache. IN'ot only 
 women, but men in the very prime of life, are found 
 distinctly susceptible to this influence ; in children it is 
 sometimes very active." * 
 
 Keichenbach supposed that these and other phe- 
 nomena were due to a hitherto undescribed force which 
 he denominated od, the odic force, or odyle, and which 
 was present in the body. When evolved in large 
 quantity, the subjects were said to be sensitive, and 
 could then not only experience the sensations men- 
 tioned, but could also see the luminous flames which 
 were asserted to be given off from the poles of a mag- 
 net. At first his experiments were conducted with 
 confessedly sickly persons ; but he subsequently ascer- 
 tained that individuals in perfect health were capable 
 of experiencing the same sensations. What the bar- 
 on's " perfect health " was will be apparent from the 
 following remarks, which conclude his detailed de- 
 scription of thirty-five persons who were thus doubly 
 gifted : 
 
 " None of these perfectly healthy persons knew any 
 thing about their most remarkable and interesting pe- 
 culiarities ; and they were not a little astonished at the 
 discovery, under my guidance, of powers pf which they 
 had never before dreamed. The manner in which I come 
 upon the trace of them, which I at once take up and 
 follow, is now simply this : I inquire among my ac- 
 quaintance whether they know any one who is fre- 
 quently troubled with periodical headaches, especially 
 
 * Physico-Physiological Researches on the Dynamics of Magnetism, 
 etc., p. 3. English translation, by Dr. John Ashburner. London, 1851. 
 
16 THE PHYSICS ASD PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 megrim, who complains of temporary oppression of tlie 
 stomach, or who often sleeps hadly without apparent 
 cause, talks in the sleep, rises up or even gets out of 
 bed, or is restless at night during the period of full 
 moon, or to whom the moonlight in general is disagree- 
 able, or who is readily disordered in churches or theatres, 
 or very sensitive to strong smells, grating or shrill 
 noises, etc., — all siich persons, who may be otherwise 
 healthy, I seek after, and make a pass with a finger 
 over the palm of their hands, and scarcely ever miss 
 finding them sensitive. "When they follow me into the 
 obscurity of my dark chamber and remain there an hour 
 or two, their surprise is excited by the appearance of a 
 quantity of luminous appearances, of which they had not 
 previously the slightest idea. The number of persons 
 who are in this state of excitability does actually ex- 
 ceed belief, and I state it rather below than above the 
 reality when I say that at least a third part of the popu- 
 lation are sensitive ; for on every side on. which I turn 
 I meet with healthy sensitives ; and I could in a few 
 days collect, not dozens, but hundreds, if it were requi- 
 site. It will and must soon be proved how little 
 ground there is to doubt these asseverations. Sensitive- 
 ness is not a rarity among human beings, as I myself 
 thought some years ago, but a very generally distrib- 
 uted quality, which, after my accounts, will soon be 
 discovered in every direction, and will throw open a 
 new and not unimportant page of the human condi- 
 tion." 
 
 Can any physician conversant with the abnormal 
 conditions of the nervous system doubt that such 
 
OF SPIEITUALISM. 17 
 
 " healthy persons " as those described by the Baron von 
 Reichenbach could be made, " under guidance," to see 
 or feel almost any thing suggested to them ? The 
 writer has now under his professional care a young 
 lady, hysterical, a somnambulist, and affected with 
 chorea, upon whom this principle of suggestion can be 
 made to act with striking effect, and who would be a 
 perfect godsend to all mesmerizers, mediums, and elec- 
 tro-biologists. For instance, it is only necessary to tell 
 her that certain images are before her, when she directly 
 sees them exactly as they are described ; to inform her 
 that she is about to have galvanism applied, and then 
 to give her the unconnected poles, when she at once 
 experiences the shock ; to ask her if she has not a bitter 
 or a sweet or a sour taste in her mouth, when she im- 
 mediately declares that she has just such a taste as is 
 mentioned. Yoices are heard and odors smelt precisely 
 as they are described to her. Hundreds of patients 
 affected with diseases of the nervous system are sus- 
 ceptible, in a greater or less degree, to the operation of 
 suggestion ; and to the action of this principle many 
 miracles and impostures owe the success with which 
 they have been received. To it many of the phenome- 
 na of spiritualism are clearly due. 
 
 But notwithstanding the fact that many of the ex- 
 periments of the Baron von Eeichenbach have no other 
 foundation than that property of the human mind 
 which causes it to be subjectively affected by suggestion, 
 it is undoubtedly true that there is a germ of fact in his 
 investigations, and that magnetism is destined to play 
 an important part in physiology and pathology. In a 
 
18 THE PHYSICS ASD PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 strikingly original and interesting paper * recently pub- 
 lished, the experiments detailed in which have been 
 verified by the writer, it is clearly shown that certain 
 very obvious symptoms are induced by the application 
 of a magnet to the body, and that the lower animals 
 and even plants are indubitably affected by its influ- 
 ence. 
 
 Bat with all this there is no proof that magnetism 
 or the odic force is capable under any circumstances of 
 producing the clairvoyant state, of moving tables, of 
 causing raps, or that any of the other more striking 
 phenomena that are claimed for spiritualism can be 
 accounted for through its agency. The possibility of 
 such a power being exercised is quite another thing. 
 The force that can cause a mass of iron to be moved in 
 opposition to the laws of gravity, and through media 
 impervious to all ordinary influences, can scarcely have 
 the word impossible applied to it. But this is not a 
 question of possibilities, but of facts, and certainly it 
 has not been shown, with that reasonable degree of cer- 
 tainty which all scientific questions deifiand, that mag- 
 netism in or out of the body exercises any such control 
 over mind or matter as has been claimed by its parti- 
 sans. 
 
 The attention, when concentrated 'upon any particu- 
 lar thing or part of the body, will often lead to errone- 
 ous sensorial impressions. An observer gazing anx- 
 iously out to sea, or across a vast plain, will scarcely 
 ever fail to see the object of which he is in search ; an 
 
 * " On the Physiological Action of Magnetism." By Jolm Vansant, 
 M. D., etc., Journal of Psychological Medicine, April, ISYO. 
 
OF SPIEITUALISM. 19 
 
 expectant watcher hears every moment the rumbling 
 of wheels, the footstep, or the knock which announces 
 the wished-for or dreaded arrival; and pains, tastes, 
 odors, and even diseases, can frequently be thus origi- 
 nated. Thus, a lady who has been und^r the professional 
 care of the writer for intense nervous headaches, and 
 who is of a very impressionable organization, is able at 
 will to produce a pain in any part of her body by 
 steadily fixing her attention upon it. Even the men- 
 tion in her presence of physical suffering experienced 
 by other persons immediately results in her feeling 
 similar pains to those described, in corresponding parts 
 of her own body. The ease of Mrs. A., detailed by Sir 
 David Brewster,* is a forcible illustration of the point 
 in question. 
 
 Physicians know very well that actual organic dis- 
 ease may be produced by the habitual concentration of 
 the attention on an organ. The fancies of the hypo- 
 chondriac may thus in time become realities. 
 
 Many of the facts of spiritualism are clearly explain- 
 able by referring them to this influence. 
 
 III. 
 
 A still more important factor in the production of 
 sj)iritualistic manifestations is sleight-of-han d. The per- 
 fection to which this art is carried by accomplished per- 
 formers is really remarkable, and is much more won- 
 derful than would be real visitations of spirits. The 
 knowledge of human nature and of practical science 
 
 * Letters on Natural Ma^o addressed to Sir Walter Scott, Letter IIL 
 
20 THE PHYSICS AND PHTSIOLOGT 
 
 requisite for some feats of legerdemain is necessarily 
 very great, and the manipulations often require a degree 
 of dexterity which cannot fail to excite astonishment. 
 It is a well-known fact that the art in question can be 
 satisfactorily made to explain many operations ap- 
 parently supernatural, and that "mediums" do not 
 hesitate to avail themselves of its resources. They are 
 most of them, however, sorry performers, when com- 
 pared with East-Indian jugglers, and with some who 
 make no secret of the fact that their performances are 
 deceptions. 
 
 A short time since, I invited several medical and 
 other friends to witness, in my library, some surprising 
 spiritualistic exhibitions by a first-class "medium." 
 The operator went through all the performances of the 
 Davenport brothers, to the entire satisfaction of the au- 
 dience. He was securely tied by a gentleman who had 
 been an officer in the naval service, and who exhausted 
 his strength and ingenuity in devising bands and knots ; 
 a screen was then placed in front of the "medium," 
 and, in an instant, an accordeon was played, a bell 
 rung, and a tambourine struck. The performer then re- 
 quested that the screen might be removed, and, on this 
 being done, he was found to be tied in precisely the 
 same manner as at first. The gentleman who had 
 bound him declared that not a cord or a knot had been 
 interfered with. In a second attempt the " medium," 
 tied with additional care, rang a bell and was discov- 
 ered intact in a second afterward. 
 
 The " rapping " of this gentleman was perfect, and 
 he read communications from the dead, made on folded 
 
OF SPIRITUALISM. 21 
 
 slips of paper, with a skill equal to that of the most or- 
 thodox and highly-gifted medium. 
 
 The astonishment of the audience was great when 
 he informed them that all his performances were decep- 
 tions, which he then proceeded to explain in the most 
 satisfactory manner. 
 
 Those who desire an evening's amusement cannot 
 procure it more satisfactorily than by requesting Dr. 
 Von Vleck to enlighten them in regard to spiritualism. 
 
 IV. 
 
 There is a condition known as somnambulism, into 
 which persons of impressionable nervous systems are 
 prone to pass, and which in such individuals may 
 readily be induced by artificial means. In this state 
 certain faculties and senses are intensely exalted, and 
 if the attention can be concentrated upon any particu- 
 lar idea, circumstance, or object, great lucidity is mani- 
 fested. On the other hand, there may be, and generally 
 is, the most profound abstraction of mind in regard to 
 all other ideas or things. 
 
 The most thorough work on natural somnambulism 
 is that of Bertrand,* published nearly fifty years ago, 
 but which is still admirable for the truthful account of 
 the various phenomena attendant upon the condition 
 in question. Bertrand assigns somnambulism to four 
 causes : 
 
 * " Traits du Somnambulisme et des differentes Modifications quil' 
 pr6sento." Paris, 1823. 
 
22 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 1. A particular nervous temperament, which pre- 
 disposes individuals otherwise in good health to parox- 
 ysms of somnambulism during their ordinary sleep. 
 
 2. It is sometimes produced in the course of certain 
 diseases, of which it may be considered a symptom or 
 a crisis. 
 
 3. It is often seen in the course of the proceeding 
 necessary to bring on the condition known as animal 
 magnetism. 
 
 4. It may result as a consequence of a high degree 
 of mental exaltation. It is in this state contagious by 
 imitation to such persons as are submitted to the same 
 influence. 
 
 From these four categories of causes Bertrand dis- 
 tinguishes four kinds of somnambulism — the natural, 
 the symptomatic, the artificial, and the ecstatic. Under 
 the artificial variety we must include Mr. Braid's hyp- 
 notism. In general terms, therefore, there are two 
 kinds of somnambulism, the natural and the artificial. 
 As an instance of the former condition, the follow- 
 ing case is adduced from a recent monograph of the 
 writer : * 
 
 " A young lady of great personal attractions had 
 the misfortune to lose her mother by death fi-om chol- 
 era. Several other members of the family suffered 
 from the disease, she alone escaping, though almost 
 worn out with fatigue, excitement, and grief. A 
 year after these events her father removed from the 
 "West to New York, bringing her with him and putting 
 her at the head of his household. She had not been 
 * " Sleep and its Derangements," p, 205. Philadelphia, 1869. 
 
OF spmrruALisM. 23 
 
 long in New York before she became affected with 
 symptoms resembling those met with in chorea. The 
 muscles of the face were in almost constant action ; and 
 though she had not altogether lost the power to control 
 them by her will, it was difficult at times for her to do 
 so. She soon began to talk in her sleep, and finally 
 was found one night by her father, as he came home, 
 endeavoring to open the street door. She was then, as 
 he said, sound asleep, and had to be violently shaken to 
 be aroused. After this she made the attempt every 
 night to get out of bed, but was generally prevented by 
 a nurse who slept in the same room with her, and who 
 was awakened by the noise she made. Her father now 
 consulted me in regard to the case, and invited me to 
 the house in order to witness the somnambulic acts for 
 myself. One night, therefore, I went to his residence, 
 and waited for the expected manifestations. The nurse 
 had received orders not to interfere with her charge on 
 this occasion, unless it was evident that injury would 
 result, and to notify us of the beginning of the per- 
 formance. 
 
 "About twelve o'clock she came down-stairs and 
 informed us that the young lady had risen from her 
 bed and was about to dress herself. I went up-stairs, 
 accompanied by her father, and met her in the upper 
 hall partly dressed. She was walking very slowly and 
 deliberately, her head elevated, her eyes open, and her 
 hands hanging loosely by her side. We stood aside to 
 let her pass. Without noticing us, she descended the 
 stairs to the parlor, we following her. Taking a match 
 which she had brought with her from her own room 
 
24 THE PlirSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 she rubbed it several times on the under side of the 
 mantel-piece until it caught fire, and then, turning on 
 the gas, lit it. She next threw herself into an arm- 
 chair and looked fixedly at a portrait of her mother 
 which hung over the mantel-piece. While she was in 
 this position I carefully examined her countenance, 
 and performed several experiments, with the view of 
 ascertaining the condition of the senses as to activity. 
 
 " She was very pale, more so than was natural to 
 her ; her eyes were wide open, and did not wink when 
 the hand was brought suddenly in close proximity to 
 them ; the muscles of the face, which, when she was 
 awake, were almost constantly in action, were now per^ 
 fectly still ; her pulse was regular in rhythm and force, 
 and beat eighty-two per minute, and the respiration 
 was uniform and slow. 
 
 " I held a large book between her eyes and the pic- 
 ture she was apparently looking at, so tliat she could 
 not see it. She nevertheless continued to gaze in the 
 same direction as if no obstacle were interposed. I 
 then made several motions as if about to strike her in the 
 face. She made no attempt to ward off' the blows, nor 
 did she give the slightest sign that she saw my actions. 
 I touched the corner of each eye with a lead-pencil I 
 had in my hand, but even this did not make her close 
 her eyelids. I was entirely satisfied that she did not 
 see, at least with her eyes. 
 
 " I held a lighted sulphur-match under her nose, so 
 that she could not avoid inhaling the sulphurous acid 
 gas which escaped. She gave no evidence of feeling 
 any irritation. Cologne and other perfumes and smell- 
 
OF SPIEITUALISM. 25 
 
 ing-salts likewise failed to make any obvious impres- 
 sion on her olfactory nerves. 
 
 " Through her partially-opened mouth I introduced 
 a piece of bread soaked in lemon-juice. She evidently 
 failed to perceive the sour taste. Another piece of 
 bread saturated with a solution of quinine wag equally 
 ineffectual. The two pieces remained in her mouth a 
 full minute and were then chewed and swallowed. 
 
 " She now arose from her chair and began to pace 
 the room in an agitated manner ; she wrung her hands, 
 sobbed, and wept violently. While she was acting in 
 this way, I struck two books together several times so 
 as to make loud noises close to her ears. This failed 
 to interrupt her. 
 
 " I then took her by the hand and led her back to 
 the chair in which she had previously been sitting. 
 She made no resistance, but sat down quietly and soon 
 became perfectly calm. 
 
 " Scr'atching the back of her hand with a pin, pull- 
 ing her hair, and pinching her face, appeared to excite 
 no sensation. 
 
 " I then took off her slippers and tickled the soles 
 of her feet. She at once drew them away, but no 
 laughter was produced. As often as this experiment 
 was repeated, the feet were drawn up. The spinal cord 
 was therefore awake. 
 
 " She had now been down-stairs about twenty min- 
 utes. Desiring to awake her, I shook her by the shoul- 
 ders quite violently for several seconds without success. 
 
 I then took her head between my hands and shook 
 it. This proved effectual in a little while. She awoke 
 
26 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 suddenly, looked around her for an instant, as if en- 
 deavoring to comprehend her situation, and then burst 
 into a fit of hysterical sobbing. "When she recovered 
 her equanimity she had no recollection of any thing 
 that had passed, or of having had a dream of any 
 kind." 
 
 This case illustrates very well some of the principal 
 phenomena of natural somnambulism. Many others 
 are on record which, in many respects, are more re- 
 markable, but it is scarcely necessary to refer to them 
 here at greater length. 
 
 ITow, it has long been known that somnambulism 
 can be artificially induced. Even before the time of 
 Mesmer there were occasional illustrations of this fact ; 
 but Puysegur is entitled to the credit of being the first 
 to systematize them and to practise the art of produ- 
 cing factitious somnambulism. He caused it by passes, 
 and finally, it is claimed, by simple acts of the will. 
 The Abbe Faria induced it by shouting, and Barberin 
 by praying ! Other methods were also employed ; and, 
 as its identity with mesmerism became generally recog- 
 nized, it had ascribed to it the name of mesmeric or 
 magnetic sleep. 
 
 No one has more thoroughly investigated the nature 
 of artificial somnambulism than Mr. Braid,* who gives 
 the following as his ordinary method of procedure : 
 
 " Take any bright object (I generally use my lancet- 
 case) between the thumb and fore and middle fingers 
 of the left hand, hold it from eight to fifteen inches 
 
 * "Neurypnology, or the Rationale of Nervous Sleep, considered in 
 Relation with Animal Magnetism," etc. London, 1843. 
 
OF SPIEITUALI8M. 27 
 
 from the eyes at sucK position above the forehead as 
 may be necessary to produce the greatest possible strain 
 upon the eyes and eyelids, and enable the patient to 
 maintain a steady, fixed stare at the object. It will 
 generally be found that the eyelids close with a vibra- 
 tory motion, or become spasmodically closed. After ten 
 or fifteen seconds have elapsed, by gently elevating the 
 arms and legs, it will be found that the patient has a 
 disposition to retain them in the situation in which they 
 have been placed, if he is intensely aifected. If this is 
 not the case, desire him to retain the limbs in the ex- 
 tended position, and thus the pulse will speedily become 
 greatly accelerated, and the limbs, in process of time, 
 become quite rigid and involuntarily fixed. It will also 
 be found that all the organs of special sense, excepting 
 sight, including heat, and cold, and muscular motion or 
 resistance, are at first prodigiously exalted, such as hap- 
 pens witli regard to the primary efi'ects of opium, wine, 
 and spirits. After a certain point, however, this exalta- 
 tion of function is followed by a state of depression far 
 greater than the torpor of natural sleep. From the 
 state of the most profound torpor of the organs of 
 special sense and tonic rigidity of tbe muscles, they may 
 at this stage instantly be restored to the opposite con- 
 dition of extreme mobility and exalted sensibility, by 
 directing a current of air against the organ or organs 
 we wish to excite to action or the muscles we wish to 
 render limber, and which had been in this cataleptiform 
 state. By mere repose the senses will speedily merge 
 into the original condition again." 
 
 Mr. Braid gives examples of this artificial somnam- 
 
28 THE PHYSICS AUD PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 bulism or liypnotism, as lie designates it, which show 
 that its phenomena are identical with those of natural 
 somnambulism, and that it covers much that is alleged 
 to be due to animal magnetism and modern spiritual- 
 ism. He foimd the same condition to be produced, 
 though he left the room, if the subject followed his di- 
 rections, so that there could be no suspicion that he 
 acted through the medium of any force emanating from 
 his body. 
 
 The persons who most readily come into the hyp- 
 notic condition are of the same class as those who were 
 such favorable subjects for the odic force of Von Keich- 
 enbach, and who now mate the best mediums. Tlie 
 writer has very carefully investigated this division of 
 the subject, and has made many experiments in regard 
 to it, which leave no doubt in his mind that the rela- 
 tion really exists. As an illustration of the character 
 of the phenomena, the following case is adduced. He 
 does not doubt that the thoughtful reader will at once 
 see, that if such a person, as the one whose actions 
 while in the hypnotic state are described, should be 
 disposed to deceive, or should be under the control 
 of designing or ignorant individuals, she would not 
 fail to be received by many as a medium of the iBrst 
 order. 
 
 A short time after writing the account of the 
 young lady whose case has just been quoted as an ex- 
 ample of natm-al somnambulism, I was informed by 
 her father that her affection, which had been cured by 
 suitable medical treatment, had returned, owing, as he 
 supposed, to excessive mental exertion, she having con- 
 
OF SPIEIT0AUSM. 29 
 
 tracted a taste for philosophy, in the study of which 
 she had indulged to a great extent. 
 
 Upon examination, I found that she not only had 
 paroxysms of natural somnambulism, but that she had 
 acquired the power of inducing the hypnotic state at 
 will. Her process was to take up some one of the phil- 
 osophical works she was in the habit of studying, select 
 a paragraph which required intense thought or excited 
 powerful emotion, read it, close the book, fix her eyes 
 steadily, but not directing the foci so as to see any par- 
 ticular object, and then reflect deeply upon what she 
 had read. From the revery thus occasioned, she gradu- 
 ally passed into the somnambulic condition. During 
 this state it was said she answered questions correctly, 
 read books held behind her, described scenes passing in 
 distant pkces, and communicated messages from the 
 dead. She therefore possessed, in every essential re- 
 spect, the qualifications of either a clairvoyant or a spir- 
 itualistic medium, according to the peculiar tenets of 
 belief held by the faithful. 
 
 In accordance with my request, she proceeded to 
 put herself into the hypnotic state. With a volume of 
 Plato in her hand, she read thus from the Apology 
 of Socrates. Her voice was calm and impressive, as 
 though she felt every word she uttered : 
 
 " Moreover, we may hence conclude that there is 
 great hope that death is a blessing. For to die is one 
 of two things : for either the dead may be annihilated 
 and have no sensation of any thing whatever, or, as it 
 is said, there is a certain change and passage of the soul 
 from one place to another. And if it is a privation of 
 
30 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGr 
 
 all sensation, as it were a sleep in whiclitlie sleeper has 
 no dream, death would be a wonderful gain. For I 
 think that if any one haying selected a night in which 
 he slept so soundly as not to have had a dream, and 
 having compared this night with all the other nights 
 and days of his life, should be required on consideration 
 to say how many days and nights he had passed better 
 and more pleasantly than this night throughout his life, 
 I think that not only a private person, but even the 
 great king himself, would find them easy to number in 
 comparison with other days and nights. If, therefore, 
 death is a thing of tins kind, I say it is a gain ; for thus 
 all futurity appears to be nothing more than one night." 
 
 As she reached the close, her voice became inex- 
 pressibly sad, the book dropped from her hand, her 
 eyes were fixed on vacancy, her hands lay quietly in 
 her lap, her breath came irregularly, and tears were 
 flowing down her cheeks. Her pulse, which before she 
 began to read was eighty-four per minute, was now 
 one hundred and eight. As her abstraction became 
 more profound, it fell, till, when she was unconscious, 
 three minutes after she ceased reading, it was only sev- 
 enty-two. 
 
 To satisfy myself that she was completely hyp- 
 notized, I held a bottle of strong aqua anvmonice to 
 her nostrils. She did not evince the slightest degree 
 of sensibility. Touching the eye with the finger — a 
 test that a person practising deception could not have 
 borne — equally failed to afibrd the least response indic- 
 ative of sensation. I was, therefore, satisfied that she 
 was in the condition of artificial somnambulism. 
 
or SPIEITUALISM. 31 
 
 To describe in detail all that took place would 
 lengthen unduly this paper; such parts, therefore, as 
 are material, and Mrhich illustrate essential points, will 
 alone be given. 
 
 The writer asked her if there were any spirits in 
 the room. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " "WTiose spirits are they ? '' 
 
 " The spirit of Socrates is here, the spirit of Plato, 
 the spirit of Schleiermacher." (She had been reading 
 before my arrival " Schleiermacher's Introductions to 
 the Dialogues of Plato.") 
 
 " Do you not also see the spirit of Schenkelfiirst ? " 
 
 This was a ruse, there being no such person. 
 
 " Schenkelfiirst ? " she asked. 
 
 " Yes ; he was Schleiermacher's constant companion 
 and friend." 
 
 " Schenkelfiirst," she repeated ; " what a singular 
 name ! " 
 
 She was silent for a moment, and then her face was 
 lit up with a smile, and she exclaimed ; 
 
 " I see him ; he is a small, dark man, with sharp, 
 piercing eyes ; he wears a coat trimmed with fur ; he 
 approaches Schleiermacher ; they embrace ; they are 
 talking to each other," 
 
 " Will not Schleiermacher send some message 
 through you ? " 
 
 " ISo ; he has gone away with his friend." 
 
 " "Will no other spirit communicate ? " 
 
 " Yes, there is one coming now ; a man with a 
 mournful face ; his name is Bruno — Giordano Bruno. 
 
32 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 He speaks ; lie says, ' O my friends, be of good cheer ; 
 there is no end, even as there has been no beginning ; 
 the weak-hearted fall from the ranks, and, for a time, 
 are lost ; but, as there is a portion of the divinity in all 
 God's creatures, even they are regenerated.' " 
 
 She stopped, and then in a low voice said, while 
 tears streamed down her cheeks : 
 
 '■^ Majori forsitan cum timore sententiam in me 
 fertis quam, ego aooipiam "^ — ^the words used by Bruno 
 when sentence of death was pronounced upon him. 
 She had finished reading his life a few weeks before. 
 
 Desiring to change the current of her thoughts, and 
 also to test her powers of prevision, she was asked who 
 would be the first patient to enter the office of the writer 
 that day week, and with what disease would he or she 
 be affected? 
 
 She answered promptly : 
 
 " A gentleman from Albany, I see him now ; he is 
 thin and pale, and very weak ; he is lame, I think he is 
 paralyzed." 
 
 The first person in reality who entered the office on 
 the day in question was a lady of New York, suffering 
 from nervous headache. 
 
 She was then asked where her father was at that 
 moment (4.10 p. m.). Her answer was : " At the corner 
 of Wall Street and Broadway; he is looking at the 
 clock on Trinity Church ; he is waiting for a stage." 
 During the hour between four o'clock and five her fa- 
 ther was in Brooklyn. 
 
 A table with paper was now placed before her, a 
 pencil put into her hand, and she was requested again 
 
OF 8PIEITUALISM. 33 
 
 to place herself en rapport with some spirit. She im- 
 mediately began to write as follows: "Let all the 
 world hear my voice and follow the precepts I inculcate. 
 There are many fools and but few wise. I write for the 
 former, and am probably a fool myself, for I constantly 
 see a chasm yawning at my side ; and though my in- 
 tellect tells me there is no chasm near me, I place a 
 screen so that I cannot see it. Pascal." She had that 
 very day been reading a memoir of Pas(!al, in which the 
 hallucination referred to was mentioned. 
 
 The following conversation then took place : 
 
 " "Where are you now ? " 
 
 "In New York." 
 
 " ISTo, you are in a vessel at sea ; there is a terrible 
 storm ; are you not afraid ? " 
 
 " Yes, I am very much frightened ; what shall I do ? 
 Oh, save me, save me ! " 
 
 She wrung her hands, screamed with terror, rose 
 from her chair and paced the room, apparently suffer- 
 ing intensely from fear. In the midst of her agitation 
 she awoke, and it was not without difficulty that the 
 impression she had received could be removed. 
 
 On a subsequent occasion her somnambulic powers 
 of vision were tested by asking her to read the writing 
 on a slip of paper; to tell the time marked by a watch 
 held to the back of her head ; to read a particular line 
 from a closed book, etc. ; but, though she always made 
 some answer, she was never once right. The senses of 
 touch and of hearing were the only ones she appeared 
 to be capable of exercising, and these were not in any 
 degree exalted in their action. Conjoined with integ- 
 
34 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 rity of touch there was well-marked analgesia, or ina- 
 bility to feel pain. Thus, though able to tell the shape, 
 texture, and consistence of objects placed in her hands, 
 she experienced no sensation when a pin was thrust into 
 the calf of her leg, or when a coal- of fire was held in 
 close proximity to any part of her body. 
 
 It will readily be preceived, therefore, that certain 
 parts of her nervous system were in a state of inaction, 
 were in fact dormant, while others remained capable of 
 receiving sensations and originating nervous influence. 
 Her sleep was therefore incomplete. Images were 
 formed, hallucinations entertained, and she was accord- 
 ingly in these respects in a condition similar to that of 
 a dreaming person ; for the images and hallucinations 
 were either directly connected with thoughts she had 
 previously had, or were immediately suggested to her 
 through her sense of hearing. Some mental faculties 
 were exercised, while others were quiescent. There 
 was no correct judgment and no volition. Imagina- 
 tion, memory, the emotions, and the ability to he im- 
 pressed hy suggestions, were present in a high degree. 
 
 Now, the writer is satisfied, fi-om a careful study of 
 this lady's case, and of others similar to it in general 
 character which have come under his observation, that 
 the phenomena of hypnotism are not those of pure som- 
 nambulism, but that three other conditions are present 
 in greater or less degree. These are hysteria, catalepsy, 
 and ecstasy. To a brief consideration of some of the 
 more important features of these abnormal states of the 
 nervous system the attention of the reader is invited. 
 
OF SPIRITUALISM. 35 
 
 with the expectation that they will be fouiid to account 
 for many of the phenomena of spiritualism. 
 
 V. 
 
 There is a strong tendency, in all persons affected 
 with hysteria, to the occurrence of symptoms which 
 simulate organic diseases. Paralysis, both of motion 
 and of sensation, is one of the morbid conditions thus 
 assumed. This tendency is not generally voluntary, 
 though undoubtedly cases are not infrequent in which 
 the simulation is clearly intentional, and others more 
 numerous in which volition, when brought to bear with 
 full force upon the disposition, will overcome it. In 
 these latter cases there is, as it were, a paralysis of the 
 will. In other instances hysterical persons will delib- 
 erately enter upon a systematic course of deception and 
 fraud, more, apparently, for the sake of attracting at- 
 tention and obtaining notoriety than from any other 
 motive. 
 
 Thus an hysterical woman will suddenly take to her 
 bed and declare that she has no feeling and no power 
 of motion in her leg or arm. The most careful exami- 
 nation shows that she is speaking the truth. Pins may 
 be thrust into the affected limb, it may be pinched or 
 scorched ad Uhitum, and yet the possessor does not 
 wince. A somewhat analogous state exists in us at all 
 times. When the mind is intensely occupied or the 
 passions greatly aroused, there is the same insensibility 
 to pain. Many a soldier has not discovered his wound 
 till the heat of the battle was over. 
 
36 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 'Now, when great mental exaltation is induced in an 
 hysterical person we find this analgesic condition de- 
 veloped to its utmost extent. Under these combined 
 influences weak girls have submitted to all kinds of 
 maltreatment and suffered no pain, and have been able 
 to resist blows and other bodily injuries which in their 
 normal condition would have caused death. Thus it is 
 stated by Montgeron,* in his account of the Jansenist 
 Gonvulsionn aires, that some women gave themselves 
 severe blows with iron instruments in such a manner 
 that sharp points were forced into the flesh. Fouillon 
 states that another had herself hung up by the heels 
 with the head downward, and remained in this position 
 three-quarters of an hour. One day as she lay extend- 
 ed on her bed two men who held a cloth under her 
 back raised her up and threw her forward two thousand 
 four hundred times, while two other persons placed in 
 front thrust her back. Another day four men having 
 taken hold of her by the extremities began to pull her, 
 each with all his strength, and she was thus dragged in 
 different directions for the space of some minutes. She 
 caused herself to be tied one day as she lay on the table, 
 her arms crossed behind her back and her legs flexed to 
 their fullest extent, and, while six men struck her with- 
 out ceasing, a seventh choked her. After this she re- 
 mained insensible for some time, and her tongue, in- 
 flamed and discolored, hung far out of her mouth. An- 
 other insisted upon receiving a hundred blows upon the 
 stomach with an andiron, and these were so heavy that 
 
 * La y&nt.e des Miracles, lome ii. 1737. Quotad by Calmeil, De la 
 Folic, etc. Paris, 1845. 
 
OF SPIEITtTALISM. '37 
 
 they shook the wall against which she was placed, and 
 upon one occasion a breach in it was caused at the 
 twenty-fifth blow. 
 
 A physician, hearing of these things, insisted that 
 they could not be true, as it was physically impossible 
 that the skin, the flesh, the bones, and the internal or- 
 gans, could resist such violence. He was told to come 
 and Verify the facts. Pie hastened to do so, and was 
 struck with astonishment. Scarcely believing his eyes, 
 he begged to be allowed to administer the blows. A 
 strong iron instrument, sharp at one end, was put into 
 his hands ; he struck with all his might and thrust it 
 deep into the flesh, but the victim laughed at his efforts, 
 and remarked that his blows only did her good. 
 
 This immunity from injury, though remarkable, is 
 frequently met with among hysterical persons at the 
 present day, but is much more frequently assumed. 
 Calmeil * states that many of the Jansenist fanatics were 
 subject to great illusions on this point ; for many among 
 them exhibited very obvious effects of the treatment, 
 such as patches of discoloration on the skin, and innu- 
 merable contusions on the parts which had suffered the 
 most severe assaults. Then it must be remembered 
 that the blows upon the belly were given while the par- 
 oxysms were present, and when the stomach and intes- 
 tines were distended with wind — a condition almost 
 inseparable from the hysterical state. The prize-fighters 
 of our own day, by filling the chest with air, endure 
 blows which untrained persons could not receive with- 
 out serious injury. 
 
 * Op. cU., tome ii., p. 388. 
 
38 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 The writer has had the opportunity of witnessing 
 many manifestations of hysteria analogous in character 
 to those described in the foregoing remarks. Upon one 
 occasion a young woman, a patient in the wards of the 
 Pennsylvania Hospital, began a series of movements 
 consisting in bending her body backward till it formed 
 an arch, her heels and head alone resting on the bed, 
 and then, suddenly straightening herself out, would fall 
 heavily. Instantly the arch was formed again ; again 
 she fell ; and this process was kept up with inconceiv- 
 able rapidity for several hours every day. In another 
 instance, a lady, during an access of hysterical par- 
 oxysms to which she was liable, beat her head with such 
 violence against a lath-and-plaster partition, that she 
 made a hole in it, while little or no injury was inflicted 
 on herself. In another, a girl eighteen years of age lay 
 down on the floor, naked, and made all the members of 
 her family, five in number, stand each in turn for several 
 minutes on her abdomen. In another, a lady, in order 
 that she might resemble those martyrs who suffered on 
 the rack, tied her wrists with a stout cord, mounted a 
 step-ladder, fastened the cord to a hook in the wall, and 
 then, jumping from the ladder, succeeded in dislocating 
 her shoulder. In another a lady rigidly closed her 
 mouth, and refused to open it, either to take food or to 
 speak, for over forty-eight houi-s. 'No force that it was 
 safe to use could overcome the contraction of her 
 muscles, and no persuasion induce her to relax them. 
 She only yielded to an irresistible impulse to talk, and 
 a degree of hunger that human nature could no longer 
 endure. It would be easy to go on and cite, from the 
 
OF SPIEITUALISM. 39 
 
 writer's practice or from monograplis on the subject, 
 hundreds of other instances of hysterical folly in which 
 the subjects have been able to violate the laws of their 
 being without apparently suffering serious pain or in- 
 jiry. 
 
 During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries an 
 epidemic of hysterical chorea with catalepsy prevailed 
 in many convents of Europe, and many grievous wrongs 
 were in consequence inflicted upon perfectly innocent 
 persons whom the " possessed " accused of having be- 
 witched them ; among others, Louis Gaufridi, a priest 
 of Marseilles, and a man of cultivation and strict mo- 
 rality, was accused by two Ursuline nuns, named Made- 
 line de Maudol and Louise Capel, the latter but nine- 
 teen years of age. At the time of the accusation these 
 women were suffering from attacks of an hysterical 
 kind, accompanied with hallucinations and illusions, 
 fearful convulsions and cataleptic paroxysms, all of 
 which were ascribed to possession of the devil, moved 
 and instigated by Louis Gaufridi. At first, the accused 
 denied the charges made against him, and endeavored 
 by arguments to show the true nature of the seizures. 
 The effort was in vain ; he became insane, and confessed 
 all that was laid to his charge, with numerous other 
 offences, which had not been imagined. He declared 
 that he had worshipped the devil for fourteen years, and 
 that " ce demon m'engagea 4 rendre amoureuses de 
 ma personne toutes les femmes qui j'attendrois de 
 mon souffle. Plus de milles femmes out ^te empoi- 
 sonn^e par I'attrait irresistible de mon souffle qui les 
 rendroit passionn^es. La dame de la Pallude, mere de 
 
40 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 Madeline, a et6 prise pour moi d'un insens6e et s'est 
 abandonnee a moi soit an sabbat soit hors du sabbat." 
 
 Gaufridi was burned at the stake, and the two Ur- 
 suline nuns " continuerent k d61irer." * Among the 
 convents visited by this terrible disorder was that ot 
 Sainte-Brigitte, at Lille. Several of the nuns had been 
 present at the proceedings against Gaufridi, and had 
 thus been subjected to influences readily capable of pro- 
 ducing the disease. 
 
 Among the sisters was one named Marie de Sains, 
 who was remarkable for her many virtues, but who was 
 now suspected of devoting herself to sorcery and of being 
 the cause of the " possessions " of which the other nuns 
 were the victims. She remained a year in prison, with- 
 out any formal proofs of her guilt being adduced, until 
 at last she was positively accused by three of the sisters 
 with having intercourse with demons. At first, the 
 poor nun appeared to be surprised at this charge ; but 
 suddenly she recanted her denial, and avowed herself 
 the perpetrator of a series of such wicked and abomi- 
 nable acts that it was difficult to understand how the 
 conception of them had ever entered her mind. Among 
 them were numberless murders, stranglings of innocent 
 children, ravaging of graves, feeding on human flesh, 
 revelling in orgies of superhuman atrocity, unheard- 
 of sacrileges, poisonings, and in fact every imaginable 
 crime. In the presence of her accusers and exorcists 
 she improvised sermons whicb she ascribed to Satan, 
 discoursed learnedly on the apocalypse, and made long 
 
 * Oalmeil, Do la Folie, etc. Paris, 1846, t. i., p. 489, ct &eq. 
 
OF SPIEITUALISM. 41 
 
 discourses on antichrist. Like others of the present 
 day, she was a speaking medium. 
 
 Marie de Sains was not burnt. She was merely 
 stripped of her religious character, and condemned to 
 perpetual imprisonment at Toumay. 
 
 A more noted example of spiritual possession is that 
 afforded by the nuns of Loudun, and which resulted in 
 the death of Urban Grandier at the stake after he had 
 been submitted to the most atrocious tortures, in the 
 vain attempt to make him confess to an alliance with 
 the devil.* 
 
 As showing the nature of the phenomena exhibited 
 in the cases of monomania occurring among the nuns 
 of Loudun, the following questions were proposed by 
 Santerre, priest and promoter of the diocese of Nlmes, 
 to the University of Montpellier : 
 
 Question 1. Whether the bending, bowing, and re- 
 moving of the body, the head touching sometimes the 
 soles of the feet, with other contortions and strange 
 postures, are a good sign of possession ? 
 
 2. "Whether the quickness of the motion of the head 
 forward and backward, bringing it to the back and 
 breast, be an infallible mark of possession ? 
 
 3. Whether a sudden swelling of the tongue, the 
 throat and the face, and the sudden alteration of the 
 color, are certain marks of possession ? 
 
 *ror a very full account of this lamentable event, see the 
 " Cheats and Illusions of Roinish Priests and Exorcists discovered in 
 the History of the Devils of Loudun. Being an Account of the Pre- 
 tended Possession of the Ursuline Nuns, and of the Condemnation 
 and Punishment of Urban Grandier, a Parson of the same Town." 
 London, 1705. 
 
42 THE PHYSICS AND PHTSIOLOGY 
 
 i. Whether dulness and senselessness or the priva- 
 tion of sense, even to be pinched and pricked without 
 complaining, without stirring, and even without chan- 
 ging color, are certain marks of possession ? 
 
 5. Whether the immobility of all the body which 
 happens to the pretended possessed by the command 
 of their exorcists, during and in the middle of the 
 strongest agitations, is a certain sign of a truly diaboli=: 
 cal possession ? 
 
 6. Whether the yelping or barking like that of a 
 dog, in the breast rather than in the throat, is a mark 
 of possession ? 
 
 1. Whether a fixed, steady look upon some object, 
 without moving the eye on either side, be a good mark 
 of possession ? 
 
 8. Whether the answers that the pretended pos- 
 sessed made in French, to some questions that are put 
 to them in Latin, are a good mark of possession ? 
 
 9. Whether to vomit siTch things as people have 
 swallowed be a sign of possession ? 
 
 10. Whether the prickings of a lancet upon divers 
 parts of the body, without blood issuing thence, are a 
 certain mark of possession ? 
 
 All these questions, to the credit of medical science, 
 were answered in the negative. No one can read them 
 without being struck with the absolute identity of the 
 symptoms, in all essential characteristics, with those 
 which in our day are asserted to be due to spiritual 
 possession, and with those met with in the various 
 forms of hysteria. Cases almost exactly in point have 
 already been cited in this essay. 
 
OF SPIRITUALISM. 43 
 
 Nor have these epidemics been restricted to con- 
 vents or Catholic lands. Protestants of the straitest 
 sects have been visited, and our own country has af- 
 forded many notable examples, besides possessing the 
 doubtful honor of originating spiritualism in its present 
 form. 
 
 The history of witchcraft, as it existed in New Eng= 
 land during the latter part of the seventeenth century, 
 is exceedingly instructive to the student of human 
 nature, and of great interest in the present connection. 
 As an illustration of the symptoms exhibited by the 
 so-called " possessed " — the " mediums " of our day — I 
 subjoin the following case, being the " ninth example " 
 adduced by the Eev. Cotton Mather.* It would be dif- 
 ficult to select from all the records of medicine better 
 examples of the blending of hysteria, chorea, and cata- 
 lepsy. The evidence concerning the diabolical char- 
 acter of the " Quaker's book," " popish books," and 
 the " Prayer-book," is incidentally, though with mani- 
 fest gusto, thrown in by the narrator for what it is 
 worth. 
 
 Four children of John Goodwin, of Boston, remark- 
 able for their piety, honesty, and industry, were in the 
 year 1688 made the subjects of witchcraft. The eldest, 
 a. girl about thirteen years old, had a dispute with the 
 laundress about some linen that was missing, whose 
 mother, a " scandalous Irishwoman of the neighbor- 
 hood," applied some very abusive language to the 
 child. The latter was at once taken with " odd fits, 
 
 * "Magnalia Cliristi Americana," etc. First American, from 
 the London edition of 1702. Hartford, 1820, vol. ii., pp. 396. 
 
44 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 whicli carried in them something diabolical." Soon 
 afterward the other children, a girl and two boys, be- 
 came similarly affected. Sometimes they were deaf, 
 sometimes blind, sometimes dumb, and sometimes all 
 of these. Their tongues would be drawn down their 
 throats, and then pulled out upon their chins to a pro- 
 digious length. Their mouths were often forced, open 
 to such an extent that their jaws were dislocated, and 
 were then suddenly closed with a snap like that of a 
 spring-lock. The like took place with their shoulders, 
 elbows, wrists, and other joints. They would then lie 
 in a benumbed condition, and be drawn together like 
 those tied neck and heels, and presently be stretched 
 out, and then drawn back enormously. They made 
 piteous outcries that they were cut with knives, and 
 struck with blows, and the plain prints of the wounds 
 were seen upon them. 
 
 [This latter is not an uncommon occurrence. I once 
 detected a woman cutting herself with a knife, and 
 thus inflicting wounds which she afterward declared 
 were given her by a spirit whom she had offended in 
 the flesh.j 
 
 At times their necks were rendered so limber that 
 the bones could not be felt, and again they were so 
 stiff that they could not be bent by any degree of force. 
 
 The woman who by her spells was supposed to have 
 caused these "possessions" was arrested. Her house 
 was searched, and several images made of rags and 
 stuffed with goat's-hair were found. These the woman 
 confessed she employed for the purpose of producing 
 the torments in the children, which she did by wetting 
 
OF 6PIEITUALISM. 45 
 
 her finger with saliva and stroking the images. The 
 experiment was made in court, to the entire satisfaction 
 of all concerned. The woman, who was evidently in- 
 sane, and probably rendered so by the accusations 
 made against her, acknowledged that she was in league 
 with the devil. She was tried, condemned to death, 
 and executed. On the scaffold she declared that others 
 remained who would carry on the work of tormenting 
 the children ; and so the calamities of the victims went 
 on. They barked like dogs, purred like cats, at times 
 complained that they were in a red-hot oven, and again 
 that cold water was thrown on them. Then they were 
 roasted on an invisible spit, and would shriek with 
 agony ; their heads they said were nailed to the floor, 
 and it was beyond ordinary strength to pull them up. 
 They would be so limber sometimes that it was judged 
 every bone they had might be bent, and then so stiff 
 that not a joint could be flexed. And so the story 
 goes on through several pages of details. Unseen ropes 
 and chains were put around them, blows were given, 
 and then the narrator continues, in regard to the eldest 
 of the children, who was specially under his observa- 
 tion : 
 
 " A Quaker's book being brought to her, she could 
 quietly read whole pages of it ; only the name of God 
 and Christ she still skipped over, being unable to pro- 
 nounce it, except sometimes stammering a minute or 
 two or more over it. And when we urged her to tell 
 what the word was that she missed, she would say : ' I 
 must not speak it. They say I must not. You know 
 what it is. 'Tis G, and 0, and D.' But a book against 
 
46 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 Quakerism they would not allow her to meddle with. 
 Such books as it might have been pi'ofitable and edify- 
 ing for her to read, and especially her catechisms, if she 
 did but offer to read a line in them, she would be cast 
 into hideous eouTulsions, and be tossed about the house 
 like a football. But books of jests being shown her, 
 she could read them well enough, and have cunning 
 descants upon them. Popish books they would not 
 hinder her from reading, but they would from books 
 against popery. 
 
 " Divers of these trials were made by many witnesses, 
 but I, considering that there might be a snare in it, put 
 a seasonable stop to this kind of business. Only I 
 could not but be amazed at one thing. A certain 
 prayer-book being brought to her, she not only could 
 read it very well, but also did read a large part of it 
 over, calling it her Bible, and putting a more than or- 
 dinary respect upon it. If she were going into her 
 tortures, at the tender of this book, she would recover 
 herself to read it." 
 
 Then she rode invisible horses, and continued other 
 pranks till at last " one particular minister " (who 
 seems to have been very negligent heretofore), " taking 
 a peculiar compassion on the family,- set himself to 
 serve them in the methods prescribed by our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. Accordingly, the Lord being besought 
 thrice in three days of prayer, with fasting, on this oc- 
 casion, the family then saw their deliverance perfected." 
 
 In the tenth example it is stated that one Winlock 
 Curtis, a sailor, " was violently and suddenly seized in 
 an unaccountable manner, and furiously thrown down 
 
OF SPIEITUALISM. 47 
 
 upon the deck, where he lay wallowing in a great 
 agony, and foamed at the mouth, and grew black in 
 the face, and was near strangled with a great lump 
 rising in his neck nigh hia throat, like that which be- 
 witched or possessed people used to be attended withal." 
 Winlock Curtis clearly had an epileptic fit, and the 
 lump spoken of was the well-known globus hystericus, 
 which few of my nervous readers have failed to experi- 
 ence at some time or other of their lives. 
 
 Finally, the epidemic spread with such rapidity, and 
 60 many accused themselves of converse with the devil, 
 that the common-sense of the people put a stop to fur- 
 ther executions. In the language of Mather, " Experi- 
 ence showed that the more there were apprehended, 
 the more were still afllicted by Satan, and the number 
 of confessions increasing did but increase the number of 
 the accused ; and the execiiting of some made way for 
 the apprehending of others. For still the afflicted com- 
 plained of being tormented by new objects, as the for- 
 mer were removed. So that those that were concerned 
 grew amazed at the number and quality of the persons 
 accused, and feared that Satan by his wiles had en- 
 wrapped innocent persons under the imputation of that 
 crime ; and at last it was evidently seen that there must 
 be a stop put, or the generation of the children of 
 God would fall under that condemnation. Henceforth, 
 therefore, the juries generally acquitted such as were 
 tried, fearing they had gone too far before, and Sir Wil- 
 liam Phips, the governor, reprieved all that were con- 
 demned, even the confessors as well as others." 
 
 The epidemic, being thus let alone, died a natural 
 
48 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 death, as would likewise be the ease with the spiritual- 
 ism of the present day, with similar treatment. 
 
 The vagaries of the Shakers and Jumpers of our 
 own country, of the WMrling Dervishes and other 
 sects of the Old World, and the contortions, trances, 
 and beatifications of camp-meetings and revivals, are 
 too familiar to require more than the passing remark 
 that they all come under the present category. 
 
 In a recent work,* which may certainly be regarded 
 as good spiritualistic authority, there is an account of a 
 medium who was by turns imder the influence of a 
 good spirit, called "Katy," and of a bad one, whom 
 she asserted to be a " sailor-boy." This latter . took 
 great delight in swearing through her, and in uttering 
 such profane language as he had been accustomed to 
 use on earth. Many manifestations of the power of 
 both these spirits were given, until, to quote the words 
 of the narrator : 
 
 " About 1846 a most singular and distressing phase 
 of these phenomena was superadded to the rest, under 
 what claimed to be the influence of the profane sailor. 
 The girl's limbs in several directions would be thrown 
 out of joint, and that with apparent case, in a moment, 
 and without pain. To replace them seemed to be either 
 beyond the power or the will of her invisible tormentor, 
 and Dr. Larkin [a weak-minded man whose servant she 
 was], though an experienced surgeon, was often obliged 
 
 * Modern Americau Spiritualism : a Twenty Tears' Record of the 
 Communion between Eartli and the World of Spirits (pp. 159). By 
 Emma Hardinge. Second edition. New York. IStO. 
 
OF SPIRITUALISM. 49 
 
 to call in the aid of his professional brethren and two or 
 three strong assistants. 
 
 " On one occasion the knees and wrists of the girl 
 were thrown out of joint twice in a single day. These 
 painful feats were always accompanied by loud laughter, 
 hoarse and profane jokes, and expressions of exultant 
 delight, purporting to come from the sailor, while the 
 girl herself seemed wholly unconscious of the danger 
 of her awkward situation. The preternatural feats of 
 agility and strength exhibited on these occasions could 
 scarcely be credited, and the frightfully unnatural con- 
 tortions of the limbs, with which she became tied up 
 into knots and coils, bafle all physiological explana- 
 tion or attempts at description." 
 
 Can any person familiar with the vagaries of hys- 
 teria doubt for an instant that this girl was suffering 
 from it, and that her condition was aggravated by the 
 notoriety which she gained by her performances ? In 
 what respect do these so-called spiritualistic exhibitions 
 differ from those which have been cited ? 
 
 From the same volume * the following account is 
 taken : 
 
 "Four silly, badly-educated girls, of ages ranging 
 from fifteen to twenty, having gathered together at a 
 friend's house to 'have a time with the spirits,' or in 
 other words to trifle with spiritual manifestations, seated 
 themselves around a table, and, after asking all manner 
 of foolish questions, requested the spirits to take hold of 
 them. 
 
 " The spirits at once complied ; seized them, treated 
 
 * Op. cit., p. 271. 
 
50 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 tliem in the rougliest manner, and, shaking them, caused 
 them to use the most violent actions and outrageous 
 language, etc. In this strait one of the dignitaries of 
 the mother church was sent for in haste to ' expel the 
 obsessing demons.' After the priest had arrived at the 
 scene of disorder, he put on his robes, got ready the 
 holy water, and approached the possessed girls in the 
 due formulas proper to such occasions. After many 
 sallies with the holy fluid, and a vast number of incan- 
 tations, none of which produced the slightest effect, the 
 mediums at length charged upon him with such irresist- 
 ible power and such capacity of finger-nails, that the 
 -wov^j padre fled precipitately, leaving the field in pos- 
 session of the ' demons ' and the spectators who had 
 gathered together to witness the ' exorcism.' The girls 
 still continued to be used roughly, by the discordant 
 spirits they had invoked, until the arrival of some of 
 their spiritualistic friends, by whose judicious passes and 
 gentle remonstrances with the spirits, they were instant- 
 ly relieved." 
 
 That these " silly, badly-educated girls " were simply 
 hysterical, no one with even a superficial acquaintance 
 with the normal condition of the nervous system, and 
 the aberrations to which it may be subjected, can enter- 
 tain the slightest doubt. It is from just such persons 
 as these that the best mediums are obtained. That 
 such phenomena as they and the girl whose case was 
 previously quoted exhibited are regarded as spiritualis- 
 tic, is suflBtcient of itself to throw discredit on all the 
 other alleged manifestations of the spirits. " Falsum 
 in uno, falsum in omnibus." 
 
OF SPIRITUALISM. 51 
 
 ■ At most of the spiritualistic meetings which the 
 writer has attended there have been hysterical phe- 
 nomena manifested by some of the men and women 
 participating in the exercises. At a recent public exhi- 
 bition of the kind he predicted, from their personal ap- 
 pearance, with perfect accuracy who of those assisting 
 would be thus aftected. The symptoms of disordered 
 nervous action which the audience was invited to con- 
 sider proofs of spiritual agency consisted of incoherent 
 utterances and convulsive movements of the head, arms, 
 and legs. In one case these symptoms became perma- 
 nent for several months ; a well-developed case of chorea 
 or St. Yitus's dance was thus established. The patient 
 finally came under the writer's care, and was only cured 
 by the persistent administration of iron and strychnine 
 — medicines which, with good food and fresh air, appear 
 to possess more exorcising power than the formulae of 
 the good priest mentioned by Mrs. Hardinge. 
 
 In hysteria, hallucinations of the several senses are 
 very common. Attention has already been directed to 
 the fact that they may be produced by an excessive 
 amount of blood circulating through the brain. Hys- 
 teria is always accompanied by an anaemic condition of 
 the brain, and hence we have an illustration of the well- 
 known fact that opposite pathological states may give 
 rise to similar sets of symptoms. It frequently happens 
 that, just before death from exhausting diseases, the 
 brain, enfeebled with the other organs of the. body, is 
 deceived by hallucinations of sight and hearing. 
 
 The records of spiritualism abound with instances 
 of spirits being seen by the faithful, and many of the 
 
52 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 cases are to be referred to the existence Of hysteria.* 
 -From among numerous similar examples which have 
 come under the professional care or observation of the 
 writer, the following are adduced : 
 
 A young lady gave very decided evidence of suffer- 
 ing from mental aberration. She had imbibed the de- 
 lusion that she had a " double," whom she' saw almost 
 constantly, and with whom she conversed whenever 
 she pleased. At first she had been very much fright- 
 ened, but gradually had become accustomed to her im- 
 aginary companion, and was lonesome and, uncomfort- 
 able without her. There was no other well-marked 
 delusion, though some of her absm'd fancies partook 
 more or less of that character. Headache was almost 
 an inseparable symptom, as was likewise pain in the 
 back, nausea, and constipation. Her menstrual function 
 was deranged, and her whole aspect was that of a per- 
 son whose physical po-«rers were below par. Strychnia, 
 iron, and whiskey, and a full, nutritious diet, were not 
 long in banishing her delusional visitor,, and in other- 
 wise restoring her health. 
 
 A married lady consulted the writer for advice re- 
 garding hallucinations of sight and hearing, with which 
 she had suffered for several months. It was only ne- 
 cessary for her to think of some particular person, living 
 or dead, when she immediately saw the image of the 
 person thought of, who spoke to her, laughed, wept, 
 walked about the room, or did whatever other thins 
 
 * For a very philosophical account of hallucinations due to sligh^^ cere- 
 bral disturbance, the reader is referred to " An Essay toward a Theory 
 of Apparitions," by John Ferriar, M. D. London, 1813. 
 
OF SPIRITUALISM. 53 
 
 she imagined. In fact, to such an extent had her pro- 
 clivity reached, that it was often impossible for her to 
 avoid thinking of persons, and immediately having 
 their figures brought to her perception. 
 
 At first she religiously believed in the reality of her 
 visions, and that she really saw the spirits of the various 
 individuals of whom she happened to think. But, as 
 the hallucinations became more common, she lost her 
 faith, and ascribed them to their true cause — disease. 
 Upon examination, I foimd that she was preeminently of 
 an hysterical type of organization, and was then labor- 
 ing' under other symptoms of its presence, besides the 
 hallucinations. Thus she had hysterical paralysis of 
 motion and sensation in the right leg, to such an extent 
 that she could neither move it, nor feel a pin thrust 
 through the skin ; there was occasional loss of voice and 
 of the power of speech, and tonic contractions of vari- 
 ous muscles, especially of those of the fingers and toes. 
 Her pulse was small and weak, her bowels obstinately 
 constipated, her appetite capricious, and her complexion 
 pale. Not the least of her afflictions was an almost 
 perpetual headache. Under a suitable hygienic and 
 medicinal treatment, this lady entirely recovered. 
 
 A young lady, whom I saw at Bridgeport, Connect- 
 icut, in consultation with my friends Drs. Hubbard and 
 Ohnesorg, had hallucinations of sight, in conjunction 
 with other symptoms of the hysterical condition. 
 
 Another, whom I visited in consultation with my 
 friend Dr. Blakeman, of this city, constantly saw a man, 
 armed with a gun, wlioni she called Peter, and with 
 
54 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 wliom she carried on conversations. She described him 
 in detail, and tried to make others see him. 
 
 VI. 
 
 In catalepsy we have an affection which is well cal- 
 culated to fulfil many of the requirements of spiritual- 
 ism. It is characterized by suspension of the under- 
 standing and of sensibility, and by a tendency in the 
 muscles to preserve any degree of contraction which 
 may be given them. Thus, if the arm of a cataleptic 
 patient be extended, it remains so for several minutes ; 
 if the leg be raised from the bed, the muscles continue 
 to keep it in that position till they become thoroughly 
 exhausted, when it sinks slowly down. Its causes are 
 very smilar to those which induce hysteria, with which 
 it is closely allied and often blended. Among them 
 emotional disturbance, a peculiar condition of the nei- 
 vous system called by the French nervosisme, hered- 
 itary influence, excessive mental exertion, imitation, 
 and a desire for notoriety, are the chief. 
 
 During the cataleptic condition, sensation is gener- 
 ally suspended. Pins can be thrust into the body and 
 they are not felt, and even more severe injuries are not 
 perceived ; the eyes do not see, though the eyelids may 
 be open ; loud noises are not heard, penetrating odors 
 are not smelt, or strongly sapid substances tasted. In 
 uncomplicated catalepsy consciousness is lost; but in 
 the mixed forms, which are much more common, the 
 intellectual faculties are often exercised_to a remarkable 
 extent. Besides its hysterical affinities, catalepsy is 
 
OF SPIEITUALISM. 55 
 
 correlative with ecstasy (a modified form), chorea, 
 somnambulism, and epilepsy, and may pass, by insensi- 
 ble gradations, into either of these diseases. 
 
 In the less perfect!}'- developed forms of the catalep- 
 tic condition, the affected individuals, though taking 
 no cognizance of the circumstances surrounding them, 
 are capable of a certain exalted esoteric mental action, 
 which passes with the vulgar for illumination, inspira- 
 tion, or spiritualization. Chambers* quotes from De 
 Haen the case of a child twelve years old who began 
 a paroxysm by being cataleptic and ended by reciting 
 the metrical Protestant version of David's Psalms, say- 
 ing her catechism with proof-texts, and preaching a 
 sermon on adultery. 
 
 A young girl, recently under the professional care 
 of the writer, was cataleptic, on an average, once a 
 week, and epileptic twice or three times in the inter- 
 vals. Five years previously she had spent six months 
 in France, but had not acquired more than a very 
 slight knowledge of the language, scarcely, in fact, suf- 
 ficient to enable her to ask for what she wanted at her 
 meals. Immediately before her cataleptic seizures she 
 went into a state of ecstasy, during which she recited 
 poetry in French and delivered harangues about virtue 
 and godliness, in the same language. She pronounced 
 at these times exceedingly well, and seemed never at a 
 loss for a word. To all surrounding influences she was 
 apparently dead. But she sat bolt upright in her 
 chair, her eyes staring at vacancy, and her organs of 
 speech in constant action. Gradually she passed into 
 * Reynolds's System of Medicine, p. 104 ; art. Catalepsy. 
 
56 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 the cataleptic paroxysm. Slie was an excellent exam- 
 ple of what Mrs. Hardinge calls a " trance medimn." 
 The materialistic influence of bromide of potassium, 
 however, cured her of her catalepsy and epilepsy, de- 
 stroyed her knowledge of the French tongue, and made 
 her corporeal structure so gross that the spirits refused 
 to make further use of it for their manifestations. 
 
 Among iselebrated cataleptics and ecstatics may be 
 mentioned Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Gertrude,, St. 
 Bridget, St. Catharine of Sienna, Joan of Arc, St. 
 Theresa, Madame Guyon, and Joanna Southcote. The 
 conventual life was especially favorable. to the produc- 
 tion of all the forms of catalepsy, and sometimes, as in 
 the instance of the nuns of Loudun, the disease as- 
 sumed a malignancy which all the power of the Church 
 could not abate. 
 
 It is a striking fact, which would be laughable, but 
 for the frequently lamentable results which ensued, 
 that while the Catholic ecstatics inveighed against the 
 heretical sects which were springing up on all sides, 
 and consigned them to torture and the flames, these, 
 the Calvinists, Camisards, Preadamites, Jumpers, Ana- 
 baptists, Quakers, Methodists, Tremblers, etc., etc., de- 
 nounced the Pope as anti-Christ, desecrated churches, 
 and exhibited a ferocity which in its sanguinary char- 
 acter has rarely been equalled. 
 
 Now, as has already been remarked, in the imper- 
 fect forms of catalepsy or ecstasy, consciousness is not 
 altogether lost. Montgeron noticed this fact, and, in 
 speaking of persons affected, says they generally see 
 those who are about them, speak to them, and hear 
 
OF ePIEITUALISM. 57 
 
 tteir answers, though, at the same time, their minds are 
 apparently entirely absorbed in the contemplation of 
 objects which a superior power enables them to see. It 
 must be recollected that Montgeron was a believer in the 
 supernatural origin of these manifestations of disease. 
 At the present day he would have been a shining light 
 among spiritualists. 
 
 He further observes, that in tliese undeveloped 
 forms of the disorder, as noticed among the Jansenist 
 Convulsionnaires, the affected individuals appeared as 
 if struck by the sight of some object before unseen, 
 and the contemplation of which filled them with the 
 most ravishing joy. They raised their eyes and their 
 hands on high, leaped toward heaven, and seemed as 
 if about to fly into the air. They appeared to be 
 absorbed in the contemplation of. celestial beauties. 
 Their faces were animated with a brilliant glow, and 
 their eyes, which could not be closed during the contin- 
 uance of the ecstasy, remained open and fixed on the 
 spiritualized object upon which they gazed. They 
 were in a manner transfigured ; they appeared to be 
 perfectly unlike their natural selves. Those who or- 
 dinarily were low and repulsive were changed so pro- 
 foundly that they could not be recognized. 
 
 The following example is domestic, and is taken 
 from the Norfolk Beacon of August 19, 182i. It was 
 copied into other religious papers without the least 
 doubt being, expressed of its being produced by the 
 " Spirit of God : " * 
 
 * " Observations on the Influence of Religion upon the Health and 
 Physical Welfare of Mankind. By Amariah Brigham, M. D." Boston, 
 1835, pp. SOS, 
 
58 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGT 
 
 "A singular display of the goodness and power 
 of Almighty God at a camp-meeting held at Tangier 
 Island. 
 
 " Miss Narcissa Crippin, a highly-respeetable young 
 lady, nineteen years of age, and a zealous Christian, 
 was, on the evening of the 15th instant, so operated 
 upon by the Spirit of God that her face became too 
 bright and shining for mortal eyes to gaze upon with- 
 out producing the most awful feeling to the beholders. 
 It resembled the reflection of the sun upon a bright 
 cloud. The appearance of her face for the space of 
 forty minutes was truly angelic, during which time she 
 was silent, after which she spoke and expressed her 
 happy and heavenly feelings, when her dazzling coun- 
 tenance gradually faded, and her face resumed its nat- 
 ural appearance. The writer of this paragraph was an 
 eye-witness of the circumstance above stated — such a 
 sight he never expected to behold with mortal eyes, and 
 to give a true description of what would be beyond 
 the ability of mortal man. "While she remained in: the 
 situation above described she was seen by more than 
 two hundred persons, a few of whom have subscribed 
 their names hereto. 
 
 "Wm. LEE(Eev.), 
 " "Wm. E. Wise, 
 " John Bayly." 
 
 I have frequently seen this remarlcable change in- 
 duced in the faces of persons of both sexes. It appears 
 to be directly due to a relaxation of all the muscles of 
 the face concerned in expression, and is accompanied 
 by suffusion of the eyes and dilatation of the j^upils. 
 
OF SPruiTUALISM. 59 
 
 Undoubtedly the instances mentioned in the Bible as 
 transfigurations (see Exodus xxxiv. 29-35; Matthew 
 xvii. 1, 2 ; Mark ix. 2, 3 ; Luke ix. 29) were of this char- 
 acter. 
 
 About fifty years ago a very remarkable case of 
 ■ preaching-ecstasy, or, as it would now be called by 
 some, "trance mediumship," occurred in this city in 
 the person of a maiden lady of delicate health, named 
 Eachel Baker. Dr. S. L. Mitchill took great interest 
 in her case, and had her sermons reported by a stenog- 
 rapher and published. Miss Baker was the daughter 
 of a respectable farmer in Onondaga County, New 
 York, and had received a plain but substantial educa- 
 tion. About the age of twenty her mind became much 
 exercised on the subject of religion, and at length her 
 health became seriously affected, and she fell into the 
 habit of trance-preaching. Her parents were at first 
 surprised at what they regarded as a most extraordi- 
 nary gift, though they afterward became convinced that 
 it was the result of disease, and accordingly brought 
 her to the city of New York, in order that she might 
 have the benefit of the best medical skill. Crowds 
 flocked to hear her preach in this city, at the houses of 
 different medical practitioners. Her discourses were 
 highly respectable in point of style and arrangement, 
 and were interspersed with Scripture quotations. 
 After her health was restored, she lost her faculty 'of 
 trance-preaching, and never regained it, She died in 
 1843.* 
 
 * Copland's Dictionary of Medicine (American edition), vol. i., art, 
 Catalepsy, note by Dr. C. A. Lee. 
 
60 THE PHrSICS AUD PnTSIOLOGY 
 
 VII. 
 
 Occasionally persons have the power of voluntarily 
 producing hallucinations of various kinds — a practice 
 fraught with danger, for the time comes, sooner or later, 
 in which they cannot get rid of their false perceptions. 
 Goethe states that he had the power of giving form to 
 the images passing before his mind, and upon one oc- 
 casion saw his own figure approaching him. Abercrom- 
 bie * refers to the case of a gentleman who had all his 
 life been affected by the appearance of spectral figures. 
 To such an extent did this peculiarity exist, that, if he 
 met a friend in the street, he could not at first satisfy 
 himself whether he saw the real or the spectral figure. 
 By close attention he was able to perceive that the 
 outline of the false was not quite so distinct as that of 
 the real figure, but generally he used other means, such 
 as touch or speech, or listening for the footsteps, to 
 verify his visual impressions. He' had also the power 
 of calling up spectral figures at will, by directing his 
 attention steadily to the conceptions of his own mind ; 
 and this either consisted of a figure or a scene he had 
 witnessed, or a composition created by his imagina- 
 tion. But though he had the faculty of producing 
 hallucinations, he had no power of banishing them, 
 ansj, when he had once called up any particular per- 
 son or scene, he could never say how long it might 
 continue to haunt him. This gentleman was in the 
 
 * Inquiries concerning the Intellectual Powers, and the Investigation 
 of Truth. Tenth edition. Loudon, 1840, pp. 380. 
 
OF SPIEITlTALISM. 61 
 
 prime of life, of sound mind, in good health, and en- 
 gaged in business. His brother was similarly affected. 
 
 Several like cases have come under the professional 
 observation of the author. In one, the power was di- 
 rectly the result of attendance at spiritual meetings, 
 and of the efforts made to become a good " medium." 
 The patient, a lady, was of a very impressionable tem- 
 perament, and was consequently well-disposed to ac- 
 quire the dangerous faculty in question. At first she 
 thought very deeply of some particular person, whose 
 image she endeavored to form in her mind. Then she 
 assumed that the person was really present, and she 
 addressed conversation to him, at the same time keep- 
 ing the idealistic image in her thoughts. At this 
 period she was not deceived, for she clearly recognized 
 the fact that the image was not present. 
 
 One day, however, she was thinking very intently 
 of her mother, and picturing to herself her appearance 
 as she looked when dressed for church, on a particular 
 occasion. She was reading a book at the time, and, 
 happening to raise her eyes, she saw her mother stand- 
 ing before her, clothed exactly as she had imagined her. 
 At first she was somewhat startled, and in lier agitation 
 closed her eyes with her hands. To her surprise she 
 still saw the phantom, but yet, not being aware of the 
 centric origin of the image, she conceived the idea that 
 she had really seen her mother's spirit. In a few mo- 
 ments it disappeared, but she soon found that she had 
 the ability to recall it at will, and that the power ex- 
 isted in regard to many other forms — even those of 
 animals, and of inanimate objects. 
 
62 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 During the spiritualistic meetings she attended, she 
 CDuld thus reproduce the image of any person on whom 
 she strongly concentrated her thoughts, and was for a 
 long time sincere in the belief that they were real ap- 
 pearances. At last she lost control of the operation, 
 and was constantly subject to hallucinations of sight 
 and hearing. She was unable to sleep, complained of 
 vertigo, pain in the head, and of other symptoms in- 
 dicating cerebral hypersemia. The application of ice 
 to her head, and other suitable medication, saved her 
 from an attack of insanity. But her nervous system 
 was for several months in a state of exhaustion, from 
 which she rallied with difficulty. 
 
 A young lady has recently informed me that she is 
 able to bring visually before her the images of the char- 
 acters contained in any novel she may have been re- 
 cently reading, or in any striking play she may have 
 witnessed. 
 
 It is probable that many of the visions of Jerome 
 Cardan, and Swedenborg, were voluntary productions. 
 On this principle can be explained many of the in- 
 stances of spiritualistic hallucinations which have been 
 detailed by inquirers willing to be deceived. 
 
 YIII. 
 
 One alleged phenomenon of spiritualism is of so 
 remarkable a character as perhaps to require separate 
 consideration, and that is, " levitation," or the faculty 
 of rising in the air against the force of gravity. This 
 has been claimed, not only for tables, chairs, and the 
 
OF SPIEITUALISM. 63 
 
 like, but also for tHe human body. The records of 
 witchcraft and spiritualism abound with instances of 
 the kind. There is no doubt that they are due to hallu- 
 cination, legerdemain, or actual fraud. A visit to a per- 
 formance of any pantomime, such as that in which the 
 Kavel family or Mr. George Fox takes a prominent part, 
 will give an opportimity for seeing as striking manifesta- 
 tions in this direction as any of those attributed to the 
 agency of spirits, and that in the full blaze of light. "With- 
 out going into particulars in regard to the levitation of 
 inanimate objects, I propose to consider at some length 
 the alleged elevation of the human body by. spiritual 
 agency. The remarks niade on this point will be found 
 more or less applicable to the lesser alleged violations of 
 natural law. 
 
 Before the present spiritual era, it was asserted by 
 many persons, or claimed for them by credulous ad- 
 herents, that they had been lifted from the ground with- 
 out the aid of material agencies. It is contended by 
 the spiritualists that there were cases similar in char- 
 acter to those now declared to be quite common. An 
 inquiry into the history of these earlier instances will 
 serve to enlighten us relative to those of our own time. 
 
 According to Philostratus, Apollonius * saw the Bra- 
 mins of India rise in the air to the height of two cubits, 
 and walk there without earthly support. 
 
 The authority is not very reliable, but the Bra- 
 mins are well known to be preeminent in feats of leger- 
 demain. J^ few years ago I saw a Colonel Stodare, 
 who had resided in India, and who was exhibiting his 
 * Philostratus Vita ApoUouii Tyaneup, lib. iii., cap. xx., 17. 
 
64 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 skill in magic at Egyptian Hall, London, cause a female 
 confederate -to remain suspended in the air after a table 
 on which she had been reclining was removed. Long 
 wands were passed through the air above and below her 
 without any support being detected other than a slen- 
 der cane which she held in one hand, and which 
 rested lightly on the floor. The trick is quite a com- 
 mon one among the Bramins, and was probably used to 
 impress Apollonius, who was regarded as a god by his 
 followers. The instance, however, is quoted by several 
 spiritualistic writers as establishing the possibility of 
 levitation. 
 
 In a recent work on spiritualism * by an anony- 
 mous writer, I find the following statement, which is 
 taken without credit, however, from " Howitt's History 
 of the Supernatural " (vol. i., p. 491, American ed.). 
 
 "Savonarola, before his tragical death at the stake, 
 and while absorbed in devotion, was seen to remain 
 suspended at a' considerable height from the floor of 
 his dungeon. The historical evidence of this fact, says 
 Elihu .Eich, in the ' Encyclopaedia Metropolitana,' 'is 
 admitted by his recent biographer.' " 
 
 l^ow, I do not know who is here referred to as the 
 "recent biographer" of Savonarola, but the most 
 recent as well as most thorough and reliable history 
 of this great man is that of Yillari,t and this is what 
 
 » Planehette, or the Despair of Science ; being a Full Account of Mod- 
 ern Spiritualism, etc. Boston, 1869, p. 107. 
 
 f LaStoria di Girolamo Savonarola e de' suoi Tempi, Narrata da Pasn 
 quale Villari con 1' aiuto di Nuovi Document!. Firenze, 185,9-'61: 
 
 A translation of this work, by Leonard Horner, was puhlisbed in Lqn^ 
 don, by Longmans, in 1863. 
 
OF SPIEITUALIBM, 65 
 
 he says of SaTonarola's last night in prison. If any 
 Bueh incident as levitation had occurred, Yillari would 
 certainly have referred to it : 
 
 " The night was already far advanced 'when he re- 
 turned to his prison ; sleep and weariness so overpow- 
 ered him that, almost, as a sign of love and gratitude, he 
 laid his head on the knees of the good Nicolini, and 
 soon fell into a short and light slumber, during which 
 he appeared to smile and dream, so great was the se- 
 renity of his mind and soul." — (vol. ii., p. 204.) 
 
 The rest of the night was passed in prayer. 
 
 Now, there is not a word here about. being carried 
 up from the floor. Some biographer may have made, 
 the assertion quoted by the author of Planchette ; but 
 Villari, who is Professor of History in the University of 
 Pisa, evidently discredits any such story. Savonarola 
 may at times have entertained such a delusion, for he 
 was of a highly-nervous temperament, and claimed that 
 he was subject to visions which he imagined were real 
 events. He had read and reread those parts of the 
 Eible which treat of visions, angels, and apparitions ; 
 his mind had become strongly impressed with their 
 truth, and his nervous temperament was agitated to 
 an extreme degree. The dreams and visions of his 
 childhood were multiplied, they constantly obtruded 
 themselves before his mind, and at night he was 
 scarcely ever free from them. Thus, as Yillari remarks, 
 " He passed whole nights on his knees in his cell, a prey 
 to visions, by which he more and more exhausted his 
 strength, continually excited his brain, and then ended 
 in seeing in every thing a revelation from the Lord." * 
 * Op. cU., vol. i, p. 296. 
 
66 THE PHYSICS AND PHTSIOLOGT 
 
 K, therefore, Savonarola had entertained the delusion 
 that he was at times lifted from the floor, there would 
 have been nothing surprising in the circumstance ; yet 
 there is no credible evidence — Mr. Elihu Rich, Mr. 
 Howitt, the author of " Planchette," and the " recent 
 biographer," to the contrary notwithstanding — that he 
 ever had this delusion.* 
 
 No one. has done more to perpetuate the stories of 
 saints rising in the air than Calmet,t and his statements 
 are accepted at the present day by the too-willing fol- 
 lowers of spiritualism without the least hesitation or in- 
 quiry, and generally at second or third hand. Calmet 
 was born in the year 1672, and lived, therefore, at a 
 period when a belief in the supernatural was general. 
 His education for the Church did not by any means 
 tend to lessen the force of the credulity implanted in 
 him by Nature. Thus his work shows that he believed 
 in magic and sorcery, witchcraft, familiars, spirits and 
 elves, demons, vampires, the possibility of a man being 
 in two places at the same time, that the bodies of ex- 
 communicated persons do not decay, etc. He credited 
 
 * The statement comes originally from Mr. Rich, who malies it without 
 giving the name of his authority. It is contained iu a section signed 
 with his initials, in " The Occult Sciences ; Sketches of the Traditions and 
 Superstitions of Past Times and the Marvels of the Present." London, 
 1855, p. 202. A work written by himself and Rev. Edward Lindloy, 
 W. Cooke Taylor, LL. D., and Mr. Henry Thompson. I have consulted 
 several biographies of Savonarola without finding any reference to the 
 circumstances he relates, 
 
 ■f The Phantom World ; or, the Philosophy of Spirits, Apparitions, 
 etc. By Augustin Calmet. Edited, with an Introduction and Notes, by 
 EcT. Henry Christmas. Loudon, 1860. 
 
OF SPIEITUALISM. 67 
 
 in full the allegations made against Gaufridi, and ap- 
 proved of bis punishment. The instance^ he adduces 
 in support of all his beliefs are numerous, and perfectly 
 convincing to those who are willing to accept any 
 statements which appeal to their love of the marvellous 
 without asking for the proof. What he says in regard 
 to the rising of the human body in the air comes under 
 the same category, and has no evidence in its favor 
 stronger than that brought forward in support of his 
 other views of supernatural phenomena. 
 
 The twenty-first chapter of his treatise is thus en- 
 titled : " Reasons which prove the Possibility of Sor- 
 cerers and "Witches being translated to the Sabbath." 
 After referring to instances in the Bible, he says : 
 
 "We have in history several instances of persons 
 full of religion and piety who, in the fervor of their 
 visions, have been taken up into the air, and remained 
 there some time. We have known a good monk, who 
 rises sometimes from the ground, and remains suspended 
 without wishing it, without seeking to do so, especially 
 on seeing some devotional image or hearing some de- 
 vout prayer, such as Gloria in excelsis Deo ! I know 
 a nun to whom it has often happened to see herself 
 thus raised up in the air to a certain distance from the 
 earth. It was neither from choice nor from any wish 
 to distinguish herself, since she was truly confused at 
 it." It is not stated by Calmet that either of these in- 
 stances was witnessed by him. He then innocently 
 inquires : 
 
 " Was it by the ministrations of angels, or by the 
 artifice of the seducing spirit who wished to inspire 
 
68 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 her -with sentiments of vanity ? or was it tlie natural 
 eifect of divine love, or fervor of devotion in these per- 
 sons? 
 
 " I do not observe that the ancient fathers of the 
 desert, who were so spiritual, so fervent, and so great 
 in prayer, experienced similar ecstasies." 
 
 As Calmet remarks, the phenomena were only met 
 with in the " new saints." 
 
 Of these " new saints," who have been lifted up by 
 unseen powers, he gives the following list : 
 
 St. Philip Neri. 
 
 St. Catharine Columbina. 
 
 St. Ignatius Loyola. 
 
 St. Robert de Palentin. 
 
 St. Bernard Ptolomsei. 
 
 St. Philip Benitas. 
 
 St. Cajetanus. 
 
 St. Albert of Sicily. 
 
 St. Dominic. 
 
 St. Christina, who was raised up after death, was 
 restored to life, and who was thereafter so light that she 
 could run with great swiftness. 
 
 A nun, named Seraphina, in whom the tendency to 
 rise was so great that six sisters could not hold her 
 down. 
 
 St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, who, it will 
 be recollected, caught the devil by the nose with a pair 
 of red-hot pincers, and . at whose instigation, or at least 
 connivance, Elgiva, the wife of Edwy, was so cruellv 
 murdered. 
 
 St. Eichard, abbot of St. Vanne de Verdun. 
 
OF SPIRITUALISM. 69 
 
 Father Dominic Carme Dechaux, who floated about 
 in the air, and who, while in this position, was so light 
 that he was blown about like a soap bubble. 
 
 It would be a needless piece of labor to search 
 through the lives of the saints for the details of these 
 asserted examples of levitation. They all rest upon the 
 same kind of evidence, where there is any at all— the 
 declarations of the subjects themselves, or of some of 
 their followers. - I have, therefore, selected a few of 
 the more notable instances for more thorough investi- 
 gation than Calmet thought it necessary to give. 
 
 St. Philip JS'eri, born in 1595. Of this saint Butler * 
 says : " Gallonio testifies that the divine love so much 
 dilated the breast of our saint in an extraordinary rap- 
 ture, that the gristle which joined the fourth and fifth 
 ribs on the left side was broken, which accident allowed 
 the heart and the large vessels more play." 
 
 After this statement we are prepared for any thing 
 — and need not, therefore, be surprised that " Gallonio 
 mentions several extraordinary raptures with which the 
 saint was favored in prayer, and testifies that his body 
 was sometimes seen raised from the ground during his 
 devotions some yards high, at which times his coun- 
 tenance appeared shining with a bright light." 
 
 To this account Butler f appends the following re- 
 marks in the form of a note : 
 
 " We find the same authentically attested of many 
 
 * Live3 of the Primitive Fathers, Martyrs, and other Principal Saints. 
 Compiled from Original Monuments and other Authentic Records. By 
 theKev. Alban Butler. Third edition. Edinburgh, 1Y99, vol. v., p. 345 
 
 f Op. cit. p. 348. 
 
YO THE PHYSICS AisCD PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 other servants of God. St. Ignatius Loyola was some- 
 times seen raised in prayer two feet above the ground, 
 his body at the same time shining like light. The like 
 elevations are related in the lives of St. Dominic, St. 
 Dunstan, St. Philip Benitas, St. ■ Cajetan, St. Albert of 
 Sicily, B. Bernard Ptolomsei, institutor of the congre- 
 gation of Our Lady of Mount Olivet Aug. XXL, B. 
 Eobert of Palentin Aug. XYIII. in the Bollandists, 
 of St. Francis of Assisium in his life by Chalippi, and 
 others. Many of the authors of these lives, persons of 
 undoubted veracity, testify that they were eye-witnesses 
 of these facts. Others were so careful and diligent wri- 
 ters that their authority cannot be questioned." 
 
 Butler cites several of the cases on the authority of 
 Calmet, whom he praises in the highest terms. But, as 
 showing the difficulty with which he has accepted their 
 truth, yet not perceiving that he is using a two-edged 
 sword, he says : 
 
 "Ennapius, a Platonic philosopher, who, in 380, 
 wrote the lives of Porphyrius and Jamblichus, relates 
 that the latter was often raised ten cubits into the air, 
 and was seen surrounded with a bright light." But 
 he denounces Ennapius as " credulous, malicious, and 
 unworthy of credit," as being inimical to Christianity, 
 and in fact as bad as Porphyrius and Jamblichus them- 
 selves. I am, nevertheless, decidedly of the opinion 
 that the evidence in favor of the levitation of Jambli- 
 chus, the Neoplatonic philosopher, is fully as strong as 
 that adduced on the side of any Christian saint, monk, 
 nun, or medium. 
 
 Among the instances mentioned by Calmet is that 
 
OF SPrEITUAMSM. 71 
 
 of St. Theresa. This very remarkable woman was born 
 in 1515. From a very early age she was afflicted with 
 frequent fits of fainting and violent pain at her heart, 
 which sometimes deprived her of her senses; sharp 
 pains were frequent through her whole frame ; her sin- 
 ews began to shrink up, and finally, in August, 1537, 
 when she was in her twenty-third year, she fell into a 
 lethargic coma or trance, which lasted four days.. At 
 one time she was thought to be dead, and her grave was 
 actually dug. During this attack she bit her tongue in 
 several places, and was for a long time unable to swal- 
 low ; sometimes her whole body seemed as if her bones 
 were disjointed in every part, and her head was in ex- 
 treme disorder and pain. 
 
 As Madden * remarks, from whom these particulars 
 are taken, though it is found in Butler,f and in he rau- 
 tobiography : " It is impossible for a medical man to 
 read this account of the occasional falling into a lethar- 
 gic state, fits of fainting and swooning, violent spasms, 
 pain at the heart, temporary loss of reason, shrinking 
 of the sinews, oppression, with a profound sense of sad- 
 ness, biting of the tongue in many places when out of her 
 senses, inability to swallow any liquid, distortion of the 
 whole frame as if all her bones were disjointed, subse- 
 quent inability to stir hand or foot for some time, and 
 a generally-dififused soreness so as to be unable to bear 
 being touched, without coming to the conclusion that 
 the sufferer labored under physical disease of a low 
 
 * Phantasmata ; or, Illusions and Fanaticisms of Protean Forms, pro- 
 ductive of Great Evils. London, 1857, vol. i., p. 1818. 
 f Op. dt., Tol. X., p. 324, efseg. 
 
12 THE PHTSICB AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 nervous or gastric kind, with continuous fever proba- 
 bly complicated with epileptic tendencies." 
 
 There can be no doubt that she was of a highly-hys- 
 terical temperament, and was subject to paroxysms of 
 hysterical chorea, catalepsy, and epilepsy. Her visions 
 became very frequent, and her raptures were even more 
 numerous. In rapture, as she says, " the body loses 
 all the use of its voluntary functions, and every part 
 remains in the same posture, without feeling, hearing or 
 seeing, at least so as to perceive it." 
 
 During these raptures she was at times under the 
 impression that she was raised in the air. Speaking of 
 the elevation of her soul, she says: 
 
 " Sometimes my whole body was carried with it so 
 as to be raised up from the ground, though this was 
 seldom. When I had a mind to resist these raptures, 
 there seemed to me somewhat of a mighty force under 
 my feet, which raised me up that I knew not what to 
 compare it to." * 
 
 It is said. Bishop Ypres saw her thus lifted up. 
 The instance in question is similar in general features 
 to all the others recorded of enthusiastic saints and 
 other religious persons. The organization of St. The- 
 resa was such as to allow of her imagining any thing 
 as reality ; and the hallucination of being lifted up, as I 
 shall show hereafter, is one of the most common, ex- 
 perienced by ecstatics. 
 
 A case not referred to by Calmet is that of St. 
 Francis, of Assisium, whose life is contained in Butler's f 
 
 * Butler, op. cii., vol. x., p. 359. \ Vol. x., p. Tl. 
 
OF epmrruALisM. 73 
 
 collection. This self-denying and enthusiastic saint 
 died in 1226. He constantly wore a hair-shirt, rarely 
 ate any thing cooked, and, when he did, put ashes and 
 water on it, slept on the ground with a piece of wood 
 or stone for a pillow, never drank enough water to 
 satisfy his thirst, when tormented by an occasional ac- 
 cession of sexual desire, stripped himself and rolled in 
 the snow, and made large snow-balls which he clasped 
 in his arms, imagined that during a state of exaltation 
 he had been marked in the hands, feet, and side, in 
 imitation of the wounds received by Christ during the 
 crucifixion, and exhibited the scars — the stigmata of 
 catalepsy, besides giving many other evidences of 
 laboring under mental derangement. Among his mir- 
 acles, was that of curing a man of a virulent ulcer of 
 the face by kissing the sore. . It is therefore not strange 
 that levitation was among his powers. As Butler 
 says : " The raptures and other extraordinary favors 
 which he received from God in contemplation, he was 
 careful to conceal from men. St. Bonaventure and 
 other writers of his life assure us that he was fre- 
 quently raised from the ground in prayer. F. Leo, his 
 secretary and confessor, testified that 'he had seen him 
 in prayer raised above the ground so high, that this dis- 
 ciple could only touch his feet, which he held and 
 watered with his tears, and that sometimes he was 
 raised much higher." * As F. Leo is shown by this ex- 
 tract to have been of an excitable and nervous temper- 
 ament, we would scarcely be warranted in placing im- 
 
 * Op. at., p. 104. 
 4 
 
74 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 plicit confidence in any statement lie might make bor- 
 dering on aflBrmation of a miraculous act. . 
 
 The eases cited are attributed to the influence of 
 the Holy Spirit or to angels. There is another class of 
 examples which are supposed to be due to the agency 
 of demons, witches, or other diabolical power. Thus, 
 those who had made a compact with the devil always 
 went to the Sabbath by supernatural agencies, and gen- 
 erally through the air astride of a broomstick.* Others 
 are cited by Mather, in the work already referred to, 
 and many are contained in other treatises on the " black 
 art." The evidence in support of this category of in- 
 stances is fully as strong as that in favor of the more 
 orthodox variety. A very well-authenticated case — 
 as authentication goes in such matters — is that " con- 
 cerning the witchcraft practised hy Jane Brooks upon 
 Sicha/rd Jones, son of Henry Jones, of Shepton Mal- 
 let." \ Among other spells laid on this unfortunate 
 youth, we are told that — 
 
 " On the 25th of February, between two and three 
 in the afternoon, the boy living at the house of Kichard 
 Ifles, in Shepton Mallet, went out of the room into the 
 
 * Many of the older works on sorcery and witchcraft contain plates 
 representing the departure to the Sabbath, and the orgies which took 
 place there under the auspices of the devil. Among the most striking 
 are the Description de FAssembUe des Sorciers qu'on appelle Sabbat in 
 L'IBstoire des Imaginations, extravagantes de Monsieur Ou/le, Paris, 
 1154, t. ii., and Dispart pour le Sabbat, and other plates in the second 
 edition of the Dictionnaire Infemale. Paris, 1826. 
 
 f Sadducismus Triumphatus, or a Full and Plain Evidence concerning 
 Witches and Apparitions. By Joseph Glanvil. London, l'?26, p. 285, 
 et seq. 
 
OF SPIEITUALISM. 15 
 
 garden. Ifles liis wife followed him and was within two 
 yards, when she saw him rise np from the ground before 
 her, and so mounted higher and higher till he passed 
 in the air over the garden-wall, and was carried so 
 aboveground more than thirty years [yards?], falling 
 at last at one Jordan's door at Shepton, where he was 
 found as dead for a time, but, coming to himself, told 
 Jordan that Jane Brooks had taken him up by the 
 arm'out of Ifles his garden, and carried him in the air as 
 is related." It is, perhaps, scarcely necessary to add 
 that Jane Brooks was condemned and executed. 
 
 In all supposed instances of levitation such as have 
 been cited, the true explanation may be made by refer- 
 ring them to one or other of the following causes : 
 
 1. An hallucination on the part of the subject, or 
 of those asserting themselves to have been witnesses. 
 As De Boismont * remarks : " The sensation of flying is 
 rather common. Frequently, in dreams, we feel our- 
 selves borne along with the rapidity of an arrow ; we 
 accomplish great distances, just lightly touching the 
 ground. "We have noticed this fact in a literary man of 
 our acquaintance, whom we have several times found, 
 with fixed eyes, and who said to us, *I am flying; do 
 not stop me.' On returning to himself he described 
 his sensations, and it seemed to him that he really had 
 flown. This sensation was experienced as far back as 
 the time of St. Jerome, who relates that, frequently, 
 in his dreams, he felt himself flying over mountains, 
 seas, etc. 
 
 * A History of Dreams, Visions, Apparitions, Ecstasy, Magnetism, 
 and Somnambulispi, Aiperican edition, Pliiladelphia, 1856, p. 94. 
 
16 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 " Madame d'Arnim, Goethe's friend, in speaking of 
 this fact, says : ' I was certain that I flew and floated in 
 the air. By a simple, elastic pressure of the toe I was 
 in the air. I floated silently and delicionsly at two or 
 three feet above the earth : I alighted, mounted again, 
 I flew from side to side, and then returned. A few days 
 after, I was taken with fever. I went to bed and slept. 
 It happened two weeks after I was confined.' " * 
 
 Numerous other instances of similar cases are re- 
 corded in works on psychological medicine, and several 
 have come under my own observation. 
 
 In one of these, a lady, of strongly-marked hysterical 
 temperament, and of almost fanatical religions tenden- 
 cies, imagined that she was frequently raised from the 
 ground while in the act of saying her prayers. She 
 usually spent several hours each day in these exercises, 
 and during the whole time was in a state of fervid ex- 
 altation, which rendered her insensible to all that was 
 passing around her. While in this condition she would 
 exclaim, " I rise, I rise ! I see angels ! " and, with her 
 hands raised on high, her head elevated, her face turned 
 upward, and her countenance illuminated with ecstatic 
 radiance, she really did seem, to some superficial and 
 sympathetic observers, to be lifted up. Among others, 
 her maid was strongly convinced that the elevation was 
 actual; but stronger-minded members of her family 
 could see nothing of the kind, and eventually the lady 
 herself became convinced that she was the victim of 
 self-deception. A young married lady, now under my 
 
 * Correspondence de Goethe et de Bettina. Translated by M. Sc- 
 bact Albin, t.. i., p. 68. 
 
OF. SPIEITUALISM. 77 
 
 l)rofessional care, is very confident that, during the cat- 
 aleptic seizures to which she is subject, she is raised from 
 her bed, and she appeals with confidence to those sur- 
 rounding her to confirm her statements. It almost 
 always happens that some one present expresses the 
 opinion that she really was lifted up several inches. 
 
 The majority of the cases met with in the lives of 
 saints belong to this category. Nearly all the subjects 
 were the victims of some severe disorder of the nervous 
 system, by which they were rendered peculiarly sus- 
 ceptible to hallucinations ; and their more ardent fol- 
 lowers were either similarly affected or were so im- 
 pressed by the power of suggestion, already considered 
 in this essay, as to be fit recipients of erroneous mental 
 or sensorial impressions. 
 
 The appearance as if about to fly is very common 
 in cases of ecstasy, and is due to the raising of the arms, 
 the upward look, and the elevation of the body on the 
 extreme points of the toes. This position is sometimes 
 kept for hours, and may readily — as the stature is in- 
 creased in height — lead to the opinion that the body is 
 off the ground, especially in the cases of women whose 
 feet cannot readily be seen, owing to the drapery of their 
 dress, 
 
 A sensation as if the body were passing rapidly 
 through the air is induced by certain drugs, particu- 
 larly aconite, 
 
 2. Unmtentional exaggeration, misinterpretaUon, 
 and inaccuracy of statement. It frequently happens 
 that,- during hysterical convulsions, the affected person 
 makes strong efforts to rise, which attempts are strenu- 
 
78 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 ously resisted by the bystanders. In former times, 
 when every seizure of the kind was regarded as being 
 directly due to the agency of demons, or other super- 
 natural beings, acting either within the sufferer (pos- 
 sessive) or from without (obsessive), the idea was very 
 naturally entertained that, but for the assistance of 
 friends at hand, severe injury would result from the 
 convulsive movements. "When, therefore, the limbs 
 were thrown about, or the body writhed, or the tongue 
 was bitten, the afflicted epileptic, cataleptic, or hysteri- 
 cal individual was at once seized, and the statement 
 made that all the phenomena of the paroxysm were 
 caused by some kind of spiritual power. At the same 
 time the actual violence of the manifestations was always 
 over-estimated, just as is invariably done by spectators 
 of our own day. It thus often happened that a contor- 
 tion of the body was regarded as the effort of a demon 
 to carry it off. No sensible person can read the ac- 
 counts of witchcraft which have come down to ns, and 
 some of which have been cited in this essay, without be- 
 ing convinced that this was a frequent interpretation of 
 well-known pathological symptoms, or doubt that sev- 
 eral of the asserted instances of levitation— as, for in- 
 stance, that of Sister Seraphina — are to be explained in 
 a similar manner. 
 
 3. Insufficient evidence. Most of the instances of 
 levitation which are recorded rest on insufficient evi- 
 dence, such as would be inadequate to establish the fact 
 in a court of law. This is the case, for example, with 
 several of the alleged instances occurring in the persons 
 of saints, monks, and nuns. It does not appear that 
 
OF SPIEITUALISM. 79 
 
 Calmet ever saw the human body lifted up without ma- 
 terial agency, although he refers to several cases of 
 which he had heard. Hearsay testimony is of so equivo- 
 cal a character as to be disregarded in all matters of 
 importance, and yet we arer expected to rely on it as 
 suflBcient to establish the fact of miraculous events, 
 which, of all others, should require the most unerring 
 and irrefragable demonstration. 
 
 Take, for example, the alleged elevation of Savona- 
 rola, which is quoted with peculiar unction by the spir- 
 itualists of the present day. Kesearch shows that the 
 story is altogether of comparatively recent origin, and 
 that its truth has been assumed by interested believers 
 in supernaturalism, without due pains being taken to 
 verify its accuracy. 
 
 And so, relative to St. Ignatius Loyola, whose ele- 
 vation in the air is also & point d^appui for the spiritual- 
 ists. A recent biographer, a sincere and d'cvout mem- 
 ber of the Roman Catholic Church, thus speaks of St. 
 Ignatius and his faithful adherents, in connection with 
 a report — the last of the kind — that a siipernatural 
 light had been seen around his body : 
 
 "His children never claimed for him a power of 
 working prodigies, and he would certainly greatly have 
 regretted such an attitude. , All the remarkable circum- 
 stances of the kind that it has been thought right to 
 detail may be set aside, if the reader so pleases. The 
 time and only miracle that it is necessary to know and 
 to appreciate is that of a most noble, extraordinary, and 
 original character and an admirable life." * 
 
 * Ignatius Loyola aud the Early Jesuits. By Stewart Kosc. Lon- 
 don, 1870, p. 481. 
 
80 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 We know that even uudoubted events, wlien seen 
 througli the prejudiced historian's spectacles, become 
 so changed in character as to be scarcely recogniza- 
 ble, and that no two persons witnessing a transaction 
 will give precisely the same version of it. Even in so ex- 
 act a science as chemistry authorities differ, and, in test- 
 ing for poisons, one observer has perceived the looked- 
 for reaction, while another, working under the same 
 conditions, has failed to see the change of color or the 
 precipitation. The sensorial impressions of some per- 
 sons are always modified by their mental bias. 
 
 4. Intentional misstatement. Some of the instances 
 are probably due to misrepresentation, with the view of 
 enhancing the reputation for sanctity of the subjects, or 
 simply from that love for telling marvellous stories 
 which is so inherent a quality with the majority of man- 
 kind ; such, in all likelihood, are the earlier examples — 
 as that of St. Dunstan. 
 
 The cases, too, recorded in connection with witch- 
 craft are many of them clearly fraudulent in character, 
 fabricated for the purpose of injuring some obnoxious 
 person by the imputation of being a witch. The boy 
 who asserted, in conjunction with the wife of Ifles, that 
 he had been carried over a wall by one Jane Brooks, 
 was evidently in a conspiracy with Mrs. Ifles to accom- 
 plish the destruction of an innocent woman. 
 
 5. Legerdemain. This explanation has already been 
 commented upon in connection with the Braminical 
 exploits made before Apollonius Tyaneus ; that it is suffi- 
 cient to account for many instances cannot be ques- 
 tioned. 
 
OF SPIEITUALISM. 81 
 
 The modern instances, attributed directly to the 
 influence of the spiritualists, are scarcely deserving of 
 mention. None of them are well authenticated, and all 
 are more reasonably explained by ascribing them to 
 one or several of the causes specified. Performed in 
 the dark, they afford abundant opportunity for deceit 
 on the one part, and hallucination or illusion on the 
 other. They do not even claim to be as powerful 
 manifestations as those specially referred to in this 
 essay, for the latter were asserted to be done in broad 
 daylight, and the subjects could be touched by those 
 present ; while those of our day avoid inquiry, and are 
 performed under such circumstances as to defy thorough 
 examination. In one case which came under my notice, 
 the medium, a woman, was bound in a phair and seated 
 at one end of a long table. The lights were then ex- 
 tinguished, and a blanket hung over the window, so as 
 to exclude the feeblest ray of light from a dark night. 
 The company, with the exception of the medium! s hus- 
 iand, sat around the table, holding each other's hands. 
 The only inquirers present were myself and another 
 gentleman, who were carefully sandwiched between the 
 faithful, who kept up a dismal howling while the ex- 
 periment went on. The husband stood at one end of 
 the room, outside of the circle. There was a good deal 
 of noise at the medium's end of the table, which was 
 only partially drowned by the lugubrious singing. 
 Suddenly she exclaimed, " Now ! " The gas was turned 
 on, and she was found seated in the middle of the table 
 still fastened to the chair ; all present except my friend 
 and myself were convinced that the spirits had placed 
 
82 THE PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 her there. We were not, for the reasons, mainly, that 
 it was entirely practicable for her husband to have put 
 her on the table without his movements being known 
 to us, and that it was very easy, as I have ascertained 
 by experiment, for her to have climbed to the top of the 
 table without any assistance whatever. 
 
 There are perhaps fifty cases of levitation on record. 
 I will engage to supply more and better- authenticated in- 
 stances of any other hitherto-mentioned supernatural 
 phenomenon— such as lizards living in the human stom- 
 ach, persons walking without their heads, people with 
 glass-legs, others who are cofFee-pots ; or, to go to the very 
 opposite, instances of the force of gravity or the power of 
 spirits being so great as to prevent the body being 
 raised at all. At the time of writing this, a lady is 
 under my care who declares that she cannot rise from 
 her chair, and who has succeeded in convincing several 
 of her friends that she speaks the truth. It would be 
 easy to discover, by searching in the right places, many 
 other cases of the kind, and here is one in point which 
 I get at second-hand, as the spiritualists do theirs : 
 
 " In the northern borders of England, and on the 
 other side of the river Humber, in the parish of Hove- 
 den, lived the rector of that church with his concubine. 
 This concubine one day sat rather imprudently on the 
 tomb of St. Osaima, sister to King Ofred, which was 
 made of wood, and raised above the ground in the 
 shape of a seat. When she attempted to rise from the 
 place her posteriors stuck to the wood in such a manner 
 that she never could be parted from it till, in the pres- 
 ence of the people who ran to see her, she had suffered 
 
OF SPIEITUALISM. 83 
 
 her clothes to bo torn from her, and had received a 
 severe discipline on her naked body, and that to a great 
 eifusion of blood, and with many tears and devout sup- 
 plications on her part. Which done, and after she had 
 engaged to submit to further penitence, she was divinely 
 released." * 
 
 A remedy so potent in gravitation would probably 
 prove equally efficacious in levitation. 
 
 IX. 
 
 At all times during the historic period, two classes 
 of individuals have been concerned in the propagation 
 of false ideas relative to the phenomena which it is now 
 attempted to impose upon the world as produced by 
 the agency of spirits. These are the deceivers and the 
 deceived. Whether as priests, witches, magicians, mes- 
 merizers, somnambulists, ecstatics, hysterical persons, 
 or mediums, the first are deceivers ; some of them hon- 
 est, but, by far the greater number guilty of intentional 
 .fraud. Whether subject to illusions, hallucinations, or 
 delusions, weak-minded or ignorant, the second are de- 
 ceived. 
 
 In the foregoing pages the writer has attempted to 
 
 * The History of the Flagellants, otherwise of Religious Flagellations 
 .nmong Different Nations, and especially among Christians. Being a Para- 
 phrase and Commentary on the Historia Flagellantium of the Abb6 Boiloau, 
 Doctor of the Sorbonne, etc. By one who ia not a Doctor of the Sorboiine 
 [De Lolme]. The second edition. London, 1783, p. 31Y. The miracle 
 referred to is quoted from the " Itinerarium Cambrias, wrote by Sylvester 
 Geraldus, a native of the country of Wales, who wrote about the year 
 1188." 
 
84 THE PHYSIOS AND PHTSIOLOGY 
 
 give an outline view of some of the causes -which produce 
 many so-called supernatural manifestations, and which 
 lead to their acceptance by certain classes of individu- 
 als. To describe, in detail, all the vagaries of spiritual- 
 ism would be a fruitless undertaking. He has witnessed 
 many spiritualistic performances, and has never seen a 
 single one which could not be accounted for by the op- 
 eration of some one or more of the causes specified. 
 No medium has ever yet been lifted into the air by 
 spirits, no one has ever read unknown writing through 
 a closed envelope, no one has ever lifted tables or 
 chairs but by material agencies, no one has ever been 
 tied or untied by spirits, no one has ever heard the 
 knock of a spirit, and no one has ever spoken through 
 the power of a spirit other than his own. 
 
 Even if bodies had been raised in the air by agen- 
 cies unexplainable, even if some one had read writing 
 through several thicknesses of paper, even if others had 
 been bound and unbound in a way unknown to us, even 
 if knocks had been heard whose sources could not be 
 ascertained, even if the causes of all the phenomena of 
 spiritualiem were entirely beyond our present knowl- 
 edge, there would be no proof that spirits had any thing 
 to do with them. On the contrary, the hypothesis of 
 spirits is altogether the least plausible which could be 
 suggested. The phenomena and the explanation have 
 nothing in common. 
 
 Spiritualism is a religion. As such it is held tena- 
 ciously and honestly by many well-meaning people. To 
 reason with these would be a waste of words, just as 
 much as would be the attempt to jjersuade a madman 
 
OF SPIRITUALISM. 85 
 
 out of his delusion. Emotion or interest or accident 
 might change them, but facts never. But there are 
 some who halt between belief and unbelief, for the rea- 
 son mainly that they have no clear conception of what 
 knowledge is, and of liow things are to be proved. For 
 these there can be no more striking truths than the 
 following account of Algazzali's description of his search 
 for actual knowledge : 
 
 " The true source of casual beliefs is the authority 
 of parents and preceptors. Now, there are many methods 
 of comprehending the diiferences which exist between 
 things received on the faith of such authority and the 
 principles of the things themselves. There exist like- 
 wise many means of distinguishing the true from the 
 false. For this reason I said to myself in the very be- 
 ginning of my inquiry, ' My object is simply to know 
 the truth of things, consequently it is indispensable to 
 seek for that which constitutes knowledge.' Xow, it is 
 evident to me that certain knowledge ought to be that 
 which explains the object to be known, so that there 
 can be no doubt, and that all error and all conjecture 
 would be henceforth impossible. And not only then 
 the understanding would not need to make efforts to ar- 
 rive at certainty, but the security against error ought to 
 be in so intimate a connection with the thing known for 
 certain, that even when an apparent proof of its falsity 
 is produced — as, for example, if a man should transform 
 a stone into gold or a stick into a serpent — no error 
 should be caused, or even the suspicion of error ren- 
 dered possible. If, when I have satisfied myself that 
 ten is more than three, some one should say to me, 
 
86 THE PHYSICS AND' PHYSIOLOGY OF SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 ' Not SO, on the contrary three is more than ten, and to 
 prove to you the truth of my assertion I will transform 
 this rod into a snake ; ' if then he should so transform 
 it to my entire conviction, the certainty I should have 
 of his error would not be shaken. His performance 
 would produce in me only an admiration for his skill, 
 but I should not doubt the truth I had acquired. 
 
 " Then I was convinced that all knowledge which I 
 did not possess in this manner, and of which I had not 
 this kind of certitude, could inspire me with neither con- 
 fidence nor assurance, and that all knowledge without 
 assurance is not a sure knowledge." * 
 
 How little the phenomena of spiritualism are recon- 
 cilable with the tests laid down by Algazzali every 
 candid, intelligent, and educated inquirer knows. 
 
 * Essai 9ur lea ficoles philoaophiques chez les Arabes et notamment 
 sur la Doctrine d' Algazzali. Par Auguste Schmolders, Docteur en Philo- 
 sophie. Paris, 1842. 
 
 THK BND. 
 
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