1?\ ^^V ;lii& ^ v ' SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED AND EXPLAINED. JUDGE EDMONDS REFUTED; AN EXPOSITION OF THE littolttttlarjj $0fotr« raft $iwiintis OF THE HUMAN MIND. BY JOHN BOVEE ; DODS, AUTHOR OF « PHILOSOPHY OP ELECTBICAL PSYCHOLOGY," " IMMORTALITY TRIUMPHANT," ETC., ETC. NEW YORK : DE WITT & DAVENPORT, PUBLISHERS, 160 & 162 NASSAU STREET. y Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by DE WITT & DAVENPORT, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court, for the Southern District of New York. W. H. Tinson, Stereotypy. 24 Beeknvan street, N. Y. Holman, Gray & Co., Printers. New- York. TO HON. WILLIAM LUSK CRANDAL, A PHILOSOPHIC WRITER ON THS EDUCATION OF MAN, AND THE PEIEND OF CHILDHOOD ffcis ®0rk 16 RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY HIS SINCERE AND DEVOTED FRIEND, THE AUTHOR. INTRODUCTION. The substance of the following Lectures, on the rationale of the so-called spirit-manifesta- tions, was delivered at the City Hall in Auburn, N. Y., in April, 1851. In June, 1852, 1 wrote them out with an intention, after delivering them a few times, to hand them over for publication. But this has been neglected, and I have continued to deliver them occasionally for eighteen months past, when and where invited by my friends to do so. I make the above explanation, because it will be perceived by the reader, that in one of my Lectures I make a statement, that I knew of no one who had taken the middle VI INTRODUCTION. ground between believers and skeptics in the spirit-manifestations, and who was a rational believer — that is, a believer on natural princi- ples. And as I use considerable language of this character, it might be considered incorrect, when Mr. Rogers has published a work that occupies the middle ground between believers and skeptics. But as my Lectures were written and delivered before his book appeared, so this matter will be understood by all. I have no faith whatever in the odic force of Reich- enbach, which Mr. Rogers seems to have adopted to explain the phenomena of the spirit- manifestations. For this the reader will find my reasons stated in the Appendix to these Lectures. I will now say, that I had abandoned the idea of publishing my views in connection with the spirit-manifestations, and had coi eluded to prepare a work devoted exclusively to the exposition of the instincts of man as connected with the involuntary potvers of his mind, which, as a branch of mental philosophy, has been entirely overlooked. But as Judge Edmonds, of this city, has just published a work in INTRODUCTION. Vll defense of the spirit-manifestations, and given the subject the weight and sanction of his judicial name, and even resigned his seat in consequence, as Judge of the Supreme Court, and as the doctrine is gradually assuming a more imposing attitude before the public, so I feel in duty bound to listen to the solicitations of my friends, and publish this humble effort of mine in the hope that it may do good. And though sensible that errors may be de- tected and pointed out, yet I am fully satisfied that the thought — the leading idea involved in the work — is in accordance with nature and truth, and this is all that I feel myself bound to defend against any attack that may be made. J. B. DODS. CONTENTS. Pagb DEDICATION 3 INTRODUCTION 5 LECTURE I. PUBLIC OPINION OF SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS AND MEDIUMS STATED AND CONSIDERED 13-26 The author urged to explain the spirit-manifestations — They are not produced by the agency of departed spirits, are not a humbug, but the effect of a natural cause — Three classes of minds — the credulous, the skeptical, and those who calmly investigate — Origin of rappings in the family of Mr. Fox, March, 1848 — Intelligence discovered ; the a-b-c pro- cess, rapping and writing mediums ; they are sincerely hon- est — The mysterious nature of the subject — The public divided into believers and skeptics ; both are in error ; the manifestations may be true if not caused by spirits — The character of its mediums and advocates : their respectability, their number ; rapidity with which the doctrine is spread- ing — Periodicals in its defense — It portends a new revelation. LECTURE II. INVOLUNTARY RAPPING: HOW PRODUCED, AND THE FORCE OF HABIT ARGUED 27-40 Two points to be considered, viz. : Motion and intelligence connected with it — Nervous impressibility through passivity, and the result — The state of the two brains ; the involuntary nerves electrically charged more than the voluntary is the cause of electro-magnetic sounds being given off — Case of the Seeress of Prevorst, and Miss Slaughter, of Virginia — Case of a lady reported in Professor Silliman's Journal who gave off electric sounds — Mediums produce sounds in a sim- ilar manner — Sound is propagated and conducted — The force of habit ; the stuttering boy ; the performer on the piano ; he plays by instinct. LECTURE III. INVOLUNTARY MOTION IN GENERAL CONSIDERED. 41-63 Involuntary motion among the Greeks, Romans, Druids, and 6avage tribes — The Pythian priestess and spinning dervishes — Dr. Babbington's account — The cat-mewing nuns ; the biting nuns — Barclay's account of Quaker tremblings and shakings ; a Quaker lady in Salem, Mass. — Seeress of Pre- vorst — Dr. Stone on the progress of fanaticism — The devil- X CONTENTS. Pagb chase, marble-playing, and stick-riding — The jerks among converts — The spirit-rapping mania is from the same origin as all other involuntary motions. LECTURE IV. THE INSTINCTS OF MAN AND THE INVOLUNTARY POWERS OF HIS MIND CONSIDERED, AND THE INTELLIGENCE CONNECTED WITH SPIRIT-MANI- FESTATIONS EXPLAINED 54-71 Every part of the human system is double ; the brain is double, and the mind that pervades is double ; the cerebrum, or front brain, considered; the cerebellum, or back brain, considered — The office of each as the organ of the mind ; the front brain contains the voluntary powers of the mind, such as thought and reason — The back brain contains the invol- untary powers of the mind, such as instinct and intuition — The senses involuntary — Instinct itself considered in brutes and in men — Pope on instinct ; creatures have both reason and instinct ; man has both — Presentiments — All the intelligence in spirit-manifestations is from the involuntary power of instinct — The medium has no will in writing — Clay — Webster ; their communications— Writing in Hebrew, Greek, German, French, and Indian languages. LECTURE V. THE INSTINCTS OF MAN; HIS INVOLUNTARY POW- ERS OF MIND AND THE INTELLIGENCE CONNECTED WITH THE SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS CONTINUED. 72-96 Mesmerism, psychology, and catalepsy rouse instinct into action ; in one of these states mediums must be — Seeress of Prevorst — What constitutes a good medium ; false mediums — Psychological impressions and experiment stated — Fits — The whole subject of the spirit-manifestations brought to the test — Proof that it is psychology or mesmerism under the energy of which the whole is done — Objections stated and met in every form — Contradictions pointed out — How tables are tipped, moved, and raised — Mediums appeal to , Scripture — The angel announcing the birth of Christ to shepherds ; the splendor of the scene — The transfiguration — The angel in Gethsemane — The crucifixion and resurrection. LECTURE VI. THE INSTINCTS OF MAN— HIS INVOLUNTARY POW- ERS OF MIND, AND THE INTELLIGENCE CONNECTED WITH THE SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS, CONCLUDED 97-113 Man is capable of double consciousness ; if not, where do spirits get the power to communicato— Positive proof that CONTENTS. XI Pagb man has instinct and intuition in the back brain — Mesmer- ism proves it — The involuntary power never reasons, but knows ; through this, God has inspired men — From the instincts of the lower animals man has obtained his first idea of the arts and improvements — History testifies it, and poets sing it — By instinct the medium writes; by it the somnam- bulist walks safely where he could not by reason when awake — Mesmerism and psychology useful in their place; not needed to make a new revelation of moral truth — Mr. Davis and the Bible — Swedeaborg and the Bible. LECTURE VII. THE BIBLE CAN NOT BE SUPERSEDED BY A NEW REVELATION OF MORAL TRUTH— THE MAGNAN- IMITY OF CHRIST 114-129 Improvements may be made in the arts and sciences, but not in moral truth— The moral precepts of Christ — Mr. Davis' description of other planets and their inhabitants is no revelation of moral truth — The globe contains more of natural science than man can learn; the Bible more of moral truth than man has yet practiced — Christ's revelation tran- scends all others — Christ came from heaven and knew man's moral wants — His power; his greatness ; his intelligence ; his moral grandeur — His reign and its consummation — He is the First and the Last. LECTURE VIII. NOTICE OF JUDGE EDMONDS' BOOK, AND HIS ARGU- MENT CONSIDERED 127-144 Judge Edmonds, Dr. Dexter, Governor Tallmadge, authors of the work called " Spiritualism," pages 505 — The candor of the writers — Swedenborg's communications considered ; also Bacon's — The character ascribed to Christ — Communications from Clay, Webster, and Calhoun — Dr. Adin Ballou— The beauty of Charity — Andrew Jackson Davis' book — Spirit- intercourse the Judge thinks will uproot infidelity, and unite all denominations in one harmony — Mrs. Fish ; the first me- dium, her candor — Effects of the gospel in 1800 years — All magnanimous objects move slowly — The volumes of nature and revelation contrasted ; the human race are the students of nature ; their progress slow ; the same in revelation — All men differ in nature, and why not in revelation ? — All are progressing and approximating a common goal of senti- ment — To accomplish this union may require thousands of years — The agent will not be spiritual intercourse by which it will be effected, but the power of the press — The spirit- manifestations the Judge makes older than the Christian era, and what have they done compared with the gospel ? Nothing. XU CONTENTS. Pagb LECTURE IX. CONSIDERATION OF JUDGE EDMONDS' ARGUMENT CONTINUED 145-172 Physical manifestations considered ; the bell is taken from M.'s hand and rung ; comb taken from the hair; shawl from the shoulders, and feet tripped up by the spirits — Table moved and bass-viol and violins placed in the Judge's hand and hung about his neck and played upon, and the Judge struck with the fiddle-bow — Ladies tied together with a handkerchief — Spirits requesting lights to be put out — Legerdemain ; tricks with cards ; bell-ringing examined — Were the rooms well lighted? — The Judge is a writing-me- dium and sees visions — He is in the electro-psychological state, and sees and hears all these things — Clairvoyants told the secrets of his bosom — The chair jerked from under the Judge — All these things should be performed before an audience of four or five hundred persons to be proved true. LECTURE X. THE EXISTENCE OF REICHENBACH'S ODIC-FORCE EXAMINED - 173-215 Electricity substituted for odic-force — Spirits may communi- cate with mortals — Revelation finished — Swedenborg consist- ent — Davis against the Bible — Professor Grimes — Judge Edmonds' queries with spirits as to understanding how they communicate with men — It is by the odic-force of Von Reich- enbach — Sympathy of magnetizer and subject as to feeling, tasting, smelling, hearing, and seeing — Experiments at Clinton Hall — It is all by sympathy — Magnetizer is unnec- essary — Let the subject go into the state by a mental abstrac- tion with that substance in his hand he desires to investigate and write it all down while in the state — He should be igno- rant of human opinions — Swedenborg went into the state right — Somnambulists also, and so do mediums — The various modes by which to get into communication with the subject. Of this Reichenbach is ignorant — If the odic-force be real, why have not all clairvoyants seen it ? — Since Reichenbach's book has been read, all clairvoyants have seen it, and lastly Judge Edmonds has seen it. APPENDIX. The appendix concluding with a letter to Professor Bush should be carefully read, as it contains valuable matter re- cording many wonderful cases of intelligence, prophesy, and without the aid of spirit-communications 216-252 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS. LECTURE I Ladies and Gentlemen : For three years past I have been urged by various literary gentlemen among my friends and acquaintance to investigate the mysterious and interesting subject of the spirit-rappings and the spirit-writings, and the various startling manifestations hovering around it, and to communicate the result of my investigations to the world. They desired to have the cause ascertain- ed and the subject understood, at least in its general features. I have not the vanity to believe that this call ha8 been made upon me on account of any superior abilities I possess, but because my friends knew that I had, for the last twenty years, made the human mind and body, and the connecting link between the two, and the phil- osophy of their various mental and physical impressions and operations, my particular study. On this account, 14 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. no doubt, they have urged me to investigate the subject of the spirit-manifestations that has so long agitated the public mind. This duty I have endeavored faithfully to perform, by giving this subject a candid investigation, and have succeeded in tracing its mysterious manifestations to a philosophical and rational cause entirely satisfactory, at least to my own mind. And, ladies and gentlemen, it is indeed a source of gratification and pleasure to me, that I enjoy the opportunity of presenting myself before you this evening, for the purpose of a free and candid consideration of a subject so full of mystery to the public mind, that clouds and darkness may be said to rest upon it. As regards the result of my investiga- tions, I must candidly confess that the spirits of our departed friends in a future world have nothing to do with this matter. And with equal candor I must con- fess, that it is not a humbug, sustained by collusion, deception, or trick, but that it is the effect of a rational cause. It exists in the realms of reason, and is there- fore susceptible of a philosophical investigation and solution without appealing to the spirit-world, or dis- turbing the repose of its raptured inhabitants. They have finished their earthly career, and are susceptible of nothing but the impressions and feelings that apper- tain to a future world, while we are swift on our jour- ney to meet them in that country where the sun never sets. LECTURE I. 15 The human, race are fleeing like shadows over the plain. They seem to move onward, but, as it were, in a vortex of ceaseless change, where all are swallowed up at last, and vanish from human sight, soon to be obliterated from human remembrance. And thus it has been from the beginning of the world down to the present moment. Each generation has, in its turn, discovered some new truth, or made some useful im- provement, and bequeathed it to the generations that should come after them, who, in their turn, have added it to the common stock of human knowledge. True, the advance of improvement in past ages has been slow, because the freedom of speech and the liberty of the press were denied. But since the foundation pillars of the temple of American Liberty were reared, the mind left free, and the press unchained, improvement in its onward march has been rapidly gathering force. In telegraphic dispatch it now rivals the lightning's wing, and often some great discovery in science or art, by its brilliancy, startles the public mind suddenly as a flash of lightning on the dark midnight heavens. When the phenomena of any new discovery appear dark and inscrutable to our present mode of philoso- phizing on subjects already made known, some are apt to cry out " Humbug ! collusion ! deception !" and some, on the other extreme, to ascribe it to some su- pernatural agency. The human mind is prone to indulge in various fan- 16 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. tasies and wide extremes. And in an age like thi3, where wonders strike and adventures thicken, we must expect not only solid matter and sterling truth, but enthusiasm, reveries, and dreams. The human race ever have been divided into three general classes, and ever will continue to be, till the fabric of science, in the splendor of its own beauty, shall be perfected. The first class embraces those who endeavor to look at things calmly as they are ; who listen attentively to the teachings of nature and revelation, and build upon the solid foundations of truth, reason, philosophy. The second class embraces those who are supersti- tiously fond of the marvelous, who have but little fel- lowship with sound philosophy, and are inclined to believe any thing and every thing, however visionary, unphilosophical, and absurd. And the third class embraces those who believe nothing beyond what they were taught by their parents, friends, and instructors in early life, or what it may become popular and fashionable to believe. These last-named classes em- brace the two opposite extremes of our race, the cred- ulous and the skeptical, and are, of course, equally inconsistent and weak. The learned Dugald Stewart says, " Unlimited skepticism is equally the child of imbecility as implicit credulity." Neither of the two, however learned they may be, ever pretend at first to reason when something new, startling, and mysterious first strikes the public mind. LECTURE I. 17 They both act as though they were alike strangers to philosophy. Those, composing the one class, run as if driven by instinct into the regions of mystery, where supernatural powers reign supreme in mystic forms, and ascribe every new phenomenon that transpires to their mysterious agency. And those of the other class take their position on the opposite extreme, and cry out — " Humbug ! collusion !" They merely ape the conduct of those whom they deem their superiors, and respond to the breathings of the popular voice. All their reasoning is but a repetition of their school- book knowledge. They labor to shine in the borrowed plumage of others' thoughts, and thus pass a useless existence on earth, as they bequeath not a single origi- nal idea to the world. Those of the first class are the solid producers of original thought, who give to the world the revelations of science. Between these three general classes there is every possible light and shade, gradually softening down and sliding one into the other, and forming the strangely mingled picture of human impressions and of human life. It is not therefore to be wondered at, that certain mysterious noises or rappings, said to have commenced in March, 1848, in the family of John D. Fox, should have been ascribed to superhuman agency or spirits, produced through certain individuals called rapping mediums, nor that the spasmodic movement of the hand producing irregularly formed letters, should have 18 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. been ascribed to the same supernatural agency per- formed through certain individuals called writing me- diums. Hence we perceive, that there are rapping mediums who call for the alphabet, and in a very tedious manner dole out their intelligence by rapping for letters to spell out words ; and there are writing mediums who suddenly, and in a very irregular manner, transmit words to paper, while others do it very slowly. It is, however, firmly believed that, through these me- diums, intelligence is communicated from the spirit- world by departed friends to their kindred on earth. Nor is it to be wondered at that others, on the con- trary, should pronounce the whole a humbug, sustained by deception and trick. I am well aware that those who are in reality skep- tical, have never paused to reflect whether the mani- festations made through mediums might not, after all, be true, and in accordance with the soundest principles of philosophy, even if departed spirits had nothing to do with this matter. They have never paused to reflect that mediums might, after all, be in reality sin- cere and honest, and yet not understand how these communications are made by them. Ladies and gen- tlemen, I am perfectly satisfied that they are honest. And now suppose that we, skeptics and all, for a mo- ment admit them to be so. This being admitted, do you not clearly perceive that if you call them impos- tors, and charge them with performing all these things LECTURE I. 19 by trick, deception, or collusion, that your charge has no other tendency than to make them more firm in the belief that it is all done by the agency of spirits'? They know and feel that they are honest; you have given them no rational cause for the effect produced ; you even deny that there is a rational cause, and hence they remain confirmed. You give them to under- stand that there can be no natural cause assigned for the phenomena, that they lie far beyond the realms of philosophy. You give them to understand that if they are indeed honest, and do not perform these things by trick, then they must be ascribed to supernatural agents or spirits, and this you are yourself, in such a case, ready to believe. Now as the medium knows that he is honest, do you not perceive that you confirm him more and still more in the belief of its being spirits in the same ratio that you oppose him by questioning his sincerity and honor ? Indeed, I am not acquainted with any person who is a decided unbeliever in these manifestations, but what at- tributes them to trick and deception in the mediums through whom they are made. He looks upon the whole as an arrant humbug. Nor do I know an individual who is a decided believer in these manifestations, but what attributes them to a supernatural agency exerted by departed spirits in a future state of being through mortal mediums, by which they hold converse with their friends on earth. I know of no one who has assumed 20 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. the middle ground between the two, and contended for a philosophical cause, and who is a rational believer. I grant that there are thousands of individuals who have not made up their minds on either issue, or who remain perfectly indifferent, as regards either its truth or its falsehood. But those who have made up their minds form the two classes I have noticed, of believers and skeptics. The subject, then, it appears, stands arraigned at the bar of public opinion in the following conjoint form. Are these manifestations the work of immortal spirits in a future life, or are they a scheme of trickery car- ried on by wicked and designing men in this ? Now I contend that this conjoint question does not involve the true issue of the case. Even should it be perfectly ascertained that it is not a scheme of trickery, but that the medium is honest, yet this, I contend, would not prove it to be the work of immortal spirits. The medium might be honest, and yet the whole be account- ed for on natural and philosophical principles. The mysterious nature of the various manifestations, through rapping and writing, has led every individual to believe them to be the work of spirits the moment he became satisfied that the medium was honest, and that there was absolutely no trick by which it was accomplished. The whole subject has been considered so mysterious and wonderful, as to lie entirely beyond the grasp of the human intellect, where no philosophy could approach LECTURE I. 21 it — no power successfully arraign it at the bar of human reason. This being the true state of the case, there has been no alternative presented to the public mind but to admit that these manifestations were indeed from departed spirits in a future world, or else that they were a humbug imposed upon the community by trick and deception. And as there are hundreds of medi- ums whose reputations are, in the estimation of their friends and the public, above suspicion, so the doctrine of the spirit-manifestations is rapidly gaining ground. The great mass of the Christian community have, as yet, remained indiiferent to these things, contenting themselves with the belief that as the whole is the work of trick, deception, or collusion, it must and will come to naught. And it is moreover believed that it is con- fined to the low and ignorant classes of society, and is therefore unworthy of serious consideration, as it can do little or no harm. But let us not deceive ourselves with such fallacious hopes — such groundless expectations. True, there are many of its believers and advocates among the ignorant and lower classes of society ; but this is no objection to its truth, because it was the same with regard to the disciples and followers of our Savior in the day of his personal ministry on earth. But that the believers in the spirit-communications through rapping and writing mediums are wholly of this class is far — very far from being true. Indeed, the case is entirely different from such a supposition as 22 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. this. It embraces among its advocates many of the best intellects in our country, and those, too, who have drank deep at the fountains of science. It embraces not only some of the finest talents of the land, but those also whose moral and religious reputation is un- suspected, and spotless beyond reproach. It embraces among its advocates judges upon the bench, and some of the ablest lawyers at the bar. It embraces among its advocates some of the best intellects in our State Legislatures and in the halls of the United States Con- gress. It embraces among its advocates some of the most skillful and eminent medical men. It embraces among its advocates, not only thousands of professing Christians of all sects on earth, but many ministers of the gospel, and of every denomination under heaven. It is embraced by men who stand in the council-cham- ber, at the bar, and the altar. Such are its advocates ; and what, I ask, is the character of its mediums ? Its mediums, through whom these communications are made, purporting to be from the spirit-world, are by no means entirely among the ignorant and obscure, but pervade all ranks of society. There are rapping and writing mediums among the judges of our courts — among those who hold high stations in the community — among Church members male and female, and even among ministers of the gospel ! Through these medi- ums, communications, purporting to be from spirits in heaven, are either alphabetically rapped or else writ- LECTURE I. 23 ten out, tables and stands are tipped, stones thrown, window-glass broken, and furniture flung about ! Still more : the spirit-hand of some departed child, it is be- lieved, is laid upon its father's or mother's forehead, and plays with their hair-locks by the softest and gen- tlest touch, and that even angels, with their starry wings of azure, green, and gold, fan the feverish brow ! It is even believed that some invisible and immortal hand has written a communication in the Hebrew language, and left it in the room of an individual while he was wrapped in profound slumber ! These and other wonders, too tedious to enumerate, are stated to have been performed, and yet the public mind, and even the ministers of the gospel, are silent, or carelessly slumbering on while the advocates of this new and startling theory are gathering tremendous and fearful force by continual accessions. Periodicals are already established, edited with no mean ability, and some purport to receive, not only their subject-matter, but the very words in which it is expressed, from im- mortal spirits in a future state of existence ! Yes, periodicals are published, meetings and conventions are held, and even clergymen are already in the field who profess to preach as they are instructed by the spirit- rapping and spirit-writing mediums ; and yet clergymen are securely slumbering on while these fearful elements are in motion throughout the land. Mediums are constantly springing up in every part 24 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. of the United States. The transatlantic world has caught the mania. They are springing up in various parts of Europe, and particularly in Germany. Each one hears them in their own tongue wherein they were born — for it appears that the spirits know no other lan- guage than that of the several mediums through whom they communicate. There are already several thou- sand mediums in the United States alone, and these, with thousands and tens of thousands of its believers and advocates, are already in the field, and their num- bers are constantly increasing with the most astonishing and even alarming rapidity. Private exhibitions are incessantly given in social evening parties and circles in every city, and in almost every village throughout the length and breadth of the land ; and in many places public exhibitions are given. New York city alone numbers thirty-thousand believers in the spirit-mani- festations. And what, I ask, is the grand object to which these movements are tending, and in what will they result 1 They certainly portend a future revelation, because they are calculated, if true, to supersede the teachings of the prophets and of Jesus Christ and his apostles, by a new, and, as some believe, by a higher and far more superior revelation than that contained in the Scriptures of truth. And yet the lovers of the Bible and the min- isters of Christ are slumbering on in security while the spirit-rappings and spirit- writings, as a new mode of LECTURE It, 25 communication from heaven to earth, are gaining new and continual accessions of adherents, and gathering force and power. Having made these introductory remarks, which the occasion seems to require, and fairly opened the way to the enchanted field, I am now about to enter upon that part of the subject which is of most deep and thrilling interest to us all, because it is of vital importance to the repose and welfare of the community, and to the advancement and triumph of Christian principles. It is no less than the philosophy or rationale of what is called the spirit-rappings and spirit- writings performed through certain persons called mediums. It is a sub- ject so dark and mysterious in its nature, and so far re- moved from the common occurrence of events, as to se- verely tax and even challenge human credulity. And as this subject, with all its wonderful phenomena, is by its advocates associated with the movements and powers of the immortal spirits of our departed friends, and who believe that it wholly pertains to the scenes of eter- nity, so it is an object of great moment to individual peace and public repose, that it should be removed from its present dark and secret abode into the light of day. As it is a matter of science, and belongs to this life, it should be divested of its mystery, and at least so far explained as to force it from its assumed immortality in the society of departed spirits, to its proper rank in the society of its kindred spirits in the flesh, and like other 2 26 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. earthly things be subjected to the powers of philosophy and reason. In accomplishing this task, I shall ven- ture to call to my aid the phenomena associated with mesmerism, electro-psychology, and catalepsy, even though it is contended that all these have been met, the arguments of those who brought them forward have been fully considered and refuted, and hence that this mode of accounting for the spirit-manifesta- tions has been found entirely wanting. This may be so, but I have not had the pleasure of reading any arguments satisfactory to my mind of such a result, There are, however, various other points in the course of my Lectures to be considered in connection with these, such as the force of habit, and even the instincts of man as associated with the involuntary powers of hi3 mind. I close this evening by observing, that in my next Lecture some of the above interesting subjects will be introduced and fully considered. LECTURE II. 27 LECTUEE II. « Ladies and Gentlemen : In my introductory lecture I simply stated the posi- tion that the doctrine of the spirit- manifestations sus- tains in relation to the public mind, as regards both its credulity and skepticism. I argued the sincerity and honesty of its mediums, and the respectability and number of its advocates. I labored to bring before you distinctly the talents and ability embarked in its defense, and the rapidity and force with which it was spreading in the United States ; that it had even crossed the Atlantic, and commenced its career in the Eastern world. This evening I will turn your atten- tion to a more interesting department of my subject. We will now enter on an exposition of its wonderful phenomena. It will be perceived at a glance that there are but two grand points to be considered. The First is, Involuntary Motion — such as rapping, writing, and moving of furniture. And the Second is, the Intelligence connected with these manifestations. In this lecture I shall confine myself to Involunta- ry Motion, in its various features. The whole subject of the spirit-rappings and spirit- 28 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. •writings, as exhibited through mediums, can be ration- ally accounted for by a certain condition of the nervous systems of such individuals. Indeed, it is a condition to which persons are more or less liable to be brought, accordipg to the degree of their nervous impressibility. It can be brought about by persevering passivity, and perfected by habit. Hence, as a general thing, medi- ums at first can never produce any manifestations only by forming a circle and sitting passively, or by assum- ing an entirely passive condition of their voluntary powers when alone. Indeed, these manifestations are produced by allowing the involuntary powers of the mind in the back brain to take the place and execute the office of the voluntary powers of the mind in the front brain, and through the nervous and muscular force to give motion to the medium's foot, or any part of the body — or to move his hand to write, and over which he has, at that instant, no more voluntary con- trol than any other person in the room. It is also, at the instant of his passivity, entirely cataleptic and destitute of feeling. But the moment he exercises his volition, to examine the state of his arm, that instant the feeling and his power to move it return, because the voluntary and involuntary electro-nervous forces between the two brains are equalized. We see, then, that these manifestations are occasioned by too great a redundancy of electricity congregated upon the invol- untary nerves, through passivity of mind, and thus LECTURE II. 29 imparting to them extraordinary nervous force. And this force will be, more or less, in the same ratio that they are thrown out of balance with the voluntary nerves. In this condition, an electro-magnetic dis- charge from the fingers or toes of the medium may often produce an audible snap, or even sound, by com- ing in contact with surrounding substances favorable to the propagation of sound, and be heard at consid- erable distances. And, moreover, the sound will ap- pear to originate in the very spot where it is heard. Or this electro-magnetic force, by endeavoring to equalize itself throughout the nervous system of the medium, may occasion a snapping in the head, as I have witnessed in one case, or a striking together of the joints, that can be heard in an adjoining room, and even appear to be in the room. And while these phenomena are transpiring, that part of the body in which they occur will be entirely destitute of feeling at the very instant that each sound or rap is given. The entire passivity of the voluntary powers of the mind and of the voluntary nerves is the cause of un- duly charging the involuntary powers with too great an electro-nervous force, and the result is those singu- lar manifestations that are so confidenly attributed to the agency of spirits. After being thus charged, the voluntary powers have, doubtless, some agency in pro- ducing the sounds by a concentrated expectation, thus aiding the involuntary powers to produce an equilib- 30 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. rium, for there is a sympathetic connection between the two forces. Hence persons who are in a perfectly cataleptic state, and which is, at the same time, attended with a brilliant clairvoyance, are sometimes capable of pro- ducing electro-magnetic sounds from their own invol- untary nervous force, so as to be heard at a consider- able distance. And being so near a state approaching the dead, and so sympathetically affected en rapport with the dying, that they often receive an impression, not only of the time the person dies, but also that the departed spirit, on its journey to future scenes, ap- pears to, and addresses them. Such was the case with the Seeress of Prevorst, and also With Miss Slaughter, of Virginia, aged only sixteen. Of the Seeress of Prevorst the writer says : " As I had been told by her parents, a year before her father's death, that at the period of her early magnetic state she was able to make herself heard by her friends as they lay in bed at night in the same village, but in other houses by a knocking — as is said of the dead, I asked her, in her sleep, whether she was able to do so now, and at what distance ? She answered, that she would sometimes do it — that to the spirit space was nothing. Some time after this, as we were going to bed — my children and servants being already asleep — we heard a knock- ing, as if in the air over our heads. There were six knocks, at intervals of half a minute. It was a hoi- LECTURE II. 31 low, yet clear sound ; soft, but distinct. On the fol- lowing evening, when she was asleep — when we had mentioned the knocking to nobody whatever — she asked me whether she should soon knock to us again 1 which, as she said it was hurtful to her, I declined." The wonderful case of Miss Slaughter, and the ac- curacy with which she stated the death of two of her friends, is reported in the third volume of the Medical Library, published in Philadelphia in 1843. Hers was a disease called catalepsy, attended with most wonderful powers of clairvoyance, which she entirely lost on her recovery. But there is not one person in fifty million who is in a state of perfect catalepsy and at the same time of brilliant clairvoyance. A case was reported in Silliman's Journal of a lady who, on looking at the Northern Lights became, by her entranced passivity, so charged that, for three- months, she emitted electric sparks from her fingers and toes whenever she came in contact with other sub- stances. Sometimes it could be seen, heard, and felt, both by herself and others. At other times it could be only heard, but not seen nor felt. When felt, it was annoying, because she was not, at that instant, sufficiently charged to render the parts of her body from whence it escaped insensible, and knowing the origin to be a natural cause, she was not, therefore, a spirit-rapper ! The account is as follows : " On the evening of January 28th, during a some- 32 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. •what extraordinary display of the Northern Lights, a respectable lady became so highly charged with elec- tricity as to give out vivid electrical sparks from the end of each finger to the face of each of the company present. This did not cease with the heavenly phe- nomenon, but continued several months, during which time she was constantly charged and giving off elec- trical sparks to every conductor she approached. This was extremely vexatious, as she could not touch the stove, or any metallic utensil, without first giving off an electrical spark, with the consequent twinge. The state most favorable to this phenomenon was an at- mosphere of about eighty degrees, moderate exercise, and social enjoyment. It disappeared in an atmos- phere approaching zero, and under the debilitating ef- fects of fear. When seated by the stove, reading, »with her feet upon the fender, she gave sparks at the rate of three or four a minute ; and under the most favorable circumstances, a spark, that could be seen, heard, or felt, passed every second. She could charge others in the same way when insulated, who could then give sparks to others. To make it satis- factory that her dress did not produce it, it was changed to cotton and woolen without altering the phenomenon. The lady is about thirty, of sedentary pursuits and delicate state of health, having for two years previously suffered from acute rheumatism and neuralgic affections, with peculiar symptoms." LECTURE II. 33 Here is a fair case. She gave off electro-magnetic sounds from her involuntary nervous force that could be heard at a considerable distance. Still her volun- tary powers, such as "moderate exercise and social enjo} T ment," had sjTnpathetically something to do with it. Fear entirely prevented it. The elements, as to degrees of heat and cold, also had an impression favor- able or unfavorable upon her as to the result. And is it not the same with mediums 1 She certainly did all this without any aid from spiritual agents aside from her own spirit. Hence the raps and sounds from all true mediums are produced on the same general elec- tro-magnetic principle, by their involuntary powers in the back brain, sent off from thence and discharged at the fingers, toes, joints, or some other part of the body. And coming in contact with the table, floor, or any substance capable of propagating and conducting sound, the noise will be much louder than the original, and appear, according as it is conducted, in some other part or parts of the room. A music-box held in the hand can scarcely be heard. But place it upon a table or upon the naked board of a closed piano, and the sound thus multiplied can be heard even in an adjoin- ing room; and unless the listener knows where the box is placed, he can not tell from whence the sounds of the music proceed, nor will any two* locate it alike. The cases of good mediums differ only from that of the lady noticed in Professor Silliman's Journal on the 34 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. ground of their involuntary nerves being so much more highly charged as to render the parts so far cataleptic as to destroy all sensibility at the instant of each sound being given off from the involuntary powers in the back brain, with which are connected the instincts of our nature. These instincts will be more fully considered hereafter. I deeply regret that the involuntary powers of the human mind have been, in all ages of the world, entirely overlooked. True, it has ever been known and ad- mitted that we have both voluntary and involuntary nerves, and it has also been uniformly admitted that the voluntary powers of the mind act through the vol- untary nerves to produce motion. But no writer, at least to my knowledge, has ever contended that mind has also its involuntary powers acting through the in- voluntary nerves to move the heart and carry on all the functions of life till I brought it forward. Medi- cal men have merely asserted that the motion of the heart and all the involuntary functions were a mere result of organic life independent of mind. I am the first, so far as my knowledge extends, who, in mental philosophy, has ever contended that involuntary power belongs to the mind of man — yes, to the mind of the Eternal. I say this, ladies and gentlemen, not as a matter of arrogance, but as a matter of justice, and against the pretensions of those who, in their published books, and without giving credit, have used my ideas LECTURE II. 85 as though they were original with them, to build up theories at my expense. For the information of the younger part of my au- dience, I would say, that by the voluntary powers of the mind, we mean those by which we will and act. We move the head, the eyes, the tongue, and lips by the voluntary powers of the mind, and by the same power we move a finger, or the hands and arms to handle, and the feet and limbs to walk. At will we bend the body and ply every joint of the entire system. This, all are aware, is effected by the voluntary pow- ers of the mind residing in the front brain, acting through the voluntary nerves. But over the motions of the heart, lungs, the circulation of the blood, the digestion of the food by the stomach, and all those movements on which the functions of life depend — over these we have no voluntary control. Awake or asleep, the heart continues to beat whether we will or not, and all the phenomena of life proceed as usual in their des- tined course. All these movements are produced by the involuntary powers of the mind residing in the back brain, acting through the involuntary nerves, and are not the result, as has been uniformly supposed, of mere organic life entirely distinct from mind. That these two forces both belong to mind is certain, because take the spirit from the body, and all motion, both voluntary and involuntary, instantly ceases. Hence all the energies of reason, thought, understanding, con- 6b , SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. sciousness, and will, belong exclusively to the voluntary powers of the mind. And all the movements on which the functions of life depend, and all the instinctive energies or intuitions of our being, belong to the invol- untary powers of the mind. Hence man has his in- stincts superior to all creatures in existence, and mind, like every other faculty in man, is double. We perceive, then, that the voluntary power of the mind can move or suspend motion, can act or cease acting, can reason, think, understand, and will, or sus- pend all these, as in sleep. But the involuntary power of the mind continues its ceaseless self-motion through every period of existence, when we are asleep as well .as when awake. It has no power to stop, because mo- tion is an inherent attribute of its nature. Seeing, hearing, feeling, taste, and smell belong to the invol- untary powers of the mind, where all impressions through the senses are first received, and from thence are instantly transmitted to the voluntary powers of the mind, where they are compared and formed into ideas by the power of what we term reason and asso- ciation. Though the voluntary and involuntary powers of the mind are entirely distinct attributes, belonging to two distinct brains, yet there is, at the same time, an indissoluble connection existing between the two, and also a strong sympathy to concur together in one common state and mode of action, through indulgence and habit. LECTURE II. 37 A boy, for instance, who has the perfect .control of his voice in conversation, may take pains to imitate his stuttering playmate, to whom he is strongly attached, and with whom he is in daily intercourse, till he be- comes a confirmed stutterer. By indulging in this act, the voluntary powers gradually grew weaker in their natural force for want of correct action, and the invol- untary powers, by constant force of habit gathered strength, until through indulgence, sympatic, and habit they so far got the upper hand that he lost, in a good degree, the voluntary control of his own voice. When he exercises all his voluntary power to speak smoothly, the involuntary power interferes through habit, indulgence, and sympathy, and stuttering is the result. But this is in conversation only, while in sing- ing he never practiced stuttering. The greatest stut- terers that ever existed were never known to stutter while singing a song or hymn, even when the reading of it might be almost an impossibility for them to per- form. There is one point here of great importance to my argument. It is this, the voluntary and involun- tary stuttering of this boy were alike. His real stut- tering, which he could not control, was almost exactly like that which he first made in sport to mimic his companion, or because he considered it pretty. The involuntary power moved in the same track that the voluntary power had marked out and practiced ; for, as before observed, they obtain, through habit and sym- 38 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. pathy, a strong tendency to concur together in one common state of action. This is not only so in relation to the voice in speak- ing, but also to the hands, feet, or body, as regards motion. Take, for instance, a finished performer upon the piano-forte. When he first commenced playing this instrument, it was wholly a matter of thought and vol- untary motion. He had to pause and think upon what keys to place his fingers, and then moved them wholly by thought. The whole was at first slowly executed, and entirely by his voluntary powers. Bat by degrees his involuntary powers, through indulgence and sympa- thy, had a gradual tendency, more and still more, to concur with the voluntary powers in the same mode of action, until a perfect habitude between the two was established. He is now the finished performer. He plays a distinct part of the music with each hand, and he sings a third. He can sweep his fingers over the keys with the most astonishing rapidity, and at the same time be looking his friend in the face, and hold- ing an interesting conversation with him. He does not think where he moves his fingers ; indeed, he can not do so, for his thoughts are with his friend, and hence his fingers, are greatly under the sympathetic movement of the involuntary powers. I am aware it will be said, that he does all this by habit, or, as it is generally expressed, he moves his fingers mechanic- ally. This is granted ; but what, I ask, is habit only LECTURE II. 39 an impression successfully made and repeated, till it is established upon the involuntary powers of the mind through the medium of the senses 1 It is nothing else. . It is a second nature. It is the same with the violin or harp. Though there is some volition concerned, yet the greater part is performed by the involuntary powers of the mind instinctively concurring in the same mode of action with the voluntary powers. He plays by his instinctive energies, for with these habit is strongly associated, and through these impressions are transmitted to the voluntary powers of the mind. In like manner is the medium's hand moved by his in- voluntary powers to form those letters only that were practically learned by his voluntary powers at school. And there is as much intelligence manifested in the harmony of sounds as there is in the harmony of sen- tences. In order to make every thing plain as we proceed, I have thus far confined my remarks to habitude ; and in the examples furnished, we perceive the great effect that long- continued practice has to stamp a habit upon the involuntary powers of the mind and nerves to act in perfect harmony with the voluntary powers. I have noticed the voice in stuttering, and the motion of the fingers in producing instrumental music. But owing to the differently constituted minds and nerves of dif- ferent individuals, one person can establish a habi- tude much sooner than another, whether it be of the 40 SPIRIT-MANIFESXATIONS EXAMINED. voice in mimicry, or song, or of the motion of the fin- gers on the keys of the piano. All these may be termed habits, and habits are perfected and established by repeated impressions called practice. There are persons, however, of a peculiar mental and nervous temperament, who are liable to have their involuntary powers of mind moved by one single impression, so that they are utterly unable to control their motions. These are in the electro-psychological state, and in proof of this sudden involuntary motion, I am able to produce thousands of instances, and from all ages of the world. This will be attended to in my next Lec- ture, will be fully argued, and, I trust, will be made interesting, and not only interesting, but satisfactory to both ladies and gentlemen. LECTURE III. 41 LECTUKE III. Ladies and Gentlemen : In my last Lecture I promised to produce evidence tills evening, from past ages and various nations, that involuntary motion was often produced in a very sud- den manner, and at times by even a single impression. But where shall I begin my task % The religious his- tory of the Greeks and Romans, of Britain under the priesthood of the Druids, of India, and in general of all savage tribes, is full of instances in proof of my po- sition as to involuntary motion. The convulsions of the Pythian priestess, the contortions of the Sybil, the vast variety of convulsive and cateleptic phenomena among the devotees in India, and also among the spinning der- vishes of the Mohammedans, may be adduced as illus- trations ! Dr. Babbington says : u The imaginations of women are always more excitable than those of men, and are therefore susceptible of every folly when they lead a life of strict seclusion, and their thoughts are constantly turned inward upon themselves. Hence, in orphan asylums, hospitals, and convents, the nervous disorder of one female so easily and quickly becomes the 42 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. disorder of all. A nun in a very large convent in France, by some strange impulse, began to mew like a cat. Shortly after, other^nuns also mewed together every day at a certain time for several hours in succes- sion, annoying the whole neighborhood with a cat- con- cert. This it was not in their power to prevent till they were relieved by a superior impression." He further says : " But of all the epidemics of females which I my- self have seen in Germany, or of which the history is known to me, the most remarkable is the celebrated con- vent epidemic of the fifteenth century, which Cardan de- scribes," (and which peculiarly proves what I would here enforce, as it regards the doctrine of impressions being often sudden). " A certain nun in Germany fell to biting all her companions. In the course of a short time all the nuns of this convent began biting each other. The news of this infatuation among the nuns soon spread, and passed from convent to convent through a great part of Germany, principally Saxony and Brandenburg. It af- terward visited the nunneries in Holland, and at last the nuns had the biting mania even as far as Rome." A striking illustration of the effects of the principle of involuntary motion, and even of involuntary imita- tion upon persons brought together in a close assembly, even where nothing is spoken, occurs in Barclay's " Apology for the Quakers." After speaking of the divine influence as coming down upon them, and " pro- ducing a trembling and a motion of the body upon most LECTURE III. 43 if not all," he proceeds to say : " and from this the name Quakers, or Tremblers, was first reproachfully cast upon us, which if it be not one of our own choos- ing, yet we are not ashamed of it, but have rather rea- son to rejoice in this respect, even that we are sensible of this power that hath sometimes laid hold on our ad- versaries, and made them yield to us, and join with us, and confess to the truth before they knew what our doc- trine was, so that sometimes many at one meeting have been thus convinced, and power would sometimes also reach to, and wonderfully work even in little children, to the astonishment and admiration of many." Here, then, we perceive, that Quakers sitting down passive, and calmly waiting for some mysterious power to move them to rise and speak, have been seized with trem- bling and shaking caused by the involuntary powers, and over which they had no possible control any more than the writing medium has over his hand. It also seized their enemies, and even little children ; and from this circumstance of trembling and involuntary moving, the name Quakers, first cast upon them as a term of re- proach, took its origin. Those of their enemies, and also of little children, who were impressible, by simply sitting passive, were involuntarily moved by surround- ing impressions and examples, as seen in the case of the nuns. And are the spirit-rappings and spirit-writings any more mysterious than these 1 Certainly not, for here the whole body was not only shaken, but even raised 44 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. to its feet, by the involuntary powers, and the tongue compelled to speak, and often, too, "with eloquence, their spontaneous impressions which, after being uttered, they oft remembered not, nor even that they had risen to speak. I knew a Quaker lady in Salem, Mass., who from long habits of passivity, waiting for the moving of the Spirit, could strike every joint of her body to- gether so as to be heard in an adjoining room. Nor was it in her power to prevent it. Her manner of de- votion had become itself a disease. The habit was stamped upon her involuntary powers, and they ruled. She was unceasingly rapping during her waking mo- ments, and was still only when she was asleep. She was the greatest rapping medium I ever knew. The case of the Seeress of Prevorst is an exception to all rappers of the present day, and should not be ad- duced by them as an instance to prove their power to do the same. She professed to do it by her own power, and not that spirits performed it through her as a me- dium. And if mediums of the present day quote her as proof of their own power, then spirit-rapping, ac- cording to their own confession, is at an end. He? case, if what is related be true, was one of an entire cata- leptic state of the whole nervous force, combined, at the same time, with a most brilliant mesmeric and sym- pathetic clairvoyance, and of which there is not probably one case in fifty million. I will not say that it was im- possible for her to make herself heard through the elec- LECTURE III. 45 tro-magnetic discharges from her nervous force even in other dwellings in the village, yet it requires, I must confess, a very liberal stretch of credulity to believe that this power of sound extends so far. But as per- sons have made themselves heard, through this agent, at a short distance at least, as in the case of the lady reported in Professor Silliman's Journal, so others, I grant, may make themselves heard at a still greater distance, according as their involuntary nervous force in the back brain may become more highly charged and thrown out of balance with the voluntary nervous force in the front brain. In producing an equilibrium between the two forces, the sound will be more or less distinct, and be heard at a greater or less distance in the same ratio that the two forces are thrown out of balance with each other, and with the forces of other persons, and with those of surrounding elements. And as all the powers of attraction and repulsion belong to electricity, as the agent of the mind, so physical sub- stances may be attracted to, or repelled from, certain individuals in some rare instances, after having been charged by their hands, and when the existing relation of things is entirely favorable to such a result. And as it is the result of a strong electrical condition of the involuntary powers, so the individual has no direct vol- untary control in the matter. In the case of the lady reported in Silliman's Journal, we know the sounds, though slight, were still electrical. Hence, if in an 46 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. other individual they are produced ever so distinct and loud, it still proves that they are produced by the same electrical cause more powerfully increased, and not by spirits. But, ladies and gentlemen, -there is no need of my referring back to the Grecians and Romans, nor to the priesthood of the Druids, nor to heathen India and savage tribes, nor even to the Seeress of Prevorst, for thousands of instances as proof of my position. There is no need that I should refer to the convulsions of the Pythian priestess — the contortions of the Sybil — the vast variety of convulsive and cataleptic phenomena among the devotees in India, and the spinning der- vishes among the Mohammedans to sustain my position of the countless wonders produced by the involuntary powers of the mind under a sudden or oft-repeated impression. I need not even go back to the involun- tary cat-mewing and biting-mania among the nuns of the fifteenth century, nor to the involuntary tremblings that gave rise to the name of Quakers, nor to the shud- derings and dancings of the Shakers under the labors and impressions of Ann Lee. I come nearer home. Dr. Stone, in his work on the " Progress of Fanati- cism," states that there was (now forty-five years ago) an extensive religious excitement in Kentucky. From this work, jn connection with wha,t I have gathered from the words of an eye-witness, I make the following con- densed statement. The excitement was produced by LECTURE III. 47 a man partially deranged, who had been a great hunter, and who believed himself inspired. All his proceed- ings were characterized by the greatest fanaticism, and partook of the character of the man as a hunter. In order to resist the devil and make him flee from you, it was necessary, he contended, to give him chase, to tree and shoot him as we would a wolf among the sheep who came but to devour. As the meeting was held in a grove, one individual suddenly started in pur- suit, as he supposed, of the devil, and others of a pe- culiar nervous temperament, having no power to resist, involuntarily joined in the pursuit, and this was called " the running exercise /*' One climbed up into a tree after the devil, and others involuntarily caught the mania. This was called " the climbing exercise /" One individual was moved to bark ; and soon others, even though they used every method to prevent it, fell to involuntary barking like dogs, while others gathered around the tree praying for success. This was called u treeing the devil /" It was literally a devil chase ! And such a time of running, climbing, dog-barking, and devil-chasing was perhaps never known before, nor since. I doubt whether it can be surpassed in any of its mysteries even by the rapping, writing, and table-tipping business of the present day ! On another occasion, insisting' upon the words of our Savior being literally understood — " Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye can not enter 48 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. into the kingdom of heaven" — one individual went to playing marbles in the broad aisle of the church ; others involuntarily joined him. An old man undertook to expostulate, saying that it was carrying matters, as he thought, rather too far ! On hearing this, an old lady, who was down upon her knees among the marble-play- ers, sprung to her feet, grasped her umbrella, and, taking a side-saddle seat on it, rode down the aisle in full childlike glee. On seeing this, the old gentleman could resist no longer — seized his cane, threw himself astride of it, like any boy, and rode down the aisle af- ter her, exclaiming in a sing-song voice — " Oh, my dear brethren and sisters, I feel the full childlike spirit car- rying me to heaven on a wooden hoss !" Several oth- ers now caught the mania, having no power to resist it. Others, less serious, broke out in convulsive laughter, shouted and hurraed, and the meeting broke up in one scene of confusion. It was not in the power of these persons to resist it. The involun- tary powers, by one single impression, took the entire and irresistible control. I will introduce one more instance as proof of invol- untary impressions being often sudden and irresistible. In Stone's " History of Fanaticism," p. 312, he refers to it, calling it the jerking exercise, and states that it had its origin in Kentucky. This may be so ; but my information in relation to it is confined to North Car- olina, which I gathered during my travels in that State LECTURE III. 49 in 1832. The substance of it is as follows : A man setting himself up as a preacher who had received a commission direct from Heaven, and as clergymen were not willing to admit him into their pulpits, he traveled about, preaching in groves in various sections of the State. He was a man of a very nervous tempera- ment, and when he became excited in speaking, his gestures were violent, yet impressive. Still they were made by his voluntary powers. He possessed, also, a good faculty for expressing the various passions and emotions of the soul in his countenance, according to the sentiment he was uttering. These gestures of his hands and motions of his face, and even feet, would involuntarily continue for some time after he took his seat, while the concluding hymn was being sung, and frequently commence before he rose to speak, and, in- deed, at any time when he was excited. But as he, in all these cases, exerted his voluntary powers to keep his hands, face, and feet still, so the conflict be- tween the voluntary and involuntary powers produced, not gestures, but most violent, sudden, and irregular jerkings and twitchings. And instead of expressing the passions of the soul in his countenance, he made up the most horrible faces that can be well conceived. As he could not account for these things in himself, and as it was not in his power to prevent them, so he attributed the whole to the power of the spirit ! Now it so happened, that every one of his converts 3 50 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. was at first seized with these most singular spasmodic motions of the limbs and contortions of the counte- nance. Hence these involuntary motions were called " the jerks " and whenever any one was converted, it was expressed by saying that such a one had got the jerks ! The news of these most singular manifesta- tions spread over the whole region round about. Per- sons came from a distance of twenty, and even thirty miles, to hear him and see the wonders. And it so happened, at length, that as many of those who came laughing and mocking were seized with the jerks as of those who were in reality converted. This was pro- nounced by the eccentric speaker as the curse of God upon those who scoffed. But the mania spread, excit- ing the mirth and ridicule of some, and the astonish- ment and awe of others, till the excitement became general. And such a time of jerking, twitching, and making up wry faces at each other, as existed in that section, it is difficult to imagine, or even describe. Here, then, is a striking proof of the fact, that the involuntary powers of some can be made to act sud- denly — even by one solitary impression made upon the mind. It is often asked, from what cause could these strange rappings, and at a certain time, and in differ- ent sections, have arisen, if not from spirits, and through what influence could they have spread with such rapidity over the Union 1 I answer, that they LECTURE III. 51 arose from the same cause that the jerks did — namely, from the involuntary powers of the mind. And in like manner, as the jerks, they spread over the coun- try through the sympathy of excitement. Hence these rapping and writing mediums, and these table- tipping and furniture-moving mediums have honestly, and just as certainly got the jerks as those of whom we have been speaking in Kentucky and North Car- olina. They move the hand to write with a violent motion — with a kind of spasm, so that the pencil of- ten flies from it and leaves the hand convulsed as though it were in a fit. This proves that the motion is produced by the involuntary powers of the mind and nerves, for it is these that cause a fit. From what, I ask, arose the tremblings of the Quakers, and the shudderings and dancings of the Shakers 1 I answer, that they arose from the invol- untary powers of the mind. By sitting perfectly pas- sive, in the firm conviction that some mysterious power would come upon them and move them to rise upon their feet, and utter language, or to move in the dance, was the cause of producing the expected result, because the involuntary powers have a strong tendency to concur in the same state of action with the volun- tary powers. The spirit-manifestations, so called, arise from the same cause as the Quaker-tremblings and the Shaker-dancings. They arise from the mys- terious movements and operations of the involuntary 52 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. powers of the human mind, acting through the invol- untary nerves. They arise from the same cause that produced the cat-mewing and dog-biting mania among the nuns — the running, barking, jerking, climbing, and devil- treeing mania of Kentucky, and the umbrella and stick-riding power through the broad aisle of the church. I therefore repeat it, that the mediums are sincerely honest, and have honestly got the jerks, and can no more control their hands, joints, feet, and toes from writing, rapping, tipping tables, and moving about furniture, than the nuns could prevent their cat-concerts and. bitings. Their only wrong consists in indulging and strengthening the habit by practice, and then applying the results to the agency of spirits, by which many are rendered insane, some commit sui- cide, whole families are distressed, and their dearest hopes blighted, as they see their domestic sun, that rose so fair, go down in blood. If this be the work of spirits, it seems strange that, like the midnight prowling hyena, they feed upon the living, the dying, and the dead. They began by simply rapping. Soon they found out what the rappings meant, through the a-b-c busi- ness. It increased gradually to abbreviating words. But as the whole a-b-c rapping concern with its ab- breviations was too slow, it advanced to the medium- writing mania, and to tipping and moving furniture about as a manifestation of spirit-power. From this LECTUHE III. 53 it advanced to the spirit-mesmerizing power, and to the spirit-talking power through the medium's organs — compelling the medium to imitate the voice and mo- tions that were the spirit's while in its earthly tab- ernacle ; and it has advanced to the striking and ear-pinching power, and to the dragging-out-of-door power ! Where it will end, God only knows — I do not. But I hope it will not advance to the nun-biting power — to the umbrella and stick-riding business, nor end in a devil-hunt ! The subject being founded in our nature, must be brought to science, and subjected to a rational investigation. My evidence in proof of involuntary motion in all its varieties and forms is now produced, and will cer- tainly cover any involuntary motion or action that ever transpired among mediums, whether it be invol- untary writing — involuntary mesmerizing — involuntary speaking — involuntary table-tipping and furniture- moving — involuntary striking and rapping, or involun- tary dancing, running, or climbing. But it will now be said, that though the lecturer has accounted for in- voluntary motion, yet so far as the manifestations are concerned, there is intelligence connected with these motions for which he has not accounted. "This I ad- mit, and to-morrow evening I will commence the con- sideration of this intelligence. Its great and stirring agencies will be brought forward — laid open — argued, and the spirit-manifestations annihilated. 54: SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. LEOTUEE IV. Ladies and Gentlemen : In the three Lectures to which you have listened, I have taken a general survey of the spirit-manifestations, and shown that all real mediums are honest, and are im- pelled to act as they do, without being able to resist it. I have, in this respect, given them an ingenuous and candid defense, so far as their sincerity and honor are involved. I am aware that the writing medium can avoid taking a pen in hand, and sitting down passively to await the result of involuntary writing. I am aware that mediums can avoid sitting down to await involuntary rapping, or table-tipping, and furniture- moving. And by so doing, I grant that the spirit- manifestations would soon disappear from our world. But what I mean is this. If the real medium sits down to obtain any manifestations, and in case they are obtained, it is by his involuntary powers, without his being able to resist it. In proof of this, I have produced evidence from the earliest ages down to the present day. I have produced examples of every vari- ety of involuntary motion, and even more wonderful and startling in proof of my position than any thing LECTURE IV. 55 connected with the spirit-manifestations, and yet the "whole was accomplished by the involuntary powers of the mind. I grant that there are false mediums, who perform all they do hy trick, and do it knowingly. But this is not the case with real mediums — they are honest and sincere. Hence, I repeat that the involuntary powers of the mind, and the instincts of our nature connected with them, have been in all ages of the world entirely overlooked. I have called to my aid the arm of philo- sophy, and clearly shown how sounds may be produced by electro-magnetic discharges, caused by the energy of the involuntary powers of the mind, and without the aid of spirits. In proof of this, I also refered to, and cited a well-known case reported in, Silliman's Jour- nal, of such electric discharges and sounds proceeding from a lady, resembling those made by mediums ; and as we are bound by reason and common sense to adopt the Natural for the solution of any phenomenon be- fore we appeal to the Supernatural, so all the raps and sounds made by mediums are produced electri- cally, on the same general principle, from some parts of their own bodies, and without the aid of spirits. Hav- ing finished my First Position, and argued involun- tary motion in all its forms, I am now ready to proceed to the most interesting part of my subject. My Second Position is to account for the intelli- gence connected with these manifestations. 56 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. In my second and third Lectures, I have several times referred to the front and back brains, and to the voluntas and involuntary powers of the mind re- siding in them, and acting through their appropriate nerves. Before I proceed to show how intelligence is connected with the spirit-manifestations, permit me first to notice, more particularly, the human brain and mind, so as to be clearly and distinctly understood by the younger part of my audience. Every part of the human system, we may say, is double. We have two hands, two feet, two glands of taste, two eyes, and two ears. The heart is double, "having its two auricles and two ventricles, and so is even the circulating system double, the arterial and venous. The human brain is likewise double, and so is the mind, that pervades and actuates it, also double. The positive and negative forces respond to, and bal- ance each other, and pervade all nature. When I say that the brain is doable, I mean that we have in reality two distinct brains, each performing its own distinct office, so long as they are kept in proper harmony with each other. The one is called the cerebrum, which lies in the front part of the skull, occupying the greater portion of its cavity ; and the other is called the cere- bellum, and occupies the back portion of the cavity of the skull. So that I may be understood by all, I will call the cerebrum the front brain, and the cerebellum the back brain* LECTURE IV. 57 The front brain is perfect by itself, having its two hemispheres, and also its lobes. It is double, and is the organ of all voluntary motion, by which alone we move the head, the hands, the feet, or the whole body. This front brain is the residence, the earthly house of that part of the mind that exercises volition, thought, understanding, and reason. If one half of this brain be paralyzed, it renders half of the system useless, so that we are unable to move it. The back brain is also perfect by itself, having its own distinct lobes, is likewise double, and is the organ of involuntary motion and organic life. It throbs the heart, moves the blood, gives power to the stomach to digest its food, and imparts energy to the glands to produce their secretions. It is the residence, the earthly house of that part of the mind that exercises involuntary power in accordance with the harmony of the universe. If I may be indulged the expression, it moves, it rolls on with external nature, drinks in, and feels her impressions, and scans them by the power of its own intuitions. This part of the mind contains all the instincts of our nature. Hence it does not will, understand, and reason, as the voluntary department of the mind in the front brain reasons. It intuitively knows, or, if I may so speak, it involuntarily reasons. Under certain circumstances and conditions, like the mesmeric or psychological state, it takes the throne, compels reason to bow to its mandate, and with the 3* 58 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. brightness of its blaze throws all the voluntary powers of the soul, residing in the front brain, into comparative darkness, and pours out the eloquence of truth like a river of life, clear as costal, from its throne. When the back brain is thus roused into action, the front brain knows nothing of its secret doings, its intuitive powers, and instinctive energies. Each brain may manifest its intelligence and impressions separate and independent, as it were, of the other, yet there is, at the same time, an undisturbed harmony, a sympathetic connection existing between the two. The first mani- fests itself by the involuntary power of thought and reason. The second manifests itself by the involuntary power of intuition and instinct, and while doing so, the first has no remembrance, no knowledge of its acts. This is a state well-known to medical men and physi- ological writers, who call it double consciousness. Please to bear in mind that the brain is double, as a meet tabernacle adapted to the living spirit or mind as its inhabitant, which is also double. Seeing, hearing, feeling, taste, and smell are involuntary. If our eyes are open, we can not avoid seeing ; if there is a sound near us, we can not avoid hearing ; and if there is an odor, we can not avoid smelling. As our senses are involuntary, so they belong to the involuntary power. Hence all impressions, received through the senses, are first conveyed to the involuntary department of the mind in the back brain as the grand magazine — the LECTURE IV. 59 kitchen — where they are prepared, and then passed on to the fields of volition, thought, and reason in the front brain, to be digested and manufactured into ideas by the power of association. Before proceeding any farther, Aye will turn our at- tention, for a moment, to instinct itself. And what, I ask, are we to understand by instinct ? Answer : It is a certain power or disposition of mind by which, in- dependent of all instruction or experience, animals are unerringly directed to do spontaneously whatever is necessary for the preservation of the individual or the continuance of the kind. It is an inborn desire or aversion, not determined by reason or deliberation. It is the power that determines the will of brutes. It is an intuition. And as it is an intuition of certain things that exist in the external world, so instinct can not reason, or even will, in regard to such things, be-' cause it knows. It has the power to impress and MOVE THE VOLUNTARY PART OF THE MIND TO WILL and act. Instinct is not against reason, but acts in concert with it. Instinct receives impressions from the external world, as the raw material, to supply rea- son with ideas. The infant of an hour's existence shows, by the ac- tion of its head and mouth, not only its mysterious impression that food exists, but also the motion and manner by which it is to come in contact with it. And when brought in contact with the breast, it re- 60 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. moves the air by suction, and having thus produced a vacuum in its mouth, the fluid naturally rushes in and nourishes this new-born being. This is all done in accordance with the soundest principles of hydrau- lic philosophy, and which it required a master-mind to explain. The duck, as soon as hatched into existence, intu- itively knows there is water, and feeling at the same time an inborn desire to swim, directs his course un- erringly to the stream. The young bird, the moment it bursts its shell, and before its eyes are opened to the light, raises its head and opens its beak the first time the mother approaches the nest with food. It does this by intuition, and without any process of rea- soning whatever. The bee selects a storehouse in some hollow tree, impervious to rains, inaccessible to storms. He di- rects his course unerringly to flowery fields — extracts his honey, and builds the cells of his comb all exactly six square. This he never learned to do, but he knows it intuitively, or by what we call instinct, which belongs to his involuntary powers, and by these all his voluntary movements are directed. His instinct and reason, and his voluntary and involuntary powers, all act and move in perfect harmony. Instinct often seems to foreknow. It has been noted, that if swal- lows make their holes in the banks of the river higher than in former years, we may be sure of an unusual LECTURE IV. 61 flood. A barn, destined to be struck by lightning and burned up during the summer, Las been noted to have been deserted by swallows, even though they had oc- cupied it every previous summer to build their nests and rear their young. This is intuition, belongs to the involuntary power of the creature, and seems al- most like inspiration. Once more. Take, for instance, a toad from the North and convey him to the far South, where he has never been, and put him in battle with -a large poison- ous spider of that section, and of a species he has never before seen. Place a quantity of plantain, say three rods distant, on one side of the battle-ground, and the same quantity four rods distant on the other side. The toad, on receiving a w r ound, will cease fighting, and, after a momentary hesitation, will go di- rectly to the nearest plantain, eat the leaf, and return to the conflict. Now, while he is engaged in battle, bring the plantain on the opposite side a few feet nearer to him than the other. On being again wound- ed, he instantly starts, without any hesitation, for the same leaf before visited — but soon stops, turns about, and goes to the nearest spot for his remedy. Now, in this case, we clearly perceive the operations of both in- stinct and reason. Pope with great propriety asks — " Who taught the nations of the field and wood To shun their poison and to choose their food ? Prescient the tides or tempests to withstand, 62 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. Build on the wave, or arch beneath the sand ? In the nice bee, what sense so subtly true, From poisonous herbs extracts the healing dew ?" All creatures have the -will-power and the reasoning faculties in a certain degree, and these both belong to their voluntary powers of mind, while their instincts belong to their involuntary powers of mind. In the same ratio that their reasoning faculties are low in the scale of being, their instinctive faculties appear greater, because instinct, in all such cases, becomes the guide, and hence the ruling power. But in the same ratio that the reasoning faculties are high in the scale of being, the instinctive powers appear to be less, because reason, in this case, becomes the guide, and hence the ruling power. But still the number of instinctive and reasoning faculties in each creature are equal. By this I mean, that if the oyster, for in- stance, has two instinctive faculties, then he has two of reason. If the next higher link has three of in- stinct, it has three of reason — if the next has four of instinct it has four of reason — and if the next link has five faculties of instinct, it has five of reason, and so on till we rise up to man, whose instinctive and reasoning faculties are also equal in number, but exceedingly more numerous than in any other creature below him. Indeed, we may safely say that they are equal in num- ber to the instinctive and intellectual faculties of all creatures in the chain of life below him combined. LECTURE IV. 63 Hence when reason, which may err, is so low in the scale of being that it can not be a safe guide, then the creature, in his voluntary movements, is naturally im- pelled to follow his instinct, which is intuitive and un- erring. The poet again says : " Say, where full instinct is the unerring guide, What pope or council can they need beside ? Reason however able, cool at best, Cares but for service, or but serves when prest ; Stays till we call, and then not often near, But honest instinct comes a vclunteer ; Sure never to o'ershoot, but just to hit, While still too wide or short is human wit; Sure by quick nature happiness to gain, Which heavier reason labors at in vain. This too serves always, reason never long, One must go right, the other may go wrong. See then the acting and comparing powers, One in their nature, which are two in ours ! And reason raise o'er instinct as you can, In this 'tis God directs — in that 'tis man." In this language, Pope gives the supremacy as to honor, unerring truth and righteousness to instinct, because it is the faculty in which God directs — while reason may go wrong, because it is the faculty in which man directs. In these respects Pope is cor- rect. But the idea, that the creatures have nothing but instinct, and no reason, is far, very far from truth. In this respect he follows the universal opin- ion of his day. The truth is, that the instinctive and 64 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. reasoning faculties, in any one creature, are equal in number, for mind is double, and the faculties must correspond one to the other, so as to exactly balance the positive and negative forces, for without these the creature could not act. The fact, that all creatures, however low in the scale of being, do at times exer- cise reason as well as instinct, has greatly puzzled nat- uralists who have assigned them but one set of facul- ties, and then marveled how instinct could have taught them to devise and execute a work which, if it had been done by a human being, would have been attributed to reason. But as all creatures possess a will, and also the voluntary and involuntary powers, so they must pos- sess the faculty of reason, as well as that of instinct. I regard man as a microcosm of the universe. A portion of the elementary particles of all substances are concentered in his body and represented in his being. And in his complicate organism is involved the organism of all creatures below him, and his intelli- gence is equal in amount to the intelligence in all. And as reason is the controlling power by which his actions are principally governed, so he is, on this account, considered as almost entirely, if not quite, destitute of instinct. But this conclusion is an errone- ous one. It is just as erroneous as to suppose, on the other hand) that the creatures below him are destitute of reason, because they are principally governed by instinct. As man stands at the head of creation, so LECTURE IV. 65 he has a greater number of reasoning faculties than any other creature in existence. Indeed, if we select one individual of each species of the animal chain be- low him, we shall find that his intelligence is equal in amount to the combined intelligence in all, and asserts his superiority over them. And man's instinctive and reasoning faculties are also equal, both as it regards their number and power. And, moreover, so far as his reasoning faculties are superior to the combined reason of the various grades below him, so far, also, are his instinctive faculties superior to theirs. If man is destitute of instinct, how then, I ask, can he ever be impressed with a presentiment, which is a previous involuntary idea 1 There must be something in his internal nature that corresponds with what is to happen in the external world, and a connection between the two to convey the impression to his instinctive faculties. If man is destitute of instinct, how then can he, in the mesmeric state, or in somnambulism, or in catalepsy, or in any abnormal condition, intuitively perceive things that are beyond the grasp of his intel- lectual faculties — things that his reason never con- ceived 1 All this is impossible, unless we admit that he possesses the instinctive powers which are implanted in his mysterious nature for a noble end, and are prin- cipally intended and reserved for a higher and more glorified state of action in that world where death, and pain, and change shall be no more. What is mesmer- 66 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. ism only the more fully arousing of the human instincts from slumber into action? They take the throne, compel reason to cease her action, and through the elo- quence of the tongue they pour out full gushing truth from the involuntary fountain of the soul. It will now be said, that on this principle instinct is unerring ; and as instinct says that it is spirits, so it must be true. I reply, that instinct is unerring in both man and brute, when left to its own natural im- pulses, independent of foreign impressions. It can be made to err by reason, by education, or habit. If we leave all substances in nature as they grow in the field and wood, and permit each creature in its wild state, where God has placed it, to follow the impulses of its nature, and its instinct will unerringly lead it to avoid the poisonous and to eat the wholesome substances. These are as the Creator has mingled them ; and as he directs his creatures by instinct, so they have nothing to fear. But man may extract arsenic, and combine this or any other deadly poisons with breadstuffs or fruits, and kill the creatures that feed upon them. Here reason causes instinct to err. But this is not of God's, but of man's mingling. Or creatures may be taken from their wild state, domesticated, and, by education or habit, may become fond of mixtures prepared and given them by man. Hence they will be more likely to sicken, and even have their lives shortened, than in their wild, natural state. Here education and habit induce instinct to err. LECTURE IV. 67 ^ut much more is instinct in man liable to err under the influence, education, habit, and all the "wily seduc- tions of reason, than in the lower animals. Reason, education, and habit, directed and influenced by wrong impressions, have greatly stifled, if not extinguished, the workings of instinct in the human soul. To bring it back again to its natural power, all men should sit down each day, a few moments, entirely passive, and thus cultivate a more intimate acquaintance with their intuitive energies, till they hear the silvery tones of the still small voice of conscience within, and not of de- parted spirits without — till they hear from the pro- found depths of their own intuitions, that hold their residence in the involuntary powers of their own minds, and not in the spheres. This instinct is conscience, that god in man. When uninfluenced by foreign im- pressions, it is truth. It is the living oracle through which God has spoken to his servants in dreams, in visions, in silent and passive meditation. It is the living oracle through which Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel consulted the Eternal, and through which, as his inspired servants, they heard his voice speaking in the cool stillness of the day in silent and passive meditation. Through this medium, and not through reason, they were inspired to speak the mind of God above. It is the living oracle which we should consult when night mantles the plain. We should consult it in the face of divine revelation already given to the 68 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. world, and not to obtain another. Our involuntary power of mind . is the grand magazine in which are stored up all the intuitions of our instinctive energies. All the germs of truth that the never-ending ages of eternity will unfold, and stamp upon our ever-expand- ing intellectual and reasoning faculties, are there. A finite portion of all substances in being is in man, so that he bears about with him, wherever he moves, the impression of infinity and eternity. Having made these general remarks in relation to instinct, and brought into the field a sufficient amount of matter, I will now take into consideration the case of a true medium as an example, and will therefore suppose an excellent one. And here, ladies and gen- tlemen, I must contend, and I do it without hesitation, and with the most perfect confidence, that the true medium is made to write, to tip tables, and to move and fling about furniture, and to produce rappings, through the involuntary power of his own mind, and that no other spirit has any agency in this matter. The medium, for instance, sits down and resigns all power over the voluntary nerves, under the impression that some immortal spirit will move the hand to write, and thus make some communication through him. He assumes a state of entire passivity, and, so far as the motion of his hand is concerned, he remains perfectly indifferent. He does not will nor exercise even the slightest mental effort to move his hand. But soon the LECTURE IV. 69 hand does move, either more slowly or with far more than ordinary rapidity, and a sentence is produced. But in the production of this sentence the medium, really and honestly, had no more conscious volition than any other person present. How then, it may be asked, did he form letters with- out thinking ? I answer, that it was intuitively pro- duced by the involuntary powers of the mind, through the nervous force of the arm, and by a nervous sym- pathy they would produce such letters only, as by long- established habit he had uniformly written by the vol- untary powers of his mind. I have clearly shown, in the case of the stuttering boy, and the fingers of the musician upon the keys of the piano, that the voluntary and involuntary powers have a strong tendency to con- cur together in one common state of action. Hence it would be impossible for the medium, on the principle I am arguing, to write Hebrew or Greek letters, who had never practiced forming them. If it be said, this has been done in one instance at least, and a fac-simile of it has been published, I reply that it is a sheer hoax, and has no foundation in truth. If it be asked, why are not the letters in the medi- um's own handwriting 1 I answer, that they are, if he writes with the same speed, be that slow or fast, that he usually does in his business matters. Permit me, in my turn, to ask — If the spirit of Webster or Clay moves the medium's hand, why is it not in the handwriting 70 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. of these statesmen 1 I have seen two communications purporting to be from the hand of Clay, and one from the hand of Webster, since their death, but they bear no possible resemblance to their earthly chirography. And do Webster and Clay go backward in eternity ? Their communications show, that they have lost their eloquence and good sense by which they moved men's souls on earth. Clay has lost his knowledge of En- glish grammar and composition, and become only about half-witted ! And Webster, Franklin, and Washing- ton are not much better off ! Why are these things so 1 I answer, because the spirits of these mighty, honored dead have made no communications to the living — and hence these writings bear the impress of the medium's own measure of capacity and scholarship. If the me- dium is unlearned and half-witted, his communication is so likewise, and hence he fathers his silly nonsense upon Henry Clay. Why, I ask, does the medium not write in Greek, when he consults the spirit of Homer or Socrates 1 — or in Hebrew, when he consults the spirit of Moses, or of any of the prophets? How happen they all to be familiar with the English language, and to move the medium's hand to form our letters only ? If y ou reply, that through a German medium they write the German language, through a Frenchman they write French, and through an Indian they write the Indian tongue, I have only to say, that this is not uniformly the case. It is pretended, that through LECTURE IV. 71 English mediums communications have been written in various languages, some of which are obsolete or dead, and most difficult to write both as regards the composition and the letters. Was this a freak of fancy in the spirit? It looks very much like an effort artifi- cially made. True, I have no confidence that this has ever been done by fair means, as other experiments have. But if spirits have any hand in the matter, this would be the most natural and convincing mode. If Homer, the prince of £ong, uniformly breathed his living verse in classic Greek, and Virgil poured out his unrivaled elo- quence in Latin through all mediums, and if Moses and the prophets communicated in Hebrew, and the Indian's spirit in his native tongue, the world would soon be converted to a belief in spirit-manifestations. Do not say, that this would be inconvenient, for we have trans- lators by the thousand. But an occasional specimen, given in some dead language, " like angel's visits, few and far between," looks suspicious, and savors too much of a freak of fancy, to be believed by any candid mind. 72 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. LECTUKE V. Ladies and Gentlemen : The involuntary motions of every part of the human system I have fully and decidedly sustained, and this will cover any possible argument that can be presented, as regards the involuntary movement of the hand in writing. But the great point upon which they dwell is, that intelligence is displayed when the medium neither wills nor even thinks. In urging this point, they have entirely overlooked the intuitions or in- stincts of the involuntary powers of the mind, of which it gives the most wonderful and astonishing manifes- tations while in the mesmeric or electro-psychological state. In this state, the mind in the back brain is aroused and brought into a more perfect communica- tion with the doings and operations of nature, in- stinctively sees things as they are (if left uninfluenced by other minds), and through habit and sympathy it performs in some measure the office of the front brain. It presses at times the voluntary part of the mind, if I may so speak, into its service, compelling it to act in concert with its own intuitions. These instincts, how- ever, while acting, are impressed by surrounding cir- LECTURE V. 73 cumstances, by previously established convictions, and by the sympathy of other minds. But if it be said, that human instinct can not mani- fest such astonishing intelligence, transcending even the powers of reason, and that it must require the in- tervention of spirits to account for its manifestation, how, then, I ask, can instinct in the lower creatures manifest the most surprising intelligence, according to their grade, without the aid of spirits ? How do crea- tures, without the aid of instruction, intuitively know the medical properties of plants 1 Do the departed spirits of their own species teach them this 1 How do the birds of heaven so perfectly build their nests 1 How does the spider so curiously weave his web? or the bee so skillfully build the cells of her comb all exactly six square ? How does the swallow foreknow an approaching inundation, and make the holes in the river's bank higher than in former years 1 "Prescient the tides or tempests to withstand, Build on the wave, or arch beneath the sand ?" How are we to account for these, and the countless other wonders that have struck with surprise the most gifted minds of all ages 1 How can instinct in these creatures manifest such astonishing intelligence with- out the aid of reason or instruction 1 And is this in- telligence any evidence that the departed kindred spirits of their own species act through them as me- diums and produce it 1 If so, how then did the first 4 74 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. creatures manifest their instinctive intelligence before any of their race died, and when as yet there were no kindred spirits of their kind to influence them? But as it is admitted, that all creatures, from the lowest in the chain of being up to man, manifest their ever varied intelligence by instinct, and without the aid of departed spirits of their own species to produce it, then why is not man, the highest link of the living chain, able to do the same, and to manifest an instinc- tive intelligence beyond the grasp of his reason, and without the aid of the departed spirits of his race to produce it? If he is not, how then could Adam and his descendants for the first eight hundred years re- ceive most wonderful impressions, and manifest a simi- lar intelligence independent of their reason before any of their race died, or before there were any departed spirits to act through them as mediums ? It appears at least that they got along without any guardian spirits to watch over, protect, and influence them. In all states of brilliant catalepsy, somnambulism, mesmeric clairvoyance, and electro-psychology we see abundance of this kind of intelligence displayed. And in one of these states the medium-writer must be. There is one medium who went about lecturing in a spirit-mes- merized state, as it was termed, and when done, he knew not what he had uttered. How was this accom- plished 1 He said it was done by the spirit that mes- merized him speaking through his organs ! But I LECTURE V. <5 answer, it was done in the same manner that the medium writes by the spirit. And he obtains his in- telligence, all his knowledge, from the same source that all mesmeric and psychological subjects do, and this is, not from spirits, but from the instincts of the involuntary powers of the mind in the back brain. This will be more fully noticed hereafter. But before arguing this point, I will speak of the condition of a good medium, and of mediums in gen- eral. The Seeress of Prevorst was no spirit-rapping medium, nor did she pretend to be. Her case, take it all in all, is one in about fifty million. The condition of a good medium can be attained through entire pas- sivity or resignation of all the voluntary powers of mind and body ; but by those persons only who are naturally in the electro-psychological state, or who do involuntarily, or by a mental abstraction, pass instantly into, and out of, the mesmeric state, or who may fall into a cataleptic condition. These are the only per- sons who can become mediums of the highest order by a little practice. Hence mediums are more or less perfect in proportion to the excellency of their invol- untary nervous development, and its susceptibility to a psychological or mesmeric impression. Some per- sons are naturally in the electro-psychological state, were born in it, live in it, and will die in it. All such become mediums of the finest class, and by practice become perfect ; for practice, after all, has much to do 76 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. with this matter, as it tends to establish a habitude of action upon the nervous system, as it does upon every thing else in mortal life to which it may be applied, and confirms the old proverb, that habit becomes a second nature. The voluntary and involuntary powers have a strong tendency to concur together in one com- mon mode of action through indulgence, sympathy, and habit. This I have clearly shown in the case of the stuttering boy, the fingers of the performer on the keys of the piano, and those who got the jerks in the field of excitement. There are other persons, however, who are only par- tially in the electro-psychological state, who can be- come only partial mediums, according to the degree and perfection of their nervous impressibility. And there may be some on whom no visible psychological impression can be made, and yet by long practice, un- wearied patience, and perseverance, they may become writing mediums, and such as move tables and other furniture by contact. All other professed mediums, who are not in the peculiar psychological condition and nervous impressibility I have mentioned, are im- postors and arrant pretenders in every sense of the word. They intentionally, and by their voluntary powers, write, move furniture, tip tables, and produce the raps by deception and trick, and of these there are not a few. As even the honest medium is deceived by his own LECTURE V. 77 impressions, so I would in the next place remark, in relation to the doctrine of impressions, that there is one in about twenty-five or thirty who is capable of becoming a good medium, because there is about that number who are naturally in the electro-psychological state. Upon the minds and bodies of such individuals any impression whatever can be made. For the information of such as may not be ac- quainted with the fact, I would say, that all the senses, their sight, hearing, feeling, taste, and smell, are sus- ceptible of the most astonishing hallucinations, and far superior to any of the spirit-manifestations. They can be made not only to hear raps, but to see a choir of angels, and hear them sing, while they strike their harps of gold in living melody. To their vision a handkerchief can be changed into a beautiful child — then to a bird of paradise — then into a lizard or any thing else. They can be impressed to see the clear starry heavens through the ceiling and roof of this hall ! The next instant, they can be impressed to see convolving clouds rolling the heavens in night — they see the lightnings flashing — hear the thunders rolling, and feel the rain and hail descending ! They can be made to feel the opposite extremes of sultry heat and piercing cold. They may taste pure water, and, by an impression on the mind, it can be instantly changed to the taste of vinegar — of wormwood, of honey — salts — brandy — lemonade — cider or coffee ! The scent 78 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. of the sweetest rose can be changed to that of the most nauseous drug that ever came in contact with the sense of smell, or to the pleasant odor of the straw- berry, the orange, or to the horrible one of the skunk ! They can be made to see a table, or stand, or even a sofa, not only tip and move about the floor, but rise to the ceiling and sail around overhead, and then gently descend to the spot where it stood. They can be im- pressed even to believe that they are some other in- dividual, either male or female, or some renowned statesman, general, king, or even queen, or a beggar, or a person of color, or an ox, or a horse ! Not only can the above impressions be made in rapid and instant succession on the mind, but their arms, limbs, and bodies can be instantly paratyzed, so that they can not stir from any position in which they may be placed. And in this rigid condition of their arms, they can be made to gently tip a table without knowing that they bore down upon it in the slightest manner whatever. Or their limbs can be set in motion, so that they can not stop them. They can be made to dance, to rap the foot upon the floor, or to snap the joints and toes where this rare faculty exists, or to produce an electro- magnetic snap without being sensible of a single mo- tion, because all feeling can be removed from any part of the body, and again be instantly returned. Or they can be made to see and know that they are making such motions and noises, and yet all knowledge of the LECTURE V. 79 fact can be instantly obliterated from their remem- brance. All these things, and thousands more, can be performed upon persons in the electro-psychological state, and that, too, while they are wide awake and in full possession of their reasoning faculties. Some can be made even to read the thoughts and impressions of other minds, and by a brilliant clairvoyance to describe individuals, circumstances, and scenes at any distance. AH this can be done in accordance with the soundest principles of physiology, and the philosophy of im- pressions. The spirit-manifestations of the present day are all performed on the same principle, with but little variation, that I have here laid down and briefly stated. This I shall soon decidedly notice. Once more. You ask, for instance, a psychological subject to move his hands, and he does so by his vol- untary power. You suddenly exclaim — You can not stop them ! and, sure enough, he can not. By this im- pression you merely cause him to paralyze the volun- tary power of his mind, so that it can not act through the voluntary nerves to stop the arm, while the invol- untary power of his mind is left free to continue this motion by sympathy through the involuntary nerves. It seems that all impressions, received from the exter- nal world through the senses, must first pass through the regions of involuntary powers before they can reach the voluntary powers of the mind. And by an impression you stop them in the involuntary depart- 80 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. ment, and thus prevent the voluntary powers from acting. It may perhaps be asked, what evidence is there that the involuntary powers of the mind can move either the hands or the feet without even will or thought ? I reply that there is abundant proof in the many instances already furnished. I will, however, bring one more. In a fit, for example, when the vol- untary powers of the mind through the nervous force are paralyzed and utterly senseless — when even the will can not act so as to produce the least motion in the body through the nerves, why is it that the hands, limbs, and indeed the whole body, are convulsively moved, and often with a force equal to the strength of two, or even three men % What is it that causes these motions 1 Surely not the voluntary powers, for they are senseless ; and there is no will to act. Nor can it be the body, for that has no power to struggle without the spirit. "What, then, is the philosophy of a struggle q . The cause is this, and has been over- looked by physiologists — The fit not only paralyzed the voluntary powers of the mind and body, but, at the same time, it trespassed so far upon the involuntary department as to suspend, for a moment, the heaving of the lungs and the throbbing of the heart. The convulsion that ensued was occasioned by the involun- tary powers of the mind instinctively exerting their energies to force the heart and lungs, on which life LECTURE V. 81 immediately depends, to start into motion and resume their functions. In this case we see that the involun- tary powers of the mind can move the hands and feet without the will, and by their energy force the lungs and heart to move. So the question is not only an- swered, but unequivocally settled. Ladies and Gentlemen : I now say, that all the so- called spirit-manifestations are produced by the invol- untary powers of the human mind through the nervous force of those persons only who are either in the elec- tro-psychological state, or in the mesm,eric state, or in an entire or partially cataleptic state — these three. All my arguments center here, and hinge on the invol- untary powers of the mind. These three conditions, it is to be understood, involve not only somnambulism and trance, but every abnormal condition to which human beings may be subject. In describing the various impressions and experi- ments in electrical psychology, I spoke of the rapping of the foot upon the floor, and the subject not knowing it. I do not mean to use this as a mode by which to account for, or explain, the raps of true mediums. They perform them electro-magnetically from their in- voluntary nervous force, while the false medium only makes them intentionally with the feet, the joints, or hands. Let us now fairly try the question by meeting the mediums and the believers in the spirit-manifestations 4* 82 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. on their own ground. It is stated, with a great deal of confidence, that intelligence is connected with these rappings and table-tippings, and that the most myste- rious facts and circumstances, far distant, and that transpired years ago, unknown to the medium and to all present, have been communicated. This is grant- ed ; but I reply, that facts and circumstances equally mysterious have been communicated by mesmeric clair- voyance — by electro-psychological impressions, and by catalepsy. And you will please to bear constantly in mind, that the natural cause is to be received and adopted in preference to the supernatural. But to proceed. It is often requested that some skeptic pres- ent at the meeting of a circle shall state mentally how many times he desires the table to tip. He con- sents, and says mentally four times — I will now sup- pose no failures to occur — and, sure enough, the table tips four times ! He again merely thinks > and pro- poses thirteen ; and it tips thirteen times ! All are awe-struck at the mysterious nature of that invisible spirit that reads the thoughts ! But do you not un- derstand, that mesmeric clairvoyants have done this in thousands and thousands of instances, and so often re- peated, that the experiment has become stale 1 But do you object, and contend that the medium is not in the mesmeric state ? How do you know this 1 What immortal spirit has revealed it to you, and not to us 1 You will please, however, to bear in mind that a per- LECTURE V. 83 son often passes into the mesmeric state instantly, and just as suddenly passes out of it, without being con- scious in himself of any transition from one state to the other. But do you say, that no one magnetized the medium — that his eyes are open, and that he has no appearance of being in the mesmeric state 1 But this is no objection whatever, for who does not know the fact of self-mesmerism ; that the subject can throw himself into and out of the state at will ? Or who does not know the fact, that the subject is often invol- untarily thrown into and out of the state by surround- ing impressions and circumstances, and without even knowing it 1 But do you say, that the medium is not in communication with any person in the room, and yet that names are rapped out through the a-b-c pro- cess — that deaths and circumstances are made known of which the medium never heard, of which every per- son at the circle is entirely ignorant, and that with none of these the medium is in communication 1 But what does this objection amount to in favor of spirit- ual intercourse ? Nothing ! for who does not know, that a person who involuntarily falls into the mes- meric state, is in communication with surrounding na- ture, and with all persons of a certain nervous tem- perament in sympathy with his own, even though thousands of miles distant, and, for aught we know, throughout the globe — and -receives impressions from their brains, and details circumstances of deaths and 84 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. events that transpired years ago 1 Who does not know, that mesmeric clairvoyance and its sympathetic impressions involve all this ? Who does not know, that somnambulism is but involuntary self-mesmerism ? And who does not know, that the somnambulist is in communication with nature — with surrounding circum- stances, and can feel and read by impress the thoughts of those whose nervous sympathies are congenial with his own 1 All this I have tested in hundreds of cases for the last fifteen years. And he who cites or pub- lishes such instances as these, as proof of spirit-man- ifestations, betrays his utter ignorance of well-attested mesmeric phenomena. But could it be clearly shown that the medium is not in the mesmeric state, this would not in the least remove the difficulty. He must then be in the electro-psycho- logical state, and this can not positively be distin- guished from his natural state under the present im- pressions of the medium's mind. And who does not know that electro-psychology is the doctrine of impres- sions, and that around it cluster all the phenomena, and even more than mesmerism can boast? A good psychological subject can grasp the most wonderful and apparently hidden events and buried transactions, call them up from their graves, and clothe them to his fancy in their resurrection splendor, just as they ap- peared when they transpired. Like a good mesmeric clairvoyant, so a brilliant psychological subject can LECTURE V. 85 range the universe — read the bare bosom — read human thoughts, and scan the arcana of the soul. If you say- that mesmeric and psychological subjects often fail in correctness ; I reply, so do your mediums fail in cor- rectness, as to the spirit-communications, and fail full as often. They both stand upon the same ground, bow at the same shrine of enchantment, consult the same oracle, and are the same thing. But "when the medium's experiments fail, he has a spirit scape-goat on which to lay his sins, for he attributes the failure to ignorant, lying, or mischievous spirits ! But when the unfortunate clairvoyant fails, we merely say, he is a poor subject. Hence, as there are good and poor clairvoyants, so there are good and poor mediums. This each medium should candidly confess, and not charge his own ignorance, stupidity, or failures upon the spirits. If you say, that the medium is not in the electro- psychological state, because there is no person to speak to, and impress him — and that no person can impress him, for many have tried it, and failed ; I reply, that this objection is utterly futile. It is by no means necessary that another person should speak to, and control him. Any absorbing thought or supreme impression, or any thing to which he may discipline his mind, or that may happen to enter his brain, can con- trol him, whether it may be his full conviction of the power of some invisible spirit — an angel, a fly, or a 86 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. worm ! In whatever he may be induced to place con- fidence, and believes or expects that he shall receive from it an impression upon his mind or body, and sits passively in expectation of such a result, this becomes to him the controlling power. And while this impres- sion remains the supreme one, so long no other impres- sion from any human being on earth can remove it so as to control him. Hence you perceive that this is no proof whatever, that he is not in the electro-psycholog- ical state merely because no person can control him. And yet there are individuals whom I have often psychologically controlled, who have since become mediums. Each will tell me, as we may chance to meet, " Well, you say it is not spirits, but psychology ; now operate upon me, if you can. I should like to see you psychologize me !" And so says the mesmeric clairvoyant who has become a medium, and who had been mesmerized a hundred times : " Well, I should like to see you mesmerize me now ! My father's spirit is my mesmerizer, and he speaks from my mouth, com- municates to others, and through mc makes other me- diums." All this shows their utter ignorance of the doctrine of impressions ; and while in this condition no argument can reach their understanding, and no man can psychologize or mesmerize them. It is asked, how is the table tipped or moved, if not by spirits 1 Answer : It is done in one of two ways, if done honestly. The first is by the medium's own LECTURE V. 87 physical force, exerted through the involuntary nerves from the back brain, and without the medium's knowl- edge. By placing her hands tightly upon the table, and keeping the voluntary powers of her mind entirely passive, as regards the motion of her hands, keeping her mind calmly and steadily fixed upon the expected result, then the involuntary powers of her mind residing in the back brain send out their electro-magnetic force, gradually and imperceptibly stiffen and convulse the arms, and bear them down with a force sufficient to tip or move it. This is done without her knowledge, because her hands and arms, being at that instant cataleptic, have no more feeling than in a fit. But on being asked if she is not tipping it, the moment she turns her attention to examine the state of her hands, her voluntary powers, quick as lightning, quick as thought, equalize the forces between the two brains, the rigidity is gone and the feeling returns, and she answers, No ! I am not tipping it. This is the most common mode of tipping and moving tables when one or two mediums are seated alone. The second way in which it is done, is by electro- magnetically charging the table from a living battery of many human hands, and then attracting or repelling it without contact, or raising it as high as their heads by a concentration of their minds upon the object, and the slightest touch from the entire circle. This is by far the most mysterious, yet the noblest and most in- 88 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. teresting mode, and can not but strike the mind with astonishment and delight. Though far more difficult than the rising of a balloon, because the table is more solid, yet it is equally simple. The millions of pores in the table are filled with electro-magnetism from human brains, which is inconceivably lighter than the gas that inflates the balloon. And as it possesses also the power of attraction and repulsion in itself, the table will follow the human hands and brains from whence it was charged, and with the slightest united effort from the fingers of the surrounding circle, it can be raised as high as their heads, but no higher. And what, I ask, is better calculated to produce a united effort of minds and bodies to act in unison than to say, "Will the spirits raise the table? will they tip it? will they move it from the medium 1 will they move it toward the medium V y Objections against this exposition will weigh nothing against its truthfulness sustained by experiment. Take, for instance, a man weighing 150 pounds, and lay him upon his back on a counter or long table. Let two men of great vital force stand, one either side of him. Let each place the forefingers under the shoulder-blade and loins on each side, and keep a steady lift of 50 pounds in all on the body. Let all three take in a long inspiration at the same instant, and for a moment hold the breath, and then all expire together. Let them continue for a short time thus to draw in and LECTURE V. 89 expel their breath at the same instant, and the man will, at length, rise above the table, as high as their heads, without increasing the original effort of 50 pounds' lift. Here we perceive that an unusual inflation of air into the lungs, and forcing the electricity contained in that air into the blood and nerves till the whole sys- tem of the prostrate man, on whom they were acting, was charged, overcame the gravity of 100 pounds. In fact he rose on the same principle that a balloon rises. It requires no disembodied spirits to do this. But no man ever rose to the ceiling, as some have stated, without being in contact with human hands. It may now be said that this experiment is upon man, and not upon dead matter, and hence affords no proof that a table can be raised, or moved, or tipped, by being charged with electric force from men. In reply, I would first remark that this objection amounts to nothing in the face of experiment and fact. Let us notice dead matter. Take, for instance, a silk um- brella, closed and perfectly dry ; rub it briskly for a minute or so downward with the hands — stand its handle upon the floor — balance it between the palms of the two hands, touching it near the top of the silk, and then remove the hands evenly and gently for two or three inches away from it on each side. You may then move the hands backward and forward, and the umbrella will follow them two or three inches out of its perpendicular, and again follow them back to its 90 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. upright position. All this can be done, without contact. This settles the question, by proving that the mind, through electrical agency sent from the brain through the arms and hands, can charge dead matter, and influ- ence it. If this be not so, how then could the Deity electrically and magnetically charge this globe, and move it by the same attracting and repelling forces 1 He could not. If man can not electrically charge and influence a table, how then can departed spirits whom you consult do it ? for it is contended that they do it through an electrical agent. Though I am perfectly aware that there are mediums and other persons who have become so electrically charged through passivity as to be capable of giving off electro-magnetic discharges sufficient to be heard at considerable distances, and in certain rare cases to move light substances alone, with little or no contact ; and though I conceive it possible for about one in fifty million, like the Seeress of Prevorst, to produce electro- magnetic sounds in other dwellings while in the mes- meric state, and for which she claimed no assistance from departed spirits — though I admit all this, yet I now seriously and decidedly challenge any medium in the United States to raise the lightest stand from the floor to the ceiling without contact, or to sit down alone and place his hands upon the end of a table, that has its four legs at the corners, and make it tip from him. I believe that persons have seen apparently a table rise LECTURE V. 91 from the floor to the ceiling, but they were in the electro- psychological state, and I have produced that impression upon hundreds, yet the table never stirred from the spot where it stood ! Again, there are mediums who profess to be magnet- ized by some spirit, and then firmly believe that the spirit makes use of their organs, and through them converses with any at the circle to whom the spirit may direct the medium's hand. And the medium will often successfully imitate the voice and manner that were the spirit's while in the earthly body. But who does not know that persons can mesmerize themselves by a mental abstraction or involuntary fall into the mesmeric state by any impression? And who does not know that you can make a person in the mesmeric or psychological state believe that they are some other individual, and will then endeavor to speak and act like that individual, whether he be yet lingering on earth or departed to another world 1 All such stale questions are continually asked by the believers in the spirit-manifestations wherever I go, as though they were unanswerably great, when, in fact, they do not scarcely involve the a b c of mesmeric and psychological phenomena. It is earnestly contended that the medium does not rap, tip tables, nor move furniture, but that it is done by invisible spirits. Now, this is not only an incon- sistency, but a blank contradiction to what they uni- formly admit about all the other spirit-manifestations. 92 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. Let us notice a few instances as examples of what we mean : Does not the spirit use the medium's organs to speak with 1 Yes, they all say so. Does not the spirit use the medium's hand and pen to write with ? Yes, they all grant this to be true. I then ask, Does not the spirit electro-magnetically use the medium's fingers, toes, joints, or whole body to rap, and to move and tip tables with 1 Certainly ; for this must follow suit, and be consistent with all the other manifestations. There must be no contradiction, but entire harmony in the whole matter. But as it is positively denied that the medium makes the raps or tips the tables, in what sense then is he a medium ? Can this question be an- swered ? No ! His hand certainly does the writing, and his lungs, voice, and organs of articulation certainly do the talking. Then do not his hands and feet, electro- magnetically or otherwise, do the rapping and table- tipping business also? This being admitted, where, then, are your spirit-manifestations 1 But if you say, that the medium does not do this, but that- spirits do it, in what sense then is he a medium in rapping, tip- ping, and moving tfurnituru, more than any other person in the room ? And how are these glaring contradictions to be reconciled in spirit-harmony, that the mediums do the writing and talking business, and the spirits do the rapping, tipping, and flin gin g- about-fur niture- business? The moment the medium admits that the raps are made through any part of his body, as they LECTURE V. 93 certainly are, then we must bid adieu to the idea that spirits have any concern in the matter. For how can he know it to be spirits, if the sounds come from his hands and feet 1 How could he prove it to be spirits, if his own hands tipped the table, or moved the furni- ture, by first charging it with his hands ? Is it, I ask, in the power of mediums to induce spirits to move a table without first charging it electro-magnetically by contact with their hands 1 No, it is not. Let mediums step into a room, and not touch the table at all, and then cause it to be tipped, raised, or moved, and their work is done. For one, I am a convert, and will un- flinchingly face a sneering and scoffing world. But if the table is tipped or moved through the influence of the medium's own hands, how then can he prove it to be done by spirits ? In this case it requires but little sagacity to perceive that there are no spirit-manifesta- tions. But in case they are not made through him, in what sense, then, is he a medium ? Of this dilemma they may take either horn, and also reconcile these strongly apparent contradictions. We perceive, then, that the spirit-manifestations will not bear the test of scrutiny — they crumble at the touch of reality. But it is said, that they are not only proved true by experiment and fact, but that the Scriptures fully sanction the idea, that spirits have in all ages ap- peared to, and held converse with, men. But why, and for what end did they appear 1 The answer is, 94 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. they appeared for the purpose of making a revelation of the mind and will of the Creator of the universe for the benefit of all mankind, and not for individual pur- poses and selfish or silly ends. Nor is there a single instance where they manifested themselves through mediums, and employed raps to make themselves or their message known by an a-b-c process. In Scrip- ture times, instead of manifesting their presence by tipping tables, flinging about and destroying furniture, or by throwing stones and breaking window-glass, they uniformly made their appearance to men in dignified and visible splendor ! And instead of calling for the alphabet and rapping out their messages, they deliv- ered them in an audible manner, and with the living voice. And have spirits lost their power, become deaf and dumb, and are they compelled to resort to various signs of rappings and table-tippings to make themselves understood 1 No ! this can not be. Heaven stoops, but not to meanness. And, moreover, the revelation of God is finished by the living Son, the most exalted and dignified personage from the Supreme Court above. To finish the revelation of Jesus Christ, they mani- fested a spirit-grandeur and power beyond that of electro-toe-rapping and table-tipping ! a grandeur and power worthy the Eternal, and that a seraph's elo- quence never, never can describe ! The darkened sky at the midnight hour broke, and gave the light of day ! LECTURE V. 95 the light of eternity ! An angel from heaven ap- peared, robed in his immortal costume — delivered his message to shepherds on the plains of Judea announc- ing the birth of Christ ! To stamp with interest, and enhance the splendor of the scene, a multitude of the heavenly host appear, and are seen moving along the front of night ! Not only are they seen, but heard in that song of songs, " Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men." Hark ! They are gone, but employed no mediums to rap ! Mount Tabor is rendered immortal by the transfig- uration of Christ. Moses and Elias appeared in glory ; and the Master, too, was changed ! His face did shine as the sun, and his raiment became shining, exceeding white, as snow, as no fuller on earth can white them. They appeared not only visible to the eye, but spake audibly to the ear, delivered their mes- sage, and closed the scene without employing mediums to rap ! Yes, the apostles present saw and heard. The crucifixion hour was at hand. Christ in agony sweat drops of blood ! An angel from heaven appears in the garden and strengthens him. From that mo- ment the name of Gethsemane is immortal ! He is ready for the approaching scene of his sufferings. He bangs on the cross, and around it the great heart of nature throbs wildly ! Earthquakes thunder, rocks end, and the sun is in night ! He dies amid the con- vulsions of nature, and dismisses his spirit ! He is 96 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. laid in the silent tomb ! The vengeance of a world is roused, and Roman soldiers are standing around his sepulcher as if determined to hold the Master in death. But on the third-day morning the angel of God descends from heaven ! An earthquake awakes and sounds its thunders, announcing his approach ! The scene how grand ! He rolls back the stone from the door of the sepulcher ! He sits upon it. His countenance is like lightning, and his raiment white as snow ! For fear of him the keepers shake and become as dead men ! And the angel said to the women, Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus that was cruci- fied. All was not only visible to his friends and ene- mies, but they also heard his voice. The Roman guard was smitten down, and the whole majestic scene was opened without forming a circle, and sublimely closed without employing mediums to rap. LECTURE VI. 97 LECTURE VI. Ladies and Gentlemen : I am sensible that many of the ministers of the gos- pel feel and deeply realize the dangers that are thick- ened around their dearest religious interests, but do not know what to do to avert the gathering storm. Some of them having witnessed the manifestations through mediums belonging perhaps to their own church, and whose honor and sincerity they could not question, have remained silent in their own astonishment at the mystery that hangs over the subject. And though they were by no means satisfied of its truth, yet cir- cumstances of a personal and local nature prevented their making any opposition whatever. Others, having witnessed experiments through medi- ums who were strangers, or those in whom they had no confidence, have raised their voices against it, not only in private conversation, but in their pulpits have pronounced it an arrant humbug, and utterly unworthy the consideration of the Christian or any sober-minded man. And other clergymen have considered it be- neath their notice — have refused to witness a single experiment — and believing it to be sustained, and en- tirely so, by trickery and fraud, have treated the 5 98 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. whole matter with silent contempt, and advised others to do the same. I regret to say, that these various modes of procedure have done any thing but to arrest its progress. They have, on the contrary, had an in- direct tendency to urge it on, and by such opposition to give it permanency and support. The thing itself is not a falsehood, but exists con- centered in our nature, and founded on immutable truth. When the whole subject is philosophically considered and scientifically understood, it is then per- ceived that the departed spirits of another world have no agency in this matter, and hence have never been called from their dread abode to produce raps through the flesh and bones of mediums, nor to spasmodically move the writing medium's hand to furnish communi- cations for the living. The mediums, notwithstanding this, are honest and sincere through whom these com- munications are made. I would not be understood to say that they are all honest. It would be strange, in- deed, were this the case. Every bank has its coun- terfeit bills, and a counterfeit presupposes a true. Among the twelve disciples of the Master there was a Judas, and in Christian churches of all denominations there ever have been, and still are, hypocrites. And it would be strange, indeed, if there were no false me- diums among the spirit-rappers and spirit-writers. It would be an exception, never before witnessed on earth among any societies or combinations of men. I desire LECTURE VI. 99 it, therefore, to be distinctly understood, that there are false as well as true mediums in their circles. And what renders the subject a matter of more grave and serious interest is the circumstance, that its mediums and its advocates, as a body, are sincere. Indeed, they appear anxious to have the subject thoroughly in- vestigated, so that they may know to what cause to ascribe it, if it be not to the agency of spirits. They have no wish, I presume, to impose upon and deceive their fellow-men any more than they have to impose upon and deceive themselves. All are alike anxious, and it only needs the light of truth, reason, and philosophy to be freely shed upon this subject around which hangs so much mystery and darkness. On this account I have spoken thus far plainly and freely, and endeavored to meet your ex- pectations. It is a matter of regret, that notwithstanding the long and patient investigations of various committees publicly appointed for this purpose, as well as the private investigations of hundreds of individuals, through successive years, that they have resulted in nothing satisfactory to a rational solution of the sub- ject. They have left it where they found it, resting in its own incomprehensibility, and pronounced it in- scrutable to the human mind. The reason of their arriving at such a result as this, is because these in- vestigating committees and individuals have generally 100 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. directed their efforts to detect imposture and trick, with a certainty of success, and when satisfied there was none, they have at once concluded that it must be attributed to the agency of departed spirits in another world. But however satisfactory results proved to themselves, yet they have uniformly failed to report any discovery they had made satisfactory to the public mind, that invisible intelligences had any agency in producing these most singular manifestations. This state of things, and the mystery and darkness that hover around, and brood with more than raven wing over this subject, concealing it from human scrutiny, have had a tendency, for several years past, to excite the community, and this excitement, so far from abat- ing, is gradually increasing and extending itself over ; the United States and Europe with most tremendous force. Much stress is laid upon the fact, that as the medi- um's hand moves without his will and writes intelli- gently, so it is moved by a spirit ! Involuntary motion I have dwelt upon extensively, and shown that the in- tuitions or instincts of man belong to the involuntary powers of his mind. All mesmeric clairvoyance, and all that this clairvoyance has ever indited, revealed, or written, is but an effort and result of the involuntary powers of the mind. If, however, you say that man has no such involuntary power of instinct or intuition to discover, then where do departed spirits get the LECTURE VI. 101 faculty to know when and what you think — to know when you call for them — and to respond to you when- ever you desire them to communicate ? Where, I ask, do they get the faculty to scrutinize all the secret thoughts and buried transactions of the human heart, and rap them out and reveal them through mediums 1 Surely this faculty must have existed inborn, and they must have possessed it ingermed in their being while here on earth, or they could never have attained it in a future state of existence except by a new creation. If spirits possess such powers of intuition or instinct, only more fully developed by passing through death into the spirit-world, then mortals possess the same, and when in the mesmeric or psychological state, or in clairvoyant catalepsy — a condition so nigh approaching that of the dead — they give evident manifestations both of its ex- istence and power, for in any of these abnormal con- ditions they perceive, understand, and explain things of which their reason, while in their natural state, knows nothing. But, it is asked, what evidence is there that man has such intuition or instinct belonging to the involun- tary power of the mind in the back brain 1 I reply, that the evidence in proof of this position has been al- ready given in my former Lectures. But that this new and interesting point in the philosophy of mind may be placed beyond the reach of all cavil, I will call to my aid some of the following well-known class of phe- 102 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. nomena. Ask a mesmerized person if he will go to bed in the mesmeric state and wake up at precisely five o'clock in the morning, or at any other hour you may be pleased to name, and if he firmly promises to do so, he will awake at the appointed hour, however profound may be his natural sleep. What is it, I ask, that takes note of time while the inhabitant in the front brain sleeps, and all its voluntary powers of calculation, reason, thought, and understanding are gone 1 What is it that keeps a reckoning of time, and wakes him up at the right moment 1 It is a power that lies beyond the realms of consciousness — it is in- tuition, or instinct. Or, if you please, after making him promise while mesmerized that he will wake up at five o'clock in the morning, then take him out of the mesmeric state and let him retire at pleasure. He now knows nothing of his promise so far as the volun- tary powers of his reasoning faculties are concerned. But in the morning at five o'clock he awakes. I again ask, what awoke him at the specified hour ? Surely it could not have been the voluntary power of his mind in the front brain that awoke him by the exer- cise of its thought or reason, because this knew noth- ing about the appointed hour, nor any of the circum- stances connected with the promise. And even if it had, still it could not have told the minute without a timepiece. I again ask, what was it that knew unerr- ingly when the hour came, without the assistance of a LECTURE VI, 103 timepiece, and at that instant aroused the voluntary power of the mind from slumber and insensibility to wakefulness and thought 1 I reply, it was the in- stincts, the intuition of the involuntary powers of his mind, that held their throne beyond the dominions of consciousness. Once more. Ask a lady in the mesmeric state whether she will come to your house the next morning at precisely ten o'clock, hand you a glass of water, and, while you are drinking it, whether she will kneel down on the left knee, and kiss your child in its moth- er's arms 1 She firmly promises to do so. Now wake her up, and though her reason and understanding have not the least knowledge or remembrance of this mat- ter, yet on the morrow, when the hour is approaching, a presentiment will take possession of her mind where she must go, and what she must do, and for which she can assign no possible reason. And so great will be the impression as to compel her to proceed to your house at the appointed hour, and do every thing just as it was promised. This proof is sufficient to settle the question in all its points. Now convince me that THE SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS ARE TRUE, AND MY PHI- LOSOPHY IS STILL CORRECT. In SUCH A CASE IT WOULD ONLY BE NECESSARY FOR ME TO MOVE MY POSITION ONE STEP FARTHER BACK, AND SAY THAT DEPARTED SPIRITS INFLUENCED THE INVOLUNTARY POWERS OF THE MIND IN THE BACK BRAIN, AND MOVED INTO ACTION THE IN- 104 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. STINCTIVE ENERGIES OF OUR BEING. It Will be per- ceived, that in the exposition now given, double con- sciousness and presentiments are explained on perfectly rational and philosophical principles. Ladies and Gentlemen : I have already remarked that the involuntary powers of the mind never reason, nor exercise any will, but they know, because they contain all the instinctive energies of our being. All intuitive knowledge of truth is there in embryo, and there conscience holds her throne. Through the do- minions of the involuntary powers all impressions are compelled to pass on their journey to the fields of vo- lition and reason, to be there manufactured into ideas, and they can enter there by no other road. These im- pressions are received from the external world through sight, hearing, feeling, taste, and smell, which all be- long, as- before shown, to the involuntary powers of the mind residing in the back brain. On these involuntary powers presentiments are often impressed, and through these the Creator has held, in the early ages of the world, mysterious converse with holy men, and through these he has poured the streams of prophetic truth and divine inspiration from the fountain of his being, and through these he has reached the reason, thought, understanding, and vnll of his creatures. Hence the involuntary powers of man are the very basis of his intellectual existence, and the mysterious fountain from whence all his reason "and intelligence proceed. LECTURE VI. 105 In proof of this, let the involuntary powers only par- tially suspend their operations, as, for instance, in the case of fainting, and all the voluntary powers of rea- son, thought, and intelligence are instantly suspended. This proves that they are dependent on the harmoni- ous movement of the involuntary powers for their very existence — and proves that the immortal mind pos- sesses these two attributes of voluntary and involun- tary power. From whence, I ask, originated all our knowledge of the arts and various improvements in human society ? From whence, for instance, did man in the early ages of our race first obtain the idea of building a house — of weaving and manufacturing fabrics, or even of the medical properties of plants 1 The consideration is a humiliating one, I confess, but it is none the less true, that he received the first idea from the instincts of the lower creatures. And these instincts, I have clearly shown, belong to the involuntary powers of the whole living chain. In proof of this, we know that the med- ical properties of many plants were discovered by watching the instinct of creatures. History proves that they gave us the idea. Building was suggested to man. by the bee, the beaver, the bird, and other creatures — weaving by the spider, the worm, and even the idea of the forms of government was taken from the ant or the bee. Virgil, in his " Bucolicks," exten- sively sings this truth — and Pope, the English bard, 5* 106 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. only breathes the language of nature, of man's early history and of experience, when he says : «'* See man from nature rising slow to art ! To copy instinct, then, was nature's part. Thus, then, to man the voice of nature spake : ' Go, from the creatures thy instructions take. Learn from the birds what food the thickets yield, Learn from the beasts the physic of the field ; Thy arts of building from the bee receive, Learn of the mole to plow — the worm to weave, Learn of the little nautilus to sail, Spread the thin oar, and catch the rising gale ; Here subterranean works and cities see ! There towns aerial on the waving tree ! Learn each small people's genius, policies, The ant's republic, and the realm of bees, How those in common all their wealth bestow, And anarchy without confusion know ; And these forever, though a monarch reign, Their separate cells and properties maintain. Mark what unvaried laws attend each state ! Laws wise as nature and as fixed as fate ! Yet go, and thus o'er all the creatures sway, Thus let the wiser make the rest obey, And for those arts mere instinct could afford, Be crowned as monarchs, or as gods adored.' " The above quotation is quite sufficient for my pur- pose. These instinctive energies belonging to our in- voluntary powers of mind can move the hand of the medium to write, and to rationally and instinctively LECTURE VI. 107 express the impressions of the involuntary powers, be- fore they reach the fields of volition and reason. In- deed, they are not allowed to enter the dominions of the involuntary powers. They are, if I may so speak, arrested upon their journey, and detained in the in- voluntary dominions, and from thence are instinctively sent off through the involuntary nerves of the arm, and formed into words and sentences, and in such letters only as the medium by his voluntary powers learned at school. Remember that the finished performer upon the piano plays two parts of the tune perfectly with his fingers while he is holding a familiar conversation with his friend, without perhaps a voluntary thought what music his fingers are playing. And you will bear in mind, as before remarked, that there is as much ar- rangement and scientific intelligence displayed in the harmony of sounds as in the harmony of sentences. All somnambulists write, and, if I may so speak, reason and move by the involuntary powers of mind and nerves. And can you tell me how a timid female can step and move intelligently on the ridge-pole of a barn-frame, or on a narrow joist, thirty feet high, over a swift stream, where a misstep would prove fatal 1 How is this done without the aid of spirits, or of thought and reason from the voluntary power of her mind in the front brain % Wake up her thought and reason while in the act, and she would fall. Or in the wakeful state, and by the aid of all her voluntary powers of 108 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. reason, she could not accomplish it. And is there not as much intelligence displayed in the movement of her feet, and without the aid of her voluntary reason, as there is in the movement of the writing medium's hand? There is. I say all somnambulists write, and, if I may so speak, reason and move by the involuntary power of mind and nerves. And so do all mesmeric clairvoyants, and those in a state of catalepsy. And yet they marvel and wonder that the hand writes when they do not will it ! I hope they will not wonder and perish ! Ladies and Gentlemen : I will only say that electro- psychology and mesmerism, as matters of science, should be kept in their own appropriate domain, to detect and describe disease, and apply the healing remedy; but let them not presume, through these agents, by sup- posed spirit-manifestations, clairvoyance, or any other mode, to make a revelation superior to the prophets, and Jesus Christ and his apostles. And deeply do I regret that Mr. Davis has mesmerically attempted this, by speaking disparagingly of those inspired men who have for more than four thousand years kindled up the fires cf moral truth for the peace and happiness of man- kind and the light of future generations. He has not done justice to the Bible, the prophets, nor to Jesus Christ and his inspired servants. The Holy Bible he calls " excellent soft bark," and Daniel's visions " beastly," and ranks the Scriptures on a par with all LECTURE VI. 109 heathen Bibles. His evident intention was that his book, called " Nature's Divine Revelations" should, as a rule of life, supersede the use of the Holy Scriptures, and that he himself, as a moral reformer, should surpass the Son of Man. Read his 156th Lecture, and his mes- meric intention, as to the fate of the Bible and the in- structions of Christ, is clearly seen. And deeply do I regret that this } T oung man, in the very morning of his being, and whom I so highly esteem, has been so misled in his mesmeric and psychological career by the impres- sions or those with whom he was surrounded, and for which he is not to be blamed. Hence, and above all, let them not attribute the wonders that hang around the psychological and mesmeric states to the communi- cations of departed spirits who are about making a new and superior revelation to men. As this is an age of great improvement in art and science, and as some entirely new and startling discov- eries are continually being made as regards the opera- tions of both mind and matter, so it will be readily per- ceived, even by the most careless observer, that there is a desire felt, an expectation entertained and even cher- ished by many minds, that improvements, at least, will be made in divine revelation also, sufficient to convert the Atheist, and they loudly boast, that the spirit-man- ifestations have already accomplished this in many in- stances. In reply to this, I have only to say, " that if they believe not Moses and the prophets, neither will 110 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. they be persuaded though one arose from the dead." And some are so deluded and vain as to entertain an opinion, that the use of the Scriptures will be entirely- superseded by a higher and far nobler revelation, and one more perfectly adapted to the gradually expanding light and science of the day, than the old-fashioned one contained in the Bible, and which was " given through prophets, and the apostles of Christ, in the dark and uncultivated ages of the world !" Many have a deep- seated impression, that we as much require a gradual improvement to be made in divine revelation, even though given to the world by the living Son of the High- est, as we do in the arts and sciences, and that the one must necessarily keep pace with the other. Still more : there are those who believe, that as there has been no improvement or amendment on the Bible for the last eighteen hundred years, so we require an entirely new revelation adapted to the greater light and science of the day, that shall as completely supersede the use of the Bible, or throw it as far into the shade, as traveling by steam supersedes, or throws into the shade the old- fashioned mode of traveling by stage-coach ! Perhaps some are expecting a revelation from heaven by tele- graphic dispatch from Benjamin Franklin through rap- ping and writing mediums ! It appears that my friend, Mr. Davis, for whom I en- tertain a high opinion, has placed Franklin at the head of matters in eternity, as the inventor or first discoverer LECTURE VI. Ill of this new mode of communication from heaven to earth. And the only reason why all are not mediums, is because the wires of the spiritual telegraph are, as yet, established through only a few mediums as a mere experiment. But as the prophetic edict has been given out, through the medium-oracle, that soon we shall all hold familiar converse with the spirits of our de- parted friends, so we shall all become mediums by the spiritual telegraph being universally established. It is perhaps a providential circumstance, that Professor Morse is yet in this world, otherwise, the whole honor of the immortal electric telegraph from heaven to earth would have been attributed to his invention, instead of Benjamin Franklin's. This would have been too much honor in connection with his earthly discovery for any one man to bear ! Only think — a telegraph for two worlds ! We know there was a day when our grandmothers used the spinning-wheel and hand-loom, and when print- ing and the various mechanic arts were slowly executed by hand. But because these have been principally su- perseded by water and steam power, yet this is no rea- son that the good old-fashioned book, called the Bible, should be superseded by a new revelation given through the psychological and mesmeric dreams of deluded or designing men. Because a telegraphic dispatch on light- ning's wing immeasurably outstrips the swiftest stage- coach express of former days, or is even destined to su- 112 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. persede its use, yet this is no reason that the mesmeric flights of men to other planets, or to future worlds, and all the chimerical revelations they can make, should supersede the Bible, which is admitted by the Christian world to contain the revelation of the mind and will of the Creator of the Universe. This even Emanuel Swedenborg never assumed to do. He did not presume to furnish a new revelation of truth to supersede the Bible. His veneration was too great for the Holy Book, to make such an attempt. He only undertook to show the internal and spiritual signification of the Bible, or how it should be explained and understood by mankind. I am not of his religious sentiment. Indeed, I have not read his works, except two pamphlets, and a brief sketch of his life. I must, however, confess, that he was a very extraordinary man, and, I think, superior to any in moral and intellectual grandeur since the days of Christ and his apostles. His voluntary powers of rea- son and understanding in the front brain were great. But far greater were his involuntary powers of instinct- ive energy in the back brain. So great were his illu- minated instincts, and so perfectly in communication with God and nature, that they ruled, and moved his reason and all his voluntary powers to act. And when uncorrupted instinct, drawing its impressions purely from God and nature, compels reason to act 3 man must be sinless and holy, for he can not, under such impres- sions, go wrong. I conclude this Lecture by saying, that LECTURE VI. 113 I should like to be informed whether Emanuel Swe- denborg, after his illumination, was ever known to commit sin. This is an important point to be known as a matter of science in relation to the views I have offered on instinct. To me, it is a point of deep and thrilling interest. My public Lectures here close, and my ex- positions as regards the philosophy of the so-called spirit-manifestations are finished. 114 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. LECTURE VII. Ladies and Gentlemen : I am now about to bring my Lectures on the subject of the spirit-manifestations to a close. Indeed, my arguments, so far as regards the philosophy of these mental phenomena in connection with the instincts of our nature, were concluded in my last Lecture. As I stand before you this evening, for the last time, I am sensible that I can render you no better service than to show you the utter impossibility of superseding the Bible by another revelation of moral truth, and will also bring before you distinctly the magnanimity of Christ. If it be asked why the Bible should not be superseded by a better revelation, I answer, because it is impossible in the very nature of things to surpass it. If it be asked, Why should not improvements, at least, be made upon the original, as well as in the arts and sciences ? I answer, because a moral truth once given by the un- erring Creator, through his Son, to man, as a moral and religious being, can never be improved. As moral truth is but an emanation from the moral attributes and LECTURE VII. 115 perfections of God's own nature, so it is stamped with immutability and immortality, can never change, and hence is not susceptible of the least improvement by men or by angels, in time or in eternity. As the living Son has fully revealed the character of the living Father in its highest and most sublime sense, as a being of perfect justice, goodness, love, and truth, and as he has set the whole before us in his spotless exam- ple as a rule of life for us and all subsequent generations of men to follow, how can it be improved 1 We are, for instance, commanded to love, forgive, and bless our enemies, to be kindly affectioned one to another, tender- hearted and forgiving, industrious, peaceable, and sober-minded, to do unto others as we would they should do unto us, and to be followers of God as dear children. In a word, to visit the widow and the fatherless in their affliction, and to keep ourselves unspotted from the world, to love one another, and to do good unto all men as we have opportunity. And how, I ask, can this be improved 1 It is impossible ; because moral truth can never be improved. It is the moral food and life of the soul adapted to its moral nature, as much so as the delicious fruits, grains, and other vegetable productions of the globe are the natural food adapted to the natural life of the body. And these can not be changed till the globe and man's nature are changed. Nor can moral truth be changed till God's and man's natures are changed ! If we have a true revelation of God's 116 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. moral perfections and character, then we have also a true revelation of moral truth, in the practice of which we become Godlike, by imitating him. Hence another revelation of moral truth is impossible, unless it be an entirely new revelation of God's character, which pre- supposes the one we now have to be utterly false. But this can not be, because it is adapted to our moral nature, our best feelings, our highest and holiest aspi- rations, and our dearest interest and happiness in time and in eternity. I am aware, it may be said, that Andrew Jackson Davis, in the mesmeric state, has visited the different and distant worlds belonging to our planetary system, has accurately and minutely described the various vege- table tribes, and even the animated inhabitants in their vast dominions, and that the writers of the Old and New Testaments have never done this, nor has it ever been revealed even by the Master himself. Suppose we admit all this to be true, what would it amount to in the end? Nothing, except a mere matter of geo- graphical and natural science as regards other worlds. In such a revelation there is not a single moral truth to perfect human virtue. And as it regards science, this globe contains more chemical properties than man can analyze, and a greater variety of vegetable and animal existences than he can understandingly dissect and investigate in one short life of three-score years and ten, or even if the period of his existence were LECTURE VII. 117 protracted to a thousand years twice told. Of what use, then, would it be to us to leave this globe and invade the territory of other worlds, when there is enough for us to study and admire at honiel And let the world first come up to the standard copy of moral excellence and perfection, revealed and set before them by the Saviour, before they search for another. Let them first come up to his requirement, to be perfect, even as their Father who is in heaven is per- fect, in his present revealed character, before they seek for the revelation of a higher and more perfect character in God. I think it will puzzle them exceed- ingly to go beyond the Master. He has grasped, in his capacious thought, infinite space and unending du- ration, and filled them with the infinite attributes and perfections of an infinite God and Father ! And how they can go beyond this is more than my feeble thought can reach, or intellect conceive. We have this globe thrown out before us as a speci- men of infinite power for us to study and investigate, and are, at the same time, permitted merely to perceive that there are other worlds in the dominions of the Creator, and as spectators we are permitted to gaze on their beauty, order, and harmony, and from analogy to reason that they are inhabited by moral intelligences and other beings similar to our own. And this is enough for us to know in our present state of existence, without paying them, in person, a formal visit. But 118 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. all such excursions, or clairvoyant revelations, could not make known a single moral truth as a rule of action for men to pursue. All the moral truths adapted to beings constituted as we are, have been revealed by prophets, Jesus Christ, and his apostles. They involve all the moral duties we owe to our God, ourselves, and all our fellow-men, in every possible condition of mortal life, even down to the silent grave. And this is enough for human joy. But so far from admitting, I deny, in toto, that mes- meric clairvoyance can survey, explore, unravel, and reveal other worlds or systems of worlds that roll in immensity, except the globe we inhabit, and but very little of this. But even if it could be done, it would be no accession to moral truth, but only to physical or natural science. The living Son has revealed the moral, absolute per- fections of the living Father for our imitation. And in that paternal character are concentered and set before us all the moral duties and obligations that con- stitute, in their performance, human happiness on earth, and involve all the light of moral splendor to which human beings can ever attain through the wasteless ages of eternity. And can any improvement, I ask, be made on such moral truths as these ? Every consistent and rational being will answer this question in the nega- tive. Then no improvement can be made on the truths of the Bible, as a rule of moral life, nor can they ever LECTURE VII. 119 be superseded by the mesmeric revelations, dreams, and vagaries of men. What, then, is the use of these spirit- manifestations, but to drive men to insanity, to suicide, to disturb the repose of society, to break the charm of peace in many a happy family, to bereave husbands of their companions, to make wives widows, children orphans, and drown their eyes in tears, as they see their morning sun of domestic light and joy extinguished at mid-day, and their bright sky of mind robed in night ! But as regards understanding the peculiar doctrines of Christ and his inspired companions — such as the atonement, or in what sense he died for us as a sacri- fice to take away the sin of the world — his being the resurrection and the life of the world — his immortal reign — and in what sense that he, as Judge of quick and dead, is to reward and punish all mankind accord- ing to the deeds done in the body — and even in what sense he is the Son of God distinct from any of the human race — I say, as regards understanding these and other doctrines, I am satisfied that new reveal- ments, through clairvoyance or some other source, are to be made to the world. I do not mean new revela- tions of any doctrinal truths as additions to what are already in the Bible, but a revealment of the true meaning intrinsically involved in those doctrines al- ready recorded in the Scriptures, and concerning which the whole Christian world are divided and split up 120 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. into sects. All these doctrines must be made to har- monize with nature — with reason — with the soundest principles of mental philosophy. And even the power invested in the apostles to work miracles of mercy will be again invested in men to do the same, and not only so, but be understood and explained. But, as regards the moral truths, the precepts revealed by the Mas ter and his inspired servants, there can be no mis- understanding even by the wayfaring man, though a fool. As to their meaning, all denominations are agreed, and there can be no misunderstanding as to man's duty, interest, and highest happiness, as a ra- tional and moral being in this, or any other world where Jehovah reigns. These truths can not be superseded nor even improved. Christ was sent from heaven. He came from the bosom of the Father — he knew the mysteries, beati- tudes, and powers of that world to come. He had seen, and therefore testified and bore witness to the truth he disclosed. Was not Jesus Christ, as the Son of God and the true light of the world, better qualified to reveal the duty, interest, and destiny of man than mesmeric clairvoyants'? Was he not better qualified for this work than the psychological mediums of the present . day, or the departed spirits they invoke 1 Was he not better qualified for this work than John Calvin, John Wesley, Washington, Franklin, Bona- parte, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, or any others LECTURE VII. 121 who are called upon to rap or move the medium's hand to write ? Were not the personal presence and the living voice of Christ on earth a more appropriate and dignified mode bj which to make a revelation to men, than the electro-magnetic raps of invisible de- parted spirits by an a-b-c process through the joints, fingers, and toes of mediums 1 What are all these mediums, or even the great names mentioned, com- pared with the Master, as to their moral or even intel- lectual grandeur? 'And what is their example, com- pared with his, as a model for all generations of men to emulate and follow 1 They have called upon Paul, Peter, John, and the rest of the apostles to rap. But why do they not call upon Jesus Christ, the Master of them all, to rap 1 This would be so obviously dis- gusting and impious, if not blasphemous, that they dare not, as yet, venture this outrage on Christian feeling. The revelation made by the Father through the Son is enough for human duty, interest, and happiness in life, and human hope and consolation in the hour of death. And who would be ashamed of him, and con- sider him so deficient in intellectual and moral attain- ments and power, as to presume to surpass him in making a better and more elevated revelation 1 Who would forsake the Master, renounce the moral sublim- ity of his doctrine, and follow another leader'? Did you ever candidly and seriously reflect upon his bare 6 122 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. magnanimity? Who, I ask, can dispute the moral power and intrinsic greatness of Jesus Christ? " We see the elevated rank he sustains and the stupendous authority with which he is invested ! As he was en- dued by the Creator with intellectual and moral powers far beyond those of the highest intelligences, so he was surely no contemptible — no degraded object. He was a greater than the prophets — a greater than Solomon — made better than the angels, and higher than the heavens ! He was the Son of God, and that, too, in the loftiest mold of perfection, and in a sense that you and I are not. Bearing a special commission from the Eternal One, and covered with the holiest mantle of inspiration, he came to earth as the Minister of Heaven to mediate between the two. He reached his hand up to the sky, and opened the cloud that vailed the truth and pur- poses of Jehovah, brought them down and displayed them to men. He reared the solid bulwarks of a pure religion in the very midst of the strongest empire of moral corruption and darkness ! He planted the standard of his cross at the very gates of hell, and caused its banner, stained with his own blood, to wave in permanent triumph over the nations, and over the crumbling ruins of ancient systems of heathen philos- ophy and Jewish tradition. He abolished outward and ceremonial worship under types and shadows. He laid the corner stone, and reared the walls of a LECTURE VII. 123 spiritual temple for the worship of redeemed and glo- rified millions. He inscribed its altar to the one only living and true God ! He placed within it the conse- crated lamp of truth, lighted by the rays that stream from the sun of infinite mercy, and with its splendor revealed the duties of earth and the blessedness of heaven. Clothed with greatness as with a garment, he moved familiarly among men, demolishing the pompous errors of earth-born philosophy, as the foot of the giant crushes the sandy structures of the mole-hill. He stripped the glittering drapery from the hideous form of fashionable 4 vice, and disclosed the heaven-born dignity of lowly virtue. He exhibited in the face of men's false views of honor the moral cowardice of revenge, the bravery of meekness, the nobleness of humility, and the base- ness of pride. He hung upon the cross to furnish blood in which to write for mankind the solemn lesson that even life itself is to be sacrificed for immortal truth, for conscience, for God, even as he sacrificed it for sin. He descended into the silent tomb, and rose again as a pledge for the immortal resurrection of all humankind. He wears the crown of mediatorial power, and sits at the right hand of Majesty on high. He has reigned through all ages, from that period down to the present moment, by the sway of his spiritual influ- ences. And he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet, till the last enemy, death, is destroyed and 124 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. swallowed up in victory. All this not only presupposes, but positively teaches, that there was no future revelation to be made after that of Jesus Christ was sealed up and finished. Hence the bright and immortal reign of his revealed truth is not to be superseded by any other, but continue with irresistible power to the final con- summation. Such is a faint picture of our exalted views of the dignity and reign of Jesus Christ, the most wonderful being that ever appeared on this globe, the vicegerent of the Almighty, and the Son of his love. # The evidences of the divinity of his mission are placed on a foundation too deep to be undermined. Of such a being as the great revealer of life and immor- tality, the moral light of the world, and the bright example of the loftiest purity for us to imitate, we have no reason to be ashamed. The best and noblest minds that ever graced the earth have received Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Locke, whose eagle eye penetrated the deepest recesses of investigation, and traced the intricate windings of the human in- tellect — Locke was not too philosophical to be a Christian. Milton, whose genius walked in awful splendor through the courts of heaven, and glared in horrible magnificence amidst the gloomy caverns and torches of hell — Milton, whose name is covered with a poet-luster that the rust of ages shall fail to obscure, was not too LECTURE VII. 125 elevated in his conceptions to fall in reverence before the scepter of Christ. Newton, whose gigantic intellect could scale the loftiest battlements of nature, ransack her towers of light in the sky, and stand in dignified composure, look- ing abroad on the universe from piles of thought — piles at whose fearful height ordinary minds grow dizzy in gazing — Newton, from the proudest summit of science and of fame, with all his mighty powers, bowed in hu- mility at the foot of the cross." I speak not of these as if Christianity needed the support of great names, but I do it to show the little- ness of little minds compared with the above, who would fain acquire a momentary notoriety, by speaking lightly of the revelation of Jesus Christ and his apostles, and assume to demolish and supersede it by the chi- merical dreams, reveries, and visions of mesmeric reve- lations, and ps} r chological rapping and writing mediums. Like the man who, failing to gain public notoriety and solid fame by intrinsic worth, fired the temple of Diana, at Ephesus (one of the seven wonders of the world), to render his name immortal, and thus damn himself to everlasting, so there are some who would fain secure a like notoriety, rather than fail of being noticed, by demolishing the fabric of Christianity in case they could not supersede it by a revelation of their own. All such puny efforts, though vain, are still injurious and annoying in their tendency, but are destined to 126 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. perish from human remembrance and leave the temple of Christianity unmoved, unshaken ! It is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself the chief corner-stone. And as it is destined to outlast the powers of earth and outlive the pulsations of ages, so the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Christ is not only the chief corner-stone, but equally sure will he be found the head of the corner when the work shall be finished, and the spir- itual temple consummated in future scenes. In this respect he will prove himself to be the Alpha and the Omega — the Beginning and the End — the First and the Last. I would therefore, in conclusion, most sincerely and earnestly advise all rapping and writing mediums to abandon their present silly and foolish enterprise be- fore they are irrecoverably lost and confirmed in the jerk ! And permit me seriously and kindly to advise not only all rapping and writing mediums, but all mesmeric and psychological subjects, to cease from their labors of love — to cease enlightening and bless- ing the world with their superior revelations, that throw those of Jesus Christ and his apostles so far in the shade. LECTURE VIII. 127 LECTURE VIII. The seven Lectures contained in the preceding pages were publicly delivered in various sections ; what follows was not. I merely divide the subject-matter into Lectures to preserve a uniformity in the book. I append them as an act of. justice to Judge Edmonds, of this city, and his associates, who have published a work of 505 pages in defense of the truthfulness of spirit-manifestations. I must confess that the work is written with a great deal of candor and sincerity, and is decidedly the best that I have as yet perused upon this subject. The Introduction, the conjoint work of John W. Edmonds and George T. Dexter, contains 100 pages, and the Appendix, by Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, late U. S. Senator, and Governor of Wisconsin, contains 111 pages. The communications in the body of the work, occupying 294 pages, pur- porting to be made by the spirits of Bacon and Swedenborg, through the Doctor, who is a writing medium, are, with few exceptions, excellent, and can not be read but with pleasure, satisfaction, and profit by any candid and seriously- disposed mind. Yet 128 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. those of Swedenborg certainly fall short, as to beauty and force of expression, of the earthly productions of that wonderful and immortal mind ! productions that have stamped the impress of his existence upon ages, and forbid his name to die. -4-He has forgotten, it would seem, how to spell his own name — the name of " one Sweedenborg, who wrote so many foolish things on earth, which he is willing to rectify in spirit/' But is not the contrary of this nearer the truth 1 and do not the productions of clairvoyants and mediums show that they live only by feeding upon the crumbs that fall from Swedenborg's generous and liberal table, mixed up, it is true, -with crudities of their own 1 Yet I say, that those attributed to him in this work are, with few ex- ceptions, excellent, and may be read with profit. The same may be said of the visions, as to their moral force, seen by the Judge. Indeed, there runs through them a vein of moral beauty that can not but exert a salutary influence on the mind of the reader. "What is said (page 376) on the character of Christ and his true mission on earth, is not only interesting, but dig- nified and grave. It purports to be an emanation from the spirit of Bacon ; and if that immortal mind had originated it while tabernacled in the flesh, it would have been an effort worthy of his head, and cer- tainly of his heart. True, I do not approve of the en- tire sentiment it breathes, but am only speaking of it, in its general features, as a mental and moral effort, LECTURE VIII. 129 well worthy of the spirit who, it is believed, communi- cated it. I am, moreover, pleased with the communications attributed to Clay, Webster, and Calhoun, and feel no disposition to disguise the fact, that they bear a re- spectable impress of the exalted intellects of those dis- tinguished and lamented statesmen. They stand in a beautiful and dignified contrast with those meager communications that I have requested to be obtained from them through other mediums, and to which I re- ferred in my Fourth Lecture. With those three statesmen I had the honor of a personal acquaintance, and thus far I have labored in vain to find a medium who could induce the spirit of Henry Clay to commu- nicate to me the contents of the last letter he ad- dressed to me, and which is now in my possession, and yet I have found a mesmeric clairvoyant who has done it. This goes to prove what I have argued in my Fifth Lecture, that there are good and poor mediums, as there are good and poor clairvoyant subjects. I am pleased on the whole with Judge Edmonds and the Doctor's conjoint production, and with the candid manner in which they have given their sanction to the great moral truths contained in the inspired Book, and the testimony they have borne to the magnanimity of Christ as the Son of God. Dr. Adin Ballou, w T ith whom I am personally acquainted, has done the same, and I have great confidence in the moral principles 6* 130 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. and rectitude of that excellent man. And I have equal confidence in the talents, the moral bearing, and honesty of the Rev. Mr. Brittan, the ingenious and able editor of the " Spiritual Telegraph." The courteous and dignified manner in which he conducts his paper, and his candor and forbearance toward those who scurrilously assail him, justly entitle him to public respect. And notwithstanding the abuse and sneers of some time-serving editors and their petty assaults, and notwithstanding the error in which I con- sider him involved, yet a long acquaintance with him assures me that he is worthy of the entire and unre- served confidence of the public, and that confidence, I am satisfied, he will never betray. I make these remarks as a duty I owe to my tal- ented fellow-men, whom I consider in error, but hon- estly so, and whom it therefore ill-becomes me, and, I think, any other man to denounce merely because they can not see with his eyes nor understand with his in- tellect. The justice of these remarks will be seen and felt, when we reflect that no two minds are constituted alike — that we can not believe or disbelieve any doc- trine or sentiment at choice — that it depends wholly upon evidence, and that the very evidence which is abundant to satisfy one mind, may have but little or no weight upon another. Such is man, and his nature is thus constituted by the hand of God for the purpose of calling into action universally the breathings of LECTURE VIII. 131 a charity which is the bond of perfeetness, and without which we are nothing." Let others do as they please, but as for myself, I will net denounce even the honest Atheist. This is not the outburst of a momentary im- pulse, but the settled convictions and feelings of my heart, as all know who have ever perused my u Im- mortality Triumphant," a work in which I make a direct attack on the principles of Atheists and Deists. In the seven preceding Lectures I have fully sus- tained the sincerity and honesty of all true mediums, and the advocates of the spirit- manifestations, and even of those among them who may expect a new reve- lation, superior to that contained in the Bible. Andrew Jackson Davis is an advocate of the spirit-manifes- tations, and has published a work on its philosophy ; and he is at the same time a superior mesmeric clair- voyant. And though he has indited and published a work, called u Nature's Divine Revelations," in which he has by no means done justice to the Bible, yet I am satisfied that he is a young man of spotless moral repu- tation, and acts according to the impressions and honest convictions of his own understanding. There are also many principles advocated in his book that I admire, and that are destined ultimately to prove useful to man- kind. It is only that portion of his work which is directly calculated to unsettle the faith and confidence of men in the Scriptures, as containing a revelation from God, against whkh I seriously object. This will 132 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. be found refuted in my book above referred to, com- mencing at page 92, even though his work is not there named nor directly attacked. But it gives me pleasure to state that all sentiments of this character are not only excluded from the work of Judge Edmonds and his two associate friends, but the claims of the Bible, as containing a revelation from God, are sustained, and the character and mission of our Saviour respected. This will be the means of in- troducing his book extensively to the notice and perusal of the Christian community. His only object seems to be to bring all mankind to a common unity of senti- ment, sympathy, and harmony, as regards the doctrinal as well as moral teachings of Christ. He believes that this desirable end, which will issue in the removal of skepticism, and in imparting all the needed conso- lation to mourners over the loss of near and dear friends, will be effected through the doctrine of spirit- manifestations. Though the foregoing Lectures were written more than eighteen months ago, and, of course, without any reference to Judge Edmonds' book, which at that time had no existence, yet I consider them a fair refutation of the general views he has advanced, so far as any proof of the truth of the spirit-manifestations' is con- cerned. There are, however, some wonderful experi- ments recorded, which he has witnessed, and that I have sought for in vain. That he is sincere in his con- LECTURE VIII. 133 victions I have not a doubt. It may be that I have been unfortunate in consulting what I call poor mediums. This is not my fault. I have called twice upon Mrs. Brown, formerly Mrs. Fish, of this city, who, I believe, was the first through whom these manifestations were made, or who first discovered that intelligence was con- nected with the* rappings. Her engagements at that time were such that she could not accommodate me, and since that period I have been absent from the city. I was certainly much pleased with her candor and sin- cerity, and in this matter I believe her to be incapable of deception or trick. It is therefore necessary that I should notice a few of the most important of the Judge's statements, or those at least that made the most im- pression on my mind when reading his book. This not only candor, but courtesy to him, as a gentleman of honor, demands at my hands. But before noticing those manifestations in his work that I deem import- ant, there is one point, by no means of trivial moment, that deserves a faithful notice, and on which I submit a few remarks for his candid consideration. These will be sufficient for my present Lecture. He speaks of the great division of sentiment in the Christian world as regards their peculiar doctrines of faith, and calculates the comparatively small number who attend religious worship by the number of churches erected for their accommodation, and that this small advance of Christian principles, under ministerial en- 134 SPIRIT- MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. ergy from the pulpit, is the result of eighteen hundred years experiment and trial. He therefore comes to the conclusion, that the Gospel of Christ has not an- swered its end, nor removed infidelity from the minds of many in Christian lands. And, as before remarked, he believes that the spirit-manifestations are the des- tined means now being employed by the Creator to heal these divisions — to establish Christian union and harmony on one common platform, and to advance more rapidly the spread of the doctrines of Christ and his companions. (See pages 8, 9, 66, 67.) In reply to this, I would say, that all magnanimous objects — all great and grand blessings under the gov- ernment of the Creator, in which the best and highest interest of the whole human race, as regards their ad- vancement, are involved, are, from their very nature, slow in their operations. This holds good both in physical and moral science. Man is a progressive being, and can not learn every thing in a day. It will be well in this case to notice, for elucidation, the volume of Nature in contrast with the volume of the Revelation, as both claim the same Author. Let us first notice the volume of Nature. In this great Book all the physical truths in their endless variety were written down from the beginning. Its mighty pages only unfold as the human race progress in the study of its lessons. Though some minds are far in advance of others, yet to each student the next page LECTURE VIII. 135 must remain a mystery till his lesson on the preceding page is understood, and by its subject-matter his mind is disciplined and expanded to receive further light. Then the next leaf turns, and a new field of thought opens to his mental gaze, and new wonders thicken around him for solution. It is a study of never-ceas- ing delight ! If we look abroad on the world and con- template these students of nature, we find that even the learned, who are a few pages in advance of those called ignorant, differ among themselves as to their ideas of science, and advocate conflicting systems of philosophy. And not only so, but even those of the same Newtonian school differ among themselves as to certain points, while on the grand principles of this system of philosophy they agree. The humblest mind, however, understands the first page or two of Nature's Book, so far at least as concerns the great and essential point, which is to sustain his existence by cultivating the soil. But the students of nature all differ, and even wrangle, and yet this is the experiment and result of at least six thousand years ! But be- cause they are only, as it were, in the dawn of inquiry and improvement, and have not as yet arrived at a unity of thought and opinion on the great doctrine of science and philosophy, is this any evidence that the Book of Nature has not answered its end 1 For one, I think not. I might here add, that the same argu- ment holds good as to forms of human governments in 136 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. which all mankind have been experimenting ever since society had an existence. Perfection of government, as to man's independence, liberty, and happiness, will come in some distant future, because its principles are ingermed in his being, and will be developed by study and experiment. But the advance to it is necessarily slow from the very constitution of his yet undeveloped nature. My argument will now be understood in regard to the volume of Revelation. It contains all the truths necessary for man's moral development, happiness, and consolation in time, and his dearest interest and endless progression in eternity ! It brings life and immortality to light, through a resurrection from the dead into future scenes ! Its moral preceptive truths, as the essential elements that constitute the moral food of the soul, are plain, and in these all Christian denominations are agreed, as nearly so, as all mankind are agreed in the fruits and grains that constitute the physical food of the body drawn from the volume of Nature. In what are called its doctrinal points they disagree, but still are improving and advancing. This is evident from the circumstance, that all doctrines are gradually softening down, as their adherents are grow- ing more and more liberal. Calvinism still retains its name,, but has undergone a most astonishing change since the days of the thundering Reformer of Geneva who established it. All doctrines are approaching a LECTURE VIII. 137 common gaol — a center where they will one day meet, embrace, and mingle into one harmony and beauty. The name will be the last thing changed, and then Christianity with all its brilliant virtues and glories, as a common center, will throw out its healing beams of light and life on the darkness of surrounding na- tions, even as the central sun of heaven dispenses his light and genial warmth on the darkness of surround- ing worlds. To accomplish this, and enable our race to attain this eminence of moral perfection appertaining to their nature here on earth, may require not only eighteen hundred years more, but eighteen hundred thousand ! But to unfold and comprehend all that is contained in the conjoint volume of Nature and Revelation, and emulate its perfection, will require the ceaseless ages of eternity. Our Saviour clearly teaches that the steady and permanent power of his gospel in reform- ing, developing, and perfecting the human race as a whole, through all future time, though sure, would be slow and almost imperceptible in its advance. He compares it to a little leaven hidden in three measures of meal, and to the growth of vegetation, as in the parable of the mustard seed. Both these processes, though sure, are still so slow as to be imperceptible to the steady and constant gaze of the keenest eye. The change of vegetation can only be determined by a second look, after a long intervening period, and then 138 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. comparing the two, as regards its appearance, and so on, till this smallest of seeds becomes a tree. It is compared to a stone cut out of the mountain without hands, it became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. Hence, to enable the human race to reach the sum- mit of moral perfection that they are destined to attain on earth, under the never-ceasing energy of the gospel of Christ, will require ages on ages to roll. In order to effect this great end, I freely admit that it will re- quire the use of adequate means in addition to the moral force of the pulpit. But that these means are, as Judge Edmonds believes, the spirit-manifestations, I have yet to learn. No ! they came in entirely too late ! They were preceded by a visible and more tangible agent of power — yes, by a rapping and moving power far beyond that of rapping and moving tables. It is a power beneath whose raps thrones must crumble into fragments, despots fall, manacles break, and tyranny die ! It is the PRESS ! Yes, the moral power of the press is already the great co-working companion with the gospel of Christ ! Before this instrument, as to its idea, was invented by the im- mortal Faustus, what was the condition of the world, so far as its Christian character was concerned 1 Let the ignorance, cruelty, bloodshed, and gloom of the dark ages send back the answer. Where then, I ask, was the Bible 1 It was not seen by the millions of our LECTURE VIII. 139 race ! Its written manuscripts, here and there a copy, were with the Pope, the Bishop, the Priest, shut out from the light of day in some cloister's dark recess, or vault. It was the strong arm of the press that tore away the bolts and bars of its prison, demolished its doors, snatched it from its secret and silent tomb, and flung it to the hearth of the cottager, to the poor widow in her solitude, to the lonely orphan, to the prisoner in his dungeon, flung it to the world, as the world's richest treasure ! The press ! that mighty engine of power and light tyrants feared, fastened upon it a tyrant's chain, and denied or restrained its liberty. But in Young America and Old England it has broken loose. It is unchained, and before its awful power tyrants this moment tremble and their thrones shake. It flings out its sheets by millions, and showers them over the globe. The water, the steam — yes, the light- nings of heaven — the electric power that moves the globe, have lent it their aid ! I had almost said that the Creator had lent it his own omnipresence in the telegraphic dispatch ! It has its millions of eyes, and beholds all things that are done under heaven, and its millions of tongues, to speak alike to the cottager and king, and it speaks without fear ! It is in motion, and beneath its tread the globe shakes to its center, the moral elements are set in motion, and tyrants may as well presume to arrest the globe in its mighty course around the sun, as attempt to arrest the advancing 140 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. power of the press. It proclaims alike to the world the statesman's magnanimity and greatness, the orator's eloquence, the scholar's fame, the poet's inspiration, the philanthropist's deeds in the prisoner's cell, the hero's victories in fields of war, the oppressor's wrongs, the Christian's triumph, and the villain's defeat. Its transcendent importance, as an agent of moral power, should not be undervalued nor forgotten. It looks abroad with equal eye on thrones and hamlets, on the rich and poor, summons all alike to its tremendous bar, holds them in its grasp for trial, condemns or acquits, and proclaims its verdict to the world. In the light that this subject is now presented, it will be perceived that Christianity, as to its present position, and what it has already accomplished, should be con- sidered as dating from the commencement of the press, 400 years ago, even though we must date back 1800 years to reach its origin and Author. It will also be borne in mind that the Jews, as a nation, rejected his gospel, and still continue to do so, which he himself foretold, and that the present Christian world have been gathered from heathen nations, and brought from barbarism and heathen night to their present civilization, refinement, moral light, and intellectual advancement. I would therefore kindly remind the Judge that should he con sent to give the case a re-hearing, it would be well for him to take into careful consideration the above items of evidence before he charges the jury or pro LECTURE VIII. 141 nounces sentence as to the obvious result produced by the doctrines of our Saviour in eighteen hundred years. Judge Edmonds not only expresses his surprise at the slow advance of the gospel of Christ in so long a lapse of years, but expresses his astonishment at the far more rapid spread of the spirit-manifestations, which in about five years number tens of thousands of mediums and hundreds of thousands of believers, and that in converting the Atheist they have produced " an effect which the 36,000 pulpits in the land, with their countless sermons, have failed to produce." In this case they are every way superior to the gospel of Christ. Their superiority or inferiority I will not here under- take to argue. This I have faithfully endeavored to do in my Sixth and Seventh Lectures, which the reader may consult. But so far as regards the comparative spread of the two systems, I will say a word before I close, because some suppose that the rapid spread of these manifestations is an unmistakable evidence of their truth. The preaching of the gospel of Christ was commenced by his apostles after his resurrection, and this, in con- nection with their wonderful works, made more converts in the first five years than the spirit-manifestations have in the same period. And yet they did it by traveling on foot and without the aid of the press, and without the convenience of steamboat and railroad conveyance or telegraphic dispatch, all of which have been employed 142 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. in advancing the doctrine of spirit-manifestations. The thousands of periodicals that have opposed, and even ridiculed and denounced, have aided in disseminating them, and advancing the cause. Judge Edmonds there- fore errs when he supposes that in the five years of their existence they have outstripped Christianity in their advancement. True, it is only ahout five years since they commenced communicating intelligence through the rapping and table-tipping operation. But was not intelligence communicated from the same source, whatever it may be, from the earliest ages of the world 1 The Judge certainly dates them back long before the commencement of the Christian era. He says, page 45, " These phenomena have always astonished, but have never been accounted for. Egyp- tian, Chaldean, Grecian, and Roman history are prolific with statistics to sustain this position. Read Herod- otus, Plato, Xenophon, Pliny, Livy, or any other Greek or Roman author from which we glean whatever infor- mation we possess concerning antiquity, and upon al- most every page we find the writer discoursing upon mysteries, the work of an unseen agency which he could not comprehend. Homer and Virgil sang about them ; Socrates and the philosophers speculated upon them ; Demosthenes and Cicero harangued about them in ora- tions, and all were impressed with the same feelings of their incomprehensibility." But, I would ask, was there not in those early ages an intelligence manifested, even LECTURE VIII. 143 as now, only in a different manner ? Let the Judge an- swer in his note on the same page. He says : u Cicero declares his age indebted to such an unseen agency for many valuable discoveries in physic, for warnings, for predictions, and extraordinary deliveran- ces ; and he says, ' I know of no one nation, polite or barbarous, which does not hold that some persons have the gift of foretelling future events.' In Plato's c Apology for Socrates' he is made to say, £ Because I am moved by a certain divine and spiritual influence which also Melitus, through mockery, has set out in the in- dictment. This began with me from childhood, being a kind of voice which, when present, always diverts me from what I am about to do, but never urges me on. Bat this duty, as I said, has been enjoined me by the Deity, by oracles, by dreams, and by every mode by which any other divine decree has ever enjoined any thing for man to do.' " Here then we perceive, that Judge Edmonds has da- ted the spirit-manifestations, and an intelligence con- nected with them, back not only eighteen hundred years to the dawn of Christianity, but he has gone far beyond that period. He has not only dated them back to the day of Herodotus, the reputed father of Grecian history, but even back to the days of the Egyptian Pharaohs, a period of twice eighteen hundred years ! It is grant- ed that the intelligence was, in some respects, mani- fested in a different manner from what it is in the pres- 144 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. ent day. It was then manifested through dreams, vis- ions^ and impressions, and given through heathen ora- cles when consulted. And during this long period, what has it effected 1 Has it equaled the grand results pro- duced by the moving force and moral power of the gos- pel of Christ % It will not do to deny the fact, that it has in all ages had its able and eloquent apostles and defenders. This the Judge admits. Homer, the father and prince of song, has breathed it to Greeks — Virgil, the Mantuan bard, sung it to Romans ! Demosthenes thundered it in Athens, and Cicero in Rome. Socra- tes taught it. Herodotus, Plato, Xenophon, and Livy wrote about it. The people believed it, and consulted this mysterious intelligence. The great philoso- phers of Grecian and Roman lore were its apostles. And, I ask again, what has it effected in thirty-six hun- dred years compared with the gospel of Christ in half that period 1 Nothing ! It has only changed from in- structing men and foretelling events through oracles, to performing the same thing through rapping and writing- mediums. Though heathens consulted this intelligence, believed it, and followed its instructions, yet it never raised them from heathen night to civilization — the gos- pel of Christ did, and gave them the light of life. LECTURE IX. 145 LECTURE IX. I now proceed to notice a few manifestations of a peculiar class and character that I have never had the satisfaction to witness. True, they have been related to me by individuals who professed to have seen them, and I have, in many instances, when time permitted, given an explanation to the narrator. But as the gen- tlemen, authors of the work I am considering, occupy high stations in the community, and as their statements will be read by thousands, so I deem a direct notice of these points necessary. I have already stated, in my last lecture, that the work entitled " SPIRITUALISM" is a triune produc- tion of John W. Edmonds, George T. Dexter, M.D., and Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, late U. S. Senator, and Governor of Wisconsin. Judge Edmonds and the Doc- tor, who are both medium-writers, are the authors of the whole work, except the Appendix. Of the general merits of the production I have already spoken, and also of the talents and standing of its distinguished authors, with none of whom I have the pleasure of a personal acquaintance. I wish it to be borne in mind 7 146 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. by the reader that Judge Edmonds and the Doctor, be- ing rftdium-writers, are both happily impressible. The Doctor's productions are evidence of this as regards himself, and the six interesting " visions" presented to the Judge, orally described by him as the scenes in each passed before his view, and by an amanuensis committed to paper, are evidence of the same as regards himself. I will once more state that there is nothing in any of the manifestations, throughout the entire work, but what is, in substance, accounted for in the first Seven Lectures of this book. But as I have said nothing there as regards the ringing of bells, or playing on instruments of music by some unseen agent, it may be said by some of my readers that I have omitted an important point. On this account I proceed to notice those phenomena only which are of a physical charac- ter. As regards those where intelligence only is in- volved, I would remark that this intelligence is so eas- ily accounted for, and on it I have been so explicit, that I deem any further notice of that branch of the subject unnecessary, until what I have written shall have been disproved. And, moreover, I shall confine myself to the statements of Judge Edmonds alone. I do this, not only for the sake of perspicuity, but because the au- thorship of the work is, by the public generally, asso- ciated with his name, calling it " Judge Edmonds' book ;" and, lastly, because I can find all the variety of physical manifestations in his portion of the produc- LECTURE IX. 147 tion that may be found in that of his distinguished as- sociates. I shall, therefore, take the liberty to make a liberal quotation, and then submit such remarks as I may deem appropriate. The Judge says (pages 22, 23, 24) : " The bell was taken out of M.'s hand and rung, and then put back again. This occurred several times in the course of the evening." " Mrs. R.'s comb was taken out of her hair, and her hair suffered to fall on her shoulders.'' " The clothes of G. and K. and M. were pinned together in several places, and K. and M. were tied together by the arms with a pocket handkerchief." " On the 28th of March, 1851, I was one of a party of ten who were directed through the rappings to stand up in a circle in the middle of the room, and every one present was touched by this unseen power. Some were pulled down upon the sofa ; one was pulled nearly to the floor ; one had her feet shoved from under her so that she nearly fell ; a shawl was snatched from a la- dy's shoulders and thrown on the floor ; I was repeat- edly touched in different parts of my person ; chairs were pulled about, and a small table slid along of it- self several feet on the carpet." Page 26 the Judge says : " For three hours I there witnessed physical manifestations which demonstrated to me, beyond all doubt, that they were not produced by mortal hands, and were governed by an intelligence out of and beyond those present. It is in vain for any 148 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. one to say we were deceived. I knew that I was not, and so did every one of that large party. * * * A bass viol was put into my hand and rested on my foot, and then was played upon. A violin was placed in my other hand, and likewise played upon. Another violin was hung around my neck by one of its strings, and I was struck frequently with a fiddle-bow. My person was repeatedly touched, and a chair pulled out from under me." Pages 73, 74 the Judge says : " In the mean time another feature attracted my attention, and that was physical manifestations, as they are termed. Thus, I have known a pine table with four legs lifted bodily up from the floor, in the center of a circle of six or eight persons, turned upside down and laid upon its top at our feet, then lifted up over our heads, and put leaning against the back of the sofa on which we sat. I have known that same table to be tilted up on two legs, its top at an angle with the floor of forty-five degrees, when it neither fell over of itself, nor could any person present put it back on its four legs. I have seen a mahogany table, having only a center leg, and with a lamp burning upon it, lifted from the floor at least a foot, in spite of the efforts of those present, and shaken backward and forward as one would shake a goblet in his hand, and the lamp retain its place, though its glass pendents rang again. I have seen the same table tip- ped up, with the lamp upon it, so that the lamp must LECTURE IX. 149 have fallen off unless retained there by something else than its own gravity ; yet it fell not, moved not. I have known a dinner-bell taken from a high shelf in a closet, rung over the heads of four or five persons in that clos- et, then rung around the room over the heads of twelve or fifteen persons in the back parlor, and then borne through the folding doors to the farther end of the front parlor, and there dropped on the floor. I have fre- quently known persons pulled about with a force which it was impossible for them to resist, and once when all my strength was added in vain to that of the one thus affected. I have known a mahogany chair thrown on its side and moved swiftly back and forth on the floor, no one touching it, through a room where there were at least a dozen people sitting, yet no one was touched, and it was repeatedly stopped within a few inches of me, when it was coming with a violence which, if not arrested, must have broken my legs." These are all the quotations I deem necessary for my present purpose. I will commence by giving a faithful notice to one important circumstance. On the 24th and 25th pages the Judge states an occurrence that varies somewhat from any thing that I have heard of, or read in the spirit-manifestations. He states the circumstance of some hieroglyphic characters being written on a small piece of cartridge-paper under the table, when there was no pen or ink in the room. I have read of frequent instances where writing has been 150 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. performed under the table, as in the case of John C. Calhoun writing " I'm with you still" but in all cases pen, ink, and paper (or pencil) were required for the use of the spirit. Sometimes, I grant, that the writing was done on the table, but in total darkness, and in one instance at least the writing materials were locked up in a trunk, and the key put where it was stated the medium could not conveniently get it without its being known, and yet in the morning there was writing on the paper. This experiment I frankly confess would con- vince me, provided I were allowed to watch the trunk. Indeed, the family should not have retired and slept, till so important an experiment were faithfully tested. I can easily conceive how the medium, retiring to rest under the full impression that spirits would write on that paper, could rise from her bed in somnambulism, believe herself to be that spirit, get the key unobserved, perform the task in that state, return to her bed, and rise in the morning without the least remembrance of the deed. If it was not done in this manner by some human being, then I must candidly confess that I have no philosophy to reach the case. I must bow to the mandate of my Maker, and my desire is to do so, when I find the truth and know his will. But so far as the truth of any departed spirit wri- ting with pen and ink, or pencil, under a table is concerned, or in darkness, after requesting the lights to be extinguished, I must candidly confess that the LECTURE IX. 151 whole matter, to say the least, looks suspicious. If spirits can play bass viols, violins and guitars — ring bells and lift a table with a man upon it weighing two hundred pounds — if they can jerk chairs from under persons and even trip up their heels — if they can snatch a comb from a lady's hair or a shawl from her shoul- ders and throw it on the floor — if they can pin the clothes of three ladies together, and at the same time firmly tie together the arms 'of two of them with a pocket-handkerchief — then why can they not write with the pen or pencil on top of the table, and in sight of the company 1 Why can not' the circle meet and have this experiment performed in open daylight on the top of the table and in the presence of a public audience, or in the evening when the light is brilliant ? The pen and pencil are substances that can be seen, and if we saw these moved by an invisible hand, or even if the hand were visible, like that at Belshazzar's feast, on the wall, and transmitting intelligent sentences to pa- per, or even unknown characters, the victory would be won. In this case I am with the believers in the spirit- manifestations ; I am theirs forever, and will labor and die in their cause ! If they knew my sincerity, and how anxious I am to know the truth, they would feel a sympathy and interest in my favor, and a charity as deep, at least, as I have exercised toward them, in vin- dicating their honesty and candor in these pages before the world. But there are so many modes by which a 152 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. medium in an abnormal condition could prepare a piece of writing even at home, and succeed in conveying it under the table with other sheets or pieces of paper placed there for the spirit — all this, I say,, could be so easily accomplished, and yet the medium be entirely honest, remembering nothing of the matter, that the experiment can not be safely relied upon as proof that it was done by a spirit. Permit me, moreover, to remark, that all I have stated above, could have been performed even by trick, by any shrewd individual, and without the possibility of detection. And this trick, performed by a man skilled in the art of legerdemain, would have been con- sidered an inferior one by a New York audience. But it is not in the power of Herr Alexander, nor of the wizard Anderson, to cause a pen or pencil to erect itself to the writing angle, and transmit letters to paper on a table in the presence and plain sight of a promiscuous audience of four or five hundred persons, when there was no one in contact with that table. This it is not in the power of any mortal to perform without the aid of complex machinery, which could be easily detected, and hence every intelligent individual would be compelled to refer it to an invisible superhuman agent. And though many in that audience, on account of their ignorance, would not believe that it was done by such an agent, yet this could not in the least affect its verity, provided they all saw it done and barely as- LECTURE IX. 153 sented to the fact, that it positively took place before their eyes. Many, I grant, do not understand the prin- ciples of what we term natural philosophy, and hence do not know its rational boundaries, nor where, so far as pertains to the power of man, it must stop as re- gards the application of its causes and effects. But the evidence of the audience being in harmony, it is for the intelligent and philosophic portion of that audience to decide what was the nature of the agent acting, or whether it was in the power of man, philosophically or otherwise, to cause a pen or pencil thus to write. I have named a promiscuous audience of four or five hundred persons, because there is no rational probabil- ity, as the universal test of experiment proves, that the whole of these could be naturally in the electro- psychological state ; or even in the mesmeric state, or in some other abnormal condition. But such an ex- periment as this in the presence of ten, twenty, or even five hundred good, impressible, selected mediums would be no evidence whatever, that the pen or pencil moved and wrote on paper. It would be no evidence, that there was a pen, pencil, or paper on the table, or even a table before them ! Entertaining the bare idea, that they were under the superior impression of spirits, and were expecting such a result, they could be made to see the table, the pen, pencil and paper before them, and the whole scene produced, when it was nothing more than the waking up of the original electro- embod- 154 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. iment of these substances in their brains that had been impressed there ever since they first saw a pen, pencil, paper, and table. It is not external matter we see, because we have never seen any thing outside of our eyes. It is merely the image of external objects re- flected by the rays of light on the retina of the eye, and thence transmitted through the optic nerve to the throne of the spirit, that we see. It is there impressed forever, to be called up by the permutation of circum- stances to the inspection and scrutiny of the spirit's eye. Hence to make a person in the psychological state, or a medium, see a thing, it is not necessary to present the material object, but merely to call up its original impression already existing in the brain. Hence the pen or pencil, and its motion on paper, might be distinctly seen when the material object is not presented to the medium. But no human being could produce such an impres- sion as above stated upon those mediums so long as they retain the belief that they are impressed by spir- its as mediums, because the superior impression must in all cases bear rule. But could I have taken those five hundred persons before they believed themselves mediums (they being in the electro-psychological state), I could have made them see the whole writing scene with pens and pencils, self-moved, passing before them ! And not only so, but I could have left the im- pression so distinct, real, and life-like on their minds, LECTURE IX. 155 that they would have gone into a court of justice and made solemn oath to the whole as a reality. And no empanneled jury, nor judge upon the bench, would have supposed their real condition to be different from that of any other person, because it is a state in which they naturally exist by the very constitution and de- velopment of their brains. But as regards this writing under tables, in trunks, or on tables when lights are extinguished and darkness conceals the operation, I again remark, that it looks, to say the least, suspicious, when spirits are so power- ful and ready to perform any thing else. And though this writing under tables and in other concealed places is considered by many as evidence of intentional fraud in the mediums, yet I must say to such that this by no means follows ; that it may be done by some shrewd individual, and in what manner I have already stated. I will also state how it can be done, and in all sincer- ity and candor, by a real medium. It is a well-known circumstance, that the medium, while under the sup- posed influence of the spirit, often believes herself to be that spirit. We have evidence of this in all cases where the medium supposes the spirit takes entire pos- session of her body, using her organs, and speaking from her lips. Hence in. this condition, and many more analogous to it, the medium may prepare the writing at home, or at the house where the circle meets, as the production of the communicating spirit, 156 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. believe it, and when seated in the circle, it may be rapped out through that medium by the a-b-c process, that paper and pencil are wanted on a drawer under the table. The medium believing herself to be that spirit, and that she is there even writing an article that is already written ! and the result follows in find- ing the paper written by the medium ! And moreover, as it was produced by her involuntary powers of in- stinct, so her reason and understanding knew nothing of the transaction ! It will not do to evade the force of this by arguing its impossibility, or by saying that the medium could not carry on this long chain of circumstances without [mowing it. In reply I have only to say, that I have performed it upon good psychological subjects, and I am ready to do so again, and will even consent to per- form it before a public audience whenever called upon by Judge Edmonds and his friends to do so. In this case it is to be understood that I confine the experi- ment to the subject's performing the whole without his knowing that he had any thing to do with any part of the entire transaction, but on the contrary, his full conviction, that the writing was done under the table by a spirit ! And throughout the whole, he shall be wide awake and in full possession of his reasoning fac- ulties ! Mediums are only psychological or mesmeric subjects, but under the influence, as they believe, of a higher order of impressions, and therefore can not be in- LECTURE IX. 15T fluenced to any extent by human impressions, as many could before they became mediums. This position I have taken and argued in my Fifth Lecture, and this position I feel myself fully competent to sustain. All who have heard me lecture On my favorite science of Electrical Psychology, and seen me experiment, know that I can do this. And I feel mortified that a science of which I claim authorship should be diverted from its own natural field of wonders and usefulness, and applied to spirit-manifestations. But it may be said, that the secrecy and adroitness with which the mediums could even honestly carry on such a work as this, is not only incomprehensible, but absolutely impossible. In reply to this, I ask, would any person be at all surprised if Herr Alexander and the wizard Anderson should enter a room, and perform all these things by sleight-of-hand, after having well pre- pared themselves for the task ? I think not. But suppose there were six or even ten such persons in a room with as many more spectators, what could they not accomplish as regards such wonders 1 If it be said that the me- diums know nothing of legerdemain, I admit that they do not practically. But all these things are open and naked to the impression of their involuntary powers. They instinctively perceive them, and even feel the sympathetic impression of one another's thoughts and the thoughts of those in the room, so that they can in- tuitively see how the source of the so-called spirit-man- 158 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. ifestations can be concealed from the sight and scrutiny of others. And as they are under the full impression that the movement of the spirits is invisible and must remain so, they are therefore impressed to proceed and act accordingly. This the whole history of their pro- ceedings for the last four years fully corroborates. All experiments that can be performed openly and yet re- tain their mystery, are done openly. But those that can not, are done under the table. It is no uncommon thing for the spirits to request the lights to be extin- guished, and then the circle may be sure of the most astonishing manifestations. Even then angels with their wings have fanned the brows of the circle. It is no uncommon circumstance for the spirits to request, through rapping or writing, some skeptic or skeptics to leave the room who were too inquisitive, as they could not proceed to give manifestations unless they did so. This proves its strong alliance to mesmerism, for the mesmerk; subject can not proceed when he is embarrassed and disconcerted by the scrutiny of skep- tics, till they leave the room. If it be said, that the mediums receive no impression to learn any thing like the cunning of legerdemain or sleight-of-hand, I reply that in one of the published books, the name of which I can. not now recall, the writer states the case of a little girl who was an excel- lent medium, and saw a person perform an interesting trick with cards and difficult to understand. The little LECTURE IX. 159 medium went alone into a room a few moments, inquired of her guardian spirit, came back and performed the trick. She said the spirit taught her how to do it, and had taught her several other tricks. She moreover added, that the spirit informed her that they often played whist in the spheres ! This is certainly a fair specimen, and goes to prove that there may be the im- pression of cunning to the full extent of any skillful magician. This I fully believe, and it is difficult to set bounds to the grasp of human intuition or instinct, when roused into action and thus brought into commu- nication with mind and matter. This is fully exem- plified in the case of Mr. Davis, and, indeed, of all good, impressible, and favorably-developed brains. I now proceed to notice the ringing of bells, and also the playing on bass-viols and violins, as stated by the Judge. These have been usually performed under the table, and of which there are instances given in the Appendix of the book I am noticing. And though I have heard it stated by individuals in private conversa- tion, that they had seen such things done openly, yet this record of the Judge is the first fair and reliable account that I have read. He says : " The bell was taken out of M.'s hand and rung, and then put back again. This occurred several times during the even ing." He again says : " I have known a dinner-bell taken from a high shelf in a closet, rung over the heads of four or five persons in that closet, then rung around 160 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. the room over the heads of twelve or fifteen persons in the back parlor, and then borne through the folding- doors to the farther end of the front parlor, and there dropped on the floor." Now I must candidly confess, that this is a point of great moment — I may even say of paramount import- ance — and requires close scrutiny and a candid consid- eration. The Judge has frequently stated, in describing other manifestations, that there were burning lamps in the room at the time. In the account of the ringing of the bells, there is nothing said of the quantity of light there was at the time of that occurrence in the room or rooms. I would therefore respectfully inquire when the bell was taken from M.'s hand and rung and put back again, was there a sufficiency of light in the room? If not, then the investigation is at an end, and the mys- tery solved as much so as if it had been done under a table. But to proceed : Was the light sufficient for the Judge to see clearly all the persons in the room, and also the bell in M.'s hand? How came she to have that bell in her hand ? Was it in expectation, or un- der an impression, that the spirits would take it from her hand and ring it ? As " this occurred several times in the course of the evening," did she constantly hold that bell in her hand, or take it up only when it was to be rung by the spirit f If so, what induced her to take it up at those specified times ? Was it rapped or writ- ten out that she must take the bell in her hand, or had LECTURE IX. 161 she merely an impression, that she must do so 1 Was she standing or sitting? was the whole company seated or not, and "huddled around the medium, or more dis- tant 1 Was no one near her when the bell was rung 1 Did the judge distinctly see the bell taken from her hand, suspended, as it were, in air, and there rung and passed back again through the air to M. without the aid of a mortal hand? These interrogatories, it will be perceived, are not only pertinent, but important in this case, as much depends upon her position, good light, and the relative positions of those in the room. If M. were seated in the circle around the table, and the bell in her hand and near her person, it is easy to perceive how her other hand, which she believed to be that of the departed spirit, and with which she felt her- self identified by impression, could take the bell from her and ring it under the table, or at her side, and return it back again to her hand, as it was. This could be done unobserved by the circle, and with a burning lamp on the table, whenever the spirit-impression, as she sincerely believed, came upon her to act. This experiment I can perform upon a psychological subject, so that he will have no remembrance of his own personal agency in the mat- ter, but believe it was done by a spirit. If she were standing or seated in a distant part of the room from the company, or with other mediums of kindred, sympathetic impressions around her, the experiment could have been more easily produced unobserved by the Judge. .162 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. I proceed to notice his second case of bell-ringing. The bell was taken from a high shelf in a closet, and there rung over the heads of four or five persons in the closet. Was there light in that closet ? Did the Judge see the bell taken down from that shelf, suspended in the air, and rung over the heads of those persons with- out the aid of a mortal hand ? Was he in that closet ? Were the front and back parlors well lighted? Did he see that dinner-bell come out of the closet still sus- pended in the air, and rung over the heads of twelve or fifteen persons in the back parlor ? And did he see it, still suspended in the air, pass through the folding- doors into the front parlor, and there dropped on the floor ? And all this time did no mortal hand touch it ? After being rung in the closet over the heads of the persons in it, did it come out itself, leaving those per- sons behind, or did they bring it out, or come out with it? Were the persons in the back parlor seated, or standing and moving about while the bell was ringing over their heads? Did no one accompany it as it passed through the folding-dcors into the front parlor where it was dropped on the floor ? Was there any person or persons in the front parlor where the bell lost its suspension and fell ? Did the Judge see it fall, and no human hand near it ? These questions I deem im- portant, and as the Judge says that " he appears upon the witness's stand to testify to things that he knows," he will pardon me for propounding the above questions LECTURE IX. 163 as regards their legal bearing, for I am not much ac- quainted with judicial proceedings. Though I am satisfied how tables and other wooden substances, and even human beings and various articles may be charged, moved, and raised, and which I feel myself able to explain and defend on natural principles, and all of which can be done by any circle, and without a medium in it, yet I candidly confess, that I have no philosophy nor experiment by which I can solve the raising of a piece of metal of any kind, when entirely detached from other substances. Here all my experi- ments have proved vain, and I am equally satisfied that the arm of human philosophy, as now understood, can not possibly grasp it. No human hands, no electro- nervous fluid from human brains can charge metal so as to overcome its gravity and suspend it in air, nor even to make it move or tip. And let me see this ex- periment performed without the intervention of human hands or physical aid, and I am a firm believer, that spirits are here, and that I can commune with the sainted spirits of my departed father and mother. To use the eloquent breathing of Dr. Nott : " Were the dead mindful of the devotion that the living pay them, I would bedew the graves of my sainted parents with my tears, and disturb ihe repose of their ashes with my nightly orisons." The questions that I have asked in relation to the suspension and ringing of these bells show the position 164 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. in which I would desire matters to be arranged in order to produce the experiment so as to leave no doubt on the mind. Bell-metal is so dense and its pores so minute, and so much weight in a small compass, that its gravity can not be overcome by charging it with nervo-vital force from a thousand brains ! But if the above questions were all answered to my entire satis- faction, yet there is another position that the well- known principles of electro-psychology compel me to state. Is not Judge Edmonds naturally in this impres- sible or psychologic state 1 If he is not, then his tes- timony is good. Though this can not at present be de- termined by the experiment of even a skillful operator, yet there are circumstances connected with his state- ments entirely favorable to the conclusion, that he is in this state. He is a writing-medium, and can be im- pressed to see visions, and so can all mesmeric and psy- chological persons. The reader will please turn to page 26 of Judge Edmonds' book, or notice my quota- tion from it in this Lecture. From several circum- stances there stated, such as placing a bass-viol in one of his hands, resting it on his foot, a violin in his other hand, and a second violin hung around his neck by one of its strings, and all three played upon, it is evident, that he was the main object of attention and interest whom the spirits, or, as I think, the mediums desired to convince and gain over to their cause. Hence, the minds of all the mediums and believers being concen- LECTURE IX. 165 trated upon him, and he firmly believing it to be spir- its, produced all the impression necessary to prepare "him not only to see, but also to hear every thing to which his senses were directed. To say the least, the whole was so completely calculated to throw him off his vigilant guard, that he could not tell whether the me- diums or spirits adorned him with instruments of mu- sic, nor which of the two touched the strings, when the mediums were so officiously huddled around him. In this condition, let the bell have been rung by any one at pleasure, and though constantly held in the hand, yet he could have seen it moving over the heads of the company, and heard it ringing, and at length heard it drop on the floor in the front parlor. Or he could have been made to see and hear all this when there was not a bell in the room ! The same will apply with equal force to the bass-viol, violins, and the music. He could in this state be made to see the whole moving before him as distinctly as he saw the moving scenes in his visions, and the one would have been just as much evi- dence of an existing reality as the other. I again pledge myself to the public, that I am able to perform all this upon a hundred or a thousand psychological subjects, and with or without bells, bass-viols, or vio- lins, as they may desire. And not only so, but I can in an instant render the subject totally blind, or so im- press his vision, that he can see no person but himself and me in an audience of a thousand, or permit him to 166 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. see as few or many as I may choose to show him. Hence, if the Judge is in the electro-psychological state, as the whole chain of circumstances go to prove, then he could not in this case be a witness in his own cause. I am aware that he appeals to the corroborating tes- timony of others present, but it remains to be proved that they, in their natural state, are of that class of persons who, like the community at large, can not be impressed. The mediums are certainly in the mesmeric or psychological state, and for any individual to attempt to show the contrary, is but a vain and useless effort. And as we know that all the wonders recorded of bells ringing, bass-viols and violins playing, pinning to- gether the dresses of ladies and tying together their arms, jerking combs from their heads, striking the Judge with a fiddle-bow, and jerking a chair from under his honor, and making them believe it is all done by spirits ; I say, as we know, that all these, wonders can be per- formed upon persons in the electro-psychological state, so we have no evidence of spirit-manifestations in such occurrences as these. The natural is to be adopted when it accounts for a phenomenon, and only when this fails have we any right to appeal to the supernatural for its solution. We perceive, that there is consider- able jerking in this matter, and I would kindly admon- ish them to take heed before they are irrecoverably lost and confirmed in the jerks. [See Third Lecture.] I am aware that the Judge says (page 26) : " It is in LECTURE IX. 167 vain for any one to say we were deceived. I knew that I was not, and so did every one of that large party." I no more doubt the sincerity, candor, and honesty of Judge Edmonds, than I do my own existence ; but I will try the question whether or not he has been de- ceived, at least in one instance, and to which he attaches great importance. He says (page 18) : " Another feature was, that now, for the first time in this connection, I saw a clairvoyant, and .our interview, which lasted nearly three hours, was conducted partly through him and partly through the rappings. And now, too, for the first time, I wit- nessed some of the more elevated teachings of this matter, so much of which I have since received." This interview took place, as appears from the date of his notes, February IT, 1851. At this date it appears, that the Judge was not yet a firm believer in the spirit- manifestations, and even knew nothing of mesmerism. His previous interview was with a lady, who it appears possessed the faculty, in her natural state, " of telling the character and mood of mind of any person upon whom she might fix her attention, which she did by holding in her hand or binding on her forehead some writing in which that person's thoughts were expressed," and one whom she had never seen. The Judge tested this by experiment, and found it to be true. This, he says, presented to him a new feature. This shows that he was entirely unacquainted with mesmeric and psy- 168 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. chological phenomena. I now come to the instance I have in view, and to which I invite the attention of the Judge. February 23, and pages 20, 21, being only six days after he first saw a clairvoyant, he says : " About this time, as I was one day in my library, the thought sud- denly intruded itself upon my mind, that I must go to a person who was named and magnetize him, and I would receive a communication from a spirit in a high- er condition than any who had yet communed with me. Now as I had no acquaintance with that person, never having seen him but once, and then hardly exchanged ten words with him, and as I did not know how to mag- netize him, never having seen the operation but once, I disregarded the impression. In a day or two it came again and with great distinctness^ and both times when I was not thinking of the subject, but my mind was intently engaged on something else. After it had come the second time, I sought a rapping medium, and in- quired about it. I was told that it was not, as I had supposed, my own imagining, but a direction it would be well for me to heed. I accordingly sought an inter- view with the person named, who was a clairvoyant, a rapping medium, and a medium for physical manifest- ations. At the appointed time I met him with a party of six or eight others, none of whom I had ever seen before. And, much to my surprise, I received a com- munication pointed directly to two trains of thought in LECTURE IX. 169 vay mind, one that had been there for some twenty-five years, and another that had been there some two or three months, but neither of which I had ever uttered, or even hinted at to mortal man or woman. For some time they were spoken to as distinctly as if I had pro- claimed them with a loud voice. I was startled, for here was to me evidence from which I could not escape, that my most secret thoughts were known to the intel- ligence that was dealing with me. There was no avoiding the conclusion. Reason upon it as I would, imagine what solution I might, there was the fact plainly before me, and I knew it." On the above quotation I offer a few remarks. Here is a plain case of mesmeric action, and what any good mesmeric subject can do, and that is to read the thoughts and impressions of other minds, and even by sympathy to feel and express all their pains of body as well as distress of mind. Every one who has the least acquaintance with clairvoyant impressions knows this fact as one of the most common features of the mesmeric state. And yet Judge Edmonds has so lit- tle acquaintance with mesmerism, that he attributes this act of the clairvoyant in revealing his secrets, to the intelligence of some immortal spirit that was dealing with him and knew his most secret thoughts ! In this case at least he is certainly deceived, and yet he places great reliance upon it as proof of spiritual intercourse ! He refers to it at page 75 : " My most 170 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. secret thoughts, those which I have never uttered to mortal man or woman, have been freely spoken to, as if I had uttered them." He again speaks of them as thoughts called up from the solitude of his study, where they had been buried for a quarter of a century. His principal prop as regards intelligence to prove spirit-manifestations fails him, and shows that he is here deceived. In this long quotation it will be also perceived, that the impression on the mind of the Judge, that he must go and see a certain clairvoyant and magnetize him, and the results that followed in accordance with this impression, all go to prove that he is in the electro- psychological state, and hence a writing-medium, and whose mind can be impressed with interesting and beautiful visions. How natural it is, then, that while the Judge was yet warm with the deep-stirring impressions on his mind of what the clairvoyant had revealed in regard to his most secret thoughts, and believing it to be done by spirits, that he should be prepared to hear the ring- ing of the bell by an invisible intelligence, and which took place at the very next interview. And however incredulous he was when he first commenced his inves- tigations, and however scrutinizing and exact to detect what he then deemed imposture, yet it is easy to con- ceive how a man, even of Judge Edmonds' capacity and talent, and who had not, till the time above stated, LECTURE IX. 171 even seen a clairvoyant, should be thrown off his vig- ilant guard by his secret thoughts being disclosed, and be prepared to believe any thing and every thing that might be performed by mediums. Human nature is so constituted, that the greater the skepticism, oppo- sition, and vigilance of a talented man, the greater will be his credulity and passivity when the reaction fairly comes. Hence I am not surprised that he should sit entirely passive, and have bass-viols and violins hung about him by mediums, be beat with a fiddle- bow, and have his chair jerked from under him, and yet so far from resisting, take the whole in good part ! Whereas if this had been done by any individual when the Judge was upon the bench and trying a cause, he would not only have had him indicted and punished for contempt of Court, but also tried and fined and im- prisoned for assault and battery. But the Judge being perfectly convinced that he was dealing with immortal spirits who had placed these instruments in his hands and about his neck, was not in a condition, at that instant, to scrutinize this mat- ter, and the mediums might have touched the strings, or struck the Judge with the bow, with perfect ease and unobserved by him, while he was in such an over- whelming state of excitement and awe as a scene like this must have naturally produced on his mind. Such matters are personal concerns that each must witness for himself, or else receive the united testimony of a 172 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. promiscuous audience of four or five hundred persons as to the certainty of their having in reality occurred. Let me see this performed without a mortal hand on instruments of music held by myself or any other per- son, and all others kept at a distance, and I am pre- pared to enter on a new scene of action and continue to pursue it faithfully to my dying day. I am then ready to move my philosophy one step higher, and show that the spirits of our departed friends — those dear and former loved ones of earth — do indeed im- press the involuntary powers of our minds with heav- enly impulses, and hold communion with us through the mysterious instincts of our nature in those beauti- ful mystic fields that lie beyond the realms of human reason and consciousness — those fields where wonders reign — where dreams inspire — where presentiments are born and beauty unfolds. LECTURE X. 173 LECTUEE X. I should have closed my examination of Judge Ed- monds' book on " Spiritualism" in my last Lecture, were it not for the circumstance that he has adopted the views of Von Reichenbach of the existence of an Odic-force in nature. I have said all that is necessary in the preceding nine Lectures as regards the doctrine of spiritual intercourse, and which will cover every im- portant point contained in his book, or in the entire subject of the spirit-manifestations, so far as it has, as yet, been developed and published to the world. But as it may be said that I have entirely overlooked the Odic- force that pervades all nature, and exists in our bodies, and through the energy of which spirits are enabled to impress human beings, and communicate with them, so I have not fully met the subject in all its important bearings. This objection, however, would be of but trivial moment, because I admit that electricity, in some of its forms, is the connecting link between mind and matter, and 'through which spirits have rendered them- selves visible in past ages, and held converse with mor- tals, and for which the Odic-force would only stand as 174 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. a substitute. I would, therefore, be distinctly under- stood that I admit the possibility of spirits now commu- nicating with us, but as the revelation of divine truth, for man's duty, interest, and happiness is complete, so there is nothing more can be revealed as an addition to the stock already on hand. All future revelation, therefore, must regard the making known to mankind how the doctrinal truths recorded in the Scriptures are to be understood. And this I am satisfied will be done, as man's nature becomes more and more developed so as to require it ; and just as much light will be let in upon the empire of mind as it is able to bear. On this subject Emanuel Swedenborg was consistent, who undertook to explain how the Scriptures should Jbe understood by man. And though I am not of his faith, yet I must confess that his powers were as immense as his gifts were wonderful. I entertained strong expec- tations that Mr. Davis would follow on, and advance the work, but was disappointed when his " Nature's Divine Revelations" appeared. And I am moreover satisfied, that some new revelation^ as regards the true understanding of the doctrines of the Savior, will be revealed to the world. Having made these introductory remarks, I now pro- ceed to the consideration of Reichenbach's claims to having discovered a new power in nature which he calls Od, or Odic-force. I might here incidentally remark, that if such a power does exist, he has been preceded LECTURE X. 175 in his discovery by Professor Grimes, of Lansingburgh, N. Y., who is certainly entitled to the claim of priority. He published a work, I think, in 1844, in which he contends that there exists in nature a substance more sublimated and subtile than electricity, and which he calls Etherium, and that this is the cause that induces the mesmeric state. It is a production I would advise the admirers of Reichenbach to read. It certainly con- tains many valuable thoughts. But to proceed. I am compelled to deny the exist- ence of such a power in nature for which Reichenbach contends, not only in the absence of all proof to sustain his assertion, but also because I can discover no pos- sible use for its existence. The following account was communicated through Judge Edmonds as a speaking- medium : Pages 39, 40, the Judge says : " One of the first questions was this : What is this which I am witness- ing 1 Is it a departure from nature's laws, or in con- formity with them 1 Is it a miracle, or is it the opera- tion of some hitherto unkncwn but pre-existing cause now for the first time manifesting itself? " The answer I got was : It is the result of human progress — it is in execution, not a suspension, of na- ture's laws — it is not now for the first time manifest- ing itself, but in all ages of the world has at times been displayed. " I reasoned, then, if it is a law of nature, it must be 176 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. universal in its application, and it may be discovered and understood by man ; and I asked that I might un- derstand it. I was told, however, that my knowledge of nature was too imperfect to enable me to understand it as yet. I asked what I might read to assist me to the requisite knowledge, and I was referred by one present to Von Reichenbach's c Dynamics of 'Magnet- ism, 5 and there I found that he had discovered a hith- erto unknown power in nature. He named it Od, or Odic-force, and described it as an exceeding subtile fluid existing with magnetism and electricity, found in fire and heat, and produced in the human body by the chemical action of respiration and digestion and decom- position, and issuing from the body in the shape of a pale flame, with sparks and smoke, and material in its nature, though so sublimated as to be visible only to persons of a peculiar vision. In my experiments I have myself once or twice seen it, but have met with those who could see it as readily as those through whom that German philosopher conducted his examinations. " I was given to understand, that this power was used in these manifestations, but how, and in what man- ner, I have not learned. I was also made to know that electricity and magnetism had something to do with them." The above quotation is sufficient to show that Judge Edmonds has adopted the views of Reichenbach, and as he has once or twice seen the invisible flame of this LECTURE X. 177 Odic-force, it also confirms positively what I have be- fore stated, that he is in the psychological or mesmeric state, for to all other persons this supposed substance is absolutely invisible. It certainly can not be seen by natural vision. In this state of the case it becomes necessary that we fairly examine and test the evi- dence which this German philosopher has furnished to prove the truth of its existence, and on which he bases his whole theory which has produced so much excite- ment in the scientific world. And I hesitate not to af- firm, that every enlightened mind, every man of inde- pendent, unbiased thought, will be astonished at the credulity of many literary men in receiving a theory sustained by such foggy evidence, and for no other rea- son only because it was originated by a philosopher in a foreign land, of high-sounding titles and a great name. Whereas if this same work had been written and pub- lished by some talented but humble mesmeric lecturer in this country, it would have received little or no at- tention from the learned and the great. Though there is too much repetition, and the work needs compression throughout, yet I admire the plain classic chasteness of its style. I admit the force, en- ergy, and power of Reichenbach's mind. He has left the impress of its greatness on almost every page of his book. His patience and perseverance in the steady pursuit of his object are worthy of all praise. These alone evince the solid materials of no ordinary mind, 8* 178 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. and combined with other circumstances speak his great- ness. Were the premises he has assumed true, his conclusions, which are carefully and logically drawn, would be also true, and his work would stand as a mas- ter effort of a giant mind. But his premises being unfortunately false, his conclusions are therefore false, and his work stands before us, in the middle of the nineteenth century, as a stupendous monument of hu- man folly ! Before I proceed to notice his pretensions to a new discovery, I will first speak of Mesmerism in general. It is an established and well-known fact, that a per- son in the mesmeric state is so sympathetically en rap- port with the magnetizer, that if pain be inflicted with a pin upon any part of his body, the subject will in- stantly feel it, and describe the spot on his own person. You may touch it, for instance, upon the magnetizer's fore-finger, and the subject will complain that some one is pricking his fore-finger. Or touch the pin upon the magnetizer's ear, and the subject will instantly rub his own ear, and say some person is pricking it. Or pull a lock of the magnetizer's hair, and the subject will complain that some one is pulling his hair. In all these cases it is necessary that the magnetizer should keep his mind concentrated upon the subject, willing him to feel the corresponding sensation. But in case his mind is not upon the subject at all, and should he unexpectedly feel the prick of a pin, the subject would LECTURE X. 7 179 not heed it. This proves that the sensation is con- veyed from his own mind, by an act of his will, to the subject, for it is, after all, the mind only that feels, and not the body. In further support of this position, let the magnetizer, for instance, feel no pain at all from the touch of a pin, but only will the subject to feel, and the same sensation will be fully realized. It is the same with the other senses. Let the mag- netizer take a pinch of snuff, and the subject will sneeze and say that some one has given him snuff. Or let the magnetizer take tobacco in his mouth, and the subject will feel sick. Let him taste sugar, vinegar, salt, coffee, or brandy, and the subject will describe the taste of each, and suppose these substances to be in his own mouth. But in all these cases it is necessary that the magnetizer should concentrate his mind upon the sub- ject and will him to taste these articles. But if he is capable of exercising a strong imagination without the actual taste of these substances, and then ivill the sub- ject to taste what he himself imagines, he can produce upon him the same successful results. The same re- marks apply with equal force to hearing. Let the magnetizer only imagine that he hears thunder, or the constant roar of cannon in the battle-field, and the sub- ject will hear the same, and start from his seat in alarm ! It only requires a concentration of mind upon the sub- ject with an attendant anxiety that he shall hear, and the work is done. 180 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. The same remarks will apply to seeing. Let the magnetizer, for instance, see a snake, or any other creature, and will his subject to see the same, and he will do so, and describe it to the life, as to color, size, and position. Or let the magnetizer only picture their forms in his mind, and the same result will follow. I lectured at Clinton Hall, New York, in March, 1846, on the philosophy of Mesmerism, and performed exper- iments to sustain my positions. My mesmeric subject was the celebrated Mr. Tarbox, one of the best clair- voyants in the United States. And there, for six eve- nings in succession, I produced every variety of exper- iments on the different senses. But as sight is the one with which I am at present more directly concerned, I will confine my remarks to this exclusively. More than fifty experiments the same evening were performed upon this young man in succession, merely by mental impres- sions, in the animal, bird, reptile, and insect kingdoms, from the mammoth down to the flea, and without a sin- gle failure ! The experiments were conducted in the following manner. The subject was seated upon the stage carefully blindfolded by two handkerchiefs. I was requested to stand upon the floor in front of the audience. The name of the animal, bird, reptile, or insect was then written by any skeptic in the audience, and the paper handed me in silence. I was requested to use invariably the same interrogatory — What do you see ? In every instance the experiment proved LECTURE X. 181 successful. I was then requested not to speak at all, but merely to will in silence. And though this mode ?ook a little longer than to call his attention directly to the object by speaking, yet the experiments proved equally successful. All this can be testified to by thou- sands in this city who witnessed these startling exper- iments. Or if any wish for individual testimony, I can refer them to Dr. Parmley, 0. S. Fowler, Dr. King, and Reverend Mr. Fishbough, all of this city. In experimenting on all the senses, as above stated, and insuring success, it only requires in the operator the power of concentrating his mind upon the mesmer- ized subject, and bearing along with it in his imagina- tion the full electro-imaged impression of the desired experiment, willing the result, and it is done. The only possible use of inflicting pain on any part of the operator's person, or of his tasting or smelling any substance, or of seeing the animal or object literally before him is, so that his mind may be more vividly and sensibly impressed to act on the subject when his powers of imagination and concentration are too small. But in all cases where the anxiety and interest of the operator's mind are intense and great as to the result of his experiment upon the subject, he may be sure of success. If he becomes angry, and even successfully conceals it, and happens at that instant to turn his at- tention to his subject, he may be sure that the subject will become angry, strip off his coat, and prepare to 182 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. fight when he knows no cause for it, nor whom to at- tack. And so it is with all the passions, emotions, and desires existing in the operator's soul. Even in the examination of diseases, the subject feels by sym- pathy all the pains, aches, weakness, and distress of the patient. What I have said above is still further demonstrated by what is called clairvoyant excursions. In these the subject is impressed, and wholly conducted by the mind of the person put in communication with him. By him he is apparently transported to some distant location in a foreign land, or to a dwelling on some sol- itary island in the watery waste. Through the impres- sions of his conductor's mind he describes the exterior of the domicil. Through the same medium he enters in, and surveys and describes the doors, windows, fur- niture, pictures, and ornaments of the room, or of all the rooms, and the persons who reside there and oc- cupy them. And I care not how good may be the sub- ject, yet the success of the experiment depends on the power of the imagination and concentration of the conductor's mind. Through him he sees the picture — or, more strictly, reads the impress of it in the con- ductor's soul. Though the subject's attention can be directed to, and impressed by man to examine a room or a piece of dead matter, yet he can not by man be put in com- munication with matter. Even though he can, through LECTURE X. 183 a piece of matter, get communication with the person who has handled it, still, as all matter stands in a negative relation to the subject, so he is naturally in communication with it the moment he is mesmerized. Hence, when intending to examine matter in any one department of nature, he should not, on any considera- tion, be mesmerized by man. He should put himself into the state by a mental abstraction, and when no one knows it. This can easily be done by holding in his hand, or coming in contact with, the substance he de- sires to investigate, and fastening his attention upon it in mental abstraction, forgetting every thing else but the object before him till he passes into the state. Habit will soon render this familiar and agreeable. If, for instance, he feels impressed to examine a magnet, let him hold a magnet in his hand on which to fix his eyes ; or, if he wishes to examine any of the metals, let him hold that one in his hand to gaze upon which he de- sires to investigate. If he feels impressed to examine water, let him put his hands in water, till by a mental abstraction he puts himself into the state. If he de- sires to investigate the flowers, fruits, or the various vegetable tribes, let him hold that species in his hand, which is the intended object of his investigation, and look upon it till he passes into the state. If he wishes to investigate the geological formations of the globe, let him take those minerals in his hand that compose their strata. If he desires to investigate any of the 184 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. birds or animals,^ let him come in contact with one of that species which is the object of his inquiry and solicitude. If lie wishes to examine man or woman, let him lay his hands upon them and pass as usual into the state by a mental abstraction, and not allow them to mesmerize him. If he wishes to look upon and examine nature, as a whole, let him fasten his mind upon her greatness, and hold nothing in his hand till he passes into the state. I have be- come satisfied, of late years, that mesmerizers will ruin the energy, the power, and the glory invested in the mesmeric domain, by their own selfish prepossessions and foolish or silly impressions on the mind of the sub- ject. Let them cease their labors, and set his impris- oned faculties free, and we shall soon receive a very different message from the higher department of the mesmeric state. I am pleased to see that this course of mental abstraction is almost universally adopted and pursued by mediums, which the very nature of the case obliges them to do, and hence their communica- tions on mind and matter, as regards science, will soon outstrip those of all the man-mesmerized subjects. And this, I think, is the great and good end the Crea- tor has in view, and that he will overrule the so-called spirit-manifestations to bring the mesmeric power to bear upon its own legitimate, important, and obvious end. The subject should go into the examination of nature LECTURE X. 185 alone entirely ignorant, if possible, of human opinions concerning the point he desires to investigate. And as he is, while in the mesmeric state, still connected with the globe and breathing its surrounding elements, so he is in communication with nature through the electri- cal ocean in which he is submerged, and can turn at pleasure to any of her departments, and hold free and familiar converse with her mysteries. And as all sub- stances in nature are constantly sending off their elec- tro-atmospheric emanations, and the subject being left free, unimpressed, and uninfluenced by human minds, he can then, and only then, draw his instructions di- rectly from the impressions of her own bosom. He can then hold intuitive converse with her immense magazine of substances, and instinctively pour out riv- ers of thought in full, gushing eloquence, when, so far as his voluntary powers of reason and understanding are concerned, he is entirely ignorant and unlettered in the schools of men. To receive his ideas from the im- pressions of the minds of those with whom he is in communication is very different indeed from receiving them directly from the impressions of nature herself. If the clairvoyant desires to know what is in man, let man impress him ; but if he desires to know what is in nature, let nature impress him. And while consulting her oracle, no human being should be near him — no human mind should invade the sanctuary of his soul to know what he is doing, and while in the state, he should 186 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. write down, with his own hand, all that has been dis- closed. And, let me repeat, that he should go into the examination alone entirely ignorant of human opinions concerning the point he desires to investigate ; for even these may impress his mind and lead him astray, be- cause it is the superior impression that governs his mind, and blinds him, and renders him invulnerable to all other impressions, however truthful. Hence it will be perceived that Swedenborg is the only individual of modern times who has gone into the superior or illu- minated state in a proper manner, and met nature in her own solitary greatness, and has thrown out a world (I had almost said an eternity) of thought ! If he has erred, that error could have been received only through the impression of preconceived opinions as regards both nature and revelation. All somnambulists go into the state as I have described, not by mesmerizers, but by an impression from some object or circumstance in na- ture, and they immediately rise from their pillows, and attend to, and investigate that object, and let all others alone. Somnambulism is natural self-mesmerism. The two states are identical, and these few hints as regards magnetizers and mesmerism will not, I hope, be disre- garded by Reichenbach and his learned admirers in England and America, should they in future attempt, through clairvoyants, to investigate and unravel the arcana of nature. There is one point more connected with the mesmeric LECTURE X. 187 state, on -which I deem it necessary to bestow a few remarks, before I proceed to test the merits of Reichen- bach's claim to having discovered a new power in na- ture termed Odic-force. I refer to the mode of taking communication -with the subject in the mesmeric state. It is evident that the mesmeric subject, when placed in the state, can not at first see, hear, or feel any other persons besides his mesmerizer, unless they are put in communication with him. But as to the mode of taking a communication so as to become en rapport with the subject, there are many erroneous ideas entertained, and this is the grand difficulty under which our cele- brated author labors. It was at first supposed that none could obtain communication with the subject ex- cept by the direct act of the mesmerizer, and only then by allowing them one by one to join hands with the subject, and making a few passes from arm to arm, or else by touching some other part of his body. But it was next discovered that any person could place him- self in communication with the subject by simply taking hold of his hand, and without any aid from the magnet- izer. It was soon found out that the magnetizer could place the subject in communication with any individual, or with a whole audience, without any contact whatever, by simply requesting the subject to turn his attention to them. It was next discovered that any individual, by placing his mind intently upon the subject, with great anxiety and desire, could at length gain his atten- 188 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. tion, and thus put himself in communication with him as perfectly as if it had been done by contact and with the aid of the magnetizer. Hence, when lecturing be- fore large audiences, I have been frequently interrupted in my experiments by one or two magnetizers obtaining a communication through this secret mode with my subject, and diverting his attention from the impressions I desired to produce on his mind. In all such cases he could point out the individuals who were influencing him, and state what I must do to prevent it, so that I could proceed with my experiments. And it is evident to my mind, that Von Reichenbach supposes it to be impossible to gain a communication with the subject, or the subjects one with the other, only by actual con- tact. This is clearly manifest from the whole chain of his reasoning upon the subject. Indeed, he takes this for granted, as an established fact, and proceeds to his argument as though it had never been questioned, but as a point upon which all are agreed. This proves, that however great may be his powers of intellect, and however grand and elevated may be his conceptions of nature and her operations, and however deep and pro- found he may be in understanding the various sciences as now taught in the schools and institutions of his country, yet he is still unlettered in the science of mes- meric phenomena, and stands in the background upon the old platform where Mesmer, his own countryman, left it, except that he has renounced the magnetic tub LECTURE X. 189 used by Mesmer. I am aware that Reichenbach. per- formed his experiments mostly upon subjects in the som- nambulic or cataleptic state, to test the existence of his supposed Odic-force. But this does not in the least alter the case. I have already stated that the somnambulic and mesmeric states are identically the same, for the same class of experiments can be performed upon the sub- jects of both. The only difference is, that, the mesmeric state is induced by the aid of an operator, while the som- nambulic state is not. Indeed, I may say that a mesmer- izer is entirely unnecessary even to bring a person into the state who has never been mesmerized at all. This can be effected just as well by his own act, independent of all foreign influence. All that is necessary is, that the individual should seat himself, entirely passive, in a room where he will not be disturbed, and fix his atten- tion for an hour upon some object he may hold in his hand, and not turn his eyes from it, but keep a steady and constant gaze. This should be continued daily till the state is induced. Upon natural somnambulists al- most any impression can be made even in their waking state, and so it can upon cataleptic persons. But this impression will be much greater upon some than upon others, according to their sensitiveness, or the degree of their nervous impressibility. A communication can be taken with all persons of this character asleep or awake, and in the same manner and variety of ways that it can with persons in the mesmeric state, and the 190 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. clairvoyance in the good subjects of. each is alike bril- liant. The same may be said of good subjects in the electro-psychologic state. With all these classes of persons a communication can be taken simply by a mental impression, and independent of any personal contact whatever. I would now say, that Reichenbach builds up his whole theory of the existence of an Odic-force on the testimony of somnambulists (who are but mesmeric subjects), and upon persons in a cataleptic state, and upon persons who are in an electro-psychologic state. This latter class are principally those upon whom he tests his experiments with a magnet and other sub- stances, so far as regards the sense of feeling. And the former class are principally those upon whom he tests his experiments with a magnet and other sub- stances, as regards their sense of seeing. Of these he introduces upon the stand six witnesses, who declare that they see the flames of this- invisible Odic-force. We will now proceed to a fair and candid examination of the case, and see what his testimony amounts to on the mind of the public, who are our empanneled jury to try this cause. I will first notice his testimony as regards the sense of feeling. Page 17, he says : " If a strong magnet, capable of supporting about ten pounds, be drawn down- ward over the bodies of fifteen or twenty persons, with- out actually touching them, some among them will LECTUBE X. 191 always be found to be excited in a peculiar manner. Sometimes three or four are met with in such a num- ber as the above mentioned." This I admit to be correct ; and this is about the number we usually im- press to a greater or less extent, when experimenting in electro-psychology. These are psychological sub- jects, and I can impress them in like manner and to the full extent as above, by simply passing down my fore-finger without contact, instead of a strong magnet, and have done so at a distance of thirty feet, and hun- dreds of times. And not only so, but I have done it with a wooden cane, distant from the subject to the farther extent of a large hall, and before a thousand persons. And I pledge myself, that I can do it with any substance Mr. Reichenbach or his friends may choose to place in my hands, at a distance of five hun- dred feet ; and in all these instances the subject shall feel it with the same force as though I passed it within an inch of his body ! It is not the magnet, nor any other substance that produces these effects, but it is the mind of the experimenter simply producing an im- pression upon the sensitive mind of the subject, because mind in all such cases transcends matter in its power to sympathetically communicate with, and impress and control mind. Page 18. In describing the different effects of the magnet upon different persons, the author says — " It is rather disagreeable than pleasant, and combined 192 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. with a slight sensation of either cold or warmth, re- sembling a cool or gently warm breath of air, which the patients imagine to blow softly upon them. Some- times they feel sensations of drawing, pricking, or creeping ; some complain of headache. Not only women, but men in the very prime of life, are found distinctly susceptible of this influence ; in children it is sometimes very active." All this I admit to be true, and would reply, that I can produce these same effects, with all their varying sensations upon different individuals, by simply passing down my hand, or a piece of wood, iron, gold, silver, copper, or zinc. I have done so in many instances, so that some have fainted away. In Syracuse, before an audience of a thousand persons, I threw a lady several times into a fit, by simply passing down my hand before her as an experiment, and in an instant I could at pleasure bring her out of her lit. I performed the same experiment upon a young man in Auburn, before an audience of eight hundred persons. His fits, to which he was sub- ject, were awful, and, though he was perfectly insen- sible and convulsed before that audience, yet, at an instant, when the request was made, I brought him out, and through these means cured him. And I hold myself responsible for the truth of what I utter. It is only the impression that is produced on the minds of the sensitive, and hence no two feel alike. Where- as, if it were the result of a powerful magnet, there LECTURE X. 193 could not be experienced from it such opposite effects as heat and cold. The same substance, however sub- tile, must act in some measure uniform as to its phys- ical effects upon human bodies. As fire produces a sense of heat, and ice of coldness, upon all, so the magnet can not produce directly opposite physical sen- sations upon different human beings. It will not do to evade the force of this argument by saying, that it is the exceeding subtilty of the Odic-force that does this. Electricity and galvanism are inconceivably subtile, yet their physical sensations upon different human bodies are the same when the shock is given ; and so it is with all known substances in nature. If the Od- force, as it is called, varies from all others, then it is surely odd enough, and hence it is rightly named. Reichenbach then states (page 19), that the magnet in its downward pass produces its various effects upon healthy individuals, upon those of sedentary habits, and upon persons laboring under every species and grade of disease down to catalepsy, and " lastly upon those who walk in their sleep, and the true somnam- bulist without exception.' 5 Now I would respect- fully say, that all what he here so minutely details is the natural result of impressions made on the minds of persons in the electro-psychological state, as every one knows who has the least acquaintance with this science, and of which, it would seem, that the distin- guished author has never heard. 9 194 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. That any substance whatever will produce these and other results, such as heat and cold, tremblings, shak- ings, prickings, spasms, and faintings, provided the expectation, anxiety, will, or determination of the operator's mind is sufficiently great or active, is not only certain, but Reichenbach inadvertently ad- mits it. After stating the powerful effects of a magnet capable of suspending ninety pounds, and which Miss Nowotny grasped with a convulsive force, so that she was un- able to loose her hands, he says (pages 51, 52) — li But the singularity seemed to reach the height of incom- prehensibility when it proved that not merely the magnet, but even a simple glass of magnetized water, possessed the power of drawing along the hand of Miss Nowotny. It is true that this occurred in a much weaker degree, but her hand was unmistakably at- tracted, both in the catalepsy and at every other time, by a magnetized glass of water, in such a manner that a tendency to follow this in every direction made it- self evident." Here Reichenbach is perfectly dumb- founded ! He magnetized a glass of water, and she, taking the impression from this circumstance that the water would also attract her, could not resist the act of following it. Here he admits what I have argued ; and I will add, that I can attract the subject to any part of the room I may choose, or repel him from me by a mere act of my will to go to any individual in the LECTURE X. 195 room, and again attract him to me, and without the aid of a glass of magnetized water. But, to his astonishment, he has at last found some- thing that will attract besides a steel magnet ! His mind conceives a new force, and its singularity is so great as to " reach the height of incomprehensibility." He conceives the idea, from the magic force of this glass of water, that it must be some other power besides elec- tricity or magnetism, because water has no magnetic power to attract any substance ! He moreover con- ceives the idea that this power may be universal. Our German philosopher is now ready to begin a wild-goose- chase excursion to inspect all substances on the globe ! What astonishing results, what great discoveries are made known " by a simple glass of magnetized water !" He is now ready to begin his excursion. He says (page 52) : " Contemplating this, and con- vinced that so strange a phenomenon could not exist isolated in nature, I was desirous of trying whether the same effect as that of the water might not be brought about by means of some other body ; if this proved to be so, I hoped to see cases occur with various modifica- tions from which some laws might be deduced. With this view, all sorts of minerals, preparations, and drugs and other things were rubbed with the magnet, and the patient was tried with them in the same way as with the magnetized water ; and it actually happened that all reacted at once upon her more or less in the same 196 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. Way as the magnetized water ; they attracted the pa- tient's hand more strongly or weakly, but in variously modified ways. Some produced spasms throughout the whole body, others only in the arms, others only in the hand, others scarcely caused any effect, although all had been equally strongly magnetized. It was evident, therefore, that some difference lay in the matter itself, and required to be taken into account here." Here a new world of wonders opens to the mind of the author. He has now found out that this attraction exists, not only in magnetized water, but also in drugs and other substances without number, for by magnet- izing them with a steel magnet, they also attract the patient's hand ! But he was destined to look upon still greater wonders that beset his path, as the next paragraph shows. He says : " To investigate this, I now tried to bring the same substances into contact with the patient in their natu- ral condition, without having been previously mag- netized. To my great surprise, they also acted now upon the patient with a force which very often yielded but little to that which they had exhibited in the mag- netized condition. But the action was not always accompanied by a solicitation to follow the object ; on the contrary, that other effect which had made the pa- tient grasp the magnet convulsively in her hand pre- sented itself in various gradations of force. The method of experiment which I followed here consisted in this. LECTURE X. 197 I first placed the various bodies in the patient's hand while in the cataleptic state, and observed the effects, and then repeated the same when she was in a state of perfect consciousness, out of the catalepsy." He has now advanced so far in his investigations that he has found out, that not only the magnet and other magnetized substances attract, and decidedly affect the patient, but that the same substances unmag- netizecl, and in their natural condition, attract about as well ! He next proceeds to give the result of his exper- iments, and places about forty substances in a column that will not affect the patient, and about forty that will. Now permit me here to say, that I will take the whole list of forty substances that he says will pro- duce no effect upon the patient, and I will produce all the results that he can with his magnet of ninety-pound power ! And, further, I will take his forty substances, and not only his magnetized water, all of which he says will attract, but I will take his most powerful steel magnet, and by an impression from my mind upon the subject, I will render them all harmless and powerless in his hands, so that he may grasp and handle them at pleasure without feeling any possible effect from their supposed Odic-force. I have produced these experi- ments upon hundreds with wood, gold, silver, copper, brass, and iron, which are substances set down in his category that will not affect the subject. A piece of copper, silver, or wood, the size of a penny, I have ren- 198 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. dered so hot, by merely an impression on his mind, as to apparently burn the hand, and force the subject to throw it suddenly down. I have replaced the same piece, and rendered it so cold and ice-like that he could not possibly hold it. The whole was done in his wake- ful state. And I have no more doubt than I have of my existence, that all of Von Reichenbach's experi- ments, with one or two exceptions, were the result of his own impressions on his subjects. I have only to say I can perform the whole, and even reverse his ex- periments by mental impressions. And he should also bear in mind, that the longer he experiments with a subject, the more perfectly she becomes associated with his feelings, habits of thought, and sympathies, by a more direct and deep-seated communication. Having noticed all the necessary evidence he has produced of the existence of his Odic-force, so far as the sense of feeling is concerned in the persons upon whom he experimented, I now proceed to the examina- tion of the evidence he produces of the existence of his Odic-force by the faculty of clairvoyant seeing. For this purpose he introduces six witnesses on the stand, and he sincerely and honestly considers the matter set- tled beyond all possible doubt, and that there is no room left even for rational controversy, at least so far as regards the absolute existence of this invisible power. Pages 22, 23, he says : " Through the kindness of a surgeon practicing in Vienna, I was introduced, in LECTURE X. 199 March, 1844, to one of his patients, the daughter of the tax-collector, Nowotny, a young woman of 25 years of age, who had suffered for eight years from increasing pains in the head, and from these had fallen into cata- leptic attacks, with, alternate tonic and clonic spasms. In her, all the exalted intensity of the senses had ap- peared, so that she could not bear sun or candle-light, saw her chamber as in a twilight in the darkness of the night, and clearly distinguished the color of all the fur- niture and clothes in it. On this patient the magnet acted with extraordinary violence in several ways, and she manifested the sensitive peculiarity in every respect in such a high degree, that she equaled the true som- nambulist (which she herself, however, was not) in every particular relating to the acuteness of sensuous irritability. "At the sight of all this, and in recalling to mind that the northern light appeared to be nothing else than an electrical phenomenon produced through the terrestrial magnetism, the intimate nature of which is still inexplicable in so far that no direct emanation of light from the magnet is known in physics, I came to the idea of making a trial whether a power of vision so ex- alted as that of Miss Nowotny might not perhaps per- ceive some phenomena of light on the magnet in perfect darkness. The possibility did not appear to me so very distant, and if it did actually present itself, the key to the explanation of the aurora borealis seemed in my hands. 200 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. " I allowed the father of the girl to make the first preparatory experiment in my absence. In order to profit by the greatest darkness and the maximum dila- tion of the pupil, from the eye having long been accus- tomed to the total absence of light, I directed him to hold before the patient, in the middle of the night, the largest existing magnet, a nine-fold horse-shoe capable of supporting about ninety pounds of iron, with the ar- mature removed. This was done, and on the following day I was informed that the girl had really perceived a distinct, continuous luminosity, as long as the mag- net was kept open, but disappeared every time the ar- mature was placed on it. " To convince myself more completely, and study the matter more closely, I made preparations to undertake the experiment with modifications myself. I devoted the following night to this, and selected for it the period when the patient had just awakened from a cataleptic fit, and consequently was most excitable. The win- dows were covered with a superabundance of curtains, and the lighted candles removed from the room long before the termination of the spasms. u The magnet was placed upon the table about ten yards from the patient, with both poles directed toward the ceiling and then freed from its armature. No one present could see in the least, but the girl beheld two luminous appearances, one at the extremity of each pole of the magnet. When this was closed by the ap- LECTURE X. 201 plication of the armature, they disappeared, and she saw nothing more ; when it was opened again, the lights reappeared. They seemed to be somewhat stronger at the moment of lifting up the armature, then to acquire a permanent condition which was weaker. The fiery appearance was about equal in size at each pole, and without perceptible tendency to mutual connection. Close upon the steel from which it streamed, it appeared to form a fiery vapor, and this was surrounded by a kind of glory of rays. But the rays were not at rest ; they became shorter and longer without intermission, and exhibited a kind of darting rays and active scintillation, which the observer assured us was uncommonly beau- tiful." The author made other experiments with this lady, and with the same success ; but as she gradually re- covered her health, the experiments proved less inter- esting, till the light from the magnet almost disap- peared. This will call to the reader's mind the case I stated of Miss Slaughter, of Virginia, in a former Lec- ture. She was in a state of entire catalepsy, attended with most brilliant sympathetic clairvoyance. She was enabled to take impressions from other minds, and even from two of her dying friends so as to state the mo- ment of their death. This power of receiving impres- sions she entirely lost on her recovery, as did Miss Nowotny. I moreover stated, that her case was one in about fifty million. From the account given of Miss 202 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. Nowotny's case, it was unquestionably one of a like character. I make this long extract from Reichenhach's work, so that the reader may fairly see and distinctly understand the real condition of things previous to, and during his first experiment. Reichenbach had conceived the idea, that, as the northern light appeared to be noth- ing else but an electrical phenomenon produced through the terrestrial magnetism," that therefore it might be seen streaming from the north and south poles of a strong magnet, as from the north and south poles of the globe. He gives her father instructions how to pro- ceed in the first experiment, and takes his departure. But he leaves Miss Nowotny in full communication with himself, in communication with her father, and in com- munication with the magnet which he had allowed her to handle or touch before he left, and which he himself had handled. Hence they are all in communication. And it is very natural to suppose that he talked the matter all over with the parties before he left, as to what he expected to discover by the experiment. But even admitting it possible that Reichenbach never once hinted to them what result he expected from the exper- iment, yet he left his unexpressed impressions with all his anxiety on the mind of Miss Nowotny. She would feel and read the whole. Indeed, if he had only sent the magnet to her by another person, yet as Reichenbach had handled it, she could have obtained through the LECTURE X. 203 magnet alone a communication with him, and read his mind and feelings in all their naked force. Hence it is not only evident, but positively certain, that she saw those flames issuing from the poles of the magnet through an impression from Reichenbach's mind, and not in reality. Of this there can be no possible doubt, because he proceeds to the experiment to ascertain the existence of his Odic-force streaming from the poles of the magnet, so as to enable him to account for the phe- nomenon of the northern light. After witnessing the force with which Miss Nowotny grasped the magnet, he plainly says : " At the sight of all this, and recalling to mind that the northern light appeared to be nothing else but an electrical phenomenon produced through the terrestrial magnetism, the intimate nature of which is still inex- plicable, in so far that no direct emanation of light from the magnet is known in physics, I came to the IDEA OF MAKING A TRIAL WHETHER A POWER OF VIS- ION SO EXALTED AS THAT OF MlSS NoWOTNY MIGHT NOT PERHAPS PERCEIVE SOME PHENOMENA OF LIGHT ON THE MAGNET IN PERFECT DARKNESS. THE POSSI- BILITY DID NOT APPEAR TO ME SO VERY DISTANT, AND IF IT DID ACTUALLY PRESENT ITSELF, THE KEY TO THE EXPLANATION OF THE AURORA BOREALIS SEEMED IN MY HANDS." With this idea fixed in his mind, to discover the cause, and explain the phenomena of the aurora bore- 204 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. alis, he proceeded to the experiments ; and what is the result ? The result is, that she sees the northern light, and I may say the southern also, streaming from the two poles of the [magnet corresponding with the poles of the globe ! The above experiment and its successful result I admit to be true, as the distinguished author has candidly stated. When the armature wa3 removed she saw the flames of the Odic-force issue from the poles of the magnet ! and when the armature was replaced the flames vanished. How perfectly nat- ural that this was the result of an impression from the operator's mind ! He knew that when the armature was removed the magnetism escaped, and in time the magnet would lose its power. He knew that the ar- mature shut it off, and prevented, in a good measure, its escape, and she took the same impression. And instead of an Odic-force being seen to escape from the poles of the magnet, would it not be a more philosoph- ical conclusion, in case any thing could in reality be seen, that it was the magnetism itself, which we know continually escapes from the poles when the armature is removed ? And what is magnetism but galvanism imprisoned in steel 1 And what are either, but a cer- tain disposition of electricity ? And what is electricity but the original and primal power of matter, and be- yond which there is no other power except the power of mind'? His next witness is Angelica Sturmann, nineteen LECTURE X. 205 years of age, suffering from tubercular affection of the lungs, and long subject to somnambulism in its slighter stages, with attacks of tetanus and cataleptic fits. The author says (page 26) — " The influence of the magnet displayed itself so powerfully in her, after a few experiments, that she far surpassed Miss Nowotny in sensitiveness. She also saw a flame flash over the magnet, the moment the armature was removed, of a white color mingled with red and blue. * * * At the same time I had attained my principal aim ; a confir- mation of Miss Nowotny's statements respecting the luminosity over the magnet was obtained. It had now been seen by a second person suffering from quite a different disease, without any communication from the first." Here again our author errs. Her disease was the same as Miss Nowotny's, with the exception of the complaint on her lungs. They both had cataleptic fits, and tetanus (lock-jaw) is frequently a result of the spasms. He also errs in saying, that these two young women had no communication with each other. Reich- enbach, it appears, never once dreamed that he car- ried about with him that communication from one to the other wherever he went. But in case he did not keep the subjects en rapport with each other, yet the same impression of his own bosom, with but little va- riation, was presented to each of his witnesses, and in it they saw and read the beauty, splendor, and power of his Odic-force ! 206 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. The author says that the third witness was a " lad about eighteen years old, suffering from intermittent spasms, produced by fright and ill-usage. When I approached him with the magnet, he at once spoke of fire and flames appearing before him, which returned every time I removed the armature." But the author states, that the boy was too ignorant to carry on with him any profitable experiment, and therefore leaves him. Page 27. His fourth witness was Miss Maria Maix, twenty-five years old, who also saw this light, but of course through the mind of her operator. His fifth witness (same page) was Miss Barbara Reichel, a true somnambulist, subject also to talking in her sleep and wandering in her dreams. She saw the flames issue more powerfully than any of the witnesses who had preceded her. She even saw them slightly with the armature on the magnet, and very powerfully and beau- tifully with it off. The whole surface of the magnet also appeared in a glow ! His description of this lady's case, and the experiments he performed with her at his own residence, is certainly very interesting. Page 33. Here he introduces his sixth and last witness in the present case. Miss Maria Atzmanns- dorfer (twenty-six years of age) is the name. She has an affection in the head, with spasms and sleep-walking, and is sensitive in a high degree. The author says : " She saw the magnetic poles flame in a most lively manner. She described the luminous appearance as LECTURE X. 207 still larger than Miss Reichel, from the nine-layered horse-shoe, more than twice the height, and gave an exactly similar account of the light, the colors, and mobility of the flame. Like her, she saw the whole magnet luminous, and its entire surface clothed with a delicate light. She makes the sixth witness." He now sums up the testimony, page 84, and remarks : " With the exception of an acquaintance between Miss Maix and Miss Reichel, none of the witnesses had any communication with each other, or did even know one another, but lived leagues apart, and in my innumerable experiments never contradicted one an- other, much less themselves." Here we perceive that the learned author is entirely unacquainted with the nature of clairvoyant communication between different individuals, even though hundreds of miles apart. And even admitting that they had no such communication with each other, yet he is entirely unacquainted with the nature of mental impressions that were communi- cated from his own mind to each of his witnesses, and hence, like Bellerophon, he carries his own indictment and condemns himself. He bears the communication in his own bosom, and condemns his own testimony in the witnesses he has brought forward. On this I offer no more, as I have fully noticed elsewhere the different modes of obtaining communication. We have now before us, in substance, the whole evi- dence in the case. And upon the foundation of th ; 208 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. clairvoyant testimony he builds the whole splendid su- perstructure of his theory. It rests wholly on the existence of his Odic-force. Strike away this founda- tion and the whole superstructure falls. This point now claims our candid consideration. There is one important point in the history of the evidence that claims attention. It is this : As he ad- vances with his experiments from one witness to another, the Odic-force gradually increases to their minds in the power, beauty, and splendor of its appearance, until the subject can see, not only the whole magnet in a glow, and the flame issuing a little even with the arma- ture on, but with the armature removed ; the last wit- ness saw the flames blaze up from the poles of the magnet more than twice as high as the first witness ! Now, on the principle that all this was produced on the minds of the witnesses by an impression from his own mind, how perfectly natural it is to understand and explain the whole ! Before he tried his first experiment, though his confidence was strong that such light might be seen, yet he had some lingering idea that the exper- iment might possibly fail. Still, as the northern and southern lights of the globe were impressed on his mind, and associated with the idea in his imagination that they might flame from the corresponding poles of the magnet, and be seen by the extraordinary power of vision that he was consulting, clearly show the im- pression this would make on the mind of Miss Nowotny. LECTURE X. 209 After the first successful experiment he is elated, and nis confidence is strengthened. Under this excitement the second experiment is performed, and perceived by his subject with increased beauty, and his mind is con- firmed. In this condition he confidently marches up to the third witness with magnet in hand, removes the armature, and the lad complains of fire and flames, but is too ignorant to explain himself. As he passes on in his wonderful career of rapture, with worlds of science opening before him, he becomes more and more con- firmed and positive ; doubt recedes, and his growing enthusiasm is caught by his subjects, and they accord- ingly portray the growing glory and increasing splendor of the Odic-force ! But pause, reader, and remember that the whole of what these witnesses saw was not the Odic-force, but the reflected splendor of what only ex- isted in Von Reichenbach's own brilliant imagination. They saw by an impression the fanciful conceptions of his own mind, and most sincerely believed the whole vision to be real ! If this Odic-force does, indeed, exist inherent in matter, and can be seen issuing in flames of glory from the poles of the magnet, why, then, have not the thou- sands of clairvoyants, somnambulists, and cataleptic persons seen it 1 Magnets without number have been handled and examined by them in light and in dark- ness, but no one has seen a single ray of this brilliant light emanating from them till our author made his 210 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. witnesses see it ! I have experimented upon them with magnets, and even made them pass into the mesmeric state by holding a magnet in their hand, with their eyes fixed upon its poles, but they saw no light. I have uniformly carried a magnet and a complete galvanic apparatus with me for years, when lecturing upon the philosophy of mesmerism — I have experimented with these before thousands, in about all parts of the United States, and also upon the mesmeric and psychological subjects, and yet no one among them has ever seen this Odic-force till our author made his patients see it. I ask again, why is this so, if it exists inherent in mat- ter, and flames from the magnet with such brilliancy before the clairvoyant eye ? If an ignorant boy saw it in an instant when Reichenbach approached him and removed the armature, why then have not other clair- voyants seen it, when I have, hundreds of times, ap- proached them with a strong magnet in hand 1 The only rational answer that can be given to these queries is, because neither myself nor others ever conceived the idea of Odic flames issuing from the poles of a mag- net, and hence no such mental impression was ever communicated to these subjects. Von Reichenbach first conceived the idea, and hence his six witnesses all saw it ! The experimenters in this country and in England have read his book, caught the idea, and many have believed and cherished it. And now all their clairvoyant subjects see it. Somnambulists see it, psy- LECTURE X. 211 cliological subjects see it, and at length Judge Edmonds sees it. The following quotation, page 121, furnishes evidence how far a great and enlightened mind may be led into error when once it diverges from the great highway of reality into those paths where no inductive philosophy can accompany it. He says : " I allowed Miss Reichel to become used to the feeling of my hand, and then went out into the sunshine. After ten minutes had elapsed, during which I had exposed myself on all sides to the sun's rays, I went back and gave her my hand. She was much astonished at the rapid alteration in the great increase of force which she experienced in it, the cause of which was unknown to her. The sunshine had evidently impregnated me in exactly the same way as the magnet had charged the body of a man, and in other experiments my own person. " *•%.'* "After I had given up the experiments with the sun's rays on Miss Maix, the girls of her neighborhood amused them- selves with them. When I revisited her, they told me that the patient had found an iron key, which they had laid in the sunshine, after a short interval magnetic, a nd as strongly as a magnetic rod which they possessed. It did not attract iron, but Miss Maix declared that it acted upon her exactly like a magnet." On page 127 he says : " When I arranged a metallic plate, half a yard square in extent, so that I could at pleasure bring it into the moonshine and shade, con- 212 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED nected a long wire with it, and carried this through the keyhole down the darkened stairs into the hands of Miss Reichel, who remained there, she saw, in every instance, as often as I let the moon's rays fall upon it, a slender flame, scarcely as thick as one's finger, per- fectly straight, to a height often inches, and disappear after a short space, as often as I removed the plate from the moonlight. From the foregoing, it follows that moonlight is not all moonshine." In reply, I have only to say, that his theory will all end at last in moonshine. Here Miss Reichel sees the same Odic-force from moonshine that she saw from the mag- net ! and he further states, that the sensation of the moon's rays produced upon her a gentle warmth, the same as any substance that had been exposed to the sun's rays, and by this course of procedure he finds his Odic-force in every thing throughout nature ! But who is so blind that he can not perceive in all these experi- ments the mere impression of his own mind transmitted by sympathy to the mind of a sensitive and impressible clairvoyant 1 It will be perceived by every candid and unbiased reader, that he has not produced a single scrap of evi- dence to prove the existence of his Odic-force. His supposed testimony is weighed in the balance and found wanting, and it is utterly futile for any man to attempt to sustain Reichenbach's position by such testimony as he has introduced into court. And until he can pro- LECTURE X. 213 duce something in the shape of tangible evidence to prove the existence of his Odic-force, then the argument, as regards his theory built upon it, must stop. And though there is the display of talent, yes, the energy of a powerful mind, which carries along with it the evi- dence of an intimate acquaintance with nature and her operations, yet as his premises are false, so far as re- gards his Odic-force, his conclusions are therefore false, and his whole system tumbles into ruin for want of a foundation upon which to stand. I first read his work about eight months ago, and since then I have tested his positions fairly. And if the arguments I have offered are not sufficient to settle this point, I will now add that I have tested his experi- ments upon two excellent mesmeric clairvoyants, one somnambulist, and five persons in the electro-psycho- logical state. I have made them see the flames issuing from the poles of a magnet, of only one-pound power, as high as the ceiling of a room. I have then changed the scene and made them see two waterspouts stream- ing from its poles to the ceiling ! I have then turned those two waterspouts into two serpents, each ten feet long, touching their heads to the ceiling ! Changing again the scene, I have caused them to see, by an im- pression on their minds, two beautiful rose bushes grow out of the poles of the magnet, and covered with the sweetest roses in full and life-like bloom, and a rain- bow arching from bush to bush. I have made them 214 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. see the Odic-flames, in equal splendor, flash up from a cane in all the beauties of the rainbow 1 I have con- vulsed their hands, arms, and whole bodies, by their simply taking hold of a cane or a pocket-handkerchief, and have rendered, in an instant, the magnet powerless in their hands. And all these experiments not only my friends, but tens of thousands who have heard me lecture, and seen me experiment on both psychological and mesmeric subjects, know that I am able to perform by an impression on their minds. I can show them the moon, when it is on the opposite side of the globe, through the ceiling and roof of the hall, make it appear like an Odic-force globe of light, bring it down into the hall, set the audience on fire, and make the subject hasten to extinguish it ! This I can do upon a psy- chological subject by the impression of a word, and upon a good mesmeric subject by a mental impression, without speaking a word, and yet the whole would be but moonshine, and less than moonshine, for no moon would be there ! I have now given the subject of the spirit-manifesta- tions all that consideration which its growing import- ance demands. And as some of its advocates are inclined to adopt the Odic-force of Von Reichenbach as one of the physical agents employed by spirits to produce them, and as Judge Edmonds has already seen it, and thus lent it the sanction and popularity of his own standing and name, so I have hastily given LECTURE X. 215 this also a brief but candid notice. And I might here remark how much more elevated, noble, and sublime it would be for the believers in the spirit-manifestations to claim the lightnings of heaven — the electro-magnetic power by which the Creator moves this globe and all worlds in immensity ; by which He carries on the mul- tifarious operations of animal and vegetable phenom- ena, and by which He stirs the universe, as the agent by which spirits also operate on and move dead matter. I am aware that I have taken a middle position, ex- posed to a cross-fire from both armies. The skeptics, as regards the spirit-manifestations, on the one hand, will condemn me for advocating and defending the sin- cerity and honesty of its mediums and believers, and these, on the other hand, will condemn me for not be- lieving more. But I have endeavored to do my duty faithfully, and to render honor and justice to whom honor and justice were due, and I cheerfully submit the whole to the tribunal and scrutiny of public opinion. And may God bless all my fellow-men. Note. — Dr. Abercrombie gives the following account of a dream of the Eev. J. Wilkinson, dissenting minister at Weymouth, England, about his mother, and what she at the same hour witnessed. It is given in the Eev. gentleman's own words: 1 One night, soon after I was in bed, I fell asleep, and dreamed I was going to London. I thought it would not be much out of my way to go through Glouces- tershire, and call upon my friends there. Accordingly I set out, but remembered nothing that happened on the way, till I came to my father's house, when I went to the front door, and tried to open it, but found it fast I then went to the back door, which I opened, and went in ; but fir ding all the family were in bed, I went 216 SPIRIT-MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED. across the rooms only, went np stairs, and entered the chamber where my father and mother were in bed. As I went to that side of the bed in which my father lay, I found him asleep, or thought he was so; then I went to the* other side, and just turned the foot of the bed. I found my mother awake, to whom I said these words : ' Mother, I am going a long journey, and I am come to bid you good-bye.' Upon which she answered me in a fright, ' dear son, thou art dead !' With this I awoke, and took no notice of it, more than a common dream, only it appeared to me very perfect, as some dreams will. But in a few days after, as soon as a letter could reach me, I received one by post from my father, upon the receipt of which I was a little surprised, and concluded something extraordinary must have happened, as it was but a little before I had a letter from my friends, and all were well. Upon opening it, I was more surprised still, for my father addressed me as though I was dead, desiring me, if alive, to write immediately ; but if the letter should find me living, they concluded I should not live long, and gave this as the reason of their fears : That on such a night, naming it, after they were in bed, my father asleep, and my mother awake, she heard some one try to open the front door; but finding it fast, he went to the back door, which he opened, came in, and came directly through the rooms up stairs, and she perfectly hnew it to be my step. I came to her bedside, and spoke to her these words : ■ Mother, I am going a long journey, and am come to bid you good-bye.' Upon which she an- swered me in a fright, ' dear son, thou art dead !' which were the very words and circumstances of my dream; but she heard nothing more, and saw nothing; neither did I in my dream, as it was quite dark. Upon this she awoke my father, and told him what had passed ; but he endeavored to appease her, by persuading her it was only a dream ; she insisted it was no dream, for that she was as per- fectly awake as ever she was, and had not the least inclination to sleep since she had been in bed. From these circumstances I am apt to think it was the very same instant when my dream happened, though the distance between us was a hundred miles ; but of this I can not speak positively. This occurred while I was at the academy at Ottery, Devon, in the year 1754, and at this distance of time it is still fresh upon my mind. I have since had frequent opportunities of talking over the affair with my mother, and the whole was as fresh upon her mind as it was upon mine. I have often thought that her sensations as to this matter wero stronger than mine. What some may think strange, I can not remember that any thing remarkable happened hereupon. This is only a plain, simple narrative of a matter of fact." Here is a case as wonderful as can be produced in the whole history of the spirit-manifestations, and yet it was only a dream, the intelligence of which was responded to by a mother in the waking state 100 miles distant. APPENDIX. 217 APPENDIX. It is said that there is something so strange and in- comprehensible in the spirit-manifestations, that it is impossible to account for them without referring the whole to the agency of departed spirits. Future events are foretold — past secret transactions are disclosed — • the thoughts of the heart are read and revealed, and an intelligence displayed beyond that which belongs to the known operations and powers of the human mind, and, therefore, it must be spirits. To show the incon- sistency of such a conclusion, I append the following selections, containing records of events of the most sur- prising character and well authenticated, and which certainly equal, if not surpass, any thing connected with the spirit-manifestations, and yet they belong to certain mysterious operations of the human mind, and not to the influence of departed spirits. Extract from Mr. Wesley^s Works , vol. x., p. 163. " A little before the conclusion of the late war in Flanders, one who came from thence gave us a very 10 218 » APPENDIX. strange relation. I knew not what judgment to form of this, but waited till John Haime should come over, of whose veracity I could no more doubt than of his understanding. The account he gave was this : c Jon- athan Pyrah was a member of our society in Flanders. I knew him some years, and knew him to be a man of unblameable character. One day he was summoned to appear before the board of general officers. One of them said, " What is this which we hear of you? We hear you are turned prophet, and that you foretell the downfall of the bloody house of Bourbon, and the haughty house of Austria. "We should be glad if you were a real prophet, and if your prophecies came true. But what sign do you give to convince us you are so, and that your predictions will come to pass?" He readily answered, " Gentlemen, I give you a sign. To-morrow, at twelve o'clock, you shall have such a storm of thunder and lightning as you never had before since you came into Flanders. I give you a second sign : As little as any of you expect any such thing, as little appearance of it as there is now, you shall have a general engagement with the French within three days. I give you a third sign : I shall be ordered to advance in the first line. If I am a false prophet, I shall be shot dead at the first discharge. But if I am a true prophet, I shall only receive a musket-ballon the calf of my left leg." At twelve, the next day, there Was such thunder and lightning as they never had be- APPENDIX. 219 fore in Flanders. On the third day, contrary to all expectation, was the general battle of Fontenoy. He was ordered to advance in the first line, and at the very first discharge he received a musket-ball in the calf of his left leg.' » Swedenborg's Clairvoyance Independent of Mesmerism. Kant gives a relation concerning Madame Von Marse- ville, and continues thus : " But the following occurrence appears to me to have the greatest weight of proof, and to set the assertion respecting Swedenborg's extraordinary gift out of all possibility of doubt. In the year 1759, when M. de Swedenborg, toward the end of February, on Saturday, at 4 o'clock, p. m., arrived at Gottenburg from Eng- land, Mr. William Costel invited him to his house, together with a party of fifteen persons. About 6 o'clock, M. de Swedenborg went out, and after a short interval, returned to the company quite pale and alarmed. He said that a dangerous fire had just bro- ken out in Stockholm, at the Sudermalm (Gottenburg is about three hundred miles from Stockholm), and that it was spreading very fast. He was restless, and went out often ; he said that the house of one of his friends, whom he named, was already in ashes, and that his own was in danger. At 8 o'clock, after he had been out again, he joyfully exclaimed, ' Thank God ! the 220 APPENDIX. fire is extinguished the third door from my house.' This news occasioned great commotion through, the whole city, and particularly among the company in which he was. It was announced to the Governor the same evening. On the Sunday morning, Swedenborg was sent for by the Governor, who questioned him con- cerning the disaster. Swedenborg described the fire precisely, how it had begun, in what manner it had ceased, and how long it had continued. On the same day, the news was spread through the city, and as the Governor had thought it worthy of attention, the con- sternation was considerably increased ; because many were in trouble on account of their friends and property, which might have been involved in the disaster. u On the Monday evening a messenger arrived at Gottenburg, who was dispatched during the time of the fire. In the letters brought by him, the fire was de- scribed precisely in the manner stated by Swedenborg. On the Tuesday morning, the royal courier arrived at the Governor's with the melancholy intelligence of the fire, of the loss which it had occasioned, and of the houses it had damaged and ruined, not in the least dif- fering from that which Swedenborg had given immedi- ately after it had ceased, for the fire was extinguished at eight o'clock. " What can be brought forward against the authen- ticity of this occurrence ? My friend, who wrote this to me, has not only examined the circumstances of this APPENDIX. 221 extraordinary case at Stockholm, but also about two months ago, at Gottenburg, where he is acquainted with the most respectable houses, and where he could obtain the most authentic and complete information ; as the greatest part of the inhabitants who are still alive were witnesses to the memorable occurrence. u I am, with profound reverence, etc., " Emanuel Kant. " Kcenigsburg, Aug. 10, 1768." Zsckokke's Divination.* " There was, however, no want of agreeable society in my new retirement — either that of some select fam- ilies and individuals in the city, or old friends and acquaintances of the Union, who never forgot me when they passed, or in visits from travelers, allured by the love of wandering into Switzerland, or blown hither by the wind of destiny. I never failed to receive such visitors with all due honor,- having learned from expe- rience how gladly in traveling we make use of such opportunities to fill up vacant moments, in order to acquire information, to enrich the harvest of remem- brance. I, therefore, submitted to my fate with resig- nation. If this kind of virtue became burdensome at times, it was rewarded at others by making the ac- * He is well known as an author, statesman, philosopher, and reformer. 222 APPENDIX. quaintance of remarkable persons, or by tne opportu- nities it yielded for the exercise of a singular kind of prophetic gift which I called my ' inward sight,' but which has ever been enigmatical to me. I am almost afraid to speak of this, not because I am afraid to be thought superstitious, but that I may thereby strength- en such feelings in others. And yet it may be an addi- tion to our stock of soul- experiences, and, therefore, I will confess ! " It is well known that the judgment we not seldom form at the first glance of persons hitherto unknown, is more correct than that which is the result of longer acquaintance. The first impression that through some instinct of the soul attracts or repels us with strangers, is afterward weakened or destroyed by custom, or by different appearances. We speak in such cases of sympathies or antipathies, and perceive these effects frequently among children, to whom experience in hu- man character is wholly wanting. Others are incred- ulous on this point, and have recourse rather to the art of physiognomy. Now for my own case. " It has happened to me, sometimes, on my first meeting with strangers, as I listened silently to their discourse, that their former life, with many trifling cir- cumstances therewith connected, or frequently some particular scene in that life, has passed quite involun- tarily, and, as it were, dream-like, yet perfectly dis- tinct, before me. During this time I usually feel so APPENDIX. 223 entirely absorbed in the contemplation of the stranger life, that, at last, I no longer see clearly the face of the unknown wherein I undesignedly read, nor dis- tinctly hear, the voices of the speakers, which before served, in some measure, as a commentary to the text of their features. For a long time I held such visions as delusions of the fancy, and the more so as they showed me even the dress and motions of the actors, rooms, furniture, and other accessories. By way of jest, I once, in a family circle at Kirchberg, related the secret history of a seamstress who had just left the room and the house. I had never seen her before in my life ; people were astonished and laughed, but were not to be persuaded that I did not previously know the relations of which I spoke, for what I had uttered was the literal truth ; I, on my part, was no less aston- ished that my dream-pictures were confirmed by the reality. I became more attentive to the subject, and when propriety admitted it, I would relate to those whose life thus passed before me the subject of my vision, that I might thereby obtain confirmation or ref- utation of it. It was invariably ratified, not without consternation on their part.* I myself had less con- * u « What demon inspires yon ? Must I again believe in pos- session ?' exclaimed the spirituel Joliann von Riga, when, in the first hour of our acquaintance, I related his past life to him, with the avowed object of learning whether or no I deceived myself. We speculated long on the enigma, but even his penetration could not solve it." 224 APPENDIX. fidence than any one in this mental jugglery. So of- ten as I revealed my visionary gifts to any new person, I regularly expected to hear the answer : ' It was not so.' I felt a secret shudder when my auditors replied that it was true, or when their astonishment betrayed my accuracy before they spoke. Instead of many, I will mention one example, which pre-eminently as- tounded me. One fair day, in the city of Waldshut, I entered an inn (the Vine), in company with two young student-foresters : we were tired with rambling through the woods. We supped with a numerous so- ciety at the table d'hote, where the guests were making very merry with the peculiarities and eccentricities of the Swiss, with Mesmer's magnetism, Lavater's phys- iognomy, etc., etc. One of my companions, whose na- tional pride was wounded by their mockery, begged me to make some reply, particularly to a handsome young man who sat opposite us, and who had al lowed himself extraordinary license. This man's for- mer life was at that moment presented to my mind. I turned to him and asked whether he would answer me candidly if I related to him some of the most secret passages of his life, I knowing as little of him person- ally as he did of me. That would be going a little further, I thought, than Lavater did with his physiog- nomy. He promised, if I were correct in my informa- tion, to admit it frankly. I then related what my vis- ion had shown me and the whole company were made APPENDIX. 225 acquainted with the private history of the young mer- chant ; his school years, his youthful errors, and last- ly, with a fault committed in reference to the strong box of his principal. I described to him the uninhab- ited room with whitened walls, where, to the right of the brown door, on a table, stood a black money-box, etc., etc. A dead silence prevailed during the whole narration, which I alone occasionally interrupted by in- quiring whether I spoke the truth. The startled young man confirmed every particular, and even, what I had scarcely expected, the last mentioned. Touched by his candor, I shook hands with him over the table, and said no more. He asked my name, which I gave him, and we remained together talking till past midnight. He is probably still living ! " I can well explain to myself how a person of lively imagination may form, as in a romance, a correct pic- ture of the actions and passions of another person, of a certain character, under certain circumstances. But whence came those trifling accessories, which nowise conceited me, and in relation to people for the most part indifferent to me, with whom I neither had, nor desired to have, any connection ? Or, was the whole matter a constantly recurring accident ? Or, had my auditor, perhaps, when I related the particulars of his former life, very different views to give of the whole, although in his first surprise, and misled by some re- semblances, he had mistaken them for the same ? 10* 226 APPENDIX. And yet, impelled by this very doubt, I had several times given myself trouble to speak of the most insig- nificant things which my waking dream had revealed to me. I shall not say another word on this singular gift of vision, of which I can not say it was ever of the slightest service ; it manifested itself rarely, quite in- dependently of my will, and several times in refer- ence to persons whom I cared little to look through. Neither am I the only person in possession of this power. On an excursion I once made with two of my sons, I met with an old Tyrolese who carried oranges and lemons about the country, in a house of public en- tertainment, in Lower Hanenstein, one of the passes of the Jura. He fixed his eyes on me for some time, then mingled in the conversation, and said that he knew me, although he knew me not, and went to relate what I had done and striven to do in former times, to the conster- nation of the country people present, and the great ad- miration of my children, who were diverted to find an- other person gifted like their father. How the old lemon merchant came by his knowledge he could explain nei- ther to me nor to himself ; he seemed, nevertheless, to value himself somewhat upon his mysterious wisdom." - — Autobiography of Zschokke, pp. 169-172. The following well-authenticated account is from La Harpe's Posthumous Memoirs, Paris, 1806, vol. i., p. 62 : APPENDIX. 227 " It appears but as yesterday ; yet, nevertheless, it was at the beginning of the year 1788. We were dining with one of our brethren at the Academy — a man of considerable wealth and genius. The compa- ny was numerous and diversified — courtiers, lawyers, academicians, etc. ; and, according to custom, there had been a magnificent dinner. At dessert, the wines of Malvoisin and Constantia added to the gayety of the guests that sort of liberty which is sometimes forgetful of bon ton — we had arrived in the world just at that time when any thing was permitted that would raise a laugh. Chamfort had read to us some- of his impious and libertine tales, and even the great ladies had lis- tened without having recourse to their fans. From this arose a deluge of jests against religion. One quoted a tirade from the Pucelle ; another recalled the philosophic lines of Diderot — ' Et des boyaux du dernier pr^tre, Serrez le cou du dernier roi,' for the sake of applauding them. A third rose, and, holding his glass in his hand, exclaimed, i Yes, gen- tlemen, I AM AS SURE THAT THERE IS NO GoD, AS I am sure that Homer is a fool ;' and, in truth, he was as sure of the one as of the other. The conver- sation became more serious ; much admiration was ex- pressed on the revolution, which Voltaire had effected, and it was agreed that it was his first claim to the rep- utation he enjoyed : he had given the prevailing tone to 228 APPENDIX. his age, and had been read in the ante-chamber as well as in the drawing-room. One of the guests told us, while bursting with laughter, that his hairdresser, while pow- dering his hair, had said to him — ' Do you observe, sir, THAT ALTHOUGH I AM BUT A POOR, MISERABLE BARBER, 1 HAVE NO MORE RELIGION THAN ANY OTHER.' We concluded that the revolution must soon be consummat- ed — that it was indispensable that superstition and fa- naticism should give place to philosoplry, and we be- gan to calculate the probability of the period when this should be, and which of the present company should live to see the reign of reason. The oldest complained that they could scarcely flatter themselves with the hope ; the younger rejoiced that they might entertain this very probable expectation ; and they congratu- lated the Academy especially for having prepared this great work, and for having been the great rallying- point, the center, and the prime mover of the liberty of thought. " One only of the guests had not taken part in all the joyousness of this conversation, and had even gen- tly and cheerfully checked our splendid enthusiasm. This was Cazotte, an amiable and original man, but unhappily infatuated with the reveries of the illumin- ati. He spoke, and with the most serious tone. ' Gentlemen,' said he, c be satisfied ; you will all see this great and sublime revolution, which you so much desire. You know that I am a little inclined to proph^ APPENDIX. 229 esy: I repeat, you will see it.' He was answered by the common rejoinder : ' One need not be a con- juror to see that.' \ Be it so ; but perhaps one must be a little more than a conjuror for what re- mains for me to tell you. Do 3-0 u know what will be the consequence of this revolution — what will be the consequence to ail of you, and what will be the immedi- ate result — the well-established effect — the thoroughly- recognized consequence to all of you who are here pres- ent V c Ah!' said Condorcet, with his insolent and half-suppressed smile, ' let us hear — a philosopher is not sorry to encounter a prophet.' i You, Monsieur de Condorcet, you will yield up your last breath on the floor of a dungeon ; you will die from poison, which you will have taken in order to escape from execution — from poison which the happiness of that time will oblige you to carry about your person.' " At first astonishment was most marked ; but it was soon recollected that the good Cazotte is liable to dreaming, though apparently wide awake, and a hearty laugh is the consequence. ' Monsieur Cazotte, the re- lation which you give us is not so agreeable as your Diable Amoureux' — (a novel of Cazotte's). " ' But what diable has put into your head this pris- on, and this poison, and these executioners 1 What can all these have in common with philosophy and the reign of reason V c This is exactly what I say to you ; it is in the name of philosophy — of humanity — of lib- 230 APPENDIX. erty ; it is under the reign of reason that it will hap- pen to you thus, to end your career ; and it will in- deed be the reign of reason ; for then she will have her temples, and, indeed, at that time, there will be no other temples in France than the temples of reason.' i By my truth,' said Chamfort, with a sarcastic smile, 'you will not be one of the priests of those temples.' c I do not hope it ; but you, Monsieur de Chamfort, who will be one, and most worthy to be so, you will open your veins with twenty-two cuts of a razor, and yet you will not die till some months afterward.' They looked at each other, and laughed again. i You, Monsieur Vicq d'Azir, you will not open your own veins, but you will cause yourself to be bled, six times in one day, during a paroxysm of the gout, in order to make more sure of your end, and you' will die in the night. You, Monsieur de Nicolai, you will die upon the scaffold ; you, M. Bailly, on the scaffold ; you, Monsieur de Malesherbes, on the scaffold.' I Ah ! God be thanked,' exclaimed Roucher, ' it seems that Monsieur has no eye but for the Academy ; . of it he has just made a terrible execution, and I, thank Heaven ' ' You ! you also will die upon the scaffold.' ' Oh, what an admirable guesser,' was ut- tered on all sides ; 4 he has sworn to exterminate us all.' • No, it is not I who have sworn it.' ' But shall we then be conquered by the Turks or the Tartars 1 Yet again .....' ' Not at all ; I have already told APPENDIX. 231 you, you will then be governed only by philosophy — only by reason. They who will thus treat you will be all philosophers — will always have upon their lips the self-same phrases which 3 r ou have been putting forth for the last hour — will repeat all your maxims — -and will quote, as you have done, the verses of Diderot, and from La Pucelle.' They then whispered among themselves. ' You see that he is gone mad ;' for he preserved all this time the most serious and solemn manner. ' Do you not see that he is joking ? and you know that, in the character of his jokes, there is al- ways much of the marvelous.' ' Yes,' replied Cham- fort, ' but his marvelousness is not cheerful ; it savors too much of the gibbet — and when will all this hap- pen V ' Six years will not pass over before all that I have said to you shall be accomplished.' " c Here are some astonishing miracles' (and this time it was I myself who spoke), ( but you have not included me in your list.' ' But you will be there, as an equally extraordinary miracle ; you will then be a Christian.' " Vehement exclamations on all sides. i Ah,' re- plied Chamfort, c I am comforted ; if we shall perish only when La Harpe shall be a Christian, we are im- mortal.' " * As for that,' then observed Madame la Duchesse de Grammont, ' we women, we are happy to be count- ed for nothing in these revolutions : when I say for 232 APPENDIX. nothing, it is not that we do not always mix ourselves up with them a little, but it is a received maxim, that they take no notice of us, and of our sex.' ' Your sex, ladies, will not protect you this time ; and you had far better meddle with nothing, for you will be treated entirely as men, without any difference what- ever.' s Bat what, then, are you really telling us of. Monsieur Cazotte 1 You are preaching to us the end of the world.' ' I know nothing on this subject : but what I do know is, that you, Madame la Duchesse, will be conducted to the scaffold, you and many other ladies with you, in the cart of the executioner, and with your hands tied behind your backs.' 'Ah ! I hope that, in that case, I shall have a carriage hung in black.' 'No, madame ; higher ladies than yourself will go like you in the common car, with their hands tied behind them.' 4 Higher ladies ! what ! the princesses of the blood V ' Still more exalted personages.' Here a sensible emo- tion pervaded the whole company, and the countenance of the host was dark and lowering : they began to feel that the joke was become too serious. Madame de Grammont, in order to dissipate the cloud, took no notice of the reply, and contented herself with saying, in a careless tone : * You see that he will not leave me even a coNFEssoR.' ' No, madame, you will not have one, neither you, nor any one besides. The last victim to whom this favor will be afforded, will be ' He stopped for a moment. c Well ! APPENDIX, 233 T7110 then will be the happy mortal to whom this pre- rogative will be given V ' 'Tis the only one which he will have then retained — and that will be the King of France !' " The master of the house rose hastily, and every one with him. He walked up to M. Cazotte, and ad- dressed him with a tone of deep emotion : ' My dear Monsieur Cazotte, this mournful joke has lasted long enough. You carry it too far — even so far as to der- ogate from the society in which you are, and from your own character.' Cazotte answered not a word, and was preparing to leave, when Madame de Grammont, who always sought to dissipate serious thought, and to restore the lost gayety of the part} r , approached him, saying, ' Monsieur the prophet, who has foretold us of our good fortune, you have told us nothing of your own.' He remained silent for some time, with down- cast eyes. ' Madame, have you ever read the siege of Jerusalem, in Josephus V ' Yes ! who has not read that ! But answer as if I had never read it.' ' Well then, madame, during the siege, a man for seven days in succession went round the ramparts of the city, in sight of the besiegers and besieged, crying unceasingly, with an ominous and thundering voice, Wo to Jeru- salem ! and the seventh time he cried, Wo to Je- rusalem, wo to myself ! — and at that moment an enormous stone, projected from one of the machines of the besieging army, struck him, and destroyed him.' 234 APPENDIX. " And, after this reply, M. Cazotte made his bow and retired." That the above prediction was fulfilled to the letter, history fully corroborates. Perhaps the reader may wish to know the fate of this excellent man, as he pre- dicted that he should perish with those whose fate he pronounced. His end is thus stated : " 'I have also seen the son of M. Cazotte, who as- sured me that his father was gifted, in a most remark- able manner, with a faculty of pre-vision, of which he had numberless proofs ; one of the most remarkable of which was, that on returning home on the day on which his daughter had succeeded in delivering him from the hands of the wretches who were conducting him to the scaffold, instead of partaking the joy of his surrounding family, he declared that in three days he should be again arrested, and that he should then un- dergo his fate ; and in truth he perished on the 25th of September. 1792, at the age of 72.' " A few Passages from the Life of Joan of Arc. " On the 12th of February, 1428, on which the dis- astrous battle of Rouvray-Saint-Denis was fought, Joan said to M. Robert de Baudricourt, Governor of Vau- couleurs, that the king had suffered great losses before Orleans, and would experience further losses unless she were sent to him. The exactitude of this an- nouncement determined Baudricourt to send her. APPENDIX. 235 " The next day, on her departure, many persons asked Joan how she could possibly undertake this jour- ney, since the whole country was overrun with soldiers : she answered, that she should find the way clear. No accident happened to her, nor to those who accompa- nied her, and even very few difficulties during the whole journey, which lasted eleven days, through an enemy's country, at the close of winter, over a distance of one hundred and fifty leagues, and intersected by several deep rivers. " On the 27th of February, when she was about to be presented to the king, a man on horseback who saw her passing, employed some blasphemous expressions. Joan heard him, and, turning her head, said, ' Ha ! dost thou blaspheme the name of God, and yet so near to death.'?' In about an hour afterward this man fell into the water and was drowned. M The following month, Joan informed the doctors who were commissioned to examine her at Poictiers : " 1. That the English would be beaten ; that they would raise the siege of Orleans ; and that this city would be delivered from the said English. " 2. That the king would be consecrated at Rheims. " 3. That the city of Paris would be restored to its loyalty. " 4. That the Duke of Orleans would return from England. " The king, in council, having determined to send 236 APPENDIX. Joan to Orleans, they commissioned her to conduct a convoy of provisions, of which the place stood in the greatest need. It was observed to her that it would be a difficult enterprise, considering its fortifications and the English besiegers, who were strong and pow- erful. ' By the help of my God,' answered she, ' we will put them into Orleans easily, and without any at- tempt to prevent us on the part of the English.' " The generals of Charles VII. not daring to take the route which Joan had pointed out to them, the convoy was obliged to halt at some leagues from Or- leans, from the want of water and from adverse winds. Every body was confounded and in grief, but Joan an- nounced that the wind would soon change, and that the provisions would be easily thrown into the town in spite of the English, all of which was completely verified. " The English retained one of the heralds whom Joan had sent to summon them to surrender — they even wished to burn him alive, and they wrote to the University of Paris to consult upon the subject. Joan assured them that they would do him no harm. " When Joan appeared on the redoubt, called the Boulevard de la Belle-Croix, to summon them to raise the siege, these loaded her with abuse, especially one of the officers, to whom Joan replied, ' that he spoke falsely, and in spite of them all, they would soon de- part, but that he would never see it, and that many of his people would be killed.' In fact, when the fort of APPENDIX. 237 Tournelles was taken, this officer wished to make his escape by the bridge which separated the fort from the suburbs ; but an arch gave way beneath his feet, and he with all his men were drowned. u Having introduced the convoy of provisions and ammunition into Orleans, Joan foretold to the inhab- itants that in five days not an Englishman would re- main before their walls. " On the 6th of May, Joan informed her confessor that on the next day she should be wounded above the bosom, while before the fort at the end of the bridge. And in fact she received a lance between the neck and the shoulder, which passed out nearly half a foot be- hind the neck. " On the morning of the 7th, her host having invited her to partake of some fish which had been brought him, she desired him to keep it till night, because she would then bring him a stranger who would do his part in eating it. She added that after having taken the Tournelles, she would re-pass the bridge — a promise which seemed impossible to any body, but which, nev- ertheless, was fulfilled, like all the other impossibilities. " The irresolution of the king was the greatest pun- ishment to Joan. ' I shall only continue for a year and a very little more,' said she. c I must try to em- ploy that year well.' " The Duchesse d'Alencon was greatly alarmed on seeing her husband at the head of the army, which was 238 APPENDIX. about to enforce the coronation of the king at Rheims. Joan told her to fear nothing — that she would bring him back safe and sound, and in a better condition than he was at that moment. " At the attack of Jargean, the Due d'Alencon was attentively reconnoitring the outworks of the town, when Joan told him to remove from the spot on which he was standing, or that he would be killed by some warlike missile. The duke removed, and almost imme- diately afterward a gentleman of Anjou, by the name of M. de Lade, was struck in the very place which the duke had just left. " The English generals, Talbot, Searles, and Fal- staff, having arrived with four thousand men to the relief of the castle of Beaugenie, in order to raise the siege of that place, Joan predicted that the English would not defend themselves — would be conquered, and that this triumph would be almost bloodless on the part of the royal army, and that there would be very few — not quite to say no one — killed of the French combat- ants. In truth, they lost but one man, and almost all the English were killed or taken. " Joan had told the king not to fear any want of troops for the expedition to Rheims, for that there would be plenty of persons, and many would follow him. In, truth, the army increased visibly from day to day, and numbered twelve thousand men by the end of June, 1429. APPENDIX. 239 u When the army had arrived before Troyes, that city shut its gates, and refused to yield. After five days' waiting, and useless efforts of capitulation, the majority of the council advised to retire to Gien ; but Joan declared that in less than three days she would introduce the king into the city by favor or by force. The chancellor said that they would even wait six days if they could be sure of the truth of her promises. 4 Doubt nothing,* said. she. ' You will be master of the city to-morrow. 9 Immediately preparations were made for the projected assault, which so alarmed the inhab- itants and their garrison that they capitulated next day. M Charles feared that the city of Rheims would op- pose a long resistance to his arms, and that it would be difficult to make himself master of it, because he was deficient in artillery. 6 Have no doubt,' said Joan, ' for the citizens of the town of Rheims will anticipate you. Before you are close to the city, the inhabitants will surrender.' On the 16th of July the principal inhabitants of the city laid its keys at the feet of the king. " During her captivity, Joan made the following predictions on the 1st of March, 1430, in the presence of nfty-nine witnesses, whose names are given faith- fully by M. le Brim de Charmettes : ' Before seven years are past, the English will abandon a larger prize than they have done before Orleans, and will lose every thing in France. 240 APPENDIX. " c They will experience the severest loss they have ever felt in France, and this will be by a great victory which God will bestow upon the French.' " Paris was actually re-taken by the French under the command of the Marshal de Richemont and the Count de Dunois, on the 14th of April, 1436." La Physique Occulte, ou Traite de la Baguette Divi- natoire^ par M. L. L. de Vallemont, M. D., etc. " On the 5th of July, 1692, a dealer in wine, and his wife, residing in Lyons, were murdered in a cellar, for the sake of robbing them of a sum of money kept in a shop hard by, which was at the same time their chamber. All this was executed with such prompti- tude and secrecy that no one had witnessed the crime, and the assassins escaped. u A neighbor, struck with horror at the enormity of the crime, having remembered that he knew a man named Jacques Aymar, a wealthy peasant, who could follow the track of thieves and murderers, induced him to come to L^ons^ and introduced him to the king's at- torney-general. This peasant assured the functionary that if they would lead him to the place where the mur- der was committed, in order that he might receive from it a certain influence, he would assuredly trace the steps of the guilty parties, and would point them out, wherever they were. He added, that for his purpose he should make use of a rod of wood, such as he was APPENDIX. 241 in the habit of using to find springs of water, metals, and hidden treasure. The man was conducted to the cellar where the murders were committed. There he was seized with emotion ; his pulse rose as if he were suffering from a violent fever, and the forked rod which he held in his hands turned rapidly over the two places where the murdered bodies had lain. " Having received the impression, Aymar, guided by his rod, passed through the streets through which the assassins had fled. He entered the courtyard of the archbishop's palace. Arriving at the gate of the Rhone, which was shut, it being night, he could then proceed no farther. The next day he went out of the town by the bridge of the Rhone, and, always guided by the rod, he went to the right along the bank of the river. Three persons, who accompanied him, were witnessess that sometimes he recognized the tracks of three accomplices, and that sometimes he found only two. In this uncertainty he was led by the rod to the house of a gardener, where he was enlightened as to the number of the criminals. For, on his arrival, he maintained that they had touched a table, and that of three bottles which were in the room, they had touched one, over which the rod visibly rotated. In short, two boys of nine and ten years of age, who, fearing their lather's anger, had at first denied the fact, at last ac- knowledged that three men, whom they described, had entered the house, and had drunk the wine which was 11 242 APPENDIX. contained in the bottle indicated by the peasant. As they were assured by the declaration of the children, they did not hesitate to go forward with Aymar half a league lower than the bridge on the bank of the Rhone. All along the bank for this distance the footsteps of the criminals were traced. Then they must have en- tered a boat. Aymar followed in another on their track as clearly by water as by land ; and his boat was made to go through an arch of the bridge of Vienne, which is never used, upon which it was concluded that these wretches had no boatman, since they wandered out of their way. u On the voyage, Aymar went ashore at all the places where the fugitives had landed, went straight to their coverts, and recognized, to the great surprise of the hosts and spectators, the beds on which they had slept, the tables on which they had eaten, and the pots and glasses they had touched. " He arrived at the camp of Sablon, where he was considerably agitated. He believed that in the crowd of soldiers he should find the murderers. Lest the soldiers should ill-treat him, he feared to operate with his rod. He returned to Lyons, whence they made hira go back to the camp of Sablon by water, having him furnished with letters of recommendation. The criminals were no longer to be found there. He followed them to the fair of Beaucaire, in Languedoc, and al- APPENDIX. 243 ways remarked, in his course, the beds, the tables, the seats where they had been. " At Beaucaire the rod conducted him to the gate of a prison, where he was positive one of the wretches would be found. Fourteen of the prisoners were pa- raded before him, and the rod turned on a man with a humped back, who had been sent to prison about one hour before for a petty larceny. The peasant did not hesitate to declare his conviction that the hump-backed man was one of the assassins ; but he continued to search for the others, and found that they had gone toward Nismes. No more was done at that time. They transferred the hump-backed man to Lyons. On the journey he asseverated his innocence ; but find- ing that all the hosts, at whose inns he had lodged, recognized him, he avowed that he had been the ser- vant of two men of Provence, who had engaged him to join them in this foul deed : that these men had com- mitted the murder, and had taken the money, giving him but six crowns and a half from their booty of one hundred and thirty crowns. He corroborated the ac- curacy of the indications of the peasant as to the gar- dener's house, the camp of the Sablon, the fair at Beaucaire, and the other places through which the three had passed, extending over forty-five French leagues. All these things, of course, excited immense interest. At Lyons, many repetitions of the observa- tions respecting the turning of the rod in the cellar 244 APPENDIX. were made in presence of many persons. Monsieur PAbbe Bignon gives his testimony to the truth of the statement of facts, in a letter inserted by Vallemont in his work. There can be no doubt that such statements require very strong corroboration, and here they appa- rently obtain it. Vallemont, quoting the authority of the Royal Society of London, in the second part of the history, seventeenth section, one hundred and twenty- fifth page, says, that in all countries where men are governed by laws, the testimony in a matter of life and death, of only two or three witnesses is required : but is it, then, treating an affair of physics equitably, when the concurrence of sixty or a hundred persons is insuf- ficient 1 It is difficult to define the just boundaries of credulity; but in all these recitals of histories of events there is this general consent, that in those who can make use of the rod, there is always an agitation, a fe- ver, or some sensation which indicates a nervous com- motion ; and the best evidence of the closest investiga- tion goes to the point, that most frequently the rod is of hazel wood. How far these stories tend to the con- clusion that organic tests appear to require the re-agen- cies of organic force is, at present, a matter of specu- lation ; but it is to be hoped that the effort to attract serious attention to this class of facts is not uninterest- ing or unimportant." It is a duty I owe to myself and readers, to state APPENDIX. 245 that the views I have advanced in the first Seven Lec- tures of this book, on the involuntary 'powers and instincts of the hitman mind* are entirely original with me, and have been entertained for several years previous to the appearance of my " Twelve Lectures on the Phi- losophy of Electrical Psychology," published in 1850, in which I first advanced them openly. In proof of this, I publish the following letter, which is the original, draft of one I addressed in 1846 to Professor Bush of this city, whom I regard as one of the first linguists and scholars of the age. I unfortunately permitted an individual to take a copy of this letter in 1848, and hence some of the ideas contained in it appear in a work of which said individual claims to be the author. In self-defense I therefore append the letter as proof that my views of the involuntary powers and instincts of the human mind contained in this work date back to 1846, which was two years before I ever saw said individual. TO GEORGE BUSH, PROFESSOR OF HEBREW IN" NEW YORK UNIVERSITY. " Boston, June 1, 1846. u My dear Sir — At our last interview I promised to let you occasionally hear from me. As a convenient opportunity now offers, I hasten to improve it. Since conversing with you in New York city, and hearing you lecture there, I have had many pleasing as well as serious contemplations on human life, human nature, the mental capacity of man, and his susceptibility of a 246 APPENDIX. ceaseless development in intellectual and moral gran- deur. I am well aware that a finite mind, how high soever it may soar, can, after all, know but little com- pared with the Infinite Mind. You will pardon my making a comparison where, strictly speaking, no com- parison can exist. I merely use the word to express my idea of the greatness and yet the littleness of man. " It is evident, however, that, from the faint glim- merings of infantile reason, man passes on to that in- tellectual strength and greatness when he can take a survey of the planets, the dimensions of the sun, trace the comet in its erratic course, analyze the works of God, and comprehend the vast and complicated opera- tions of the human mind. Delivered from the bondage of corruption, he can approximate to more than angelic purity, and in this moral career of rapture and delight he can soar and soar forever ! Thus his faculties are destined to expand and assume a more holy and glori- ous type without end ! " Such being the wonderful impression of man's na- ture, it is evident that that measure of scientific infor- mation which is now exactly adapted to his mental capacity and condition in this mortal life, could not be suited to his capacity and condition a thousand years to come (were he to live so long on earth), any more than the alphabet, which was once adapted to the infant mind of Newton, could have been suited to his mental capacity and condition as a sage philosopher. As the mind expands in intellectual grandeur, ideas equally expansive and grand must be presented to it, as its natural food, to sustain its mental vigor and accelerate its intellectual growth. True, man's existence here ig APPENDIX. 247 momentary, yet the above argument retains its force, for it is just as applicable to future successive genera- tions, to whom be leaves bis improvements, as it would be to himself, even were he to live a thousand years twice told on earth. " This being the case in relation to his mental con- stitution and nature, is it not, my dear sir, safe as well as natural to adopt the same mode of reasoning in rela- tion to his moral and religious nature ? Has not this, too, received from the hand of God the stamp of that original greatness which is destined to manifest itself by a ceaseless development of moral attainments and powers 1 If so, will not new and successive revelations in relation to the doctrines and teachings of Jesus be necessary, as the moral food of the soul, adapted to its religious and ever-increasing growth and vigor 1 There was unquestionably a revelation made to our first pa- rents adapted to the infancy of our race. There was another made to Noah, and still another to Moses, adapted to the moral science (if I may so speak) of that age. Still greater and ever-increasing light was successively vouchsafed to prophets, adapted to the moral capacity of the world, till the coming of the Just One. Till then, every revelation made religion consist in externals. The internal and spiritual was begun by our Savior, who laid the foundation OF TRUTH SO BROAD AND DEEP, THAT ALL FUTURE GENERATIONS, HOWEVER MUCH INSPIRED, MIGHT BUILD upon it, and he let in upon our world just as much light as it was able to bear. The Apostles enforced his doctrine, built upon the foundation, and advanced the work. Emanuel Swedenhorg pLid his duty, for- 248 APPENDIX. warded the superstructure, threw an increasing degree of spiritual light and truth on the world, made many dark places plain, and advanced and ennobled spiritual worship in the soul. " But after all, is this the greatest height of moral instruction to which the human mind can soar? Has he plucked the immortal laurel from the loftiest cliff? Has he finished the building of God, and laid the top- stone of its glory, so that there is nothing for God's chosen servants of future generations to do ? I think not, and human magnetism warrants the conclusion that Swedenborg is but one link in the bright and end- less chain of divine, revelations. By long experience in this divine magnetic science, I am entirely satisfied that new revelations are to be opened on the world. No two in the magnetic state are alike, and in propor- tion to their moral and religious greatness and grandeur is their power to see and reveal what is merciful, great, and sublime in both physical and moral diseases, and their treatment, and also in what appertains to the fu- ture and immortal condition of man in eternity, as well as his duty and interest in time. 66 Man is certainly a mysterious and wonderful be- ing, and his powers and capabilities are as yet but partially understood. That my meaning may not be misapprehended, permit me, dear sir, to remark that we are well aware that those creatures that are most devoid of reason, have been blessed by their Creator with the greatest share of instinct, to supply their wants and answer the end of their existence. The in- stinctive powers of the bee are wonderful and various, but no more incomprehensible than the propensity of APPENDIX. 249 the duck, when hatched into being, to go to the water. But as sagacity increases, the instinctive powers appear weakened, or in slumber, till we rise in regular grada- tion up to man, the highest link of the living chain, who being blessed with reason, seems devoid of instinct. Still the instinctive powers do exist in man, and un- questionably in a much higher and more perfect degree than in any other creature in being. By instinct, we of course understand an internal propensity which sug- gests the existence of some external object as its grat- ification, and between that propensity and the object there must be an exact aptitude and correspondence. Hence the instinctive propensities must be numerous, in exact ratio to the number of external objects sug- gested by them. Man has, therefore, on this principle, instinctive powers as much more superior, both in num- ber and degree, to any other creatures in existence, as his rank and destiny in the scale of intellectual be- ing are higher than theirs. Fie possesses, therefore, instinctive powers to discover his relation to things earthly and heavenly — to things pertaining to his entire destiny both in time and in eternity. " But in his present existence he is so constituted, that while he is in his natural state of wakefulness he can not exercise these instinctive powers. If he could, then all diseases, accidents, and dangers would not only be foreseen, but avoided by him, and hence the present state, where he is disciplined by sufferings and self-denials for a nobler and more elevated state of be- ing, would be entirely lost ; and hence this disciplinary school, founded by the Creator when he founded the pillars of the universe, and where have been taught 11* 250 APPENDIX. the most sublime, grand, and useful lessons of earth, would be struck out of existence ! But when he is thrown into the spiritual state, then the doors are burst open, the chains are broken asunder, and the impris- oned faculties of his instinctive nature are in a meas- ure set free, and allowed to range both earth and heaven, and manifest their mysterious powers to men in the full exhibition of the most brilliant phenomena that seem to overwhelm the mind with amazement and awe. " This being, in my apprehension, the true position of the case, you will perceive I hold that the magnetic state is nothing more than arousing the instinctive powers of man from their natural slumberings, in the secret chambers of the soul, into wakefulness and sensibility, so as to act in concert with the intellectual powers of the mind. The brain is a congeries of or- gans through which the mind acts, and manifests all its wonderful attributes, and holds communion with external nature. If a certain number of distinct or- gans of the brain are paralyzed and others excited, the result is a view of the immortal world. If, now, some of the excited ones are paralyzed, and some of the par- alyzed ones are excited, the result is a power of fore- seeing future events. And so on through all the vari- ety of powers and phenomena which the human mind is capable of manifesting by an indefinite number of permutations of its organs and attributes. Hence in- spiration is in perfect accordance with the philosophy of mind ; and one may be inspired ' to work miracles, another to prophesy, another to discern spirits, and another to speak with different tongues.' APPENDIX. 251 " It is unquestionably true, that the inspired men of both the Old and New Testaments, embracing prophets and apostles, were not continually inspired. When in- formation was asked of them in relation to any matter, they required time to give the answer. But if they had been continually in the inspired state, this would have been unnecessary, as they could have given the desired information at any instant. When Nebuchad- nezzar commanded all the wise men of Babylon to be slain, because they could not relate to him what he had dreamed, then Daniel went in and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would show him the dream, and also its interpretation. Here time was desired, which proves that Daniel was not then inspired to tell him the dream. By prayer and supplica- tion he is brought to a state where the whole is revealed to him in a night vision. Hence all the powers of in- spiration and prophecy exist in the human mind ; and by communing with God, by fasting, supplication, and prayer, the mind is brought into a condition to arouse the instinctive principles of our nature into action, and from these all the wonders which have been vouchsafed to inspired men, and that the world has ever beheld, have emanated. " Sensible that you are a gentleman of profound and original thought, and whose mind has been disciplined and enriched by education, I have ventured to throw out to you the above ideas, which I have never before expressed in any manner whatever, either in public or private. We live in an age of wonders, and as human magnetism is being reduced to a science, I feel a hes- itancy in expressing my ideas upon this subject till I 252 APPENDIX. shall at least see what Andrew Jackson Davis, the New York clairvoyant, who is -now considered the best in the world, has to say. As he is a young man of high moral and religious attainments, and is at the same time unlettered, we shall certainly have a fair opportunity to ascertain whether he is, or is not, while in the magnetic state, inspired, in the scriptural sense of the word. " In the mean time, may I hope for the pleasure of hearing from you soon, and also of learning how far you differ from my views of the Magnetic State. " I am, with due deference and respect, most sin- cerely, " Yours, " J. B. Dods." I would say to my readers, that there are sev- eral words and sentences in the above letter that I would like to correct, but I give the letter as it stands in the original draft. My views at that time, now about eight years ago, are clearly seen. W 33. Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 4 C> '/ % ■-\ ^ <$>* « y a PreservationTechnologies ^ S * ^S A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION , V/>> 111 Thomson Park Drive A Treatment Date: Nov. 2004 ,0 - ,<\ v , o - o „ <$> Cranberry Township, PA 16066 (724) 779-21 1 .& V