Chapter V: Part 5

340. “Now a certain Doctor André was the first to describe this first exhibition of table turning; therefore they called it his _discovery_. What a discovery!

341. “‘Having formed a chain,’ he says, ‘of seven or eight persons, the _right_ little finger of each touching the _left_ one of his neighbour, the table they surround will commence turning, and continue as long as the chain remains unbroken, and stop when an individual leaves it.’

342. “A general burst of pleasantry and incredulity first accompanied the revelation of the doctor. But soon experiment begins, and laughter gives place to a sort of dejection. Certain savans, professors of the University of Heidelberg, MM. Mittermouer and Zoepfl, M. Molh, brother of the member of the Institute, Eschenmajer, Ennemoser, and Kerner, attest the same facts; and Doctor Lœwe of Vienna undertakes to give the theory of it: ‘This theory consists, according to him, in the opposite polarity of the right and left sides of the human body; hence, having formed a chain of human beings, the contrary poles of which, viz. the right and left, touch each other, and this chain, exerting upon any body whatever a prolonged action, conveys to it an electric current, and converts it into a magnet, and thus polarization is established in that body; and in virtue of its tendency to magnetic orientation, the south pole of the table impressing it with a movement to the north, the latter commences a continued rotation, and turns on its axis as long as the indispensable conditions are continued.’

343. “Unfortunately, the spirits are very soon seen to dispense with these _indispensable conditions_. Thus, then, at Bremen, Vienna, and Berlin, there was not a table at rest on its legs, and still the French press observed a uniform inexplicable silence!

344. “We ask, however, what would have been said, had we foretold what began to appear unavoidable, that in less than a month, table and hat turning would reach Paris. The announcement was scarcely known when it appears that such a thing has always existed; that it is a law of nature; and that tables never had any other destiny!

345. “Again we inquire of all serious minds, What is the faculty by which we predict, among other coming events, the turning of tables, which, nevertheless, do not turn till after the arrival of a _vessel_ and a medium? However, silence becoming impossible, the French press has thought proper to speak. On the 4th of May, the Journal of the Empire, _Le Pays_, happened to inform us that ‘from the Baltic to the banks of the Danube, all Germany was in a fever.’ It became then plainer and plainer that we were going to be infected, and from that time we hastened to prepare our batteries.

346. “It was high time, for about the end of April, the grand mysterious army had this time decidedly crossed the Rhine, and in all the large cities of France—Strasbourg, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Toulouse, &c.—the _turning_ epidemic broke out like a discharge of musketry; and better to impress the mind, it only at first attacked stands, tables, hats, seats, &c., for all these participated in the demonstration.

347. “At Paris especially, in repeating the experiments, they were made a pastime for a soirée. Children were introduced into the circles, without considering whether correlative evil might not be coupled with these mysterious amusements.

348. “It is true they would not allow the smallest Leyden jar to come near them; but what troubles might have resulted from the action of an electricity that could raise tables of eighteen dishes like a feather?

349. “It is true, too, that M. Rouilly, _maître de pension_ at Orleans, undertook to give an answer. In the _Moniteur due Loiret_, he informs us that ‘at his house, even in the middle of the process, a large young man of twenty-six was seized with a violent trembling in all his limbs, and that his left forearm began suddenly to oscillate in a frightful manner, making as many as a thousand movements in a minute; being able, he said, to utter only broken syllables; staggered like an intoxicated man; it was necessary to carry him to bed, and the next day he still felt some nervous trembling.’ M. Rouilly ended in saying ‘that he felt it his duty to report this fact for the benefit of those who may enter into these experiments without knowing their possible serious inconveniences.’ Little attention was paid to this, so much had fashion asserted empire, so much was this pleasure worth its cost.

350. “However, knowing long since all the particulars, we are disposed to ask ourselves, What is going to result from all this? what will the savans say? Will they allow themselves to be carried away by electric appearances? will their philosophy allow them to seek independently of the fluids, which may be imagined to operate, the real agent of such a variety of effects? No; they well know, however, that in the sciences—medicine, for example—every investigation that stops short of phenomena, is of very secondary value; we may be satisfied, for want of better, but still we do not feel ourselves in possession of the truth; we still seek it. Why in this case should we do otherwise? These suppositions were just, but we say without hesitation our fantastic experimenters committed from the first an unpardonable fault, philosophically speaking; that is, not to have taken the least notice of those facts from America which were beginning to sound in their ears from all sides. When we are visited by the plague, yellow fever, or cholera, the first care of the faculty is to have it studied in Egypt, Spain, and Poland. These scourges are investigated even at the place of their birth; we notice their origin, development, and termination. Well! in doing the same in this case, these gentlemen would have seen _as clear as day_ that the _Augsbourg Gazette_ was right in telling them that this _animal magnetizing_ was received direct from America. But what shall we do? we take no pleasure _in looking_ at what we do not want _to see_.

351. “However, this affiliation once well established, well understood, by thoroughly studying the American prodigies, we should very soon have reached the assurance that there, at least, the spirits had exhibited themselves in open day; and there, as they were first concealed in tables or behind _partitions_, we could have seen immediately what might be reserved for us for the future.

352. “But rest assured our French science will not yield; the snare is too gross; French science has no rival in physics and electricity; it only sees in this a _waggish_ electricity, and will never consent to be persuaded that it has slept a hundred years at the side of such truths, or rather at the side of such enormities in physics.

353. “And then iniquity is exhibited to herself at all times. Sir, then what becomes of the _indispensable_ conditions of Dr. André? that is to say: ‘All the effects ceasing on the least interruption of the chain.’

354. “This morning, in a journal of Lorraine, there is a notice of a circle formed in a first story, round a massive table; as long as the circle continued nothing was done; but getting tired they all leave for the street, and a few moments afterward the rebellious table begins to waltz, as if to bid defiance to the party. What a law of physics, what electricity! Behold, on the other hand, cities and countries disinherited! Behold the city of Valence, who laboured all in her power, who followed with angelic patience all the prescriptions of the new science; nothing could produce the phenomena. Is it that at Valence, perchance, the human species has no electricity? Mon Dieu! it has electricity, but it is not of that accidental and local kind, the real kind for the occasion, and which may be therefore denominated _erratic_; as the ancients called those gods that moved about from place to place.

355. “No, Science is not to be so deceived; she is not satisfied with the explanation of the _little fingers_, but soon perceives that these little fingers supply here precisely the part of the famous mesmeric trough, and the chain that was formed entirely round it. Then, also, the chain was said to be very important; and the trough, magnet, steel, glass pile all _necessary_ agents. Very well, what has now become of all these necessities? The magnetic effects exceed all those of that time, and notwithstanding they are not made any use of. Much more! since the _passes_ have ceased to be the fashion, the phenomena have doubled. In Germany, where people go to the bottom of things, they have desired to look into the heart of it. Each master of the magnet—and they are pretty plenty there—has constructed his own trough. That of Walford consists of an _iron_ box, furnished with bottles, iron wire, ground glass, &c. That of Keiser was made of _beech_ without bottles, and filled with water, which did not prevent the effects from being precisely the same in the two cases. Thus it was said: It is magnetism alone which gives them this power, and they magnetized their best. But one lucky day it was thought proper not to magnetize, and the trough lost none of its power! ‘Ah! ah!’ they say, ‘the trough is magnetized by the magnetized patients themselves, and they put a stout man into it, free from all magnetic influence, and besides in excellent health. Well, this time! the magnetic effects exceeded in intensity all the previous experiments, and never had the phenomena exhibited themselves so brilliantly.’

356. “This is the precise account of the famous report of Bailly, of which M. Arago spoke so highly in his last memoir; and in one respect he was right; for these great experimenters did not allow themselves to be caught by any of these electric seductions, and proclaimed physics to be entirely innocent of all the effects they witnessed. But at the same time they thought proper to refer to the _imagination_ these same prodigious effects, which no one could understand even after having seen them; and there was their great mistake; they were right as savans, as philosophers inexcusable.

357. “Moreover, this absurd explanation by imagination he renewed under these circumstances; and that of jugglery is not more fortunate. What prejudice! These two words rendered much service, and covered many retreats! That is, however, passed; it will be necessary hereafter, not only to admit them, but to redeem all analogous precedents, for these are about to be, at last, explained. Again, what is to be done? It will be necessary to proclaim that these electric phenomena which are real as an _effect_, are not in fact real in their _cause_; that they lie when they wish the contrary to be believed, that they joke when they act by turns with and without a chain in a particular town, and not in some other, &c.

358. “But on the other hand to perceive a capricious and lying cause, is almost to perceive ... a mind. A mind, grands dieux! You represent yourself before the whole Academy Arago as recognising spirits, hobgoblins! grand experiment! But that itself is horrid to contemplate! Not a face at the Institute can remain uncovered, and that day will forever be regarded as unlucky for science, as it robs it of a victory which was thought to have been gained centuries before.

359. “Beware, however, of the first _supernal intelligence_! for we shall fall back on our ancient and primitive _criterion_, our infallible _touchstone_.

360. “All depends on what it is going to give us; think well of it this time; an imprudent question might lose all.

361. “And already, what signifies that last phrase of a serious article which we find in the _Courier du Nord_? ‘In another house the table, they say, obeyed the commands of one of the experimenters; took the direction indicated, danced in measure to the sound of a piano, counted the hours, and told the age of the assistants,’ &c.

362. “What means that other letter from Bordeaux, in the _Guyenne_? ‘A hat submitted to _animal magnetism_ appeared _more intelligent_ even than the table; it indicated, they say, by little gambols, _the age_ of persons, the number of pieces of money they had in their pockets, it told the _amount_ of ladies and gentlemen together in the room,’ &c.

363. “What follows is better still: see in the _Journal le Pays_, a letter of M., the Abbé of Moigno, according to which it follows that MM. Seguin and de Montgolfier, very distinguished engineers, ordered the tables to rest on _this_ leg and then on _the other_, and made them beat time, &c.

364. “We read in La Patrie—‘_Explanation given by the savans_.’ Ah! let us see! this subject is becoming important. According to this journal the following is the hypothesis at which the savans have arrived: ‘The table and hat turners _act mostly in good faith_, (quite a concession,) but _they deceive themselves_; they think they cause the motion of an inanimate object by an act of volition, or an effusion of magnetic fluid from their fingers; while it is by muscular action, _imperceptible_ to themselves, or others.’ Ah! take notice! It is by a vibratory movement coming from thousands of small nervous branches. Add to this, lassitude, _humidity of the hands_, and you will have an explanation, if not entirely satisfactory, at least _sufficiently plausible_, of the phenomena which engage our attention. M. Chevreul (of the Institute) has _analyzed_ this physiological predisposition, and has _illustrated_ it by the fact familiar to the billiard player, who having struck the ball, follows it with his eyes, with his shoulders, and with the whole body, and makes fantastic motions, _as if to impel it_, though no longer subject to his direct action, &c.

365. “It is well M. Chevreul has used the phrase ‘_as if to impel it_,’ for had he been so unfortunate as to say, _and in fact he did impel it_, we should have been lost. In truth we should have been silenced. But that lucky ‘_as if_,’ saves us from a very bad predicament; it brings back to our memory what we were about to forget; that is to say, that in the relations of man and matter, never, up to the present time, has all the muscular effort of the world been able to influence, in the smallest degree, the direction of an object, not under its direct action. To the present time all the laws of physics have been based on the grand primordial law, and the player of ten-pins is not more successful from such efforts, than he of the billiard ball just named.

366. “How changed are the times! Two years ago, the whole Academy of Sciences revolted against the Baron de Humboldt for supposing that at a distance he caused a deviation of the magnetic needle—an experiment, too, which could _never_ be renewed at Paris; and, behold! in place of needles, all at once heavy tables are seen _waltzing about the room, and obedient to the will_; and all this is easily explained! It is _quite plausible_! Yes, but this time, gentlemen Savans, we will not allow you to distort the facts. Since the commencement of this volume, we have done nothing but establish, on good evidence, all those which your colleagues arrange agreeably to their fancy, after having absolutely denied them. But now the half of France rises with us to convict them, and to say to you: No, your _nervous branches_ will never explain it; neither the physical phenomena which you would refer to them, nor the intelligence of our tables which respond to our own questions, nor the _super-intelligence_ of those which probably to-morrow will reveal to us what we are ignorant of ourselves.

367. “Attending on the morrow, then! It is truly sorrowful to see a man of the highest merit, like M. Chevreul, expose himself in this way to the weakest scholar who, _cue in hand_, might fairly undertake to answer him. Those may hereafter believe in physics who wish. It is most horribly compromised. A science, capable of thus forswearing all its principles, loses, in our estimation, much of its authority.

368. “_La Revue Medicale_, cited by _La Patrie_ of May 20th, declares in its turn ‘the explanation either by _imagination_ or _muscular vibrations_, as represented by MM. Corvisart and De Castelnan, _entirely nullified_ by the fact of the simple change in the relations of the _little fingers_.’

369. “As for the Medical, they see in it _animal magnetism_, and exclaim: ‘No one is able to foresee the application of which this discovery is susceptible. It is an entire world for explanation. Who knows if there is not at the end of this hint the means of illustrating a whole generation!’

370. “Lucky Magnetism—what a reparation you have a right to demand! what incense will be bestowed on you to-morrow, by those who yesterday so cruelly tore you to pieces! But _La Presse_ and _L’Union Medicale_ may do what they please, no one will hereafter believe them on their word.

371. “A just reward, gentlemen, for things here below. You would not believe and you are not believed now! We read afresh in _La Patrie_ of May 21st, the recital of ‘tables promenading and upsetting _without contact by pure efforts of volition_, or even by a simple magnetic _pass_—a very _superfluous_ precaution of the experimenter.’ Very superfluous, indeed! It could not have been better expressed.

372. “In the presence of such a fact, will the magnetizers still maintain that the magnetic rapport results from the mixture of _the two nervous atmospheres_? The nervous system of tables, (disgueridons,) to use the language of Reichenbach, must be very _sensitive_; and in this new dance _without contact_—what becomes of the explanation by muscular vibration, and especially by _the humidity of the hands_?

373. “We have some very important communications, on the 23d of May, from M. Bonjean, member of the Royal Academy of Savoy, at Chambéry, respecting several experiments made at the academy itself, and establishing the _perfect intelligence_ of the agent in question. M. Bonjean, however, always refers this intelligence to one uniform process. ‘These responses,’ he says, ‘are not, and _cannot be but the reflection of the thoughts_ of the person who causes the phenomena, and the movables _are only able to satisfy_ those questions whose answers are known, without ever being able to supply an answer that is not known.’

374. “The idea that the furniture is unable to _give satisfaction_ is charming! but up to this point it was not understood to be _super-intelligence_. Patience, however, for it is bound to happen!

375. “Besides, M. Bonjean does full justice to the _muscular movements_ of M. Chevreul, by means of that single exception of the table of Strasbourg turning with all its operators, or certain tables at Lyons moved without _immediate contact_. Next, he passes from the physical to the moral question, which, if to be believed, is certainly not very encouraging. ‘Fathers and mothers,’ he exclaims, ‘if you do not desire to develope premature feelings in your daughters, husbands who regard the peace of your wives, _be mistrustful of the magnetic chain_ in general, and of the dancing of tables in particular.’

376. “It will be recollected that in the famous secret report of Bailly on mesmerism, in 1784, exactly the same thing was said. There is under all this, then, we have good reason to apprehend, a uniform unrepented sin.

377. “In a letter of May 24th from M. Seguin, one of our most distinguished engineers, to the Abbé Moigno, who had very ably opposed these experiments in _Le Pays_, M. Seguin says, ‘When I reason dispassionately on the _real and very positive_ results which I have obtained, and seen obtained by others before my eyes, I think myself under the control of an hallucination which causes me to see things differently to what they are, so much does my reason refuse to admit them; but when I repeat my experiments, I find it impossible any longer to resist the force of evidence, when indeed it confounds and upsets all my opinions.

378. “‘_How can you_ expect me to accept your explanation, when a table touched very lightly by the ends of the fingers, presses _against_ my hand and _against_ my legs to such a degree as to repel me and almost break itself? How believe that the person whose hands touch it could impart to it a force equal to such efforts, and _especially when that person_ is myself? Accept, then, freely and with courage, the facts as THEY ARE, the facts well seen and satisfactorily produced by myself, in whom you have, I think, as much confidence as in yourself. The explanation will come hereafter, rest assured. Believe firmly that in these phenomena of _turning tables_ there is something more than you see—a _physical reality_ outside of the imagination and of the faith of those who appear to make them move.’

379. “It is impossible, as we see, to be more positive, or better to defend the _physical_ evidence on the ground of facts. M. Seguin has a thousand times the advantage over his learned antagonist; but let us see if M., the Abbé Moigno, defeated on this ground, will not take his revenge on another.

380. “Referring to a communication made to the academy by one M. Vauquelin, about one of these _enchanted tables_, which in his hands was able to reply to the most mysterious questions, divine the most secret thoughts, &c., M. Meigno exclaims in _Le Cosmos Revue Encyclopédique des Sciences_: ‘This time _it is too strong_; we find ourselves definitively at the mercy of magic, and the moment has come to proclaim it at Rome. Then there is neither magnetism nor electricity; not even the influence of human volition on matter; but supposing the fact to be certain—WHICH IS HARD TO SWALLOW—there must be in it _the intervention of spirits_, or _magic_. Intelligence that can refuse these deductions of common sense, would be DISORDERED intelligence, as useless to dispute with as _with fools_. If you have not been mistaken, if the extraordinary facts which you affirm are true, we ourselves are believers. The intervention of spirits and of magic became the sorrowful but great realities.’

381. “M. Agenor De Gasparin, one of our most sedate philosophers, writes what follows in _La Gazette de France_:—‘I will not insist on this point. The phenomenon of rotation, if alone, would not appear to me entirely satisfactory. I am mistrustful, though not an academician, and, I admit, that it may be possible (at a pinch) that a mechanical impulsion might be communicated. But the rotation only serves to _present_ other phenomena, the explanation of which it is impossible to refer to any kind of muscular action.

382. “‘Each of us, in his turn, gave orders to the table, which it promptly obeyed; and I should succeed with difficulty in explaining to you the strange character of these movements, of blows struck with an exactness, with a solemnity that fairly _frightened us_. “Strike three blows; strike ten blows. Strike with your left foot; with your right foot; with your middle foot. Rise on two of your feet; on only one foot; remain up; prevent those on the side raised from returning the table to the floor.” After each command the table obeyed. It produced movements that no complicity, involuntary or voluntary, could have induced; _for we should have afterward tried in vain to place it on one foot, and keep it there by the pressure of the hands, resisting incontestably the efforts to press it down_.

383. “‘Each one of us gave orders with equal success. Children were obeyed as well as grown persons.

384. “‘Still more: it was agreed that the requests should not be audible, but merely mental, and whispered to a neighbour. Still the table obeyed! _There was in no instance the least error._

385. “‘Each person desired the table to rap the number of years of his age, and it gave our ages as indicated only in our mind, _endeavouring in the most curious manner to hurry when the number was large_. I must own, to my shame, that I was rebuked by it, for having unintentionally diminished my age; the table gave forty-three instead of forty-two, _because_ my wife, with a better memory, had thought of the correct number.

386. “‘Finally, having continued these experiments more than an hour, at which the neighbours and the servants of the farm were present, I felt that it was time to stop. I requested the table to raise; to raise again, _and turn over on my side, which it did_.

“‘Accept, gentlemen, the assurance of my best consideration,
A. DE GASPARIN.’

387. “We stop our citations here; for those who are not content with the testimony we have furnished, emanating as it does from philosophers, or men of serious minds, the same revelations appearing, too, _in all parts of the world_, will not be better satisfied by any thing we could add. A day is coming, however, that will open every mouth. Then from all those parlours so reserved before—from all those cabinets in which experiments had been conducted with _closed doors_, the truth will burst forth in its full power. Then it will be known that some of the most esteemed men of Paris, of the bench, pulpit, and men of letters, have both desired to see and have seen it; have desired to know and have known it. It will be known that the evil _super-intelligence_ has been revealed to them, and that if they have been silent on the subject, or desired to suppress their name, it was only an act of prudence to restrain public opinion.

388. “But on that day what will Science be doing? We can boldly predict: the facts of to-day _which it does admit_, proving to amount to nothing, and the _inadmissible_ facts being admitted, its faith will change, and its language become more modest. Like the ancient Augurs, two savants will not be able to look at each other any more without smiling, and often enough to exclaim: ‘It has been well said, my dear colleague; it has always been foretold, that “HE, WHO IS OUTSIDE OF PURE MATHEMATICS, PRONOUNCES THE WORD IMPOSSIBLE, WANTS PRUDENCE.’”

ARAGO.”

SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN.

_Account of Mr. Robert Owen’s Conversion._

389. “While in doubt upon this subject, I heard of the media in this country, and was casually introduced to Mrs. Hayden, an American medium, without having any intention to ask a question respecting the spirits; my object being to purchase a book which Mrs. Hayden had for sale, written by a valued and most truthful friend of mine in America, Adin Ballou, who has written a plain, practical, common-sense history of this new revelation to the human race.

390. “While conversing with Mrs. Hayden, and while we were both standing before the fire, and talking of our mutual friends, suddenly raps were heard on a table at some distance from us, no one being near to it. I was surprised, and as the raps continued and appeared to indicate a strong desire to attract attention, I asked what was the meaning of the sounds? Mrs. Hayden said they were spirits anxious to communicate with some one, and she would inquire who they were. They replied to her, by the alphabet. that they were friends of mine who were desirous to communicate with me. Mrs. Hayden then gave me the alphabet and pencil, and I found, according to _their own_ statements, that the spirits were those of my mother and father. I tested their truth by various questions, and their answers, all correct, surprised me exceedingly. I have since had twelve séances, some of long continuance, and during which, with one exception, I have had prompt and true answers so far as the past and present, and very rational replies as to the future; but these last have to be tested by time. The exception was my own afterward-discovered error.”

391. From the following quotation, it seems that Mr. Owen has not had any reason to diminish his faith in spiritualism. The manifestations, of which his account is subjoined, are eminently wonderful; yet they are not more so than those which are recorded as having been realized under the influence of the same medium, in this country, or at Koons’s Establishment in Ohio:—

_Letter of Robert Owen to the Yorkshire Spiritual Telegraph._

SEVEN OAKS, April 23, 1855.

392. “_Dear Sir_:—Just now, on my return from London, where, last night, I had been giving a lecture to Mr. Ronge’s party of foreigners and others on Education, I had the pleasure to receive your 2d Number of ‘The Yorkshire Spiritual Telegraph.’ I have hastily glanced over it, and I feel much interest in your proceedings, and wish you all success in the good cause. I say good cause, for it is sure to lead to great ultimate good, and especially will it destroy the many evils arising from sectarianism, and other causes of hatred and ruin between man and nations. I must tell you of what occurred to me last night, after my return from the lecture, about nine o’clock.

393. “A Mr. Hume, a young Scotchman, who went to America to pursue his studies as a medical student, four or five years ago, became a medium, (he is now about twenty years of age,) and soon became a very superior one. He had engaged to accompany the Haydens and Miss Jay. He took his passage and came, but the others, for some cause, postponed their voyage, but may now be daily expected. They arrived on the 22d. I had heard on my arrival in London, from friends on whom I could depend, of the extraordinary results by his mediumship. I made arrangements to visit those friends and Mr. Hume when I finished my lecture, which I did, and found my two friends and Mr. Hume waiting my arrival. On being seated around a regular full-sized card table, there were raps immediately, and because I do not hear very well, the raps increased until they became very loud, but I heard the first raps distinctly. Many spirits were present; some, relatives of my friends, and others, my own relations. My wife and daughters, my son and brother, and also my father and mother, with all of whom I have had frequent delightful intercourse through various mediums. My two friends present are husband and wife; and the first new occurrence to me was, seeing the lady’s silk apron untied by invisible means—a somewhat complicated operation—and taken from her and given to Mr. Hume, opposite to her. It was then conveyed backward and forward, from one to another, and it soon came to me. I held it with much force, but it was drawn from me with greater force, for I was afraid damage would be done to it. Next a flower was taken from the table, conveyed away by invisible means, and brought to me. The flower I kept for being so presented to me. Next I had my handkerchief out; it was taken from my hands, and in an instant thrown from the opposite side of the table, not as it was taken, but made into a large hat, which I also have as a curiosity. Then the spirits came and touched each of us. I was occasionally touched on one knee, then on the other, and afterward on both at once; and then one of them shook hands with me, and I most distinctly felt the fingers of them separately. An accordeon was then placed under the table, and soon the spirit of the daughter of the family played most beautifully several tunes and pieces of music. I asked for one of my favourite Scotch tunes, and it was immediately played. The instrument was then raised by invisible power, and given first to one, then to another; it was thus brought to me. The table was then lifted from the floor; at first, about a foot, and immediately afterward, about three feet.

394. “After this the medium was put into a trance, during which he saw beautiful visions of spirits, and one of them spake through him while in that state sentiments that went to the heart of each of us, giving us advice, invaluable in its import, and in language beautifully and eloquently expressed, and calculated to make the deepest impression on our memories. While reason remains I shall never forget it; and it was given with many encouraging words, to pursue my course in the measures in which I am engaged; to endeavour to introduce the millennium, but also stating the obstacles I should meet, and the great difficulties which were to be overcome.

395. “Much more occurred, very interesting; but the post time expires, and I wish you to have this communication by this mail.

“Yours sincerely, ROBERT OWEN.”

396. I subjoin the following narrative of Mr. Rufus Elmer, of Springfield, Massachusetts, concerning manifestations through Mr. Hume, as corroborating those described by Mr. Owen. Thus, on both sides of the Atlantic, we have evidence of analogous striking results by the same medium:—

_Mr. Hume at Springfield._

397. “Rufus Elmer, Esq., of Springfield, informs us that Mr. Hume spent the nights of March 17th and 18th at his house. On the evening of the 17th, thirteen persons were present, when a series of most extraordinary demonstrations took place. First, two large tables standing together, around which the company were sitting, were lifted from the floor, while all hands were resting upon their tops. Then an accordeon, held under the table in one of Mr. Hume’s hands, (the other being on the table,) with the keys downward, was played in strong tones, three parts being maintained, and any tune performed that was called for—even foreign music. The instrument was also played upon while held in the same manner by each person present,—all hands except the one holding the accordeon being upon the tables in sight. (These manifestations were all made in a room well lighted by gas.) A bell, weighing over a pound, was passed about under the tables, put in the hands of each person, taken away again, passed rapidly from one end of the tables to the other, a distance of eight feet, knocking loudly on the under side as it went; and, finally, the tables having been separated a few inches, and a cloth spread over the aperture, the bell was held up under the cloth, while the company were allowed to feel the hand which held it. Next, the bell was slid out on to one of the tables from beneath the covering, and the hand which grasped it was exposed to the view of all the company—the hands of each being at the same time in full view. To gratify one who sat at so great a distance as not to have a clear view, it was communicated that if all others would for a moment avert their eyes, so as not to concentrate their magnetism so powerfully upon the object, it could be more plainly manifested to this one alone. Acting upon this hint, each person was allowed to look singly at the hand—to the full satisfaction of all. One of those present, mentally requested, unknown to all others, that the hand of her spirit-child might be exhibited to her; and, behold! a child’s hand was presented, while no child in the body was in the room. One of the company was a coloured domestic in the family of Mr. E-—-, and she mentally requested that her mother, who had before purported to communicate to her, if present, would show her hand; when, lo! a black hand appeared! These are but specimens of what occurred during the evening.”

COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD.

_Remarks Introductory to my Spirit Father’s Communication._

398. AGREEABLY to my spirit father’s communication, the manifestations which of late have given birth to Spiritualism, have been the result of a deliberate effort, on the part of the inhabitants of the higher spheres, to break through the partition which has interfered with the attainment, by mortals, of a correct idea of their destiny after death. To carry out this intention, a delegation of advanced spirits has been appointed. Referring to this statement, I inquired how it happened that low spirits were allowed to interfere in the undertaking? The answer was, that the spirits of the lower spheres being more competent to make mechanical movements and loud rappings, their assistance was requisite.

399. Likewise, I inquired why it was deemed expedient to make these manifestations, in the first instance, at Hydesville, near Rochester, through the spirit of a murdered man? The answer to this was, that the spirit of a murdered man would excite more interest, and that a neighbourhood was chosen where spiritual agency would be more readily credited than in more learned or fashionable and conspicuous circles, where the prejudice against supernatural agencies is extremely strong; but that the manifestations had likewise been made at Stratford, in Connecticut, under other circumstances. Nor were these the only places. They had been made elsewhere, without much success in awakening public attention.

400. Thus, it appears that at the outset, the object was to draw attention, and in the next place to induce communications. It will appear from the account of the manifestations at Hydesville and Stratford, that as soon as through an ingenious agreement upon signals rational intercommunication was established, the manifestations became changed in character. The mischievousness displayed, in the primitive derangement of furniture, ceased. This was attributed to the replacement of spirits of inferior grade, by their superiors.

401. Thus this new and glorious light has come up amid dark clouds, as we often see the thunder-gust the harbinger of a bright sky.

402. But still there has been another source of temporary degradation, not arising solely from the spirits, but from the inquirers also. The great motive in the first instance for witnessing spiritual manifestations was the love of the marvellous, or the desire to expose what was deemed jugglery. The mere movements of tables, without any reference to spiritual agency, was the great object of attention. Though I was present where table turning was discussed, if I ever heard the idea of spirits being the cause, it left no impression on my memory, as has already been stated. (134.)

403. But after alphabetical communication commenced, it was performed so slowly, that the replies were often brief, and made with a view to establish identity of the spirits with the individual whom it professes to personate; or to test the existence of a spirit by the replies given to inquirers respecting facts which could not be known to the medium. At the first recognition, the spirit would occupy the time mainly with statements very natural and amiable, but not instructive beyond the degree of confirmation thus afforded of the great fact of such intercourse being possible on the part of friends who have quitted this stage of existence.

404. Communications through spelling and writing media very much fell short of the expectations which the name assumed by the spirit would awaken.

405. As soon as convinced that the phenomena were due to the shades of the dead, I looked with eagerness for some consistent information of their abodes, modes of existence, of the theological doctrines entertained by them, and the actual diversities of their situation consequent to various degrees of moral and intellectual merit.

406. It was with regret that I found in the published accounts, nothing satisfactory, nothing precise, nothing connected. In no publication did I find any satisfactory statements of the location of the spirit world, or of its subdivision into spheres.

407. Urging this deficiency of information upon those spirit friends who seemed to have selected me as an instrument in promulgating the invaluable truths of Spiritualism, I obtained information, as early as May, 1854, respecting the situation of the spiritual spheres, or country of spirits, relatively to the earth; but about the latter part of October my father commenced writing on the subject through a medium of the other sex, but the ideas furnished were too much blended with her own prepossessions, with which her mind was replete. Hence, although many pages had been written, they were rejected, and resort was had to another medium—Mrs. Gourlay. The result thus obtained was afterwards read to the author, at the disk, so as to have every paragraph scrutinized.

408. Under the following head will be found my father’s communication.

_My Spirit Father’s Communication._[10]

409. My son, in communicating with you respecting the destiny of man, I shall endeavour, according to the extent of my capacity and highest perception of truth, to give you a view, as correct and definite as possible, of the all-important subject in question.

410. The spirit world lies between sixty and one hundred and twenty miles from the terrestrial surface; the whole intermediate space, including that immediately over the earth, the habitation of mortals, is divided into seven concentric regions called spheres. The region next the earth, the primary scene of man’s existence, is known as the first or rudimental sphere.

411. The remaining six may be distinguished as the spiritual spheres.

412. The six spiritual spheres are concentric zones, or circles, of exceedingly refined matter, encompassing the earth like belts or girdles. The distance of each from the other is regulated by fixed laws.

413. You will understand, then, they are not shapeless chimeras, or mere projections of the mind, but absolute entities, as much so indeed as the planets of the solar system or the globe on which you now reside. They have latitudes, longitudes, and atmospheres of peculiar vital air, whose soft and balmy undulating currents produce a most pleasurable and invigorating effect. Their surfaces are diversified with an immense variety of the most picturesque landscapes; with lofty mountain ranges, valleys, rivers, lakes, forests, and the internal correspondence of all the higher phenomena of earth. The trees and shrubbery, crowned with exquisitely beautiful foliage and flowers of every colour and variety, send forth their grateful emanations.

414. The physical economy and arrangements of each sphere differs from the other; new and striking scenes of grandeur being presented to us in each, increasing in beauty and sublimity as they ascend.

415. Although the spheres revolve with the earth on a common axis, forming the same angle with the plane of the ecliptic, and move with it about the ponderable sun, they are not dependent on that body for either light or heat, receiving not a perceptible ray from that ponderable source; but receive those dispensations wholly from his internal or spiritual correspondence, (a spiritual sun concentric with the sun of your world,)—from that great central luminary whose native brightness and uninterrupted splendour baffle description.

416. We have no divisions of time, therefore, into days, weeks, months, or years; nor alternations of season, caused by the earth’s annual revolution; those periods being observed with reference only to the affairs of earth.

417. Although we, like you, are constantly progressing toward perfection, our ideas of time and the seasons differ widely from yours; with you it is time—with us, eternity. In the terrestrial sphere, a man’s thoughts, being bounded by time and space, are limited; but with us they are extended in proportion as we get rid of those restrictions and our perceptions of truth become more accurate.

418. As order is a primary object in the spheres, there are of course laws for its preservation. Fundamentally, these proceed through his ministering angels, from the Divine Lawgiver, who commands the angelic hosts of heaven and rules the inhabitants of earth; who employs myriads of ministering angels as the means of intercommunication between their Supreme Master and his creatures throughout the universe.

419. So far as legislation, subordinate or supplementary to that of the Supreme Legislator, is required, the government of the spheres is republican, exercising legislative, judicial, and executive powers. But these functions are not embarrassed by the necessity of codes indited or printed, nor by that of physical coercion. The results of these functions are realized in simultaneous and homogeneous opinions awakened in the minds of the ruling spirits, as truth takes hold of the minds of mathematicians, _pari passu_, as they read the same series of demonstrations. The conclusions in which the chief spirits thus unanimously concur, are by them impressed upon their constituents, who, thus impressed, are constitutionally unable to resist the sentiment which, like a magic spell, operates upon their sense of right, and overrules any rebellious passion.

420. As, in the rudimental sphere, weighing, measurement, or mathematical calculation or demonstration, when performed by competent persons, are rarely disputed, so in the spheres, the decisions of those whose authority is intuitively evident in moral or legal questions, meet with acquiescence. It follows, therefore, that neither imprisonment nor fetters are requisite for the enforcement of moral or legal restrictions.

421. Moreover, it must be evident that in the spheres, wisdom, knowledge, rectitude, and conscientiousness are the real vicegerents of God, the higher spirits acting as his media.

422. We acknowledge no aristocracy but that of mind and merit. In our diplomatic intercourse with our brothers of earth, when affairs of the greatest importance are to be transacted, (the present dispensation, for example,) we intrust them to a delegation of the most advanced spirits—those who are best acquainted with the affairs of the celestial country and of that to which they are accredited.

423. Our laws are meted out in the scale of exact justice, from whose awards there is _no_ appeal. Punishments are but the natural consequences of violated laws; being invariably commensurate with offences, and have reference as well to the reformation of the offender, as to the prevention of future crime.

424. The political economy of the spheres has reference only to wealth, which being unbounded and free as air and light, can of course be appropriated by each and every member of society, according to his or her capacity of reception, the supply being always equal to the demand.

425. Wealth consists, upon earth, of those objects of human luxury or taste, which can only be acquired by means of labour and capital. Other things being equal, the value is generally in proportion to the cost incurred in the production. But in the spheres, such objects existing in profusion, the supply is of course always equal to the demand, though no less necessary than the air which you breathe; like it, they have no marketable value; there is no one who has occasion to buy, all being abundantly supplied from a common inexhaustible stock.

426. Hence it will appear that we have no occasion for gold or silver, which perisheth with the using, but the currency of _moral_ and _intellectual_ worth, coined in the mint of divine love, and assayed by the standards of purity and truth. Our bank, whose charter is eternal, and whose notes are never subject to fluctuations, and always payable on _demand_, is none other than the great bank of heaven, whose capital stock consists of an infinitude of love, mercy, and benevolence, of which our Heavenly Father is president and director, and in which his beloved children, the whole human family, are shareholders.

427. With regard to the social constitutions of the “spheres,” each is divided into six circles, or societies, in which kindred and congenial spirits are united and subsist together, agreeably with the law of affinity.

428. Although the members of each society unite as near as may be on the same plan, agreeing in the most prominent moral and intellectual features; yet it will be found, on careful analysis, that the varieties of character, in each society, are almost infinite; being as numerous as the persons who compose the circle.

429. Each society has teachers from those above, and not unfrequently from the higher spheres, whose province it is to impart to us the knowledge acquired from their instructions and experience, in the different departments of science, and which we in turn transmit to those below. Thus, by receiving and giving knowledge our moral and intellectual faculties are expanded to higher conceptions and more exalted views of the great Creator, whose almighty power is no less displayed in the constitution of spirit worlds, than in that of the countless resplendent orbs of space.

430. We do not, as many persons in the rudimental state imagine, abandon the studies which we commenced on earth, which would presuppose the loss of our reasoning powers, and our consequent inferiority to yourselves; but on the contrary, we go on progressing in knowledge and wisdom, and shall progress throughout the boundless ages of eternity. You being chained down to earth, by the law of gravitation, are comparatively limited in your resources for information; but we having arrived at a higher sphere of thought and action, and having a more extensive field of vision, can soar higher and farther into the wonderful workings of that mysterious Being, who, owing to the infinity of his perfections, must be forever in advance of us, his finite creatures, and to whom, of course, we can bear no relative proportion.

431. Our scientific researches and investigations are extended to all that pertains to the phenomena of universal nature; to all the wonders of the heavens and the earth, and to whatever the mind of man is capable of conceiving: all of which exercise our faculties, and form a considerable part of our enjoyments. The noble and sublime sciences of astronomy, chemistry, and mathematics, engage a considerable portion of our attention, and afford us an inexhaustible subject for study and reflection.

432. Nevertheless, there are millions of spirits who are not yet sufficiently advanced to take any interest in those pursuits; for you will bear in mind that the spheres are but so many departments of a great normal school, for the mental discipline and development of the race, each of which is reached only by the spiral[11] stages of progression,—the earth being the first in the series, and the seventh sphere the last; being preparatory to an entrance into the supernal heaven. You will perceive, then, that we have an unlimited scope for the prosecution of our studies, and that whatever knowledge you fail to acquire in the rudimental state, legitimate thereto, you will have to obtain, in some of the degrees of the spiritual spheres.

433. We do not study those practical arts, which are so essential to the earth life, such as mechanics, &c.; for we do not stand in need of their applications; our studies being wholly of a mental character, we attend to the fundamental principles only. All the more intellectual branches of the arts and sciences are cultivated in a much more perfect manner than that to which we have been accustomed upon earth. The mind being untrammelled by the gross material body, and having its intellectual energies and perceptions improved, we can by intuition, as it were, more clearly and rapidly perceive and understand the principles and truths on which the sciences are based. We can trace the various relations of each subject, so as to understand its connective importance; a knowledge at which mortals arrive only by a long and tedious process.

434. We are not, for good and wise ends, which in due time will be fully explained, permitted to reveal all our knowledge to those below us, as the consequences of such a procedure would be perilous to the happiness of all, and subversive of order.

435. In addition to our studies we have many other sources of intellectual, moral, and heartfelt enjoyment, from which we derive the most ineffable pleasure: one of which is social reunions and convivial meetings; a coming together of dear friends, brothers, sisters, children and parents; where the liveliest emotion and tenderest affections of our nature are excited, and the fondest and most endearing reminiscences are awakened; where spirit meets in unison with spirit, and heart beats responsive to heart.

436. Yet individuals united by the ties of consanguinity are not always linked together, even here, by the golden chain of love and benevolent affection, since it not unfrequently happens that there is much more harmony existing among those who are not members of the same family. Notwithstanding that persons who were intimately acquainted with each other in the natural world, and those who are akin, may be and often are separated, sometimes for long periods, still they do occasionally meet together; those in the higher degrees and spheres passing to the lower, while those in the latter never ascend to the former till fully prepared for such a transition, agreeably to the fixed and unalterable laws of progression. The periods of such separations vary according to the relative gradations of intellectual and moral qualities in each.

437. The peculiar connections and relations of parents and children, brothers and sisters, and all the minor ties of consanguinity, must be forever maintained, although there may be an indefinite interruption to the harmonious play of their affinities.

438. As regards the institution of marriage, I would observe that on earth it is a civil contract, entered into by two persons, male and female, mutually or otherwise, as the case may be, for and during the term of their natural lives, but which is legally annulled on the demise of either party; so that whether or not it be renewed in the spiritual world, is determined by choice, not obligation.