Chapter XVII: Banishment of Popular Superstitions (1)

Seeing the evils of popular superstitions, what course shall we adopt for their banishment? Or, in other words, how shall we best lend a helping hand to hasten the downfall of ignorance, error, and sin?

1. We must deliver ourselves from their domination; for we are all more or less under their influence. When any of the common signs of good or evil fortune appear before us, our thoughts involuntarily recur to the thing supposed to be signified. Sometimes a momentary shudder is communicated to the whole system; unpleasant sensations are often excited; and frequently a depression of spirits is produced. And how can we free ourselves from this thraldom? By the exercise of our reason. A proper use of our reasoning faculties will enable us to accomplish this undertaking. We must endeavor to convince ourselves that all these things are the offspring of ignorance; that they have no foundation in reason, philosophy, or religion; and that they are exceedingly pernicious in their consequences. When fully persuaded of these truths, we must strive to make our feelings coincide with the dictates of our understandings. And this we can effect by persevering self-discipline. Such exertions, with the blessing of Heaven, will eventually deliver us from the inconvenience, vexation, and slavery of popular superstitions. And as such a consummation is most ardently to be desired, we must enter upon the duty with a zeal and earnestness commensurate with its importance.

2. We must also assist our fellow-men in the performance of this great and good work. When we meet with those who believe in ghosts, in signs, enchantments, and divination, we must try to persuade them that no dependence whatever can be placed on any of these vanities--that they are all fictions, absurdities, and abominations. And perhaps, in some cases, if we cannot produce conviction by sober sense and sound argument, we may be justified in resorting to ridicule.

It is a lamentable consideration that so much time should be criminally wasted in many families in explaining tricks, relating and expounding dreams, telling fortunes, and in detailing stories of haunted houses, hobgoblins, and spirits of the supposed uneasy dead. In this way, the evil is cherished, and transmitted from generation to generation. But if we can succeed in giving an opposite direction to conversation; if we can induce people to reason upon these things, and inquire into their origin, causes, and effects, and investigate the evidence on which they are imagined to rest, and adopt rational conclusions, we shall be usefully employed. A course like this would eventually lead to the banishment of popular superstitions, with their baneful effects upon our peace and happiness; especially if we labor to impress upon the minds of others the existence of an all-wise Providence, that controls and governs all things for the highest good of all, calling upon us to place our trust in Him, without whose notice not even a sparrow falleth to the ground.

3. We must likewise attend to the early education of our children. It is during infancy and childhood that our heads are filled with "nursery tales" and marvellous stories. They are told us by those to whose care we are early intrusted, either to frighten us into obedience, to gratify our thirst for the new and wonderful, or to while away a tedious evening. They sink into our confiding hearts, and leave impressions the most pernicious and the most lasting. Could a child be educated without any knowledge of such things, he would never be troubled with their baneful influence. Our duty is therefore plain. In taking the principal care of our children at home, we should not permit them to learn any such things from our own lips; and we should evince, too, by our daily conduct, that they exert no influence on our own feelings, character, or happiness. In intrusting our offspring in early life to the care of other persons, we must charge them, as faithful guardians of the young, to conceal every thing of the kind from their knowledge. And after our children become of sufficient age to associate with others, we must caution them to avoid believing or relating any superstitious tales as they would shun known falsehoods. By persevering in this course, we shall save them from the degrading influence of popular superstitions.

4. We must, moreover, endeavor to increase the means of public education. We generally find that the most enlightened are the most free from superstition; and it therefore follows that a high degree of mental cultivation will effect a general deliverance. And how shall this great object be accomplished? We must reason with them upon the immense value and importance of knowledge. We must show them, by an appeal to facts, that all our civil, social, domestic, and religious blessings depend on the intelligence and virtue of the people. But perhaps many will complain of the scarcity of money and the want of means. If so, we must also show them, by an appeal to incontrovertible facts, that more money is annually wasted, in all our towns, in extravagant living, dress, furniture, and equipage; squandered in shows, amusements, balls, and parties; in gaming, dissipation, public parades, and intoxicating liquors, than is expended for the instruction of the rising generation. No, there is not a lack of funds. Where there is a will there is also a way. The value and importance of the subject is not generally understood; or, if understood, is not properly appreciated. Almost every thing else seems of more consequence than learning and wisdom. Yet this will never answer. The world is growing wiser. Those who will not employ the requisite means must rest contented with comparative ignorance. Let _us_ not be of this unworthy number. If we feel the importance of the change in these respects, let us persevere in our laudable exertions, leaving no objections unanswered, no measures untried, until we succeed in giving our children a high degree of education. And if the Father of spirits shall see fit to prolong our lives to witness the results, we shall look upon the almost universal banishment of popular superstitions.

5. Finally, we must labor for the diffusion of pure and undefiled religion, adhering alone to the teachings of Jesus. We shall then believe in one perfect, all-pervading Spirit, who regulates all the events of this world which are above our control, and that all his various dispensations originate in perfect wisdom and goodness. We shall believe that we have no worse enemies than our own sinful lusts and passions, and that power is given us through faith to conquer these, even in this state of existence. We shall believe that it is as much our duty to be always happy as it is to be always honest and virtuous. We shall have the assurance that our heavenly Father has commissioned no fate nor chance, spectres nor devils, to torment us. And if we live up to this belief, we shall secure a large share of temporal enjoyment, and be prepared for the increased and increasing felicity of the spiritual world. If we produce this state of faith and practice in ourselves and in those around us, we shall have done much for the banishment of popular superstitions and the downfall of ignorance, error, and sin.

PART SECOND.

MIRACLE IN SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

Four gentlemen in Springfield, not long since, publicly attested to a "miracle," performed, as they believed, by spirits, at a "circle" where they were present. It consisted in moving a table, and a number of chairs in the room, and in shocks, resembling distant thunder, or cannon at a distance, causing the persons and the chairs and tables to tremble in such a manner that the effects were both seen and felt, the room being well lighted at the time, and an opportunity afforded for the closest inspection, so that the company unitedly declare that _they know they were not imposed upon nor deceived_.

Now, there is nothing very remarkable in this affair, for all might have been done by the medium himself, by first pathetizing the persons present, as it might be done without their knowledge, and while in that state could be made to see and hear any thing imagined by the operator. We are assured, by one who knows, that it is impossible for those who are fit subjects to be present at a circle without being more or less under the mesmeric influence. And, in such cases, they can be _willed_ to remember or forget what they have seen or heard. We do not consider such persons as competent witnesses in such a case as they have testified to. It may all have been induced, or it may all have been real. And if real, there was no need to refer it to the agency of spirits, since such things have been done without spirits, as in the case of Joe Collins, or others which we shall refer to, in this part of our volume. But here we may be told, that a thousand dollars has been offered to any one who will prove that such things are produced by any other power than that of _spirits_. But the same sum has been offered to any one who will prove that _spirits_ move tables, chairs, and the like, or that _spirits_ produce the noises and other manifestations ascribed to them.

We have heard the case of a person who went to a medium and wished to know if he could be put in communication with his father, who had died several years before. He was answered in the affirmative. But the inquirer desired, as proof that it would actually be the spirit of his father that would be introduced to him, that a pencil and paper should be laid upon a table, and that the spirit of the father should come and write his own name upon the paper, the son feeling assured that, if this were done, he should at once recognize both the name and the writing. Accordingly, the spirit in question came, and did as was desired, and the son declared it to be the real name and handwriting of his father. Now, the philosophy of the case is this: The inquirer was first pathetized, although ignorant of the fact at the time--a thing very common, though not generally understood. Thus the medium became acquainted with the name of the father as it existed in the mind of the son; but did the pencil actually write the name upon the paper? No. It was only made to _appear_ so to the mind of the inquirer. As to the handwriting, the inquirer's mind was directed to a piece of paper, and to look at the writing. Of course, he saw his father's name, and the handwriting, for he could see nothing else for the time being, his mind being impressed with that one idea or object, and closed to every thing else. It was in fact, to him, his father's name and chirography, and no one's else. It could not be otherwise while his mind was under the control of the operator.

We have been told of a lady, who, in a magnetized state, sits at a table and writes down information that is imparted to her, as is said, from the world of spirits. Her hand and pen glide over the paper with astonishing speed and velocity, far more rapid than the most expert penman in a normal state. And what astonishes many is, that she cannot stop writing when she wishes to, and sometimes becomes so exceedingly fatigued as to beg of the spirit or spirits to grant her a little repose from the wearisome task. But the whole matter is easily accounted for, without referring it to the supposed agency of spirits. The lady's arm is first paralyzed--deprived of motion by the will of the medium or operator, so that her own mind or will has not the least control over it. She thus becomes a mere machine, under the will and control of another, whose will directs the movements of the arm and pen, and dictates what is written in answer to inquiries made of things appertaining to the spirit world, just as Miss Martineau declares, in her letters on magnetism, that "the volitions of the mesmerist may actuate the movements of the patient's limbs, and suggest the material of his ideas." Many singular effects are produced upon the minds and feelings of subjects in a sleep-waking state, by Professor Williams, Dr. Cutter, and others, such as being made drunk with water, eating cayenne as sugar, exercising complete control over their mental as well as physical condition.

We have been assured by a pathetist, who is a thorough adept in the profession, that he _can_ and often _has_ put persons in communication _apparently_ with a deceased father, mother, brother, sister, or friend. The individual is first _pathetized_ (another name for mesmerism) by him in a wakeful state, though unconscious, it may be, that he is under such an influence. His mind being in the possession and under the control of the operator, a person is now either actually or mentally (for it makes no difference) presented before him, and he is told of the fact, and asked, _Do you not see your father?_ The idea of _father_ is so presented to the mind, through the organ of _form_, that the organ can take cognizance of none other than the father. The _person_, if an actual person is employed for the occasion, is then shifted or changed for another person; yet the subject perceives no difference, even if changed successively for a dozen others; it is all the same; it is _father_, and no one else, through the whole exhibition. The father speaks, the son recognizes his voice, and they converse together. The subject can be willed to hear any sound, as that of music, artillery, thunder, and the like, though no sounds whatever are in reality made. A niece of ours was operated on in this way, and she was told to look abroad and behold the majestic waves of the ocean, the pageantry of a military procession; and she saw and was delighted with the scenes that were _willed_ to pass before her. Apples were oranges to her, and she sucked their juice with a delightful zest. An apple paring held before her was a beautiful bird, then a squirrel, a rabbit, or whatever the operator _willed_ it to become. The mind of the operator and the subject, in such cases, become as one, and they then hear, see, taste, and feel the same thing at the same moment. Miss Martineau says that, while in a mesmeric state, she saw "things out of other worlds--not the things themselves, but _impressions_ of them." "They come," says she, "from my brain. The influence does not separate soul and body, but it sets the body at rest, while it exalts and elevates the thinking powers."

"A striking incident," says Miss M., "occurred in one of my earliest walks after recovery from a protracted illness. My mesmerist and I had reached a headland nearly half a mile from home, and were resting there, when she proposed to mesmerize me a little--partly to refresh me for our return, and partly to see if any effect would be produced in a new place, and while a fresh breeze was blowing. She merely laid her hand upon my forehead, and in a minute or two the usual appearances came, assuming a strange air of novelty from the scene in which I was. After the blurring of the outlines, which made all objects more dim than the dull gray day had already made them, the phosphoric lights appeared, glorifying every rock and headland, the horizon, and all the vessels in sight. One of the dirtiest and meanest of the steam tugs in the port was passing at the time, and it was all dressed in heavenly radiance--the last object that my imagination would select as an element of a vision. Then, and often before and since, did it occur to me, that if I had been a pious and very ignorant Catholic, I could not have escaped the persuasion that I had seen heavenly visions. Every glorified object before my eyes would have been a revelation; and my mesmerist, with the white halo around her head, and the illumined profile, would have been a saint or an angel."

We know not whether, in this instance, the mesmerist _willed_ her subject to behold things as she did, yet as to the general truth _that the will of the operator can produce in the subject mesmerized those states of mind and body which he wills him or her to experience_, there is abundant evidence. O. S. Fowler, editor of the Phrenological Journal, says he "can bear ample testimony to the fact, as he has seen, experienced, and _induced_ similar states by the thousand." And many others testify to the same effect.

Persons can be made to travel to other countries, and even to other spheres, and come back and tell what they have seen. And as persons vary in the talent of description and observation, in the normal state, so do they vary in a semi-abnormal condition. Some are found to be _better travellers_, and will see more than others, and in spiritual things will differ in their descriptions as they differ in religious creeds and sentiments. Thus a Swedenborg, or a Fishbough, sees a hell in the future state, where sinners suffer the penalty of their earthly sins; while an Ambler, or a Davis, discovers that all men are alike joyful and happy. Mr. Davis has seen fit to caution the public not to believe too quickly or too fully the things excitable persons relate; "because some minds are naturally inclined to exaggerate or enlarge upon every thing which they may feel, see, or hear." The _state_ alluded to is merely _induced_. It is not real.

Persons are frequently made to do what they believe is done by others, as in the case of a son of Dr. Phelps, of Stratford, Connecticut. The boy, on one occasion, was found (with a rope passed under his arms) suspended to the limb of a tree, having been taken, as was supposed, from his bed in the evening by spirits, and thus treated by them. The boy declared that when it was done, he "screamed at the top of his voice;" but it was ascertained that he made no noise at all, for if he had, the domestics, who were in the kitchen when he passed through it, must have heard him, which they did not. We have the testimony of A. J. Davis, himself, that the boy "really supposed that he had called aloud; and so far from having been tied to the tree _by spirits, he had been made unconsciously instrumental in tying himself to the tree_!" "I have heard," says Mr. Davis, "instances of mischief cited, as occurring in Dr. Phelps's house, in evidence of _satanic agency_, which I now discover to have been caused or accomplished by one of the children in sport, sometimes by electrical discharges and magnetic attractions, and sometimes by the almost unpardonable mischievousness of persons unknown to the family. The wanton destruction of property alleged to have taken place on this gentleman's premises is referable, in most cases, to emanations of vital electricity, seeking its equilibrium in the atmosphere. In this manner window panes were broken and furniture injured. In Woodbridge, New York, some few years ago, a young lady was affected with a disease which gave rise to similar phenomena. Mysterious sounds were heard in her presence; window panes were frequently broken in her vicinity; and, in like manner, door panels were burst out, sometimes falling _towards_ her, sometimes _from_ her, and quick, concussive, and very loud sounds were heard under her feet as she ascended a flight of stairs. Ultimately, the mysterious phenomena frightened her into an illness which cured the malady."

"People cannot be too cautious how they receive the doings of those who profess to be in connection with spirits of the other spheres; and to those who wish to inquire into the matter, we would say, Go and hear, but try to keep your wits about you, and not swallow bodily either the preachers or their strange affirmations."--_Horace Greely._

"Under an impression that whatever is communicated by a spirit must, of course, be true, many persons are receiving these communications as the truth of God--as a new revelation from the spirit world. But if these communications are from spirits, we have no proof that they are good spirits. The presumption is, that they are bad spirits--lying spirits. At my house they often accused each other of lying--contradicted at one time what they affirmed at another; inflicted injury upon property in the most wanton manner; and have given conclusive evidence throughout that the discipline of hell, which they profess to have experienced for several years, has not been wholly effectual in improving their characters, and qualifying them for the 'higher spheres' for which many suppose that the discipline after death is a preparation."--_Dr. Phelps._

"Many of the doings of the rapping spirits are too nonsensical and absurd to be believed. They spoil all our notions of the dignity, the _spirituality_, of the spiritual world. That a messenger should come from the spirit land to tell an old woman that her black cat did eat another old woman's white rabbit, is not in accordance with the ideas most people have of the doings and missions of beings in the enjoyment of an immortal state."--_Puritan Recorder._

PERSONS TRAINED BY A LECTURER.

We have been informed, by a certain mesmerizer, that a distinguished lecturer upon magnetism frequently trains persons to enact certain parts in his public exhibitions. He first puts them under mesmeric influence, and while in that state they are instructed to say certain things, or to perform certain acts, which he wishes to exhibit at some subsequent lecture. To this they severally agree, and thus a regular programme, or series of performances, is made out. They are then brought out of the mesmeric state, having been previously willed by the operator to forget all that has passed while in that state. At the next meeting appointed, these persons are present, and are again put into the same state as before, when they immediately perceive, and are ready to perform, the several parts assigned to them. In fact, they are so completely under the will and control of the lecturer, that they _must_ do or say _what he wills them to do or say_, and they cannot help it, neither can they have the least recollection of what has transpired, after being restored to the normal state.

SCENE AT EAST BOSTON.

We were present at a "circle," at the house of a _medium_ in East Boston, on the 30th of April, 1852. Instead of that decorum and seriousness that might be expected while holding intercourse with departed spirits, we were surprised at the levity and sport indulged on the occasion. The spirits were laughed at, and scolded, because they made so many blunders in spelling out names, and were urged and coaxed to do better. A lady, who had buried a friend, was told that the name of the deceased was _Hannah_. But she informed the medium that it was a _brother_ she had buried, and that she had never lost a _sister_. But the medium said it made no difference, as the spirits often gave the name of a sister for a brother, and sometimes a cousin for either, as they were all in the family connection, and all such dwelt together in the Love Circles.

In spelling out the name of any deceased friend, you are presented with a card containing the alphabet, and are required to commence with the letter A, and go through the alphabet some one, two, or three times, touching each letter with a pencil as you pass over it. On touching some particular letter, a rap is given, indicating that it is the first letter of the name of your departed friend. And so of the other letters comprising the name. The spirits often made mistakes in rapping at the wrong letter, and were required to try again till they got the spelling right. We were very particular to observe that the spirit was sure to rap whenever the inquirer stopped or hesitated in passing over any letter. Five or six would be eagerly watching the movement of your hand, and the least possible hesitation upon any one letter was sure to be accompanied with simultaneous raps. And as the inquirer was frequently cautioned to proceed slow, it was natural enough to hesitate on those letters comprising the name as it was spelled in their own mind. In this way the alphabet became an interpreter to the supposed spirits.

We requested that some demonstrations should be given in the art of table lifting, but were told that the gentleman through whose agency the feat is performed was not present this evening. We inquired if it was necessary that any particular gentleman should be present that tables or chairs might be raised, and were told it was, and that the gentleman in question seemed to carry a large amount of electricity in a circle about his person.

We have been informed by another person, who says he has, and often does, raise tables and other articles, by request of others, that he does it by controlling the vital electricity of individuals present at the time. He says he "_steals_" their vital electricity, and appropriates it to his own use, although those from whom he thus takes it are not conscious of the fact. The more persons there are in the room, the larger the amount of electricity obtained, and the greater the effects produced by it. There is nothing as yet performed by those alleged to be in connection with spirits but what he can successfully imitate, such as producing effects upon persons at a distance, imitating the handwriting of absent or deceased persons unknown to him causing persons to write music, poetry, &c., who, in a normal state, are incapable of doing either, as well as many other exploits, at the option or desire of those who are present; inquirers, oftentimes, in such cases, becoming the operators, transferring their own impressions, ideas, sentiments, and knowledge to the acting medium, and yet entirely ignorant of the fact, and astonished at the results produced. The gentleman referred to discards the agency of spirits in these transactions, and declares that the whole is done by the power of his own will in using and controlling the amount of electricity present at the time; thus proving that the mind or spirit in the body has as much power and control over electricity as the mind or spirit has _out_ of, or separate from, the body. And he is of the opinion that if scientific men would investigate the powers of electricity, and the laws by which it is controlled, they would no more think of attributing the phenomena of the times to the agency of _spirits_, than to the Pope of Rome. Many engaged in producing these phenomena are themselves ignorant of the power or means by which they are produced, and therefore attribute them to _spiritual_ agency, which is, in fact, transferring the whole matter to a point beyond human investigation, where no mortal being can possibly explore.

Some seem to think that these modern developments must be the work of spirits, because, amid all the opposition arraigned against them, they still continue to progress, and are becoming more and more wonderful every day. Yet the same argument is as conclusive and convincing in favor of Mormonism, and other foolish and wicked extravagances, as it is in favor of the alleged spiritual manifestations. But while hundreds, and perhaps thousands, are marvelling at the strangeness of these developments, we find that several who have been engaged in them for months or years, and believed them to be emanations from the spirit world, now declare their convictions to the contrary, as will be seen by the following account from the pen of a distinguished writer, Professor Pond, of Maine.

EXTRACT FROM THE PURITAN RECORDER.

"The feats of the ancient jugglers were many of them mere acts of deception. They were known to be such by those who performed them. And the same is true of many who practise the like things now. Their rappings and writings, and other strange performances, are secretly, artfully got up by themselves. I do not say that this is true in all cases; but in some cases we _know_ it is true; because the matter has been fully investigated, and public confession has been made. For example: A young woman, who had been instructed by the Rochester rappers, and practised the art with them for a time, afterwards renounced it, and exposed the delusion to the world. 'All who saw her and heard her,' says my informant, 'were entirely satisfied of the truth of her statements, and that she had revealed the actual method in which the deception was effected and the deluded were blinded. Another young woman in Providence, Almira Beazely, who was noted for her rappings and revelations, and who murdered her brother to accomplish one of her own predictions, confessed, on her trial, that she made the noises herself, and explained the manner in which they were produced. She also confessed to the removal of certain articles in the house which had strangely disappeared, and which she pretended had been _taken away by spirits_. Drs. Lee and Flint, of Buffalo, assisted by two gentlemen by the name of Burr, have very thoroughly investigated the matter, and explained the manner in which the mysterious noises are made. Mr. Burr has himself made the rappings, and made them so loud as to be heard by a congregation of fifteen hundred people.

"These instances are sufficient to prove that the spiritual manifestations of our times, like those of ancient times, are in many instances a sheer deception--a vile trick, palmed off upon a wondering and credulous community, for the sake of money, or for other sinister and selfish ends. If there is any thing more than trick in these spiritual manifestations,--and I am inclined to think that, in some instances, there may be,--I should refer it, as in case of the ancient wizards, to the influence of _occult natural causes_--perhaps electricity, or animal magnetism, or something else, operating upon a nervous system of peculiar sensibility. I incline to this opinion for several reasons.

"In the first place, if the noises and other manifestations were really the work of spirits, why should they not be made through one person, as well as another? Why should not all mediums be alike? Whereas it is confessed that only persons of a peculiar nervous temperament are capable of becoming mediums.

"Again: if the disclosures which are made are really from the spirit world, it might be expected that they would, at least, be _consistent with themselves_. Whereas it is well known that they vary endlessly. In numerous instances, they are directly self-contradictory. 'Some of the communications,' says one who had been a medium, 'were orthodox; others were infidel. Some would acknowledge the truth of the Bible; others would condemn it. Some would be in favor of virtue; others would encourage the grossest crimes.'

"Another man, who had been a noted medium, but who was beginning to get his eyes opened as to the character of the proceedings, told his audience one night, 'Now, any one present ask a series of questions, and I pledge myself that the answer shall be, every time, yes.' Some one in the company asked, 'Is John Thompson alive?' The answer was, 'Yes.' 'Is John Thompson dead?' 'Yes.' 'Does John Thompson live in Vermont?' 'Yes.' 'Does he live in Massachusetts?' 'Yes.' And so the spirits went on contradicting themselves times without number. After this, a like series of questions were answered in the negative, exhibiting the most glaring contradictions, just as the operator pleased.

"But this brings me to another reason for supposing that the answers are not from departed spirits, but rather from the _mind of the operator_, or from _some other mind in communication with his_, under the influence of an electric or magnetic cause. It is an admitted fact that these answers coincide very generally with the opinions or wishes of the medium, or of some one present in consultation with him. I knew a very respectable man, who discovered that he was a medium, and who practised various experiments upon himself. Upon being asked what he thought of it, he replied, 'If the answers are from the spirits, they must be _very silly spirits_; for they always answer just as I wish to have them.' Another medium informs us that he can obtain any answer he pleases, by fixing his mind strongly upon it at the time. Now, does this look as though the answer came from spirits? If the spirits of the dead spoke, they would be likely to speak out independently; to speak just what _they_ thought, and not what those thought with whom they were consulting.

"There is another circumstance to be noted in this connection. When the requisite preparation is made, there is no need of consulting the spirits at all, in order to secure answers. You may consult with the chairs or the table just as well. This experiment was tried, not long since, at Wilmington, Vermont. A Mr. Kellogg was the medium, and he had succeeded in consulting the spirits to the satisfaction of all concerned. At length he remarked that he was about to let the company into an important secret. 'We will interrogate the _table_,' said he, 'and have nothing more to do with spirits.' He did so; and the _table talked and answered, just as the spirits had done before_. At the same time the table was made to stand on one leg, and to move about, as is usual in such cases. This experiment demonstrated, to the satisfaction of all present, that the strange appearances could be produced just as well without the spirits as with them. 'The calling for spirits,' to use the language of my informant, 'is mere garnish and fog, by which the real agency in the case is concealed.'

"On the point now under consideration, viz., the possibly _electric_ character of these manifestations, I am happy to introduce the testimony of Dr. Samuel Taylor, a respectable physician of Petersham, Massachusetts, whose article on the subject may be found in a late number of the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. Dr. Taylor discovered accidentally that he was a medium, and he proceeded to make experiments upon himself. The manifestation, in his case, was not by rapping, but by writing--a much more convenient mode of communicating with the spirit world. On taking his pen, and holding himself in a peculiar attitude, and proposing mentally some question to the spirits, his pen would begin to oscillate in his fingers, and very soon would write out an answer; and this without any voluntary effort of his own. And what is particularly to be noticed is, the pen would always write an answer which accorded with his own opinion or wishes, that is, if he had any wish on the subject. For example: Dr. Taylor inquired of one of the spirits about the different forms of religion. 'I asked which was the best religion, at the same time fixing my mind sternly on the word _Protestant_. My hand immediately wrote _Protestant_. In the same manner, and _by direction of the same spirit_, my hand wrote successively, _Methodist_, _Unitarian_, and I believe one or two others. While in this state,' Dr. Taylor says, '_I felt a sensation like that of a light galvanic current passing through me_. Sometimes it appeared to be a steady thrill, and sometimes it was intermittent, resembling light shocks of electricity.'

"After numerous experiments, Dr. Taylor comes to the conclusion, that the strange phenomena of which he was the subject were not tricks of his own, neither did they come from the spirit world, but were the result of what he calls _detached vitalized electricity_. When this conclusion had been formed in his own mind, it occurred to him that he would put it to the test of the spirits themselves. 'Accordingly I asked them,' says he, 'if this was the work of departed spirits. The answer was, "No." I asked if it was the work of the devil. Again the answer was, "No." I asked if it was the effect of _detached vitalized electricity_. The answer was, "Yes."' So the spirits _confirmed_ the conclusion to which the doctor had come, as they did, in fact, all his conclusions.

"We have the testimony of another medium, of the same import with that of Dr. Taylor. Mr. Benjamin F. Cooley, who had long been a believer and operator in the spiritual rappings, states that his mind is now entirely changed. This change was brought about in consequence of 'a deep and earnest study of the nature, power, and application of electricity, and of the susceptibility of the mind to electrical or psychological changes.' These things, he says, will produce the same mysterious and startling phenomena which have been produced throughout the country, and attributed to the operations of departed spirits. (Mr. Cooley has recently published a work entitled An Exposition of Spiritual Manifestations, to which we would refer the reader.)

"A part of what is done by those who claim to have familiar spirits, may be the result of unknown _natural causes_. This is the most plausible and excusable view which can possibly be taken of these practices; and yet, even in this view, they are frightfully evil. The persons who alone are susceptible to the influence of these natural causes are generally those of a diseased or delicate nervous temperament; and the effect of experimenting upon their nervous system is usually to shatter it the more. They become excitable, fantastic, and often insane. Diseases are engendered, both of body and mind, which lead on to the most fearful consequences. But a short time ago, the papers gave an account of a man in Barre, Massachusetts, who had been much given to the rappings and other spiritual manifestations, who became, in consequence, a raving maniac, threatening the life of his family, and was committed to the Lunatic Asylum at Worcester. Other like instances are occurring frequently, from the same cause. Almira Beazely, the Providence rapper, who murdered her brother in fulfilment of one of her own predictions, was cleared on the ground of her insanity.

"But this is not the only evil of the practices in question, when viewed as the result of natural causes. For the truth is, that, in most cases, they are _not so viewed_ by those who engage in them. _They_ regard them as the work of spirits. They are, therefore, deceived; and those who follow them are deceived. Both suppose they are receiving utterances from the other world, when nothing is uttered but vain fantasies from their own minds and hearts. Such a deception is, manifestly, a hurtful one. It is full of danger to all concerned. To mistake one's own fancies for divine revelation, and feel conscience-bound to obey them as such, is the very essence of _fanaticism_. It is fanaticism in its most frightful form. Under the influence of such an impression, persons may be led to perpetrate the greatest cruelties, and the most horrid crimes, and vainly think that they are doing God service. The wretched man in Barre was led to attempt the life of his family, in obedience to a supposed revelation from the spirit world.

"The practices which have been considered are of heathen origin. They originated with the ancient heathen; they were spread over a greater part of the heathen world; and they continue to pervade and curse it to the present time. Among numerous heathen tribes at the present day, scarcely a calamity occurs--a death, a flood, a fit of sickness, or an instance of death--but some poor creature (and often more than one) is accused and put to death, as being the cause of it. 'The sick man is bewitched: who has bewitched him? His death (if he chance to die) has been brought about by evil spirits: who has sent the spirits upon him?' To get an answer to these questions, some old hag or conjurer is consulted; the cause of the mischief is quickly discovered, and an innocent person is put to death. Probably hundreds die every year after this manner, among the heathen, _even in this nineteenth century_! And the case would soon be no better among ourselves, if we were to go, extensively and _confidently_, into the practice of consulting with familiar spirits. The spirits would unravel all mysteries for us; they would reveal all secrets; and not a man, woman, or child would long be safe from their malicious accusations.

"Something more than a year ago, the Lunatic Asylum in Maine took fire, and a portion of its inmates were smothered and consumed. And there are hundreds of persons now in the state, who affirm that the building was set on fire by the keepers, with a view to cover up and conceal their own wickedness. These persons _know_ it was so; they have not the shadow of a doubt on the subject. Why? Not that they have a particle of evidence to this effect from our world, but because the spirits have so informed them. Now, let these utterances become common, and be commonly received, and in three months' time those keepers might every one of them be dragged to the gallows, or the stake, while they were as innocent of the charge laid against them as a child unborn.

"I refer to this instance just to show the sin, the evil, the exceeding peril, of indulging in those practices which have been exposed. Let all those who read these things, then, beware of them and shun them. If any of us are capable of becoming _mediums_, as they are called, we had better not know it; or, if we know it, we had better refrain from all experiments. To tamper with such a power is to tamper with an already shattered nervous system, the only effect of which will be to shatter it the more.

"There is nothing more striking than the difference between those representations of the future world which are made known in the Bible, and which we know are true, and those which are put forth by the revealers of our own times. The former are solemn, exciting, impressive, some of them awfully so, others gloriously. While the latter, as Professor Stowe says, are 'so uniformly and monotonously silly, that we are compelled to think, if these are really the spirits of the dead, in dying they must have lost what little of common sense they ever possessed. If these are actual specimens of the spiritual world, then this world, hard and imperfect as it is, is altogether the most respectable part of God's creation.'

"In the Bible, we have frequent accounts of persons who were raised from the dead--who actually returned from the spirit world to this. But they returned uniformly with sealed lips. In not a single instance did they make any disclosures. But our modern revealers pursue a very different course. They practise no reserve. They go into the minutest particulars,--sometimes into the most disgusting details,--and publish, as one expresses it, 'a penny magazine of the spiritual world.'"

In the language of the Puritan Recorder, "The worst of the evil is the soul-hardening familiarity they produce with the most awful subjects ever offered for human contemplation. We know of nothing in human experience so fatally destructive of all that reverence for the spiritual, that awe of the unseen, that tender emotion, as well as solemn interest, which connect themselves with the idea of the other life. Who, that has a Christian heart, would not prefer the silence of the grave to the thought of the dear departed one in the midst of such imaginings, and such scenic associations as are usually connected with the performances of the spirit rappers? 'They are not dead, but _sleep_.' 'They enter into _peace_,' says the prophet. And then the precious and consoling addition--'They sleep in Jesus;' meaning, beyond all doubt, a state of rest, of calmness, of security, of undisturbed and beatific vision--far removed from all resemblance to this bustling life--a state in all respects the opposite of that which fancy pictures as belonging to the scenes presented in the manifestations of spiritual rappings, and spiritual table liftings and all those spiritual pantomimes, which seem to be becoming more and more extravagant and grotesque in proportion to the infidel credulity with which they are received."

Should any think, by reading what we have offered upon this subject in the preceding pages, that we have imputed guilt and deception to mediums, who are believed to be, many of them, above such trickery, we would merely refer such to page 29 of the Reply of Veriphilos Credens to the communications supposed to have been written by Dr. Enoch Pond, professor in the Bangor Seminary, as published in the columns of the Puritan Recorder. The reviewer says, "To suppose that mediums could practise deception on men of shrewdness and caution implies a greater credulity than does a faith in the most startling of their performances." "There is not the slightest degree of evidence," says this writer, "that such a case has ever occurred;" and yet on the selfsame page he says, "_There is no doubt that some mediums, when the sounds and motions have failed to come in the usual mysterious way, have counterfeited them by some sly motions of their feet and hands. I have seen such things done, in some instances!_"

The same author says, page 63, "I have not attempted to justify any reliance on disclosures made to us in the way of rappings. I think it _altogether_ unsafe to do so, for the declaration has already come to us, from what purports to be the spirits themselves, that _all these manifestations are of a low order_, and are produced by the _lowest grade of spirits_."

As to the plea that "spirits _must_ make the sounds," to account for the _intelligence_ communicated, it being impossible for mere "_electricity_ to originate facts," we reply by affirming that there is no intelligence given beyond a certain limit; i.e., the mind of some one or ones in connection, either present or absent, for it makes no difference. For available purposes, a person a thousand or ten thousand miles distant may yield all the amount of intelligence required in a given case. Distance is no obstacle whatever. Electricity counts neither time nor space. For instance, the transmission of electricity through a conducting substance is instantaneous. A wire, or other conductor, may have motion communicated to its whole length at the same moment, whatever that length may be; and it is stated that an electro-magnetic impulse may be transmitted at the rate of one hundred and eighty thousand miles in a second, thus outstripping the sun in its march!

A large number of intelligent individuals, who, for a year or two past, have instituted a series of experiments upon this matter of "intelligence," have found that in no case has information been imparted beyond what existed in their own minds or that of some kindred or friend. Finding this to be the case, they have wisely come to the conclusion that spirits have never originated a solitary idea; that is, _disembodied spirits_; and as to the spirit within a man, in his corporeal state, why cannot it command as much influence over vital electricity as in its disembodied existence? Since both parties claim to perform by the same agent, and both claim this agent to be that of _vital electricity_, we have also come to the same conclusion, with a host of others, that the "calling for spirits is mere garnish and fog, by which the real agency in the case is concealed."

EXTRACT FROM THE HOME JOURNAL.

"A considerable heap of books, pamphlets, and periodicals, some against, but most of them for, the 'spiritual phenomena,' has been accumulating upon our table, and now looms up large before us, demanding notice. That departed spirits have any thing to do with them is an explanation that we have never been able to accept for one moment. We should as soon think of asserting that an apple, rolling suddenly at our feet, must necessarily have fallen out of heaven, because we could not see the tree it had blown from. To bring such an astounding theory to explain such trivial phenomena is like sending a frigate to pick up a champagne bottle that might be floating down the bay.

"By some of the works before us we are informed, among many other things, that in the other world every man has his name upon his front door; that Swedenborg is a great man, delivers lectures, and _has a street named after him_; that in heaven parties, concerts, and _converzationes_ are frequent; that at some of the concerts, star singers of great celebrity perform, attracting inconceivable multitudes of spirits to hear them; that children take lessons in French and Italian every morning; that the space allotted to some of the spirits is as large as New York; that the 'seventh sphere' (the highest heaven) is about five thousand miles from the earth; that the beds are of roses, and when the spirits recline upon them, the birds sing joyfully around, and mingle their music with the perfume of the flowers; that the celestials (not the Chinese) wear white robes, edged with pink; that a man generally attends his own funeral; that spirits, on their arrival in heaven, are set to studying geology, chemistry, and other dull subjects, which they soon begin to like, and say their daily lessons with an excellent grace; that parchment is in extensive use; that spirits are allowed to visit 'earth' once a day only, and have the privilege of staying one hour; that they have books, rings, newspapers, robin redbreasts, fruit, lakes, streams, diamonds, and drawing masters in the next world. 'Dora's dress,' says one of the revelations, 'was of blue satin, with a white sash; half sleeves, full; a pink velvet ribbon round her throat, fastened by a cameo. Her hair was in curls each side of her face, and fastened in a knot behind.' Dora, be it observed, is a departed _spirit_.

"If it could be shown that all these things were really revealed, as they are said to be, we should still think them unworthy of notice. The greater part of the 'supernal theology' is utterly frivolous; and whether frivolous or not, it bears very plainly the impress of the medium's own mind, or of the unknown desires of those by whom he is surrounded. If we were called upon to minister to a mind diseased, or to find pabulum for a soul hungering after moral excellence, we should as soon think of offering a copy of the Arabian Nights' Entertainments as a book of the 'supernal theology.' For the practical guidance of life, there is more help in any two maxims of the Sermon on the Mount, than in the whole literature of supernaturalism.

"The manifestation mania would have died away long since but for one unfortunate circumstance. We have in our land a large number of men who may be termed semi-clergymen, or, as they are frequently called, 'outsiders,' or 'come-outers.' These are they who, either because they know too much or because they know too little, or from superfluity of naughtiness or redundancy of virtue, find it difficult to obtain a 'settlement.' These are the men who foster delusions; who, because they cannot find a way to _serve_ the public, are reduced to _prey_ upon it. They embrace the new light--whatever it may be--with a degree of sincerity, and commit themselves to it; then they push it, stimulate it, make a business of it, and live by it. O the multitude of spiritual delusions that in every age of the world have originated and derived their strength solely from the fact that the bodily necessities of certain individuals depended upon their perpetuity! That, at this moment, there are men most diligently engaged in the new spiritual line, for the purpose of securing by it a reprieve from starvation, (or work,) is a fact which we do not merely believe, but _know_."

FORETELLING FUTURE EVENTS.