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MODERN SPIRITUALISM

MODERN
SPIRITUALISM

A HISTORY AND A CRITICISM

BY

FRANK ^DMORE

AUTHOK OP "studies IN PSTCHICAI. RBSBABCH," BTC.

IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. I.

LONDON: METHUEN & CO.
NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

1902^

Tf'-. . •

res. .l^'••^ f'iD j

AS res.

TlLPr
R

I.'

PREFACE

MY chief amongst many and weighty obligations for
help and counsel given is to Mrs. Henry Sidgwick,
who kindly placed at my disposal the material col-
lected for her article in the Encyclopedia Britannica on
•* Spiritualism." At a later stage Mrs. Sidgwick read a great
part of the following pages in typescript, and gave me many
valuable suggestions. To the late Henry Sidgwick I am
indebted for some wise counsel in the writing of the earlier
part of this work ; that I could not submit to his clear judg-
^[ ment some of the delicate questions dealt with in the last

Book I r^ard as an irremediable loss.
'^ To Dr. R. Hodgson also I owe much. Alike by natural
endowment and by his unrivalled experience, Dr. Hodgson is
^ probably better qualified than any living person to deal
J critically with the history of Spiritualism ; nor did I venture
to set about the present work until I had ascertained that
f^ he was not prepared to undertake the task himself. I had
^ hoped, however, that he would have been able to contribute
to the book his own version of his investigations in slate-
writing, and an account of the Eusapia stances, with his own
jt, criticisms. Pressure of other work prevented the fulfilment
^ of this scheme ; but my own account of these matters is based,
--^ as the reader will see, almost exclusively on Dr. Hodgson's
rj writings, supplemented by his criticisms and suggestions on

the completed chapters.

y Not to Dr. Hodgson alone, but also to the late Frederic

\ Myers, I, in common with all others who are engaged on the

O investigation of these obscure and widely neglected problems,

am indebted not only for much of the material used, but for

^ the means of using it.

\

f

//-f

vi PREFACE

I have ventured to dissent from some of the conclusions
formed by these writers, each of whom can claim a wider
experience and a more intimate first-hand knowledge of
some, and not the least important, aspects of the case. In
the very act of combating their views I am forced to rely
upon weapons which they have helped to forge. I gladly
acknowledge the debt.

To other colleagues and friends who have helped me in
various ways I tender my cordial thanks ; and especially
to Mr. Dawson Rogers and the Council of the London
Spiritualist Alliance, who have placed unreservedly at my
disposal the valuable collection of books included in their
library. I am the more sensible of my obligations in this
particular instance, seeing that the Council cannot but have
been aware that my views differed widely from their own. Fas
est et ab hoste doceri. I have tried to profit by the example
of tolerance and fair play set by my adversaries in the
argument i - / t F- P-

July, 1902.

1

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

PAGE

Nature and scope of the inqnixv — Relation of Spiritualism to previous
mystical belies, especially to the belief in Animu Magnetism . xi

BOOK I
THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

CHAPTER I

POSSESSION AND WITCHCRAFT

Speaking with tongues — The devils of Loudun — The Tremblers of the
Cevennes — The Irvingites— Crystal gazing and divination — Dr. Dee and
Kelly — The primitive language — Esurliest belief in disembodied human
sjnrits — Sweaenbore and his revelations — Witchcraft: analysis of the
evidence— (a) Conressions — Antoinette Bourignon — The outbreak at
Moira— (3) Lycanthropv and apparitions — (c) Witchmarks — (d) The
suffering of the 'witches' victims — Prominent part played in the
accusations by children — Mistress Faith Corbet, Abigail Williams, Mary
Longdon, and others — Hysterical fits, attended by vomiting of nails,
throwing of stones, etc. . . . ... 3

CHAPTER II

ON POLTERGEISTS

Further cases of stone-throwing and other physical manifestations persisting
after the decay of the beliefin witchcraft — ^The Drummer of Tedworth —
The Castle of Slawensik — Bealings Bells — Mary Jobson — The ghost in
the Wesley household (the Epworth case) — Detailed comparison of the
contemporary and later evidence, and Uie first-hand and second-hand
evidence, as exemplified in the Wesley case — Inference that the evidence
in such cases, being generally second-hand or remote in date, is for the
most part untrustworthy — Angelique Cottin . . . . 25

CHAPTER III
THE SYMPATHETIC SYSTEM

Paracelsus, Maxwell, and Fludd — Analysis of their views of Magnetism —
Action at a distance — The Spipathetic System essentially scientific —
Contrast with spiritualistic behef, as exemplified by Valentine Greatrakes

A 2

viii CONTENTS

CHAPTER IV
MBSMER AND HIS DISCIPLES

PAGB

Mesmer — His views — His career — The first French Commission on Animal
Magnetism — De Jossien's Minority Report — Puys^ur and his views —
Tardy de Montravel— General belief in radiating fltuds—P^^n and his
experiments in clairvoyance — Deleuze . ^ . . • 5'

CHAPTER V
THE SECOND FRENCH COMMISSION

Bertrand — His belief in action at a distance and transmission of thought —
His explanation of his predecessors' results as due to su^estion and
imagination — Discussion preceding appointment of second french Com-
mission — Report of the Commission-rAffirmation of the reality of
clairvoyance at close quarters . . . . . 67

CHAPTER VI

SPIRITUALISM IN FRANCE BEFORE 1848

Spiritualism at Stockholm in 1788 — Deleuze's views — Correspondence be-
tween Deleuze and Billot — Association of physical phenomena with the
trance — Cahagnet and his somnambule Aahle — Various illustrations of
her power-^Ar^ument that the results were due to thought transference,
not to commumon with spirits . . • . • 7^

CHAPTER VII

THE GERMAN SOMNAMBULES

German investigators generally believed in fluids, not spirits — Some evi-
dence for ckirvoyance and thought transference — ^Jung- Stilling, the
founder of the Spiritualist school — His views — The revelations of the
clairvoyant, Auguste Muller, and of Fraulein Romer — The Seeress of -^^
Prevorst — Her prophetic visions — Clairvoyance — Intercourse with

f hosts — Her physical phenomena — Heinrich Werner's somnambule —
ler clairvoyance and physical phenomena — Philosophical teachings of
the German somnambules — Sun-circles and life-circles — The primitive
language . . . ... 92

CHAPTER VIII

THE ENGLISH MESMERISTS

Tardy interest in the subject in the country — Dr. Bell — Chenevix— du Potet
— Elliotson — His experiments with the Okeys — Opposition of Wakley
— ^The Z^ist and views of the English Mesmerists in general^ i) Belief
in radiating fluid, action of magnets, metals, drugs — Reichenbach's**
experiments — Braid's counter demonstrations — (2) Phrenology and
Phreno-Mesmerism — Braid's experiments — (3) Community of sensation
and clairvoyance — Opposition of the medical profession — Disbelief in
mesmeric anaesthesia — Esdaile's demonstrations in India — Amputation
of a leg in the trance in this country— Dr. Marshall Hall's action — The
/'iA^vn^^^^fn^/ and the popular movement • . . .111

CONTENTS ix

CHAPTER IX
COMMUNITY OF SENSATION

PAGB

The most general explanation to be found not in frand, bnt in suggestion
and hypeiaesthesia — Some results, however, appear to go bqrond this
— Illustrations from Elliotson, Esdaile, Townshend, Haddock, Engledoey
Jago . . • . ... 15a

CHAPTER X

CLAIRVOYANCE IN ENGLAND

Clairvoyance at close Quarters probably always due to normal causes, and
commonly to fraud — Major Buckley's subjects — Townshend's experi-
ments — Alexis Didier — Houdin's evidence on Didier — Evidence of
Colonel Llewellyn — Clairvoyance at distance — With Didier — Testimooj
from Dr. CosteUo, Townshend, and others-— Other dairvcmnts — Testi-
mony from Professor de Morgan, Professor Gregory, Dr. Haddock . 141

CHAPTER XI

ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS AND THE UNIVBRCCBLUM

The mesmeric movement in America — Collyer, J. Bovee Dods, Grimes,
Buchanan, Sunderland — Andrew Jackson Duvis — His birth and child-
hood — Dictation of Naiur^s Dnrine Revlaiimis — Description and
criticism of the book — Founding of the Umvtrcahim — The contributors
and their views — Association of the new spiritual revelation with
Socialism and Co-operation — Other contemporary prophets and their
revelations . . . . ... 154

BOOK II
EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

CHAPTER I

IN ARCADIA

The rappines at Hydesville — The Fox fiunily— Rapid spread of the move-
ment — Horace Greeley's testimony— ^The tfufialo exposure — Mrs.
Culver's confession — Further exposures — Answers to mental questions — \
Testimony from the New York Tridwu, Asa Mahan, Spicer, and others
— Explanation of the apparent "thought-reading" — ^Tne Stratford dis-
turbances — Testimony from Dr. Phelps, Sunderland, Andrew Jackson
Davis, and others . • • • • • • 179

CHAPTER II

SOME DWELLERS IN ARCADIA

Ex]:danation of the rapid spread of Spiritualism in America — ^The ground
prepared by Mesmerism — Amongst the earliest advocates of the new
teaching were the writers on the C/nwercaeAtm, Laroy Sunderland, and
the Rev. J. B. Ferguson — Socialism and Spiritualism — Warren Chase,

{ohn Murray Spear— Universalism and Spintuahsm — Rev. Adin Ballou,
osiah A. Gridfey, Judge Edmonds • • • • • 20Z

I
CONTENTS

CHAPTER III
THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA

PAGB

The early dark stances — Testimony of Tallmadce, William Lloyd Garrison^-*
Judge Edmonds— Experiments of Professor Hare — E. P. Fowler and the
direct spirit writing — "Spirit" Hebrew — The disturbances at Ashtabula
— ^A stance with fiome-^^evitation of Gordon — Also of Home — Dr.
Hallock's testimony — Koons' spirit-room — Other manifestations . . 227

CHAPTER IV

CLAIRVOYANCE AND SPEAKING WITH TONGUES

Oairvoyance with professional mediums commonly fraudulent — '' Benjamin
Franklin" inv<^ed to furnish a test — Clairvoyance in private circles
infrequent, dubious, and ill-attested — Case quoted from the Rev. J. B.
Fera;uson — Speaking with tonnes — Analysis of the evidence — With %i
professional mediums the mamfestation was fraudulent, with private
mediums it rested on misconception and exaggeration . . • 251

CHAPTER V

TRANCE WRITING AND SPEAKING

These automatic manifestations mostly genuine and involuntary — ^Testimony
of Gridley and Dexter — ^Account of several " inspirational " writings —
Tk£ Pilgritmi^ ef Thomas Paine^ by Rev. C Hammond — Messages
from Bacon and Swedenboig, \sy Eklmonds and Dexter — Charles
Linton's communications from Shakespeare and The Healing of the
NaHoHi — ^][ohn Murray Spear and The jEducator—1\iaaa& Lake Harris
and a Lyric of the Mormng ZoiM^Spirit paintings — Healing mediums 264

CHAPTER VI

GENERAL SURVEY OF THE MOVEMENT

Immunity of fraudulent mediums fitnn exposure due to various causes,
chiefly to widespread prepossession towards belief — Odylo- mesmeric
theones of the phenomena — Dr. Roeers and The Philosophy of Myste-
rious Agents — ^J. Bovee Dods — The liorth American Review — ^Attitude
of the churches — Accusation of free love probably ill-founded, but
Spiritualism associated with advanced views of marriage — Extravagances
ot early Spiritualists — T. L. Harris and the Mountain Cove Community
— Brother Spear and the New Motor — Religious views of the Spiritual-
ists sympathetic to Christianity — Spiritualism regarded as a later and
friller revelation — Various mystical beliefr — Tneir limited spiritual
horizon and materialistic tendencies — External history — Legal proceed-
ings — Memorial to Congress \ • • • • ^^3

INTRODUCTION

THE system of beliefs known as Modern Spiritualism^ —
a system which in one aspect is a religious faith, in
another claims to represent a new department of natural
science — is based on the interpretation of certain obscure
facts as indicating the agency of the spirits of dead men and
women. The primary aim of the present work is to provide
the necessary data for determining how far, if at all, that
interpretation of the facts is justified. But the question, Is
the belief justified ? cannot, as the whole history of mysticism
stands to prove, be finally answered until we are prepared
with a more or less adequate answer to two subsidiary ques-
tions : first. If not justified, what is the true interpretation
of the facts ? and, second. How can the origin and persistence
of the false interpretation be explained ?

As supplementary, therefore, to the purely evidential aspect
of the inquiry, it became necessary to give some account, on
the one hand, of the contemporary history of the movement,
and of its social and intellectual environment, and, on the
other hand, of the prior systems of belief from which it
sprang. For the modem belief in Spirit-intercourse is not,

•<

' There is, of course, a certain ambiguity involved in the use of the word
Spiritualism," since that term has been commonly employed, both before and
aooe 1848, to denote a system of philosophy, or more stricUy perhaps a philo-
sophical attitude. But whilst in philosophy the connotation of the term is
somewhat vague, and there are, moreover, sufficient synonyms to admit of the
word being dispensed with, in the alternative sense in which it is employed
throughout this book, viz. the belief in intercourse with the spirits of the dead,
the meaning is well dc(ine<], and no other term in common use will meet the
requirements. The only practicable alternative, short of introducing a new
word, is to employ "Spiritism"; but "Spiritism" outside France has never
general recognition. Moreover, it is frequently applied by Spiritualists in
country to denote one particular form of their belief, the doctrine of rc-

with the name of Allan Kardcc

xi

xii INTRODUCTION

of course, a mere accident of the time. It cannot but be
recognised, whatever bearings such an admission may have
upon its intrinsic truth or falsity, that the belief in its present
form is an organic outgrowth from previous forms of mysti-
cism. Historically, if not also logically, it is the necessary
consequent of well-ascertained antecedents.

In 1 87 1 the Committee of the London Dialectical Society,
in presenting the results of a prolonged inquiry into the
phenomena of Spiritualism, reported that while they were
overwhelmed with testimony from believers in the alleged
marvels, their appeal had elicited hardly any response from
the more numerous body of persons who held the belief to
be based upon fraud and delusion.^ The Committee's ex-
perience is typical of the whole history of Spiritualism up to
the present time. Within the last fifty years there have been
throughout the civilised world scores of periodicals devoted
to the propaganda ; hundreds, perhaps thousands, of volunies
have been published representing the views either of those
who have accepted the Spiritualist creed as a whole, or of
the minority who, after more or less prolonged investigation,
have found themselves unable indeed to pronounce judgment
on their ultimate implications, yet convinced of the genuine-
ness of some of the alleged manifestations.

The other side is represented at most by a few score of
books, pamphlets, and magazine articles, not one of which
can be said to have considered the movement as a whole, or
to have discussed the evidence at its strongest. Amongst
the more obvious reasons for a neglect, which may well have
seemed judicious, one in particular must be mentioned here.
There can be no doubt that in each succeeding decade those
who, with or without adequate inquiry, had satisfied them-
selves that the alleged physical marvels at any rate were
baseless, were satisfied equally that within a short time the
belief in them would die out of itself, and that to treat the
matter seriously might even tend to postpone that desired
end.

Those expectations have not yet been fulfilled. Ten years
ago, indeed, it might have been said with some confidence

* Report on Spiritualism^ p. i.

INTRODUCTION xiii

that the movement was tending rapidly to decay ; that alike
in this country and abroad there was less widespread interest
in the subject amongst the educated classes than at any
period since i860; that physical mediums and manifestations
were less striking and abundant; and that the ranks of
avowed Spiritualists showed a decline, not so marked perhaps
in the actual numbers as in the intellectual standing of the
recruits.

But within the last decade the strongest evidence adduced
in the whole history of the movement for the belief in com-
munion with the dead has been furnished by the trance-
utterances of Mrs. Piper, as interpreted in Dr. Hodgson's
Report ; ^ whilst within the same period the physical mani-
festations occurring in the presence of an Italian medium,
Eusapia Paladino, have seemed, and still seem to many
persons of eminence in this country and on the Continent,
worthy of consideration as testifying to the probable opera-
tion of forces unknown to science. That men of such
distinction in various fields of thought as Sir Oliver Lodge,
the late Mr. F. W. H. Myers, Dr. Hodgson, Professor
William James, of Harvard, and Professor Charles Richet, of
Paris, should have been strongly affected, and in some cases
actually convinced by the new evidence, whilst older converts
like Sir W. Crookes and Dr. A. R. Wallace maintain their
belief unimpaired, is proof sufficient that the movement, if
on the decline, is visibly still far from its euthanasia, and
may at any moment receive fresh accessions of strength with
the discovery of new mediums or new forms of manifestation.

Whether the belief in the intercourse with spirits is well
founded or not, it is certain that no critic has yet succeeded
in demonstrating the inadequacy of the evidence upon which
the Spiritualists rely. That evidence groups itself into two
distinct categories ; and in some cases those who accept the
one category reject wholly or in part facts coming under the
other. In the first place we have to consider certain sub-
conscious activities manifesting themselves in trance speaking,
automatic writing, seeing of visions, which though they may
be readily counterfeited, are not necessarily, or in typical

' Proc, Soc, for Psychical Research^ vol. xiii. pp. 284-582.

xiv INTRODUCTION

cases, associated with imposture. In the second place,
second in the historical as in the lexical order, there are
certain physical manifestations, unquestionably, in their later
developments, bearing strong resemblance to conjuring tricks,
but as unquestionably appearing in the first instance in the
presence and through the agency of uneducated and unskilled
persons, mostly young children, and in circumstances where
the hypothesis of trickery presents formidable moral as well
as physical difficulties.

At the outset of our inquiry we must note a significant
distinction between the two classes of phenomena. With
the exception of one well-defined type of cases — to be con-
sidered in detail in the next two chapters — there is, broadly
speaking, no parallel to be found in civilised countries, during
the last three or four centuries at least, for the physical phe-
nomena alleged to occur in the presence of certain Spiritualist
mediums. On the other hand, the annals of Spiritualism
contribute nothing new as regards the first class. There is
no manifestation of inspired writing and speaking, of spiritual
healing, of telepathy, or clairvoyance, occurring since 1848,
which cannot be matched amongst the records of Animal
Magnetism ; and again, before Mesmer, we meet with similar
phenomena in the chronicles of ecstasy, obsession, magic, and
witchcraft

Historically, moreover, Spiritualism is the direct outgrowth
of Animal Magnetism. In America, the land of its birth
— according to the common reckoning, which dates the
movement in its present shape from the rappings of 1848
— the embryo faith was incubated in the revelations of a
** magnetic" clairvoyant, and its first apostles were drawn
mainly from the ranks of those who had studied and prac-
tised Animal Magnetism, or attended clairvoyant seances.
Moreover, not in America only, but in the older civilisations
generally, there were many who had adopted, long before
1848, the spiritualistic interpretation of the phenomena of
the " magnetic " trance.

For the proper understanding of the subject it is essential
to note that the recognition of the trance phenomena, as
testifying to the existence of a spiritual world, preceded the

INTRODUCTION xv

acceptance of the physical manifestations as signs and
wonders vouchsafed from that world. The raps and move-
ments of tables did not, in the ultimate analysis, originate
anything; they served merely to confirm a pre-existing
belief. It is, no doubt, amongst other causes, primarily
because of the failure to recognise this historical sequence
that most attempts to demonstrate the falsity of the
Spiritualist belief have proved ineffectual. It was of little
use for the American doctors to prove that the raps could
be produced by cracking of the joints, or Faraday that
tables could be turned by unconscious muscular action
alone ; for Maskelyne to imitate the rope-tying feats of the
Davenport Brothers; or for hardy investigators at a later
date to seize the spirit form at a dark stance. Alike in
the larger historical cycle, and in the sequence of each
individual experience, the faith in Spiritualism was buttressed
by these things, not based on them; and though shaken,
could not be permanently overthrown by any demonstration
of their futility. Some, indeed, like Braid and Carpenter,
approached the subject from the other side, and attempted
to show that not only the physical movements, but the
visions, inspired writing and speaking, could be traced to
such recognised, if insufficiently familiar, causes as automa-
tism and hallucination. If these attempts also met with
no substantial success, it was apparently because the analysis
did not go deep enough, and especially because it failed
to take adequate account of those rarer and more dubious
phenomena of the trance, which were interpreted by believers
either as indications of new faculty or as tokens of a new
world of being.

On various grounds, therefore, it seemed essential to pre-
face the detailed account of the movement since 1848 with a
sketch of earlier mystical beliefs and especially of the cult of
Animal Magnetism in America and Europe. And for other
reasons a brief history of Animal Magnetism seemed ger-
mane to the present inquiry. The more striking phenomena
of the induced trance and of automatism, such as suggestional
anaesthesia, hallucination, catalepsy, involuntary speaking
and writing, are now, it may be presumed, fairly established.

XVI

INTRODUCTION

But it must not be overlooked that it is only within the last
generation, almost, it may be said, within the last decade, that
these phenomena have come to be recognised as genuine
accompaniments of a genuine if still obscure cerebral con-
dition. They have occurred sporadically for centuries ; and
since the last quarter of the eighteenth century they have
been reproduced experimentally in every civilised country ;
they have been studied by more or less trained observers ;
they have been recorded, in bewildering variety, in innumer-
able treatises; and have yet failed until yesterday, not
merely to secure a favourable verdict, but even to gain
entrance to the Court of Science. The history of Animal
Magnetism affords a most striking illustration of that
dichotomy of opinion which seems, at a certain stage, to
be the inevitable condition of the growth of knowledge.
For more than three generations such part of the instructed
world as took any note of the phenomena which we have
now learnt to call hypnotic were divided into two sharply
opposed camps. On the one side were those who believed
in the phenomena and a good deal more, and ascribed them
to the operation of a subtle fluid ; in the other and larger
camp were those who rejected them as merely the results of
mal-observation, when they did not actually stigmatise them
as fraudulent And, precisely as in the process of organic
evolution, all forms of belief intermediate between these two
extremes tended to extinction and oblivion.

To us, looking back over the past century, two names
stand out prominently in the early history of Animal Mag-
netism. Bertrand in France and Braid in England separated
themselves from all their contemporaries by accepting the
phenomena in general as genuine, whilst attempting to relate
them to the known facts of physiology. It is instructive to
note what manner of treatment they met with from those con-
temporaries. Bertrand, it may be said, died too young for
fame ; but the indifference shown to Braid's remarkable work
is one of the most singular episodes in the history of science.
That the medical authorities of his day turned a deaf ear to
his enunciation, a generation before Bernheim and the Nancy
School, of an explanation essentially the same as the modern

INTRODUCTION xvii

theory of suggestion, is matter of common knowledge ; it is
probably not so well known that, despite his endorsement of
the genuineness of most of the phenomena, including those of
Phreno- Mesmerism, his writings and his very existence were
almost completely ignored by those who, like him, believed
in the facts. No contribution from Braid, nor any review of
his numerous writings, appears in the Zoist; and the whole
thirteen volumes of that periodical contain but two or three
contemptuous references to his views. Nature, it may be
said, abhors a Mugwump.

Now this recent episode in the history of science has
a direct bearing upon one of the problems presented to
us by Modem Spiritualism. Side by side with the now
admitted manifestations of automatic activity, which, as said,
form the bulk of the psychological phenomena, there have
been found from very early times, and more abundantly
perhaps in the records of Animal Magnetism and Mesmerism,
facts which seem to indicate some mode of perception, or
some form of communication between mind and mind, as
yet unrecognised. It would be difficult to maintain that
these indications are as clear and unmistakable as the
evidence for the establishment by suggestion of a state of
complete insensibility to pain. But the recollection that
fifty years ago the medical profession and the leaders of
science generally were practically unanimous in rejecting
the evidence for the one class of facts accumulated by the
demonstrations of Esdaile and others is full of encourage-
ment for those of us who now are inclined to think that
the case for thought-transference has not yet had a fair
hearing. But the exponents of mesmeric anaesthesia were
with one or two exceptions tainted with theories of a
mystical character; Elliotson and Esdaile believed, on
evidence which we can now see to have been quite in-
sufficient, in the operation of an invisible fluid emanating
firom the magnet and other bodies ; and their medical con-
temporaries felt themselves thereby absolved from any
inquiry into the alleged anaesthesia. In the modem case
of thought-transference, the grounds alleged for an in-
diflerence, which, it must be admitted, is neither so marked

xviii INTRODUCTION

nor so unanimous, are similar, but without equal justification.
For the modern belief in the possibility of a new mode
of perception is not necessarily associated with any mystical
or transcendental doctrine ; and, indeed, if fairly examined,
will be found the most effectual solvent of all mystical
beliefs, for it furnishes a rationalist explanation of phenomena
hitherto commonly interpreted, by those who found them-
selves forced to admit the facts, as due to the interference
of spiritual agencies. For my own part, at any rate, I see
no reason to doubt that, if the existence of thought-trans-
ference should eventually be demonstrated — and I do not
claim that the demonstration is or ought to be considered
at present complete — ^the explanation will be found to lie
strictly within the region of natural law. To assist in the
elucidation of this particular question, which is, to my
thinking, the key to some of the most perplexing problems
of Spiritualism, I shall endeavour in the course of the present
work to present, as fully as practicable, examples of the
experiments and observations which seem to point to some
faculty of the kind supposed. It must be admitted that
the older evidence is far from demonstrative ; possibly, apart
from two recent items — the experiments at Brighton con-
ducted by Professor and Mrs. Henry Sidgwick, and the
records of Mrs. Piper's trance utterances — the question of
the reality of such a faculty would hardly seem worth
discussion. But the existence of the recent evidence gives
a retrospective importance to all the scattered hints which
we meet with in the literature of Animal Magnetism and
Spiritualism, and makes the presentation of records of
mesmeric ^ clairvoyance and of experiments in community
of sensation, in themselves not sufficiently impressive, seem
worth the pains.

MODERN SPIRITUALISM

BOOK I

THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

I. — B

THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

CHAPTER I
POSSESSION AND WITCHCRAFT

THE belief in the overshadowing presence and continual
intervention of spiritual beings underlay, it need hardly
be said, the whole of the popular thinking and much
of the philosophy of the Middle Ages. But this belief differed
widely from the Spiritualism of to-day. The later alchemists,
such as Paracelsus and some contemporary and succeeding
mystics, believed, indeed, in the agency of immaterial beings,
but for the most part of a non-human and non-moral order.
The spirits which intervened in mortal affairs were in their
view parasitical on mankind, or even mere temporary products
of man's misdirected spiritual energies. Spiritual entities
never formed the mainspring of the alchemical philosophy ;
and by the chief followers of Paracelsus in this country in
the seventeenth century their agency, as will be shown in a
later chapter, appears to have been practically discarded.
Again, amongst the unlearned generally, in ecclesiastical
societies, and even with many who represented the best
culture of their time, belief in the active intervention of
angels and devils continued to exert a powerful influence
down even to the earlier decades of the eighteenth century.
In all matters the belief in spiritual presences still counted for
much ; the unfamiliar and mysterious were referred to such
agencies as naturally as in recent times they have been re-
ferred by the ignorant to electricity. But these supposed
beings, diabolic or, on occasion, divine in their nature, were
not identified with the spirits of deceased men and women.
Though accessible to human prayers or threats, and con-
versant with human speech, they stood outside and apart
from the human order.

/

4 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

Amongst the phenomena which down even to the
eighteendi century have been commonly held to indicate
such spiritual operation, the most notable are those outbreaks
of spontaneous trance, ecstasy, and speaking with tongues
which have from time to time appeared like an epidemic in
religious communities of various denominations. One of the
most famous epidemics of the kind in comparatively recent
times is that of the Ursuline Nuns of Loudun in 1632-4.
Urbain Grandier, a cur£ of Loudun, had been accused of
grave immorality ; but whether because he boasted powerful
friends, or because he was innocent, his accusers had so far
failed to procure his conviction. But in 1632 there broke out
in a convent in the town — ^a convent to which Grandier had
unsuccessfully sought to be appointed spiritual director — a
singular epidemic. Several of the nuns, including the Mother
Superior, were seized, now with violent convulsions, now with
symptoms of catalepsy — rigidity, insensibility to pain, etc. —
or again, in a state of ecstasy poured forth all manner of
blasphemies and obscenities. Naturally in those days it was
held that they were bewitched ; and, indeed, the devils con-
fessed themselves through the mouths of their victims.
Various ecclesiastical and judicial inquiries were held, and
in the sequel the hapless Grandier, whom all the possessed
indicated as the author of their troubles, was burnt alive in
April, 1634. The feature of the epidemic which is of special
interest for our present purpose, is that the possessed persons
were commonly reported to speak in foreign tongues — a
faculty which, as is well known, is one of the four principal
signs of the presence of a demon. The anonymous author
of the earliest history of the outbreak^ has as little doubt of
the reality of the portent as he has of the guilt of Grandier.
He cites the testimony of a doctor of the Sorbonne and
other prominent personages to the effect that the devils
understood questions put to them in Latin, Greek, Turkish,
Spanish, a Red Indian language, and so on, and in many
cases made answer in the same tongues. But he does not
write from first-hand knowledge ; he gives no authority for
his statements, and his testimony in any case is vitiated by
his theolc^cal bias. From a much later work, also anony-
mous,^ written from a Protestant standpoint, we have details
of some of the actual examinations. From these it appears
that some of the nuns, chiefly the Mother Superior, did

' La Veritable Histoin des DiabUs de Loudun , . . par un Temoin, ^ Poitiers,
1634. Translated and edited by Edmund Goldsmid. London, 1887.
'^^ Hist^ire des Diibhs^de loudun. Amsterdam, 1693.

• • •

POSSESSION AND WITCHCRAFT 5

indeed answer in Latin the remarks addressed to them in
that language, but that their answers were frequently in-
correct, causing the bystanders to comment on the bad Latinity
of the demon. Thus, when exhorted, Adora Deum iuum,
the nun replied to her interlocutor, Adoro te} On another
occasion, when asked Quoties she replied as if the question
had been quando} and exclaimed Deus non volo when she
meant Detis nan vult? Or again, if the question proved too
difficult, she constantly evaded a reply by exclaiming, Nimia
curiositas. The Mother Superior further excused herself from
replying in Greek, on the gfround that there was a pact between
the demon and Grandier not to speak in that lang^age.^ Of
other foreign languages we hear nothing at all.

There seems no need to adopt the hypothesis of the later
historian that the nuns had been coached up by Grandier's
enemies, and had learnt their lesson badly ; such little know-
ledge of Latin as they betrayed could probably, as suggested
by Bertrand, have been picked up from constantly attending
the offices of the Church. It is noteworthy that various
witnesses credited the possessed with the power to read the
thoughts of those present and to respond to mental questions.^

At the beginning of the eighteenth century similar phe-
nomena, but attributed by the subjects to celestial inspiration,
occurred amongst the persecuted peasantry of the Cevennes.
Many of them fled to England, and their recitals were col- •
lected and published in London in 1707.® The symptoms of
this epidemic possession in the most marked cases were very
similar to those observed amongst the nuns of Loudun ; to
wit, convulsions, rigidity, insensibility to pain, and loss of
consciousness. These alternated with an ecstasy, in which
the subjects sppke fluently and with authority as if inspired,
preaching good works, repentance, and salvation. The utter-
ances appear generally to have been couched in excellent
French, whereas to the natives of the Cevennes, as I can
testify from personal experience, French is to this day a
foreign language. Thus Jean Vernet writes that his mother,
under the inspiration, talked in French for the first time in
her life.^ An idiot shepherd boy expressed himself fluently
in good French ; ® nay, an infant fourteen months old was
heard by one witness to speak from the cradle and exhort his

* op, cit,, p. 57. a Page 129. ' Page 65. * Page 163.

* In addition to the writers already cited, see Bertrand, Du Magniiisme
Animal^ p. 336, etc. , and Traiti du Somnamdu/isme, p. 328, and Biblioth^ue du
MapUtisme Animal^ torn. iv. pp. 83-5.

* JU Th^dirc Sacridcs Cevennes.

' Opcit., p. 14. » Page 31.

/

6 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

hearers to repentance,^ Many persons who were unable to
read are said to have quoted long passages of Scripture as if
they knew the Bible by heart

Manifestations of this kind are no doubt to be explained,
due allowance being made for exaggeration on the part of the
reporter, by that extraordinary exaltation of memory which
we shall later have occasion to note as a frequent accompani-
ment of the trance. A single illustration may be given. The
following is extracted from an address given under inspiration
by Elie Marion, an unlettered peasant, unable in his ordinary
state to speak French.*

" £n v^rit^, men enfant, je viens payer ces villes abominables qui
rdpandent le sang de mes enfans ; je m'en vais au premier jour, les
d^tmire enti^rement. Ma colore m'embrace tous les jours contre
ces peuples rebelles k mes commandemens. Sache que j'ai la verge
en main, et qu'elle ne s'en retirera point qu'elle n'ait frappe enti^re-
ment la terre et ses abominations. Je vengerai mes enfans, ma cause ;
votre sang sera vengd, mes enfans, vous sortirez de la poussi^re, mon
peuple. Je vous eleverai sur des trones, je mettrai ma force en Sion.
Sache que j'y viens faire ma demeure ^ternelle dans peu de jours.
C'est la forteresse de Teternel, ton Dieu, qui doit defendre son peuple
d'entre les mains du diable du monde. Les oiseaux de proie, dans
peu de jours se repattront des choses abominables de la terre, je
m'en vais leur liverer Timpudicit^ du monde. Le ravage qui sera fait
sur la terre par mes executeurs sera terrible. Sache qu'il y aura un
carnage horrible. Le sang decoulera de tous cot^s sans que per-
Sonne I'arr^te. Faut que la terre s'enivre du sang impur du monde.

The alleged power to discern the thoughts of mien's hearts
manifested itself chiefly in the detection of spies, who fre-
quently attended the meetings of the proscribed devotees.
Of the exercise of the power in other directions there are
few traces ; and the speaking in " unknown tongues " appears
to have consisted in the fact that some of the ecstatics occa-
sionally poured forth sounds unintelligible to their hearers,
which they afterwards themselves translated under the same
inspiration.'

Similar phenomena are said to have been witnessed
amongst some of the votaries who crowded round the tomb
of the Jansenist Deacon Paris, in 1730 and onwards — the
Convulsionaries of St Medard, as they came to be known.

^ op, cit.,p. 15.

^ TraiU au Somnambulisme^ ji\}, 307-8. Bertrand does not say from what
source the quotation is taken. The testimony of Elie Marion is printed in Lc
Thf&tre Sacri^ but I cannot find this speech recorded there.

' U rhidtre Sacrd, p. 37.

POSSESSION AND WITCHCRAFT 7

Insensibility to pain, even the pain of burning, and to severe ''
blows and other ill-treatment was repeatedly demonstrated.
The ecstatics frequently preached under inspiration, and are
commonly reported to have spoken in Greek, Latin, and other
languages, which they had never learnt, and occasionally in
unknown tongues. The evidence, again, for the speaking in
recognised foreign languages is defective ; but there seems to
have been no question that the ecstatics did occasionally
pour forth unintelligible sounds, which the bystanders
assumed to represent utterances in an unknown tongue.
Here is an account given by a witness of one of these out-
pourings, the ecstatic in this case being the Chevalier Folard :
'* II se met tout k coup k parler par monosyllabes ; c'est un
baragouin oii personne n'entend goutte. Quelquesuns disent
qu'il parle alors la langue esclavone ; mais je crois que
personne n'y entend rien." *

The most recent and perhaps the most instructive out-
break of the kind occurred just a century later in London. ^
The speaking with tongues in Edward Irving's congregation
began in 1831. Irving himself seems, indeed, for some years
to have believed in and looked for an outpouring of spiritual
gifts, such as is described in the Acts as having taken
place amongst the early Christians. This belief and expecta-
tion were raised to an acute point with him and some of
his more prominent followers by the outbreak, in 1830,
amongst some pious Scotch peasants, of speaking with
tongues and apparently miraculous gifts of healing. In the
course of the following year, at a time when grave ecclesi-
astical troubles were impending over the minister and his
congregation, he instituted a series of services in his church
at 6.30 a.m., and there prayer was offered up day after day
for the bestowal of the miraculous gifts which the worshippers
held had been promised to the Church. At last, in July,
1 83 1, expectation was fulfilled, and one after another of the
little band of believers began to speak with tongues. It was
not, indeed, without hesitation that the manifestations were
accepted by Irving himself as supernatural, still less as divine.
But seeing that those who spoke were true believers and
persons of honest and good life, and that their utterances
conformed in all things to the Christian Faith which he him-
self held, Irving, after some weeks of doubt and trial, yielded
hb belief freely to these utterances. From Robert Baxter,
who had shared Irving's anticipations, and who himself

' From Histoirc d^un Voyage lit Ur aire fait en 1733^ quoted in Biblicthhjuc
in Ma^fUtiinu Animal^ voL v. (1818) pp. 210-11. See also Bertrand, op, cii.

8 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

became eminent amongst the "gifted" persons, we have a
very detailed and instructive account of tihe matter. Baxter
had not been present at the earlier manifestations, but had
heard of them, and was almost persuaded. In December he
came to London, and both heard in others and experienced
in himself the working of the new power. To his brother he
writes, on December 29th, 183 1, as follows : —

" When I was in London I attended at one of the meetings, at
which a Mr. T. and a Miss C. spoke ; the first in a tongue, the
other in prophesying. The prophesying was upon the near coming
of our iiord, and rebuking those who did not faithfully declare
it ; it was delivered in a tone and energy which carried conviction
to my soul, that it was the presence, in power, of the Holy Ghost.
As the prophesying proceeded, in rebuking the unfaithfulness of
those who did not declare the near coming of the Lord, I found
laid open the very misgivings of conscience with which I have for
the last six months been exercised. ... In fact, the secrets of my
heart, which I had told to none, were laid open ; and I felt myself
openly rebuked ; the effect upon me was that tears ran down my
cheeks ; and my anguish of soul increasing, I was obliged to hide
my face and as far as I could suppress my groanings. This, how-
ever, lasted only a few minutes, when the power of the Spirit was so
great upon me, that I was obliged to call out, as in agony, for
pardon and forgiveness, and for strength to bear a faithful testimony.
In these cryings I was, however, at the time conscious of a power
of utterance carrying me beyond the natural expression of my feel-
ings. ... I was conscious of a strained utterance, not my own ;
and of a power and pressure of the Spirit, quite unutterable in a
natural way. After this I was silent, but, with composure of mind,
my whole body was convulsively agitated; and for the space of
more than ten minutes I was, as it were, paralysed under a shaking
of my limbs, my knees rapping one against the other, and no
expression except a sort of convulsive sigh. During this period
I had no other consciousness than this bodily emotion, and an
inexpressible constraint upon my mind, which although it left me
composed and sensible of all I was doing, yet prevented my utterance
and gave no distinct impression, beyond a desire to pray for the
knowledge of the Lord's Will This increased so much that I
was led to fall on my knees and cry in a loud voice, ' Speak, Lord,
for thy servant heareth ' : and this I repeated many times, until the
same power of the Spirit which I had before felt, came upon me,
and I was made to cry out with great vehemence, both of tone and
action, that the coming of the Lord should be declared, and the
messengers of the Lord should bear it forth upon the mountains
and upon the hills, and tell it to the winds, that all the earth should
hear it and tremble before the Lord." *

^ Narraiivt of Facts characterising the Supernatural Afani/estcUians in Members
§f Mr, Irving s CangregatUm^ by Robert Baxter. London, 1833, pp. 147-8.

POSSESSION AND WITCHCRAFT 9

Baxter for the next few months spoke much "in the
power." These discourses, delivered in most impressive
language, conveyed rebuke, warning, exhortation, or en-
couragement to his hearers; sometimes he would speak
"with tongues"; on one occasion he tells us that when
sitting at home " a mighty power came upon " him, and he
uttered sentences in French, Latin, and in many languages
unknown to him ; his wife, who was present, identified some
of the words as Italian or Spanish. Often the power would
direct his doings ; he would be called on abruptly to leave
a meeting, or cease from some particular course of action.
Once he was made, in the power, to declare that he was to
go into the Chancellor's Court and there testify, and that
for the testimony he would be cast into prison. Not without
misgivings he went to the Court and there stood for three
or four hours; but no utterance was given to him, and he
came away much disheartened.

A singular circumstance noted by Baxter is that when
speaking under the influence he could often meet the un-
spoken thoughts of his hearers. That the *' tongues " should
solve the religious difficulties of others, as they had already,
as we have seen, solved his own, is not perhaps a matter that
calls for any supernormal explanation. But he mentions
cases in which, meeting with strangers who came to him for
counsel, he gave them such information about their private
circumstances as convinced them of his supernatural powers.^

At a later stage there came through Baxter's lips ''an
appalling utterance" that the Lord had set him apart for
the spiritual ministry ; that he was to separate from his wife
and family; and that at the end of forty days he would
receive a full outpouring of spiritual gifts. The failure of
these and other prophecies ; the evasive replies of the
* Tongues" when asked to account for the non-fulfilment;
the appearance of unclean spirits in the congregation ; the
fact that one or two members had already confessed that
they were deluded by false spirits ; and finally, the discordant
nature of the doctrines preached through the tongues, some
of which, delivered in Irving's Church and confirming Irving's
special view of the nature of Christ's fleshly Body, appeared to
Baxter ** fearfully erroneous " — all these considerations, backed
by the influence of his wife, who had from the first given a
less complete adhesion to the new faith and was naturally
unwilling to accept the authority of some of the later utter-

* Op, cit,^ pp. 14, 18, 70, 72, 135, etc. In none of these cases is the evidence
toffidently detaiiled to enable us to endorse Baxter's opinion.

10 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

ances, finally convinced Baxter that he had been deceived.
But even then it never occurred to him to doubt the super-
natural inspiration of the utterances ; he inferred that the
source was demoniac, not, as he had at first supposed, divine.

It is impossible after reading Baxter's narrative to doubt
his honesty in the matter. The impulse did, manifestly, come
to him without conscious volition on his part, and the words
without premeditation — they were " given to him." This, by
the testimony both of Irving and Baxter, was the general
characteristic of the utterances. One Miss H., indeed, was
pronounced a false prophetess, and admitted the justice of
her sentence, mainly because on two or three occasions she
had meditated utterances beforehand.^

Often the utterances began in " an unknown tongue " and
then passed into English, the English being by some re-
garded as merely a peroration, by others as an interpretation
of all that had preceded. One witness gives the following
description : — '* The tongue invariably preceded (the English
speaking), which at first I did not comprehend, because it
burst forth with an astonishing and terrible crash, so suddenly
and in such short sentences that I seldom recovered the
shock before the English commenced."*

Another characteristic of the speaking was that the phrases
used seem almost always to have been taken from the Scrip-
tures, as we have seen was the case with the prophets of the
Cevennes ; and the same phrase was frequently repeated over
and over again, as in the following utterance, preserved by
the Record: " He shall reveal it ! He shall reveal it ! Yea,
heed it! Yea, heed it! Ye are yet in the wilderness.
Despise not His Word ! Despise not His Word ! Not one
jot or tittle shall pass away."* But there are few authentic
records of the actual words spoken, possibly because the
" Spirit " on more than one occasion forbade the writing down
of utterances.*

As regards the content of the utterances, Baxter notes,
among other characteristics of the " power," its secrecy and
unwillingness to be examined ; its evasiveness when called
upon to explain contradictions and failures ; its general
debasement of the understanding and exaltation of blind
faith in authority ; finally, the bitterness of spirit shown, and
the extraordinary exclusiveness — the whole world outside
the CMie little congregation was denounced and condemned

* Baxter, op, cit,^p, 95.

^ Quoted by W. Vvilks, in his Life of Irving^ p. 205.
' Quoted in Mrs. Oliphant's Life of Irving^ p. 331.
^ Baxter, op, cit,^ p. 126.

POSSESSION AND WITCHCRAFT 11

to perdition, under the names of Babylon and the Abomina-
tion of Desolation.

But enough has been said for our present purpose. There
is no need at the present time to defend the spontaneous
nature of the utterances, nor the good faith of those who
spoke in the power. But no one, apparently, professes to
have recognised with certainty the unknown utterances ; and
Baxter is of opinion that they represented no langus^e what-
ever, but only a "jargon of sounds.*'^

One other aspect of this singular outbreak should perhaps
be noted. There were several cases in which persons were
professedly possessed with evil spirits, and were rebuked by
the bystanders, and the evil spirits bidden to come forth. In
one such case, recorded by Baxter on the authority of Irving
and another eye-witness, the " possessed " man, when released
by the " tongue," fell upon the ground crying for mercy, and
later lay there "foaming and struggling like a bound de-
moniac"*

All these cases, it will be seen, present the same general \
features. We find a highly contagious epidemic, manifesting \
itself in convulsions and ecstasy, and variously interpreted
by the subject and the onlookers, according to their pre-
possessions, as demoniac or divine possession. The more
marvellous features — the speaking in foreign languages un-
known to the speaker, the speaking with unknown tongues,
the reading of thoughts — rest upon evidence which must be
adjudged quite insufficient. On the other hand, it appears to
be fully established that the ** possessed " persons were able to
speak with extraordinary fluency, and sometimes in a language
with which they were at best very imperfectly acquainted.

For the rest, apart from its fluency, the most notable
characteristics of the utterance when intelligible appear to
have been its grandiose character, both in manner and diction,
and its tendency to make use of a limited number of sonorous
phrases, drawn generally from biblical sources. In its more
elementary forms it seems to have degenerated, as in one of
the instances quoted above, into mere emphatic repetition of
one or two sentences.

In the history of Modem Spiritualism we shall come across
many cases of similar possession, less violent and prolonged,
indeed, but apparently equally spontaneous.^

* Op, cit.f p. 134. ' Page 26 ; see abo p. 74.

* See especially Book II. chap. iv. and Book IV. chap, vi., the case
of Mr. Lc Baron. The ecstasies of the early Quakers — ** witchcraft fits," as their
enemy Mi^leton called them — were no doubt of this kind.

12 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

In the cases just described the supposed intercourse with
the spiritual world came, unless perhaps we make an ex-
ception in the case of the Irvingites, unbidden. But there
were some who by means of magical incantations, or by
visions in the crystal, sought such intercourse for themselves.

One of the best-known examples of this supposed com-
/ muning with spirits is afforded by the diary of Dr. Dee.*
' Dr. Dee was a scholar and learned mathematician in the
sixteenth century, some of whose writings on Euclid, the
reform of the calendar, and other matters are still extant.
The revelations which he records were obtained through
visions in the crystal by one Edward Kelly, Dr. Dee acting
the part of scribe and director of the stances. The typical
crystal seer was, of course, a young boy without sin. How
far Dee's scryer was from fulfilling that ideal may be gathered
from the fact that by common report he had, before meeting
Dr. Dee, committed forgery and desecrated graves, and had
for one or both these offences lost his ears in the pillory;
that later Dr. Dee saved him from being dragged away to
meet a charge of coining ; that the diary itself records his
drunkenness on one occasion, and on another the casting out
of him of no fewer than fifteen devils. Crystal vision is not,
of course, necessarily associated with moral excellence ; but
it is clearly impossible, with such a dossier, to have much
confidence in Kelly's good faith. But after all the interest
of the revelations does not depend upon the seer's veracity.
It is enough for our present purpose that they apparently
reflect with fair accuracy the ideas of the time. They form,
indeed, a valuable link in the historical series, for while
generally they appear, as Kelly himself on one occasion
points out, to be founded on earlier mystical writings, they
in many respects foreshadow with singular fidelity the
utterances of later clairvoyants.

The method of divination was as follows: The sittings
commonly began with prayer ; thereafter Kelly would see in
the crystal the figure of a spiritual being, who would speak
to him, or show him words or visions in the crystal, which
he would duly report to Dr. Dee. None of these spiritual
beings — Madini, Gabriel, Uriel, Nalvage, II, Morvor^^ran,
Jubanladace, and the rest — appear to have been identified as
human spirits, though some of them are spoken t>f as angels,
and all are understood to be of good character. Neither

^ A true and faithful Relation of what passed for tiiany years between Dr, John
Dee . . . and some Spirits . . . out of the original copy written with Dr, De^s
own hand . . . edited by Meric Casaubon, D.D. London, 1659.

POSSESSION AND WITCHCRAFT 13

Dr. Etee himself nor the Polish Count Albert Lasky were
privileged to see anything in the crystal, and Dee's son,
Arthur, who tried to act for a few days during Kelly's
recalcitrancy, saw no visions that were worth recording.

The spirits revealed to Kelly many strange things that
were to have taken place in the world ; a glorious future
was prophesied for their patron the Polish Count, who was
ultimately to become King of Poland. Again, the destruc-
tion of die kingdoms of this world and die restoration of
Jerusalem were foretold, all which things were to take place
in the days of the Emperor Rudolph, for whom a grand
career was to be opened if he would hearken unto the words
of the Lord's prophet. Dr. Dee. This latter vision, fortunately
enough, came whilst Dee and Kelly were staying at Prague,
immediately after the former had been honoured by a private
audience with the Emperor.

A great part of the crystal revelations consists of tables
ruled in small squares which are filled with letters, numerals,
and mystical symbols, understood to be the alphabet of ths
primitive language. Moreover, much of the book is taken
up with the dictation of various invocations or "calls" to
spirits. These invocations are given in the primitive
language, accompanied by its translation, word by word.
There follows also a detailed account of the constitution
of the spiritual hierarchy, of their subjects and principalities,
and of the lordship exercised over the kingdoms of the
earth. The details of this description, as Kelly took occasion
to point out, agree with that given by Cornelius Agrippa, who
had himself borrowed it from Ptolemy.^

Of the primitive tongue itself we are given many speci-
mens ; it is read backward, like Hebrew, which indeed (and
not Gaelic, as some in these later times do vainly pretend)
represents the corrupted form of that primaeval tongue which
prevailed after the Fall. The primaeval speech, employed by
the angels, and by Adam in his state of innocency, has very
singular properties : —

** Every letter signifieth the member of the substance whereof it
speaketh : Every word signifieth the quiddity of the substance . . .
signifying substantially the thing that is spoken of in the center
of his Creator, whereby even as the minde of man moveth at an
ordered speech, and is easily perswaded in things that are true,
so are the creatures of God stirred up in themselves, when they
hear the words wherevrithal they were nursed and brought forth . . .
the creatures of God understand you not, you are not of their

* Op, di., p. 158.

14 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

Cities ; you are become enemies, because you are separated from
Him that govemeth the City, by ignorance. . . . Man in his
Creation, being made an Innocent, was also authorised and made
partaker of the Power and Spirit of God, whereby he did know all
things under his Creation, and spoke of them properly, naming them
as they were." *

This doctrine, that the original speech of man, and that
of angels now, bore an organic relation to the outer world,
so that each name expressed in itself the properties of the
thing spoken of, and that the utterance of the name had
a compelling power over the creature, was, without doubt,
borrowed by Kelly from an earlier philosophy. We shall
meet with similar ideas again amongst the German clair-
voyants of the first half of the nineteenth century.*

There are many references in the early part of the diary
to a book, in the primaeval language, which Dr. Dee was to
write under spirit influence. Apparently the task was not
congenial, or the learned doctor was not so good a medium
as some of the American automatic writers whose pro-
ductions we shall consider later,' for, on his professing one
day that he was "wonderfully oppressed with the Work
prescribed" for him to perform, the mother of Madini
undertook to carry out the task instead.* The rest of the
revelations are concerned mostly with allegorical visions,
prophecies that failed, and dreary pages of what Casaubon
calls " Sermon-like Stuff"" — matters which are common to all
later clairvoyants.

Finally we have a record of an abortive physical phenome-
non. Kelly confesses that he had tried consulting the spirits
on his own account, and had left written questions in the
window ; and " Nalvage " tells him, through the crystal, that
the devil had taken those questions away. "Kelly went down
to see if it were true, and he found it true." ^ But Dee does
not appear to have been as much impressed as he should
have been.

The spiritual beings, it will be seen, which by the popular
/ belief of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries intervened
/ in mortal affairs, were not human spirits. The nuns of
Loudun were possessed by demons; the Tremblers of the
Cevennes were inspired by a divine afflatus. The spiritual
entities of the Rosicrucians and of Paracelsus were creatures
of the elements — sylphs, gnomes, undines, salamanders— or

* Op, cU, , p. 92. ^ See below, Book I. chap. vii.

' See below, Book 11. chap. v. * Pages 26, 27. ^ Page 80.

POSSESSION AND WITCHCRAFT 15

beings still more remote from humanity. The spirits who
presented themselves to Kelly in the crystal appear never to
have been identified with human prototypes. The idea of
intercourse with distinctively human spirits, if not actually
introduced by Swedenborg, at least established itself first in
the popular consciousness through his teaching. Emanuel
Swedenboi^ is therefore deservedly ranked as the first
Spiritualist in the restricted sense in which the term is here
used. Of his philosophy, from which the main conceptions
which underlie the Spiritualist creed are no doubt derived, it
is not necessary to speak in detail ; and the less because in
its general outlines it is not peculiar to himself, but forms
a part of the great mystical tradition. His special contribu-
tion to the Spiritualist belief consists in his conception of a
future life. Well versed himself in the science of the day —
he held from the King the post of Assessor of Mines, and
his published works include treatises on metallurgy, human
anatomy, and various mathematical and philosophical subjects
— he carried the methods and results of physical science into
the r^on of the Unseen. For him there was no gulf fixed
between this earthly life and that which he believed to lie
beyond death. The great principle of continuity is pre-
served; Nature makes no leap, even over the grave, and
heaven and hell are seen in his prosaic pages to be much
like Stockholm or London. In short, he believed in inter-
course with the spirits of those who had once lived as men
and women, and in the future life as a state admitting of
much the same variety of character and circumstance as life
on earth — the two chief articles of the Spiritualist creed. It
is true that Swedenboi^ held them with a difference. Him-
self the son of a bishop, he is still sufficiently under the
influence of theological tradition to conceive of the future
state as divided into heavens and hells and peopled by
angels and devils, though his descriptions of them by no
means accord with orthodox conceptions. Again, the inter-
course with spirits in which he believed was not a gift
common to any or all of mankind, but a special privilege
conferred by the Lord on him, alone of all the sons of men.
And the spirits with whom he talked were of such quality as
accorded with this high embassy ; saints and philosophers,
kings and popes, Calvin, Luther, Moses, Paul, and John.

Thus the small and singularly exclusive sect which soon
grew up and called itself after his name refused to recognise
any supplement to the revelations of their master, and
taught — an uncharitable view for which they found ample

16 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

warrant in the seer's own writings — that all later pretenders
were deceived by lying spirits. But outside this narrow
circle Swedenborg's example counted for more than his
direct teaching.

The mystical beliefs hitherto touched on were either based
on isolated manifestations, and confined to small groups of
believers; or, as with the alchemists, formed part of a
traditional philosophy to which only the learned had access.
The only earlier movement which at all compares with
Modem Spiritualism in the extent to which it affected
popular belief is no doubt the witchcraft epidetnic Apart,
however, from its wide diffusion, and from the demonstration
which it affords of the willingness, even of the educated
classes, to believe on wholly insufficient grounds in super-
natural interference, it is not clear that the bulk of the witch-
craft manifestations had much bearing upon the evidential
aspects of Spiritualism. For most of the evidence upon
which the belief in witchcraft depended, when not merely
traditional, consisted, as a brief analysis will show, partly
of the preposterous exaggeration of trivial coincidences, but
chiefly of statements made by ignorant peasants, which can
most readily be ascribed to mental delusion, especially to that
form which consists in mistaking past dreams and imagina-
tions for actual occurrences.*

The evidence for witchcraft falls under four main heads:
{a) the confessions of witches themselves ; {b) the corrobora-
tive evidence of lycanthropy, apparitions, etc. ; {c) the witch-
marks ; {d) the evidence of the evil effects produced on the
supposed victims.

{a) The confessions, as is notorious, were- for the most
part extracted by torture or the fear of torture, or by lying
promises of release. In England, where torture was not
countenanced by the law, the ingenuity of Matthew Hopkins
and other professional witch-finders could generally devise
some equally efficient substitute, such as gradual starvation,

^ See Mr. Gumey's remarks in Phoftiasms of the Living, voL i. p. Ii8:
" There is a characteristic of uneducated minds which is only exceptionally met
with in educated adults — the tendency to confuse mental images, pure and simple,
with matters of fact. This tendency naturally allies itself with any set of images
which is prominent in the belief of the time ; and it is certain now and then to
give to what are merely vivid ideas the character of bimd-fide memories. The
unagination which may be unable to produce, even in feeble-minded persons, the
belief that they set things which are not there may be quite able to produce the
belief that they have seen them— which is all, of course, that their testimony
implies.*' See also Mr. Gumey's ** Note on Witchcraft," ibicLf pp. 172-85, for an
exhaustive analysis of the evidence for the alleged marvels.

POSSESSION AND WITCHCRAFT 17

enforced sleeplessness, or the maintenance for hours of a
constrained and painful posture. But apart from these ex-
torted confessions, there is evidence that in some cases the
accused persons w^ere actually driven by the accumulation
of testimony against them, by the pressure of public opinion,
and the singular circumstances in which they were placed, to
believe and confess that they were witches indeed. Some of
the women in Salem who had pleaded guilty to witchcraft
explained afterwards, when the persecution had died down
and they were released, that they had been ** consternated and
affrighted even out of their reason " to confess that of which
they were innocent^ And there were not a few persons who
voluntarily confessed to the practice of witchcraft, nocturnal
rides, compacts with the devil, and all the rest of it. The
most striking instances of this voluntary confession are
afforded by children. At Antoinette Bourignon's Girls' V/
School at Lille, in 1639, the whole thirty-two children/
ultimately accused themselves of witchcraft, confessed to
having intercourse with the devil and to riding through the
air nightly to attend his infernal banquets. All but one of
the children recanted when examined by the magistrates.
The one girl who maintained her guilt to the last was
imprisoned ; and Mademoiselle Bourignon expressed a pious
regret that for the good of her soul she had not been burnt*

The children at Moira, in Sweden, who also (with many of
their elders) confessed to infernal compacts and nightly rides
to Blockula, where they met the devil, danced, feasted, and
engaged in various dull, if unquestionably diabolic, diversions,
were not so fortunate. Fifteen of them, if Dr. Horneck's
narrative is to be believed, were put to death, and many
others were cruelly whipped.^

^ ** And indeed that Confession that it is said we made, was no other than what
was suggested to us by some Gentlemen, they telling us we were Witches, and
they knew, and we knew it, and they knew that we knew it, which made us think
that it was so," etc., etc {Aft Historical Essay concerning Witchcrafts by Francis
Hutchinson, d.d., etc. London, 17 18, p. 85). Another instance of an extorted
ccmfession is given by Sinclair {ScUan^s invisible World Discovered)^ who tells us
that the facts are attested by ** an eye and ear- witness — a faithful Minister of the
GospeL" The woman in this case, immediately before her execution, attested
that her confession was a false one, made through sheer weariness of life, after the
persecutions which she had undergone.

* Complete works of Antoinette Bourignon (Amsterdam, 1686), vol. ii. p. 200.
There are three separate accounts of this case of witchcraft : two by
Bourignon herself, La Parole de Dieu and La Vie Extirieure ; one, La Vie
Camtttnt/e, written some years later by a friend. It is a valuable lesson in
endence to compare this last version with the first-hand accounts.

' See Dr. Homeck's Account of what happened in the ICingdom of Sweden in
1669, 1670 a$ul upwards s quoted by Glanvil, in Sadducismus TriumphcUus,

I.— C

18 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

In both these cases, it should be noted, the confessions,
though voluntary, were by no means spontaneous. They were,
in fact, suggested ; in the first case by Antoinette Bourignon,
who from the very first seems to have been troubled by the
conviction that her little chaises were not as pious as they
should have been, and ultimately got it into her foolish head
that they were in league with the devil, and made no secret
of her opinion. The only grounds adduced for this belief,
prior to the confession of the children themselves, were that
on one occasion she saw little black figures with wings
flying around them, and straightway told the children what
she had seen ; and that, some time later, one of the girls who
had been locked up for some trivial misdemeanour managed
to escape from her confinement It is difficult to know how
far, in a case of this kind, the " confessions " were intended
seriously by the children themselves ; but the fact that they
were persisted in before the priests who were called in to
investigate the matter certainly tends to prove that they
were not merely jest. Probably the children themselves
could not have given a very clear account of the matter. In
the Moira case the whole population seems to have been the
victims of an epidemic delusion, to which children would
naturally fall easy victims ; and the force of the suggestion
was no doubt aided by leading questions from the Commission
appointed by the King to examine into the matter.

But it is hardly necessary to labour the point. For even
among the earlier writers on witchcraft the opinion was not
uncommonly held that the nocturnal rides and banquets with
the devil were merely delusions, though the guilt of the
witch was not lessened thereby. And in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, at least in English-speaking countries,
this belief seems to have been held generally alike by
believers in witchcraft and their opponents. Thus Gaule,
"But the more prodigious or stupendous (of the things
narrated by witches in their confessions) are effected meerly
by the Devill ; the witch all the while either in a Rapt
ecstasie, a charmed Sleepe, or a melancholy Dreame; and
the Witches imagination, phantasie, common sense, only
deluded with what is now done, or pretended."* Even
Antoinette Bourignon, observing her scholars eat "great

^ Select Cases of Conscience touching Witches and Witchcraft (London, 1646,
p. 109). To the same effect. Increase Mather, Cases of Conscience concerning Evil
Spirits, etc. (London, 1693 ; London Reprint of 1862, p. 279). Beaumont, A
Treatise of Spirits ( London, 1 705, pp. 388, 309). See also H utchinson, op, cit,, p . 76,
and the Preface to the anonymous edition of the True and Exact Relation of the
trial of the Chelmsford witches of 164^ (London Reprint of 1837, p. iii).

POSSESSION AND WITCHCRAFT 19

pieces of Bread and Butter" at breakfast, pointed out to
them that they could not have such good appetites if they
had really fed on dainty meats at the devil's Sabbath the
night before.

{b) But if the witch's own account of her marvellous feats
may be explained as, at best, the vague remembrance of a
nightmare, it is hardly necessary to go beyond this explana-
tion to account for the prodigies reported by others. In
most cases there is no need to suppose even so much founda-
tion for the marvels, since the evidence {e,g, for lycanthropy)
is purely traditional. And when we get accounts at first
hand, they are commonly concerned, not with such matters
as levitation, or transformation of hares into old women, but
merely with vague shapes seen in the dusk, or the unexplained
appearance of a black dog. Even so the evidence comes
almost exclusively from ignorant peasants, and is given years
after the events. The corroborative evidence on which the
Salem witches were put to death consisted lai^ely of state-
ments from various neighbours that six, eight, or fourteen
years ago the deponent awoke to find the shape of the
accused in his bedroom, which thereupon grievously assaulted
him and then disappeared ; or that, on dates not stated, he
saw a black pig approaching him, or was much beset by the
gambolling of phantom puppies which ran between his legs. ^

Indeed, it is not easy to find any respectable evidence in
the annals of witchcraft for any marvel which even seems to
call for explanation by sensory hallucination. One of the
best-attested cases occurs in the trial of the Chelmsford
witches in 1645 before referred to. At that trial Matthew
Hopkins, the witch-finder, John Sterne, gentleman, and six
others, testified that on the previous night they had sat up
in the room where the accused was confined in order to watch
for the appearance of her imps ; that the accused promised
that her imps should appear; and that the witnesses saw
them, to the number of five or six, enter the room in the
shape of cats, dogs, or other animals.

The evidence of a professional witch-finder, who was well
paid for his services, is perhaps not more worthy of credence
than that of a professional medium at the present day. But
John Sterne seems to have been a credible person, and was
so convinced of the truth of what he saw that he afterwards
wrote a pamphlet about it ; and the interval was so short
that it is difficult to suppose a hallucination of memory. It

* T%e Wonders of the Invisible VVorid^ by Cotton Mather, D.i). (London,
1693; London Reprint of 1862, pp. 130-50).

20 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

is to be noted, moreover, that the witnesses had apparently
sat with the supposed witch for some hours, watching for the
appearance of her familiars, and that the witch's own promise
to them had raised expectation to the highest pitch. The
circumstances were therefore undoubtedly favourable for the
production of sensory hallucination.

(^r) The evidence for " witch-marks *' does not greatly con-
cern us. The insensible patches on which Matthew Hopkins
and other witch-finders relied may well have been genuine
in some cases. Such insensible areas are known to occur in
hysterical subjects, and the production of insensibility by
means of suggestion is a commonplace in modem times.
The supposed witches' teats, which the imps sucked, appear
to have been found almost exclusively, like the imps them-
selves, in the English-speaking countries.^ Any wart, boil,
or swelling would probably form a sufficient warrant for the
accusation ; we read in Cotton Mather of a jury of women
finding a preternatural teat upon a witch's body, which could
not be discovered when a second search was made three or
four hours later ; * and of a witch's mark upon the finger of
a small child, which took the form of " a deep red spot, about
the bigness of a Flea-bite."^ And the witch-mark which
brought conviction to the mind of Increase Mather in the
case of George Burroughs was his ability to hold a heavy
gun at arm's length, and to carry a barrel of cider from the
canoe to the shore.*

So far, then, we may search the annals of witchcraft in
vain for any testimony for material marvels at all comparable
to the evidence adduced in recent years for the physical
manifestations of Spiritualism. Let us now turn to the last
head of evidence.

{d) Of most of the evidence based upon the injuries
suffered by the witches' supposed victims, it is difficult to
speak seriously. If a man's cow ran dry, if his horse
stumbled, his cart stuck in a gate, his pigs or fowls sickened,
if his child had a fit, his wife or himself an unaccustomed
pain, it was evidence acceptable in a court of law against

^ See Hutchinson, op, cit,^ p. 57. **I meet with little mention of Imps in
any country but ours, where the Law makes the feeding, suckling, or rewarding
of them to be Felony." *-* Op, cit,^ p. 137.

' Increase Mather, op, cit., p. 210. See Hutchinson, Historical Essay ^ pp.
I4<>t I73> i^; tin<l Gaule, Select Cases ^ p. 6.

^ Pages 125, 126, 286. "Had I (Increase Mather loquitur) been one of
his judges, I could not have acquitted him ; for several persons did upon oath
testify that they saw him do such things as no man that has not a Devil to his
Familiar could perform."

POSSESSION AND WITCHCRAFT 21

any old woman who might be supposed within the last twelve
months — or twelve years — to have conceived some cause of
oflTence against him and his. Follies of this kind are too
well known to need repetition.

But there is another feature of witchcraft, at any rate of
the cases occurring in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
in England and America, which is not so well recognised,
and which has a more direct bearing upon our present inquiry
— the predominant part played in the initial stages of witch
persecution by malevolent or merely hysterical children and
young women.

In Glanvil's collection of cases in Sadducismus Triumph-
aiust the first eight narratives deal with witchcraft of the
ordinary type. In the first three of these the protagonists
arc young children ; in two others a servant girl plays the
principal part One of these five cases — the Drummer of
Tedworth — will be discussed in the next chapter. Again, in
the Collection of Modem Relations^ we find a case of a woman
who was tried for a witch apparently upon the sole evidence
of a Poor Woman's Boy who was struck dumb by coming
upon her suddenly crouching behind a bush ; and in another
case in the same collection the afflicted person and chief wit-
ness was Mistress Faith Corbet, aged ten or eleven, who fell
into convulsions because poor old Alice Huson had carried off
her gloves. In a sixteenth-century case at Chelmsford one
of the chief witnesses was Agnes Brown, a child of twelve,
who testified to seeing a big black dog with a pair of horns
on his head, and a face like an ape. This fearsome being
entered the dairy where she was churning butter, and con-
versed with her.^ The outbreak at Salem, Massachusetts, in
1692, was started by Abigail Williams, aged twelve, and her
little friend, Elizabeth Parris. It was a boy of eleven who
started the persecution of the Lancashire witches (1634); it
was some silly children, the eldest only sixteen, who were the
first and chief witnesses against the Samuel family, known as
the Witches of Warbois (1593). Rose Cullender and Annie
Duny, known as the Suffolk witches, who were tried before
Sir Matthew Hale in 1665, were condemned on the testi-
nony of young children, who fell into fits and vomited nails
and crooked pins. It would be easy to lengthen the list ;
but, in effect, it is enough to point out that these cases of
child evidence constitute the type to which most of the

^ London, 1693.

^ Ths examinatiifn and confessiott of certain Witches . . . in i^^6, London,
1864 ; reprinted from a pamphlet in the Library of Lambeth Palace.

22 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

cases of spontaneous^ origin at this time will be found to
conform.

The symptoms of the alleged bewitchment were, in all
these cases, monotonously alike. The victims would fall into
fits or convulsions, of a kind which the physicians called in
were unable either to diagnose or to cure. In these fits the
children would commonly call out on the old woman who
was the imaginary cause of their ailment ; would profess, at
times, to see her shape present in the room, and would even
stab at it with knife or other weapon. (In the most con-
clusive cases the record continues that the old woman, being
straightway sought for, would be found attempting to conceal
a corresponding wound on her person.) These fits, which
sometimes lasted, with slight intermission, for weeks together,
would be increased in violence by the approach of the sup-
posed witch; or, as Hutchinson notes,* by the presence of
sympathetic spectators. The fits, as was also commonly
noted by contemporary chroniclers, would diminish or alto-
gether cease when the witch was imprisoned or condemned:
on the other hand, if the supposed witch were released the
victim would continue to suffer horrible tortures, insomuch
that, at the Salem trials, one old woman who had been
acquitted by the jury was, because of the hideous outcry
from the afflicted persons in court, straightway re-tried and
condemned.* The witch's touch would always provoke severe
attacks ; indeed, contact with the witch, or the establishment
of rapport between her and her victim by means of some
garment worn by the latter, as in Mistress Faith Corbet's case,
was generally regarded as an essential prerequisite of the
enchantment. Once this rapport established, the mere look
of the witch, or the direction of her evil will, would suffice.
The afflicted in Salem were, as the Mathers testify, much
tortured in court by the malevolent glances of the poor
wretches on trial ; and two " visionary " girls added greatly
to the weight of the evidence by foretelling, with singular
accuracy, when such or such of the afflicted persons then
present would feel the baleful influence, and howl for anguish.*
It should be added — though the evidence, as we now under-
stand the word, for the fact alleged is of course practically
negligible — that it was commonly reported that the witch's

^ From this generalisation are excluded, of course, all such cases of witch
persecution as were initiated from the outside, by the direct interference of royaI»
priestly, or professional witch-finders.

* Historical Essay ^ p. io6. ' Hutchinson, op, cit,^ p. 79.

* The Wonders of the Invisible World, pp. 139, 215, etc.

POSSESSION AND WITCHCRAFT 23

victim could, although blindfolded, distinguish her tormentor
by the touch alone from all other persons, and could even
foresee her approach and discern her actions at a consider-
able distance.^

The effect of the convulsions and cataleptic attacks, which
modem science would unhesitatingly dismiss as being simply
the result of hysteria, was heightened in many cases by
manifestations of a more material kind. It was a common
feature for the victim to vomit pins, needles, wool, stubble,
and other substances ; or for thorns or needles to be found
embedded in her flesh. In a case recorded by Glanvil an •
hysterical servant girl, Mary Longdon, in addition to the . '
usual fits, vomiting of pins, etc., was tormented by stones
being continually flung at her, which stones when they
fell on the ground straightway vanished. Her master bore
witness in court to the falling of the stones and their miracu-
lous disappearance. Moreover, the same Mary Longdon
would frequentiy be transported by an invisible power to the
top of the house, and there "laid on a board betwixt two
Sollar beams," or would be put into a chest, or half suflbcated
between two feather-beds.^

Gross as these frauds appear to us, it is singular that for
the most part they remained undetected, and even, it would
seem, unsuspected, not merely by the ignorant peasants, for
whose benefit the play was acted in the flrst instance, but
in the larger theatre of a court of law. But there are some
notorious instances of confession or detection. Edmund
Robinson, the boy on whose accusation the Lancashire
witches were tried, subsequently confessed to imposture.
Other youths were detected with blacklead in their mouths
when foaming in sham epileptic fits, colouring their urine
with ink, concealing crooked pins about their persons in
order to vomit them later, scratching the bedposts with their
toes, and surreptitiously eating to repletion during a pre-
tended fast* But commonly the spectators were so convinced
beforehand of the genuineness of such portents that they held
it superfluous to examine the claims of any particular per-
formance of this kind on their credence.

It is difficult to know in such cases where self-deception
ends and where malevolent trickery begins. Nor would the
examination of these bygone outbreaks of hysteria — trivial
in themselves as terrible in their consequences — be of interest

^ Sadducismus Triumphaius^ pp. 286-8, etc.

* Ibid.^ edition of 1726, pp. 313-26.

' Hutchinson, Historical Essay ^ pp. 185-224.

24 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

in the present connection, except for the fact that we find
here the primitive form of those Poltergeist manifestations
which gave the popular impetus in 1848 to the belief in
Modern Spiritualism, and which are still appealed to by
those who maintain the genuineness of the physical mani-
festations of the stance room as instances of similar
phenomena occurring spontaneously. The type remains the
same, though it^ modes of expression have slightly changed.
The neurotic children who, two or three centuries ago,
attracted to themselves the interest of their little world by
posing as martyrs to supernatural malevolence, now minister
to their diseased egotism by professing to be the agents of
spiritual beings or the unconscious vehicles of occult forces.
Pseudo-epileptic fits and vomiting of pins are out of date ;
but throwing of stones and mysterious transportations of
the human subject, as in Mary Longdon's case, occur in many
modern Poltergeists, notably in the historical instance of the
Phelps children at Stratford (Connecticut) in 1850.*

Since, then, this survival from the witchcraft beliefs of the
Middle Ages, in itself insignificant, has assumed adventitious
importance, both from the part which it has demonstrably
played in recent history and from the weight still attached
to the subject by some competent persons, it has seemed
worth while to examine in detail, in the next chapter, some
typical instances of the modern Poltergeist manifestations.

^ Described at length in Book II. chap. i. below.

CHAPTER II
ON POLTERGEISTS

MYSTERIOUS knocks and rappings, accompanied by
throwing of stones, ringing of bells, breaking of
crockery, and other more violent disturbances, have
been commonly reported in all civilised countries for the past
two or three centuries, to go back no further. It is here
proposed, rather for the reasons indicated in the last chapter
than from any exaggerated appreciation of their intrinsic
merits as evidence, to analyse some of the best-known and
most frequently quoted cases of the kind occurring before
1848 for which we have testimony at first hand>

The case to be first quoted goes far to justify the statement
made in the last chapter that the so-called Poltergeist per-
formances in modem times are a direct legacy from the
witchcraft of the Middle Ages. For whilst we have in this
case the same general type of disturbances which characterise
the nineteenth-century cases, there is a seventeenth-century
reference to the malicious action of a supposed wizard, and
the cessation and later renewal of the manifestations are
reported to have shown that singular correspondence with
the condemnation and subsequent escape of the suspected
agent, which forms so marked a feature in the sufferings
of the witch's alleged victims. The evidence offered for the
disturbances, it will be seen, is about on a level with that for
the witchcraft phenomena in general.

' That the reader may have some assurance that the cases analysed in this
chapter have not been chosen as unduly fiivourable to the rationalist interpreta-
tion, I think it well to state that my selection is based on a letter from the
distinguished naturalist. Dr. A. R. Wallace, which appeared in ^<t Journal
of the S.P.R. for February, 1899. ^^' Wallace, in advocating the supernormal
character of the Poltergeist manifestations, quotes nine cases as affording good
evidence ; three of these cases, however, present no first-hand evidence, ana one
occurred after 1848 — the limit assigned in the text. The five remaining cases,
VIS. the Drummer of Tedworth, the Castle of Slawensik, Bealings Bells, Mary
Jobton, and the Wesley Case, are dealt with below.

as

26 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

THE DRUMMER OF TEDWORTH

In March, 1661, John Mompesson, of Tedworth, in the
county of Wilts, caused a certain vagrant drummer to be
arrested and taken before a Justice of the Peace. The drum
was confiscated, and in the middle of April, during Mr.
Mompesson's temporary absence, was taken to his house.
On his return, Mompesson learnt that great noises had been
heard in the house; the noises thereafter came night after
night, in the shape of thumping and drumming. An invisible
drum was constantly heard to beat Roundheads, Cuckolds
and Tat-too, and would also knock at request a given
number. Sometimes the manifestations were accompanied
by "a bloomy noisome smell,'' as of sulphur; also chairs,
boots, a board, and other objects were seen to move across
the room of their own accord ; a bed staff hit the minister
on the leg, but without hurting him ; " the old Gentle-
woman's " clothes were flung about the room, and her Bible
hid in the ashes ; mysterious lights were seen ; the man-
servant was terrified by the vision of " a Great Body with two
red and glaring Eyes"; a gentleman found all his money
turned black in his pockets; and Mompesson's horse was
found one morning with a hind leg fixed so firmly in its
mouth that it was difficult for several men to get it out with
a lever. But the disturbances were especially frequent and
violent in the neighbourhood of the younger children. The
bedsteads would be beaten and shaken as they lay in them,
and a sound of scratching, as with iron talons, would be
heard. Moreover, "it would lift the Children up in their
Beds, follow them from one Room to another, and for a while
haunted none particularly but them." The disturbances
ceased when the drummer was sentenced to transportation,
and recommenced when " I know not how (*tis said by raising
Storms and affrighting the Seamen) he made shift to come
back again."

The whole of the account is given in Glanvil's own words,
but it is founded, as he tells us, partly on the oral relation
of Mr. Mompesson and the other witnesses to him, partly on
Mompesson's letters. There are also extant two letters of
Mompesson's, dated respectively 1672 and 1674. But he
gives in these no detailed confirmation of Glanvil's account ;
indeed, when the second letter was written he expressly says
that he had lent Glanvil's book " for the use of Lord Hollis "
the previous year, and did not know what the account
contained. Glanvil first published his narrative, as we learn

ON POLTERGEISTS 27

from the Preface to the third edition of Sadducismus
Triumphatus^ in 1668. It had been in part written some
years previously, but not apparently from full notes, for only
two precise dates are given in the whole narrative. But even
if we assume that Glanvil had accurately put down, possibly
some years later, all that he had heard from Mompesson and
others, it does not amount to much ; for it does not appear
that Mompesson himself witnessed any of the more
marvellous incidents — ^the drops of blood, the chairs moving
by themselves, •* the Great Body with two red and glaring
Eyes," and all the rest of it These things were witnessed
by neighbours, by men-servants, by a " Roomfull of People,"
or by an undistributed " they." So that Glanvil's account of
them may be third hand or tenth hand The only first-hand
account which we have is Glanvil's own. Glanvil paid one
visit to the house "about this time" — the last date given
on the previous page being January loth, 1662. Glanvil's
account of all he saw and heard is, in brief, as follows : On
hearing from a maid-servant that " it was come," he, with Mr.
Mompesson and another, went up to a bedroom ; ** there were
two little modest Girls in the Bed, between seven and eleven
Years old, as I guest" Glanvil heard a scratching in the bed
" as loud as one with long Nails could make upon a Bolster."
This lasted for half an hour and more, and Glanvil could not
discover the cause ; it was succeeded by a panting, like a dog,
accompanied by movements in the bedding; also the
windows shook ; also Glanvil saw a movement in a '' Linnen
Bs^ " that hung against another bed, but was not apparently
sufficiently sure of the accuracy of his observation to men-
tion this incident in the first (1668) edition. P'urther,
Glanvil was aroused by an untimely knocking next morning ;
and his horse fell ill on the way home, and died two or three
days later.^

I pass over the Cock Lane ghost (1762), because though
wc may admit with Mr. Lang^ that the so-called "exposure"
was inconclusive — no exposure in matters of this kind ever
is conclusive — not even Mr. Lang can persuade us that, apart
frt>m the pleasing literary aroma that pervades it, the case
presented for us in contemporary newspaper gossip is worthy
our serious consideration. Nor need we linger over the
Stockwell case (1772). It is true that the evidence here is
first hand ; but for practical purposes it is of little value.

^ Sadducismus Triumpkaius^ by Joseph Glanvil, F.R.S. ; third edition, 1689.
Abo Prefiice to second part, containing two letters from Mompesson.
' Cock Lasu and Comnicn Sens^ pp. 161-70. London, 1894.

28 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

Six persons signed a general statement of the disturbances,
setting forth that various articles of furniture, crockery, pickle
jars, and so on were thrown about and broken, without any
apparent cause for the movements. The narrative does not
explicitly state that any of the six persons saw any particular
thing done, and collective testimony in such matters is as
vain a thing as collective responsibility in another sphere.
But we may no doubt accept the statement that five pails
were filled with the fragments of the broken china, and that
the servant girl, Ann Robinson, a young woman of twenty,
betrayed a surprising restlessness, being always present on
the scene of action and walking backwards and forwards the
whole time.^

THE CASTLE OF SLAWENSIK

Councillor Hahn and a friend, a young ofHcer named
Charles Kern, spent some months in the winter of 1806-7
in the lonely Castle of Slawensik, in Silesia. Shortly after
their arrival — apparently in December, 1806 — various dis-
turbances broke out : bits of lime fell or were thrown about
the room ; then strange noises were heard ; knives, spoons,
snuffers, and all manner of small objects were flung about ;
occasionally objects were seen to rise from the table and fall
on to the ground. The disturbances lasted for about two
months, and the nuisance finally became so great that the
young men had to move to other apartments.

The disturbances are said to have been witnessed by two
other officers and various other reputable persons whose
names are given, but we have only one account, written by
Councillor Hahn on November 19th, 1808, and by him given
to Kerner in 1828. From the fact that no dates are given it
may be inferred that Hahn did not keep notes — at any rate,
not accurate notes. There is no apparent reason for doubt-
ing Hahn's honesty, but his studies of Kant and Fichte are
no guarantee of his competence as a witness. In any case,
his unsupported testimony, given eighteen months or more
after the events, is not good evidence, even for things which
he saw, or believed himself to see, with his own eyes. But
many of the marvels are only given at second hand. It was
the dauntless Kern v/ko saw in the glass the white figure of a
woman looking at him ; Hahn stood before the glass for a

^ The authority for the Stockwell ghost is a contemporary pamphlet entitled
An Authentic^ Candid^ and Circumstantial NarrcUivt of the Astottisking Transact
tions at StockweU, etc. London, 1772. The account is quoted by Mrs. Crowe,
Aightside of Nature^ third edition, pp. 412, etc.

ON POLTERGEISTS 29

quarter of an hour and saw only his own reflection. It was
Kern, again, who saw the white dog ; Hahn only heard the
dog's footsteps. Again, it was Kern and Hahn's servant,
during Hahn's absence at Breslau, who saw a jug of beer
rise from the table, as if lifted by an invisible hand, and pour
out a glass half full, and the glass then raise itself in the air
and tilt its contents (which disappeared without leaving a
trace) down an invisible throat In default of corroborative
evidence of any kind from the other witnesses, it seems not
improbable that the whole affair was an elaborate practical
joke at Hahn's expense. ^

BEALINGS BELLS

On the 2nd of February, 1834, the housebells at Healings,
near Woodbridge, in Suffolk, the residence of Major Moor,
F.R.S., began to ring violently — sometimes singly, sometimes
three or more together — without any apparent cause. They
continued so to ring at intervals until the 27th March,
when the disturbances finally ceased. The cause was never
discovered.

The evidence for this singular outbreak is at first hand ; it
is practically contemporaneous, being based on notes made
at the time and written out in full at intervals within a few
days of the occurrences ; the witness is a Fellow of the Royal
Society, who devoted, on his own showing, much time and
ingenuity to the search for a cause for the manifestations,
and who recorded with scrupulous care the atmospheric con-
ditions and the readings of barometer and thermometer
during their progress.

If the evidence then fails to impress us as it undoubtedly
impressed Major Moor, it is because Major Moor himself
gives us good cause for distrusting his competence as a
witness. He is practically the sole witness, and from the
outset he had made up his mind, not only that the phenomena
could not be explained, as he justly points out, by "the
known laws of the electric theory" or the expansion of
metals by rise of temperature, but that they were inexplicable
by any cause known to science; for on February 5th, 1834
— that is, three days after the bell-ringing began — he writes :
" I am thoroughly convinced that the ringing is by no human
agency" (p. 5), and later (p. 22) he repeats his conviction that
the bells " were not rung by any mortal hand."

* DU Sehirin van Prtvarst^ edition of 1832, vol. ii. pp. 236-53. A translation
of Hahn's account is given by Mrs. Crowe \Th€ Seeress of Prevcrsi),

30 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

That this conviction rested on grounds wholly insufficient,
and that Major Moor was the kind of man who could make
a strong-sounding statement of this kind without fully
realising its meaning, is shown by the fact that in the
interval (p. 9) he had admitted the possibility of the bell-
ringing being due to trickery. But he gives us other and
stronger grounds for discounting his testimony. Though
he devoted many pages to describing the courses and the
attachments of the wires, the state of the atmosphere, and
so on, Major Moor never tells us of whom his household
consisted, and never describes a single occasion on which,
when they were all gathered together in his presence, the bell-
ringing occurred. He boasts, indeed, that he took no such
precautions against trickery. A writer in the Ipswich Journal
had made the sensible suggestion that Major Moor should
begin his investigations by gathering all his household into
one room and posting trustworthy friends round about the
house. Major Moor, in quoting the letter, adds, " I did not in
any way follow the advice therein offered."

Major Moor's testimony is freely quoted by Spiritualists
and other advocates of the Poltergeist theory ; but in fact the
book might plausibly be interpreted as a gentle satire on
those who are ready, on such evidence as that here offered,
to believe in supernormal or even unfamiliar agencies.^

MARY JOBSON

Mary Jobson was a child of twelve or thirteen, who at the
latter end of 1839 was smitten with a mysterious malady, the
most prominent symptoms of which were bloodshot eyes,
constipation, swelling of the abdomen, occasional convul-
sions, and the occurrence of insensitive areas on the body.
The phenomena occurring in her presence consisted chiefly
of raps and knocks, the opening and shutting of doors, and
beautiful music ; occasionally water was mysteriously thrown
on the floor, and astronomical designs on one occasion made
their appearance on the ceiling of the bed-chamber. The
case is recorded by Dr. Reid Clanny, F.R.S.

Dr. Clanny himself, indeed, neither saw nor heard any-
thing of the alleged phenomena. Of the five medical men,
besides Dr. Clanny, mentioned by name as having visited the
girl during her illness, two only, Mr. R. B. Embleton and
Mr. Drury, both young men, have given an account of what

* Bealings Bells: an Account of the Mysterious Ringing of Bells ^ etc., etc., by
Major £. Moor, F.R.S. Woodbridge, 1 841.

ON POLTERGEISTS 31

they witnessed. Neither saw anything out of the way ; but
both heard knocks and loud scratchings — apparently on the
foot of the wooden bedstead in which the child lay. Dr.
Drury on one occasion, calling on the child after her recovery,
heard at her suggestion " most exquisite " music. His account
of the manifestation is as follows : (I experienced) '* much
difficulty in drawing her into conversation, but at last she
suddenly exclaimed, 'Oh, what music!' and on listening I
distinctly heard most exquisite music, which continued during
the time I might count a hundred." Dr. Drury does not give
the date of this incident, and the letter from which the above
extract is taken is dated simply " Sunday morning, 2 a.m."
It was certainly written some time after the occurrence.*

On another occasion Mr. Embleton was specially invited
to hear "the voice." This voice, which Mr. Embleton de-
scribes as realising his ideas of angelic sweetness, dictated
as follows : " I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out
of the land of Egypt, etc ... I am the physician of the
soul. . . . This is a miracle wrought on earth. . . . Mark, I
am thy God sounding out of the heavens," etc. The knocks,
the throwing about of water, and so on, which are described
by the other eleven witnesses, all of whom were apparently
superstitious villagers, so illiterate in some cases as to be
unable to write, appear to have been simply the puerile
trickeries of a mischievous girl.

A remarkable feature in the case is the occurrence of
visions, like some of those attested in witchcraft trials, which
are best to be explained as hallucinations either of sense or
memory. Thus one witness testifies to having seen the figure
of a lamb passing, unseen by all others, through the house ;
and three witnesses, two of them a husband and wife, quite
illiterate, recount that at the child's bidding they looked up
at the ceiling of her room and saw there a beautiful repre-
sentation of the sun, moon, and stars '' in a variety of pleas-
ing and brilliant colours."^ From another witness we learn
that the colours were green, yellow, and orange. As no
reference is made to this vision by any member of the family
who were said to have been present, and as no trace of it
apparently remained on the ceiling, it is difficult to suppose
that it had any objective foundation.

The ailment, which baffled all the physicians (or rather
the three physicians who have written about the case), was

* It appears onl^ in the second edition of Dr. Clanny's pamphlet.

* The wording is apparently that of Dr. Clanny, who wrote down the account,
as the actual witnesses were unable to do so.

32 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

as obviously hysterical as " the voices " were blasphemous ;
the cure was as mysterious as the disease. After eight
months of dropsy and convulsions (Dr. Embleton), brain
disease (Dr. Clanny), intolerable torture (all the witnesses),
she suddenly turned her sympathising relatives out of the
room, dressed herself in a quarter of an hour, and was com-
pletely restored to health. Dr. Clanny's enthusiastic belief
in the genuineness of the case may perhaps have been due
to the fact that the girl (amongst whose affable spirits were
the Virgin Mary and a large circle of apostles and martyrs)
told him that his name had been favourably mentioned to
her at different times by Jesus Christ, St. Paul, and St. Peter.
Dr. Clanny quotes this amazing statement in all seriousness.^

THE EPWORTH CASE

I have reserved until the last what is at once the most fully
authenticated case in the literature of the subject and the
most instructive for those who read with understanding — the
disturbances in the Parsonage at Epworth, the birthplace of
John Wesley. The main disturbances lasted with intervals
for two months, December and January, 17 16-17, with occa-
sional outbreaks after that date. The record consists (i) of
letters written to Samuel Wesley (John's elder brother) by
his mother and his two sisters, Susannah and Emilia. These
letters are dated January, February, and March, 17 17, that
is, within a few weeks of the disturbances. (2) A copy of
an account written by Samuel Wesley (John's father). The
copy was made by Samuel Wesley, the son, in 1730, from
a copy made by John Wesley in 1726. (3) Letters written
by Mrs. Wesley and four of her daughters to John Wesley
in the summer and autumn of 1726, more than nine years
after the occurrences. The evidence comprised under (i),
(2), and (3) was first published in 1791 by Priestley. A copy
of the letters and diary in the handwriting of Samuel Wesley
(John's brother) had been given to Priestley, as he explains,
by the Rev. S. Badcock, who had himself received the MSS.
from a granddaughter of Samuel Wesley. * (4) An account
compiled in 1726 by John Wesley from the letters and from
conversation with some of the other spectators, and published
in the Arminian Magazine,

^ A Faithful Record of the Miraculous Case of Mary Jobson^ by Dr. W. Rcid
Clannv, f.r^s. Monkwearmouth, 1841.

^ Original Letters by the Rev. John Wesley and his Friends^ by Joseph
Priestley, LL.D., F.R.S., 1791.

ON POLTERGEISTS 33

A. First-hcmd Contemporary Accounts.

We will take first the contemporary letters and diary, and
in the first instance we will consider only the statements
made by the actual eye- or rather ear-witnesses of the things
described. Mrs. Wesley writes on January I2th, 17 17, that,
banning from an early date in December, she heard
unaccountable knockings, mostly in the garret or the
nursery: —

" One night it made such a noise in the room over our heads as
if several people were walking; then run up and down stairs, and
was so outrageous, that we thought the children would be frightened,
so your father and I rose and went down in the dark to light a
candle. Just as we came to the bottom of the broad stairs, having
hold of each other, on my side there seemed as if somebody had
emptied a ba^ of money at my feet, and on his as if all the bottles
under the stairs (which were many) had been dashed in a thousand
pieces. We passed through the hall into the kitchen, and got a
candle and went to see the children. The next night your father
would get Mr. Hoole to lie at our house, and we all sat together till
one or two o'clock in the morning, and heard the knocking as usual.
Sometimes it would make a noise like the winding up of a jack ; at
other times, as that night Mr. Hoole was with us, like a carpenter
plaining deals ; but most commonly it knocked thrice and stopped,
and then thrice again, and so many hours together."

That is practically all that Mrs. Wesley relates of her own
personal experience.

There are two letters from Miss Susannah Wesley, dated
January 24th and March 27th. In the first she records her
own experience as follows : —

"The first night I ever heard it, my sister Nancy and I were set
in the dining-room. We heard something rustle on the outside of
the doors that opened into the garden, then three loud knocks,
immediately after other three, and in half a minute the same number
Offer our heads. We enquired whether anybody had been in the
garden, or in the room above us, but there was nobody. Soon after
my sister Molly and I were up after all the family were abed, except
my sister Nancy, about some business. We heard three bouncing
thumps under our feet, which soon made us throw away our work
and tumble into bed. Afterwards the tingling of the latch and
warming-pan, and so it took its leave that night.

''Soon after the above-mentioned we heard a noise as if a great
I»eoe of sounding metal was thrown down on the outside of our
chamber^ We, lying in the quietest part of the house, heard less
Ifaao the rest for a pretty while, but the latter end of the night that

34 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

Mr. Hoole sat up on, I lay in the nursery, where it was very violent.
I then heard frequent knocks over and under the room where I lay,
and at the children's bed head, which was made of boards. It
seemed to rap against it very hard and loud, so that the bed shook
under them. I heard something walk by my bedside, like a man
in a long nightgown. The knocks were so loud that Mr. Hoole
came out of their chamber to us. It still continued. My father
spoke, but nothing answered. It ended that night with my father's
particular knock, very fierce. It is now pretty quiet, only at our
repeating the prayers for the King and prince, when it usually begins,
especially when my father says: 'Our most gracious Sovereign
Lord,' etc. This my father is angry at, and designs to say thru
instead of two for the royal family. We all heard the same noise,
and at the same time, and as coming from the same place."

There is one letter from Miss Emily, undated, but obviously
written at about this time. She describes various noises,
more particularly groans, the sound as of " a vast coal " being
thrown down in the kitchen ; the sound as of a stone being
thrown in among the bottles under the " best ** stairs ; " some-
thing like a quick winding up of a jack at the comer of the
room by my bed's head " ; knocks on the floor and elsewhere,
mostly three times running.

The account by old Mr. Wesley was apparently in great
part written very shortly after the disturbances. It is not,
however, dated ; and it is clearly not a day by day record, as
in a diary, for he is occasionally uncertain of the exact dates,
and tlie account is mostly written as a continuous narrative.
Mr. Wesley was the last to hear the noises, though he had
been told what other members of the family had heard. On
December 2ist he was awakened by nine loud knocks,
apparently in the room next to his bedroom. Two or three
nights later Mr. and Mrs. Wesley were both aroused by the
loud and continuous noises, and searched the house, with the
result already described in her narrative.

Thereafter he frequently heard the knocks ; they answered
him when he rapped with his stick knock for knock ; they
came on the children's bedstead, in his own study, and in
almost every room in the house ; they would make a great
noise at family prayers at the names of King George and
the Prince. He often spoke, but never received any articulate
answer, " only once or twice two or three very feeble squeaks,
a little louder than the chirping of a bird, but not like the
noise of rats, which I have often heard." Often the latch of
his bedroom would be lifted when he was in bed. Finally,
he records : '* I have been thrice pushed by an invisible

ON POLTERGEISTS 35

power, once against the corner of my desk in the study,
a second time against the door of the matted chamber, a
third time against the right side of the frame of my study
door as I was going in."

B. Second-hand Contemporary Accounts.

These are all the experiences which are given in the earlier
accounts at first hand. We will now turn to the contem-
porary second-hand evidence. Emily Wesley tells us that
her sister Hetty heard coming down the stairs behind her
*' something like a man, in a loose nightgown trailing after
him"; that the knocks would answer Mrs. Wesley if she
stamped on the floor and bid them do likewise; that Mrs.
Wesley had seen something under a bed "like a badger,
only without any head that was discernible"; and that Robin
Brown, the man-servant, had seen the same creature twice,
the last time in the appearance of a white rabbit

Miss Susannah adds, under date March 27th, 1717 : —

" Last Sunday, to my father's no small amazement, his trencher
danced upon the table a pretty while without anybody's stirring the
table."

Mr. Wesley has also much to say of the experiences of
others : that Mrs. Wesley had seen a thing " most like a
badger"; that ''one night when the noise was great in the
kitchen, and on a deal partition, and the door in the yard,
the latch whereof was often lift up, my daughter Emilia went
and held it fast on the inside, but it was lifted up, and the
door pushed violently against her, though nothing was to be
seen on the outside"; and that Robin Brown saw "some-
thing come out of the copper-hole like a rabbit, but less."

C Later First-hand Accounts,

To turn now to the letters written in 1726. Mrs. Wesley
adds to the account which she had given nine years before,
that on one occasion the sounds answered her when she
knocked ; that at another time, " Upon my looking under the
bed, something ran out pretty much like a badger"; and
gives the following variant of the noises heard on the
nocturnal journey round the house, undertaken by herself and
Mr. Wesley : —

" Near the foot (of the stairs) a large pot of money seemed to be
poured out at my waist, and to run jingling down my nightgown to

36 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

my feet. Presently after we heard the noise as of a vast stone
thrown among several dozen of bottles which lay under the stairs,
but upon our looking no hurt was done. In the hall the mastiff met
us, crying and striving to get between us."

Thus, in the later version the one sound, diversely in-
terpreted, has become two successive sounds, and various
decorative details — the jingling down the nightgown, the
search among the bottles, the fright of the mastifT — have been
added.

So sister Emily, in the later account, adopts and enlarges
upon the description already given in her father's account
(but wanting in her own earlier letter) of seeing the latch of
the kitchen door move, and finding the door itself resist her
efforts to shut it. So in sister Susannah's later account,
what had been described in her earlier letter as " the tingling
of the latch and warming-pan," is now amplified into *' the
latch of the door then jarred, and seemed to be swiftly moved
to and fro."

Sister Molly and sister Nancy (who were not represented
in the earlier correspondence) also gave accounts of their
experiences to their brother Jack in 1726. From the latter's
account, which is written in the third person, apparently as
representing John Wesle/s notes of a conversation with her,
the following extract may be quoted : —

" One night she (Nancy) was sitting on the press bed, playing at
cards with four of my sisters, when my sisters Molly, Etty (Hetty ?),
Patty, and Kezzy were in the room, and Robert Brown. The bed
on which my sister Nancy sat was lifted up with her on it She
leaped down and said, ' Surely old Jeffery would not run away with
her.' However, they persuaded her to sit down again, which she
had scarce done when it was again lifted up several times successively,
a considerable height."

This incident is not mentioned by Molly, or indeed by any
of the others.

Lastly, we have an account given by Robin Brown, the
servant, in 1726, to John Wesley, confirming the story of
the white rabbit, already quoted, and adding this new in-
cident : —

" Soon after, being grinding com in the garrets, and happening to
stop a little, the handle of the mill was turned round with great
swiftness. He said nothing vexed him but that the mill was empty.
If com had been in it, old Jeffery might have ground his heart out
for him."

ON POLTERGEISTS 37

John Wesle)^s own account, based apparently exclusively —
since he was not himself a witness of any of the phenomena
— on the correspondence and on conversations with his family
and others in 1726, it is not necessary to consider at length.
It introduces, however, one or two sensational details, such as
his father's threatening the unseen author of the disturbances
with a pistol, which find no place in the earlier narratives.

Now a record of this kind suggests two questions : First, What
precisely are the things to be explained ? Second, What may
the explanation be ? Most of the writers who, from the days
of Glanvil, have formed from a mass of similar narratives
collections of supernatural seemings, have, as already shown,
passed at once to the second question, and have found the
search for a solution so fascinating that they have never
returned to look for an answer to that indispensable pre-
liminary inquiry. Let us in this instance reverse the
customary procedure, and ask first. What are the things to
be explained in the Wesley case? To begin with, we are
not called upon to explain what it was that made the handle
of the mill turn round, to the amazement and chagrin of
Robin Brown. The real problem is a simpler, if also a less
alluring one — to find out, to wit, what made Robin Brown
believe, nine years after, that he had seen the handle of the
mill move. Again, we have got to ask, not what was the
badger-like form which Mrs. Wesley saw, but how it came
about that Mrs. Wesley's husband and daughter, in 17 17, and
Mrs. Wesley herself, in 1726, testified that she had seen such
a form. Nor need the vagaries of Mr. Wesley's trencher, nor
Robin Brown's spectre somewhat like a white rabbit, nor
the door which resisted the stoutest efforts of Emilia, perplex
us. The problem, in fact, as now simplified is to search for
a rational explanation of various noises, suggesting, indeed,
an intelligent, but not obviously a supernormal origin, which
disturbed the Wesley household for a couple of months
in 1716-17.

Old Samuel Wesley had at the time seven daughters
living, of whom two, Patty and Keziah, were children, and
five were, apparently, sufficiently grown up to write letters.
Of these five, two are represented in the earlier correspondence,
four in the later. One only, Hetty (Mehetabel), has con-
tributed no account at all. There is no obvious reason for
this silence, for Hetty, as we learn from John Wesley's
account, was nineteen at the time. • She had apparently
undertaken to write, but failed to carry out her promise;^ and,

^ See Miss Susannah's letter of March 27th, 1717.

38 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

by the testimony of all those concerned, she seems to have
enjoyed more of Jeffery's attention than any other member of
the household. Consider, for instance, these extracts from
the correspondence: —

Mrs. Wesley writes, January 25th and 27th, 17 17: "All
the family, as well as Robin, were asleep when your father
and I went downstairs (on the nocturnal exploration already
described), nor did they wake in the nursery when we held
the candle close by them, only we observed that Hetty
trembled exceedingly in her sleep, as she always did before
the noise awaked her. It commonly was nearer her than
the rest" Or again, this extract from Miss Emily's letter
(17 17): "No sooner was I got upstairs, and undressing for
bed, but I heard a noise among many bottles that stand
under the best stairs, just like the throwing of a great stone
among them, which had broken them all to pieces. This
made me hasten to bed; but my sister Hetty, who sits
always to wait on my father going to bed, was still sitting on
the lowest step of the garret stairs."

And again : '* It never followed me as it did my sister
Hetty. I have been with her when it has knocked under her,
and when she has removed has followed, and still kept just
under her feet."

Again, in Mrs. Wesley's later account, after describing loud
noises which they heard in their bedroom, she writes:
"Mr. Wesley leapt up, called Hetty, who alone was up, and
searched every room in the house."

In sister Susannah's later account: "Presently began
knocking about a yard within the room on the floor. It then
came gradually to sister Hetty's bed, who trembled strongly
in her sleep. It beat very loud, three strokes at a time, on
the bed's head."

And, once more, in John Wesley's version of Mr. Hoole's
experience : " When we " {ue, Mr. Wesley and Mr. Hoole)
" came into the nursery it was knocking in the next room ;
when we were there it was knocking in the nursery, and there
it continued to knock, though we came in, particularly at the
head of the bed (which was of wood), in which Miss Hetty
and two of her younger sisters lay."

After the perusal of these extracts. Miss Hetty's inexplic-
able reticence seems more than ever to be deplored. Perhaps
the conjunction of this reticence with Miss Hetty's singular
habit of trembling in a sound sleep when loud noises were
going on all round her, and with the notable predilection
shown by the Poltergeists for her person, is not in itself

ON POLTERGEISTS 39

sufficient, in the absence of fuller details, to justify the charge
of trickery against her ; but it hardly seems worth while to /
inquire whether the noises which perplexed the Wesley /^'
family did indeed proceed from a supernormal source.^

Those who are familiar with the history of geology will
remember that it has frequently happened that naturalists
have been puzzled by some stray bone, tooth, or other frag-
ment which seemed for a time not to belong to any known
organic type, and to foreshadow an impossible, or at least
a paradoxical monster; until later research, by bringing to
light a complete skeleton, resolved the difficulties and showed
that the anomalous fragment fitted into the general scheme.
Now the Wesley narrative is like the complete skeleton of
the pterodactyl or the dinosaur. Nearly all other Poltergeist
narratives are mere organic fragments. For the most part
the evidence is so imperfect that we infer a monstrosity ;
it is only when, as here, we find the case complete, that
our monstrosity proves to be a harmless but instructive
Saurian.

But to drop the metaphor, the Wesley case indicates
pretty clearly that the main reason for the apparently in-
explicable element in these narratives is the defect of the
evidence. When we have only second-hand accounts, or
accounts written down months or years after the events, as
in Glanvil's and Hahn's narratives, or accounts from un-
educated or irresponsible persons, as in Mary Jobson's case,
we find an abundance of marvellous incidents ; when, as here,
we have almost contemporary accounts at first hand from
sober-minded witnesses, the element of the marvellous is
reduced to a minimum. But the peculiarly instructive feature
of the Wesley case is that we can see how the witnesses,
whilst in the earlier letters they narrate of their own personal
experience only comparatively tame and uninteresting
episodes, allow their imaginations to embellish the ex-

' The Spiritualist writers contend that the Wesley Poltergeist continued to
manifest for more than a generation later. The inference is founded on a single
passage in a single letter of Emily Wesley's, dated February i6th, i75o» given in
Adam Clarke's Menwirs of the Wesley Family (London, 1823, p. 195). The
passage runs as follows : *' Another thing is that wonderful thing called by us
Jeflery. You won't laugh at me for being superstitious if I tell you how certainly
that something calls on me against any extraordinary new affliction ; but so little
is known of the invisible world, that I at least am not able to judge whether it
be a friendly or an evil spirit. '*

It will be seen that the writer does not even mention in what form the spirit
" caUed *' ; and it seems probable that the warnings referred to may have been
purely subjective. At any rate, no reason is given for assimilating them to the
earlier disturbances.

40 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

periences of other members of the household; and that
these same embellishments, nine years later ^ are incorporated
in the first-hand accounts as genuine items of personal
experience.

I have elsewhere dealt with the results of the investiga-
tion by the Society for Psychical Research of some recent
British Poltergeist cases.^

The conclusions drawn from those investigations may be
briefly summarised as follows : —

1. We have positive evidence, by confession or detection,
or both, that in some cases tricky little g^irls or boys have
thrown about the crockery and upset the kitchen furniture
with their own hands, whilst the onlookers have accepted the
portent as a manifestation of supernormal powers.

2. We have, speaking broadly, no good evidence for any-
thing having been done which could not have been done
by a girl or boy of slightly more than the average cunning
and naughtiness.

3. In the few cases where the records are sufficiently full
to admit of such a comparison being made, it is found that
when second-hand accounts and first-hand accounts of the
same incidents are compared, or when accounts written down
long afterwards are compared with accounts written down at
the time, or accounts given by an excitable and ignorant
witness with those of an educated and competent observer,
the more marvellous features which appear in the one set of
reports are almost or altogether wanting in the other.

4. The author or centre of the disturbances is nearly
always a child, generally a young girl; and the outbreak
is very often associated with some abnormality or disease
on her part In no case that I have yet seen recorded has
any adequate or intelligible motive beyond that of mere
childish vanity and love of excitement been assigned for the
performance.

The peculiar difficulty of investigating the ordinary Polter-
geist is that the phenomena cannot as a rule be produced to
order ; and that any insistence on conditions or even betrayal
of suspicion is liable to stop them altogether. The Polter-
geist is a delicate organism, which flourishes only in a
favourable environment Actual exposure of the fraud
practised becomes therefore extremely difficult; and as a
matter of fact, in many of the recorded instances, as with
Major Moor in the Bealings Bells case, those who attest the

^ Proceedings S, P, R,^ vol. xii. pp. 45-115. Studies in Psychical R^semrch^
chap. V.

ON POLTEEGEISTS 41

phenomena seem to have made up their minds from the out-
set that they were privil^ed to witness, if not something
supernatural, at least something which the known laws of
physics would not explain. There are, however, a few re-
corded cases of ''electric" g^rls, which form a partial ex-
ception to this rule, inasmuch as the manifestations recurred
in their presence with tolerable regularity, and investigation
was therefore within certain limits practicable. Cases of this
kind possess a special interest for us, since they furnish an
illustration of the development of the Polteigeist perform-
ance into the phenomena of the s6ance-room. The best-
known instance is Angelique Cottin, who practised in Paris
at the beginning of 1846.

Angelique was a peasant girl of fourteen living in a small
village near Mortagne, in Normandy.^ On the evening of
January 15th, 1846, when she was engaged with three other
girls in weaving gloves, the frame at which they were work-
ing began to jump about The movement was soon seen to
be connected with Angelique, though apparently there was
no conscious agency on her part, nor any visible connection
between her and the object moved. The mere touch of her
garments, or even the approach of her hand, seemed to be
sufficient to move heavy pieces of furniture, or to throw
scissors or light articles across the room. The matter was
investigated by the cur6, to whom the girl was taken in the
first instance under suspicion of witchcraft, and by various
local celebrities. Finally, her parents, willing to profit by the
curiosity excited by these mysterious movements, brought
the child to Paris. There Dr. Tanchou, happening in to his
bookseller's one morning, heard of the prodigy, and straight-
way investigated. His observations are summarised as
follows: Chairs and sofas held down by one or more men,
exerting all their strength, were violently forced away when
Angelique sat down on them ; a heavy table was moved
from its place by the mere contact of her petticoats ; a small
piece of paper would at her approach be blown away or
made to rotate upon a pin thrust through it ; balls of pith
or of feathers hung upon a silken thread would be alternately
attracted or repelled by the force emanating from her body ;
she could distinguish by the touch between the poles of a
magnet, the north pole giving her a shock, whilst the south
pole exercised no effect It was reported further that a

^ The account which follows of Angelique Cottin is taken from a contemporary
pamphlet, Enqufte sur Vauthenticiii des pfUnanihus iUctriques (TAngtliqfu
Cfifin, par le f>r. Taochou. Paris, 1S46.

42 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

magnetic needle would be violently agitated in her presence.
Dr. Tanchou sometimes noticed a cold wind, like a breeze
upon his hands, during the progress of the phenomena.

All this Tanchou reported to Arago, who himself took the
girl to his observatory, and there witnessed violent move-
ments of a chair held by two of his colles^ues. Arago
reported to the Academy of Sciences, which straightway
nominated a Commission of six, amongst whom were Arago
himself, Becquerel, and Isidore GeofTroy St. Hilaire, to in-
vestigate and report further. Three weeks later, at the
sitting of the 9th March, 1846, the Commission reported.
They found that the magnetic needle experienced no dis-
turbance in the girl's presence, and that the girl herself was
not able to distinguish between the north and south poles of
the magnet ; the only phenomena which the Commission had
observed were the sudden and violent movements of a chair
on which the girl was sitting. They were not satisfied, how-
ever, that these movements were not due to muscular force ;
but, after they had expressed their doubts on the point, the
girl's manager reported that the power had temporarily
waned : and no further opportunity had since been offered
for investigation. Thus far the Commission.

Tanchou, Hubert de Gamay, and other persons remained
convinced that the phenomena testified to the operation of
some new force, probably electrical in its nature. But no
evidence is offered for this conclusion that will bear examina-
tion. And even in the naively sympathetic reports from
himself and his friends that Tanchou prints there are many
observations which are singularly suggestive of fraud. It
was constantly observed, for instance, that the contact of the
girl's garments, particularly the lower extremity of her petti-
coats, was necessary to the production of the phenomena ; ^
and several observers noticed, in connection with the throw-
ing about of chairs and other objects, that there was a double
movement on the part of the girl, a movement first in the
direction of the object thrown, and afterwards away from it,
the first movement being so rapid that it generally escaped
detection.^

The contact of the lower edge of the petticoats with the
object moved recalls the similar proceeding reported of the
Italian medium, Eusapia Paladino ;' whilst the violent move-
ment of a chair in opposition to the efforts of the men who
tried to hold it down is curiously like the feats of skill and

» op. n't., p. 14. ^ Pages 3, 21, etc.

' See below, Book IV. chap- *•

ON POLTERGEISTS 43

streng^th performed in recent years by a Mrs. Abbott, who
styled herself the " Little Georgia Magnet"*

We read that a few years earlier, in 1839, ^^o "electric"
girls from Smyrna, whose phenomena seem to have closely
resembled those of Angelique Cottin, had landed at Marseilles
with the intention of giving public performances, but found
that the atmosphere of France was too humid to admit of the
display of their powers.* There are accounts of other " electric "
girls in the early literature of American Spiritualism.

^ See a report on her performances by Professor Oliver Lodge {.Journal
S, P, J?., voL V. pp. 168, 169). Mrs. Abbott's performances, though Professor
Lodge shows that tnev could all be explained by tne deft exercise of the muscles,
combined with some knowledge of human nature, seem for a time to have com-
pletely baffled the Press and the public.

' From the suxount given in the Boston Weekly Magazine^ December 28th,
1S39, quoted by Rogers, Philosophy of Mysterious Agents ^ p. 100.

CHAPTER III
THE SYMPATHETIC SYSTEM

THE men who, because of the theory of physical
effluence which informed all the speculations of the
Animal Magnetisers, rejected the genuine phenomena
of the induced trance, were, no doubt, justified in their
suspicions of the theory. For, in fact, not only did Mesmer
borrow his theories ready-made from earlier mystics, but even
the name " magnetic " was in common use in tJie seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries to denote the sympathetic system
of medicine which was founded on those mystical doctrines.
Paracelsus is commonly reputed to be the founder of this
magnetic philosophy. He did, indeed, employ the actual
magnet in medicine, recommending its use, inasmuch as it
attracted martial humours, in fluxes, inflammatory diseases,
hysteria, and epilepsy. But with Paracelsus the " magnet "
was commonly spoken of in a metaphorical sense, and with
his later disciples its actual use in therapeutics seems to have
been almost entirely discontinued. Maxwell, in his treatise
De Medicina Magnetica, hardly mentions the magnet at all ;
and Fludd uses it simply as illustrating by its behaviour
the interaction of living bodies in the sympathetic system.
In brief, the mystics of this period regarded the magnet less
as possessing a special virtue in itself than as presenting in
miniature a picture of the forces which governed the universe.
The action of the magnet at a distance was ascribed to a
force or fluid — for its exact nature is usually left undefined —
radiating from its substance ; and a like force is inferred to
radiate from the stars, from the human body, and from all
substances in the universe: each body thus reciprocally
aflecting and being aflected by all the rest Moreover, these
rays were not lifeless or fortuitous, but were guided in their
incidence and their operations by the indwelling spirit of
the body from which they proceeded — a spirit of which
the stream of light or other palpable rays formed merely

44

THE SYMPATHETIC SYSTEM 45

the gross vehicle. Thus Fludd writes : " The Etheriall
Sperm, or Astralicall influences, are of a far subtiler con-
dition than is the vehicle of visible light ... It is not
the starry light which penetrateth so deeply, or operateth
so universally, but the Eternal Centrall Spirit" ^

Again, the duality of the forces resident in the magnet
was interpreted as typifying the dual or reciprocal action
which, manifesting itself as flux and reflux, light and dark-
ness, heat and cold, masculine and feminine, systole and
diastole, centrifugal and centripetal force, formed die rhythm
of the material universe.

Further, the man himself was understood to be a micro-
cosm, or miniature reflection of the whole complex world ;
as Fludd puts it, ** Man containeth in himself no otherwise
his heavens, circles, poles, and stars, than the great world
doth."* It followed, therefore, that man comprised in his
body the virtues of a magnet ; nay, that his body, like this
planet, was one lai^e magnet, though philosophers differed
as to the exact disposition of the corporeal poles. Moreover,
any substance, especially any living thing, to which was
imparted of the body of the living man, or even any of his
waste products, such as sweat and the clippings of the nails
or hair, became indued with the like magnetic properties.'
And from the living tissues of the man, or from such waste
products, could be compounded a magnet of wondrous
remedial virtue. It is this magnet — the magnes microsmi —
which Paracelsus and his successors commonly understood
by the words " magnet " and " magnetical."

It is, then, on these ideas — the radiation from all things,
but especially the stars, magnets, and human bodies, of a
force which would act on all things else, and which was
in each case directed by the indwelling spirit, together with
the conception of a perpetual contest between reciprocal and
opposing forces — ^that the mysticism of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries mainly depends. Again, upon these
ideas, combined with the Faracelsian doctrine of Signatures,
and the proposition, itself a corollary from the doctrine of the

1 Mosaieall Philosophy (London, 1659), p. 221. CI Maxwell, De Medicina
Magfutiea (Fnmkfort, 1679), p. 3. " Ab omni corpore radii corporales fluunt,
in qnibtis anima sua praesentia operatur, hisque energiam et potentiam operandi
Ufgitor." And again, Aphorism xvii., "Stellae viUdem spiritum corpori disposito
Iknnt per luoem et calorem, eidemque iisdem medib infundunt." And ac&in,
Alkindiis, quoted by Fludd, "Mundus elementarius est exemplum Mundi
Syd«ei . . . manifestum est quod omnis res hujus mundi radios Ceiciat suo more
ad instar Sydemm." ^ Op. cit,^ p. 215.

* Quodlibet corpus, cui mummia viva in alio homine propinatur, illico fit
(PancelsQS, quoted by Fludd, op, cit.).

46 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

magytes microcosmi, that a dissevered portion of a body retains
something of the virtue of the body from which it was taken,
and can act magnetically upon it, the theory of sympathetic
medicine was based ; a theory familiar probably to most
readers through the medium of Sir Kenelm Digby and his
weapon-salve. The practice of anointing the weapon instead
of the wound was in fact a logical deduction from the general
theory. As Fludd puts it, if I may venture to paraphrase his
statement of the doctrine, it would be useless to attempt to
heal the wound so long as a portion of the vital spirits, re-
maining in disastrous union with the weapon which wrought
the mischief, should by its antipathetic influence react upon
its fellow-spirits in the body of the patient But if we act
upon that portion of the vital spirits which still adheres to
the weapon, which we can most conveniently do by applying
an appropriate ointment, then ''the Oyntment so animated
by those spirits" (/>. the spirits on the weapon) "will become
forthwith magneticall, and apply with a magneticall aspect
and regard unto those beamy Spirits which stream forth in-
visibly from the wound," and the patient shall be ensured
a speedy recovery.*

It was a necessary consequence of this doctrine that the
physician might affect his patient, or generally that one man
might affect another, if the requisite conditions were fulfilled,
"at any reasonable but unlimited and unknown distance."

^ MosaicaU Philosophy ^ p. 262. The entire passage, since it presents a succinct,
if not altogether perspicuous, statement of the theory, seems worth quoting : —
" If, after the wound is made, a portion of the wound's extemall blood, with his
inward spirits, or the internall spirits onely, that have penetrated into the weapon,
or any other thing which have searched the depth of the wound, be conveyed
from the wound at any reasonable but unlimited and unknown distance, unto an
Oyntment, whose property is Balsamick, and agreeing specifically with the nature
of the creature so wounded, the Oyntment so animated by those spirits will become
forthwith magneticall, and apply with a magneticall aspect and regard unto those
beamy Spirits which stream forth invisibly from the wound, bein^ directed thereto
by the Spirituall bloody spirits in the weapon or other thing which hath received
or included them : and the lively and southern beams, streaming and flowing
from the wound, will with the northern attraction of the Oyntment, so magnetic-
ally animated, concur and unite themselves with the northern and congealed, or
fixt, bloody spirits contained in the oyntment, and stir them to act southemly,
that is, from the center to the circumference ; so that by this reciprocall action,
union or continuity, a lively southern beam will act and revive the chill, fixt or
northern beams which do animate the oyntment with a magneticall vertue, and
Quickened spirits of the oyntment, animated by the spirits of them both, and
oirected by the spirits which were first transplanted into it, doth impart by the
said union or continuity his balsamick and sanative vertue unto the spirits in the
wound, being first magnetically attracted, and they afterwards by an unseparable
harmony, transfer it traick into the wound. And this is the reason of that Sym-
patheticall or anti-patheticall reference and respect, which is by experience ob-
served to be between the Oyntment and the wound."

THE SYMPATHETIC SYSTEM 47

Thus Paracelsus : " By the magic power of the will a person
on this side of the ocean may make a person on the other
side hear what is said on this side . . . the ethereal body
of a man may know what another man thinks at a distance
of ICO miles or more.'* * Fludd expresses the same idea more
generally : ** How, by relation of naturall things unto one
another, they do, after a corporall contact or touch is made
between them, operate wonderfully, and that by a Magneticall
concent and Spirituall continuity ... by a mutuall operation
at an unknown distance." ^ And Maxwell definitely applies
the principle to the relation between physician and patient :
"Qui spiritum vitalem particularem efficere novit, corpus,
cujus spiritus est, curare potest ad quamcunque distantiam,
implorati spiritus universalis ope." ^

The reader who will compare these ideas with Mesmer's
own statement of his theory* will see that the later mystic
contributed little of his own to the philosophy which he
borrowed. His peculiar service consists in the fact that,
whilst exploiting the mystical doctrines for his own private
advantage, he hit upon a practical application of them which
has already proved of singular interest to psychology and of
some value to therapeutics, and whose ultimate developments
we are yet unable to foresee.

The writers whose views we have briefly considered, widely
though their methods and results differ superficially from
those of modern science, were still animated by something of
the scientific spirit They essayed to relate phenomena to
one another by comparison, observation, and analysis, and to
subsume them under universal laws. The main difference
would seem to be that the mystics, with an impatience, and
even contempt, for the mere brute fact, which was part of the
disastrous inheritance from earlier centuries, built up their
magnificent generalisations on the basis of a few bare hints
from the external world. They lacked both the inclination
and the means to wait for the slowly maturing results of
experimental investigation. They did, indeed, it may be
said, interrogate Nature after their own fashion ; like jesting
Pilate, they asked, "What is truth?" and, anticipating the
slow accents of the reluctant Sphinx, took the echo of their

' Pkihsopk,f Sag, L cap. 60, quoted by Hartmann, Ldfe of Theophrastus
BombasteSf p. 296. ' up. cit,, p. 252. ' Op. cit.^ aphorism 69.

^ Quotea below, at the beginning of chapter iv. A detailed comparison of
Mesmer's ideas with those of earlier mystics, including, besides those mentioned
in the text, Van Heimont, Kircher, corcl, and others, is given in Thouret*s
Rgekirehgi et douies sur U Magnet isnu Anima/, Paris, 17S4. See also Bertrand,
I)m Magnitisnu Animal tn France (Paris, 1826), pp. 13-18.

48 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

own voices for the answer. The mystical philosophy, in fact,
was an attempt at a short cut to knowledge, a premature
synthesis of the universe. But it was, nevertheless, a syn-
thesis on rationalist lines. The factors in the explanation
offered were not spiritual beings acting by arbitrary will, but
effluences radiating under ascertainable laws. It was this
rationalist view, which culminated in the eighteenth century,
and, naturally enough, in France, which Mesmer and his
immediate followers adopted; and even at the present day
Paris, faithful to her old tradition, remains the headquarters
of the rationalist school of Mysticism. Baraduc, de Rochas,
Luys, Gibier, and others stand as the supporters of fluids as
against spirits. ^

The rivalry between the two schools of interpretation, it
need hardly be said, dates from a very early period in the
history of Mysticism. At the very time when Fludd and
Maxwell were expounding the magnetical system of medicine,
marvellous cures were being effected throughout the country
by methods which curiously foreshadowed those employed in
our own times by the hypnotic treatment But the seven-
teenth-century healer ascribed his success to a divine gift,
just as some of Mesmer's contemporaries saw in the " mag-
netic " crisis signs of spiritual intervention.

Valentine Greatrakes, the son of an Irish Protestant
gentleman of Aflfane, co. Waterford, was bom in 1628. He
served for some six years as a lieutenant in the army In
Ireland. On his retirement in 1656 he lived on his own
estate, was made a Justice of the Peace, and acted for some
time as R^istrar of Transplantation. In 1662 he had "an
Impulse or strong Persuasion " in his own mind that on him
was bestowed the gifl of curing the King's Evil. Straightway
many came to him from the country round, and were cured
by the laying on of his hands. Three years later there came
a similar Impulse, foreshadowing the gift of curing the ague,
a suggestion which the next day was successfully put to the
proof. "Within some small time afler this," he continues,
" God was pleased by the same or the like Impulse to dis-
cover unto me. That he had given me the gift of healing."
Thereafter Greatrakes laid his hands on all that sought his
aid. He was so besi^ed by sufferers that he had to set aside
three days a week whereon, from six in the morning to six in
the evening, he received all who came to him. The matter
came to the ears of the Bishop of the Diocese, who forbad

' Since this sentence was written two of those named, Luys and Gibier, have
passed away.

THE SYMPATHETIC SYSTEM 49

Greatrakes to exercise his powers. Greatrakes answered that
he could not obey a command to cease from works of charity,
and so continued.

In January, 1666, at the request of Lord Orrery, he came
to England, and though he failed entirely to cure the
Countess Conway, on whose behalf he had been summoned,
he continued to exercise his gift with surprising, though not
uniform, success, first in the provinces, and later in London.
He was successful in curing or sensibly alleviating such
diverse maladies as the King's Evil, palsy, dropsy, epilepsy,
ulcers, the stone, wounds and bruises, lameness, deafness,
partial blindness, ''Pthysick," besides innumerable cases of
vaguely described pains and weakness. His cures are
attested by a considerable number of grateful patients and
other credible witnesses, doctors, divines, and persons of
quality, including Robert Boyle, Sir William Smith, Dean
(afterwards Bishop) Rust, Richard Cudworth, and Andrew
Marvell.

His method of operating was to stroke with his hand the
part affected, by which means the pain was gradually dis-
lodged from the diseased part, and ultimately driven to the
extremities — fingers, toes, or even nose or tongue — and so
out of the body. Sometimes the pain divided. On one
occasion part thereof fell into the great toe of the patient's
left foot, and the other part into the little toe of the
right foot, and so left the patient. It was noted that the
fingers or toes during the process were commonly rendered
insensible to pain inflicted from the outside, as by pinching
or pricking.

A contemporary medical witness gives the following ex-
planation of this method of expelling disease : —

*' These considerations made me think that God had been
pleased to bestow upon Mr. Greataricks such a Complexion and
Temperament, that his Touch or Stroking should instantly matu-
rate Diseases, or render them Turgent ; whereupon the part touched
being strengthened, and the blood and spirits Invigorated, a Hetero-
geneous Ferment or paine (which if not occasioned by some
evident and extemall cause, is caused by a Heterogeneous Ferment)
is expelled from the corroborated place to some other more Weake ;
that being corroborated, it is driven upon another, and so on, till it
be quite ejected." ^

Greatrakes himself, whose entire honesty in the matter can
hardly be doubted — he practised without fee or reward of any

^ The MiraculoHS Con/ormisti p. 17.
I. — B

50 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

kind, and at enormous expenditure of time and energy — was
clearly of opinion that his power of healing was not a natural
endowment, but " an extraordinary gift of God." He even
records an experiment made on one occasion which went to
show that the power did not consist in any physical effluence
from himself. And many of the diseases which he cured he
conceived to be caused by the possession of devils, who were
driven out under his hands. ^

' A Brief Account of Mr, Valentine GreatraJks, and divers of the Strange
Cures by him lately Performed; written by himself in a Letter addressed to Du
Honourable Robert BoyU^ ^^9*9 etc., etc. (London, l666.) See also The Miracu-
lous Conformist ; or an account of Severedl Maroailous Cures performed by
Mr, Valsntine Groatarich^ by Henry Stubbe, Physician at Stratford upon Avon
(Oxford, 1666), p. 34. " Mr. Greataricks would often affirm that, in his opinion,
it was some Evill Spirit gotten into the Body of the Child."

CHAPTER IV
MESMER AND HIS DISCIPLES

MESMERISM, like chemistry, is a French science.
For even though the birthplace of Mesmer him-
self — which, indeed, as in the case of greater men,
is to some extent uncertain — was not in France, yet France
was the country of his adoption ; it was by Frenchmen that
his doctrines were first welcomed, and it is on French soil,
under the various names of Animal Magnetism, Mesmerism,
Hypnotism, Hysteria, or Suggestion, from the days of
Bei^^asse and Puys^g^r to those of Charcot and Bemheim,
that they have borne most abundant fruit

Franz Antoine Mesmer was born in or about 1734. He
studied for the medical profession, and took his doctor's
degree at Vienna in 1766, choosing as the subject of his
inaugural thesis De planetarum influxu^ or, as he himself
translated it later, *' De I'influence des Pianettes sur le corps
humain." It is from the publication of this essay that
Mesmer himself dates the discovery of Animal Magnetism.^
But his ideas on the nature and extent of this influence, as
already said, seem to have contained little that was original,
being founded on the writings of various older mystics.^ The
best exposition of his views is contained in his own statement
drawn up some years later in a series of propositions, of
which a few may be here quoted : — *

1. II existe une influence mutuelle entre les corps celestes, la
terre et les corps anim^.

2. Un fluide universellement r^pandu et continue de xnani^re k ne
soufirir aucun vuide, dont la subtilet^ ne permet aucune com-
poraison, et qui, de sa nature, est susceptible de recevoir, propager

^ Precis historipu defaiis relatifs du Magnitisfne Animal^ p. I. Paris, 1 781.

' See preceding chapter.

* In 1779 ; M4mair€ sur ia tUcwavtrtt du MagnHisme^ p. 83.

51

52 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

et communiquer toutes les impressions du mouvement, est le moyen
de cette influence.

3. Cette action r^iproque est soumise k des loix m^chaniques,
inconnues jusqu'a present

4. II r^sulte de cette action, des effets alternatifs qui peuvent ^tre
considdr6s comme un flux et reflux.

6. C'est par cette operation (la plus universelle de celles que
la nature nous oflre) que les relations d'activitd s'exercent entre
les corps celestes, la terre et ses parties constitutives.

9. II se manifeste pardculierement dans le corps humain, des pro-
pridt^ analogues k ceUes de Taimant; on y distingue des poles
^galement divers et opposes qui peuvent ^tre communique, change,
d^truits et renforc^; le ph^nom^ne mdme de Finclinaison y est
observe.

10. La propri^td du corps animal qui rend susceptible de Tin-
fluence des corps celestes et de Taction r^ciproque de ceux qui
Tenvironnent, manifest^ par son analogie avec Taimant, m'a d^ter-
min6 k la nommer MagtUtisme Animal.

14. Son action a lieu i ime distance ^oign6e, sans le secours
d'aucun corps interm^diaire.

1 5. EUe est augment^ et r^fldchie par les glaces comme la lumiere.

16. £lle est communiqude, propag^ et augmentde par le son.

He professes to have spent many years in testing and
verifying his ideas by experiment and observation on all
kinds of diseases; but it is not until 1773 that he actually
gives details of any cures effected by the applications of his
methods. The first patient was a young woman afflicted
with periodical attacks, which, from the description given,
seem to have been of an epileptic nature. He applied
magnets to the limbs of the sufferer, and a rapid cure was
effected. Publicity was given to this case by the Jesuit,
Hell, who had, it appears, furnished the magnetic plates used
by Mesmer, and who claimed that the cure was due to the
application of principles discovered by him. There ensued
a bitter controversy between the two men. The next few
years seem to have been spent by Mesmer in vindicating
his own prior claim to the discovery, in the practice of the
therapeutic virtues of Animal Magnetism, and in knocking
at the doors of the various learned societies of Europe. No
door was opened to him ; and finding little honour and less
profit in his own country, he came in 1778 to Paris, and
there took up his abode. From the learned societies of Paris
he met with as little recognition as from those of Vienna,
Berlin, and London. One of his first converts, however, was
M. D'Eslon, medical adviser to the Count d'Artois. In

MESMER AND HIS DISCIPLES 53

September, 1780, D'Eslon summoned a general meeting
of the Faculty of Medicine to lay before it a statement
of Mesmer's doctrines. He began by reciting the proposi-
tions from which extracts are given above, and then made
on Mesmer's behalf a formal proposal that the Faculty should
investigate the subject by choosing twenty-four patients,
of whom twelve should be treated by Animal Magnetism, and
the remainder by the orthodox methods, and should then
compare the results. * The reply of the Faculty was to reject
the proposal and to warn D'Eslon that his name would be
struck off the rolls at the end of the year if he bad not in
the interval formally recanted his heretical beliefs.

But if Mesmer found little favour with the wise and
prudent, he met with a reception more cordial and much
more profitable from the general public. So much attention
did his cures — or the rumour of them— excite, especially, as
it would seem, in the fashionable world, that in March, 1781,
the Minister de Maurepas was commissioned by the King to
offer him a pension of 20,000 livres, and a further sum of
10,000 livres annually to provide a suitable house, on con-
dition that he would establish a school and communicate
the secret of his treatment. Mesmer rejected the terms,
ostensibly because he held it beneath his own dignity and
the dignity of the great truth which he proclaimed to be
a party to such a bargain. But it is not difficult to infer that
if the terms, sufficiently liberal as they seem to us, had been
commensurate with his appetite, he would have been willing
to take the cash and let the credit go. For, two years later,
in 1783, a subscription was set on foot to which each
would-be pupil contributed 100 louis (2400 livres), and a
sum of no less than 340,000 livres (nearly ;^ 14,000) was
handed over to Mesmer. In return he gave a course of
lectures on his system. Before admission to these lectures
he had required each pupil to sign an undertaking that he
would not practise on his own account, nor impart the secret
to others without Mesmer's permission. As the price of this
permission he subsequently proposed that they should
establish centres of magnetic treatment in every town of
importance in France, and should hand over to him half of
all the fees that they received. His pupils, many of them
men of position, who had no desire to practise for money,
formed themselves into a SociM de rHarmonie^ and vindi-
cated their claim to the title by repudiating, after an unseemly
squabble, their part of the contract.

^ Precis histarifMe, etc, p. 113.

54 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

In the following year the Government took a further step
and charged two learned bodies, the Faculty de Midecine and
the Sociitd royale de M^decine^ with the task of examining
into Animal Magnetism. The Commissioners chosen from
the Faculty asked the King to add to their number some
members of the Academy of Sciences, and five del^^tes
from that body, including Benjamin Franklin, Bailly, and
Lavoisier, were accordingly directed to co-operate with the four
members of the Faculty. This Commission was appointed on
the 1 2th of March ; on the i ith of August the same year they
presented a Report, signed by all nine Commissioners. They
had decided, for reasons which are not stated in the report,
to make their observations on the magnetic treatment as
practised, not by Mesmer himself, but by his friend and
disciple D'Eslon. The Report commences with a description
of the methods employed to set the hypothetical fluid in
motion, methods which D'Eslon had borrowed without sub-
stantial change from Mesmer. In the middle of a large
room was placed a circular tub, called the baquet, of con-
siderable dimensions. The report does not mention the
internal arrangement of the baquet, but we learn from
Puys^gur (whose book, Du Magnitisme Animal^ has as a
frontispiece to its second edition a picture of a baquet, of the
size of a large bath, with patients sitting round it) that it
was filled with bottles "arranges entr'elles d'une mani^re
particulifere," and covered with water up to a certain height*
In the lid of the baquet were several holes, through each of
which passed an iron rod connecting with the interior, and
bent in such a way that the patients, who sat round in rows,
could apply the point of the rod to any part of their persons.
The patients were tied together by a cord which passed round
the circle, and sometimes another chain was formed by hold-
ing hands. A pianoforte in the comer of the room played
various airs during the performance; and sometimes there
was singing. The operator carried an iron rod, ten or twelve
inches long.

The Report then describes the scenes which ensued as the
charm worked : there were violent movements, profuse sweat-
ing, spitting, often of blood, vomiting, etc., piercing cries,
hiccoughs, immoderate laughter, and extraordinary and long-
continued attacks of convulsions. This was called the crisis^

* Puys^gur, Mimoires pour servir, vol. i. p. 9. A fuller description of the
baquet is given by another writer of this time, an Englishman named Bell, in
his book on the Principles of Animal Electricity and Magnetism (London, 1792).
See below, chap. viii.

MESMER AND HIS DISCIPLES 55

and was supposed to be beneficial in accelerating and guiding
the course of the disease to a successful issue. The crisis
was frequently succeeded by the collapse of the patient from
sheer exhaustion into a lethargic condition.

The Commissioners conceived that there would be little
profit in attempting to study the curative effects of the
treatment, because of the extreme difficulty and uncertainty
which always attend the purely empirical method in medicine,
so much so that even if cures could be demonstrated they
would prove little, since they might be attributed with equal
plausibility to Nature or to the imagination of the patient
Moreover, to press these questions too closely might annoy
the distinguished sufferers who thronged M. D'Eslon's
clinique. They resolved, therefore, to confine themselves
to the search for evidence of the new physical force which
was claimed as the agent for the effects observed. They
found, of course, little difficulty in demonstrating that no
such evidence was forthcoming ; and that, as a matter of
fact, those effects could be produced by the aid of the
imagination alone. A single illustration must suffice of
their method of experiment The veteran Franklin — he
was then in his seventy-eighth year — was unable to attend
the meetings in Paris. But D'Eslon came down to his house
at Passy, bringing with him a suitable subject A tree was
"magnetised"; the subject, a boy of twelve years, was
brought into the garden with his eyes blindfolded. He was
then introduced successively to four trees, which stood at
varying distances from the magnetised tree; the character-
istic phenomena of the crisis developed themselves with
unusual rapidity, and he collapsed in a swoon at the fourth,
without having approached within twenty-four feet of the tree
actually magnetised.

The Commissioners concluded that the magnetic fluid
could not be perceived by any of the senses, and that its
existence could not be inferred from any effects observed
either in themselves or in any of the patients examined.
And they pointed out, further, that the methods employed
by D'Eslon and Mesmer in their treatment were liable to
cause serious mischief to the patients themselves and, by
imitation, to others. Further, in a confidential report to the
Minister they emphasised the dangerous consequences which
might result from the spread of these practices, and recom-
mended their legal suppression.

The Report signed five days later by four members of the
Soci/t/ royale de Midedne was to the same effect, but pre-

56 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

sented with less literary grace. One member, however, of
this second Commission submitted a Minority Report*
M. de Jussieu began by suggesting that the Commission
had perhaps acquiesced in too narrow an interpretation of
their mandate. "Sans remonter i une thferie peut-4tre
trop sublime," it appeared to him that it was within the
scope of that mandate at least to verify the physiological
facts allied, to endeavotur to ascertain their proximate
causes, and the possible utility of the medical treatment
which they had witnessed. And to be able to pronounce
decisive judgment on these points, it was essential that the
mere observation of a crowd of patients passing through
the wild convulsions of the magnetic crisis should be supple-
mented by experiments and observations on individual cases,
with a view of disentangling the complicated relations of
cause and effect This M. de Jussieu, so far as circumstances
would permit, had endeavoured to do. And one of the
observations which he records is of considerable interest
He had seen on several occasions a young man pass through
the crisis, then become silent, and walk up and down the
hall, touching and magnetising the other patients. When
he returned to his normal state he remembered nothing of
what had passed, and no longer knew how to magnetise.^
In this incidental observation — not the less valuable because
the observer altogether failed to realise its significance — we
have the first indication of the somnambulic trance, the
master fact alike in the Animal Magnetism of the first half
of last century and in the Hypnotism of to-day.

But the experiences which most interested M. de Jussieu
were those which seemed to indicate action at a distance,
independently of the patient's imagination. On several
occasions he states that he succeeded in provoking or
directing the course of the crisis by merely pointing his
finger or an iron rod towards the patients without their
knowledge, i£, behind the back ; or in the case of a blind
patient, towards the epigastrium at a distance of six feet
M. de Jussieu appears to have been a careful and critical
observer, and to have been on his guard against obvious
sources of error in the experiments; but the conditions
under which they were made, generally in the large hall
in the midst of a crowd of patients and medical men, were
clearly not such as to admit of accurate observation. Such
as they were, however, he thinks himself justified in deducing

^ Rapport de Pun des Commissaires charges ^ar le Rot di Pexamen du MagnH-
isme Animal. Paris, 1784. ^ Rapport^ p. 15.

MESMER AND HIS DISCIPLES 57

from them the possible existence of a fluid or agent which
can exercise a sensible influence on the human body at a
distance. This fluid he provisionally identifies with Animal
Heat. But the Animal Heat of which he speaks is not the
radiant enei^ with which we are familiar, the result of
chemical action, and capable of affecting the mercury in
a thermometer. It is the principle of life itself, the special
vital modification of the universal energy, which in its
material manifestation he identifies with electricity. De
Jussieu points out that ''Animal Heat" conforms to the
same laws as electricity, it constantly seeks equilibrium, it
radiates preferably from points (the finger or the baguette)^
it produces a feeling of heat in the recipient and of cold
in the giver, it surrounds the body as with an atmosphere ;
and the existence of this atmosphere particuliire can be
occasionally demonstrated to the senses. But, unlike the
material energy, the operations of this vital force are directed
and intensified by the human will.

In short, de Jussieu's theory of Animal Heat is almost as
far-reaching as Mesmer's theory of a universal magnetic fluid.
He does not, indeed, make the planets the pivot of his
speculations, but he cannot bring himself to leave them out.
The really important modification of the theory which de
Jussieu introduces is the presentation of the distinctively
human element in the case, which he supposed to depend
on the will of the operator, but which modern science, more
justly perhaps, attributes to the imagination of the patient.
It is probable, indeed, that Mesmer himself believed the
human will to be the active agency in directing and con-
centrating his universal fluid ; and that, as expressly stated
by Puys^fur, the secret upon which he put so high a price
was precisely this recognition of the part played by the will.
But it was by his published pronouncements that he elected
to be judged, and in these we find no hint of anything
beyond an indifferent mechanical or vital agency. Later
magnetists, however, followed de Jussieu, and this theory
of a specific organic emanation, controlled and directed by
the will of the operator, dominated all speculations on the
subject throughout Europe for more than two generations,
persisting even after Bertrand had formulated the modem
doctrine of Suggestion.

Of the significance, as indicating action at a distance, of
the facts observed by de Jussieu we shall have occasion to
speak hereafter. It is enough to point out here that on
these and similar seemings (if I may so translate the exotic

58 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

" phenomena ") depends not merely the theory of a magnetic
or mesmeric fluid, but, in great measure, the whole movement
of Modem Spiritualism.

Such were the reports of 1784. It will hardly be thought
that the Commissioners failed conspicuously in the discharge
of their trust The spectacle of the hysterical mob of fashion-
able men and women at the height of the " crisis " round the
magnetic tub — enfer d convulsions, as someone called it —
must have seemed as futile to science as it was repulsive
to common sense. It must be remembered, however, that
barbarous though the treatment seemed, it was not altogether
ill-suited to the medical ideas of the time : even the magnetic
crisis might have seemed a merciful alternative to the lancet
and the moxa. Indeed, the very violence of the treatment
no doubt recommended it to the patients, for the more
excessive the remedy the greater seemed its probable efficacy.
Puys^gur, for instance, expressed doubts whether one of his
patients was really cured, because he had "not yet ex-
perienced the painful crises which, I believe, are necessary
to cure so grave a malady." ^

But whilst it must be admitted that the spectacle offered at
first sight little material for scientific investigation — less,
probably, than the cures of modem faith-healing — it is still
matter for regret that the Commissioners held it no part
of their duty to inquire as to the actual curative effects of
the treatment. That medical science is not to be judged by
results is a dangerous admission for doctors to make. It was
liable to, and did in fact provoke, inconvenient retorts.* It
might have been plausibly urged that, after all, it is the
business of the physician to cure, and that if cures were
effected — and it is certain that a large section of Parisian
Society so believed — it might be profitable to ascertain the
cause, even if it should prove to be only the imagination
of the sufferer. But these reports of 1784 are remarkable
chiefly for what they do not include. None of the more
striking and characteristic phenomena of Hypnotism as we
know it at the present day appear to have been observed
at all. We hear nothing of the varied hallucinations and
the muscular feats which any itinerant lecturer can now
demonstrate on his subjects: there is no mention of that
insensibility to pain, which was to be so bitterly disputed

* Mhnoires pour servir^ etc, vol. i. p. 45.

^ See, for instance, Bergasse, ConsuUrations surle MagfUiisme Animal, p. 21.
'* Ce qui a fait dire 4 quelques hommes de mauvaise humeur, que la m^dedne et
Tart de guerir sont done deux sciences qui n'ont rien de commun entr'elles."

MESMER AND HIS DISCIPLES 59

upwards of half a century later, and which has to-day grown
to be almost a commonplace. Most singular omission of all,
we have but one incidental reference to the condition of
induced somnambulism — the eponymous fact of modern
Hypnotism. Probably if the Commissioners had observed
these things they would have passed them by, as they were
passed by in this country more than fifty years afterwards, as
being explicable by deliberate deception, and generally as
offering no evidence which a responsible inquirer could afford
to take into account ; but from de Jussieu's careful analysis it
seems probable that they were not observed.

The effect of the publication of the reports was what
might have been anticipated. Whatever chance the theories
of Mesmer might have had of attracting the attention of the
scientific world was dissipated. The universal magnetic fluid
was definitely classed with the philosopher's stone and the
secret of Hermes Trism^istus ; and the medical men of the
day no doubt stifled whatever unprofessional inclination
some of them may have felt to meddle with the new treat-
ment But the sufferers, aristocratic and other, who had been
cured, and the great multitude who believed themselves to
have been cured, naturally continued the cult of the baquet
and the bent iron rods.

The close of the year 1784 saw the publication of a number
of replies to the reports by partisans of the new theory,
amongst whom D'Eslon himself, another doctor, Bonnefoy,
and Bergasse are the most notable. In the course of the
same year de Puys^gur began his cures at Busancy, and
circulated a privately printed account of his experiences.
M. Jumelin, as we learn from Bailly's report, was also
practising magnetism at the time in Paris, and arriving at
the same results by a different method. Bergasse, who
collaborates with a marquis and dedicates his book to a
marchioness, mentions incidentally some half-dozen persons
as having a reputation for the cures which they had per-
formed, amongst them another marquis and three counts ;
be states also that there were societies for the pursuit and
study of Animal Magnetism then established in six French
provincial cities; also at Turin, Berne, Malta, and in the
French West Indies.* Societies of Harmony were indeed
springing up in various centres, of which that at Strasbourg,
founded in 1785 by de Puys^gur, attained to considerable
repute, and published three volumes of Proceedings, from
1786 to 1789. Books and pamphlets on the subject followed

* Op, cU.t pp. 135, 136, etc

60 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

each other in rapid succession until the last-named year.
From that date, until the publication in 1807 of Puys^ur's
Du Magnitisme Animal inaugurated a new era, very few
books on the subject appeared. France during those years
had something else to think about, and the atmosphere was
not favourable to Societies of Harmony.^

At the moment when the Commissioners were incurious
and reluctant spectators of the hysterical antics at D'Eslon's
clinique in Paris, de Puys^ur, himself a pupil of Mesmer,
was obtaining surprising results of quite another kind on his
own estate at Busancy, near Soissons. In May, 1784, he
writes enthusiastic letters to his brother and to friends at
Paris, describing the use which he had made of the wonderful
gift of healing which he had derived from Mesmer's teaching.
His first patient was the daughter of his bailiff, whom he had
cured of toothache. He soon found other patients, and to
husband his own powers he magnetised a large tree in his
grounds, fastened cords to it, and invited the sufferers to
attach themselves. The tree proved a most efficacious baquet^
and the peasants flocked in from all the country round ; on
one morning upwards of one hundred and thirty persons
availed themselves of its healing virtues. ** Every leaf," he
writes, " radiates health."

One of his earliest patients was a young peasant of twenty-
three, Victor by name, who was confined to his bed with
inflammation of the lungs. The invalid, after being magne-
tised for a quarter of an hour, fell asleep in the operator's
arms. In this sleep he began to talk. The somnambulic sleep,
as Puys6gur describes it from his observations on Victor and
many other somnambules, is at this time sufficiently familiar.
It is important to remark that its most characteristic feature
— a feature for which Puys^gur was apparently not prepared —
the complete oblivion on waking of all that had happened
in the sleep, seems to have appeared from the outset, as we
have already noted in the observations of de Jussieu.

Of other phenomena described by the early magnetists
many were grouped under the general name of rapport. The
magnetic subject could hear no voice but that of the operator,

^ Deleuze,Z^/M>v Critique du MagfUtisme Animal^ vol i. pp. 427, 428, explains
the discredit into which Animal Magnetism fell during the last decade of the
eighteenth and the opening years of the nineteenth century as partly due to the
&ct that many prominent disciples of Mesmer afterwards became patrons of
Cagliostro. This may have no doubt contributed to the resalt. But there is
hardly need to go beyond the cause assigned in the text. Probably no one in
France during those years had much leisure for writing of books in any depart-
ment of thought.

MESMER AND HIS DISCIPLES 61

could feel no touch, and obey no influence but his. But his
influence would be felt and obeyed when expressed not only
by speech or gesture, but even by silent will — and this some-
times when the operator was in another room, with a thick
wall intervening. It was this rapport^ as shown by the un-
receptiveness of the subject to all alien impressions, that was
regarded by the writers of this date as the surest test of the
true magnetic sleep.^

Further, the somnambule would diagnose his own maladies
with greater skill than his physician, and would prescribe
with more confidence and with happier results. And he
would thus diagnose and prescribe with equal success not
merely for his own ailments, but for those of other patients
introduced to him by the magnetiser. He would predict also,
with the most minute accuracy, the date of a future epileptic
seizure, or other crisis in his malady, and the precise term of
the treatment Tardy de Montravel describes how one of
his somnambules walked about the town with her ^y^s fast
closed in the magnetic sleep, as easily as if she was wide
awake ; she could see, he writes, without eyes, and hear with-
out ears. He relates further how she would tell the nature
of an object by placing it to the pit of the stomach.^

As to the explanation of these phenomena, the curative
eflects of magnetism, the crisis itself, the manifestations
of silent willing, and of the rapport generally, seem to have
been attributed by all the animal magnetists of this period
to the effluence of a sensible fluid. Some somnambules
could see the fluid radiating as a brilliant shaft of light from
the person of the operator,^ from trees, and other living

^ See e,g, Puys^^s reply to those who inc^uired of him how they should
recognise the magnetic state: '* Rien n'est plus ais^ que de s'en apercevoir : il ne
doit d'abord avoir d'analogie avec aucun autre que celui qui Ta magnetis^, il ne
doit repondre et n'ob^r qu*4 lui*' {Mitnoires pour servir^ voL i. p. 192). It
wottld seem that observations which were held to indicate a special relation
between magnetist and subject were made very early in the practice of Animal
Magnetism, though owing to the sudden break, already referred to, in the pub-
lished records of these early years, information on the point is somewhat scanty.
Puys^gur's book, from which the above extract is taken, though not published until
long aiier, was apparently in great part written shortly after the experiments which
it recounts, i,e, before the Revolution. But the question of the exact date of the
origin of the belief in rapport is not of so much importance as some writers have
supposed in its bearing on the reality, or rather non-reality, of the phenomena so
explained. In the induced trance the observer always nnds what he looks for ;
and the idea of a reciprocal influence between physician and patient is, as shown
in the preceding chapter, at least as old as the Sympathetic System.

^ Essai sur la ThdorU du Somtuimbulisme MagfUtique (London, November,

I785)» PP- 64, 65.

' An occasional device for the frontispiece of books on the subject of ammal
magnetism b a gentleman in evening dress, with dotted lines proceeding from his
eyes and fingers and impinging upon the person of a lady seated in an armchair.

62 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

objects, and would note differences in colour and brightness
according to the diverse sources. There was a magnetic
efRuence from the sun, and yet another, differing in glory,
from the earth. Iron and glass would conduct and even
augment the magnetic current, but wax or copper dispersed
it, and silver reflected it back on the rod. Mesmer had
already stated that the fluid was reflected by a mirror, but
Tardy bettered this observation. It was not the glass of the
mirror, which was already proved to act as a conductor, but
the metal backing which operated in the reflection.^

So again the fluid could be seen in passing into water and
milk. The substance under such treatment would become
luminous; and magnetised milk could be retained by a
stomach which would at once reject all other nourishment
The tree which Puys6gur had magnetised retained its virtues
long after the operator had left for Strasbourg, and patients
continued to resort to it and experience the crisis and the
healing influence. Puys^ur goes further than Tardy de
Montravel, and identifies the fluid with the " dephlogisticated
air" — then a new discovery — which is given out by plants
under the rays of the sun, and finds in it the active principle
of vegetable as well as animal life. He even extends its
influence to the mineral kingdom, and points to the " revivifi-
cation" of metals by phosphorus as a probable instance
of its action. Puys^gur's science, no doubt, was a little out
of date even then, for in 1784 the new chemical conceptions
of Lavoisier had captured Paris, if they had not yet reached
Strasbourg and Soissons. But in the matter of animal
magnetism Puys^gur, I. think, showed himself the better
philosopher of the two. With the facts and "seemings"
above described before him, it was not perhaps less reason-
able for Puys^gur to believe in a magnetic fluid than for
. Priestley to believe in phlogiston. Puys^gur was Aotindeed
( a man of wide Ieaming\or conspicuous ability, but he was
a good soldier and an honest man, and he faithfully described
what he saw. Any boardjSchDpl child can learn now that
both he and Priestley were enisled by a false theory; but
even Lavoisier might have added to his laurels by studying
the one set of phenomena with the same clear vision which
he turned upon the other. The generations which succeeded
were the poorer for the lost opportunity.

Yet another theory of the physical forces at work in the
induced trance was advanced by a medical man who rejected
the term ''Animal Magnetism" altogether, and whose ob-

" Op. €it.yip, 81.

MESMER AND HIS DISCIPLES 63

servations incidentally furnish perhaps the best evidence to
be found in the literature of the period for some new mode
of transmission of ideas and sensations. J. H. D^ir^ P^tetin,
a doctor at Lyons, was perpetual president of the medical
society of that city, and had held several public apppointments
from the Government He published in 1808 Alectricit^
AnifnaU^ describing observations which he had made for
many years past on several cases of spontaneous catalepsy.
The disease is, of course, sufficiently rare, and it is, as
Bertrand subsequently pointed out, a little remarkable that a
single provincial practitioner should have come across no less
than eight cases in one district But the phenomena which
P^t^tin's subjects presented were more remarkable still. In
the cataleptic state the patient generally remains motionless,
and gives often hardly any sign of life at all, pulse and
respiration being alike almost imperceptible. P^t^tin found
that his patients, though they would show no signs of
intelligence if questions were directed in the usual way to
their ears, would answer either by voice or gesture if the
speaker addressed himself to the pit of the stomach, the tips
of the fingers, or sometimes even the toes. Not only so, but
they would appear to taste, smell, and even see with those
parts of the body, even when strict precautions were taken to
exclude the intervention of the normal organs of sense.
P^t^tin gives details of several occasions on which, due
precautions being taken, his patients were able to describe
medals, letters, playing cards, and other small objects placed
under the bedclothes on the epigastric region, or even hidden
in the pockets of the interlocutor.^ It is not necessary to
consider in detail the explanation which M. P^t^tin offers of
these curious manifestations. It is again a purely physical
one, and rests on a theory of Animal Electricity which, from
our standpoint, does not differ essentially from the hypothesis
of Animal Magnetism. His observations afforded him abundant
proof that the phenomena depended on electrical action.
Thus he found that the most convenient way to speak to the
patient was for the interlocutor to place one hand on the
stomach (duly covered with clothes) and to address his
remarks to the finger-tips of his free hand. The human
body being of course a conductor, the patient would then
hear and reply. The same results would follow if the
operator stood at the remote end of a chain of persons
holding each other's hands, of whom the last only touched

* Some of the experiments are quoted in Phantaitns of the Livings vol. ii.
pp. 345-7-

64 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

the patient But if a stick of wax were placed in the circuit,
communication at once ceased. Again, the patient would
not hear music played close to her by any person not actually
touching her. But if the performer were connected with the
patient by a moistened thread, she would hear music even in
a distant part of the house, and would respond to questions
addressed to the far end of the thread.

The experiments in " seeing " with the pit of the stomach
on one occasion, P^t^tin tells us, so amazed and affrighted
the spectators that calm was not restored until, by showing
that objects wrapped up in wax or silk could not be " seen,"
he satisfied them that the phenomena had a natural cause,
and were not due to the intervention of demons.

The spectators of these marvels were not always so easily
satisfied. A religieuse, the aunt of another patient, could not
understand why the physician should place the fingers of one
hand on the patient's stomach and mutter to the fingers of
his other hand. She accused him of sorcery ; and when, to
clear up the matter, he placed her rosary, unseen by the
patient, where his fingers had been, and the patient described
it correctiy, the poor lady's suspicions became so acute that
she could not be content until by direct inquiry — addressed,
of course, to the same r^on of her niece's person — ^she had
ascertained that the sufferer still retained her hold on the
Christian verities.

Another figure of importance in the early history of
Animal Magnetism is J. P. F. Deleuze, who since 1795 had
held the post of Assistant Naturalist at the Jardin des Plantes
in Paris, and in 1828 was appointed Librarian of the Museum
of Natural History. He had first witnessed the magnetic
treatment in 1785 at a friend's house. Thereafter he continued
to practise and observe as opportunity offered ; but his first
published work on the subject, his Histoire Critique du
Magnitisme Animal^ did not appear until 181 3. Deleuze,
though his scientific training and native common sense pre-
served him from the extravagances into which some of the
earlier followers of Mesmer had fallen, was still firmly
convinced of the magnetic theory. We miss, indeed, the
fine cosmic flavour which distinguished the writings of
Mesmer himself, and some of his immediate disciples. For
him Animal Magnetism is no longer '' un rapprochement de
deux sciences connues, I'Astronomie et la M^decine."^ But
he is convinced of the existence of the ms^etic fluid, on the
word of all the somnambules whom he had consulted. Many

^ Mesmer, Pricis kistorique, etc., 1 781, p. 2.

MESMER AND HIS DISCIPLES 65

had seen the fluid raying from the operator s fingers ; some
had smelt it, or perceived its effects in their own persons.
Moreover, Deleuze had satisfied himself, by direct experiment,
of the existence and physical properties of the fluid. It is
not, he points out, apparently identical with the electric
fluid, though both are probably modifications of a universal
medium. It has many analogies with nerve-force. It forms
an atmosphere round each of us, which does not make its
presence continually felt, only because it is necessary, for any
sensible effect to be produced, that it should be concentrated
and directed by the will. How it is that the will directs the
fluid, we know as little as how our will moves our own
organism. Cest un fait primitif : we cannot go behind it

It is in accordance with this conception of Animal
Magnetism, as a definite physical agent, that Deleuze
attributes painful effects to it in some diseases. Generally
speaking, it has a tonic action, and may be usefully employed
when stimulating agents are indicated. But when the system
is already irritated and excited, as by poisons, for example,
he finds that the effect of magnetism is to increase the
irritation and the suffering, and frequently to bring on con-
vulsions. Again, in many diseases where it can be usefully
employed its first effect is generally to increase the pain and
accelerate the crisis.

So far, it will be seen, no theories of a transcendental nature
have been advanced. If the somnambule can see without
eyes and hear without ears — a fact of which Deleuze has no
manner of doubt — it is, according to him, because the im-
pressions from without are conveyed directly by the magnetic
fluid, a medium of extreme tenuity, to the brain without the
intervention of the external organs or even the sensory nerves.^
The same explanation will apply to the supersensible influ-
ence of the operator on the subject, and to the subject's
perception of diseases in himself or in those placed in rapport
with him. Deleuze, relying indeed partly on his own obser-
.vations, but mainly on those of others, has as little doubt of
the reality of such supersensible phenomena as he has of their
explanation by material causes.

Puys^gur, again, expressly repudiates any attempt at a
transcendental explanation. It was said in Parisian Society
that his subject Madeleine could divine people's thoughts.
Puys^gur characterises the statement as absurd. In obeying
his silent will she simply acts "as an animated magnet."
His will, directing the magnetic fluid, moves her organism

' Histoire Critique^ second edition, vol. I pp. 1S9, 200, etc.
I.— F \

66 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

in the same way that his will, directing the nerve currents,
acts on his own body. The effect in each case is a purely
physical one.^ P^t^tin, again, gently ridicules those who
believe in clairvoyance at a distance;^ and the faculty of
prevision, on which some observers had laid so much stress,
is, Deleuze points out, susceptible of explanation by physio-
logical causes. The patient's previsions are concerned, for
the most part, with the course of his own malady ; and he
could in such a case predict correctly, because in the magnetic
trance he had a wider and more accurate knowledge of his
own bodily processes and of their probable results.'

But it is not easy to explain the manifestations exclusively
in physical terms without exercising a rigid discrimination
amongst the marvels reported. Tardy de Montravel is in-
clined to ascribe the clairvoyance of external objects and
of the interior of the human organism, and the foreseeing of
the future, to a sixth sense, which he regards as at once
the source and the sum of all the other partial senses. He
further identifies it with the instinct of animals, and with
the nerve soul or psychic body of other writers — the inter-
mediary between the spiritual part of man and his g^ss
external organism.

Moreover, the manifestation afterwards so well known as
"travelling clairvoyance" was not unknown at this time.
Puys^gur quotes* a letter written to him in March, 1785,
from a gentleman in Nantes, in which a case of the kind
is described, but not apparently at first hand, as having
occurred at Nantes six months previously. The subject in
this case, a young girl, followed the movements of the
magnetiser, her uncle, when he left his chateau to go into
the town, and was able to report to those around her
correctly whom he met, and what he was saying and doing.
It was not easy to find a fluidic explanation to fit such facts,
if they were to be admitted at all.

Again, as we shall see hereafter,* there were from the
b^inning of the movement mystics who claimed that the
true interpretation of the trance was to be found in the
spiritual world ; and Deleuze himself later appears to have
given a partial assent to their views.

^ Mhnoires pour strviTy pp. i8o, 229, etc. ^ ^Uctriciti Aniniaky p. 85.
' As stated in the next chapter, this is probably not the true explanation of the
" prediction " of fits and other crises.

^ Du Magnitisme Animal^ pp. 225-30. Paris, 1807. * Below, chap. vi.

V,.

CHAPTER V
THE SECOND FRENCH COMMISSION

SUCH were the conceptions of Animal Magnetism which
up till 1820 or thereabouts held the field as an ex-
planation of the phenomena of the somnambulic
trance, and which, even after a juster and more philosophic
view had been propounded, continued to flourish for many
years, and still linger not merely in the remoter bypaths of
human experience. The inauguration of a new era in the
science is due to Alexandre Bertrand, a young Paris
physician, who, in 1823, published his Traiti du Sontnambu-
listne. In this, and another work published in 1826, Du
Magn/ttsme Animal en France^ he reviews the work and
theories of his predecessors, and puts forward an explanation
of the multifarious phenomena which does not greatly differ
from that held at the present time.

He b^ins by relating the artificial trance with spontaneous
noctambulism, the somnambulic states associated with certain
diseases, and the states of ecstasy epidemic from time to
time in religious communities. The various phenomena ob-
served by his predecessors — the magnetic crisis ; the sensa-
tions of heat and cold ; the influence of the baquet and the
iron rod ; the tree at Busancy ; the stream of light seen by
Tard/s somnambules ; the conduction by iron, the reflection
from mirrors, the dissipation by copper ; the effects of wax,
silk, wet cords, etc., as observed by Pdt^tin — the whole
machinery on which the earlier writers relied as demonstrating
the existence of a fluid — celestial, magnetic, or electric —
he sweeps away in a word by attributing the results to the
imagination of the subject, pretemormally alive to the least
suggestion, by word, look, gesture, or even unexpressed
thought, from the operator. It is not necessary to follow
Bertrand in detail through the steps of his argument. His
theory of suggestion is the modem theory, and by it, as we
know, are explained most of the phenomena which to the

67

68 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

earlier observers appeared most inexplicable. Indeed, it is
surprising how modem Bertrand*s book is. It might have
issued within the last decade from the HSpital Civil at
Nancy. It would need but a slight change in names, dates,
and other unessential particulars to make it fit the times.
For the magnetic crisis we should now substitute the three
classic stages of the trance as observed in Paris, and for the
names of P6t6tin and Deleuze those, say, of Charcot and
Gilles de la Tourette. The transfer of diseases, the influence
of magnets and metals, the presence of a nerve atmosphere
have all been demonstrated as conclusively within recent
years at the Salp^tri^re or the Charity as they were more
than a hundred years ago at Busancy or Lyons; whilst
the most brilliant results of Tardy de Montravel have been
outshone in modem Paris by Dr. Luys, Colonel de Rochas,
and M. Baraduc. For modern scientific appliances have
enabled these later observers to claim that they can photo-
graph the fluid which the earlier writers could only take on
trust from their somnambules. And to complete the parallel,
the scientific world, and the mass of medical men in this
country, at any rate, are hardly more concerned about the
whole business than they were sixty or a hundred and
twenty years ago. As has been said of another subject —

*^ Hie liber est in quo quarit sua dogmata quisque
Invenit etpariter dogmata quisque sua^^

It is no doubt this uncertainty — or rather this certainty
that the observations will vary with the preconceptions of
the observer — which has throughout the last three or four
generations repelled the great majority of thinking men from
the investigation. That Bertrand himself, had he lived, would
have done much to dispel this prejudice and to win recogni-
tion for the subject among his scientific contemporaries seems
probable; his premature death in 1831, in his thirty-sixth
year, was an irremediable loss.

But for our immediate purposes even the revolution which
Bertrand essayed in the attitude of science to the subject of
artificial somnambulism is of less importance than his views
on the supersensible phenomena of the trance. For this free
critic of his predecessors* results, amongst so much else
which he destroyed, left this part of their observations intact
Partly from his own experiments, but mainly from facts
communicated to him by other observers and from authentic
records in the past, he found himself constrained to believe

THE SECOND FRENCH COMMISSION 69

I

that P^t^tin and the rest had been justified in their belief in
action at a distance, and in the existence, in certain cases,
of a faculty of acquiring information which had not passed
through any known sensory channel. As may be inferred
from the critical character of his mind, Bertrand had not
come to this conclusion lightly. He was, of course, keenly
alive to the influence of the imagination in such cases, and
devised various experiments in order to exclude such in-
fluence. That he seems to have been less alive to the
possibility of hyperesthesia is, of course, to be regretted ;
but such experiments as the following can hardly be thought
to be capable of explanation by that cause. Bertrand heads
the chapter from which this extract is taken, " Communica-
tion S3rmpatique des s}rmptdmes des maladies.'' He records
three experiments on somnambules who had the faculty of
describing correctly the diseases from which other persons
were suffering.

To test this power he brought to the first somnambule a
patient of his own whom she had never seen. The chief
affection in this case was asthma. The somnambule, after
being placed in rapport with the invalid, shortly presented
all the symptoms of a severe asthmatical attack ; she then
proceeded to describe with great accuracy various minor
ailments and pains, and finally, a particular skin affection, the
existence of which was almost certainly known to no one but
the patient and her physician.

He made two similar observations on another somnambule.
The second I give in his own words : —

'' Void una troisi^me observation faite sur la meme somnambule,
et qui ne parattra pas moins remarquable que les pr^c^dentes. Je
n'avais pas pr^par^ cette ^preuve : le hasard me la fourait. J'etais
aupr^s de la somnambule, que je magn^tisais endormie sur son lit,
quand je vis entrer un de mes amis accompagn^ d'un jeune homme
bless^ depuis peu de temps en duel, et qui avait re^u une balle
dans la tke ; 11 6tait encore malade de sa blessure, et venait pour
consulter. On me le dit k voix basse, sans parler du genre de la
blessure ; et comme la somnambule parut dispos^e ^ donner la con-
sultation qu'on lui demandait, je la mis en rapport avec le bless^,
et me bomai ^ lui demander de d^larer ce qu'il avait.^ Elle parut
chercher un instant, puis elle dit en s'adressant le parole k elle-
m6me: "Non, non, ce n'est pas possible; si un homme avait eu
one balle dans la t^te, il serait mort." — " £h bien 1 " lui dis-je, " que
voyez-vous done?" — "II faut qu^il se trompe," me dit-elle; "//

^ Je n'ai pas besoin de dire avec quel soin on doit ^iter de faire aux somnam-
bules des questions qui puissent leur indiquer les reponses qu'ils doivent faire.

70 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

me dit que monsieur a une balle dans la t^te."^ Je Tassurai que
ce qu'elle disait ^tait vrai, et lui demandai si elle pouvait voir par oil
la balle ^tait entree, et quel trajet elle avait parcouru. La somnam-
bule refl^chit encore un instant, puis ouvrit la bouche, et indiqua
avec le doigt que la balle etait entree par la bouche, et avait pen^tr^
jusqu'^ la partie post^rieure du cou ; ce qui 6tait encore vrai. Enfin
elle poussa Texactitude jusqu'^ indiquer quelques-unes des dents qui
manquaient dans la bouche, et que la balle avait bris^es.

Cette observation ne me laissa rien k d^sirer, puisque d'ailleurs
j'^tais sdr que la somnambule n'avait eu d'avance aucune connais-
sance de la personne qu'on lui avait amende, et qu'elle n'avait pas
ouvert les yeux depuis Tinstant ot le bless^ ^tait entr^ dans la
chambre. Au reste, quand elle Taurait vu, la balle ^tant entree
dans la bouche sans faire aucune lesion aux tegumens ext^rieurs, il
lui aurait ^t^ impossible d'acqu^rir d'un coupnd'oeil toutes les con-
naissances qu'elle montra sur la nature de la blessure.^

Bertrand cites a few observations of his own indicating
action at a distance; but he admits that what indications
he has himself seen of this faculty, though sufficient to justify
him in giving due credence to the observations recorded by
other persons on whose accuracy he could rely, were not in
themselves conclusive. His explanation of the phenomenon
is the precise reverse of Puys6gur*s. When the somnambule
responds to the passes of an unseen magnetiser, the effect
is attributed not to a physical, but to a mental cause —
transmission des pensies.

He cites, moreover, the testimony of several contemporaries,
amongst them two Paris physicians of some note, Georget,
who had been converted by what he had seen from material-
ism to a belief in the existence of the soul, and Rostan, the
author of the article on " Animal Magnetism " in the new
Dictionary of Medicine^ a physician of Aix, Despine, and
one or two others, all of whom claimed to have witnessed
phenomena — reading with the fingers or toes, the back of the
head, etc. — which compelled belief in sonie pretemormal
faculty of vision. Unfortunately in none of the cases cited
are the particulars given sufficient to enable us to judge
whether all sources of error were excluded.*

It will be seen that the phenomena of somnambulism were
exciting considerable attention in the medical circles of Paris
at this time. From 1820 onwards, indeed, there had been
several exhibitions in the Paris hospitals, designed to illustrate

1 cc xi»=j)ot the patient, but the inner voice which seemed to the somnambu]«
to speak from her stomach. ^ TVofV/, etc., pp. 232-4.

' A. Bertrand, Du Magn^tisme Animal en France ^ p. 454.

THE SECOND FRENCH COMMISSION 71

action at a distance and insensibility to pain. If the results
in the first case were dubious, the demonstrations of
anaesthesia were not lacking in cogency. The insensibility
of the patients was frequently tested by the application
of moxas. The moxa, we learn, produced burns, the exact
dimensions of which are given, involving the whole thickness
of the skin. The unhappy patients betrayed no sign of
consciousness. These experiments are amongst the earliest
indications of the recognition of anaesthesia as an accompani-
ment of the induced trance.^

But at this time (1820-1825) not only the medical world,
but Paris in general, and indeed the whole country, were
busied with the marvels of the magnetic trance. A bi-
monthly journal, the Annates du Magnitisme Animal^ had
been started in Paris in 18 14, which after a short interruption
reappeared as the Bibliothique du Magnitisme Animal, This
came to an end in 18 19, and was replaced by the Archives
du Magnitisme Animal, under the editorship of Baron
d'Henin de Cuvillers. There were, moreover, professional
clairvoyantes in plenty, as we learn from casual references
in writings of this period, who seem to have found in the
practice of clairvoyant diagnosis and treatment of disease
a lucrative occupation. The Abb^ Faria claimed that he had
entranced more than five thousand persons.^ Nor was the
interest in it confined to France. The Academy of Berlin
in 1 82 1 proposed a prize for the best essay on the subject;
a prize for which Bertrand would have contended, but
unluckily his essay arrived too late.^ In Russia a Com-
mission appointed by the Emperor in 181 5 had reported
in its favour. In Prussia and Denmark the efficacy of
magnetism had been recognised, and its exercise confined
by law to members of the medical profession. In fact,
throughout Northern Europe, but especially in Germany,
the new treatment seems to have been widely practised.
It was only the land of the immortal Newton "qui dans
la culture des sciences, suivant la marche s^v^re de Tex-

^ It is not a little remarkable that at a time when anaesthetic drugs were
wholly unknown the induction of anaesthesia in the trance appears not to have
attracted the attention of the early magnetists. They do, indeed — t.g. in the
Reports of 1784 and the discussions whidi followed — take note of the numbness
iflf the limbs which occasionally accompanied the trance, but this was generally
attributed to the constrained attitude or, as by Deleuze, to the fact that the lower
limbs were generally not included in the passes, and thus escaped the vitalising
ioflaence ot the fluid {Histotre critiquCy vol. i. p. 149). This singular omission
is, of course, but another illustration — if another is needed — of the fact that
in Hypnotism the observer finds what he looks for.

* Bertrand, Du MagnHismc Animal ^ p. 248. ' Jbid^^ Preface, p. 8.

72 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

perience et de Tobservation, a d6daign6 jusqu'^ present de
s'occuper de magn^tisme." ^

On the nth October, 1825, a young doctor, P. Foissac, who
had for some time past occupied himself with the study of
the somnambulic trance, wrote to the Medical Section of the
Royal Academy of Medicine at Paris asking them to appoint
a Commission to investigate the subject anew, and offering
to lend a somnambule for the purpose of experiment The
Section proceeded in the matter with due circumspectioa
They appointed a committee of five to consider the question
whether it was suitable for the Academy to concern itself
with the question or no. On the 13th December, 1825, this
committee reported by the mouth of M. Husson, and recom-
mended the Section to undertake the inquiry. The reading
of the preliminary report was followed by a heated discus-
sion, which was prolonged over the next three sittings.
There is no need to analyse the debate in detail. The
arguments of the opponents are by now sufficiently familiar.
In the course of the fourscore years which have intervened
they have been reproduced, it may be hazarded, with local
modifications in the annals of every medical society in the
civilised world. It was pointed out that Mesmer was a
quack, and Puys^gur a man without scientific education ;
from Germany and the Scandinavian countries, where the
doctrine was most rife, had notoriously proceeded too many
extravagant systems and erroneous beliefs, alike in medicine
and philosophy. Some of the speakers had studied the
subject for years, and were convinced that all the phenomena,
" or at least nine-tenths of them," were due to illusion and
fraud ; it would be beneath the dignity of the Academy to
undertake the inquiry, for the subject was an altogether un-
professional one, and had fallen into the hands of quacks
and charlatans, who made a lucrative living out of their
alleged clairvoyance ; moreover, it was a very difficult sub-
ject to investigate, since so many of the phenomena depended
on the good faith of the subject ; and if all that was said of
it were proved true, it would still not be of the smallest use
in medicine — let the physicists or somebody else take it up.
Last, and most singular argument of all, there were such
grave moral dangers arising from the abuse of the magnetic
influence that it would be most undesirable for any responsible
body of trained investigators to have anything to do with
such a disagreeable business.

The supporters of the motion had, as may be imag^n^,

* FoissaC; Rafport$ et Disci^ssums (Paris, 1833), p. 4J.

t

THE SECOND FRENCH COMMISSION 73

the best of the argument ; they had also the majority of the
votes, and the recommendation was finally carried by thirty-
five to twenty-five. The Commission commenced its inquiry
at once, but owing to various causes did not actually present
its Report until June, 1831, five and a half years after its
appointment

The Commission reported, in effect, that the allied pheno-
mena were genuine, and in particular that the peculiar state
called somnambulism, though of comparatively rare occur-
rence, was well authenticated. Time had not permitted them
to investigate with precision the therapeutic relations of
magnetism, but they had seen enough to satisfy them of its
importance as an adjunct to medical science.

But the most interesting and most controvertible of the
Commission's findings related to the supernormal aspect of
the phenomena. They reported that the characteristic effects
of the magnetic state could be produced in the patient without
his knowledge, by the mere will of the operator ; that certain
clairvoyants could distinguish objects placed before them
when their eyes were fast closed and normal vision was
impossible ; that they could occasionally diagnose the diseases
of other persons with whom they were placed in rapport ;
and that they could also predict with great exactness more
or less distant pathological changes in their own organisms.

Unfortunately the extracts from the detailed experiments
given in the Report furnish little support for any of these
conclusions, except, indeed, the last The power of somnam-
bules to predict to the minute the occurrence, even weeks
ahead, of epileptic crises and the like, seems fairly well
established. But it is doubtfully to be explained, as even
Bertrand essays to explain it, as an inference from a quick-
ened perception of organic processes. It is in most cases
probably not an inference at all, still less a prevision. What
really happens, no doubt, is that the patient subconsciously
sets his organism to explode in epileptic crisis, mania, and so
on, and himself subconsciously attends to the fulfilment of
the prediction. It is thus analogous to the carrying out of
an hallucination suggested to him by the operator — as we
have seen in recent times at Nancy — with this difference,
that the suggestion is given by the patient to himself. But
the false interpretation placed on phenomena of this kind
undoubtedly contributed much in the early days to the dis-
repute of Magnetism in scientific circles.

As regards the operation of the magnetiser's will without
the knowledge of the patient, several observations are quoted,

74 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

of which the best are two cases in which Foissac himself,
concealed in another room and at a distance of ten or twelve
feet from the subject, with two closed doors intervening in
one case and one in the other, succeeded in inducing the
sleep in a few minutes.

The experiments on which the proof of vision without
eyes were supposed to rest are obviously inconclusive. The
subjects' eyes (two persons were found to possess the power
of seeing under these conditions) were closed, so that the
lashes interlaced, and the eyelids were seen by all present
to be pressed together. On one occasion the lids were held
down by the fingers of one of the experimenters. Under
these conditions the somnambules — for they were apparently
in a genuine somnambulic trance — could describe, though not
without some difficulty, objects placed before them. But
it was observed that the eyeballs moved, as if following the
object, as in the act of normal vision. Moreover, the subject
failed to read with the pit of the stomach, or through a
closed envelope ; and the intervention of a screen or a
bandage over the eyes interrupted the performance. There
can be no reasonable doubt that the " clairvoyants " in these
experiments — who may have been perfectly innocent of
intentional deception in the matter — did actually see with
their fleshly eyes, and in a perfectly normal though somewhat
unusual way. One of the committees of the Society for
Psychical Research had the opportunity in 1884 of experi-
menting with a "clairvoyant" youth, "Dick, the pit lad,"
whose performances were conducted in much the same way,
except that in the later case the eyes were bandaged in a
manner which to the untrained spectator seemed completely
effectual. Dr. Hodgson subsequently, with his eyes bandaged
in the same way, and under like conditions, succeeded in
seeing objects held up before him.*

On the whole, it cannot be said that, apart from their
unanimous testimony to the reality and importance of the
phenomena in general, this second French Commission
added much to our knowledge of the subject, or much, it is
to be feared, to their own reputation. Their observations
were few and inadequate, and their conclusions were not
carefully framed, nor in all cases well established. It is note-
worthy that though the elements of a philosophical explana-
tion of the whole problem had been put forward some few
years previously by Bertrand, with much literary skill and
abundance of apt and cogent illustrations, Bertrand's name

* Set Journal of thi S. P. F. for June, 1884.

THE SECOND FRENCH COMMISSION 75

is not mentioned in the Report, and his theories are dismissed
in a line.

M. Foissac, in publishing the Report,^ triumphantly pointed
out that Magnetism, after being so long a subject of derision,
had at last, after a strife of fifty-seven years, been rehabili-
tated before the first medical society in Europe.

He may be counted happy in that he could not foresee
how many rehabilitations, by or in spite of how many learned
societies, would be needed before the next fifty-seven years
were completed.

' Rapports it discussions de VAcadhnie RoyaU de Midecine sur U Mckgnitisme
Animal, Paris, 1833.

CHAPTER VI
SPIRITUALISM IN FRANCE BEFORE 1848

ONE of the earliest iietailed accounts which we possess
of questioning the spirits through the mouth of a
somnambule is contained in an extract from some
unpublished Journals of the SocUti Exigitique et Philantropique
of Stockholm, which is quoted in the AnnaUs du Magnitisme
Animal by M. Lausanne, in the course of a history of Animal
Magnetism.* This society, founded in the birthplace of
Swedenborg, apparently for the propagation of his doctrines,
had addressed in 1788 to the Soctiti des amis riunis at
Strasbourg a famous "Lettre sur la seul explication satis-
faisante des ph^nom^nes du Magndtisme Animal et du som-
nambulisme ddduite des vrais principes fond6s dans les
connaissances du Crdateur de Thomme et de la Nature, et
confirmee par Texp^rience." True to the principles of its
founder, the Strasbourg Society had retorted by insisting on
a naturalistic interpretation. Thereupon M. Halldin, of the
Swedish Society, replied by another long exposition of the
Swedenborgian view, backed up by extracts from journals
of trance experiments for a few days in the month of May,
1787. From these journals it would appear that in the
presence of several members of the nobility and other persons
the wife of a gardener named Lindquist, a woman of forty
years of age, when placed in the trance, was controlled on
successive days by two different spirits, her own infant
daughter and another young child, a former native of the
town. These "spirits,** in reply to the questions of the
bystanders, gave some account of their own lives on earth,
described the state of intermediate or probationary existence,
le chemin de milieu^ through which the spirits of the dead
had to pass before finally proceeding to their appointed place,
expounded the Christian Scriptures, and even entered upon

1 1816, No. XXV.
76

SPIRITUALISM IN FRANCE 77

an abstruse disquisition on the worthlessness in that other
world of all man's "natural goodness" — in all this discourse
faithfully reproducing the teachings of the Swedish seer.
Other somnambules and other "controls" delivered them-
selves to a like effect They also prescribed for the diseases
of persons present or absent Asked as to the state of the late
King, the spirits replied that he was happy ; the late Captain
Sparfvenfeldt was reported to be "encore flottant," apparently
in the probationary state above described. But the "controls"
refused to satisfy a natural curiosity as to the whereabouts of
the late Comte de Stenbock, and leave us to the grimmest
conjectures.

It is to be noted that the ascription of these somnambulic
utterances to spirit intelligences was in the circumstances not
merely easy but almost inevitable. The entranced person was
in a state obviously differing very widely from either normal
sleep or normal wakefulness ; in the waking state she herself
retained no recollection of what happened in the trance ; in
the trance she habitually spoke of her waking self in the
third person, as of someone else; the intelligence which
manifested in the trance obviously possessed powers of
expression and intellectual resources in some directions far
greater than any displayed by the waking subject Add
to this that the trance intelligence habitually reflected the
ideas in general and especially the religious orthodoxy of her
interlocutors ; that on occasion she showed knowledge of
their thoughts and intentions which could not apparently
have been acquired by normal means; that she was, in
particular, extraordinarily skilful in diagnosing, prescribing
for, and occasionally foretelling the course of diseases in
herself and others — the proof must have seemed to the
bystanders complete.

That without impugning the good faith of the " medium "
we can now explain these manifestations without the sup-
position of an extraneous intelligence is no reflection on
the common sense of the earlier investigators. Taught by
the experience of more than a century in this particular field
and with a wider and more intimate knowledge of allied
abnormal states, we can now explain the division of memory,
the assumption by the somnambule of an alien personality,
and the enlai^ement in certain directions of the psychic
powers, as phenomena directly dependent on changes in
the physical basis of consciousness, such as accompany and
condition the trance. The unshakeable orthodoxy of the
medium is seen to be less significant when we find that

78 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

she is apt equally to reflect the ideas of the magnetist, whether
Catholic, Protestant, Rationalist, or, as in the case just cited,
Swedenborgian ; and, if some of the more marvellous phe-
nomena of the trance are still obscure, they can at least be
^een to fall into line with other mundane facts, which do not
obviously call for spirit-intervention. But at Stockholm in
the eighteenth century such comparisons and inferences were
not possible. Even if the members of the Ex^etical and
Philanthropic Society had started as doubters, they might
have been excused for succumbing to the evidence of their
senses, as did the young somnambule whose history is pre-
served for us by Bertrand. The boy was heard in the trance
to exclaim — " Mais il n*y a pas de revenans, ce sont des contes.
Cependant je les vois, la preuve est entiere."^ Starting, as
they apparently did, with a belief in the spirit communings
of their famous fellow-citizen, Emanuel Swedenboi^, these
Stockholm inquirers could hardly fail to see in these later
manifestations corroboration of their faith and an earnest
of fuller revelations to come.

It was in Germany, as will appear in the next chapter, that
the Spiritualist interpretation found most favour. There were
many philosophers in that country who welcomed the som-
nambulic revelations as affording support for mystical beliefs
antecedently held on less cogent evidence. In the heated
debates which preceded the appointment of the second French
Commission there were numerous allusions to the Spiritualists ;
and Germany and the countries of northern Europe were
pointed to as the chief offenders against scientific orthodoxy.
But they do not seem to have stood alone ; the clairvoyant
who saw and conversed in a vision with two great prophets,
and when asked to identify them, named Rousseau and
Voltaire, must surely have been a Parisian.*

In France, however, as we have already seen, not merely
by Mesmer and his immediate disciples, but by those who
pursued the subject in the next generation, the phenomena of
the somnambulic trance were studied as part of the natural
sciences. However extravagant the theories which, in some
cases, those phenomena were suboi:ned to support, they yet
did not pass beyond the limits of the material world. For
the great body of investigators the interest in Animal
Magnetism lay primarily in its use as a healing power, and
secondarily as illustrating the workings of a new physical
force. If fiiere were any inquirers who saw in the phenomena
indications of something transcending the physical universe,

^ Traits du SomnambuUsm€y p. 437. ' Foissac, op^ cit,^ p. 58.

SPIRITUALISM IN FRANCE 79

they remained for the most part inarticulate. They published
few books, and contributed no articles to the leading periodicals
devoted to Animal Magnetism. Echoes of the Spiritualist
beliefs are found, however, from time to time in the early
literature of the French magnetists. Even so early as 1787
M. Tardy de Montravel indited a series of letters controverting,
in the politest language, the view that in the trance the soul
of the somnambule became freed from its fleshly bonds, and
soared into the world of real existence. Per contra in 1793
Keleph Ben-Nathan, in hie Philosophie Divine^ argued that in
somnambulism the spirit of man did indeed hold intercourse
with other spirits, but of an infernal order; and that the
Spiritualist magnetisers were, in fact, practising that sorcery
and divination against which the Israelites had been warned
in the Jewish Scriptures.

Some years later Deleuze, in the first volume of his
Histoire Critique, found it necessary to devote a chapter to
an examination of the views of the mystics and to argue at
length that a belief in the phenomena of Animal Magnetism
was not logically or necessarily associated with such doctrines.
Later, in the Bibliothique du Magnitisme Animal^ Deleuze
defines his own position more precisely.^ A friend had
drawn his attention to the Spiritualist views then widely
current in Germany, and asserted his own inclination towards
them in preference to the naturalistic explanation adopted
generally in France, in deference, as he suggests, to the
fashionable philosophy of the day. Deleuze, in his reply,
admits that the phenomena of clairvoyance and the like go
far to establish the spirituality of the soul and its independence
of the material organism, and thereby to destroy the strongest
argument that can be adduced against the soul's survival.
But he ui^es various considerations for holding the judgment,
so far as relates to anything more than this admission, still in
suspense. Spirit-intercourse must, he thinks, at present be
r^[arded as not proven by any manifestation of the som-
nambulic trance. The phenomena which seem to point in
that direction are susceptible of another interpretation.

In his later years, however, Deleuze appears to have been
almost converted to the Spiritualistic hypothesis. One
Dr. G. P. Billot had been experimenting for many years with
various patients of that hysterical type which at that time, as
at the present day, appears to have been so common in
France. By means of leading questions he readily induced
his patients, in the somnambulic trance, to declare that they

> Vol. iv. (1818), pp. 1-63.

80 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

were possessed by spirits. The spirits in the case of Billot's
subjects proclaimed themselves the guardian angels of the
somnambules, through whom they communicated, confessed
the Catholic verities, and on occasion, in proof of their
claims, made the sign of the cross. All these matters and
many more Billot reported at great length to Deleuze, in a
correspondence which extended over more than four years,
from March, 1829, to August, 1833.^ At the beginning of
the correspondence Deleuze adheres to the position above
described. In one of his last letters, however, dated
3rd August, 1833, when he was in his eighty-second year,
and within a few months of the complete failure of his mental
powers, he writes to his correspondent : " I have unlimited
confidence in you, and cannot doubt the truth of your
observations. You seem to me destined to effect a change in
the ideas generally held on Animal Magnetism. I should
like to live long enough to see the happy revolution, and to
thank Heaven for having been introduced into the world of
angels."

On the strength of this and similar utterances Billot
claims Deleuze as a convert to his views. But apart alto-
gether from the effect produced by them on the octogenarian
naturalist, Billot's letters are of considerable interest In the
first place, it is clear that the author, though firmly convinced
of the truth of his views, was reluctant to publish them —
in itself strong proof of the rarity of similar views amongst
his countrymen — because of the ridicule and opposition
which he foresaw that they would encounter. The corre-
spondence was not, in fact, published until six years later.
But it is specially interesting to note that Billot's clairvoyants
had on some occasions furnished him with physical phenomena.
On the 5 th March, 18 19, three of the somnambules — one man
and two women — were sitting in a row. They were in the
" theo-magnetic " state, in which they would see visions,
and all of them the same vision. The only other persons
present were Dr. Billot himself and a blind woman, who was
apparently in the habit of consulting his clairvoyants : —

" Towards the middle of the stance, one of the seeresses ex-
claimed, * There is the Dove — it is white as snow — it is flying about
the room with something in its beak — it is a piece of paper. Let
us pray.' A few moments later she added, ' See, it has let the paper
drop at the feet of Madame J ^ (the blind woman)."

* Recherckes psycholoii^iques . , . ou correspondance sur le magtUtismc vital entre
un Solitaire et J/ Deleuze^ Paris, 1839.

SPIRITUALISM IN FRANCE "^ 81

In fact, Dr. Billot saw a paper packet lying at the spot
indicated, which, on picking it up, he found to exhale a
sweet smell. The contents of the packet consisted of three
small pieces of bone glued on to small strips of paper, with
the words " St Maxime," " St Sabine," and " Many Martyrs "
respectively written beneath the fragments. The account is
dated September, 1831.^

On the 27th October in the following year, 1820, he
witnessed a somewhat similar occurrence. The same blind
woman had come to consult one of his somnambules. In
the trance the somnambule said that she saw a maiden hold-
ing out a branch covered with flowers. Billot remarked that
there were no plants in flower at that season in the country.
Suddenly the blind woman cried out that a spray of flowers
had just been placed on her apron. On examination the
" apport " proved to be a piece of Cretan thyme. Later the
visionary maiden, in answer to the doctor's entreaties, gavo:!
him also a piece of the same plant ^

These incidents Billot recounted to Deleuze as proofs
palpable of spirit-intervention. He cannot, he says, under-
stand — nor is it, indeed, easy of understanding — how the
things could have been brought by Animal Magnetism only.

Deleuze in his reply states that he has just received a visit
from a distinguished physician, who had had similar experi-
ences. One of this gentleman's somnambules had frequently
brought him material objects ; but she never professed to
have interviews with spirits. Deleuze himself finds it easier
to conceive that these ** apports " should be conveyed by mag-
netic power than that spirits should have power to move
material objects.

The correspondence is of value as showing that physical
phenomena of the kind familiar to modem Spiritualists — the
Cretan thyme exactly foreshadows the " apports " of flowers
witnessed in Mrs. Guppy's presence — occurred in connection
with the trance long before 1848. Two or three similar
incidents in connection with German clairvoyants are described
in the next chapter.

Whilst, however, it was in Germany, in the early part of the
last century, that the idea of intercourse with spirits through
the medium of an entranced subject first received its full
development, yet France contributed, in the remarkable
trance utterances recorded by Alphonse Cahagnet, one of its
most striking illustrations. We learn from his writings that
Cahagnet was familiar with the teachings of Swedenborg,

* Vol. ii. p. 8. " Vol. ii. p. 6.

1. — G

82 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

and it is not unlikely that he may have read the articles in
the Annales from which the account of the Swedish
Spiritualists above quoted is taken. And no doubt to both
these sources of inspiration we may add the interest evoked
by the German clairvoyants, some reports of whose
marvellous revelations must have reached Paris. But it is
noteworthy that in the Paris of his day Cahagnet seems
to have stood almost alone. He belonged to no school ; he
persuaded few of his contemporaries to share his views of the
somnambulist revelations which he recorded ; and but for the
advent of Modem Spiritualism from America, he would, it
may be hazarded, have found few readers. If in the present
chapter, therefore, Cahagnef s work is treated at greater
length than its historical importance would seem to justify,
it is because these trance utterances are at once amongst the
most remarkable and the best-attested documents on which
the case for Spiritualism depends.

Alphonse Cahagnet describes himself as a simple ouvrier.
He was, in fact, as we learn from an authoritative account of
him in the Journal du Magnitisnu} originally a journeyman
cabinet-maker, and subsequently took up the trade of
restoring old furniture. His attention appears to have been
attracted to the phenomena of somnambulism about 1845,
and thereafter he employed much of his leisure in studying
and recording the utterances of various entranced subjects.

In January, 1848, he published at Paris the first volume of
his Arcanes de la vie future dtvoiUs, in which he gave an
account of communications received through eight somnam-
bules, which purported to proceed from thirty-six persons of
various stations, who had died at different epochs, some
of them more than two centuries previously. This first
volume contained "revelations" of the usual post-Sweden-
borgian kind about the constitution of the spirit spheres, the
occupations of the deceased, the bliss of the after-life, and
visions of angelic beings clothed in white, walking on beauti-
ful lawns, in the light of a fairer day than ours.

We should probably be justified in assuming that these
accounts of heaven and of the occupations of the spirits
therein, with which a large part of the first volume is taken
up, had no more remote origin than the medium's own mind,
whose workings were no doubt directed, now by memories of
lessons learnt in childhood, now by hints of the Sweden-
borgian philosophy and of the revelations of German clair-
voyants received from Cahagnet himself. This first volume

* Vol. xiii. p. 340.

SPIRITUALISM IN FRANCE 83

also included personal messages from deceased friends of
those persons whom Cahagnet admitted to witness the
manifestations. But there is little or nothing to show that
these communications did not emanate exclusively from the
imagination of the medium, and we are dependent solely
upon Cahagnet's good faith and competence for the accuracy
of the reports given. Cahagnet appears, however, to have
been a man of quite unusual sincerity and teachableness.
The criticisms on his earlier work showed him where the
evidence was defective ; and in the later stances described in
his second volume, which was published in January, 1849, he
appears to have done his utmost to establish the authenticity
of the alleged spirit communications by procuring, wherever
possible, the written attestations of the other persons present
The medium in all these later sittings was Adele Maginot,
whom he had known for many years. A natural somnambu-
list from her childhood, she had, in the first instance, allowed
Cahagnet to " magnetise " her, in order that he might put
a stop to the spontaneous attacks which were impairing
her health. He soon found her an excellent clairvoyant,
especially for the diagnosis and cure of diseases. In the
later stances, however, which took place in the spring and
summer of 1848, Adfele was chiefly consulted by persons who
wished for interviews with deceased friends. Cahagnet drew
up a statement of the communications made at these sittings,
and asked the sitters to sign the statement, indicating how
far the particulars given were true or false. These state-
ments, with the signed attestations, are published. In the
few cases where the names are not given in full Cahagnet
explains that for sufficient reasons the sitters had desired
that their names should be withheld from the general public,
but that they were at the disposal of any private inquirer
who might wish to satisfy himself of the genuineness of the
accounts. Of course these reports, which do not profess to
be verbatim, do not show what indications the clairvoyant
may have received from leading questions or undesigned
hints by the sitters.

Cabernet, indeed, seems to admit a certain amount of
editing on his part. His words are : —

**Cet ouvrage est loin d'offrir Fint^rSt du roman par son style
forc^ment coup^, accident^. Aussi conviendrait-il mieux aux
amateurs de la science qu'aux lecteurs passionnes des descriptions
poetiques de nos romans du jour. J^ai cherchk d rendre le style le
plus clair possible en le depouillant de cet entourage de questions^ de
sdms itrangtres i u genre de relations, Je tiens moins ^ bien

84 THE PEDIGEEE OF SPIRITUALISM

^crire qu'^ bien persuader. . . . Je suis reste dans les limites de
Taust^re v^rite, du role impartial de Thistorien, pr^sentant k la
philosophie du jour des faits dans toute leur nudit^, mais aussi
dans toute leur sinc^rit^."^

But it is evident from the accounts given that many of the
sitters, at any rate, were sceptical, and on their guard against
deception. And in some cases it seems clear that no hints
received from the sitters could have furnished information.
Another possible evidential defect is that though Cahs^net
tells us that he has recorded all the somnambule's mistakes
as well as all her correct statements,^ he does not ex-
pressly say that he has published the records of every
seance. As, however, we have numbered records of forty-six
seances in the interval between going to press with the first
volume in the autumn of 1847 ^^^ ^^e end of August, 1848,
twenty-eight of which sittings took place between the 6th of
March and the latter date, it may fairly be assumed that the
sittings here recorded represent at least a substantial pro-
portion of those which actually took place. Lastly, to
complete the enumeration of the more prominent evidential
defects, very few dates are given. In this respect also,
however, the second volume shows a marked improvement
over the first The ninety-six stances there recorded con-
tain hardly a single date. But of the later seances several
are dated, and the rest, from internal evidence, appear to
be printed in chronological order. In short, in the whole
literature of Spiritualism I know of no records of the kind
which reach a higher evidential standard, nor any in which
the writer's good faith and intelligence are alike so con-
spicuous.

The following are a few representative records. In the
stance first quoted the sitter, Dejean de la Bastie, Delegate to
the Government from the Isle of Bourbon, had come a few
days previously and received a personal description of his
father, which he acknowledged to be exact with a few trifling
exceptions, together with much excellent paternal advice.

No. 141. — M. Dejean de la Bastie, already quoted in Stance 138,
desires another apparition. He asks for M. Marie-Joseph-Theodore
de Guignd. Ad^le sees a man about forty years of age, rather tall,
with brown hair. M. Dejean interrupts Adde by saying that this is
not the portrait of the person for whom he asks. We see that this
gentleman wishes for perfectly accurate information. At the words
" rather tall, with brown hair," he says, "He was tall and not brown-

* Vol. ii. p. 233. ' Vol. ii. p. 126.

SPIRITUALISM IN FRANCE 85

haired." Ad^le answers that the person whose appearance she is
describing must have the same name and belong to his family, that
she is conscious that it is so ; but he again asks for this gentleman,
and a second person appears. The first remains. " The new-comer,"
she says, " is thirty years of age and over ; he is tall and thin, has
dark, flaxen hair, a pale face, with rather sweet, dark blue eyes ; a
long nose, a mouth that is large rather than small, a long chin. I see
he wears a sort of great coat, such as is no longer worn. It is not at
all becoming; it resembles a dressing-gown, but is not one; it is
dark blue or black. This garb proclaims him to be a man in orders
— a priest, or something of the kind. He looks stem. He must
have had chest complaint I see that his lungs are distended with
blood. He has been ailing a long time. He is very weak. I think
that privations have caused this, and made his chest so delicate. I
do not see, however, that he has the germs of any fatal disease, and
this makes me believe that his death was violent, accidental, un-
expected. His hand is large and thin. I see a medal on his breast,
the size of the palm of a hand. He wears low-cut shoes, such are
not worn now. He will not speak to me, so I conclude that he did
not speak French."

The following remarks precede the signature of M. Dejean : — "This
person had more of gentleness and kindness than severity in his dis-
position. He died of a malignant fever, accompanied by delirium
lasting several days, and attributed by the doctor to the needs of a
vigorous constitution thwarted by absolute continence."

**The details acknowledged to be accurate.

(Signed) Dejean de la Bastie,

This 25/A August^ 1848. 18, Rue Neuve de Luxembourg." ^

The introduction in the first instance of a figure which
is not recognised by the sitter is a not uncommon feature
at these stances. Ad^le generally persisted, as in the
present case, that the figure belonged to the same family ;
and not infrequently the sitter was ultimately induced
to recognise it. In one case Cahagnet describes,^ under
the title "Quadruple Apparition/' a case in which three
figures appeared before one was recognised. In this case
the sitter appears ultimately to have given a grudging
recc^ition to all four. But the unprejudiced inquirer will
probably not share Cahagnet's view, that the introduction
of three tardily recognised figures adds strength to the evi-
dence. Cahagnet himself was satisfied that the somnambule
actually held converse with spirits, and most of his sitters
seem to have shared his conviction. But there were a
few who ascribed the results to thought-transference; and

^ Arcams, voL ii. pp. 219, 22a ^ Vol. iii. pp. 101-8.

86 THE PEDIGEEE OF SPIRITUALISM

the sitting next to be quoted certainly lends support to this
view.

M. du Potet, a well-known writer on Animal Magnetism,
and editor at that time of the Journal du MagniHstne in
Paris, came to see Cahagnet's subject, and brought with him
the Prince de Kourakine, who is described as Secretary to
the Russian Ambassador. The Prince had asked for his
sister-in-law, and a striking personal description had been
given by Adile, which was acknowledged by the Prince, in
tiie hearing of M. du Potet and two other witnesses, to be
accurate. Unfortunately, the Prince's signed attestation was
not procured on the spot ; he had promised to come c^ain,
but — as Cahagnet delicately put it — ^** les ^v^nements survenus
en France Tont forc6 de partir," and the promised testimony
was never obtained. After the apparition of the Russian
Princess, however, the record continues: —

No. 117.^ — M. du Potet wishes in his turn to call up M. Dubois,
a doctor, a friend of his who had been dead about fifteen months.

Ad^le said : " I see a grey-headed man, he has very little hair on
the front of his head ; his forehead is bare and prominent at the
temples, making his head appear square. He may be about sixty
years of age. He has two wrinkles on either side of his cheeks, a
crease under his chin, making it look double ; he is short-necked
and stumpy ; has small eyes, a thick nose, rather a large mouth, a
flat chin, and small thin hands. He does not look to me quite so
tall as M. du Potet ; if he is not stouter he is more broad-shouldered.
He wears a brown frock-coat with side-pockets. I see him draw a
snuff-box out of one of them and take a pinch. He has a very
funny walk, he does not carry himself well, and has weak legs ; he
must have suffered from them. He has rather short trousers. Ah !
he does not clean his shoes every day, for they are covered with
mud. Taking it all together, he is not well dress^. He has asthma,
for he breathes with difficulty. I see, too, that he has a swelling in
the abdomen, he has something to support it I have told him
that it is M. du Potet who asked for him. He talks to me of
magnetism with incredible volubility; he talks of everything at
once ; he mixes everything up ; I cannot understand any of it ; it
makes him sputter saliva."

M. du Potet asks that the apparition may be asked why he has
not appeared to him before, as he had promised. He answers:
*' Wait till I find out my whereabouts ; I have only just arrived, I
am studying everything I see. I want to tell you all about it when
I appear, and I shall have many things to tell you."

" Which day did you promise me you would do so ? " " On a
Wednesday." Addle adds : " This man must be forgetful ; I am

^ Vol. ii. pp. I i8-aa

SPIRITUALISM IN FRANCE 87

sure that he was very absent-minded." M. du Potet asks further :
" When will you appear to me ? " "I cannot fix the time ; I shall
try to do so in six weeks." ** Ask him if he was fond of the Jesuits ?"
At this name he gave such a leap in the air, stretching out his arms
and crying, " The Jesuits," that Adele draws back quickly, and is so
startled that she does not venture to speak to him again.

M. du Potet declares that all these details are very accurate, that
he cannot alter a syllable. He says that this man's powers of con-
versation were inexhaustible ; he mixed up all the sciences to which
he was devoted, and spoke with such volubility that, as the clair-
voyant says, he sputtered in consequence. He took little pains
with his appearance ; he was so absent-minded that he sometimes
forgot to eat When anyone mentioned the Jesuits to him he
jumped as Addle has described. He was always covered with mud
like a spaniel. It is not surprising that the clairvoyant should see
him with muddy shoes. He had, in fact, promis^ M. du Potet
that he would appear to him on a Wednesday or a Saturday. M.
du Potet has acknowledged the accuracy of this apparition in No. 75
of iYi^/aumal du Magnitisme,

In effect, in the Journal of August loth of the same year, in
reviewing the first volume of Cahagnet's work, du Potet gives
handsome testimony to the striking nature of the impersona-
tion, " si bien que je croyais le voir moi-m6me, tant le tableau
en 6tait saisissant Bientdt cette ombre s'est enfuie en effray-
ant la somnambule ; un seul mot avait caus6 cette disparition
subite, et mon ^tonnement en fut port^ k son comble, car ce
m^me mot le mettait toujours en fureur." But du Potet, for
all that, is inclined to attribute the phenomenon to trans-
mission of thought from his own mind,^ and a few months
later,* in reviewing Cahagnefs second volume, he takes
occasion to give the result of his further inquiries on this
s^nce. Generally, the minute description of the personal
appearance and other particulars which were prominent in
du Potet's own mind at the time were correct; and other
details were correctly given which du Potet might have
heard, but had certainly not remembered at the time. He
had ascertained, however, from the widow and children that
Dr. Dubois took no tobacco ; never had a redingote of the
colour described ; had no hernia, and consequently wore no
bandage. Moreover, the apparition predicted never came off.
Du Potet, however, adds expressly that Dr. Dubois was un-
known in life to Cahagnet and his somnambule.

But, in fact, Cahagnet's own records furnish us with the
most convincing refutation of his theory that these com-

' Journal du Magnhisnu^ vol. vii. p. 89. ^ Ibid.^ vol. viii. p. 24.

88 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

munications were authentic messages from the spirits of the
dead. For there are two or three accounts which, while they
point to the action of telepathy, are extremely difficult to
reconcile with the theory of spirit-intercourse. On two
occasions, recorded in the second volume, Ad^le was asked to
search for a long-lost relative of the sitter. On each occasion
she found the man alive^ and conversed with his spirit

M. Lucas came to inquire after the fate of his brother-in-law,
who had disappeared after a quarrel some twelve years
previously. Ad^le, in the trance, found the man at once, said
that he was alive, and that she saw him in a " foreign country,"
where there were trees like those in America, and that he was
busy gathering seeds from small shrubs about three feet
high. He would not answer her questions, and she asked to
be awoke, as she was afraid of wild beasts.^ M. Lucas
returned a few days afterwards, bringfing with him the mother
of the missing man.

No. 99.2 — Adele, as soon as she was asleep, said: "I see him."
" Where do you see him ? " " Here." " Give us a description of
him again, and also of the place where he is." " He is a fair man,
tanned by the heat of the sun; he is very stout, his features are
fairly regular; brown eyes, large mouth; he appears gloomy and
meditative. He is dressed as a workman, in a sort of short blouse.
He is occupied at present, as he was last time, in gathering seed,
which resembles peppercorns, but I do not think it is pepper ; it is
larger. This seed grows on small shrubs about one m^tre high.
There is a little negro with him occupied in the same way." " Try
to obtain some answer to-day. Get him to tell you the name of the
country where you see him." " He will not answer." " Tell him that
his good mother, for whom he had a great affection, is with you, and
asks for news of him." " Oh ! at the mention of his mother he
turned round and said to me, ' My mother ! I shall not die without
seeing her again. Comfort her, and tell her that I always think of
her. I am not dead ! ' " " Why does he not write to her ? " " He
has written to her, but the vessel has no doubt been wrecked — at
least he supposes this to be so, since he has received no answer.
He tells me that he is in Mexico. He has followed the emperor,
Don Pedro ; he has been imprisoned for five years; he has suffered a
great deal, and will use every effort to return to France ; they will
see him again." " Can he name the place in which he is living ? "
** No ; it is very far inland. These countries have no names." " Is
he living with a European ? " " No, with a coloured man." " Why
does he not write to his mother?" " Because no vessels come to the
place where he is. He does not know to whom to turn. Besides,
he only knew how to write a very little, and has almost forgotten.

^ ArcaneSf vol ii. pp. 32, 33. ' Ibid. , vol. ii, pp. 34-37.

SPIRITUALISM IN FRANCE 89

There is no one with him who can render him this service ; no one
speaks his language; he makes himself understood with great
difficulty. Besides that, he has never been of a communicative
disposition or a talker. He seems to be rather a surly fellow. It
is very difficult to get these few words out of him. One would think
he were dumb." " In short, how can one manage to write to him or
hear news of him ? " " He knows nothing about it. He can only
say these three things : I am in Mexico, I am not dead, they will
see me again." ''Why did he leave his parents in this manner,
without saying anything to them, as he was happy at home?"
" This man was very reserved ; he hardly ever spoke. He loved his
mother very much, but he had not the same affection for his father,
who was a passionate, surly man, and often treated him brutally.
The cup had long since been full. It was not the trifling dispute
that he had had with his father the day before his departure that
made him decide to go away ; it had been his fixed determination
for some time past. He told no one of it. He went away on the
sly. Having kissed them all the evening before, he made good his
escape next day, without another word. Do not be uneasy, madam ;
you will see him again ! " This good woman burst into tears,
because she recognised the truth of every detail given her by Ad^le.
She did not find anything at fault in the description. The dis-
position, the education, and the departure of her son were as Ad^le
said ; but a greater semblance of probability is given to the clair-
voyant's account by the fact that his relations had an idea that he
had enlisted in Don Pedro's army, and at one time took some steps
to ascertain the truth of it. M. Lucas told me of this detail on a
journey which he afterwards made to Paris. No information was,
however, obtainable.

Shortly after this incident M. Mirande, the head of the
printing-office in which the first volume of the Arcanes had
been printed, came to Cahagnet and asked for a sitting. He
was much impressed with what he saw and heard, and finally
begged Ad^le to ask for the apparition of his brother, who,
he believed, had died in the Russian campaign. Ad^le did
not see him in the spirit world, and said that he was not dead,
that she saw him on earth. She then gave a description of
his personal appearance, uniform, and disposition, which, with
certain qualifications and corrections, appears to have tallied
fairly well with M. Mirande's recollections and surmises. She
also gave a plausible account, alleged to be derived from
actual conversation with the absent brother, of his whereabouts,
and an explanation of his long silence.^

We have, unfortunately, no corroboration of the truth of
the statements made about these two persons. A third

* ArcamSf toI. ii. pp. 60-3.

90 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

volume of the Arcanes was published a year or two later,
and it is perhaps fair to assume that, if news had come
that either of the missing persons was still alive, and had
passed through the experiences described by Ad^le, Cahagnet
would not have missed the opportunity of making public
such a striking testimony to his subject's clairvoyance. It
follows, then, t^at in these two stances all that we are en-
titled to say is that Ad^le was able to divine with, it may be
admitted, considerable accuracy the ideas present in the
minds of her interlocutors. It seems to have been a good
example of telepathy; but we have no kind of proof that
it was anything more, and from internal evidence it seems
very unlikely that it was anything more. In our total
ignorance of all conditions and limitations, it would, perhaps,
be unreasonable to regard the implicit assumption that the
spirits of the dead are ready to attend at any moment the
summons of the living as in itself constituting an additional
obstacle to accepting the accounts of Ad^le's stances in
general as evidence of spirit-intercourse. But it is quite
another matter when we have to deal, as in the two cases
now in question, with the spirits of men still living. How
did Adile manage to discover the whereabouts of those
two persons? And, still more, how did she contrive that
they should speak with her, and that at a time when one
of them, at least, was wide awake and engaged in earning
his living by the work of his hands? And was Adtle's
power of communicating with the spirits of the living re-
stricted to persons who had gone away to distant climes in
order to escape from their relatives ? If Ad^le, or any other
of Cahagnet's clairvoyants, really had possessed the power
of conversing with the living at a distance, I cannot doubt
that Cahagnet, in the course of his many years* experiments,
would have been able to present us with some evidence of
such a power that was not purely hypothetical. Nothing
would be so easy to prove. The fact that no such evidence
is forthcoming affords a strong presumption that AdMe did
not possess the power, and that the conversations here
detailed were purely imaginary, the authentic or plausible
details which they contained being filched, it may be, tele-
pathically from the minds of those present The curious
similarity of the two accounts also points in the same direc-
tion. Both men profess to have written home, but the letters
must have miscarried. Neither can write now, because they
are far from the sea, in the interior. Both have suffered
much ; both have been prisoners ; both protest that their

SPIRITUALISM IN FRANCE 91

relatives will see them before they die ; neither, however, is
in a hurry to come back ; and neither is willing to discover
the name of his present place of abiding.

To suppose, as the recorder supposes, that these narratives
are authentic revelations obtained from actual conversations
with the spirits of men living in unnamed and — as Cahagnet
explains at length — probably nameless localities in the
interior of Mexico or Asiatic Russia, is to strain credulity
to the breaking-point But if these two narratives are not
what they seem to be, what are we to say of the other
narratives in the book, which are cast in the same dramatic
form, and contain similar details harmonising with the ex-
pectations or memories of the interlocutors? If those are
not authentic messages from the distant living, we require
some further warrant for the assumption that these are
authentic messages from the spirits of the dead. Considered
in conjunction with the visions of heaven and dead play-
mates which characterised the earlier trances, these later utter-
ances certainly point to an exclusively mundane origin.^

* It is fidr to say that, in his third volume, Cahagnet records another case in
which a missing person was fonnd by Ad^le and news of him conveyed to his
anxious mother, and that in this case the details communicated — which were
beyond the mother's knowledge or conjecture — were stated by her subsequently
to have proved correct There is, however, no very striking correspondence in
the details which she actually quotes ; and as the only account of ttie sitting is
contained in a letter written by the mother " some months " later, and some
months, also, after the unexpected receipt of the confirmatory letter from her
absent son, which came a few weeks after the sitting, the record cannot be held
to have much value (VoL iil pp. 141-9).

CHAPTER VII
THE GERMAN SOMNAMBULES

IN Germany the history of Animal Magnetism was more
complex. As already said, Spiritualist views found many
disciples. But not all the German magnetisers gave
themselves over to parleying with spirits. From the first
there were students of the new facts at least as cautious and
sober-minded as in any other European country. With such
men as Gmelin, Wienholt, Fischer, Kluge, Kieser, Animal
Magnetism was, just as to Deleuze himself, primarily an
adjunct to the art of healing; and perhaps most of the
German investigators possessed sounder knowledge of the
physical sciences in general and of medicine in particular
than the earlier French magnetisers could claim. But the
phenomena observed were essentially the same. The ex-
periments of M. Tardy de Montravel were repeated, con-
firmed, and improved upon. Light was observed to stream
from the fingers of the operator, from the poles of a magnet,
from the heart of a living frog, or the spinal marrow of a
recently killed ox. This radiant light would impregnate a
glass of water, and would be conducted, reflected, or dispersed
by the intervention of various substances. Metals exercised
characteristic efiects on somnambules at a distance of ten or
fifteen paces, inducing severally pricking, warmth, numbness,
drowsiness, catalepsy, and so on ; the poles of the magnet
could be distinguished by the different sensations to which
they gfave rise. In a word, we find scattered through the
writings of the first two decades of the nineteenth century the
germs of those curious pseudo-observations, which Reichenbach
was a little later to expand into an enormous treatise.

Again we read that to the clairvoyant somnambule her
body is transparent, so that the exact condition of every
organ can be seen, and the nature of any ailment described.
A good clairvoyant, of course, possessed the same power of
insight into the bodily processes and ailments of others, and

92

THE GERMAN SOMNAMBULES 93

could foretell the course of diseases, and prescribe the fitting
remedies.

Again, in the books of this period we find much of com-
munity of sensation between operator and subject; of reading
of thought; of the action of the operator's will — even at a
distance of some miles — in sending the patient into trance ;
and finally of clairvoyance, whether at close quarters or at a
considerable distance.^ The latter faculty — though abundant
illustrations of it are given — is said by Kieser * to be much
rarer than in France. But the incident which apparently
provoked the comparison — an account in the Annaks du
MagtUtisme Animal of a man who on his first essay had
made five women simultaneously clairvoyant in one evening —
can hardly, perhaps, be taken as representative.'

One of the most fully recorded series of observations in
thought-transference and clairvoyance is to be found in a case
given at great length in the Archiv fur den thierischen
Magnetismus, by Dr. Van Ghert, Secretary of the Royal
Mineralogical Society at Jena.* Van Ghert's patient was a
young woman of twenty-eight, who appears to have been a
neurotic of the same type as Frau Hauffe, and the other
somnambules to be discussed later. Several instances are
quoted in detail, in which the somnambule gave accurate
descriptions, to persons who came from a distance, of their
homes, the furniture contained in each room, the personal
appearance of the inmates, their mental idiosyncrasies, and
even the diseases from which they suffered, and the appropriate
remedies. If we may trust Van Ghert, who seems to have
been a careful observer and without strong bias towards the
marvellous, the descriptions coincided so closely with the

^ Kluge, Veriuch einer Darstellung dcs animalischen MagrutUmuSy etc.
(Berlin, 1815), gives a useful summary of the observations and views of his
predecessors on all these points.

^ Archiv fur den thierischen Magnetismus, vol i. part iii. pp. 126, 127.

' The numerous observations which are cited to prove tne existence of a
fiu:ulty of vision, either in the pit of the stomach or some other portion of the
body, are as inconclusive as those quoted by the French Animal Magnetists. In
most of the cases, indeed, no precautions, or wholly inadequate precautions,
seem to have been taken to exclude normal vision through the half-closed eyes,
and in the rare instances where vision at the time was apparently impossible, as
when the word to be read was wrapped up in vellum paper and sealed before the
sitting, there is still open the possibiUty that the subject might have surreptitiously
obtained knowledge of the text beforehand, or that she might have been influenced
by transmission of thought from the hypnotist and those around who knew the
word. {Archiv^ vol. iv. part iii. pp. 80-2. See also voL iii. part ii. p. 131 ;
part iii. pp. 14 and 18 ; v. part iii. p. 14 ; vi. part ii. pp. 103, 124, and elsewhere,
and the numerous references given m Kluge's book already quoted. )

* Archiv^ voL ii. part i. pp. 3-186 ; part ii. pp. 3-51. The account given in
the Archiv is translated from the original Dutch.

94 THE PEDIGEEE OF SPIRITUALISM

facts that something more than chance must have been at
work. But the evidence, since it rests on Van Ghert's
testimony alone, and we have no means of knowing how the
conversations were reported, or what hints may have been
given by the witnesses, is no better, perhaps not so good, as
in some of the cases quoted in a later chapter from English
observers.

A lai^e selection of instances of apparent thought-
transference and clairvoyance, cited for the most part from
contemporary publications, will be found in another work of
this date, Der Magnetismus und die allgemeine Weltsprache,
by H. M. Wesermann, Government Assessor and Chief
Inspector of Roads at Dusseldorf.^ The most valuable part
of Wesermann's book is a brief record of some experiments
of his own in thought-transference at a distance. On four
occasions he reports that he succeeded in inducing four
separate acquaintances to dream, on matters suggested by
himself On the fifth trial he caused the subject of the
experiment, and a friend who happened to be in his company
at the time, to see a waking vision of a woman's fig^re.^ The
experiments are of interest as anticipating very closely some
experiments on the same lines recorded in recent years in the
publications of the Society for Psychical Research.

The writers so far quoted, even when treating of clair-
voyance and similar marvellous powers, expressly repudiated
a Spiritualist or mystical interpretation of the phenomena,
and regarded Animal Magnetism as a branch of physical
science. Thus Wesermann supposed that his power of
influencing the thoughts of a distant acquaintance depended
upon the projection from himself of a stream of magnetic
fluid, visible to the clairvoyant eye as a stream of light
Van Ghert's patient never professed to commune with angels.
Kluge' contends that the pious Jung, in claiming that the
denizens of the spiritual world are perceptible to our senses,
overshoots the mark, and falls back into sheer materialism.
Ghost-seeing, in Kluge's view, whether induced or spontaneous,
is pure illusion. So Kieser, in reviewing in tiie Archiv^
Meier's history of Aug^ste Miiller, to be discussed later,
takes occasion to controvert Meier's explanation of the
apparition of his somnambule to a friend at a distance.

^ Creveld, 1822.

* Op. cit.^ pp. 26-30. The experiments are quoted in Phantasms of the
hiving^ vol. i. pp. loi, 102. The finh and most important experiment is given in
full in the JouriuU S, P. R, for March, 1890 ; and again in my own Apparitions
and Thought-Tramference^ p. 231.

' Versuch eincr Darstellung^ pp. 300, 301. ^ Vol. iii. part iii. p. 119.

THE GERMAN SOMNAMBULES 95

Meier claimed the incident as a proof that the soul of the
ecstatic can leave the body and make itself perceptible to
human senses. Kieser sees in it merely proof of an action
upon the mind of the seer exercised by the mind of the
ecstatic. For the soul, says he, being immaterial, cannot
make itself visible except through its proper body. But,
while rejecting the crudely Spiritualistic view, Wienholt,
Kieser, and Kluge — to mention no others — are agreed that in
the higher stages of the trance the soul approaches the
threshold of the universal life, and seems partly to free itself
from the shackles of space and time.^ Whilst Nasse goes
further, and frankly claims that in somnambulism we have to
deal with a fact of the spiritual order ; and that any attempt
to correlate its laws with those of the physical universe must
end in failure.^ It is clear, indeed, that men who believed in
the reality of clairvoyance at a distance (as distinguished
from reading the thoughts of those present) must have been
hard put to it to find an explanation in physical terms.

But side by side with these sober-minded investigators there
were many who saw in the phenomena of the trance proofs
of intercourse with a spiritual world, and recorded the utter-
ances of the somnambules as precious revelations from super-
human sources. The founder of this school may be said to
be J. H. Jung, better known as Jung-Stilling; not, indeed, that
Jung could or did claim to be the originator of the scheme of
spiritual cosmology which he propounded. Much of it could
certainly be found in Swedenborg ; much of it, ag^in, is the
common property of the mystics of all ages. And no small
part of his teaching was simply a re-statement in modem
terms of certain Christian beliefs. But Jung's special dis-
tinction is that he placed the doctrine of the psychic body on
a new and surer basis, first by associating it with the con-
ception — then for the first time beginning to gain general
acceptance in the scientific world — of the luminiferous ether ;
and secondly, by supporting and explaining it by means of
illustrations drawn from the observed phenomena of som-
nambulism. Jung, who was bom in 1740, began life in
humble circumstances. In early manhood, however, he obtained
a medical degree, and practised for many years as a doctor,
ultimately becoming Professor of Political Economy at the
Universities of Marburg and Heidelberg. His book, Theorie

' Wienholt, Lectures in Somnambulism (? 1804). I know this work only in an
English translation. Kieser, ** System des Tellurismus odcr thierischen Mag*
nittsmus.** Kluge, op, at., pp. 259-306.

^ ArchivfUr den thierischen Afagnetismus^ vol. i. part iii. pp. 3-22.

96 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

der Geister-Kunde, appears to have been published in the
last years of his life. It is hardly, even in form, a scientific
treatise, being avowedly a piece of Christian apologetics.
About three-fourths of the book consist of a collection of
ghost stories, anecdotes of prophecy, and second sight, recorded
without any attempt at verification or critical treatment^

Jung gives a convenient summary of his theory, in the
shape of fifty-five propositions, from which I quote the
following : —

9. Animal Magnetism undeniably proves that we have an inward
man, a soul, which is constituted of the divine spark, the immortal
spirit possessing reason and will, and of a luminous body (LichtshuUe\
which is inseparable from it.

10. Light, electric, magnetic, galvanic matter, and ether appear to
be all one and the same body under different modifications. This
light-substance or ether is the element which connects body and soul,
and the spiritual {Sinnenwelt) and material world together.

11. When the inward man, the human soul, forsakes the inward
sphere, where the senses operate {die innere Merkstdtte der Sinner
verldsst) and merely continues the vital functions, the body falls
into an entranced state, or a profound sleep, during which the soul
acts more freely, powerfully, and actively. All its faculties are
elevated.

12. The more the soul is divested of the body, the more extensive,
free, and powerful is its inward sphere of operation. It has,
therefore, no need whatever of the body in order to live and exist
The latter is rather an hindrance to it. . . .

1 3. The whole of these propositions are sure and certain inferences,
which I have drawn from experiments in Animal Magnetism. These
most important experiments undeniably show that the soul does not
require the organs of sense in order to be able to see, hear, smell,
taste, and feel in a much more perfect state. . . .

30. The boundless ether that fills the space of our solar system
is the element of spirits in which they live and move. The atmosphere

^ The value of this evidence may be estimated from a single example. Jung is
anxious to prove his contention that the soul of a man can leave the body while
the man is still alive, and show itself in a distant place. The narrative which he
selects for this purpose was told him by a friend (unnamed) on whose veracity he
could rely; the friend heard it from a respectable {redlicke) individual (unnamed) ;
the source of this respectable individual^ information is not mentioned ; but he
was not, apparently, personally concerned in the episode, and it cannot be inferred
from Jung s account that he was even acquainted with the chief actors (unnamed).
The only date mentioned in connection with the case is "about 60 or 70 years
ago," and this does not relate to the date of the incident itself, which had taken
place an indefinite number of years previously. I do not quote the story in full,
since, perhaps because of the length of its pedigree, perhaps because of the
soundness of the narrator's theological views, it forms a prominent item in nearly
every collection of ghost stories since published (Th. der Geister Kundc^ new
edition, p. 60. Stuttgart, 1827).

THE GERMAN SOMNAMBULES 97

{Dunstkrets) that surrounds our earth, down to its centre, and
particularly the night, is the abode of fallen angels, and of such
human souls as die in an unconverted state. ^

It remains to Md that Jung taught that the trance was a
diseased condition; and that the attempt to communicate
with spirits or foretell the future by such means was highly
dangerous and sinful (Propositions 23, 24); and warns his
readers against yielding implicit trust to the somnambule's
utterances. But Jung's successors paid little heed to these
warnings, and in the course of the next thirty years there
were recorded at prodigious length the sayings and doings of
many ** highly remarkable somnambules." One of the first of
these to attract attention — an attention which the nature of
her performances scarcely seems to have merited — was a
certain Fraiilein Auguste M tiller, of Carlsruhe, whose history,
as preserved by Dr. Meier, may be taken as fairly representa-
tive.^ The young woman in the trance was able to diagnose
and prescribe for the ailments of herself and other persons in
the usual fashion. She said in the trance that she could
discern not only the bodies of men, but also their thoughts
and characters ; but no proofs are offered of this power. She
claimed to converse with the spirit of her dead mother. She
also said that she could visit her brother in Vienna, and make
her presence known to him ; but she rejected Dr. Meier's sug-
gestion that she should speak aloud, for fear that she should
frighten him. It is recorded that with her eyes closed she
could read theatre tickets and songs out of a music-book.
But no details are givea The nearest approach to a test is
as follows : Meier asked her one evening whether she could
tell him anything noteworthy which had recently happened
in his own family, and the clairvoyant in reply was able to
tell him of the death of his father-in-law at a town fifteen
miles off. Meier had received the news of this event on the
morning of that day, but was confident — a confidence which
he does not enable us to share — that the somnambule knew
nothing about it One other case may be cited. A friend of
Auguste, one Catharine, happened to be suffering from tooth-
ache, and told the somnambule that she would probably be
unable to pay her usual visit on the following day. Auguste
replied, " I will visit you, then, to-night." That night Catha-
rine is reported to have seen Auguste enter her room clothed

* From the translation by Samuel Jackson, Theory of Pntumatohgy, London,

1834.

* Hikkst merkwiirdige Geschuhte der magnettsch kelisefunden Auguste Mulier,

Stuttgart, 1818.
I. — H

98 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

in a night-dress. The form, which hovered above the floor,
came up to Catharine and lay beside her in bed. In the
morning Catharine awoke to find her toothache gone, and
was much astonished to learn that Auguste had never left
her own bed all the night through. The incident is r^arded
by Meier as a manifest proof of the existence of a psychic
body. Kieser, as already mentioned, reviewing the case in
the Archiv, adduces it as a striking instance of action at a
distance, conditioned by the rapport between the young
women. The reader may possibly prefer a still simpler
hypothesis.

In another case, which is recorded by Dr. C. Romer, we
advance a little further into the realms of the unknown.^

The somnambule in this case was Romer's own daughter,
a girl of fifteen, who in November, 1813, was seized with con-
vulsive attacks, followed by catalepsy. Ultimately she be-
came somnambulic, prescribed for her own ailments and
those of her father and other persons, rejecting all other
medical treatment than her own. Romer frequently asserts
that she displayed in the trance knowledge which she could
not possibly have acquired from normal sources. But he
oflers little evidence for the statement ; and most of the utter-
ances which he records were from their nature incapable of
verification. One curious feature of this trance — a feature
which we shall see developed to a much greater extent in a
later somnambule — was the tendency to arithmetical symbol-
ism. Romer reproduces a whole page of numerical calcula-
tions, the meaning of which is left obscure, but which seem
to have profoundly impressed the onlookers as having
presumably some mystic significance.* In another direction
Fralilein Romer advanced beyond Auguste Miiller. Like her,
she conversed freely with her dead relations. But, further,
she was conducted, sometimes by a deceased relative, but
more frequently by the spirit of a still living companion, one
Louise, to the moon. But, alas ! her description of her first
voyage reveals a conception of the solar system scarcely more
adequate than that of the Blessed Damosel, watching, '* from
the gold bar of Heaven,"

"... the tides of day and nic^ht
With flame and darkness ridge
The void, to where this Earth
Spins like a fretful midge.''

' Ausfuhrlicke historische Darstellung einer hochst merkwurdigen Somnam-
bale, etc., etc von C. Romer, PH.D., etc. Stuttgart, 1821.
* Ibid,^ p. 146.

THE GERMAN SOMNAMBULES 99

It was night when she left the earth — 5,30 on a January
afternoon — and continued night, apparently, as she voyaged
to the moon, for she describes how that luminary, at one
point, showed forty times larger, but there is no mention of
the sun. However, she enjoyed a unique astronomical ex-
perience. She watched the sun rise over the lunar moun-
tains, basked in his rays for a whole lunar day, witnessed his
setting, and returned to the earth in time for supper. Miss
Romer was probably not aware that in the ordinary course of
nature about a fortnight would elapse between the rising and
the setting of the sun on our satellite.

After this, no description of birds, flowers, waterfalls,
mountains, lovely valleys, and even the inhabitants of the
moon, can seem anything but tame. In truth, her account of
lunar scenery bears some resemblance to a pre-Raphaelite
painter's conception of the plains of heaven. At her first
visit to the moon she learns that her two little sisters had
already gone to "Juno": the spirits of the dead apparently
come first to the moon, and then progress to higher spheres.^
The knowledge of this fact lends a painful interest to Miss
Rdmer's first interview with her deceased grandparents,
whom she meets in the moon, and, with the terrible candour
of the clairvoyant, asks why they have not already gone
higher. Satisfactory explanations are given ; and, indeed, the
somnambule allows that her relatives shine more than they
did upon the earth.^

It would be scarcely profitable to carry our study of these
revelations further. It should be noted, however, that Romer
apparently accepts them, if not as indubitably authentic, at
least as having serious claims upon our consideration. He
records them with scrupulous care and at great length, and
he mentions that the descriptions of the inhabitants of other
worlds given by his daughter accord precisely with the
descriptions given by Ennemoser's subject and by another
more recent clairvoyant.*

Justinus Kemer, a well-known poet of that generation and
a physician of some distinction, had his attention early called
to the trance and its value in therapeutics. In 1826 he
published the history of two "remarkable" somnambules,
whom he had treated magnetically. Towards the end of the
same year there came to him at Weinsberg, to be treated by
him, one Frau Frederica Hauffe, better known from her birth-
place as the "Seeress of Prevorst" A full history of her

* Page 54. " Page 8$. * Page 213, note.

'f.rv/'APS'h

100 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

remarkable trances was published by Kemer in 1829, shortly
after the death of the Seeress.^

From her childhood she had been delicate ; had suffered
from convulsive attacks, had fallen into spontaneous trance,
and seen visions. She had already been magnetised, with
more or less success, by different persons on several occasions.
When she came to Weinsbei^, Kemer, by his own account,
was somewhat incredulous, and disposed to treat her by
ordinary medicine rather than by magnetism. After a few
weeks, however, finding drugs of no use, he magnetised her,
and thereafter followed implicitly the treatment prescribed by
her in the trance. From that time, until her death in August,
1829, she appears to have spent the greater part of her exist-
ence in somnambulism — the trance, or secondary condition,
lasting on one occasion for about a year.

The phenomena claimed to be observed in her case were
such as we are already familiar with. She reacted in various
ways to the presence or contact of stones, metals, plants, and
drugs. She would become cataleptic if left seated on a sand-
stone bench ; glass or crystal, on the other hand, awakened
her from the magnetic state. She wielded the divining rod
with great success. She could distinguish magnetised water
by its appearance, and could even tell how many passes had
been made over it. Further, in the magnetic state the lower
part of her body would involuntarily rise out of the water in
her bath — a procedure which reminded Kemer of the medi-
aeval test for witches. She could see the internal mechanism
of the human body, and could trace and accurately describe
all the ramifications of the nervous system. In the case of
persons who had lost a limb she could see the psychic form of
the limb still attached to the body.

But signs and wonders of this kind, which are more or less
common to all somnambules of the period, need not detain us
further. The Seeress is conspicuous, above all her fellows in
the history of somnambulism in Grermany, for three things :
the numerous proofs which she purported to afford of abnor-
mal powers of vision, whether of the distant or of the future,
and of seeing and conversing with ghosts ; the physical dis-
turbances which were observed in her presence; and her
extraordinary revelations on things spiritual.

* Die Seherin von Prevorsty Eroffnungen ttbtr das innere Leben aes Menscken
und uber das Htreinragen einer Geisterwelt in die Unsere. Stuttgart und Tubin-
gen. A second edition, to which reference is made in this account, was published
in 1832, and two others, in 1838 and 1846 respectively. An English translation,
greatly abridged, by Mrs. Crowe, was published in London in 1845.

THE GERMAN SOMNAMBULES 101

As regards the first, Kerner gives several instances of
clairvoyant and prophetic dreams and visions ; but though he
shows a better notion of evidence than many of his contem-
poraries, none of the records are of much account Dates and
other essential details are frequently lacking, and in the only
cases which appear to be definite and conclusive we are depen-
dent, so far as can be gathered from Kemer's narrative, on
members of the Seeress' family for all particulars of the
alleged fulfilment

But the Seeress' supernormal faculties found their chief
field of activity in seeing and holding conversations with
phantasmal figures, the spirits of deceased men and women,
who came to her mostly for help, guidance, and prayer. In
this manner she held communication, on occasion, with the
spirits of deceased citizens of Weinsberg, and received from
them much information on their affairs and family history.

Thus, a certain poor family in Weinsberg were disturbed by
a ghost. This came to Kerner's knowledge, and he brought
the woman of the house to see Frau Hauflfe. Thereafter the
ghost seems to have attached itself to the Seeress. He — the
ghost — told her that he had lived in the house where he had
first appeared, and that he had in his lifetime defrauded two
orphans ; later he said that he had lived about 1700; that he
had died at the age of seventy-nine ; and later still, that his
name was Belon. Search in the town records showed that
there had been a burgomaster of that name, who had actually
lived in the house named ; he had died in 1740, aged seventy-
nine, and had been a guardian of orphans.^

On another occasion the Seeress was much disturbed by
noises from an unquiet ghost, who ultimately revealed himself
as the spirit of a bankrupt solicitor, recently deceased, who
had owed much money in the town. In connection with the
communication the Seeress was enabled, as a test, to describe
the whereabouts of a certain document, which was ultimately
discovered in the position described by her in the office of the
High Bailiff*.^ The incident is narrated at considerable
length by Kerner, who regards it as a striking proof of spirit-
identity. It does not appear, however, that either in this case
or in that of the Burgomaster Belon any information was
actually furnished by Madame Hauffe which could not have
been obtained from local gossip, or at most by carefully con-
ducted inquiries.

These ghostly figures which purported constantly to appear
to the Seeress herself, both by night and by day, were

* VoL u. pp. 136-71. *-* Vol ii. pp. 93-110.

102 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

occasionally visible to others. Thus Kemer himself on one
occasion saw a cloudy figure : —

*' On the 8th December, at seven in the evening, I happened to be
in Frau H.'s outer room, from which one could see into her bed-
room. I saw there a cloudlike figure (a grey pillar of cloud as
though with a head), without any definite outlines. I seized a light
and hurried silently into the room with it There I found her
staring fixedly at the spot where I had seen the cloudy form. It had
disappeared, however, from my view." ^

Kerner states that this is the only occasion on which he
himself saw a ghost ; but elsewhere he tells us that one even-
ing, when they were sitting in a lighted room at the supper-
table, a form like a white cloud floated past the window. This
form was seen by all.* There were women servants and
other persons who slept in the same room as the Seeress, or
in one adjoining, who at various times professed to have seen
figures similar to those seen by Frau HaufTe.

More noteworthy, however, than these apparitions — seen
for the most part by servants and peasant women, whose
nervous equilibrium had, no doubt, been already upset by
hearing of Frau HauflTe's marvellous powers — were the noises
and physical phenomena which took place generally whilst
the Seeress was staying in Kerner's house. Kerner himself
and his wife on several occasions heard knocks on the walls
and windows of the bedroom, and other sounds, when they
retired for the night.* All the household on one occasion
heard somebody trying to force the house door.* Frau
HaufTe's sister heard the noise of chains at the window.*
These noises, especially the knocks and raps (Klopfeln und
Klat5chen)y were so puzzling that Frau Kerner on one occasion
spent part of the night in Frau HaufTe's room in order, if
possible, to ascertain their origin. The raps began about
ID p.m., proceeding apparently from the bedstead, the table,
and the walls. Kerner tells us that his wife satisfied herself
that they were not caused by either the Seeress or her sister,
who was present in the room.^
r The physical phenomena mostly occurred when the Seeress
J was alone or accompanied only by her sister. Thus gravel
. was on several occasions thrown in at the open window.
Kerner himself did not see the gravel thrown, but he saw
it lying on the floor, and found that it resembled the gravel

^ op, cU.y vol. ii. 257 ; see also page 33. * Vol. ii. p. 168.

' Vol. i. p. 133 ; ii. p. 15$, 166, 229, etc * Vol. ii. p. 183.

' Vol. ii. p. i6J8. • Vol. ii. p. 141.

THE GERMAN SOMNAMBULES 103

in the garden just outside the house. One evening some
of this gravel was thrown at the maid when she was standing
near the house.^ Again, a stool was thrown across the room,*
and a knitting-needle flew through the air and settled in a
glass of water ; ' but both these phenomena had the Seeress
herself for their only witness.

There were cases, however, in which other inmates of the
house were privil^ed to witness the physical phenomena, or
at least to be present in the room when things were moved.
The following is a brief summary of the evidence given by
Kerner under this head.

On one occasion, the Seeress having announced that a
ghost would visit her on a certain night, a trustworthy person
was deputed by Kerner to share the bed of Frau HaufTe's
sister, who slept in the same room as Frau Hauffe, and watch
for the coming of the ghost The trustworthy person fell
asleep at 1 1 p.m., and was wakened at midnight by the sister
getting out of bed to give Frau Hauffe her supper. Hardly
had the sister got back into bed, when strange and alarming
noises were heard all about the room. Presently the Seeress,
who meanwhile lay quite still, b^an to talk to the ghost, and
at last said, " Open it yourself." Then the trustworthy person
beheld, " with awe such as she had never felt before," a music-
book which lay on the bed gradually open itself as though
by an unseen hand, the while Frau Hauffe remained still
motionless,* On another occasion, when Kerner himself was
present in the room with the sister, small pieces of cinder
were thrown, not this time through the window, but from
a corner of the room. Kerner could discover no natural
cause for the phenomenon. He gives no details, however,
and does not mention whether the Seeress was herself present,
but leaves us to infer that she was.* An account of two
other physical phenomena witnessed by Kerner or a member
of his family may be quoted in full.

'* An hour later, as Frau H. lay dressed on her bed in her boots,
which were fastened firmly on her feet with clasps, she saw this
ghost again go clanking through the room as though wearing spurs.
Then she turned round at once without looking at him closely
(besides it was in the dusk), lay on her other side and fell asleep, as
it seemed to her. At that moment I [Keraer] entered the room,
where her sister also was. Frau H, lay quite still as I looked at her,
but her boots at this moment parted violently from her feet, which
remained motionless, as though pulled off by an invisible hand, sped

' Vol. ii. p. 165-7. ^ Vol. ii. p. i66. ' VoL ii. p. 214.

♦ Vol. il p. 143. • Vol. ii. p. 169.

104 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

through the air towards the sister, who was just looking out of the
window, and turned round at that moment and laid themselves
quietly on the ground close beside her." ^

Three days later another remarkable phenomenon is thus
recorded : —

" Whilst Frau H., her sister, and my daughter were alone in the
room (Frau H. was lying in bed), suddenly the lamp shade, which
stood on the table at a distance from everyone, flew to the other side
of the room, as though thrown by an invisible hand. A moment
before this happened Frau H. had seen the ghost with the spurs
come in at the door, but she immediately became cataleptic (fiel in
Erstarrung) and did not see what happened to the lamp shade." *

The only other physical disturbances recorded by Kcmer
for which there is any independent evidence are as follows :
Kerner and his wife, at midnight (and therefore presumably
in the dark), heard a noise in their room, and found that a
table which stood by the bed had been thrown into the middle
of the room : the Seeress was at the time staying in the house.^
A trustworthy person, who shared the sister's bed one night,
saw the nightlight extinguished without visible cause, and
thereafter saw the candlestick glowing of itself.* A maid-
servant and another person, hearing a great noise in the room
where Frau Hauffe lay alone in boJ, entered the room,
when a stool was flung at them as by an invisible hand from
another quarter of the room from that in which the Seeress
lay asleep.*

The attentive reader will not fail to observe that none of
the evidence for these marvels, except Kerner's own, is at first
hand, and that the presence of Frau Hauffe's sister was
apparently indispensable to the production of physical phe-
nomena before witnesses. Indeed, this dependence on the
support of her family forms, as has been already noted in
the case of the allied instances of clairvoyance and pro-
phecy, a marked feature in Frau Hauffe's manifestations of
supernormal power.

It will be convenient if we consider the case of the Seeress
of Prevorst, both in its evidential aspects and as r^ards the
mystical teachings of the ecstatic, side by side with another
case of the kind, recorded a few years later by Heinrich
Werner, Doctor of Philosophy,' It is fair to assume, es-

^ op. t/V., vol. ii. pp. 21 1-2. '^ Vol. ii. p. 2I2. ^ Vol. ii. p. 222.

* Vol. ii. p. 213. * Vol. ii. p. 215.

* Die Schuiz^cister^ oder ffurkwurdige BUcke zweur Seherinnen in die Geister-
wcli^ etc., etc. Stuttgart und Tilbingen, li$39.

THE GERMAN SOMNAMBULES 105

pecially as the later book was also published at Stuttgart,
that Werner's somnambules as well as himself were probably
acquainted with the doings and teachings of the Seeress of
Prevorst There is indeed a striking similarity in both re-
spects between the two books. " R. D./' Werner's leading
clairvoyant, was a girl of eighteen, of whose medical history
and manifold ailments he gives a minute account Werner is
careful to explain that, so far was he from attempting to
induce a state of magnetic clairvoyance, both he and his
patient were much surprised when she spontaneously fell
into that state.^ However, the trance once established appears
to have recurred, or was re-induced, at almost daily intervals.

The physical phenomena attending R. D. were not so
numerous or striking as those just considered. Here are two
instances: The clairvoyant had just been engaged in con-
versation with a wicked monk, of most terrible appearance,
and a Jesuit to boot, who by his own confession had murdered
his five children and buried them one by one in a cloister.
Even Albert, R.'s guardian spirit, could not always keep this
fearsome being at a distance. Except for this spiritual com-
panion, Werner was alone with the clairvoyant He heard,
as if proceeding from a small table near him, a clatter {Klirren)
like a cup rattling in a saucer, but could find nothing to account
for the sound. Presently it occurred again, but louder, and
was repeated several times. Werner was completely puzzled.
R. D. explained that the wicked monk had made the noise,
and was much delighted with the effect produced.*

In the other case the spirit was more ambitious. Werner
returned at noon one day to his lodgings, which consisted
of five rooms, leading into one another, the suite terminating
at either end — an arrangement common in Grermany — in
a door giving on to the staircase ; these doors stood opposite
to each other. The one on the left was fastened on the day
in question. Werner entered by that on the right On his
entrance Werner, "together with the lady whom he found "^ in
one of the rooms (no further account of this lady is given),
heard the sound of a heavy fall in the front room, to which
the door on the lefl gave immediate entrance. They both
rushed through the suite of connecting rooms, and found that
in this front room two flower-pots, which had stood on the
ledge of the middle window, had been violently flung to the
floor and broken in pieces, the sherds, earth, and plants being
scattered right across the room. Moreover, one of the curtains

* Introiluction, pp. xii., xiii. '* Pages i88, 189.

' du Dame possibly means the landlady of the lodgings.

106 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

of the middle window had been twisted round a birdcage which
hung from the ceiling. The window was open, but the jal-
ousies were closed ; the day intensely hot, and no wind
stirring ; and there was not even a cat in the room. From
his house Werner went into Stuttgart in the afternoon, and
returned, at six p.m., straight to the bedside of his patient,
without telling anyone of the, to him inexplicable, incidents
of the morning. Nevertheless, the clairvoyant showed herself
acquainted with the whole affair, and was even able to furnish
the explanation, to wit, that the aforesaid wicked monk had
thrown about the flower-pots after a desperate struggle with the
angel-pure Albert, who tried to thrust him out of the house.*

Of the occasional instances of terrestrial clairvoyance the
following is the case which Werner himself regards as the
most striking. The clairvoyant had just been prescribing
eau-de-cologne for the headaches from which Frau Werner was
suffering, when she suddenly broke off, anxious and trembling,
and cried —

" *For God's sake ! oh, Albert, help, save ! My Emilie is falling
out on to the street ; oh, hasten, and save — (a short, anxious pause)
— God be thanked, help has already come ! My faithful Guide and
Friend, thou hast prepared help, before I knew of the danger, or
could ask for it.* * What has shaken and disturbed you so ? ' * Oh,
my little sister at U.' (Her whole body trembled violently). * What
is wrong with her ? ' * She was in the upper story of the house just
when they were drawing up wood from the street with a windlass.
She wanted to catch the rope with the weight dangling at it, and as
there is no parapet up there, the swaying would have dragged her
out, if my father had not caught hold of her at that moment and
pulled her in.' "

A few days later, in response to an inquiry from Werner as
to whether anything remarkable had happened on the day of
the trance, a letter (of which the date and signature are not
given) was received, confirming all these facts, and stating that
the father had been disturbed in his office, at some distance
from the house, by an inexplicable feeling of disquiet, which
had finally led him to his house, and then to the upper room,
just in the nick of time to save his child.

Albert, it is hardly necessary to say, took the whole credit
of the performance ; and it was, indeed, his intervention on
this occasion which finally convinced Werner of that admirable
spirit's independent existence.^

^ Pages 190-2.

^ Pages 89-91. See also p. 451. For other instances of alleged clairvoyance,
sec pp. 70, 73, 99, 123, I2S, etc.

THE GERMAN SOMNAMBULES 107

Finally, let us briefly consider the doctrinal utterances
of the somnambules, and the inferences founded on those
utterances as to the constitution of man and the nature of the
spirit world.

The central point of these teachings is that man consists
of body, soul, and spirit, the two latter surviving death and
forming the spiritual man. But the soul itself is clothed, for
the time at least, after leaving the body by an ethereal body
{Nervengeist) which partakes rather of the nature of body
than of soul, and ultimately with progressive spirits, according
to some somnambules, decays and leaves the soul free. It is
apparently this Nervengeist which carries on the vital processes
when the soul leaves the body in the magnetic trance, and
which after death withdraws with the soul and leaves the body
to perish. It is the Nervengeist which attracts to itself grosser
particles and becomes visible even to the fleshly eye in the
case of low and undeveloped spirits.

The conception implicitly held by all mystical writers at
this time of the relation between body, Nervengeist^ soul, and
spirit is apparently that they differed from each other only as
in the gradation of coarser and more attenuated substances.
Indeed, Werner expresses this conception in so many words.
There is, he says, but one absolutely immaterial Being — that
is God. Below God there is an infinite chain from seraph to
grain of sand, from highest self-consciousness to most absolute
unconsciousness, each link in the chain having more of earth
intermixed with its spiritual nature than that which went
before. The soul of man occupies some intermediate position
in this universal procession. Would it not, he asks, be a
piece of extreme folly and self-conceit to suppose that the
spiritual part of man, as soon as it was separated from
the body, could be as absolutely immaterial as God Him-
self P^

But apart from this general scheme of man's constitution,
which was more or less common to all the mystics of the
time, and has been adopted and generously amplified by
Spiritualists and Theosophists since, the Seeress of Prevorst
is responsible for other revelations of a very curious kind.
She described, with the utmost minuteness, certain systems
of circles — designated respectively Sun-Circles and Life-
Circles — which had relation apparently to spiritual conditions
and the passage of time. Kerner gives most amazing
diagrams of these circles. The grand sun-circle has two
concentric inner circles and innumerable radii, and the inner-

» Page 432.

108 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

most concentric circle is itself ornamented with twelve sub-
sidiary systems of triple concentric circles, having their
centres at equidistant points on the circumference of the
primary circle (itself the innermost circle of a larger system).
Then the Seeress had a life-circle of her own, and seven
private sun-circles of a somewhat less intricate nature, with
an intercalary circle in the seventh. All these circles are
ornamented, in addition to the radii, with eccentric straight
lines like the spokes of some bicycles ; and the interpretation
of all this bewildering maze of lines

"With centric and eccentric scribbled o*er.
Cycle and epicycle, orb in orb ** —

is furnished partly by cyphers, partly by words of the
primitive universal language written in the primitive ideo-
graphs. With the somnambule's dissertations on the meaning
of these interlacing circles and the mystic relation of the
numbers attached to human life, all of which Kerner records
with the most amazing patience, we need not here concern
ourselves further. Gorres, Eschenmayer, and other members
of the circle of mystics, which continued for some years to
expand and illustrate the revelations of the Seeress,^ found in
this part of her teaching analogies with the philosophical
ideas of Pythagoras, of Plato, and of more recent mystics.
But they do not seem to have exercised much effect on the
utterances of later somnambules. The conception of a
primitive universal language, however, deserves some further
consideration. The characters of this language, as preserved
for us in Kerner's plates, bear to the uninstructed eye some
resemblance to Hebrew; but they are in many instances
quite as complicated as an Egyptian hieroglyph. It was
to Hebrew, however, that the Seeress herself, following the
example of Dr. Dee's familiars, compared the language ; it
was, according to her, the primitive universal tongue and
resembled the language actually spoken in the time of Jacob.
She frequently spoke the tongue in the trance, maintaining
that it was the common language of the inner life. Kerner
asserts that she was quite consistent in her use of the words
of this primitive tongue, and that those who heard her often
gained by degrees some familiarity with its meaning. A few
words are quoted and their likeness to Hebrew pointed out.
Werner's somnambule, R. D., also made use of this language,
and confirmed Frau Hauffe's account of it; and Werner

^ In the Blatter aus Prevorst^ of which several volumes were published from
1S31 onwards.

THE GERMAN SOMNAMBULES 109

himself gives us a dissertation upon it which recalls faint
echoes of the age-long contention of the Schoolmen on the
relation of words to things.^

With primitive man, as yet not wholly estranged from God
by sin, thought, according to Werner, answered exactly to the
realities of the external world, and speech was the organic
correlate of thought This was because man shared the
nature of God, with whom thought, its object and its ex-
pression are all one. The name of a thing in that primitive
Nature-speech was not, as now, a mere label, fortuitous and
inadequate ; it expressed by some one symbol — ^which was, in-
deed, not a syfnbol, but rather a reflection — the form, properties,
value, and existence of the thing named. With the coming
of sin, the primitive Nature-speech was lost and forgotten ;
traces of it remain in Hebrew, and in the babbling of children ;
but the nations of the earth have now to be content with
innumerable collocations of accidental vocables, which with
ever-growing elaboration and refinement yet continually fail to
be an adequate mirror of even the external aspect of this
complex world. But the compendious and all-sufficient vo-
cabulary of the world's childhood is yet preserved in the inner
spirit of man : and in rare states of exaltation he can recover
something of what he has lost. The priestess who chanted
the Greek oracles expressed herself in that forgotten tongue,
and from pure somnambules in the highest stage of ecstasy
we can catch its apocalyptic accents.

Werner, had he known it, might have found further support
for his argument in the curious outbreak of speaking with
unknown tongues in Edward Irving's church in London,
which had taken place in the interval between the publication
of Kerner's book and his own, and in the account of the
primaeval language given by Dr. Dee.^

It is by the German Magnetists of the first half of the nine-
teenth century, whose works we have just been considering,
that the foundations of the movement of Modern Spiritualism
were laid. It is not merely that we find here in miniature all
the characteristics of the later belief; it would be easy to
demonstrate that it was through the writings of Jung-Stilling,
Kemer, and their contemporaries that a path was prepared in
this country, and probably also in America, for the coming of
the new gospel. It was from this source, after Swedenborg,

» Pages 353-61.

' Chapter i. above. See also the account given b^r Flournoy {Des Indes h la
planite mars) of the Martian language constructed by his clairvoyant. Floumoy's
results are quoted below, Book IV. chap. vii.

no THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

that the Howitts, Shorter, Mrs. De Morgan, and others of the
early English Spiritualists derived most of their philosophy ;
and it was largely owing to the intermixture of physical
phenomena with the revelations of the Seeress of Prevorst
that the grosser manifestations of the same kind found after-
wards so ready a reception.

Again, all the chief problems of Spiritualism are posed in
the records of this time; on the one hand, we find in the
observations of men like Wesermann and Van Ghert charac-
teristic examples of apparent thought-transference and clair-
voyance ; on the other, we find in Frau Hauffe and her kind
indications of systematic trickery, often of a puerile character,
whose only object appears to have been the satisfaction of a
diseased vanity, conjoined with trances and ecstasies ap-
parently genuine, and outpourings, also probably not less
genuine, of religious feeling.

CHAPTER VIII

THE ENGLISH MESMERISTS

AS we have already seen, the phenomena of Animal
/A Magnetism attracted little attention in this country,
alone of European nations, for the first twenty-five
years, at any rate, of the last century. Not, indeed, but that
some echoes of the marvellous doings of Mesmer and his
disciples had reached England. One Dr. Bell, Professor of
Animal Magnetism and member of the Philosophical
Harmonic Society of Paris, founded in 1782, had, in 1785,
after attending a course of lectures by Bergasse and Duval
Despremenil and passing a sufficient examination, received
from that society under the hands of its president and council
a certificate setting forth his competence to teach and practise
the science. Equipped thus "by patent from the first
noblemen in France," he returned to his native land, and pro-
ceeded to gfive lectures and practical demonstrations in many
of the chief towns of the United Kingdom. His book,^
dedicated to the pupils of his different classes, contains a fair
exposition of Mesmer's teachings, such as we have already
found in the writings of the earliest French Magnetists.
Banning with a dissertation on general ideas of motion, it
proceeds to a consideration of magnetism at large, and as
affecting the human body in particular. He gives a full
description of the large oaken tub, eight feet across, which he
himself used as a baquet, and incidentally mentions various
points of difference between this apparatus and that used by
"our society in Paris." In his treatment he is careful to
b^in by placing the patient with his back to the north ; and
he makes liberal use of artificial magnets and of magnetised
water. Further, he gives instructions for magnetising, not the
sick only, but a shilling, or a guinea, rivers, rooms, trees, and

^ 7^e General and Particular Principles of Animal Electricity and Mag-
metism, etc., by Monsieur le I>octeur Bell, 1792. Entered in Stationers* HalL

III

112 THE PEDIGKEE OF SPIRITUALISM

Other inanimate objects, referring in this connection to the
results which he had witnessed "at the late Marquisses de
Puys^gur's and Tissard's seats." It is interesting to note that
he claims to have observed somnambulism as early as 1784;
and that amongst the phenomena of the trance he describes
how some of his patients can see in the dark, can tell what is
going on in another room, and can diagnose and prescribe for
tfieir own diseases and those of others. There is one curious
touch, which marks off Dr. Bell from generous enthusiasts,
such as were Puys^gfur and many of the early French
Magnetisers. He recommends his disciples to have as little
to do as possible with scrofula, cutaneous eruptions, and
consumption ; such diseases were very dangerous to treat. In
the first two cases the magnetiser may contract the disease,
in the last he may impart too much of his own vital force to
the sufferer.

Bell was followed in 1788 by a pupil of D'Eslon, one de
Mainauduc, who remained in this country for some years,
teaching and holding private demonstrations. In the last
decade of the eighteenth century many other professors of the
art of Mesmerism sprang up in London and the provinces,
and appear to have found the profession profitable — Holloway,
Miss Prescott, Loutherbourg, and others. The last-named
lecturer's demonstrations at Hammersmith in 1790 were so
crowded that three thousand persons are reported to have
attended on one evening.^ The craze, however, seems to have
died out in a few years without leaving any serious traces
even on popular belief, and without apparently producing any
effect on scientific opinion.

In 1798 Perkins' Metallic Tractors came upon the scene ;
and after that date all interest in Mesmerism seems to
have completely disappeared. At any rate, we hear little
more of it in this country for a full generation. In 1828
Richard Chenevix, F.R.S., an Irish gentleman who had resided
for some years on the Continent, and had there frequent
opportunities of witnessing the magnetic treatment, came to
this country and gave demonstrations before a large number
of persons in London, Dublin, and elsewhere. Amongst
those who witnessed his experiments were Faraday, Sir B.
Brodie, Dr. Henry Holland, Dr. Prout, and many other
medical men.*

The interest excited, however, appears to have been short-

* AnimtU Magnet ism y etc., by George Winter, m.d. Bristol, 1801.
^ See his articles on ** Mesmerism, improperly denominated Animal
Magnetism,'' published in the London Medical and Physical Journal q{ 1829.

THE ENGLISH MESMERISTS 113

lived, and five years later J. C. Colquhoun complains in Isis
Revelata ^ that, " of late our medical men seem liable to the
reproach of having almost entirely neglected the most
important labours of their professional brethren upon the
Continent/' i.e. in connection with Mesmerism.

In 1837 "Baron" du Potet, who had assisted seventeen
years previously at some experiments in action at a distance
at the Hdtel Dieu in Paris, came to London to practise
Mesmerism. He obtained an introduction to Elliotson, whose
interest in the subject had already been awakened by
Chenevix. Elliotson allowed du Potet in the first instance
to mesmerise several patients at University College Hospital.
Shortly afterwards, however, he undertook the mesmeric
treatment of the patients himself, and succeeded in evoking
the somnambulic state and many singular phenomena in
connection with it, notably in two sisters named Okey. The
matter caused some stir. Many men of science and other
persons of distinction, including even royal personages, came
to the hospital to see the marvels. So great was the crowd
that Elliotson applied to the Council for permission to hold
demonstrations in one of the theatres of the college. Per-
mission was refused, and he was finally requested, in the
interests of the hospital, to discontinue the practice of
Mesmerism within its walls. He replied by resigning, in the
autumn of 1838, his professorship and severing his connection
with the hospital.

The objection of the hospital authorities to the use of
Mesmerism was not altogether ill-founded. Elliotson had
not, indeed, confined himself to using the mesmeric sleep
as an auxiliary in therapeutics. He claimed to demonstrate
many other phenomena of a dubious kind, especially the
extraordinary influence of metals and other substances in
conveying and enhancing the virtues of the mesmeric
effluence. Gold, silver, platinum, water, and the moisture
of the skin were found to transmit it ; copper, zinc, tin,
pewter, etc., unless wet, were non-conductors. Of the con-
ductors, nickel and gold were said to be the best ; but the
mesmeric influence as transmitted by nickel was of an
extremely violent and even dangerous character. Some
of the most striking effects were produced by gold : thus, if a
sovereign, mesmerised by being retained in the operator's
hand, were placed in the hand of one of the Okeys, it would
cause cramp, either local or general, trance, or coma, the

' Isis Revtlata: an Inquiry into the Origin^ Progress^ and Present StatA
of Animal Magnetism, Edinburgh, l833<

114 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

effect being, it was alleged, strictly proportioned to the
strength of the original dose of mesmeric fluid communicated
to the metal. Analogous effects were observed if a sovereign
was placed successively in the hands of several hospital
patients and thence transferred to the hand of the sensi-
tive, the effect produced in the latter varying in strength
with the state of the patients* vitality. If mesmerised
sovereigns were placed in a pewter vessel, the influence
would be gradually transmitted to the sensitive's hand. In
stooping to pick up a mesmerised sovereign from the floor,
the Okeys would suddenly become cataleptic, as their hands
approached the metal, and remain fixed in a stooping position.
Dr. Herbert Mayo records ^ a still more striking experiment
It sufficed for the Mesmerist to gaze intently at a stone
mantelpiece, and to place a sovereign on the spot where
his gaze had fallen, for the metal to become imbued with the
mesmeric virtue and to produce the characteristic reactions
with a sensitive subject

Water and other substances could also be mesmerised ;
the sensitives had prevision of the course of their own
diseases ; and transposition of sensation, to the pit of the
stomach or the general surface of the skin, was also occasion-
ally observed. Mr. Thomas Wakley, editor of the Lancet^
had at first opened his columns to the recital of these
" beautiful phenomena," as Elliotson was wont to call them.
But in the month of August, 1838, he determined to test
them for himself On the i6th and 17th of that month
Elliotson brought the two Okeys to Wakley's house, and
there, in the presence of several medical men, a series of
experiments were made. On the first day the violent con-
tortions and muscular cramp, which were the characteristic
results of contact with mesmerised nickel, were produced
when the nickel — unknown to Elliotson and most of the
company — was safe in the waistcoat pocket of one of the
spectators. It was shown in a further series of experiments
that unmesmerised water could produce sleep, whilst water
which had been carefully mesmerised had no effect ; and that
whilst three or four mesmerised sovereigns could be handled
with impunity, well-marked catalepsy was produced when
Jane Okey stooped to pick up a sovereign which had merely
been warmed in hot water, without human contact at all.^

Some little triumph in a successful demonstration of this
kind is no doubt permissible. The experiments so far as
they went were conclusive enough. But Mr. Wakley's jubi-

1 Lamet^ 1st Sept., 1838. '^ Ibid,, 1st Sept., 1838.

THE ENGLISH MESMERISTS 115

lation appears to us at once ill-natured and excessive. It
was ill-natured, for he had not " exposed " the Okeys, and his
insinuations against their honesty were apparently without
justification. So far as can be discovered, neither he nor any-
one else showed any valid reason for doubting the good faith
of these two girls. It was excessive, because his experiments
were not, as he supposed, conclusive against the claims of
Mesmerism ; they were conclusive merely against certain
fanciful and extravagant theories of Dr. Elliotson. However,
Mr. Wakle/s views as to the value of his demonstrations
appear to have found acceptance with the profession generally.
His article is commonly referred to by contemporary writers
as the exposure at once of the Okeys and of the pretensions
of the Mesmerists ; and the columns of the Lancet and other
medical journals were closed for some time to come against
the partisans of the new science.

In all the circumstances it is perhaps scarcely a matter for
wonder that Elliotson in the course of the next few years
seems to have made but few converts. The interest in the
subject, indeed, appears again to have been in some danger
of flickering out, when in 1841 another Frenchman, La
Fontaine, came to this country on a lecturing tour. He met
with striking success, especially in the provinces ; and it is to
his demonstrations diat many of the writers on Mesmerism
of that time, including Braid himself, owed their first impulse
to investigate. The next few years saw the appearance of
many lecturers on the subject in this country, and of a very
considerable literature.^

In the year 1843 there appeared for the first time two
periodicals devoted to the subject : the Zoisty under the

^ Exclusive of the books already mentioned, the chief works consulted in
drawing up this account of the English Mesmerists have been —

Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend, F<uts in Mesmerism, London (second
edition), 1S44. The first edition appeared in 1839.

James Braid, M.R.C.S.E., NeurypnoUgy (London, 1843); ^^^ Power of the
Mtnd over the Body (1846) ; Magic ^ Witchcraft ^ Animal Magnetism, etc, (1852).

W. Newnham, M.R.S.L., Human Magnetism, 1845.

Spencer T. Hall, Mesmeric Experiences, 1845.

Harriet Martineau, Letters on Mesmerism. 1845.

Reichenbach's Researches, translated by Gregory. 1850. (A preliminary sketch
of Reichenbach's results had been published by Gregory in 1846.)

W. Gregory, M.D., Professor of Chemistry in the University of Edinburgh,
Letters on Animal Magnetism, 185 1.

{. W. Haddock, M.D., Somnolism and Psycheism, Second edition. 1851.
ames Esdaile, M.D., Natural and Mesnuric Clairvoyance, 1852.
Edwin Lee, m.d., Animal Magtietism, 1866.
Ashbumer, Philosophy of Animal Magnetism, 1867.
Sir John Forbes, IllustrcUions of Mckem Mesmerism, 1845.
And the Zoist and Phreno-Afagnet, passim.

116 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

direction of Drs. Elliotson and Engledue, which continued
until 1856; and the Phreno-Magnety edited by Spencer T.
Hall, which lasted for one year only. Of the Phreno-Magnet,
which represented the popular side of the movement, without
serious pretensions to science of any kind, something will be
said later. In the first instance it will be convenient to con-
sider the views held by the medical Mesmerists — Elliotson,
Esdaile, Haddock, etc. — and of other writers, such as Gr^fory
and Townshend, who may fairly be classed with them. Apart
from the purely medical aspect of the question — the efRcacy
of Mesmerism as a therapeutic agent and in relieving pain,
to which the pages of the Zoist are mainly devoted — the
Mesmerists of that date lay stress upon three main classes
of phenomena — (i) certain physical effects regarded as proving
the actual transmission of a fluid or physical force from the
operator or from inanimate substances to the subject; (2)
Phreno- Mesmerism ; (3) community of sensation and clair-
voyance.

(i) As already indicated, all the writers on Mesmerism at
this period, with the solitary exception of Braid, had in-
herited from the Animal Magnetists the conception of a
physical effluence passing from operator to subject as the
agent in producing the mesmeric sleep. This effluence was,
indeed, no longer conceived of as identical with the hypo-
thetical magnetic fluid, though analogies between the pheno-
mena of Mesmerism on the one hand and those of electricity
and magnetism on the other were generally recognised. The
mesmeric fluid was by most identified with the hypothetical
nervous or vital fluid. The act of mesmerising was com-
monly supposed to involve a flow from the active org^anism,
or that of superior vitality, to the passive or less highly
vitalised. The weight on the eyelids felt by the patient,
the pricking, the slight feeling of cold, and other subjective
sensations were adduced as evidence of this physical effluence;
and the mesmeric coma itself was by some regarded as the
result of a determination of nervous fluid to the brain.^ The
fluid, being identical, or at least closely associated with the
nervous force, was, like it, under the control of the will. The
fluid formed an aura, or nerve atmosphere, round the human
body. It was further capable of impregnating inanimate
substances, and by them being communicated in turn to the
sensitive. Elliotson himself claimed to have formulated no
theory as to the nature of the mesmeric agency. But his
belief in mesmerised metals and the other phenomena ex-

^ Esdaile, op, cit,^^ 256.

THE ENGLISH MESMERISTS 117

hibited by the Okeys certainly points to some conception
such as that above indicated as being provisionally, at all
events, accepted by him. And other writers of the time,
Esdaile, Townshend, Gregory, Haddock, Newnham, and the
rest, had no such reserve. They were satisfied that there was
a physical effluence of some kind. Esdaile, in particular,
made frequent use of mesmerised water as a medicine or
an anaesthetic, both for internal and external application.
Again, a patient could be thrown into mesmeric catalepsy
by clasping the arms of a chair on which the operator had
breathed, or by merely walking across a portion of the floor
which the operator had impregnated with his mesmeric virtue
by the same method.^ Other experiments showed that the
force could, in certain cases, be reflected from a mirror. But
action at a distance, unknown to the patient — since the effects
produced could not in such a case be attributed to the
imagination — was commonly regarded as a crucial proof of
physical transmission of force. All the writers cited give
numerous instances, some of which will be quoted in the
next chapter, of patients in another room or another house
being entranced without their knowledge that the experiment
was being made. Esdaile claims to have succeeded, at the
first attempt, in catalepsing, in open court, three natives who
were wholly ignorant of his intentions. One of these patients,
moreover, was actively conversing with the judge and Moula-
vies whilst the experiment was being made.*

Further, various substances were supposed to act on the
sensitive by their intrinsic virtues. The north pole of the
magnet attracted, the south pole repelled. Diamonds and
opals produced agreeable sensations; the emerald was un-
pleasing, and the sapphire positively painful.^ But with the
publication in 1845 of Reichenbach's researches, and their
introduction in the following year to this country by Professor
Gregory, the few scattered observations on manifestations of
the kind last referred to received independent and apparently
overwhelming confirmation. Baron von Reichenbach himself
was a man of scientific attainments ; a chemist and metallur-
gist of some repute. His subjects were very numerous, and
he estimated that one-third of the people whom he tried were
sensitive in some degree. In the second part of his work he
gives a list of nearly sixty persons with whom he had ob-
tained results. The list included, besides many ladies of title, a
baron, a chevalier, a councillor, professors of physical science,

' Esdaile, op, cit,^ pp. 126, 127 ; Newnham, op» cit,^ p. 320; and elsewhere.
^ Op. cil., pp. 67-9. • Townshend, op, cit,^ p. 152.

118 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

several physicians, two curators of museums, and many
other persons of good position and education. The majority
of these persons were experimented with in the normal state,
though some of the best subjects were spontaneous som-
nambules and cataleptics. Reichenbach claimed to show that
all these persons were, in a greater or less degree, susceptible
of receiving various sensations from magnets, crystals, and
practically all other substances in the universe in tfieir degree
— the planets and fixed stars themselves not excepted. For
the effluence assumed to produce these sensations he proposed
the name odyle^ or odic force. The sensations were broadly of
two kinds — vague feelings of temperature, which were either
pleasant or unpleasant, and quite definite perceptions of light
and colour. The latter required a higher degree of sensitive-
ness in the percipient Magnets, crystals, and the human
body excited sensations of the vague kind in the highest
degree, and all other bodies in their electro-chemical order ;
potassium and the metals generally exciting warmth and a
disagreeable feeling, oxygen and the electro-n^ative bodies
coolness and a pleasurable sensation. But the effects of the
odylic light were even more striking. The human fingers
radiated light ; so did the poles of the magnet — each pole in a
fairly strong magnet being capped with flames, reddish yellow
from the south pole, and bluish green from the north. A
similar polarity was observed in the luminous emanations
from crystals. Each elementary substance had its distinctive
light, the metals being most conspicuous. Copper, iron,
bismuth, nickel, mercury, osmium, rhodium, tellurium, etc,
had a red glow, each differing, however, from the other ;
in lead, cobalt, palladium, etc., the flame was blue; silver,
gold, cadmium, diamond, shone white, etc., etc. A sensitive
could even see the glow of the odylic matter over the bodies
of the sick in hospitals ; and a column of faintly luminous
vapour would hover over a newly made grave.^ This odylic
radiance was capable of illuminating other objects. It pro-
duced no effect on a thermometer, but it could be con-
centrated by a lens, reflected from a minor, and was liable
to be absorbed by the glass of the percipient's spectacles.
To those who could see it the luminous appearance was
so distinct, and so lasting, that one or two artists who

^ A similar phenomenon was attested, and a similar explanation ofTered, by
the alchemists. Thus Maxwell {Dc Medicina Magnetica^ Book I. p. 9), ** Ex dictis
caussa manifesta videtur cur circa sepulcra violentd morte interemtorum spectra
obversentur : nam spiritu vitali humidoque radicali nondum plane dissoluto
anima hseret, et exhalationibus hoc spiritu humidoque impregnatis formam
hvmanam tribuit."

THE ENGLISH MESMERISTS 119

happened to be amongst the Baron's sensitives drew what
they saw. The English translation is enriched by repro-
ductions of such drawings, showing magnets, a human hand,
a flower, a lady's face, and other objects illuminated by their
own odylic radiance.

The obvious good faith and apparent care with which
Reichenbach's experiments had been performed ; their
elaborate and varied nature ; the large number of his wit-
nesses ; their unimpeachable respectability and extraordinary
unanimity; his imposing lists of chemical substances
arranged in odylodynamic order; his diagrams showing
the diurnal variations of the odylic force in the human body,
and all the display of scientific machinery in his work were
calculated to produce a profound impression on the English
Mesmerists. Elliotson, Gregory, Haddock, and others at
once experimented on Reichenbach's lines, and found that
their somnambules also could experience the required sen-
sations, in due gradation of strength, from various electro-
negative and electro-positive bodies ; and could see flames of
the appropriate colour proceeding from the human body, the
poles of a magnet, or anything else that was presented to
them.

Against a theory so abundantly supported by experiment,
arg^ument and demonstration were alike used in vain.
Bertrand had already, more than twenty years before, in-
dicated the true explanation of the similar phenomena
observed in his own day. Braid now, working on inde-
pendent lines, arrived at a like conclusion. In his Power
of the Mind over the Body he contends that the whole of
tfie phenomena are explicable as due to the subjects'
imagination, acting on slight hints unconsciously furnished
by the experimenters. He is by no means desirous, indeed,
of belittling the work of Reichenbach or his English trans-
lator. "Better-devised experiments," he says, "or a more
laborious and painstaking effort ... I have never met with
in any department of science." ^ But he points out that the
observers were not sufficiently on their guard against two
sources of error : the extraordinary acuteness of the organs
of the special senses and the enhanced receptivity of the
mind in the somnambulic condition. He describes a number
of experiments made by himself on private persons, some
wide awake, some when hypnotised, in which all the
characteristic results described by the Mesmerists appeared,
when no magnet or other odylic substance was acting, and

^ Op, cit,f p. 4*

120 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

failed to appear when such stents were present, in each case
in accordance with the suggestion given to the sensitive.
Thus, to quote a few experiments, without actually touching
the skin he drew the handle of a pair of scissors slowly
down the hand of a lady patient, who was wide awake at
the time and watching the process with interest. She felt a
chilly aura, spasmodic twitching of the muscles, and other
symptoms. He then requested her to place her other hand
on the table and to turn her head away. She did so, and
in a short time similar sensations were experienced in the
other hand without the application of the scissors. This
lady's husband, also wide awake, at Braid's request extended
one hand and turned his head. The aura, pricking, and
spasmodic twitching were observed. Braid then remarked,
in an audible whisper, to the wife, that she would soon see
the muscles contract and the hand gradually clench itself.
The predicted result duly followed. In neither of these
cases had anything whatever been applied to the hand ;
Braid had been an inactive spectator, and the results were
due wholly to the imagination of the patients. In other
cases a cataleptic condition of the hand and arm was pro-
duced by similar suggestive processes, without the inter-
vention of any physical agent In the same way Braid
found that his subjects could see no flames from the most
powerful magnet until warned what to look for ; and would
then see flames and coruscations from a wooden box or
the bare surface of the wall. Nay, Braid's portmanteau-
key and pendent ring, by means of appropriate suggestion,
would medicine to a sweeter sleep than all the drowsy s)a-ups
of the East ; and would prove in turn as potent to dispel it
as the archangels trump.

How little the persons whose views he criticised were
affected by Braid's arguments and demonstrations may be
inferred from two facts. In the Preface contributed by
Gregory to his full translation of Reichenbach's Researches
(1850) he deals at some length with objectors and objections,
devoting many pages to arguing against imposture as an
explanation of the results ; but Braid's name is not men-
tioned, and the theory of imagination guided by unconscious
suggestion is not included amongst the hypotheses which
he essays to refute. And again, in the thirteen volumes of
the Zoist, from 1843 to 1856, during which period the whole
of Braid's books were published, some of them passing
through two or three editions, I can find his name mentioned
but two or three times, and then only to give Elliotson the

THE ENGLISH MESMERISTS 121

opportunity of exalting " the old-established modes of mes-
merising " at the expense of " the coarse method practised
by Mr. Braid." i

(2) EUiotson had been from an early period an enthusiastic
phrenologist He had in 1824 founded the Phrenological
Society of London, and was in 1843 the President of that
society and on the Council of the Phrenological Association.
The Zoist itself had as a sub-title, " A Journal of Cerebral
Physiology and Mesmerism." Mesmerism, indeed, gave
powerful aid to the science of phrenology ; for it was soon
found that if in the somnambulic state the patient's head
was touched by the finger of the Mesmerist, each of the
organs mapped out by Gall and Spurzheim could be made
to yield a prompt and characteristic reaction. It is not
a little curious to note that some of the medical journals
of the day in their comments on the movement lamented
that a comparatively respectable study should be contami-
nated by its alliance with the absurdities of Mesmerism.
Naturally, in the hands of the Mesmerists, abundant proof
was soon forthcoming of the truth of phrenology. Perhaps
almost too abundant, for an American Phreno-Mesmerist —
as will be seen later — took occasion to discover one hundred
and fifty new organs and to demonstrate them past dispute
on the heads of his somnambules. With EUiotson, it should
be pointed out, phrenology connoted a rather crude material-
ism ; all mental phenomena, according to him, were " pro-
duced " by the brain, much as bile is produced by the liver ;
and he frankly used this weapon to combat the belief " in
a certain thing called Soul and immaterial " and " the useless
belief of the immortality of this Soul."^

It was natural that this particular development should not
find favour with all the supporters of Mesmerism. Towns-
bend discreetly evades all mention of the subject. Newnham
devotes a chapter to *' the pretensions of Phreno-magnetism,"

^ Zeistf vol. iii. p. 345. In vol. ix. p. 316 a pamphlet of Braid's is
cited with other books at the head of a review, but the reviewer does not
mention Braid's name in the course of his article. I have come across one or
two other incidental references (see especially vol. xL pp. 391, 395 )> but
Braid's name does not appear in the index of the Zoist at sill, lliis is, indeed,
not conclusive as to its absence from the text. The Mesmerists paid scant atten-
tion to such minor matters as indices and dates. It is a trifling point, but none
the less "significant of much," that whibt each of Braid's books has a good
index, none of the books here quoted by Colauhoun, Newnham, ReichenlMch,
EsdaUe, Townshend, Haddock, Gr^ory, etc., nave any index at all ; and the
index to the Zoist b meagre and extremely inaccurate, whilst the proof-reading
was so careless that the French quoted is often quite unintelligible.

* Ibid.^ vol. iii. pp. 423, 424.

122 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

and whilst apparently admitting some of the phenomena,
suggests that they may be due to thought-transference
between the operator and subject But Braid, sceptical
of the "higher phenomena" of Mesmerism generally,
expressed himself in his earlier writings as " quite certain as
to the reality" of these particular manifestations. In his
Neurypnology he records, in brief, twenty-five out of forty-five
cases in his own practice in which he had produced
demonstrations of phreno-hypnotism ; and expresses himself
as satisfied that in most of these forty-five cases the patients
knew nothing of phrenology, and that the manifestations
were evoked "simply by contact or friction over certain
sympathetic points of the head and face, without previous
knowledge of phrenology, trickery, or whispering, or leading
questions." A single illustration may be quoted : —

A gentleman who had been present at a previous demonstration
" was so much astonished and gratified with what he had seen that
he begged I would try one of his daughters. I hypnotised the
eldest, and all the manifestations came out quite as decidedly as in
her cousin. Under ' adhesiveness ' and ' friendship ' she clasped me,
and on stimulating the organ of ' combativeness ' on the opposite
side of the head, with the arm of that side she struck two gentlemen
(whom she imagined were about to attack me) in such a manner as
nearly laid one on the floor, whilst with the other arm she held me
in the most friendly manner. Under 'benevolence' she seemed
quite overwhelmed with compassion ; * acquisitiveness,' stole greedily
all she could lay her hands on, which was retained whilst I excited
many other manifestations; but the moment my fingers touched

* conscientiousness,' she threw all she had stolen on the floor, as if
horror-stricken, and burst into a flood of tears. On being asked,

* Why do you cry ? ' she said, with the utmost agony, * I have done
what was wrong, I have done what was wrong.' I now excited
' imitation ' and ' ideality,' and had her laughing and dancing in an
instant. On exciting * form ' and ' ideality,' she seemed alarmed, and

when asked what she saw, she answered, 'The D 1.' 'What

colour is he ? ' * Black.' On pressing the eyebrow and repeating
the question, the answer was 'red,' and the whole body instantly
became rigid, and the face the most complete picture of horror
which could be imagined * Destructiveness,' which is largely
developed, being touched, she struck her father such a blow on the
chest as nearly laid him on the floor. Had I not endeavoured to
restrain her, he must have sustained serious injury. Having now
excited 'veneration,' 'hope,' 'ideality,' and 'language,' we had the most
striking example of extreme ecstasy, and on being aroused she was
quite conscious of all that had happened, excepting that she had
heard music, and had been dancing. Her ' philo-progenitiveness '
was admirable." ^ i ., ^ / c

» Nturypnology^ pp. 135, 136.

THE ENGLISH MESMERISTS 123

Braid from the first rejected the phrenological explanation
of the phenomena. He believed the results were due to
stimulation of the nerves of the scalp, either as calling into
play muscles associated with the expression of certain
emotions, or, quantitatively, as producing different emotional
reactions according to the varying sensibility of the part of
the integument affected. But if we can place any confidence
in Braid's description of the results attained, and can share
his conviction that the subjects were ignorant of the position
of the phrenological organs and of the results to be expected,
the real interest of the matter for us is that no adequate
explanation on physiological lines has yet been offered.
Modern physiology would probably find it easier to reject
Braid's facts than to accept his tentative explanations.^

(3) Finally, the chief writers on Mesmerism of this period,
again with tihe exception of Braid, believed in " community
of sensation," that is, the ability of certain somnambules to
share in the sensations, especially those of touch, taste, and
pain, experienced by a person in rapport with them ; and
also in clairvoyance. Clairvoyance, as used by the writers
of this time, covered two different classes of phenomena :
(i) perception of objects near at hand, but placed in a
position {e^, behind the patient's back, or in a closed box)
where normal vision would be impossible ; and (2) travelling
clairvoyance, or the vision of scenes at a considerable dis-
tance alleged to be unknown to the percipient and often to
any person present.

Elliotson himself, whilst accepting apparently the phen-
omena of community of sensation at an early stage in his
investigations, remained until 1841 doubtful as to the reality
of the alleged " seeing with the eyes closed," and was not
satisfied of the reality of travelling clairvoyance until 1844;
even as late as 1845 he had never met with an instance of
the faculty in a case of his own.^ Esdaile also, though he
has no doubt of the reality of the phenomena, even in 1852
had himself witnessed but a single case of clairvoyance.*

^ Neurypnology was published in 1843. ^^ reviewing some years later the
whole subject of Hypnotism (Magic^ Witchcraft, etc., third edition, 1852), Braid
makes, so far as I can discover, no explicit mention of phrenology — an omission
the more significant since he had devoted much space in his earlier work to
records of experiments in this direction. From a passage on jiage 71, however, it
ma^ perhap be inferred that, in looking back on the matter, ne was not quite
satisfied with the conditions under which the results were attained. Possibly
more than he supposed was due to previous training of a subconscious kind,
and much also to inadvertent suggestion on his own part and that of the
spectators. ^ See Zoisi, vol. ii. p. 477, and vol. lii. p. 107.

' Natural and Mesmeric Clairvoyance, p. 96. London, 1852.

124 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

But numerous instances of the alleged faculty, as exercised
both at close quarters and at a considerable distance, were
published by Townshend, Gregory, Haddock, and others in
their books and in the columns of the Zoist itself. An
attempt will be made in the two succeeding chapters to
estimate the significance of the phenomena reported under
this head. For the present purpose it is sufficient to note
that belief in the mesmeric trance was at this time associated,
in the writings of nearly all its leading adherents, with belief
in community of sensation and clairvoyance ; and few were
found to imitate Elliotson's wise reserve in the matter, and
speak only of what they had seen and tested for themselves.
It will be seen that Mesmerism came before the British
public unfairly handicapped. Even the bare fact of the
trance itself — ^which, as Bertrand had already shown, mani-
fested close affinities to various spontaneous states, some
of them by no means rare — could hardly win its way to
recognition, weighted as it was with a mass of dubious and
incredible phenomena, and forced to subserve ill-considered
and grandiose theories, which were hardly less extravagant
when they avowedly confined themselves to the physical
world than when they frankly leapt the barrier and pro-
claimed themselves transcendental. Many of the phenomena
on which these speculations were based were obviously
capable, as Wakley and Braid had shown, of being ex-
plained as due to imposture or imagination. The effects
were unquestionably in most cases subjective, and it made
little difference as regards the proof of a new physical agency
whether the feelings which the subject claimed to experience
were really felt or deliberately simulated. Most of the
medical journals of the day seem to have adopted the less
charitable view, as on the whole the easier interpretation of
what they witnessed. I cannot find any justification for this
assumption of fraud, even in such a case as the Okeys. But
when applied, as it was commonly applied, to demonstrations
of painless surgery, the assumption becomes preposterous.
Indeed, one cannot help suspecting a certain confusion of
thought somewhere. The Okeys imagined they felt peculiar
sensations from mesmerised metals, or else they pretended
to feel — what did it matter, since in either case there was
nothing to feel! But the argument was not of universal
validity. To the man whose leg was cut off during the
trance it obviously mattered a great deal whether he imagined
he felt no pain or only pretended to feel none. Nor was
the distinction without interest of a more general kind.

THE ENGLISH MESMERISTS 125

for if the patient in such a case imagines he feels no pain,
there is no pain to feel ; and in the days before the intro-
duction of anaesthetics that was no light matter.

The opposition of the medical profession to the employ-
ment of Mesmerism in order to give relief from the pain
of surgical operations is one of the most singular episodes
in the history of science. James Esdaile, a Scotch surgeon
practising in Calcutta, who had had his attention drawn in
1845 ^o ^6 subject, and had found that the natives of India
were remarkably susceptible to mesmeric influence, performed
many extensive and severe operations on patients during the
trance. His proceedings naturally excited attention in India,
and the medical profession, whilst laughing at Esdaile for
his folly, freely insinuated that the alleged insensibility was
simulated. The Calcutta Medical Journal^ for instance, de-
scribed his patients as ''a set of hardened and determined
impostors." In January, 1846, Esdaile reported to the
Calcutta Medical Board the results of seventy-five operations
— the removal of monstrous tumours, amputations of limbs,
etc. — performed without pain, and offered to demonstrate
the reality of the influence. Finding his application ignored,
he appealed later in the same year direct to the Government.
A small committee of investigation was appointed, which,
as the result of observations on ten cases, reported that " by
the mesmeric method sleep could be so deepened as to
permit of the performance of severe surgical operations with-
out pain, according to the declarations of the patients'* Further
than this the committee declined to go, but they expressed
strong doubts as to the expediency of extending the mesmeric
treatment generally. The Governor-General, however, on the
receipt of the report, placed Esdaile in charge of a small
hospital, that he might have full opportunity for pursuing
his researches, and shortly afterwards appointed him Pre-
sidency Surgeon. But the general introduction of chloroform
and other anaesthetics a year or two later caused popular
interest in Mesmerism to cease. The feeling of the profession
on the subject is aptly illustrated by an utterance of Dr.
Duncan Stewart, one of the official visitors to Esdaile's
Mesmeric Hospital, " It is time to throw away mummery
and work above board, now that we have got ether." ^

In this country the determined antagonism of the medical
profession found similar expression. The Okeys, and, in fact,
mesmeric subjects generally, were habitually referred to by

^ See Esdaile's Natural and Mesmeric Ciairvoyamt and other works, and the
ZaUt, passim.

126 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

medical men as impostors ; the Lancet expressed the opinion
that Mesmerism would always flourish "wherever there are
clever girls, philosophic Bohemians, weak women, weaker
men."^ One Madame Plantin, whose breast had been re-
moved in Paris by M. Cloquet, in the mesmeric trance, died
a few days after the operation. There were English surgeons
who did not scruple to say that the strenuous efforts which
she made to conceal her ang^uish during the operation had
hastened her death. ^ The first considerable operation per-
formed in England in the mesmeric trance took place in
1842 at Wellow, in Nottinghamshire, the patient being one
James Wombell, whose leg was amputated above the knee.
Mr. Topham, a London barrister, was the Mesmerist, and
the operation was performed by Mr. Squire Ward, M,R.C.S.
An account of the case was read before tiie London Medical
and Chirurgical Society at their meeting on November 22nd,
1842. The paper was received with much disfavour, many
of the medical men present expressing their opinion that
the alleged insensibility was simulated, and that Wombell
had been trained to bear pain without betraying any signs
of it In the interval before the next meeting the authors
published the paper on their own account,* and the Society
gladly took advantage of this breach of etiquette to expunge
all notice of the discreditable transaction from their minutes.
But this was not enough for the opponents of Mesmerism.
It was freely stated by medical men in the public Press and
elsewhere, whenever the subject of Mesmerism was under
discussion, that James Wombell had subsequently confessed
to a wicked deception ; that he had in fact felt the whole
pain of the operation, but to gain his private ends had
successfully concealed his feelings at the time. Elliotson
took the trouble in 1843 to get a statement signed by the
man himself and witnessed by the clergyman of the parish,
giving the lie to the slander.* Eight years later it was
revived. At a meeting of the same Society on December
loth, 1850, Dr. Marshall Hall "begged leave to communicate
a fact of some interest to the Society. . . . He understood
that this man (Wombell) had since confessed that he had
acted the part of an impostor." Mr. Topham wrote to ask
Dr. Hall for his authority. Dr. Hall replied, " The fact . . .

1 Lancet^ Sept. 15th, 1838.

^ Zoist^ vol. i. p. 209. For other illustrations of the incredulity with which the
facts of hypnotic anaesthesia were first received by medical men, see Moll,
Hypnotism (English trans., London, 1890), p. 329.

* Account of a case of successful amputation of the thigh during the mesmeric
state, London, 1843. ^ Zaist^ vol i. p. aia

THE ENGLISH MESMERISTS 127

was communicated to me by a gentleman whom I have
known for the third part of a century, and whom I r^ard
as among the most honourable and truthful of men." Dr.
Hall refused to give up the name of his informant " without
reserve," and he concluded his letter by calling upon Mr.
Topham to take note —

" That I shall never cease to raise my voice against everything
derogatory to my profession, whether originating unhappily within
its ranks, or coming intrusively from without That I am of opinion
that, in these days of multifarious folly and quackery, every member
of my profession is called upon in honour to do the same.

" That you will be pleased to consider this as a final communi-
cation."

Dr. Hall, however, wrote to his informant, asking him
upon what evidence he had made the statement, and pub-
lished in the Lancet, together with a copy of the above-cited
letter to Mr. Topham, the following extract from his still un-
named correspondent's reply : —

" The confession of the man was distinctly and deliberately stated
to me by a person in whom I have full confidence. It was in
Nottinghamshire that I was told the fact, last August, and I fully
believe it."

Dr. Marshall Hall had perhaps heard in his youth that a
statement could be established in the mouths of two or three
witnesses, and may have thought that he was fulfilling the
Scripture by multiplying the links in his chain of anonymous
tradition. The evidence, in fact, seems to have been good
enough for the Medical and Chirurgical Society, for at a later
meeting the president refused to hear Dr. Ashbumer and
Dr. Cohen when they rose to refute the slander; and the
Lancet and other papers, in reporting the incident, expressed
approval of the chairman's firmness and impartiality. ^

Such, then, was at this time the attitude of the medical
Press and the articulate members of the profession to
Mesmerism. Some doctors even went further, and whilst
denying the reality of Mesmerism, did not scruple to state
that Mesmerists habitually used their influence for the basest
purposes. *

But it must be admitted that the attitude of EUiotson, the
champion of the English Mesmerists, and those of his chief

> Lancet, Dec. 2Sth, 1850, and March 1st, 1851. See also Zcist, vol ix.
pp. 88-106, where a full account of the incident is jgiven.

' See, for instance, the "Harveian Oration for 1848, by Dr. Francis
Hawkins ; and Elliotson's comments, Zaist, vol. vi. pp. 399-405. Similar
charges are frequently made in the medical literature of the time.

128 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

associates, was not conciliatory. The following epithets
(omitting the names, which are given in full in the origrinal)
are taken at random from the index of the Zoist : " Dr.

, his laughable folly ; Dr. , his ignorance and folly ;

absurdity, nonsense, remarkable folly, folly and falsehood,
discreditable conduct, untruth, egr^ious folly, sad conduct,
false reports, stupid obstinacy, slobbering childishness," etc.,
etc. Nor were these hard words reserved for the opponents
of Mesmerism. Elliotson and his colleagues on the Zaist
resented so deeply Newnham's criticisms on the theory of
Phreno-Mesmerism that they could not trust themselves to
review his book, and that task is assigned to another.^ On
the other hand, whilst Elliotson and Engledue found them-
selves by no means in complete sympathy with Townshend,
Sandby, and other clergymen, the columns of the Zoist are
apparently freely open to their contributions. Of the attitude
of the Zoist to Braid we have already spoken.

There was yet another section of Mesmerists at this time,
represented by Spencer T. Hall, whose relations with the
Zoist were far from cordial. Hall was not, apparently, a
man of any scientific training. His attention was first
drawn to Mesmerism by attending a lecture given by La
Fontaine in Sheffield, in 1841 or 1842. Thereafter he
devoted himself enthusiastically to the new science, and in
1843 — the year which saw also the appearance of the Zoist —
he started a monthly journal, the Phreno-Magnet, which,
however, ran for one year only. In 1844 Spencer Hall was
invited by her physician to mesmerise Harriet Martineau.
He did so with conspicuous success, as told by Miss
Martineau in her Letters on Mesmerism.

In the PhrenO'Magnet we come in contact with the popular
side of the movement. The men whose writings we have
hitherto considered were possessed of some scientific attain-
ments, or at least of scholarship and literary faculty. The
pages of the Zoisty in particular, were mainly concerned with
the therapeutic aspect of Mesmerism, and the other phenomena
observed, however misinterpreted, were still valued primarily
for their scientific interest. But the writers in the Phreno-
Magnet were of a different class ; their interests and activities
were less restrained. Few of the persons who contributed to
its pages were medical men, or, indeed, possessed special
qualifications of any kind for the study.2 In the pages of

* Zoist^ vol. iii. p. 3.

'^ It is to be noted that James Braid wrote in Deceml^er, 1842, just before the
appearance of the first number, to express his interest and sympathy. (PArcno-
Ala^ei, p. 25.)

THE ENGLISH MESMERISTS 129

the PhrenO'McLgnety as in the other writings of the period,
are found numerous instances of community of sensation and
travelling clairvoyance, but the records are not sufficiently
detailed or exact to be of much value as evidence. Spencer
Hall describes himself as a lecturer on Phrenopathy ; and a
large space in his organ is taken up month by month with
chronicles of lectures delivered by the editor and others in
various towns in the United Kingdom. In a retrospect
published in December, 1843, Hall estimated that during
the past year no fewer than three hundred persons had
lectured and experimented in public in Great Britain, Ireland,
and America, and this propagandist movement was con-
cerned primarily, not with Mesmerism as a healing art, but
with the science of Phreno-Mesmerism, or Phrenopathy.
The phenomena on which the new " science " of Phreno-
Mesmerism was founded had been before the world since
1 84 1 or 1842. The honour of the first discovery was
disputed, in America by Dr. Buchanan, Dr. Collyer, and
the Rev. Laroy Sunderland ; and by H. G. Atkinson,
better known as the "Mentor" of Harriet Martineau, and
others, in this country. Dr. Collyer had, indeed, by this
time (1843) already ceased to believe, on philosophical and
anatomical grounds, in the science which he claimed to have
founded ;^ and Laroy Sunderland could at least assume a
certain quantitative credit in the matter, for he had added no
fewer than one hundred and fifty new organs to those pre-
viously mapped out by orthodox phrenologists. Some cor-
respondents of the PhrenO'Magnet bettered this record, and
related that they had already tested and proved the existence
of nearly two hundred organs.* Amongst these new faculties
of the human mind which were thus given a local habitation
we find acquativeness (j/r), human nature, insanity, dis-
contentment, opposiveness, love of pets ; organs for shooting
with crossbow, skating, aerostation, slinging, spearing, pulling,
sculling, and many other manly sports; also two organs
relating to a deity and a future state respectively.

Dr. Collyer, who had been a pupil of Elliotson's at Uni-
versity College Hospital, by no means relinquished with his
belief in mesmero-phrenology his interest in Mesmerism, or,
as he called it. Animal Magnetism. From the pamphlet
already referred to we find that he laboured in the United
States to make it known as a solemn truth, which must
revolutionise the false philosophy of the past, and open to

' Psychography^ or the Embodiment of Thought^ hy R. H. G>llyer, M.D.
Fhiladdphia, 1843. ^ Op, <it,y p. 52, etc

I. — K

130 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

man the secret of immortality. His title-page is adorned
with a diagram representing two persons looking into a bowl
of molasses, with dotted lines radiating from their foreheads
to a point on the surface of the fluid. The experiment illus-
trated by this diagram is thus described : The subject was
requested by Dr. Collyer to look into the bowl, the doctor
doing the same. " When," he writes, " the angle of incidence
from my brain was equal to the angle of reflection from her
brain, she distinctly saw tlu image of my thought at the point
of coincidence."

As already indicated, there was little sympathy between
the medical Mesmerists and the supporters of the Phreno-
Magnet, The first number of the Zoist, under the heading
of " The Lecture Mania," contains some severe reflections on
the ill-judged proceedings of a certain Mr. Brooks, who had
been giving popular lectures followed by demonstrations of
Phreno-Mesmerism on persons taken at hazard from the
audience. Spencer Hall is characterised in the same article
as "a gentleman influenced by good motives," but without
scientific education. The writer of the article feared that
the extravagance and want of judgment shown by the
popular advocates of Mesmerism would prejudice the whole
subject. The fear may have been justified, though to us now
it seems to matter little whether the advocates of Phreno-
Mesmerism taught that the mind expressed itself by means
of twenty or two hundred organs, or whether the mesmeric
effluence was demonstrated by radiation from a crystal or
reflection from a bowl of treacle. Weighted, however, though
it was with such dubious theories and disputable facts, it can
hardly be doubted that in the ordinary progress of events
the trance and the suggestion-phenomena generally would
ultimately have won recognition, and that the accessory
marvels would gradually have dropped out of sight as the
part played by the imagination in their production became
more clearly demonstrable. Indeed, in April, 1852, Gregory
was able to congratulate the readers of the Zoist^ on the fact
that Sir D. Brewster and others, instead of ascribing the
trance, anaesthesia, and other phenomena to imposture, had
now publicly admitted their reality, and explained them as
due to suggestion acting on the impressible organism of the
sensitive. That having reached this point, the further ad-
vancement of the study should have been retarded for more
than a generation was due to two special causes, the full
effect of which could not at that time have been foreseen.

^ Zioist^ vol. X. p. I, etc.

THE ENGLISH MESMERISTS 131

The discovery in the years 1846-7 of the anaesthetic
properties of ether and chloroform, and their rapidly growing
use in medical practice, deprived the mesmeric trance of its
most obvious utility. What effect that discovery had in
checking the interest which had been aroused in Calcutta in
Esdaile's mesmeric clinique we have already seen. If the
effect was less marked in this country, it was only because
the practice of operating in the trance was much less common,
and had excited less attention. But another circumstance
which did more to discredit Mesmerism throughout the
civilised world was the gradual spread of the belief in
Spiritualism, and the absorption by that movement of many
of those who had been pronounced advocates of Mesmerism.
Elliotson and his chief associates, indeed, for many years
resisted the new doctrines, and in the later volumes of the
Zoist^ we find several articles dealing with the absurdities of
the spirit-rappers. But from the outset many of the leading
advocates of Mesmerism — Townshend, Sandby, Gregory,*
J. W. Jackson, H. G. Atkinson — were disposed to see in table-
turning and other physical manifestations the operation of
the mesmeric or neuro-vital fluid ; whilst others, sooner, as
Ashbumer, or later, as Elliotson himself, became converted
to Spiritualism. In Elliotson's case the process of conver-
sion did not stop at this point. Before his death he renounced
his former materialism and embraced Christianity.^ Again,
of the American authors whose names figure so largely in
the Phreno-Magnety we find several who were afterwards
prominent as Spiritualists.

So that from causes largely accidental and external to
itself Mesmerism for a time lost whatever hold it had suc-
ceeded in gaining on the attention of sober-minded persons,
and passed out of sight, until the labours of Li^beault, and
later those of Bernheim at Nancy, of Charcot at the Sal-
p^triere, and of Heidenhain at Breslau, once more brought
the subject into prominence.

^ Especially vols. xi. and xii.

' Gregory appears to have been all but converted to the spiritualistic doctrine.
In an interesting letter from him dated October, 1857, and published in the
Spiritual Magazim^ 1865, pp. 45i-3i occurs the phrase, " The higher phenomena
appear to me to render the spiritual hypothesis almost certain. Ilis widow,
Mrs. Makdougall Gregory, for many years, until her death in Uie early eighties,
held regular spiritualist si^ances, and her house was a place of meeting for the
converts of the new faith.

' See obituary notice of Elliotson in the Morning Past ^ Aug. 3rd, 1868.

CHAPTER IX
COMMUNITY OF SENSATION

THE effect which the writings of the Mesmerists of this
period is likely to produce on a first reading is no
doubt a profound distrust of human testimony alto-
gether. The marvellous behaviour of magnets, crystals, and
mesmerised sovereigns, and the Protean manifestations of
clairvoyance, seem hardly more credible than old tales of
lambs which grew on trees, and men whose feet expanded to
serve as umbrellas. But a closer examination tends to show
that the beliefs of Reichenbach and the rest were yet, perhaps,
not so entirely unreasonable as their opponents believed.
The phenomena were, as few now doubt, entirely subjective.
But if the believers were wrong in seeing in them the
manifestations of a new physical force, their critics were
almost equally wrong in attributing them wholly to fraud.
Fraud, no doubt, there was ; but it was an accident, and not
the essence of the problem. It was an unjustifiable assumption
when employed without any attempt at proof in a case like
the Okeys ; it became preposterous when applied to persons
like many of Reichenbach's sensitives — men and women of
position, who were not at all likely to lend themselves to
imposture merely to humour the folly of a friend and
colleague ; in the case of the patient who showed no pain
under the surgeon's knife the charge was merely ludicrous.
But, in fact, this wholesale imputation of imposture, unjust
to the subjects of it, was equally unjust to the Mesmerists
themselves. Puys^gur was no doubt not a man of science ;
Deleuze, it might be urged, was only a botanist ; Chenevix,
Elliotson, Reichenbach, Gregory, and the rest may have been
visionaries and fanatics. But the fact remains that many of
them had done good work in medicine, chemistry, metallurgy,
or some other department of physical science; and apart
from a certain intemperance which marked, in some cases,

COMMUNITY OF SENSATION 133

the advocacy of their views — a defect which the example of
their critics did little to remedy — there was nothing to be
urged against the men themselves. Braid, it has been seen,
generously acknowledged the care and ingenuity with which
Reichenbach's experiments had been conducted ; and it is
Braid who has pointed out the two causes to which mis-
interpretation of the results attained was mainly due, the
extraordinary suggestibility, to wit, of the hypnotic subject
and the temporary exaltation of the senses in this state.
Some years later, no doubt, other writers, no longer satisfied
with an assumption which was fully as mischievous, and
hardly more reasonable, than the theory of the Mesmerists,
came to the same general conclusions as Braid. But by that
time extraneous circumstances had already obscured the
interest in the subject ; and this change of view remained
unfruitful.

But it may be doubted whether even suggestion and
hyperesthesia will explain everything. Braid's own recorded
results in Phreno-Mesmerism, as already pointed out, can
with difficulty be brought under such an explanation. He
has shown that precautions were taken to exclude suggestion
by normal means ; and his tentative explanation on physio-
logical lines was clearly inadequate. If we accept merely
Braid's record of his own experiments, and leave out of
account the enormous volume of similar observations tendered
by less cautious observers, it is difficult to resist the conclusion
that the curious results described may have been in some
cases due to a mental suggestion supplied by the expectation
of the operator ; and if we scrutinise the rest of the " magnetic "
or mesmeric manifestations we shall find other evidence for
th operation of mental suggestion. That evidence is by no
means conclusive. The experimenters were for the most part
prepossessed with the idea of a physical effluence ; and they
were not so far ahead of the medical knowledge of their day
as to be fully alive to the possibilities of hyperaesthesia. But
there are experiments recorded in which the precautions
described — avowedly taken in order to preclude deception or
suggestion of a normal kind — would appear to have been
sufficient to exclude such suggestion even when acting on a
hyperaesthetic subject When, indeed, a sovereign "mesmerised"
by merely looking at it was picked out from a number of
other sovereigns, it may very fairly be said that the operator,
who remained in the room and watched the experiment,
probably gave sufficient indication by gesture or change of
breathing to guide the sensitive ; similar feats are performed

134 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

in our day by professional "thought-readers." Again,
"mesmerised" water may have been identified, as Braid
suggests, even after the lapse of some minutes, by the smell
alone. But there are experiments in which we have to assume
some grave error in observation or record to make such
explanations fit the results. Elliotson, for instance, tells us
that a mesmerised sovereign would send the Okeys into the
trance ; and that whilst contact of the coin with iron would
neutralise the influence, contact with other metals had no
effect

"Nothing," he writes, ** could be more interesting than to see a
charged sovereign or shilling lying in their hand, a screen being held
between it and their head ; and as soon as the hand began to close
and the eyes to fix, to observe these effects instantly arrested and
subside when a short iron rod was brought into contact with the
metal, and augment again when it was withdrawn. I have often
substituted a rod of silver or some other metal — for I had rods
made of various metals precisely similar in form and size — when it
was impossible the girl could know which was being used; and in the
case of a leaden rod I myself should not have known by the eye at
the moment, but to prevent confusion had put each into a separate
pocket. The silver, copper, and lead had no neutralising power,
and therefore never arrested or diminished the effect." ^

A common experiment at this time to illustrate the power
of" mesmeric attraction " was to mesmerise a particular object
and let the patient, unawares, come in contact with it
Esdaile's first experiment of the kind was made at the
hospital in Calcutta on a patient who could scarcely be
supposed to have heard beforehand of the result anticipated,
nor were the conditions of the experiment — an impromptu
one — such as to afford much opportunity for any hint of what
was expected reaching his mind by normal channels. Several
gentlemen were present.

** Desiring them to observe, I seated myself in an armchair in the
waiting-room, placed my hands on each of the knobs at the end
of the arms, and then breathed on them. I now joined the com-
pany, and desired them to get the man I should send for to seat
himself in the chair I had just vacated. The man was brought
and manoeuvred into the chair, where he was questioned about the
operation he had undergone, etc., and was then desired to return to
the ward.

* Zoist^ vol. iv. p. 109. In Townshcnd*s Facts in Mesmerism, pp. 152, 153, a
case is recorded in which the sensitive identified various gems held to her forehead
concealed in the hand of the experimenter. She alleged that she experienced
peculiar sensations from each gem.

COMMUNITY OF SENSATION 135

" He had naturally placed his hands on the knobs of the arms,
and now attempted to rise, but stuck fast ; and those present will
not soon forget his look of amazement, first at one arm, and then at
the other, and his bewildered look of inquiry towards me when
he found himself in such difix,

" His arms were found to be rigid and insensible to the shoulders,
and the fingers were so firmly clutched upon the knobs of the chair
that they could not be opened. He was relieved by upward passes
along the arms ; but for some time his fingers were in a painful state
of spasms, which I had some difficulty in dissipating. I now left
the room, and made passes along and breathed upon the fioor near
the door by which he had to return to his ward — the door being
closed, of course. Returning to the party, I desired him to go away
now, and he did ; but he no sooner planted his foot outside the door
than he became rooted to the spot, and was violently convulsed,
calling upon me to come to him, that he was dying, etc.'' ^

Another experiment much relied upon as proving the
reality of the mesmeric effluence was the production of sleep
at a distance. In the following case, quoted from Towns-
hend's Facts in Mesmerism^ two previous trials on the same
patient had been completely successful. In this instance, it
will be noted, we have a double coincidence.

"The third trial that I made to mesmerise this patient from
a distance was still more remarkable and decisive.

" One evening, when sitting with my family, the idea occurred to

me, * Could I mesmerise Anna M there as I then was, while

she was in her own house ? ' to which I knew she was just then
confined by slight indisposition. Acting on this thought, I begged
all the party present to note the hour (it was exactly nine o'clock),
and to bear me witness that then and there I attempted a mesmeric
experiment.

" This time I endeavoured to bring before my imagination very
vividly the person of my sleepwaker, and even aided the concentra-
tion of my thoughts by the usual mesmeric gestures; I also at
the end of an hour said, * I will now awake Anna,' and used appro-
priate gestures. We now awaited with more curiosity than confidence
the result of this process.

" The following morning Anna made her appearance, just as we
were at breakfast, exclaiming, ' Oh, sir ! did you magnetise me last
night ? About nine o'clock I fell asleep, and mother and sisters say
they could not wake me with all their shaking of me, and they were
quite frightened ; but after an hour I woke of myself; and I think
from all this that my sleep must have been magnetic. It also
did me a great deal of good, for I felt quite recovered from my cold

^ Natural and Mesmeric Ciairvoyame^ pp. 126, 127.

136 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

after it. After a natural sleep I never feel so much refreshed.
When I sleep for an hour in magnetism, it is as if I had rested

a whole night' These were the words of Anna M , noted down

at the time as accurately as possible." ^

In one case out of many cited by Haddock the effect
appears to have been produced without the intention of the
operator.

"On another occasion I was wishful to induce the mesmeric
sleep on a lady for the relief of a rheumatic affection from which she
was suffering. Finding the continual stare very fatiguing to my
eyes, and also expecting to be called away by patients, it occurred to
me that if I directed her to look steadfastly at something it might
answer the same purpose, and allow me to leave her without
interrupting the mesmeric action. I therefore arose and took a
small magnet and suspended it by a wire from a hook in the
ceiling. Emma was in the kitchen, situated under the room where
I was operating, and knew nothing of my movements. In a few
minutes the smell of burning arrested my attention, and I desired
my daughter to go downstairs and ascertain the cause. She called me
quickly to come down, saying that Emma was on fire. I ran down,
and found her with her eyes closed, and mesmerisedy and on her
knees before the kitchen fire, engaged in sweeping the hearth, and
her apron on fire from contact with a burning coal that had fallen
from the grate; but of the fire she was unconscious, or at least
she took no notice of it, and her attention was wholly directed
to a point in the kitchen ceiling under where I had been sitting
in the room above. Having asked her what she was doing or
looking at, she replied, */ want that magnet.^ I pretended not
to understand her, and said, *What magnet ' ? The reply was, • That
magnet hanging up there,' pointing accurately to its situation." *

The phenomena of "Community of Sensation" are also
susceptible of explanation as being due to thought-trans-
ference. In its commonest form, indeed — the appreciation
by the hypnotic of sensations of taste or smell experienced by
the person with whom she was in rapport — it is difficult to
exclude the possibility that indications may have reached the
hyperaesthetic organs of sense by normal channels. Most of
the edible substances in common use, in fact, give out a

* Op, cit,^ p. 314.

' Haddock, SomnoHsm and Psychetsm, p. 92. Similar experiments have been
performed with success during the last two decades by various French observers,
of which the most noteworthy are those conducted by Professor Janet and
Dr. Gil)ert at Havre. See Revue Philosophique, Feb., 1886 ; Revue tU PHypno-
tisme^ Feb., 1 888 ; and Proceedings S. P, R,^ vol. iv. p. 133, etc., vol. v.
pp. 43-5 ; and elsewhere.

COMMUNITY OF SENSATION 137

sensible odour; and unless experiments of this kind are
carried on at a considerable distance and with closed
doors intervening, or care is taken to select substances as
odourless as common salt (and I can find no record in the
writings of this period of experiments conducted under such
conditions), it seems probable that the results may be attribut-
able generally to hyperaesthesia. The following case, however,
recorded by Townshend, cannot be thus explained, and even
though the Mesmeriser held the subject's hand, can hardly be
accounted for by muscle-reading. Some successful trials of
the usual kind with tastes and odours had first been made
with the same subject.

"It now occurred to me to try the experiment which B had

suggested with respect to the cognisance of form. With every pre-
caution, I took up from a table, on which were many other articles,
a small square box, and passed my finger over the edges. I, at the
same time, asked the patient, * Can you tell me what sort of a thing

I am touching?' Upon this Miss T made motions with her

fingers, as if she had the object under her own hand, and replied,
' It is something with edges like a box.' I next took into my hand
a chessman, some parts of which were carved in points, and felt
alternately the carved and uncarved portions of the piece. Between
these she discriminated correctly, saying, ' Now it feels rough ; now
smooth'; and always before speaking she went through the same
motions of touching with myself.

" One of the patient's sisters, without giving notice of her intention,
went out of the room and fetched an egg, which she concealed care-
fully in her hand and gave me from behind. The patient now said,
' I feel something smooth and round.' Being urged to tell what it
was, she said, * 1 think it is a ball.' Stretching out my hand behind
me, I whispered to one of the party to hurt me in some way ; I was
pricked with a pin, when my patient started and shook her hand as
if she felt the injury. On being asked what she felt, she answered,
* As if they pricked my hand.'

" At another time, when I inquired if she suffered in any way, she
replied, *No, only my feet are very cold.' My own feet being
exceedingly cold at the moment, I suspected that her feeling was
sympathetic I conjectured rightly, for, awaking soon after, she
assured me that her feet were perfectly warm." ^

Again, the following observation in the transference of pain
seems free from objection, and the distance beween agent and
patient was, it will be seen, considerable. Dr. Engledue
writes in the Zoisf : — ^

* Townshend, o/. cii.t pp. 69, 70. ^ Vol. U. pp. 269, 270.

138 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

" In a drawing-room containing forty persons this exp>eriment was
performed, and I select and relate it here because it was not pre-
arranged. After the patient had been entranced a gentleman requested
to speak to me at the other end of the room. He engaged me in
conversation, and whilst I was standing with my hands behind me,
one of his companions suddenly pushed the point of a penknife into
my thumb. Immediately the patient cried out, and rubbed the
exact spot on her own hand which had been injured in mine.
Another gentleman requested me to accompany him into the library,
which adjoined the drawing-room. He closed the doors, and then
said, * I wish to tickle your ear with the end of a pen.' I requested
him not to do so for a few minutes, for I have almost always noticed
that if experiments are performed in too rapid succession the ex-
pected result does not take place ; nay, more, I have frequently noticed
that if experiments are too much crowded together, several minutes
may elapse and the experiment be considered a failure, but after all
the expected result may come out. My right ear was tickled for one
minute. We then entered the drawing-room, and found the patient
rubbing her left ear upon her shoulder and shuddering in the same
manner that I had, and as every person does when the same stimulus
is applied. . . .

"... When my hair was combed in another room, my patient
expressed great dissatisfaction, and complained that somebody was
teasing her and pulling her hair.

" When I used a toothpick, she picked her teeth with a pin ; and
generally she did this on the same side and inserted the pin between
the same two teeth that I did. This, however, was not invariable."

Sometimes the same phenomenon was observed in the
higher senses, as in the following case, recorded by Mr. Jago,
of Bodmin, and communicated to the Zoist^ by Dr. Elliot-
son. Mr. Jago, it will be noted, suggests community of
sensation as the explanation of the facts observed ; he
supposes the sensitive to be "seeing with his eyes."

" A person present was asked to put something in a cup, and,
without saying what it was, to bring it to me in such a way that I

might look in it, but that it would be impossible for Miss D to

see what it contained. The cup was brought on a level with my
eye. Having looked over the edge of it and seen what was in it, I
desired that it might be taken away again ; then turning to Miss

D and placing my finger on the organ of language, I asked her,

* What's in that cup ? ' She instantly and without any doubtful tone
of voice said, * Cotton.' It was a little ball of cotton.

" Anxious to test this to the utmost, I asked a person to go out of
the room and put something in a cup and bring it to me that I only

^ Zoist^ vol. iii. pp. 223, 234.

COMMUNITY OF SENSATION 139

might see what was in it, as before. This was done, and the cup
again placed upon the table, which was at the opposite end of the

room. Turning to Miss D , I asked her, * What's in it now ? '

•Wafers.' This was perfectly true. *How many are there?'
' Two.' ' What colours are they ? ' * Green and red.' The last
answer is most extraordinary. By candlelight I thought the wafers
were white and red. My question was repeated, * Are you sure that
one is green ? ' * Yes.' * Are you quite sure of this ? — think.' * Yes,'
she replied rather sharply. Believing that this answer was incorrect,
I desired to see the wafers again; one of them was a delicately
pale green.

" Astonished at these results, I requested that the cup should be
placed on the table with something in it, as before, but that neither

myself nor Miss D should be told or be allowed to see what it

contained. This was done. I then asked, * What's in that cup now ? '
She paused as if thinking, and in about a minute said, ' I don't know.'

* Do you not really know ? — think again.' * No ; I do not know.' I
now directed a person to bring the cup to me as before, that I alone
might see its contents. This was done, and in such a manner that

it was impossible for Miss D to look ; in fact, during the whole

of this experiment her head was leaning a little forwards and her
eyes were quite closed. Care was taken to hold the cup above the level
of her forehead each time that it was brought near me, so that had
her eyes been wide open she could not have seen what was in it.

" After I had looked at what had been put in the cup, I asked her,
' Do you know now what it is ? ' * Yes ; it is a thimble.' This was
correct.

** Supposing her by some inscrutable means to be seeing with my
eyes, I thought she might be able to describe any object which was
known to me. I therefore began to question her about that of
which I was certain she could have no previous knowledge. * Do
you know my dressing-case ? ' * Yes.' * How many bottles are
there in it?' *Two.' *What colours are they?' *A white and
a green, ^ * Are you sure that one of them is green f ' * Yes.' I
had considered that bottle to be dlue, and therefore supposed she
had given me an incorrect reply; nor did I until the following
morning convince myself that it was green. It is that particular
shade of green which many fmd it difficult to distinguish from
blue. Her answer was right, and though the question was repeated
three or four times, she i>ersisted in giving me the same reply.

* How many drawers are there in the case ? ' * One.' * How many
locks are there ? ' * Two.' * What sort of case is it ? ' * Bound
with brass.' Had it been before her she could not have given a
more correct description."

It is clear that in the latter part of this record the metaphor
of seeing with the Mesmeriser's eyes no longer holds good.
If the information given by the subject was not normally

140 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

acquired — and illustrations of this faculty are so numerous
that it is difficult to doubt that in some cases, at any rate,
the information came through supersensory channels — we
have to deal with a sympathy not of sensation but of
thought. Some of the writers of this period, indeed, frankly
recognise the existence of such a faculty of thought-trans-
ference, as Bertrand had before them.^

^ For two instances of the kind see Townshend, op. cit. , pp. 324, 325.

CHAPTER X
CLAIRVOYANCE IN ENGLAND

THE manifestations of what is known as "clairvoyance"
present us with a more difficult problem than the
phenomena of action at a distance and community of
sensation discussed in the last chapter. As regards the so-
called clairvoyance of objects at close quarters, or "seeing with
the eyes closed," there seems little reason to doubt that the
results vouched for by so many observers were due, as a rule,
either to normal vision under somewhat unusual conditions,
to deliberate fraud, or possibly in rare cases to hyper-
xsthesia of the sense of touch. In one case, indeed, it seems
to me clear that the whole of the manifestations were due to
fraud of a tolerably obvious kind. There was in those days
a certain Major Buckley — a retired officer of the Indian
Army. Major Buckley seems to have been an amiable old
gentleman, with a fondness for taking parties of young ladies
to the opera. His young friends repaid his hospitalities by
manifestations of a very surprising kind. Their specialty
was reading mottoes in nuts bought at the confectioner's —
hazel-nuts or walnuts, the natural contents of which had been
replaced by small sweetmeats and a piece of paper bearing
a motto, the hole in the nut being filled in apparently with
chocolate. Major Buckley himself seems to have been
convinced of the genuineness of these performances ; and so
were some of the persons who witnessed them. Elliotson,
though obviously suspicious, allowed accounts of the experi-
ments to appear in the Zoist A detailed report by
Ashbumer of a series of experiments at which he and Lord
Adare assisted allows us to see how the feat was probably
accomplished. The young women who were the seers had
no doubt brought with them some nuts which had been
previously opened and resealed, and contrived during the
proceedings to substitute their own prepared nuts for those
brought by the investigators. At any rate, it would appear

141

142 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

that opportunity was again and again in the first series of
experiments [afforded for such substitution ; and that when
the nuts were marked, so as to prevent substitution, the
experiments proved inconclusive.^

However, Major Buckley's experiments were not typical
They do not seem to have been accepted generally by those
interested in the subject, nor — which is certainly curious —
does this particular form of clairvoyance appear to have
found any imitators outside Buckley's circle. But there were
many subjects both in France and England at this time who
claimed, or on whose behalf the claim was made, that they
could see near objects when their eyes were closed and
firmly bandaged, or when placed in absolute darkness. A
well-known case was that of Mdlle. Pigeaire, whose
claims were examined by the Academy of Medicine in
Paris, in 1837, with negative results. At Plymouth, in 1846,
the clairvoyant powers of a boy of fifteen, Thomas Laycock,
were investigated by a committee of twelve responsible
persons, who after plastering and bandaging his eyes,
expressed themselves, by a large majority, as satisfied that
his alleged power of supersensuous vision was genuine.^
Townshend minutely describes similar performances on the
part of a subject of his own, a French boy named E. A., and
adduces the testimony of several independent observers. In
all these cases — and they are but samples — many of the
results, as described^ seem hardly susceptible of explanation
by the exercise of the normal senses. Townshend's subject,
for instance, is described as seeing objects in absolute dark-
ness, or when held at the back of his head, or behind a
screen. Most commonly, however, the object to be seen was
held in front of his eyes, which were assumed to be securely
bandaged, and the interposition of a screen, a variation in the
angle at which the object was held, or the addition of a
further covering to the subject's head, interfered with success.
It is quite clear, therefore, that in most cases the process of
seeing with the eyes shut had some relation to the normal
organs of vision ; and it is not difficult to suppose that the
few apparent exceptions referred to were due to malobserva-
tion or the neglect of essential precautions. As regards the
singular freedom of vision possessed by youths whose eyes
were in appearance securely bandaged, the experience of the
S. P. R., as already stated, has shown that, with some
persons, at any rate, a very small chink at the side of the

' Zoist^ voL vi. pp. 9S-1 10 see also pp. 380-4.
^ Zoisty v<d. iv. p. 82.

CLAIRVOYANCE IN ENGLAND 143

nose suffices for the purpose of vision ; and that there is
practically no means of blindfolding the eyes, without
injuring the patient, which would preclude the possibility of
vision by this means.^

The most notable success in this kind of clairvoyance was
attained by a young Frenchman, Alexis Didier, who was
brought to this country and exhibited by one Marcillet, whom
Elliotson and others vouched for as a gentleman of high
character and undoubted integrity. Alexis was, apparently,
in the first instance thrown into a deep trance ; his eyes were
then bandaged, generally as follows : a pad of leather would
be placed over each eye, and then a handkerchief would be
tied diagonally across ; over all a third handkerchief would
be tied horizontally, and the interstices would be filled up
with cotton wool. In these circumstances he would play
icarU with great skill and rapidity ; would know not only
his own cards, but frequently those in his adversary's hand as
well ; would play correctly with his own cards face down-
wards on the table; would frequently, by request, pick out
any named card when the whole pack was face downward.
Further, he would — though generally with his eyes un-
bandaged and merely closed — decipher words written in
sealed envelopes, describe the contents of closed packets, and
read words and sentences several pages deep in any book
which might be presented to him.

That the art by which these marvellous results were
achieved was not that of the ordinary conjurer seems toler-
ably clear. Indeed, in 1847 Robert Houdin himself, having,
at the instance of the Marquis de Mirville, paid two visits to
Alexis, at which he played ^carti in the usual fashion, pre-
sented a book in which Alexis read half a line some pages
in advance, and received other proofs of the clairvoyant's
powers, testified " qu'il est tout 4 fait impossible que le hasard
ou Tadresse puisse jamais produire des effets aussi merveilleux." *
As against conjuring of the familiar kind, Houdin's testimony
is no doubt conclusive. As against the view here suggested,
that the "clairvoyance" of cards and sentences in closed
books, and so on, was probably to be explained as due to
preternormal acuteness of vision, or of touch and vision, con-
ditioned by the hypnotic trance, it is perhaps not so con-
clusive. No doubt Houdin, as a trained observer, if his
attention had been specially directed to this possibility,

' Sec a1)ove, chap. v. p. 74, and references there eiven.
^ Dcs EspHls^ js. £. dc Mirville. Paris, 1054. 3rd edition. Vol. i.
pp. 18-32.

144 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

would have been better qualified than most persons to
pronounce judgment upon it. But this acuteness of vision
here supposed is a distinct thing from the rapid and com-
prehensive glance, the result of long training, which is, as
we know from Houdin himself, a part of the conjurer's
equipment, and might well pass for incredible even with
an expert observer whose experience had lain in other
directions.

As to the actual means by which the results were achieved,
the accounts we possess are not sufficiently detailed to enable
us to determine. The exact position of Marcillet is rarely
mentioned ; the proportion of failures to successes is hardly
ever recorded, nor tfie nature of the failures. The table is
described, if described at all, merely as " a card table," pre-
sumably, therefore, with only a slender strip of polished
surface. In one case, indeed, we learn that the canls were
highly glazed,^ but we do not know if this was usually the
case, or whether Alexis had other opportunities of seeing
the cards by reflection from a polished surface. Nevertheless,
from the descriptions of the performances given by many
observers in the Zoist itself and in the periodical literature
of the time, we can gather some indications of the probable
f nodus operandi.^ In any case, the bandaging could not have
been accepted as satisfactory. But a writer in the Morning'
Chronicle tells us that he had himself been bandaged by a
friend in the same way, and had managed to read distinctly.
It was noticed, moreover, by several persons that Alexis
contorted his face both during and after the process of
bandaging; that he frequently touched or fidgeted with
the bandages ; that he held the objects to be looked at at
curious angles, and changed their position, as if trying to get
a better view. Envelopes and closed packages would be
carried, for instance, to the stomach or the top of the head.
Further, the card-playing appears to have been the only form
of experiment which was pretty uniformly successful. Even

' Zoist, vol. ii. p. 496.

' See especially Zoist^ vol. ii. pp. 393-409, 477-529 ; the detailed and, on the
whole, impartial account by Dr. Forbes, f.r.s., in the Lancet^ August 3rd, 1844;
a letter in the Morning Chronicle^ June 28th, 1844, signed "Wo Go"; the
Times ^ June 25th, 1844 » MediccU Tinus, July 27th, 1844, and subsequent dates ;
various articles in the Critic for 1844 and 1845, etc. For an account of some
later stances, given at Brighton in 1849, see Animal Magnetism^ by Edwin
Lee, M.D. (London, 1866), and Zoist^ vol. vii. pp. 92 et seqq. Dr. Forbes (after-
wards Sir John Forbes) published his account of two sittings with Alexis, also
accounts of experiments with Adolphe Didier and other so-called clairvoyants, in
a small volume, IllustrtUicns of Modem Mesmerism (London, 1845), which should
be read by all interested in the subject.

CLAIRVOYANCE IN ENGLAND 145

here there were many failures, but the failures seem to have
predominated over the successes in other cases. Again,
Alexis appears to have selected the passages which he was
to read from amongst a large number presented to him. The
contents of sealed envelopes could not be read in the hands
of a sceptic ; the seal must be broken, and the contents
shown to a sympathetic witness. Marcillet was present in
the room throughout the performance, and some of the
numerous bystanders, if not actually confederates, were
friendly and indiscreet.^ Of all the feats, that of reading
the words several pages deep in a book was the most
strongly suggestive of trickery. This appears not to have
been attempted, as a rule, until Alexis had already read some
words on the open page, the book in his hand, with the text
covered by a piece of paper or a handkerchief placed there
by himself. Alexis would then separate a number of pages
from ten to one hundred and fifty, holding them vertically
before him, and offer to read some words on a particular
part of the page several pages further on. It is not stated
in any account which I have seen whether Alexis or the
audience chose the particular spot on the page, but it is
certain that Alexis could not indicate with even approximate
correctness the number of pages deep. In one case the
desired words were found eighty and one hundred and fifty
pages further on respectively.

If this were all that Alexis had to show, we should perhaps
be entitled to wonder at the simplicity of the numerous
witnesses — lawyers, medical men, members of Parliament, and
others — cited in the Zoist^ who vouched for his performances.
But there are two considerations which give us pause. In the
first place, though it would have been difficult to prove this
even at the time, and, of course, no certain proof is now
possible, there are indications that his trance was genuine.^
And if genuine, it is permissible to suppose, though the
knowledge which he displayed had apparently been acquired
by the exercise of the known senses, that he himself was
innocent of deception in the matter. In the second place, at
every stance, together with this display of conscious or
unconscious jugglery, there occurred instances of " travelling
clairvoyance" and thought-reading, which, if not genuine,
involved deception of a more hazardous and complicated
nature. Of course, fraud is the first explanation in a case of

' See Sir J. Forbes' observations on this point {fip, cit, ).
^ On the other hand. Sir J. Forbes {op, cit,, p. 51) writes that it was not proved,
nor even probable, that the mesmeric state was genuine.

1. — L

146 THE PEDIGREE OE SPIRITUALISM

this kind. Alexis was a professional — he received on some
occasions as much as five guineas a stance ; and there is no
strong improbability in the assumption that the respectable
M. Marcillet was a confederate. And perhaps the most
probable, though not necessarily the correct, explanation of
his card-playing performances, is that of deliberate fraud.
When, therefore, Alexis correctly described a medal enclosed
in a casket covered with paper and sealed, we suspect that he
may have succeeded in opening the casket unobserved, or
that the lady who had brought it may have imprudently
revealed its contents to those about her.^ Or take the
following incident, the account of which is compiled from
notes made by the then Lord Adare (father of the present
Earl of Dunraven) of a sitting with Alexis, which took place
on July 2nd, 1844, at the house of M. Dupuis, in Welbeck
Street. A corresponding, but rather fuller and more dramatic
account of the incident is given by the Rev. G. Sandby, in a
letter to the Medical Times, dated July 8th : —

" Colonel Llewellyn, who was, I believe, rather sceptical, produced
a morocco case, something like a surgical instrument case. Alexis
took it, placed it to his stomach, and said, 'The object is a hard
substance, not white, enclosed in something more white than itself;
it is a bone taken from a greater body ; a human bone — ^yours. It
has been separated, and cut so as to leave a flat side.' Alexis
opened the case, took out a piece of bone w^rapped in silver paper,
and said, *The ball struck here; it was an extraordinary ball in
effect ; you received three separate injuries at the same moment ;
the bone was broken in three pieces; you were wounded early
in the day whilst engaged in charging the enemy.' He also
described the dress of the soldiers, and was right in all these
particulars. This excited the astonishment of all the bystanders,
especially the gallant Colonel. This account is drawn up, not only
from my own notes, but from Colonel Llewellyn's statement made
after the stance, and from a written account given me by a lady
who was sitting close by." *

On the hypothesis that the information given was normally
obtained, we must suppose that Colonel Llewellyn was a
garrulous old gentleman, who had betrayed his secret to
someone in the room at the time ; or that Marcillet or
Alexis had by some means acquired beforehand knowledge
of his history, and of his intention to attend the seance.
Neither supposition can, of course, be dismissed as altogether
improbable.

^ Zoist^ vol. ii p. 516. ^ Zdnst, vol. ii. pp. 5IQ, 511.

CLAIRVOYANCE IN ENGLAND 147

Or, to turn. to examples of the so-called "travelling clair-
voyance," when we read that on one occasion Alexis gave to
Lord Frederick Fitz-Clarence a minute description of his
visit to St Cyr from Paris two days before the stance, it is
natural to remember, even though Lord Frederick himself
thought " nothing could be much more extraordinary," that
his lordship was probably a well-known figure in Paris, and
his joumeyings matters of common report^ When we hear
how the clairvoyant, sitting in London, described, at the
request of Dr. Costello, an operation for lithotrity which the
doctor had performed at Clifton two or three days before,
we can but regret that the date of Dr. Costello's visit had
apparently been arranged with Marcillet beforehand.^

Again, the Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend relates that he
paid a surprise visit to Marcillet in passing through Paris in
October, 1851 ; that Alexis gave, in the trance, a surprisingly
minute and accurate description of Townshend's house at
Lausanne, its garden and surroundings, and even the subjects
of the pictures hanging in the salon; passing on to give
an equally circumstantial inventory of the narrator's house
in Norfolk Street, London ; of the maidservants there, the
horses in the stables, and other details.^

The obvious remark on a case of this kind is that
Townshend was a well-known writer on Mesmerism ; that
it was practically certain that he would at some time or
another come to see Alexis ; and that it would possibly be
worth while for Alexis and his agents to " get up " as many
facts as possible in connection with him, in order to afford
a convincing proof of supernormal faculty. That the
description of the maidservants in the house in London,
and the grey horse in the stable with sores on its flanks,
applied accurately to the time of the stance would only
prove, on this hypothesis, that Alexis* Intelligence Depart-
ment was up to date. It is true that this explanation
becomes more and more difficult as it has to be applied to
a wider and wider circle. But though successful clairvoyant
descriptions of the kind appear to have been given at every
stance, the reports which we possess are mostly at second-
hand, or insufficiently detailed, and the names of persons
concerned are frequently not given. Occasionally, as in the
case of the stance at the house of the Rev. Thos. Robertson,
on the 9th July, 1844, we have a full account, drawn up
shortly after the event by one of the principal witnesses, which

' Zoisit vol. vi. pp. 417-9. ' Medical Times, July 27, 1844.

' Zmt/, voL ix. pp. 405, 406.

148 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

reveals an amount of correspondence which certainly cannot
be attributed to chance.^ But a stance with Alexis, as in
the case cited, appears to have been a kind of levde attended
by some thirty or forty persons, so that he had considerable
chances of utilising any information which he might have
surreptitiously acquired ; and the supposition that his display
of apparent clairvoyance was, in fact, to be so explained,
though it certainly implies the possession of highly trained
confederates and singular good fortune in the diance of
sitters, is not perhaps to be summarily dismissed. It is
interesting to remark that Alexis himself expressly dis-
claimed any assistance from spirits in the matter.*

The hypothesis of a Private Inquiry agency — not un-
reasonable in the case of a professional clairvoyant, who
received comparatively large sums for his performances — is
more difficult to apply to tfie numerous other cases recorded
in the literature of this period. There are, for instance,
several striking reports in the Zoist of the clairvoyance of a
young woman named Ellen Dawson, a patient of a London
surgeon named Hands, who discovered the faculty in her
by accident, and apparently allowed a few privileged persons
to witness it in operation. But something could no doubt
have been gleaned by a cunning and unscrupulous person
from the gossip of servants, and in nearly every case a wide
margin must be allowed for misdescription on the part of
the narrator of the marvels.^

The following account, however, by the late Professor
de Morgan is worthy of consideration, partly because of
the intellectual distinction of the recorder, partly because
there is no obvious source from which the information could
have been derived : —

"I have seen a good deal of Mesmerism, and have tried it

myself on for the removal of ailments. . . . But this is not the

point. I had frequently heard of the thing they call clairvoyance,
and had been assured of the occurrence of it in my own house,
but always considered it as a thing of which I had no evidence

' Zoist J vol. ii. pp. 520, 521.

^ Carpenter, who attended some stances with Alexis, noticed ''how, whilst
he was * thinking aloud ' (according to his friends) but ' fishing ' or ' pumping '
(according to unbelievers), he was helped by the information he gleaned from
the unconscious promptings of his questioners." {Mesnurism and Spiritualism^
etc., (1877), p. 77.)

' One of the best accounts of Ellen Dawson's clairvoyance is given in the
Zoist^ vol. iii. pp. 239-40. But unfortunately Miss Boyle, who tells the story,
had taken her maid with her, and most of the facts given could conceivably have
been derived from this source.

CLAIRVOYANCE IN ENGLAND 149

direct or personal, and which I could not admit till such evidence
came.

" One evening I dined at a house about a mile from my own —
a house in which my wife had never been at that time, I left it
at half-past ten, and was in my own house at a quarter to eleven.
At my entrance my wife said to me, * We have been after you^
and told me that a little girl whom she mesmerised for epileptic
fits (and who left her cured), and of whose clairvoyance she had
told me other instances, had been desired in the mesmeric state

to follow me to Street, to *s house. The thing took place

at a few minutes after ten. On hearing the name of the street,
the girl's mother said —

" * She will never find her way there. She has never been so far
away from Camden Town.'

" The girl in a moment got there. * Knock at the door,' said my
wife. * I cannot,' said the girl ; * we must go in at the gate.' (The
house, a most unusual thing in London, stands in a garden; this
my wife knew nothing of.) Having made the girl go in and knock
at the door, or simulate, or whatever the people do, the girl said
she heard voices upstairs, and being told to go up, exclaimed,
•What a comical house! there are three doors,' describing them
thus.^ (This was true, and is not usual in any but large houses.)
On being told to go into the room from whence voices came, she
said, *Now I see Mr. de Morgan, but he has a nice coat on,
and not the long coat he wears here ; and he is talking to an old
gentleman, and there is another old gentleman, and there are
ladies.' This was a true description of the party, except that the
other gentleman was not old, *And now,' she said, * there is a
lady come to them, and is beginning to talk to Mr. de Morgan
and the old gentleman, and Mr. de Morgan is pointing at you
and the old gentleman is looking at me.' About the time indicated
I happened to be talking with my host on the subject of Mesmerism,
and having mentioned what my wife was doing, or said she was
doing with the little girl, he said, *0h, my wife must hear this,'
and called her, and she came up and joined us in the manner
described. The girl then proceeded to describe the room : stated
that there were two pianos in it. There was one, and an orna-
mental sideboard, not much unlike a pianoforte to the daughter
of a poor charwoman. That there were two kinds of curtains,
white and red, and curiously looped up (all true to the letter),
and that there were wine and water and biscuits on the table.
Now my wife, knowing that we had dined at half-past six, and
thinking it impossible that anything but coffee could be on the
table, said, 'You must mean coffee.' The girl persisted, 'Wine,
water, and biscuits.' My wife, still persuaded that it must be
coffee, tried in every way to lead her witness, and make her say

^ A little diagram is given of these doors (she counted three, but indicated
more) in the letter.— S. E. de M.

150 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

coffee. But still the girl persisted, ' Wine, water, and biscuits,' which
was literally true, it not being what people talk of under the name
of a glass of wine and a biscuit, which means sandwiches, cake, etc.,
but strictly wine, water, and biscuits.

" Now all this taking place at twenty minutes after ten was told
to me at a quarter to eleven. When I heard that I was to have
such an account given I only said, 'Tell me all of it, and I will
not say one word'; and I assure you that during the narration I
took the most especial care not to utter one syllable. For instance,
when the wine and water and biscuits came up, my wife, perfectly
satisfied that it must have been coffee, told me how the girl per-
sisted, and enlarged upon it as a failure, giving parallel instances
of cases in which the clairvoyants had been right in all things
but one. All this I heard without any interruption. Now that
the things happened to me as L have described at twenty minutes
after ten, and were described to me as above at a quarter to eleven,
I could make oath. The curtains I ascertained next day, for I
had not noticed them. When my wife came to see the room she
instantly recognised a door, which she had forgotten in her narra-
tion.

"All this is no secret. You may tell whom you like, and give
my name. What do you make of it ? Will the never-failing doctrine
of coincidence explain it ? . . . .

"I have seen other things since, and heard many more; but
this is my chief personal knowledge of the subject "

The letter is unfortunately not dated, but the events re-
corded are obviously of no very distant date. Mrs. de
Morgan, the editor of the memoir, gives the year as 1849,
and adds the following note : —

" I heard [1.^. from the entranced girl] all about the house and
furniture, etc., before the girl told me what was going on. Mr. de
Morgan has represented it to Mr. Heald as occurring afier^ and it is
quite possible that I told him in this order. But I never heard of
this letter until after his death.— S. E. de M."i

Cases such as that above recorded — and there are many
similar accounts in the Zoist and elsewhere — can of course
be explained, on the assumption that the record is correct,
by the hypothesis that thoughts actually present to the mind
of the sitter are telepathically conveyed to the subject But
there are many narratives which, taken at their face value,
would force us to go beyond this explanation. It is not of
course always possible to assure ourselves that the facts were
written down at the time, and when this was not the case

^ Memoir of Augustus di Morgan^ by his wife, S. E. de Morgan, 1882, pp.
206-8.

CLAIRVOYANCE IN ENGLAND 151

large allowance must no doubt be made for imaginative
embellishments and suppression of erroneous details. The
following narrative, however, by Professor Gregory, written
in December, 1851, and relating to events which took place
seven months previously, appears to have been based on
contemporary records. Professor Gregory describes a visit
paid by him to a friend in a town about thirty miles from
Edinburgh. He there met a lady who had been twice
mesmerised by his friend and exhibited considerable clair-
voyant powers. At Gregory's request, this lady — who was
personally unknown to him — b^an by giving him a minute
description of his own house in Edinburgh, and then of his
brother's house, near the same city, and his brother's occupa-
tion at the moment The details given proved on inquiry to
be correct. Gregory then continues : —

"I now asked her to go to Greenock, forty or fifty miles from
where we were (Edinburgh was nearly thirty miles distant), and to
visit my son, who resides there with a friend. She soon found him,
and described him accurately, being much interested in the boy,
whom she had never seen nor heard of. She saw him, she said,
playing in a field outside of a small garden in which stood the
cottage, at some distance from the town, on a rising ground. He
was playing with a dog. I knew there was a dog, but had no idea
of what kind, so I asked her. She said it was a large, but young
Newfoundland, black, with one or two white spots. It was very
fond of the boy and played with him. * Oh,* she cried suddenly,
* it has jumped up and knocked off his cap.' She saw in the garden
a gentleman reading a book and looking on. He was not old, but
had white hair, while his eyebrows and whiskers were black. She
took him for a clergyman, but said he was not of the Established
Church, nor Episcopalian, but a Presbyterian dissenter. (He is, in
fact, a clergyman of the highly respectable Cameronian body, who,
as is well known, are Presbyterians, and adhere to the covenant.)
Being asked to enter the cottage, she did so, and described the
sitting-room. In the kitchen she saw a young maidservant preparing
dinner, for which meal a leg of mutton was roasting at the fire, but
not quite ready. She also saw another elderly femaJe. On looking
again for the boy, she saw him playing with the dog in front of the
door, while the gentleman stood in the porch and looked on. Then
she saw the boy run upstairs to the kitchen, which she observed
with surprise was on the upper floor of the cottage (which it is), and
receive something to eat from the servant, she thought a potato.

"I immediately wrote all these details down and sent them to
the gentleman, whose answer assured me that all, down to the
minutest, were exact, save that the boy did not get a potato but a
small biscuit from the cook. The dog was what she described ; it
did knock off the boy's cap at the time and in the place mentioned ;

152 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

he himself was in the garden with a book looking on ; there was
a leg of mutton roasting and not quite ready ; there was an elderly
female in the kitchen at that time, although not of the household
Every one of which facts was entirely unknown to me, and could
not, therefore, have been perceived by thought-reading, although,
had they been so, as I have already stated, this would not have
been a less wonderful, but only a different phenomenon.

" I shall send you another case for your next number. The above
case I r^ard as a very satisfactory one, inasmuch as I did not know
beforehand that I was to try any experiments at all, and had never
seen the lady before.

** I remain, etc., etc.,

" Dec, i8si.*' " William Grkgorv.*

Many clairvoyants at this period were applied to, with
success, to trace lost and stolen property. Several cases of
the kind are recorded by Dr. Haddock of his subject, Emma,
a young woman in his employment as a domestic servant.
One case attracted considerable attention at the time. A
sum of ;f 650 sent by post to Messrs. Arrowsmith, of Bolton,
had disappeared. Arrowsmith's cashier, Mr. Lomax, believed
that he had paid in the sum to the bank, but the bank
denied all knowledge of it, and a search which was made
at Lomax's instance proved unsuccessful. In this dilemma
Messrs. Arrowsmith and Lomax called on Dr. Haddock
to consult his clairvoyant On being given the envelope in
which the money had been enclosed, she is reported to have
described accurately the appearance of the missing papers —
two banknotes and a bill of exchange — and the pocket-book
in which Mr. Lomax had placed them on receipt She
further described how they were handed in at the bank
counter, and finally said that she saw them in an envelope
with other papers, in an inner room at the bank. In conse-
quence of her statements Mr. Arrowsmith went to the bank
and insisted on a further search ; and the missing notes and
bill were ultimately found amongst some old circulars, etc.,
on the mantelpiece in the manager's private room.* Of
course, in this instance the clairvoyant may have merely
reflected Mr. Lomax's own surmises as to the disposal of the
money : and this explanation is no doubt still possible in the
cases where a thief was indicated and stolen property
recovered through the agency of clairvoyance. For despite
the assurance to the contrary given by the persons who

^ Zoist^ vol. ix. pp. 423, 424.

^ Bolton Chronicle^ Sept. 8th, 1849. The account is reprinted in Haddock's
Somnolism and Psycheismy pp. 117-24.

CLAIRVOYANCE IN ENGLAND 153

consulted the clairvoyant, it is permissible to suppose that
a latent suspicion in their minds may have inspired the
sensitive's utterances. But the accurate and detailed descrip-
tion of the missing property itself, of the manner of the
robbery, and of the personal appearance of the thief, alleged
to have been given in two or three cases, is very remarkable.^
The instances given in this and the preceding chapter may
be taken as favourable samples of the evidence for thought-
transference and clairvoyance afforded by the writings of the
English Mesmerists. Whilst, no doubt, insufficient in them-
selves to prove the existence of such faculties, it will
perhaps be admitted that, in the light of more recent
evidence to the same effect, it is difficult summarily to reject
these records as the result of malobservation or inaccurate
reporting.'

* See Somnolism and Psycheism^ pp. 1 15-17. Zoist^ vol. vii. 95-101, and vol.
xiii. 56. In the last case the body of a drowned woman is alleged to have been
traced by the clairvoyant.

^ A striking instance of inaccurate reporting is furnished by Miss Martineau.
In her Letters on Mesmerism she relates that a vague report had come on Sun-
day, October 13th, 1844, to the house at Tynemouth where she was then lodging,
that the boat in which a cousin of her clairvoyant subject, Jane, was sailing had
been wrecked. On the Tuesday evening no authentic news as to the &te of the
sailors had, according to Miss Martineau, reached the house up till 8 p.m. At
that hour a s^nce was held, and the entranced Jane gave the joyful news that
all on board were saved, except one boy, and that the boat which rescued them
was a foreign one. At the very hour, Miss Martineau adds, when this intelli-
gence was l^ing delivered in her sitting-room, the sailor's mother, who had come
m after the commencement of the s^nce, and without the knowledge of Miss
Martineau and her circle, was telling the same story in the kitchen, two floors
below. In his Illustrations of Modem Mesmerism Forbes shows, on the
evidence of a local doctor and of one of the witnesses at the s^nce, that the
good news was actually known in the house three hours before the sitting.
Miss Martineau's deafness may have accounted for the misunderstanding. In
her Autobio^aphy (edition of 1877, vol. ii. p. 198) Miss Martineau, referring to
Forbes' action in the matter, states that she holds a legal declaration which
" establishes the main fiiict on which the somnambule's story of shipwreck was
attempted to be overthrown." But she gives no particulars, nor attempts to
refute Dr. Forbes' exposure in detaiL

CHAPTER XI

ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS AND THE

UNIVERCCELUM

OF the mesmeric propaganda in America we have
already caught a glimpse through the pages of the
Phreno-Magnet} Collyer, with his bowl of treacle,
and Sunderland, with his hundred and fifty phrenological
organs, seem to have fairly represented the movement.
Though here and there we hear of medical men employing
the mesmeric trance for therapeutic purposes, or for opera-
tions, there was in the decade 1840-50 no school of medical
hypnotism as in France, Germany, and England ; nor any
organ at all comparable to the Zoist and the various
Continental periodicals to which we have had occasion to
refer. The phenomena of the somnambulic trance seem
indeed to have become generally known in America at about
the same time as in England,/.^, from 1838 onwards; but
in the former country there was no convert of conspicuous
ability and recognised standing in the scientific world to form
a school, or win even such measure of recognition as fell to
the share of Elliotson and his circle in England. The
propaganda rested therefore mainly in the hands of popular
lecturers and preachers ; and the medical men who concerned
themselves in the matter were not specially qualified either
to investigate such a subject for themselves, or to impose
their views on others. All the writers of the time believed,
or had believed, in phrenology ; though Collyer, as we have
seen, had within a year or two recanted his views, and
Sunderland was soon to repent him of his intemperance in
cerebral geography. And, again with the exception of
Sunderland, all seem to have believed in the transmission
of a physical effluence from operator to subject as the cause
of the trance and the more dubious phenomena associated

^ Seean/^, pp. 129, 130.
154

ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS 155

with it Indeed, a large portion of the various treatises
published at this time is devoted to vindicating the prior
claim of their respective authors to the discovery of the true
system of phrenology, and to inventing new names for the
hypothetical effluence. Amongst these writers were several
whom we shall meet with later in the history of Spiritualism.
Thus the Rev. J. Bovee Dods, author of Six Lectures on the
Philosophy of Mesmerism} afterwards published his views on
the stance manifestations, attributing the whole of them to
the operation of "vital electricity."* Dr. J. S. Grimes,
Professor of Medical Jurisprudence in the Castleton Medical
College, by whom the subject of Mesmerism was afterwards
introduced to the notice of A. J. Davis and his neighbours,
explained the phenomena of the trance as due to the
influence of a subtle fluid, for which he proposed the name
Etherium, his conception of which is not distinguishable in
some aspects from the modem conception of the ether. But
Grimes' theory had some features peculiar to itself. He
supposed that the motions in the Etherium which produced
the trance, whether initiated by another organism or an inani-
mate object, always returned on themselves, like the galvanic
current, in a closed circuit Further, in his theory the trance
and all that belonged to it were symptomatic of disease,
resulting from disturbed equilibrium in the ethereal currents.
He also assigned a large part in the production of the phen-
omena to the "credencive" faculty. The action of drugs
at a distance and clairvoyance were ascribed to the direct
influence — through the Etherium — of external objects on
the imperfectly insulated nervous system of the sensitive.
Grimes had invented a special system of phrenology, and
a new name for the science of Mesmerism, to wit,
Etheropathy}

Dr. J. Rodes Buchanan, still living (in 1899)* to instruct and
encourage a new generation of Spiritualists, had issued about
1843 a "Neurological" map, giving an entirely new distribu-
tion of the phrenological organs. But it was not until 1854
that he published a complete exposition of his system of
Neurology, or Anthropology.* Beside the re-classification of
the phrenological organs, his chief contribution to science was
the theory of Nervaura, a subtle emanation given off from

* New York, 1847. ' See chap, vi, book ii.

' Ethtrology and tlu Phreno- Philosophy of Mesmerism and Magic Eloquence ,
etc. Boston and London, 1850. Second edition ; the first had been published
some years previously. ^ He died in 1900.

* Outlines of Lectures on the Neurological System of Anthropology^ as discovered^
demonstraUd. and taught in 1841 and 1842. Cincinnati, t 8 >4.

156 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

the nervous system, which differed not only for each individual,
but for each organ. Nervaura, as Buchanan explained it,
stood in the scale of materiality midway between electricity
and caloric on the one hand and will and consciousness on
the other, being indeed the mediating link between the two
sets of entities. Like other mundane forces, it could be
transmitted from one organism to another through an iron
bar ; but it was so far akin to the purely spiritual energies
that by means of the Nervaura radiating from the anterior
and superior cerebral centres "an individual operates upon
a nation and transmits his influence through succeeding
centuries.** ^

Buchanan also started in the early fifties s, Journal of Man,
which was originally, as we learn from Brittan, to have taken
the place of the Shekinah} but seems ultimately to have been
devoted mainly to the exposition of the science of Neurology.
Records of the Spiritualist movement, however, and the stance
phenomena found hospitality in its columns, as is testified
by the frequent references to it in other periodicals.

The one figure at this time which, by reason of superior
common sense, stands out from the group of believers in
phrenology and nerve-fluids was the Rev. Laroy Sunderland.
Born in 1804, Sunderland became at the age of nineteen a
revivalist preacher, and had the gratification of seeing his
congregation profoundly affected by his first sermon : some
prostrate and groaning on the floor, some smiting their breasts
in an agony of grief, others crying aloud and clapping their
hands in ecstatic joy.^ He soon became an ardent Aboli-
tionist,* and in 1835 started a paper called the Watchman^
which ran until 1842. In 1839, however, he first had his
attention called to the mesmeric trance ; he made experiments
for himself, succeeded in obtaining the usual phenomena, even
to the extent of inducing anaesthesia for surgfical operations,^
and finally, in June, 1842, founded a periodical called the
Magnet^ in which he propounded a novel theory of the
subject We have already seen something of Sunderland's
contributions to the science of Phreno-Mesmerism. It is fair
to say, however, that he soon saw that he had been mistaken
in attaching any weight to the phrenological demonstrations

> Op, cit,, p. 194. 2 See TeUgraph Papers, vol. iii. p. 489.

' The Trance and Correlative Phefiomena, by Laroy Sunderland (Chicago,
1868), p. 12. (The copy now before me was Sunderland's own.) The account
which follows of Sunderland's life and work is taken, unless otherwise stated,
from this book, or from the columns of the Spiritual World and Spiritiial
Philosopher, * Sec his Anti-Slavery Manual, New York, 1837.

• The Tranee, pp. 137, 159, etc.

ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS 157

on the heads of entranced persons. The whole subject of
Phreno-Mesmerism is completely ignored in his paper the
Spirittiol Philosopher (1850-1), and in his work on The
Trance (1868) he briefly owns his mistake.^ So, in his
theories of the trance he was misled at first by various
physical analogies. He discoursed on the magnetic nature
of living bodies and the polarity of the cerebral organs, and
was disposed to explain somnambulism as a result of nervous
induction.^ But notwithstanding these earlier extravagances,
Sunderland appears to have b^n one of the soundest and
most cautious investigators of his time. He shares, indeed,
with Braid the honour of having recognised in his later
writings — and, it would seem, independently — that all the
phenomena of the trance could be explained without fluid
or aura or effluence of any kind, as being simply results
of the subject's own mental reaction to suggestions supplied
by the voice or gestures of the operator, or, in some cases,
by the patient himself. When the suggestion came from
without, it was an essential condition that a relation should
have been previously established between operator and sub-
ject ; but that relation he conceives as consisting in the
subject's own anticipation or apprehension of certain results.
This process Sunderland called Pathetism. In his work on
The Trance he thus formulates the principle of Pathetism :
"When a relation is once established between an operator
(or any given substance, real or imaginary, as the agent) and
his patient, corresponding changes may be induced in the
nervous system of the latter (awake or entranced) by sug-
gestions addressed to either of the external senses." • Through-
out he seems to have been clear that the assumption of an
effort of the will on the part of the operator being a necessary
condition was, generally speaking, as gratuitous as the as-
sumption of a fluid ; and showed that, in many cases, the
results followed, not on the will of the operator, but on the
expectation of tiie patient He allowed, however, that in rare
instances, when a relation between operator and subject had
been previously established, effects could be produced by
mere volition on the part of the former. Agreeably to these
views, he rejected as unproven and superfluous the magnetic
and electric analogies commonly employed amongst his
contemporaries to explain the vital phenomena ; and frankly

1 op, cit., p. 52.

'^ See his early articles in the Magnet^ quoted in the Pkrenc-Magmtt pp. 3, 166,

' Op, cU-fi^ 19 ; see also Pathetism^ by the same author. Boston, 1 847.

158 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

intimated that Reichenbach*s vaunted demonstrations were
probably to be attributed to imagination alone.^

But the man in these early years who was destined 'to play
the most important part in the future history of Spiritualism
was Andrew Jackson Davis. The prophet of the New Dis-
pensation was bom in 1826, in a small rural township in the
State of New York, and in 1838 moved with his parents to
the town of Poughkeepsie, in the same State, from vi^ich
place he takes his name as the " Poughkeepsie Seer." His
father was part weaver and part shoemaker, and eked out his
profits from those two trades by hiring himself out in the
summer as a farm-labourer. Both parents appear to have
been honest and respectable ; but his father, according to the
son's account, was shiftless and for many years given to drink.
The young Andrew Jackson was apparently an undersized,
delicate boy, with very little education, and in childhood of no
conspicuous ability. In 1841 he was apprenticed to a shoe-
maker named Armstrong, and worked at that trade for about
two years. In the autumn of 1843 considerable interest was
aroused in Poughkeepsie by a series of lectures on Animal
Magnetism delivered by Professor Grimes ; and a tailor
named Levingston succeeded in December of that year in
entrancing young Davis. Thereafter, until August, 1845,
Davis was constantly magnetised by Levingston, and practised
under his guidance as a professional clairvoyant, giving tests,
and especially prescribing for diseases. In March, 1844,
according to the account given by himself, he wandered away
into the country for a considerable distance under the guidance
of his inward monitor, and fell into a spontaneous trance,
during which Galen and Swedenborg appeared to him in
a churchyard and instructed him concerning his mission to
mankind.^ In the following year, in the course of a pro-
fessional tour, he made the acquaintance of Dr. Lyon, a
physician then practising at Bridgeport, Conn., and of the
Rev. William Fishbough. Later in the same year he ap-
pointed these two gentlemen to act as his magnetiser and his
scribe respectively, and to assist him in the inditing of certain
lectures on philosophy to be delivered in the clairvoyant
trance.^ The three accordingly took lodgings in New York,
where Davis continued to practise as a medical clairvoyant,

* In an article in the Spirit World (vol. ii. p. 134) Sunderland gives a clear
exposition of his views on Reichenbach's work.

'^ Autobiography y pp. 225-4$.

' Davis had already published in the same year (1845), apparently before his
falling in with Lyon and Fishbough, some Lectures on Clatrmativefuss, See
footnote below, p. 167. This publication is not mentioned in the Autobiography,

ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS 159

passing into the trance on the average twice daily. The
lectures were actually commenced in November, 1845, ex-
tended over a period of fifteen months, and were published
in the summer of 1847 in the shape of a large octavo volume
of nearly eight hundred closely printed pages, under the title
of The Principles of Nature^ Her Divine Revelations, and A
Voice to Mankind. The method of production was as
follows: Davis, having been thrown into the trance state
by Dr. Lyon, proceeded to dictate his discourse a few words
at a time. Each utterance was repeated by Dr. Lyon, and
only then written down by Fishbough. The scribe, in his
introduction to the book, dated July, 1847, assures us that
the whole book was written down exactly as dictated, the
only alterations made, according to his explicit statement,
being a few corrections in grammar and occasional removal
of verbal redundancies or slight emendations to make the
sense less obscure. It is obvious, however, that the peculiar
process of dictation employed, by which the trance utterance
was filtered through the minds of two educated persons
before reaching the public, gave opportunity, not merely for
correction of crudities of expression, but to some extent
for the guidance of the argument. There seems no sufficient
reason, however, to doubt the good faith of those concerned ;
and there were many witnesses, including some persons of
note, who attended the lectures from time to time and counter-
signed the reports, so that it seems probable that the book as
we have it is substantially in the form in which it was dictated
by Davis.

Amongst those who had frequently attended the circle
while the Revelations were being dictated, and who had taken
a warm interest in the young seer, was the Rev. George Bush,
of New York, Professor of Hebrew in the University and
a well-known Swedenborgian. It was very largely to Bush's
advertisement of the work that the favourable reception which
the book met with on its first appearance was due. Bush
vouched for the good faith of the author and his circle, and
for the fact that the clairvoyant on more than one occasion
had digressed from the main current of his discourse to answer
impromptu questions put to him as tests ; and he further gave
a most enthusiastic account of the nature of the book itself.
Thus he writes : " Taken as a whole, the work is a profound
and elaborate discussion of the philosophy of the universe, and
for grandeur of conception, soundness of principle, clearness
of illustration, order of arrangement, and encyclopaedic range
of subjects, I know no work of any single mind that will bear

160 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

away from it the palm." And, again : " The manner in the
scientific department is always calm, dignified, and con-
ciliatory, as if far more disposed to excuse than to censure
the errors which it aims to correct ; whilst the style is easy,
flowing, chaste, appropriate, with a certain indescribable
simplicity which operates like a charm on the reader."

The work was published in December of the same year
(1847), in England, by John Chapman, who thought it
necessary himself to write a Preface explanatory of the nature
of the book, in which he quotes Bush's eulogy, and adds his
own testimony, in a manner hardly less impressive, to the
moral value and scientific insight of the book.^ He found
the philosophy of the Revelations was allied to the teachings
of Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and H^el ; whilst the scientific
conceptions therein advocated were confirmed by the views
enunciated by Goethe, Oken, and the evolutionists generally,
and by recent discoveries in astronomy. The aim of the work
was exalted, and the style and thought alike impressive and
dignified.

It is with a certain diffidence that one approaches the task
of appraising a work of this character ; it is no light matter to
essay in the compass of a few pages to offer an adequate
summary of the great Harmonial Philosophy, of which this
book contains the germ, a philosophy for which its author has
not found complete expression in some thirty volumes. But
some account, at any rate of the contents of this book, must
nevertheless be attempted. The book, as indicated in the
triple division of the title, is divided into three parts ; and it is
on the second part, " Nature s Divine Revelations," that the
indiscretion of the seer's admirers has caused attention to be
chiefly concentrated. Bush speaks of it as " one of the most
finished specimens of philosophical argument in the English
language." It opens as follows : —

" In the beginning the Univercoelum was one boundless, un-
definable, and unimaginable ocean of Liquid Fire! The most
vigorous and ambitious imagination is not capable of forming
an adequate conception of the height and depth and length and
breadth thereof. There was one vast expanse of liquid substance.
It was without bounds — inconceivable — and with qualities and
essences incomprehensible. This was the original condition of
Matter. It was without forms, for it was but one Form. It had not
motions, but it was an eternity of Motion. It was without parts, for
it was a Whole. Particles did not exist, but the Whole was as one

* Brief outlines and /Review of ** The Principles of NcUure^^ etc. London,
John Chapman, 1847.

ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS 161

Particle. There were not suns, but it was one Eternal Sun. It had
no beginning, and it was without end. It had not length, for it was
a Vortex of one Eternity. It had not circles, for it was one Infinite
Circle. It had not disconnected power, but it was the very essence
of all Power. Its inconceivable magnitude and constitution were
such as not to develop forces, but Omnipotent Power.

" Matter and Power were existing as a Whole, inseparable. The
Matter contained the substance to produce all suns, all worlds, and
systems of worlds, throughout the immensity of Space. It contained
the qualities to produce all things that are existing upon each of
those worlds. The Power contained Wisdom and Goodness, Justice,
Mercy, and Truth. It contained the original and essential Principle
that is displayed throughout immensity of Space, controlling worlds
and systems of worlds, and producing Motion, Life, Sensation, and
Intelligence, to be impartially disseminated upon their surfaces as
Ultimates." ^

From these opening sentences the entranced clairvoyant
traces the evolution of the universe — or, as he terms it, Univer-
ccelum — by a gradual process of differentiation into vast
systems of suns, moving in concentric circles of inconceivable
magnitude round the Great Eternal Centre, ** pregnated with
the immutable eternal essence of divine Positive Power."
Thereafter, descending upon details, he gives a description
of the particular solar system of which we are members, and
of the gradual progression and development through the
geological cycles of our own planet, ending up with a sketch
of the first appearance and early history of the human race,
and of its future in the spirit world.

His scientific competence for the stupendous task he essays
may be judged from the following extracts. Here is an
account of the first appearance of living organisms on the
nascent planet: —

"Chemistry will unfold the fact that iight^ when confined in a
certain condition and condensed, will produce water, and that water
thus formed, subjected to the vertical influence of light, will produce,
by its internal motion and further condensation, a gelatinous sub-
stance of the composition of the spirifer, the motion of which
indicates animal life. This again being decomposed and subjected
to evaporation, the precipitated particles which still remain will
produce putrified matter similar to earth, which will produce the
plant known as the fucoides. It is on the result of this experiment
(the truth of which, as above represented, can be universally ascer-
tained) that rests the probability, though not the absolute certainty,

> Op. cii. (thirty-fourth American edition, Boston, 1876), pp. lai, 122.
I. — M

162 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

of the truth of the description which I am about to give concerning
the first form possessing life." ^

Or take, again, this remarkable extract from a description
of the marine fauna of the Old Red Sandstone period : —

" The radiata and articulata, in their progression, now begin to
assume the form of the scarpion [stc] and insect, between which
the fuci determined upon by geologists sustains an intermediate
position. The seas at this time were inhabited by annelidans and
scarpion fishes, the ultimate of which represents nearly the shark
and sturgeon. The annelidans were a species of sea-worm, still
to be found upon many coasts and coves, where stones and other
bodies of concealment exist Of this class there are two kinds
— the white and red, the first of which is hermaphrodite, sustaining
an intermediate position between the lower type and the higher, in
which the serpula becomes visible."*

Or, again, this description of the Oolite : —

" No stratification has attracted so much attention among geolo-
gists as this. For it represents a formation as resulting from the
decomposition of previously existing plants, animals, and mollusca,
together with the deposition of solutions of existing substances upon
the land and in the water ; and the whole renders this stratification
altogether mysterious and incomprehensible. It is known that lime
in various proportions enters into this formation ; but the cause has
not as yet been discovered which could possibly unite the substances
of the previous formations with the living substances of the earth,
and render the whole an aggregated stratification. And by passing
the substances of the various oo/ite beds through chemical processes,
alumina and other substances will be discovered ; not as naturally
inherent ingredients, but as a condensation of the dissolved particles
of previous formations." *

Again, he describes the ichthyosaurus as inhaling through
"an adipose branchae" an atmosphere which consisted of
" carbon, nearly counterbalanced by oxygen " ; * he accounts
for the occurrence of fossil shells high up on mountain
sides as due to a general rise in the level of the ocean,
" caused by the expansion of previously condensed particles
composing the water " ; ^ amber he explains as formed out of
sea- water " by a strange and peculiar chemical process." •

But his admirers claim Uiat he anticipated Adams and
Leverrier in the discovery of the planet Neptune ; and it is
certainly curious that in a lecture committed to MS. in

' op, cii.y p. 237. ■ Page 242. ' Page 270.

* Page 263. • Pages 243, 244. • Page 312.

ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS 163

March, 1 846, he does give a fairly detailed description of an
eighth planet^ *

This is the first part of his account : " Its density is four-
fifths of water. Its diameter it is unnecessary to determine.
Its period of revolution can be inferred analogically from
the period in which Uranus traverses its elliptic and almost
inconceivable orbit. The atmosphere of the eighth planet
is exceedingly rare, containing little oxygen, but being
mostly composed of fluorine and nitrogen."* The first
of these statements happens to be approximately correct,
so far as modem science has succeeded in determining the
matter ; but as the figures quoted apply with equal accuracy
to the density of Uranus, Neptune's nearest neighbour, the
coincidence is not, perhaps, very remarkable. The last state-
ment, it need hardly be said, is preposterous.

But if there are any who still think that Davis' description
of an eighth planet is something more than a lucky shot,
they will have to explain how it comes about that in his
account of the planetoids he goes not a whit beyond the popu-
lar knowledge of his day. Four planetoids — Ceres, Pallas,
Juno, and Vesta — were then commonly known.* Astrono-
mers now reckon many hundreds. But Davis enumerates
four only, and the account which he gives even of these is in
some respects glaringly incorrect

This second part of the book includes also a detailed
description of the various planets of our system and their
inhabitants, v^etable, bestial, and human. Towards the end
he gives an account of the relations of man with the world
of spirits, and a description of the six spirit spheres and
their societies, and concludes with the following prophecy:
" It is a truth that spirits commune with one another while
one is in the body and the other in the higher spheres — and
this, too, when the person in the body is unconscious of
the influx, and hence cannot be convinced of the fact ; and
this truth will ere long present itself in the form of a living
demonstration, and tfie world will hail with delight the
ushering in of that era when the interiors of men will be
opened, and the spiritual communion will be established
such as is now being enjoyed by the inhabitants of Mars,
Jupiter, and Saturn."*

' The calculations of Leverrier were not verified by the actual discoreiy of
the planet Neptune until September, 1S46. * Pap^e 167.

' A fifth, Astrea, had actually been discovered in the previous year (1S45), but
probably news of the discovery had not penetrated to

* Pages 675, 676.

164 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

The first part of the book, "Principles of Nature," con-
tains an involved, wordy, and often unintelligible or self-
contradictory exposition of a system of mystical philosophy,
of which space will not permit even a brief analysis. But
the leading notes are that the universe is one great whole;
that " the Whole is a vast Machine operating unceasingly by
an inherent principle of perpetual action " ; that there is thus
an eternal progression from lower to higher ; that this pro-
gression moves on spiral lines ; that matter and spirit differ as
finer from coarser ; that, the Universe being one^ truth may
best be attained deductively by mastering general principles ;
that it is, in fact, so learnt by the clairvoyant, who ascends in
trance to the world of the Real ; that there is a vast system of
correspondences, or analogies, throughout the universe; and
that things in general are arranged in series of three. Thus,
to quote Davis' own illustration of correspondences, degrees,
and series, in the human body we have the Head as the Cause,
the Chest as the Effect, the Abdomen as the End or Ultimate.
We have the mouth, the stomach, and the intestines as another
series ; or, again, we have saliva, gastric juice, and bile ; or
blood, lymph, and perspiration. So in the mineral world
we find " interior, mediatorial, and exterior forms " ; in in-
dustry, farmer, mechanic, and manufacturer. Whilst in the
ideal State the legal, medical, and clerical professions "are
a trinity forming one Whole, which corresponds to Wisdom."^
With this key the secrets of the universe may be unlocked.

In the third part, " A Voice to Mankind,*' is set forth a
rather crude Socialism, ending up with a scheme for the
salvation of mankind by the organisation of society into
phalanxes of Co-operators.

As regards Davis' attitude toward the Christian theology,
it should be added that in the Revelations he goes through the
books of the Old Testament — or, as he calls it, " the Primi-
tive History" — seriatim, and endeavours to show that they
have no title to exclusive or infallible inspiration ; and of
Christ he explicitly speaks, alike in this and in his later
works, as a great moral reformer, but not in any special sense
divine.

It is not easy to form a just appreciation of the book. The
mistakes, indeed, where the nature of the subject admits of
the statements being put to the test, are frequent, gross, and
palpable, and many passages, as already shown, are pretentious
nonsense. In its treatment of philosophical themes the style
is for the most part wordy and diffuse, and the meaning

1 Op, cii,, p. 770.

ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS 165

elusive beyond the tolerated usage of philosophers. But
nevertheless, at its best, there is a certain stately rhythm and
grandiloquence which partly explains the favourable impres-
sion produced on Bush, Chapman, and others. And whilst
the book is obviously the work of an imperfectly educated
man, its qualities are more remarkable than its defects.
Viewed merely as an effort of memory, it is a stupendous
work to have been produced by a man less than twenty-one
years of age, whose few months of schooling had barely
sufficed to impart the beggarly elements, and whose life had
been mainly spent, since childhood, in working hard for his
living. His later occupation as a professional clairvoyant no
doubt gave him more leisure for study, but it is denied by
those around him that he made use of his opportunities. His
friends, indeed, not unnaturally gloried in the deficiencies of
his education as tending to enhance the marvel of his trance
utterances, and Davis himself protested that up to that time
he had read only one book in his life, a romance apparently,
called the Three Spaniards} But the Rev. A. R. Bartlett,
who knew him intimately from 1842 to 1845, ix, in the three
years immediately preceding the dictation of the Revelations^
says that "he possessed an inquiring mind — loved books,
especially controversial religious works, which he always
preferred whenever he could borrow them and obtain leisure
for their perusal. Hence he was indebted to his individual
exertions for some creditable advances which he made in
knowledge.** 2 Davis, in his Autobiography, apparently re-
ferring to this passage, says that he borrowed the books
from Mr. Bartlett in order to lend them to his friends, but
had neither time nor inclination to read them himself^
Perhaps it is the clairvoyant's memory that is at fault, for it
seems clear that he had read books prior to 1845, though not
necessarily many books.* Indeed, it is perhaps more prob-
able that he had read very few, and that their contents were
the more readily stored up in a memory of enormous but
undiscriminating retentiveness. Amongst these books, it
may be surmised, was the Vestiges of Creation, or some
similar work, containing in popular form an account of the
nebular hypothesis and the main facts of the geological pro-

» Autobiography {The Magic Staff), pp. l86, 304, etc. New York, 1876,
thirteenth edition.

''• Revelations, Introduction, p. x.

' Autobiography, pp. 199, 200.

* Bush states {Davis' Revelaticns Revealed, p. Ii) that Davis, writing to him
from Poughkeepsie some time before the inception of the Revtiatiom, quoted a
passage from Swedenborg's Arcana CaUstia, giving the exact reference.

166 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

gression,^ and some English or Scotch geological text-book,
possibly some book of Hugh Miller's, for the geology de-
scribed is that of the British Isles.

The third part of his work, " The Voice to Mankind," was
no doubt based on some book — perhaps Brisbane's Social
Destiny of Man — advocating Fourier's views on Socialism,
which just before the date of the Revelations had spread in
the eastern States of America and had there excited extra-
ordinary enthusiasm. Brisbane himself is mentioned amongst
those who attended the delivery of the Revelations, and
countersigned the reports.' The Fourierist newspaper, The
Phalanx, was started in New York City in October, 1843 ;
the great Convention of Associationists met in the same city
in the following year ; and most of the Socialist communities
of that day, not only those which were originally founded on
Fourierist lines, but semi-religious associations, such as Brook
Farm, Hopedale, and Oneida, started in New York State,
or in the States immediately adjoining. It is impossible that
young Davis should have escaped the conts^on of the time.

As regards the philosophy and theology, Professor Bush
testifies tihat the Revelations, for the most part, accurately reflect
Swedenborg's views ; that the coincidence in the language in
several cases is •* all but absolutely verbal," and that in one
instance Davis gives an accurate analysis of one of Sweden-
borg's scientific books, The Economy of the AninuU Kingcbm,
a translation of which, published a year or two before in
England, had recently made its appearance in America.'
Bush founds an argument for Davis' supernatural power upon
this analysis. The book, he says, had only recently been
translated ; very few copies (all consigned to one publisher)
had reached America, and his inquiries had satisfied him that
not one of these few copies had actually come into the hands
of Davis or his circle. His inference is that Davis acquired
the information clairvoyantly. Bush does not give details

' Davis, in his Autobiography (pp. 322, 323), says that during the progress of the
lectures, owing to remarks being made on the similarity of his doctrines with
those set forth in the Vestiges (published in 1844), he purchased and glanced at
the book, but had not actually read more than a page at most. There is, of
course, some resemblance in the general treatment of the facts. But I have com-
pared several passages in the Kevelatians with corresponding passages in the
Vestiges, and I cannot find any such detailed coincidences as to make it certain
that Davis had actually borrowed from the earlier book. Indeed, it seems pretty
clear, from his introduction of geological and astronomical terms and facts {e.g.
grauwcLcke and the names of the planetoids), which are not apparently mentioned
in the Vestiges, that he must, in any case, have had some other source of informa-
tion. ^ Nature^ s Divine Revelations, p. 2.

• Letters to the New York Tribune, Nov. 15th, 1846, and Aug. lOth, 1847.

ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS 167

of his investigations, and it is obvious that it would be
extremely difficult to offer satisfactory proof that Davis had
not had access to this, or any other work of Swedenborg's.
In the particular case referred to (pp. 587, 588 of the Revela-
tions) the knowledge shown might conceivably have been
derived from Bush himself, who, during his attendance on
one of the lectures, may have discussed the book aloud with
some friend. And, speaking generally, Davis' own statement
that he had read no books on the subjects dealt with in his
lectures, supported though it is by the testimony of Fishbough
and others, is quite insufficient to override the enormous im-
probabilities involved. Moreover, we have the direct assertion
of Bartlett, who was in a position to know, to set against that
of Fishbough, whose knowledge was at best second-hand.
And, lastly, Davis and his friends are not immaculate witnesses,
for they are guilty of having deliberately suppressed all re-
ference to an awkward fact, viz. the previous publication of
some other lectures by the seer, which were not altogether in
accordance with the later Revelations}

It is unlikely, however, that there was any conscious
plagiarism, and almost certain that there was rarely direct

^ In 1845 there had been published in New York, under the title Lectures on
Clairmativeness^ a small pamphlet containing four lectures by Davis on the
mysteries of human magnetism and electricity. In this pamphlet Davis writes
of himself in the clairvoyant state : —

' ' I possess the power of extending my vision throughout all space, can see
things past, present, and to come. I have now arrived at the highest degree of
knowledge which the human mind is capable of acquiring ... I am master of
the general sciences, can speak all languages," etc., etc.

In this early work Davis had taught that salvation lay in the belief in Christ
and His resurrection ; whereas in the Revelations^ as already said, he explicitly
disavowed dogmatic Christianity. It must be presumed that Fishbough and
the rest knew of the earlier work, and had felt the difficulty involved in the
conflict between the earlier and the later utterances of the one infallible prophet.
There appear, indeed, to have been also numerous minor discrepancies. At any
rate, it is significant that neither in the sketch of Davis' life by Fishbough,
which is prefixed to the Revelations^ nor throughout the work itself, is there
any mention of this earlier publication. Davis himself, in hb Autobiography
(p. 276), dismisses it in a single paragraph, in which he explains that the title was
wrongly spelt and should have been Clairlati'Bensss. Presumably there was at
least one language, therefore, as well as one system of theology, of which his
knowledge at that epoch was imperfect.

I have not been able to see a copy of Clairmativeness. It is not, so far as I
can discover, included in Davis' collected works, and does not appear to have
been reprinted. The foregoing account of it is based on Sunderland's review of
it in Pathetism (1847). Mattison (Spirit Rappings^ pp. 12 1, 122) suggests that
Davis and his friends called in and destroyed the pamphlet. It is noteworthy
that, in the Preface to volume i. of the Great Harmonia^ Davis speaks of the
Divine Revelations as his first work. It is fair to add that in volume iii. of the
Great Hamionia (p. 210) he explicitly recants the assertion of infallibility quoted
above from his earlier work, explaining that this belief in his own infi&llibility
comes naturally to a clairvoyant.

168 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

verbal reproduction of borrowed passages. In his later
books and lectures, indeed, which purported to be produced
under spiritual impression, but not in the trance, a few
charges of wholesale verbal plagiarism have been substanti-
ated against him. The most striking case of the kind is
the parallelism of certain passages in the Great Harmonia
(vol. iii., published in 1852) and in Sunderland's Pathetism
(1847). That Davis should have deliberately copied those
passages, half a page at a time, and that he should have
chosen for the purpose a book written by a fellow-believer,
which contained, moreover, a criticism on his own writings,
and would certainly be familiar to many of those who read
his own book, argues a want of foresight which is scarcely
credible. It is probable that the real explanation is to be
found in his possession of an extraordinarily retentive
memory, such as is not infrequently associated with the
somnambulic state. The same explanation no doubt applies
to the other charges brought against him. But in the case
of the Revelations I am not aware that, however obviously the
ideas and the phraseology have been borrowed, any plagiarism
of sentences or paragraphs, with the exception of the cases
referred to by Bush, has ever been proved.^

But if all that Davis could offer was a garbled reproduc-
tion of books accessible to all, it is impossible to conceive
that any public, however superficially educated, could have
demanded thirty-four editions of his book in less than thirty
years. Something the clairvoyant did no doubt contribute
of his own to bind his gleanings into a golden sheaf. Despite
pretentious ignorance, mistakes of grammar, fact, and logic,
misty metaphysics, and second-hand Socialism, there is a
certain imaginative quality in the work which gives it an
independent value. What the clairvoyant poured out was
not merely undigested fragments of other men's ideas ; there
is in the book a fairly consistent scheme of thought, the

' Sec Sunderland, Th€ Trance, p. 104; and compare TA€ Great Hamtcnia,
vol. iii. pp. 92, 93, 96, lOi, 102, 136 with Pathetism^ pp. 74, 75, 105, lOi, 102,
III. See also, for other cases, Mattison, Spirit Rappings^ etc., pp. 121, 122,
126; Asa Mahan, Modem Mysteries , etc., p. 30. In Human Nature {\jovAox\,
1868). vol. ii., p* 321, the authoress of Primarval Man, an ** inspirational" work
published in I064, shows that Davis, in his Arabula (1867), had quoted several
paragraphs from the earlier book with a few verbal alterations. Davis, writing
to Human Nature later in the same year (p. 407), explains that he got perplexed
in the proof-reading by various (quotation marks which had been misplaced, and
that he imagined himself in this passage to have summarised the views of the
authoress, not to have made a direct quotation. He further excuses his mistake by
pointing out that if he cannot claim the credit of the passage referred to, neither
can his victim, since her book was admittedly "inspirational.*'

ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS 169

guiding conception of which had in those days sufficient
novelty and audacity for the English publisher to think it
necessary to point out that the theory of organic evolution,
though rejected by such men as Owen and Lyell, had found
many distinguished advocates on the Continent^ Davis had,
in fact, realised something of the orderly progression from
the primaeval firemist ; something of the unity in complexity
of the monstrous world ; something, too, of the social needs
of his time and of ours — the waste, the injustice, the manifold
futilities and absurdities involved in the present stage of
economic evolution. It was partly because he could ap-
preciate the bigness of the ideas with which he dealt, and
in a semi-articulate, barbarous fashion could make other
people appreciate them too, that the Revelations had such an
extraordinary and immediate success. Partly, too, the secret
lay in the moral attitude of the author. The whole book is
transfused by a vague enthusiasm — an enthusiasm not always
according to knowledge — for the moral r^eneration of man-
kind, like that which in England inspired the Owenite and
later the Co-operative movement, which in America expressed
itself in phalansteries, in religious revivals, and in abstinence
from alcohol, tobacco, or meat, and which in both countries
found perhaps its fullest expression for a few years in the
movement known as Modem Spiritualism. And, indeed, it
was the fulfilment — I had almost written the accidental fulfil-
ment — a twelvemonth later, in the eyes of Davis and his
followers, of the prophecy quoted above, of freer spirit-inter-
course upon earth, that after all is mainly responsible for the
fame achieved by the Great Harmonial Philosophy. The
fulfilment was not, of course, " accidental." In the first place,
the Spiritualism of the years subsequent to 1848 was not a
different movement from the Spiritualism whose course we
have been tracing prior to that year. It was characterised by
the same ideas, but found other external manifestations. In
the second place, there is no doubt that Davis and the little
band who gathered round him helped materially to the fulfil-
ment of this prophecy. It is conceivable that but for them
and the movement they represented the Rochester knockings
might have remained as barren of results as the Cock Lane
ghost, or any other exploded Poltergeist

We learn from Davis' Autobiography that during the
fifteen months in which the Revelations were being dictated
in New York, the three persons immediately concerned —
Dr. Lyon, Fishbough, and Davis — were dependent mainly

^ Brief Outlifus and Review^ etc

170 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

on the money earned by the latter by means of his clair-
voyant prescriptions for disease. When this source of
income proved insufficient, they were forced to borrow what
was necessary for the publication of the book ; the money
being advanced by a middle-aged lady who shortly after-
wards became the wife of A. J. Davis.

But when the book was published the Poughkeepsie seer
found himself already famous ; and his later life belongs to
history.^ The rumour of his stances and of the pending
revelation had spread far, and the appearance of the book
had been anxiously looked for in many quarters. A little
band of reformers soon gathered round him, and it was
resolved to publish a paper which should be the mouthpiece
of the new philosophy.

The Rev. S. B. Brittan, a Universalist minister, was ap-
pointed the editor-in-chief of the new organ ; and associated
with him in the work of writing and editing were the Rev.
W. Fishbough and the Rev. T. L. Harris, tihen twenty-four
years of age, both of the same denomination ; the Rev. W. M.
Femald, J. K. Ingalls, Dr. Chivers, Frances Green, and
others.^

Harris had, in the early part of 1847, formally withdrawn
from the Universalist Church, and later in the year went on a
lecturing tour to spread the knowledge of the new Revela-

' So fiu, for our account of Davis' early life and circumstances, we have had
to depend almost exclusively on his Autobiography ^ The Magic Staffs written
some years later, and on the Preface to the Revelations^ written by Fishbough,
but founded largely on Davis* own statements. As we have already seen, the
Preface omits all mention of one fact of cardinal importance in the clairvoyant's
past life. Nor can the Autobiography be regarded as an entirely trustworthy
authority, either for the inner life of the man or for his external relations. Few
men can regard themselves and their work with the impartial eye of the
historian. And when the subject of the Autobiography claims to be in receipt
of information direct from the ''Great Centre of intelligence, the positive sphere
of thought, the Spiritual Sun of the Spiritual Sphere," it may oe anticipated
that the need for justifying these tremendous pretensions will take precedence
over the claims of mere mundane happenings. The seer's descriptions of what
he did and felt, how he acted towards his fellow-men, and what visions of
spiritual things were vouchsafed to him, were, no doubt, written in good fiuth,
but they should probably be read as representing primarily his own later con-
ception of how it would have best become the dignity of the youthful prophet
to have felt and done.

* In September, 1847, within a few weeks of the appearance of the
Revelations^ Professor Bush, who had hitherto been, as we have seen, one of
Davis' most enthusiastic champions, published a small pamphlet, Davis* Revela-
tions Revealed^ in which he solemnly warned the public against being misled by
the numerous errors, absurdities, and falsities contained in that work. Viewed in
the light of Swedenborg's teachings, he declared, it was clear that Davis,
although himself apparently an honest and single-hearted young man, had been
made the mouthpiece of uninstructed and deceiving spirits. Further, he pointed
out that Davis* pretended revelation was no isolated phenomenon ; there were

ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS 171

tion. He was known as the poet of the little circle ; and
from the outset there was some friction between him and
Davis. Each, in fact, was possessed with a jealous vanity
which could tolerate no rival pretensions. Early in 1848
there came a complete rupture between them, Fishbough
taking the part of Davis and Brittan siding with Harris.
The immediate cause of the rupture was a scandal in
connection with Davis and the lady already mentioned.
Whatever ground there may have been for the scandal — and
it is by no means clear that Davis was in fault — the two were
married in July, 1848 ; and a few weeks later a formal
reconciliation took place between the Poet and the Prophet
But they never worked together again.

The first number of the Univerccelum appeared on
December 4th, 1847. The prospectus set forth that "an
interior and spiritual philosophy" was its basis; that it
would devote special attention to pyschology, including
dreams, somnambulism, clairvoyance, prophecy, trance, and
kindred subjects ; that it would be the organ for the com-
munications made through A. J. Davis, who would begin
by contributing a series of articles on physiology and
medicine ; and, generally, that " the establishment of a univer-
sal System of Truth, the Reform and Reorganisation of
Society," were the ultimate objects contemplated. In his
editorial article in the first number, Brittan thus expresses
the central idea of the new philosophy : —

"The Univercalum will, in its general tone and tendency, recognise
the Great Supreme Intelligence as a Cause, Nature as the Effect,
and the immortalized Human Spirit as the Ultimate Result, the three
being united in the formation of one Grand Harmonious System.
The Deity will be considered as an infinitely intelligent Essence, not
existing separately from the Universe, but entering into and actuat-
ing and vivifying all things, from the most ponderous globe to the
infinitesimal particle of matter. This Great Essence will be con-
sidered as an organized Being, possessing faculties corresponding
to those of Man, only in an infinite d^ee — as constituting the
Soul of which the material Universe is the Body. The Infinite
Soul and Infinite Body are thus united in the same way as the
finite soul and finite body are united in the formation of man ; and

already many cases of the kind, ''and, if we mistake not, the indications are
rife of a general demonstration about to be made, or now being made, of the
most pernicious delirium breaking forth from the world of spirits upon that
of men" (p. 7).

The reason for this rapid change of tone was, no doubt, the change in the
seer*s attitude towards Christianity already referred to.

172 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

hence, according to an ancient record, 'Man is created in God's
own image.'

''This great intelligent Essence being the Soul of Nature, the
Laws of Nature will be considered as the outward expression of the
will or thoughts of that Soul, in the same way as the positions and
movements of the human body are the expressions of the will or
thoughts of the spirit within. . . ." ^

Again, in the first article in this first number, "On the
Necessity for new and higher Revelations, Inspirations, and
forms of Truth, for the benefit of Mankind at the present
day," Femald points out the deficiencies of the last or
Christian revelation. Christ stood indeed at the head of the
human race, as its supreme moral exemplar ; but His teach-
ing furnished us with no new principles even of morality ;
much less did they provide an adequate philosophy of God,
Nature, Immortality, and the Organisation of Society. It
is on these subjects — as the slow progress of the world since
Christ had shown — that light was chiefly needed ; and the
revelations of A. J. Davis were, the writer contended, the
first instalment of the new inspiration which should supply
the need.

This belief, that a new revelation was about to burst upon
the world, seems to have been shared by all the men and
women who wrote in the Univerccelum, Thus Femald else-
where, in an article on "The Pending Revelations,"* ex-
presses his belief that the " Great day of final battle between
the Demon of Darkness and the Angel of Light is near at
hand." Warren Chase, in an enthusiastic article, ** hails with
joy the new philosophy as the positive sign of a good time
coming. It shadows forth distinctly the approaching com-
mencement of that condition of earth and man portrayed
more or less vividly by Isaiah, Daniel, Jesus, the book of
Revelation, and by Swedenborg and Fourier.'** Another
contributor, Mrs. Peabody, writing on " Communion with the
Dead," asserts that " they {sc. the spirits of the dead) may be
all round us without our discovering them, because our
spiritual vision is not strong or clear enough," and that
ultimately " the union of the two worlds may form as much
a part of the consciousness of every disciple as it did of the
Saviour Himself."*

It is to be noted that though the Univerccclum continued
for more than a year after the outbreak of the Hydesville

' Vol. i. pp. 8, 9. - Vol. iv. p. 25.

' Vol. i. p. 343. * Vol ii. p. 177.

ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS 173

rappings, its contributors appear to have been slow to recog-
nise in them the fulfilment of their hopes. There is, so far
as I can discover, but one allusion to the subject in its
pages. In the third volume^ there is a note on "Strange
Manifestations," signed, " W. F." (Femald). The writer, in his
editorial capacity, explains that a correspondent has sent him
an account of some singular manifestations taking place at
Auburn. He promises to investigate the occurrences as soon
as possible and lay the result before the readers of the Univer-
caelum. " We think, however," he continues, " that this is a
question which should be put to the torture before any con-
clusions are definitely announced thereon," lest premature
discussion of the matter should serve the cause of superstition
and fanaticism.

The writers in the Univercoelum appear to have looked to a
reconstruction of the economic organisation on Socialist lines
as the first indispensable step towards the coming millennium.
Thus one writes : ** We are in earnest in the advocacy of
general reforms and the reorganisation of society, because
such is the natural counterpart and outer expression of the
interior and spiritual principles which we are endeavouring
to set forth." In conformity with this view, we find articles
expounding the general principles of Socialism, much informa-
tion about the building associations, the industrial associations,
the trades unions, the protective unions, and other co-operative
organisations which appear at this time to have been springing
up all over the country ; and occasionally vague hints of a
grand scheme for realising the new social ideal in a com-
munity. One of the leading writers on this subject is
Fernald, but we have also an article by Horace Greeley,
on " Life — Ideal and Actual," and editorials on the same
subject by J. K. Ingalls. Sunderland makes his appearance
in a long letter, defending the claims of Pathetism. Davis
contributes a series of articles on cholera, dyspepsia, etc.,
afterwards republished as volume i. of the Great Harmania ;
whilst we learn from the advertising columns that Harris has
become the pastor of the "First Independent Christian
Society," and is conducting services in that capacity twice
each Sunday. In one pronouncement of Harris' we find an
indication of the rupture already referred to between himself
and Davis. He issues a solemn warning against " a tendency
on the part of certain minds to place implicit reliance on
all statements which come from persons in states of mental
Illumination : to make their words Authoritative; to receive

1 Page 155.

174 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

their sayings as Oracular and Infallible."^ In view of the
later career of the writer, this utterance is in itself a fine
example of life's irony.

There are two cases recorded in the columns of the
Univerccelum of revelations somewhat like those of Davis.
The first case is published on the authority of a gentleman in
Akron, Ohio. No names are given, but the editor professes
himself satisfied of the good faith of his informant; and,
indeed, the narrative bears the stamp of truth. The prophet,
in this case a working mechanic, writing in November, 1847,
gives an account of a spiritual experience which had befallen
him in September, 1836, when he was eighteen years of age.
He earnestly desired to become a preacher, and had gone
to his pastor for instruction. The pastor had in the course
of conversation asked him how he would prove, apart from the
Bible, the existence of God. The question rankled ; he took
it home and pondered over it ; it kept him awake at night
and held him from attending properly to his work. Then,
after a day or two, on the i6th September, 1836, the solution
came.

"I went to my dinner with a troubled mind. My brain felt
hot. I ate but sparingly. After dinner I strolled into the pasture
back of the house, walking with my hat in my hand. The cool
breeze fanned my brow. I wandered until the bell reminded me
that it was one o'clock. I returned towards the shop ; while on my
way I stopped and sat down. I then and there began to doubt the
existence of God, then the existence of matter, then of myself, of my
power and ability to move, and at the same time attempted to
move my hand and could not, and immediately mother appeared
to me."

His mother (dead some time previously) then proceeded to
instruct him on the nature of God, the world, man's soul, and
other spiritual mysteries. At the end she said, " Now you
have become convinced there is a God. You need no longer
doubt your own existence. Move your fingers a little, and
then you can get up. Remember what I have told you.
Go in peace." When he returned to the shop it was almost
night.

Two days later he wrote down the substance of his
mother's teachings, and had kept it in his trunk until the
autumn of 1847, when he first learnt of the similar revelations
of A. J. Davis. This earlier trance utterance presents in brief
the same general ideas as those found in Natures Divine

^ Vol. ii. p. 280.

ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS 175

Revelations, We have the same pervading conception of
evolution and development by law, the same condemnation
of alcohol, tea, and tobacco, the same depreciation of the
biblical records, and similar intimations of social reform. But
there is nothing in the writing which is otherwise noteworthy,
nor does it seem to be beyond the mental capacity of a serious
and intelligent youth of little education. ^

Of the other case we have fewer details. In connection
with the approaching trial for insanity of one Pascal Smith,
an account is given of the events which led to the preferment
of the charge. In 1845, or thereabouts, J. T. Mahan, a youth
employed upon an Ohio River steamboat, became a magnetic
clairvoyant. At first he was employed in medical diagnosis
by one Dr. Curtis, president of a medical collie in Cincinnati.
Later, however, being taken in hand by J. P. Cornell, of the
same town, he " developed a wide sweep and wonderful clear-
ness of mental vision," "and brought forth a system of
physical and intellectual science" which is said to have been
equal to that of A. J. Davis, and to have resembled it in
general outlines. Thereafter Cornell, with other prominent
citizens — Gilmore, Boucher Wattles, and others — dedicated
their property — some 200,000 dollars, it is said — " each to the
other and all to God," and formed a co-operative and agri-
cultural association. They started a magazine for the further-
ance of spiritual and social science, and purchased a large
property on the Ohio River, to give the new community
a local habitation. Unfortunately, the seer Mahan appears
to have been influenced by self-seeking persons, and developed
very extravagant tastes; financial disaster and exposure
followed. No further account of the community is given
in the Univercoelum^ nor any details of Mahan's revelations.*
From another source, however, we learn that the community
— the Cincinnati Brotherhood — lasted for three years, 1845-8,
and that the land and other property which they purchased
on the banks of the Ohio in 1846 represented the salvage
from an earlier community — the Clermont Phalanx — which
had gone to pieces just before.'

To return to the Univercoelum, That paper had already in
the first twelve months of its existence absorbed another
kindred organ, the Christian Rationalist^ and taken over its
editor (Femald) and subscribers. In 1849 more and more of
its space was given up to chronicles of Socialist and co-opera-
tive movements ; and finally, in July of that year, the Uni-

» Vol. iii. pp. 353, 369. 385. '» VoL i. pi 345.

' Noyes* History of Amorican Socialisms^ pp. 11, 374.

176 THE PEDIGREE OF SPIRITUALISM

vercatlum gave place to The Present Age, under the editorship
of W. M. Channing. The new organ» whilst still occasionally
treating of animal magnetism, psychology, and clairvoyance,
was primarily an organ of social reform, and the Poughkeepsie
seer and his leading colleagues seem no longer to have been
included amongst the contributors. Of them and their doings
more will be told in the next book.

BOOK II

EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

I. — N

EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

CHAPTER I
IN ARCADIA

IT was in Arcadia that the mysterious rappings were first
heard. Arcadia is a township in Wayne County, New
York ; and in December, 1847, one John D. Fox, a
farmer by occupation, a Methodist by religious conviction,
entered on the tenancy of a house in Hydesville, a small
village in that township. The household consisted, beside
John D. Fox and his wife Margaret, of two unmarried
daughters, Margaretta and Katie, aged fifteen and twelve
years respectively. There was also a married son, David
Fox, living about two miles from the parents' homestead,
and a married daughter, Mrs. Fish, afterwards successively
Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Underbill, living in Rochester, N.Y.
The house itself, of which an illustration is given in Mrs.
Underbill's book. The Missing Link^ was built, as was usual
in new settlements at that time, of wood, and consisted
apparently of one floor only, with a cellar below, and a
loft or garret above, the whole being little, if at all, bigger
than a labourer's cottage in England.^

The former tenant, one Michael Weekman, who had resided
in the house about eighteen months, is said to have heard
from time to time loud knockings and other noises, for which
he could find no apparent cause. His testimony, however,
appears to have been given only after the raps which occurred
during the Fox tenancy had made the whole subject notorious.'

^ Capron {Modern Spiritualism^ p. 33) describes it as a small framed building
one and a half stories high.

^ It is dated April nth, 1848. See Modem Spiritualism: its /acts and
fanaticisms, by E. W. Capron. Boston, 1 855.

179

180 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

But it is matter of history that on the evening of the 31st
of March, 1848, the Fox family, who, by their own account,
had passed several disturbed nights previously by reason
of the raps and other noises in the house, went to bed
early, in order to make up their arrears of sleep. What
follows is based upon the testimony of the Foxes. The
girls were already in bed, and their parents — who occupied
another bed in the same room — were about to follow, when
the raps were again heard. On this occasion, in reply to a
challenge given by one of the girls, the raps repeated, sound
for sound, the noises which she made by snapping her fingers,
and again and again gave the number of raps asked for. At
this proof of an intelligent cause for the raps, Mrs. Fox,
prescient that the matter was one of no ordinary moment,
resolved to call in her friends and neighbours, that they also
might bear witness. From the account given by one of those
neighbours, William Duesler, written down on April 12th,
1848, the following extract is taken —

" The first I heard anything about them (the noises) was one week
ago last Friday evening (31st day of March). Mrs. Redfield came
over to my house to get my wife to go over to Mr. Fox's; Mrs.
Redfield appeared to be very much agitated. My wife wanted I
should go with them, and I accordingly went When she told us
what she wanted us to go over there for, I laughed at her, and
ridiculed the idea that there was anything mysterious in it. I told
her it was all nonsense, and that it could easily be accounted for.
This was about nine o'clock in the evening. There were some
twelve or fourteen persons there when I got there. Some were
so frightened that they did not want to go into the room. I went
into the room and sat down on the bed. Mrs. Fox asked questions,
and I heard the rapping which they had spoken of distinctly. I felt
the bedstead jar when the sound was produced.

" Mrs. Fox then asked if it would answer my questions if I asked
any, and if so, rap. It then rapped three times. I then asked if
it was an injured spirit, and it rapped. I asked if it had come to hurt
anyone who was present, and it did not rap. I then reversed the
question, and it rapped. I asked if I or my father had injured
it (as we had formerly lived in the house), there was no noise.
Upon asking the negative of these questions the rapping was heard.

I then asked if Mr. (naming a person who had formerly lived in

the house) had injured it, and if so, manifest it by rapping, and it
made three knocks louder than common, and at the same time the
bedstead jarred more than it had done before. I then inquired if it
was murdered for money, and the knocking was heard. I then
requested it to rap when I mentioned the sum of money for which it
w^s murdered. I then asked if it was one hundred, two, three, pr

IN ARCADIA 181

four, and when I came to five hundred the rapping was heard. AU
in the room said they heard it distinctly. I then asked the question
if it was five hundred dollars, and the rapping was heard. ... I then
asked it to rap my age — the number of years of my age. It rapped
thirty times. This is my age, and I do not think anyone about here
knew my age except myself and family. I then told it to rap my
wife's age, and it rapped thirty times, which is her exact age ; several
of us counted it at the time. I then asked it to rap A. W. Hyde's
age, and it rapped thirty-two, which, he says, is his age ; he was there
at the time and counted it with the rest of us. Then Mrs. A. W.
Hyde's age, and it rapped thirty-one, which, she said, was her age ;
she was also there at the time. I then continued to ask it to rap the
age of different persons (naming them) in the room, and it did so
correctly, as they all said.

"I then asked the number of children in the different families
in the neighbourhood, and it told them correctly in the usual way,
by rapping. Also the number of deaths that had taken place in the
families, and it told correctly. I then asked it to rap its own age,
and it rapped thirty-one times distinctly. I then asked it if it left a
family, and it rapped. I asked it to rap the number of children
it left, and it rapped five times ; then the number of girls, and it
rapped three ; then the number of boys, and it rapped twice. Before
this I had asked if it was a man, and it answered by rapping, it was ;
if it was a pedler, and it rapped." ^

The affeble intelligence proceeded by the same method to
give further particulars of the murder ; and even the initials —
C. R. — of its first name and " sir name " ; but refused on that
occasion to gratify curiosity further.

On the two following days some hundreds of persons came
to witness the marvel ; and on the Sunday, again to quote
from Mr. Duesler's account, the raps indicated, in reply to his
questions, that the body of a man had been buried in the
cellar. From the statement of David Fox, preserved for us
by his sister, Mrs. Underbill,* we learn that in the early days
of April, 1848, the Fox family and some of their neighbours,
following the indications given by the spirit, dug in the cellar
to the depth of about three feet, when they were stopped
by water, without finding anything. Later, in July of the
same year, when the water in the hole had gone down, the
digging is said to have been resumed, a depth of several feet
was reached, and some teeth, bones, and hair supposed to be
human, and fragments of a broken bowl were discovered ; a
wooden board was also found, which apparently covered a

^ ExploHoiioti, and History of the mysUrious Communion with Spirits^ by
£. W. Capron and H. D. Barron ; 2nd ed., pp. 15, 16. Auburn, N. Y., 1850.
'^ Tk€ Missing Lifik in Modem Spirituaiism, p. 18, etc New York, 188$.

182 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

hollow space. But the authority alike for the discovery and
for the identification of the teeth and bones appears again
to be the Fox family alone. The incident is not even men-
tioned in Capron and Barron's book (1850), and in Capron's
Modem Spiritualism (1855) it is introduced with the preface,
" It is not generally known that in the summer of 1848 Henry
Beach and Lyman Granger, of Rochester, and David S. Fox
and others ..." * Again, some of the neighbours were found
to recollect that, at a time vaguely described as " one winter,"
a pedlar had called in the village, had failed to redeem his
promise to call next day, and had never more been seen ;
also that the earth in the cellar of the house afterwards
inhabited by the Fox family had been observed at that time
to be loose; also that another neighbour had seen in the
kitchen of the house a figure resembling that of the pedlar.*

It should be added that Mrs. Fox had herself elicited most
of the facts about the alleged pedlar before calling in the
neighbours, and Mr. Duesler*s catechism would therefore
seem to have been dictated by her.^ Further, no corro-
borative evidence of the supposed murder, or even of the
existence of the man supposed to have been murdered, was
ever obtained. Even Capron, the sympathetic historian of
the movement, can only say that the (alleged) discovery of
the (possibly) human teeth and bones affords **a shade of
circumstantial evidence" for the story.*

Shortly after these incidents Margaretta Fox went to
Rochester, N.Y., to stay with her married sister, then known
as Mrs. Fish, and Catherine visited another neighbouring
town, Auburn. In both these places the raps broke out
with renewed vigour. Mrs. Fish herself and many other
persons in Rochester became mediums for the mysterious
sounds, and the like result followed with several inmates
of the boarding-house in Auburn where the younger sister
stayed.^ Sometimes the contagion was conveyed by a casual
visit. Thus Miss Harriet Bebee, a young lady of sixteen,
had an interview of a few hours with Mrs. Tamlin, a medium
of Auburn, and on her return to her own home twenty miles
distant the raps forthwith broke out in her presence.^ In
the course of the next two or three years, indeed, the rappings
had spread throughout the greater part of the eastern States.

1 op, cit,, p. 53.

'^ Ibid., p. 33, quoted from a pamphlet published in 1S50 by one Lewis.

^ Capron and Barron, op, cit,, p. 14.

* Modem Spiritualism y p. 54. Mrs. Hardinge Britten {History of Modem
American SpiritueUism^ p. 37) writes to the same effect

* Ibid.^ p. 40. * Ibid,, p. 42.

IN ARCADIA 183

Thus a writer in the New Haven Journal in October, 1850,
refers to knockings and other phenomena in seven diflferent
families in Bridgeport, forty families in Rochester, in Auburn,
in Syracuse, "some two hundred" in Ohio, in New Jersey,
and places more distant, as well as in Hartford, Springfield,
Charlestown, etc.^

A year later a correspondent of the Spiritual World
estimated that there were a hundred mediums in New
York City,* and fifty or sixty " private circles " are reported
in Philadelphia.

The Fox family — the mother and her three daughters —
practised no unwise parsimony of their spiritual gifts. In the
course of the years 1849 and 1850 they appear to have given
demonstrations of their power in several large towns before
considerable audiences. Their claims to supernormal power
did not, of course, escape challenge. Again and again com-
mittees were appointed to examine the subject and report'
But for some time the source of the rappings remained in-
explicable. Horace Greeley, for instance, writes in his organ,
the New York Tribune^ in Augfust, 1850, as follows : —

"Mrs. Fox and her three daughters left our city yesterday on
their return to Rochester, after a stay here of some weeks, duriqg
which they have freely subjected the mysterious influence by which
they seem to be accompanied to every reasonable test, and to the
keen and critical scrutiny of the hundreds who have chosen to visit
them, or whom they have been invited to visit. The rooms which
they occupied at the hotel have been repeatedly searched and
scrutinised; they have been taken without an hour's notice into
houses they had never before entered. They have been all un-
consciously placed on a glass surface concealed under the carpet,
in order to interrupt electric vibrations; they have been disrobed
by a committee of ladies appointed without notice, and insisting
that neither of them should leave the room until the investigation
had been made, etc., etc, yet we believe no one to this moment
pretends that he has detected either of them in producing or
causing the Rappings; nor do we think any of their contemners
has invented a plausible theory to account for the production of
these sounds, nor the singular intelligence which (certainly at times)
has seemed to be manifested through them. . . . Whatever may be
the origin or the cause of the 'Rappings,' the ladies in whose
presence they occur do not make them. We tested this thoroughly
and to our entire satisfaction." *

> Quoted in the SpiriiutU Philosopher (1850), vol. L |x 99.

* Op, cii,^ voL iii. p. 151.

' Capron and Barron, op, cit., pp. 46-48.

* Quoted in the Spiritual Philosopher^ vol. i. p. 39.

184 EARLY AMERICAN St^lRlTtJALlSM

But early in the following year an explanation was fur-
nished. In the middle of December, 1850, the Fox girls
came to Buffalo, N.Y., and stayed there for some weeks,
giving public exhibitions of their marvellous powers. Among
those who visited them were three doctors — Flint, Lee, and
Coventry, Professors at the University of Buffalo. On the
17th February, 185 1, these gentlemen wrote a joint letter
to a local newspaper — the Commercial Advertiser — pointing
out that the rappings could be explained by movements of
the knee-joints, and stating that a lady of their acquaintance
had actually produced similar sounds by that means. Mrs.
Fish at once challenged the doctors to prove the truth of
their theory at a personal interview, a challenge which the
three doctors accepted. The following is their report of
what took place: —

"detection of the fox girls.

**The invitation thus proposed was accepted by those to whom
it was addressed, and on the following evening, by appointment,
the examination took place. After a short delay, the two Rochester
females being seated on a sofa, the knockings commenced, and
were continued for some time in loud tones and rapid succession.
The * spirits' were then asked whether they would manifest them-
selves during the sitting and respond to interrogatories. A series
of raps followed, which were interpreted into a reply in the
affirmative. The two females were then seated upon two chairs
placed near together, their heels resting on cushions, their lower
limbs extended, with the toes elevated, and the feet separated from
each other. The object in this experiment was to secure a position
in which the ligaments of the knee-joint should be made tense,
and no opportunity offered to make pressure with the foot We
wdre pretty well satisfied that the displacement of the bones
requisite for the sounds could not be effected unless a fulcrum
were obtained by resting one foot upon the other, or on some
resisting body. The company, seated in a semicircle, quietly waited
for the ^manifestations* for more than half an hour, but the 'spirits,'
generally so noisy, were now dumb. . . . On resuming the usual
position on the sofa, the feet resting on the floor, knockings very
soon began to be heard. It was then suggested that some other
experiment be made. This was assented to, notwithstanding the
first was, in our minds, amply conclusive. The experiment selected
was, that the knees of the two females should be firmly grasped,
with the hands so applied that any lateral movement of the bones
would be perceptible to the touch. The pressure was made through
the dress. It was not expected to prevent the sounds, but to
ascertain if they proceeded from the knee-joint It is obvious
that this experiment was necessarily far less demonstrative to an

m AUCADIA 185

observer than the first, because if the bones were distinctly felt to
move the only evidence of this fact would be the testimony of those
whose hands were in contact with them. The hands were kept
in apposition for several minutes at a time, and the experiment
repeated frequently for the course of an hour or more with negative
results; that is to say, there were plenty of raps when the knees
were not held and none when the hands were applied save once.
.\s the pressure was intentionally somewhat relaxed (Dr. Lee being
the holder), two or three faint, single raps were heard, and Dr.
Lee immediately averred that the motion of the bone was plainly
perceptible to him. The experiment of seizing the knees as quickly
as possible when the knoclungs first commenced was tried several
times, but always with the efect of putting an immediate quietus
upon the manifestations. . . . The conclusion seemed clear that
the /Rochester knockings emanate firom the knee-joint Since the
exposition was published we have heard of several cases in which
movements of the bones entering into other articulations are pro-
duced by muscular effort, giving rise to sounds. We have heard
of a person who can develop knockings from the ankle, of several
who can produce noises with the joints of the toes and fingers,
of one who can render loudly audible the shoulder, and another
the hip-joint. We have also heard of two additional cases in which
sounds are produced by the knee-joint."

In a letter dated the 2ist of February Dr. Lee, one of the
three signatories, explained that the movement, or partial
dislocation of the knee-joint, probably consisted in "the
movement of the tibia outward, partly occasioned, I believe,
by pressure on the foot, there being great relaxation of the
ligaments about the knee-joint, but chiefly by the action of
the muscles of the 1^ below the knee." The ability to
produce sharp raps by "cracking" the smaller joints is, of
course, not uncommon. Newman Noggs was a " medium " of
this kind. One Chauncey Burr earned some fame at this
time by giving lectures on Spiritualism, in which he demon-
strated that the raps could be produced by the toe-joints.

A few weeks after the report of the Buffalo physicians a
connection by marriage of the Fox family, Mrs. Norman
Culver, stated that Margaretta Fox had confessed to her
how the raps were produced. Mrs. Culver's statement, duly
written out on the 17th April, 185 1, and attested by two
witnesses, a doctor and a clergyman, was published in the
New York Herald. The chief points in the deposition are
that Mrs. Culver had for two years believed in the raps as
genuine, but recently, noting some suspicious circumstances,
she had offered to Catherine to assist her. Catherine —

186 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

Margaretta being absent — had gladly accepted the offer, and
explained that the raps were produced by the knees and toes,
but chiefly by the latter. Some practice was required, and if
the feet were thoroughly warmed the raps would come more
readily. Mrs. Culver tried, and became fairly adept She
continues : —

"Catherine told me how to manage to answer the questions.
She said it was generally easy enough to answer right if the one who
asked the questions called the alphabet She said the reason why
they asked people to write down several names on paper, and then
point to them till the spirit rapp)ed at the right one, was to give them
a chance to watch the countenance and motions of the p)erson, and
that in that way they could nearly always guess right. She also
explained how they held down and moved tables. (Mrs. Culver
gave us some illustrations of the tricks.) She told me that all I
should have to do to make the raps heard on the table would be to
put my foot on the bottom of the table when I rapped, and that
when I wished to make the raps sound distant on the wall, I must
make them louder, and direct my own eyes earnestly to the spot
where I wished them to be heard. She said if I could put my foot
against the bottom of the door the raps would be heard on the top
of the door. Catherine told me that when the committee held their
ankles in Rochester, the Dutch servant girl rapped with her knuckles
under the floor from the cellar. The girl was instructed to rap
whenever she heard their voices calling the spirits. Catherine also
showed me how they made the sounds of sawing and planing boards.
(The whole trick was explained to us.) When I was at Rochester
last January Margaretta told me that when people insisted on seeing
her feet and toes she could produce a few raps with her knee and
ankle."

Mrs. Culver adds that she learnt from Catherine that
Elizabeth Fish (Mrs. Fish's daughter) accidentally discovered
how to make the raps, by playing with her toes against the
footboard when in bed. Many naughty little girls before and
since appear to have made the same discovery.

Mrs. Culver's statement, though it fits in with the Buffalo
demonstration, may not be thought conclusive in itself. But
it receives indirect confirmation from the fact that the apolo-
gists for Spiritualism could find nothing worse to say of it, or
of Mrs. Culver herself, than that the statement about the part
played by the Dutch servant girl at the Rochester investiga-
tions was obviously incorrect, because at the Rochester
investigation of November, 1849, the meetings were not held
at the Foxes' house at all, but at the houses of members of
the committee, or in a public hall; that the Foxes at that

IN AKCADIA 187

time could not afford to keep a servant girl,, and further, that
Catherine herself was not present at these meetings. It is
obvious that, independently of the fact that there may have
been more than one investigation by a committee at Rochester,
inaccuracies of this kind in reporting facts at second hand are
quite compatible with honesty on the part of the reporter.^

These exposures seem, however, to have done little to
check the progress of the movement. Apart from the
general eagerness to believe the marvellous, there were three
special reasons for their ineffectiveness. In the first place, the
Buffalo doctors did not claim, except in one instance, actually
to have demonstrated that the knocks were produced by the
knee-joints or toe-joints ; they had at best only shown that
appearances were consistent with their being so produced.
The faithful were not slow to take advantage of this loophole.
But if any reader should now be disposed to question the
sufficiency of the explanation put forward by the Buffalo
doctors, he should note that, in the first place, no pains have
ever been taken by the Spiritualists themselves to disprove
the Buffalo demonstrations. Of course, conclusive experiments
in such a case are not easy to devise, because of the extreme
difficulty of locating with approximate accuracy the source of
a sound. But it is precisely on that account Uiat we are not
justified in attaching weight to loose and vagfuely worded
statements made by irresponsible observers, so little qualified
for their task that they have not even recognised this initial
difficulty. It is frequently reported that the sounds proceeded
from quite a different direction from the medium ; that they
were heard to come from the door, the walls, the ceiling ; or
generally that they were heard in such circumstances that it
was physically impossible for the medium to have produced
them. If in place of these general statements — with which
the diligent student may fill his note-books, if it so please
him — we could find in the whole literature of Spiritualism but
one case, in which, in the presence of competent observers, and
under conditions well ascertained and fully described, the
raps were actually heard, when there was good cause for
believing it impossible for any person present to have made
them, we should no doubt do well to suspend our judgment,
at any rate, as regards that one case. In default of such
evidence the later confessions of the two younger Fox sisters,
though not, of course, conclusive, are at least pertinent In

* See letters by Capron in the New York Express^ reprinted in 7%€ Spirit
Worlds vol. iii. pp. 18, 93, and Modem American Spiriiualism^ by Emma
llanHnge (Mrs. Hardinge Britten), London (Bums), no date, p. 70*

188 EABLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

the autumn of 1888 Mrs. Kane (Margaretta Fox) and
Mrs. Jencken (Catherine Fox) made public, and apparently
spontaneous, confession, that the raps had been produced by
fraudulent means. Mrs. Kane even gave demonstrations
before large audiences of the actual manner in which the toe-
joints had been used at the early stances. Mrs. Jencken, at
any rate, if not also Mrs. Kane, afterwards recanted her
confession. ^

Several confessions of the kind were, however, made at
the time. Thus in October, 1851, a girl of thirteen, named
Almira Bezely, was tried on the charge of murdering her
infant brother. Almira had apparently been a rapping
medium for some months, and had herself through the
rappings predicted the baby's death. At the trial her father
and sister testified that, after her arrest on her own confession
of murder, Almira explained that she had made the rappings
with her feet, and showed them how it was done.^ Again,
in the pamphlet, Knocks for the Knockings^ published by the
Brothers Burr, in 185 1, there is quoted an affidavit, duly
attested before a justice of the peace, by one Lemuel J.
Beardslee, who states therein that he was a rapping medium
for about three months, and that he produced the sounds
voluntarily by his toes and shoes, and gave answers to mental
questions by carefully watching tJie questioner's countenance,
and noting hints involuntarily given.* Again, a cabinet-
maker named Hiram Pack, of 488, Pearl Street, New York,
gave to Mr. Mattison a written statement to the effect that
he had made to order two "medium" tables, which had
machinery for rapping concealed in the bed of the table,
operated by wires carried down the legs.* But it may be
surmised that the demands of the credulous could generally
be satisfied by less elaborate apparatus.

^ See The Death-blow to SpiritueUismy by K. 15. Davenport (New York, 1888) ;
also New York Herald of 24th September and lOth October, 1888 ; Light for
November and December, 1888 ; 9jA Journals, P, /^., December, 18^.

' Quoted, from a contemporai^ account of the trial given in the PravitUnce
Journal^ October 23rd, 1 851, in Spirit Rapping UnveiUd^ p. 172, by the Rev.
H. Mattison (New York, 1853). Other persons, it should be noted, gave
evidence to the effect that they had heard the rappings and did not believe that
Almira had caused them. Amongst the grounds given for this belief, persisted
in in spite of the culprit's confession, were that it was not possible for Almira to
have made the raps ; that she had been watched closely, and no trickery had
been detected ; and that the answers given by the raps alluded to fiacts not within
Almira's knowledge. ' Ibid,^ p. 175.

« JbiiL^ D. 174. Mr. Maskelyne {Pall Mall Gazette^ April l8th, 1885) states
that some tnirty years previously he had been asked to repair a little apparatus
for a spirit rapper, and that from its construction he inferred that the apparatus
was fastened under the flounces of a dress, and used for producing raps.

IN ARCADIA 189

It seems clear, in the second place, that the Buffalo

demonstration fell short, in that it failed to give a complete

explanation of the case. It is probable that the raps were

produced by various methods ; and that where the conditions

rendered one device impracticable, another was employed.

He would be a poor conjurer who could not employ a

variety of means to produce his effects. The Rev. Eli Noyes,

indeed, claimed to have produced raps in four different ways,

and to have succeeded in deceiving the whole company;

while Mr. Chauncey Burr boasted his acquaintance with no

less than seventeen methods ;^ and the descriptions given by

various Spiritualist witnesses point strongly to a diversity of

origin for the mysterious sounds. Mr. W. Duesler describes

the sounds as raps or knocks which jarred the bedstead, and

one particular rap — louder than common — sounded like the

falling of a heavy stick on the wooden floor above their

heads.^ One of the editors of the Excelsior (New York)

says that the raps varied " from a light, clear, metallic sound

to a dull, mufHed one, like a rap with the knuckles upon a

partition covered with cloth." ^ A witness in the Spirit

World * speaks of " a clear, distinct sound . . • nearly

resembling the spark of transmitted electricity, only softer

and muffl«i.'* Spicer^ says that the prevailing rap is like the

sound made by a pheasant confined in a strong wooden box

and pecking vigorously to get out ; or £^ain, like a blow on

the table with the knuckles. Fishbough describes the sounds

as "characterised by a kind of vibrating sepulchral rumble";®

whilst De Morgan, some years later, writes that the raps

occurring in the presence of Mrs. Hayden were " clean, clear,

faint sounds such as would be said to ring had they lasted.

I likened them at the time to the noise which the ends of

knitting needles would make if dropped from a distance upon

a marble slab and instantly checked by a damper of some
kind."7

From such varying descriptions as this it may be inferred,
on the one hand, that the Buffalo doctors had not furnished
a complete explanation of the mystery; and on the other,
that the claim repeatedly put forward by the early
Spiritualists, that the sound of the raps was unique and
inimitable, and once heard could never fail to be distinguished

^ From Burr's pamphlet, Knocks for the Knockings^ quoted in Spirit Rapping
Unveiled^ p. 176. '^ Capron and Barron, op, cit,^ p. 17.

' Quoted in History of the Strange Sounds^ etc. , by D. Af . Dewey, p. 52,
Rochester, 1850. ** Vol. ii. p. 99.

' Sights and Sounds^ pp. 210, ajo. ' /W., p. 39a.

' ^>vw Matter to Spirit, p. xli.

190 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

from all other sounds, must be accepted with some qualifica-
tion.^

But there was a weightier argument which helped to dis-
count the effects of the Buffalo exposure, and no doubt gave
the rapping mediums a longer lease of popularity. The
theory of simple fraud did not explain how it came about
that tihe raps could correctly reply to questions of which the
questioner alone knew the answer, or even to mental ques-
tions. Nothing is more striking in the early history of spirit-
rapping than the numerous accounts of correct information
being gfiven in answer to the questions of persons who were
complete strangers to the medium. Nor does the testimony
to this portent proceed only from the Spiritualists. The
Rev. Asa Mahan, First President of Cleveland University,
who wrote a book to denounce the errors of the Spiritualists
and to prove that spirits had no part in the matter, gave
many instances of the kind resting upon credible testimony ;
and is driven — or perhaps I should rather say hastens — to
conclude that the rappers possessed the power, by odylic
force, of reading the thoughts of those who consulted them.*
It was this circumstance which most impressed the early
investigators in this country who attended Mrs. Hayden's
stances ; and apparently went far to convince so astute an
observer as the late Professor De Morgan.* When we read
— as we frequently do in the literature of the time — that the
spirits rapped out names of friends dead many years before,
and correctly answered all kinds of test questions, to the
number sometimes of fifty at a time, expressly prepared for
their confusion, we feel that those early Spiritualists had
perhaps some justification for the faith that was in them.
But in fact the explanation was in most cases an extremely
simple one; and there can be no reasonable doubt that
Mrs. Culver and Lemuel Beardslee have correctly indicated
it in their depositions.

The approved method of consulting the oracle at the early
seances was for the questioner to repeat a number of possible
answers to his question, until a rap indicated the correct one.

^ See, for instance, Capron and Barron, op. cit.^ p. 41, **The sounds have
never been imitated, nor do we believe they can be." Judge Edmonds, however,
whose experience in such matters was very wide, and whose judgment was
probably sounder than that of most of his contemporaries, frankly admits that he
had never heard a sound which he could not imitate ; and that he had known
mediums deliberately to counterfeit the raps. {Letters on Spiritualism^ Memorial
Edition, p. iSo. London: James Bums, 1874.)

* Modem Mysteries Explained and Exposed, Boston, 1855.

' See his account of a stance with Mrs. Hayden in the early fifties, quoted in
Book III. chap, i.

IN ARCADIA 191

The following is extracted from an account of a s6ance
famous in the annals of Spiritualism, which was drawn up
by Mr. Ripley and published early in 1850 in the New York
Tribune} At this meeting the " Rochester ladies " were the
mediums, and J. Fenimore Cooper, William Cullen Bryant,
N. P. Willis, General Lyman and others were amongst the
consultants. After various communications had been given —

**Mr. J. Fenimore Cooper was then requested to enter into the
supra-mundane sphere, and proceeded to interrogate the spirits
with the most imperturbable self-possession and deliberation. After
several desultory questions to which no satisfactory answers were
obtained, Mr. C. commenced a new series of inquiries. 'Is the
person I inquire about a relative ? ' Yes was at once indicated by
the knocks. *A near relative?' Yes, *A man?' No answer,
*A woman?' Yes, *A daughter? a mother? a wife?' No answer,
'A sister?' Yes, Mr. C. then asked the number of years since
her death. To this the answer was given in rapid but distinct raps^
some counting ^5, others 4g^ S4t ^^^' After considerable parleying cls
to the manner in which the question should be answered^ the consent
of the invisible interlocutor was given to rap the years so slowly that
they might be distinctly counted. This was done. Knocks knocks
knocks for what seemed over a minute^ till the number amounted to 50,
and was unanimously announced by the company, Mr. Cooper now
asked, ' Did she die of consumption ? ' naming several diseases, to
which no answer was given. *Did she die by accident?' Yes,
'Was she killed by lightning? Was she shot? Was she lost at
sea ? Did she fall from a carnage ? Was she thrown from a horse ? '
Yes, Mr. Cooper did not pursue his inquiries any further, and
stated to the company that the answers were correct, the person
alluded to by him being a sister, who, just fifty years ago the present
month, was killed by being thrown from a horse."

As an illustration of the unconscious improvement of
evidence by Spiritualist writers, it may be noted that Capron,
in giving an account of this stance, substitutes for the passage
italicised in the foregoing extract the single sentence, " 50
knocks were given, and the number unanimously so announced
by the company."*

It will be seen that the procedure allowed the medium
to gain indications from the manner, the tone of voice, or
the hesitancy as to the answer expected. Moreover, she gave
herself, as a practised conjurer should, more than one chance.
If the answer g^ven proved incorrect, it could always be

' Quoted from Spicer, op, dt,^ pp. 75, 76. See also Hist9ry tf Modern Spirit-
ualism^ by Emma Hardinge, pp. 64-m.
^ Modem Spirituaiism^ p. 174.

192 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

suggested that the raps had been miscounted or attached
to 9ie wrong letters. At the early stances, indeed, if the
alphabet was used at all, it was customary for the medium
herself to point to the letters, as it was found that the com-
munication was facilitated by this means. And this practice
still continued so long as the questions related to general
topics, or when spirits like Channing, Swedenborg, or
Franklin held the floor. But when a sitter desired a more
conclusive test, and especially when he desired to receive
a communication from a deceased friend, or an answer to
a mental question, the printed alphabet would be placed in
his own hands, and he would be requested to move his pencil
slowly down it, allowing a short pause after each letter until
a rap came. The letter indicated by the rap was then noted
down, and the process recommenced. Precisely as in the
muscle-reading experiments with which Cumberland and
Irving Bishop made us familiar some years ago, the questioner
was invited to concentrate his attention on the question
asked ; and as the tedious process was usually performed
in full view of the medium, it is obvious that she had the
benefit of any unconscious indications of preference or ex-
pectation given by the sitter. Mahan observes with pride
that some of his friends, who were possessed of great strength
of will and unusual powers of intellectual concentration,
were extraordinarily successful in obtaining answers to
*test questions.* In one case this strength of will mani-
fested itself in "loud and emphatic pointing and sticking
at particular letters " ; and the recorder explains that, had
he not known better, he should certainly have come to
the conclusion that this emphatic pointing gave the medium
the desired cue.^ It may be added that it frequently hap-
pened, if the original propounder of a set of mental questions
failed to receive satisfactory answers, that he would be re-
quested to hand his written questions to a more sympathetic
sitter, who had been already proved to be in rapport with the
spirit The answers, we are told, would then be elicited with-
out difficulty.^

The results attained by this method were certainly very
remarkable. But shrewder observers, even of those who
believed in the phenomena in general as being of supra-

^ Asa Mahan, op, cit,^ p. 221. See also other cases recorded in that book.
Mattison, Spirit Rapping Ufweiled, p. 57 ; Spicer, Sights and Sounds, and the
early literature, passim,

- Joel Tiffany, Spiritualisvt Explained, p. 123. Tiffany admits that the
•* spirits" often contented themselves with reading the sitter's thoughts.

IN AECADIA 198

mundane origin, soon saw that the hypothesis of spirit-agency
in this particular manifestation was at least sometimes super-
fluous. A gentleman of Baltimore, for instance, writes to
Spicer, in August, 1852: — *

" For example, I will give you an instance in which my friend the
Colonel {i,e, the spirit-Colonel communicating through the raps)
manifestly to my mind followed the course of my own mental per-
ceptions. I noticed that when I asked what I already knew the
answer came more promptly than when such was not the case. In
these questions I expected ^t, answer; in fact, designed the questions
to draw certain ones only. The Colonel spelt my names correctly,
using an initial only for the middle one. I then asked him for the
middle name, as that was my military name. He spelt it promptly.
* You have known someone of that name before?' Yes, 'Where?
in this country?' No, 'England?' No, 'Scotland?' Yes,
(Scotland being what I anticipated from the first.) 'Perhaps you
know the name of the old estate in Scotland from which we came ? '
Yes, 'Will you name it?' (The name I wanted was 'Auchentorlie,'
a word which I do not remember to have heard from the lips of
any but my own household here — certainly known to none of those
present except my brother, my uncle, and myself. Now I com-
monly pronounce this name as though the first syllable was spelt
with a k instead of the ^, not caring to strive after the Gaelic
guttural ch,) So the Colonel began — A u c ^ e n t. When the k ap-
peared, I noticed the coincidence with my own pronunciation, but
also noticed it as an error, and was speculating thereon while the
spelling of the word was progressing, but the Colonel pulled up at
the / and announced a mistake. I questioned upon each of the
letters backward, and the k was declared wrong and an h substituted."

Afler this it is surprising to read that the gentleman from
Baltimore drew the conclusion, " that we were communicating
with an intelligence not embodied in the flesh we did not
doubt"

A few experiments were made expressly to exclude the
directing influence of the questioner's thoughts ; but it was
found that what the sitter did not know the spirits could not
tell.^ Further than this the ordinary investigator does not
seem to have gone. Here and there, indeed, a sceptic did
take precautions to prevent observation on the part of the
medium. Thus, Professor P£^e, at a stance wiUi the Fox
girls and their mother, effectually concealed the movements
of his pencil behind a book, with the result that the raps
which he obtained were indistinct and dubious, and the

* op, cit,, pp. 369, 37a

' Spicer, op. cit., pp. 239, 240; Asa Mahan, of, ci/., 2i6, 217, etc., etc

I. — O

194 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

answers to his mental questions were in five cases out of six
incorrect His experiments, he tells us, were repeated by
different investigators, who generally obtained, under like
conditions, incorrect answers.^ Sometimes, indeed, as in a
case recorded by Mahan, the answers thus received were
ludicrously inappropriate.^ But to the faithful the results
of such an experiment illustrated only the influence of
scepticism in frustrating the kindly intention of the spirits.
Or, as in the case last mentioned, the comment would be,
" Yes, it is certainly odd that the spirit in reply to you should
give its name as * Miserable Humbug,' and say that its diet
in the spirit world consisted of ' pork and beans ' ; and I
don't blame you for drawing inferences unfavourable to the
medium's honesty ; but I have received such convincing tests
at other times through the same medium that I feel that I
know better." I cannot find any cases at this date recorded
at first hand in which precautions against fraud of this kind
are even alleged to have been taken with successful results.*
It would seem, then, that the alleged manifestations of thought-
reading by the rapping mediums rests on evidence as in-
adequate as that for the supernormal character of the rappings
themselves.

There was another set of phenomena occurring in 1850,
which had obviously some relation to the Rochester rappings,
and were regarded by the faithful as almost equally signifi-
cant of the intervention of the spirit world.*

The Rev. Dr. Phelps, of Stratford, Connecticut, was a
Presbyterian minister, who had for many years been a believer
in clairvoyance, and had himself treated diseases by Mesmer-
ism. He had late in life married a widow with four children
— two girls who in 1850 were sixteen and six years of age
respectively, and two boys, one eleven and the other three.
Dr. Phelps himself was at this time about sixty. On March
10th, 1850, there broke out in his house a series of disturb-
ances, which continued with extreme frequency and violence
for several consecutive days, and were renewed at intervals

^ Psychomancy : Spirit- Rappings and Tippinj^s Exposed^ by Professor Charles
G. Page, M.D., etc. New York, 1853. ' Op, cit., p. 221,

' Asa Mahan, op. cit,^ pp. 199, 200, gives a case, but it is not first-hand.

^ The documents in the Stratford case consbt mostly of letters written during
the progress of the events to the New I/aven Journal and other papers. These
are nearly all reprinted in the Spiritual Philosopher ^ together with editorials on the
subject by Sunderland. Some additional testimony, m the shape of letters from
neighbours, was collected by C. W. Elliott, and published in his book, already
quoted, Mysteries^ or Glimpses of the Supernatural. The following account is
compiled mainly from these two sources, and is given as nearly as possible in the
words of the narrators.

IN ARCADIA 195

for about eighteen months. Objects of all kinds were thrown
about the house, apparently by invisible hands ; windows were
smashed, and a great deal of damage was done ; mysterious
writings were produced ; raps were heard, which, like the
Rochester knockings, would give intelligent — and frequently
blasphemous — answers to questions. From two letters,
written by one Webster, in the New Haven Journal, which
were regarded by Dr. Phelps himself as amongst the most trust-
worthy records of the phenomena, I quote the following: — ^

" While the house of Dr. Phelps was undergoing a rigid examina-
tion from cellar to attic, one of the chambers was mysteriously
fitted up with eleven figures of angelic beauty, gracefully and im-
posingly arranged, so as to have the appearance of life. They were
all female figures but one, and most of them in attitudes of devotion,
with Bibles before them, and pointing to different passages with the
apparent design of making the Scriptures sanction and confirm the
strange things that were going on. . . . Some of the figures were
kneeling beside the beds, and some bending their faces to the floor
in attitudes of deep humility. In the centre of the group was a
dwarf, most grotesquely arrayed ; and above was a fi^re so sus-
pended as to seem flying through the air. These manifestations
occurred sometimes when the room was locked, and sometimes
when it was known that no persons had been there. Measures
were taken to have a special scrutiny in regard to every person who
entered the room that day, and it is known with the most perfect
certainty that many of these figures were constructed when there
were no persons in the room, and no visible power by which they
could have been produced. The tout ensemble was most beautiful
and picturesque, and had a grace and ease and speaking effect that
seemed the attributes of a higher creation."

On another occasion, Webster continues, Dr. Phelps was
writing at his table — he was alone in the room — and had
turned away for a moment. On resuming his seat he found
on his table a sheet of paper, which had been quite clean a
moment before, covered with strange-looking writing, the ink
still wet. A brickbat was seen to start from a large mirror
and fall violently to the floor ; letters were seen to drop from
the ceiling, and turnips covered with hieroglyphs to grow out
of the pattern on the carpet, under the very eyes of the
astonished family. Chairs would move deliberately across
the room, missiles would start from space and dash through
costly panes of glass.

From another witness, H. B. Taylor, writing to the same

^ EllioU, Mysttrus^ or Glimpses, etc., pp. 184, 185.

196 EARLY AMEBICAlJ SPIRITUALISM

paper, we learn that the elder boy was carried across the
room by an invisible agency ; that the boy's pantaloons were
cut into strips, and the doctor's hat whirled up in the air;
that a piece of shingle was seen to fly about the room with
unknown characters inscribed upon it ; and that the supper-
table was lifted thrice from the floor when the room was
empty. From a writer in the Spiritual Philosopher^ we learn
that letters, written by no human hands, were thrown down
from the air. The letters proved to contain mischievous and
rather childish satires on Dr. Phelps' brother clergymen and
other persons. From Laroy Sunderland, at this time editor
of the Spiritual Philosopher^ we learn that on March nth,
1850, an umbrella was thrown without human hands some
twenty-five feet; that on March 13th several persons saw
various articles rise from their places, describe a parobala {sic\
and descend to the floor ; that on die following day a brass
candlestick was seen to rise and dash itself against the floor
until it was ultimately broken ; that a large potato was
dropped out of the viewless air on to the breakfast-table
within a few inches of Dr. Phelps* plate ; that the shovel and
tongs, together with the iron stand in which they rested,
moved into the middle of the parlour, and then danced upon
the floor ; that the large dining-room table of solid mahogany
was seen to rise two feet into the air ; that on another occa-
sion a lamp that was burning on the mantelpiece in the elder
boy's bedroom was seen to move across the room and set fire
to some papers which lay on the bed ; that the boy was
found to have been hung on a tree by the invisible s^ency ;
that his pants were stripped from his body ; that a pillow was
drawn over the elder girl's face when she was sleeping peace-
fully, and a piece of tape tied round her neck with such
violence that it all but strangled her. Finally, from one of
Dr. Phelps' sons by a former marriage, Professor Austin
Phelps, we have the following additional particulars: That
as Dr. Phelps was walking across the parlour, no other person
being in the room, a key and a nail were thrown over his head
and fell on the floor at his feet ; and that in the evening, in
presence of the whole family, a turnip fell from the ceiling in
their midst ; that at dinner the spoons and forks would fly up
out of the dishes ; that one day at dinner a bundle of six or
eight silver spoons were all at once taken up and bent double
by no visible agency ; that on another occasion, when he was
alone, the raps directed that Dr. Phelps should put his hand
under the table, and that, when he complied, it was grasped by

* 1850, p. 70.

IN ARCADIA 197

a human hand, warm and soft. Lastly, that the raps pur-
ported to come from a Frenchman, named D s, who had

been clerk to a firm of lawyers who had prepared Mrs.

Phelps' settlement ; that D s, through raps, asserted that

he was in hell, and that he had, when on earth, cheated
Mrs. Phelps in drawing up the settlement; that Dr. Phelps
investigated the matter, and found clear evidence of fraud in
the matter of the settlement, but not sufficient to justify a
prosecution.^

The affair naturally created much excitement in Spiritualist
circles. Andrew Jackson Davis himself came down to Strat-
ford, and gave his certificate to the phenomena. He ex-
plained that, speaking generally, the raps were produced by
discharges of vital electricity from the elder boy's organism ;
that when magnetism preponderated in the systems of the
boy and girl, nails, keys, books, and other objects would fly
towards tfiem ; when electricity preponderated such objects
would be repelled ; but that tfie spirits frequently initiated
and directed these movements; that, in fact, as he was im-
pressed to declare, the majority of the disturbances were
caused by spirits, of whom he had himself seen no less than
five present, as " delegates from the spirit land," in Dr. Phelps*
house. The same high authority also recognised the hiero-
glyphics inscribed on the turnip already mentioned, the boy's
pants, and elsewhere, as being spiritual symbols having no
affinity with any earthly language, oriental or other. By
interior impression he was able to interpret the message of
goodwill conveyed, as thus : " A high society of angels desire,
through the s^ency of another and a more inferior society,
to communicate in various ways to the earth's inhabitants."*

On the other hand, Laroy Sunderland and Mrs. Fish were
inclined to attribute the manifestations entirely to the agency
of lying, mischievous, or insane spirits, and the former even
questioned whether the Poughkeepsie seer had correctly
translated the vegetable hieroglyphs. Mr. Beach, whose
testimony is quot^ below, believed that there was nothing
superhuman in these mysterious occurrences. For his part,
he did not believe in ghosts. **The theory is," he writes,
" that there exists in Nature an element as yet unknown to
the scientific world."

In order to secure, if possible, at once the interest of the

' From a statement given to the Rev. C. Beecher, and embodied in his book
on Spiritual Mamfestations^ pp. iS-24. Boston, 1879.

' The Phihsopkjf of Spiritual InUrcourse (New York), edition of 1875,
PP- 77-117.

198 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

reader and his sympathy with the Spiritualist interpretation
of the manifestations, I have ventured, in the preceding pages,
to base my account of the Stratford disturbances, not on what
the several narrators themselves saw, but on what they under-
stood that other people had seen. Not one of the marvels so
far related is described by a person who professes to have
been actually present ; and Professor Austin Phelps' account
was written nearly thirty years afterwards. No eye-witness,
indeed, so far as I can discover, ever claims to have seen a
turnip issue from the carpet or the ceiling, or a brickbat from
the mirror, to have seen Dr. Phelps' little boy carried across
the room by an invisible power, or a candlestick jump up and
pound against the floor, or inanimate objects describe a
parabola, or any other kind of curve, unassisted.

What they did see was much less dramatic. Dr. Phelps
tells us that he saw with his own eyes more than thirt>^
broken panes of glass ; that he watched the movements of
objects with care and close attention ; that " I witnessed them
hundreds and hundreds of times, and I know that in hundreds
of instances they took place when there was no visible power
by which the motion could have been produced " ; and that
he never could find out how the rapping was done. Laroy
Sunderland saw some of the hieroglyphs and the letters which
had been written by the spirits; he also saw a window in
which every pane had been broken ; and he heard rapping
under his feet whilst he was at breakfast. Veritas, writing on
September 21st in the New Haven Journal, says that he was
struck on the arm by a clothes-pin, and is sure that no one in
the room threw it Also that in the parlour a peach stone
fell at the feet of one of the members of the family, and that
shortly afterwards two or three fragments of apple and a
piece of anthracite coal fell at intervals close to him, and that
he put a piece of apple in his pocket, and kept it as a
memorial of the marvellous incident Further, that on the
following morning a cup, an iron spoon, and a couple of
apples were thrown, the latter striking two members of the
family.

Mr. Newson, of the Derby Journal, writes, that when he and
three other persons were standing outside the girls' bedroom
listening to the rappings, they heard something thrown with
great violence against the door, instantly sprang into the
room, and found the young lady (of sixteen) in bed in a very
nervous state, with a very red cheek. A large white pitcher
had, it was found, been thrown against the door, and broken.

The Rev. Mr. Mitchell saw sentences which had been

IN ARCADIA 199

written on the walls, made-up figures which had been
arranged in various parts of the house, objects which had
been thrown about; also he heard loud noises and screamings.

The Rev. Mr. Weed had also seen the furniture disarranged,
and dolls dressed up to look like live figures.

The things which Mr. Beach and Mr. Day saw were so
interesting 3iat I quote parts of their accounts in their own
words.

Mr. Beach writes in the New York Sun^ April 29th, 1850 : — ^

" While our conversation was quietly proceeding, there seemed to
be a general start of all present, the boy instantaneously sitting up
in bed. I was then looking at the carpet, on a line parallel to the
front side of the bed and of the mantelpiece, when I caught sight of
a matchbox, about four inches long by three wide, within an inch of
the floor, if not upon it. I heard a noise corresponding to what
would be expected from a heavy iron box of that size, falling from
about the height of the mantelpiece ; and at the same time saw the
box slide toward the bed, and directly away from the mantelpiece
about four inches, while the lid flew open, and some matches bounded
out upon the floor. The boy denied any agency in the matter, with
an expression of innocence that defied the closest scrutiny. . . .
A few moments after that event, and while all present occupied their
former positions, the boy sat up in his bed as suddenly as before,
exclaiming, * They have set the bed on fire ! ' I sprang instantly to
the spot, and saw a piece of printed paper, etc., on fire ; securing a
piece of it about the size of a dollar, it proved to be a part of the
Derby Journal. . . . Again, the ladies stood facing the window and
me, and about six feet from me — they were side by side, about two
feet apart ; no one else was in the room. Suddenly the daughter's
right arm straightened, inflicting an apparently severe blow on her
companion's right arm, just below the shoulder, and at the same
time she cried out, * I am pinched ! * The sleeve of her dress being
turned up a little, there was plainly visible a mark closely resembling
a severe pinch freshly made."

Mr. Beach's theory of these mysterious occurrences has
been already quoted.

Mr. Horace Day writes on September 27th, 185 1, to
Mr. Elliott, author of the book from which I have frequently
quoted : —

" While conversing with the family on the subject of their trials
and perplexities, the lady of the house ran into the room, and said
that her son, a boy of twelve or fourteen, was missing. Ejccept on
the face of the father, I saw no expression of alarm or apprehension.
He seemed greatly excited ; but the rest of the family, consisting of

^ Elliott, op, a/., )))). 191-3.

200 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

Mrs. P., a daughter, a lady visitor, and her son, certainly manifested
no extraordinary emotion. After a few hurried remarks, I noticed
that Mrs. P. led the way to the backyard. What reason there was
for not first examining the house did not appear. This was the first
thing that looked suspicious to me, coupled with the general air of
imperturbability over the family. The boy was found in the hay-mow,
in an apparently comatose state, from which he recovered in die
course of an hour. . . . The similarity of the writing, which Dr. P.
showed me as being ' spiritual,' to that of the boy when I got him
into a room alone, together with the singular fact that every broken
window could be reached only from the doorway of the young ladies'
bedroom, conspired to increase my contempt for the whole concern.
... Dr. P. seems never to have recognised his son's handwriting,
though his room was flooded with his lucubrations, in a regular
schoolboy's hand."^

Further, from a full account of the matter compiled by
Capron from the various records preserved by the family, and
audienticated by conversation witih Dr. Phelps, we learn that,
speaking generally, the disturbances centred round the elder
boy and girl ; that they ceased when the children were sent
away ; that Dr. Phelps in particular was favoured with
several striking manifestations when alone with Harry ; and,
finally, that when Harry was despatched to a school in
Philadelphia, the spirits destroyed his books, tore his clothes,
and generally became so outrs^eous that Harry was brought
home £^ain to Stratford, when the disturbances finally
ceased.*

But perhaps the most interesting evidence is that furnished
by Andrew Jackson Davis, in the article already referred to.
Confronted with a practical problem in spiritual dynamics,
the seer found his position a peculiarly delicate one. Should
he pronounce the phenomena to be genuine, it might go hard
with his reputation as a philosopher if some of them were
afterwards proved to be fraudulent On the other hand, as a
Harmonial Philosopher, it would ill become him to depreciate
what his followers already acclaimed as a demoniac visitation.
He found safety in a middle course. After giving the certifi-
cate already quoted, the seer proceeded to point out that
"the young Harry frequently failed to discriminate, during
certain moments of mental agitation, between the sounds
and effects which he himself made and those sounds which
were produced by a spiritual presence " ; and he explains as
follows the portent of the boy being tied to a tree : " I

^ Elliott, o/i. cit.f pp. 200. 201.

* Moiicrn Spit iiualism^ etc., by E. W. Capron, pp. 1 J2-71,

IN AECADIA 201

discovered when viewing the circumstance from my superior
condition . . . that, to control the boy from effecting some
premeditated imprudence, a spirit near him, taking advantage
of the electrical state of his system, actually made him un-
consciously instrumental in tying himself to a tree,'' and to
complete the work, afterwards made the boy feel frightened,
and believe that he had called for help, when in fact he
had not done so.^ And again, " It is possible — and my im-
pressions strongly move me to assert tihe probability thereof
— that the spirits have employed some impressible person in
the family, or in the Stratford Community, to write some
of those communications which were there received, also to
arrange the expressive tableaux."* No utterance of the
Poughkeepsie seer reveals a profounder insight

> (?/. rijf., p. 88. « Page iia.

CHAPTER II
SOME DWELLERS IN ARCADIA

SINCE, as shown in a previous chapter,^ naughty little
girls have for many generations amused themselves and
mystified their elders by rapping on the foot of their
wooden bedsteads and throwing about the less expensive
crockery, and the world has gone on as before, we must look
to something else than the novelty or the mystery of the
manifestations for an explanation of the world-wide results
which followed from these exploits of the Hydesville and
Stratford children. That explanation is, of course, to be
found in the conditions of the time. And first amongst
these conditions was the recent familiarity of the American
people with the phenomena of the induced trance. As
shown in the first part of the present work, these phenomena,
which had been known and studied in France, Germany, and
generally on the continent of Europe, for more than two
generations, had only in the decade 1840-50 attracted any
wide recognition in the two great English-speaking countries.
That recognition appears to have come at about the same
time in both England and America, and through the same
means — the demonstrations of itinerant lecturers.

The interest, so recently excited and still actively spread-
ing, in the somnambulic phenomena, helped the cause of
nascent Spiritualism in various ways. It furnished, in the
first place, a machinery already organised for the rapid
spread of the new manifestations, in the shape of a large
number of professional clairvoyants. Some of these clair-
voyants, like Mrs. Tamlin* and Mrs. Bushnell,* were not
slow to include spirit-rapping amongst their accomplish-
ments. Others were content to work side by side with the
rapping mediums who now sprang up throu^out the land.

^ Book I. chapter ii. ^ Capron and Barron, op. cit.^ p. 42.

^ Spicer, Si^^hts and Sounds ^ p. 88. London, 1853.

202

SOME DWELLERS IN ARCADIA 203

From the early Spiritualist journals it is evident that a large
part was played in the first few years by healing and trance
mediums simply. In the second place, Mesmerism furnished
the popular mind with a ready-made philosophy of the whole
matter. As previously shown, apart from the general dis-
position to believe in the marvellous fostered by the various
electric, magnetic, and odylic theories, many persons had
already been induced through trance utterances to believe in
the possibility of spirit intercourse. Of the manner in which
Davis and his circle were prepared by clairvoyant revelations
for the advent of the new dispensation we have already
spoken. Dr. Phelps, of Stratford, had first had his interest
excited, some years previously to the Poltergeist manifesta-
tions, by the marvels of clairvoyance. So Warren Chase, of
whom we shall speak later, had, in 1843, made experiments
in Mesmerism with a few friends, and had ordered a dozen
copies of Nature's Divine Revelations in 1847, as soon as it
was issued ; ^ and generally throughout the country the
attention given to clairvoyance and Mesmerism prepared the
way for the greater marvels of Spiritualism.* Many even of
the chief critics and opponents of the new movement, such as
Asa Mahan, B. W. Richmond, and E. C. Rogers, whilst
denying the evidence of spirit intervention, found no diffi-
culty, on the strength of their studies in the literature of
Animal Magnetism, in accepting the phenomena in the lump.
All these writers are agreed in explaining the raps, the move-
ments of tables, and the Poltergeist performances generally,
as illustrations of odylic force.^ To its inventor, the reader
should perhaps be reminded, odylic force was an impalpable
emanation of such exquisite tenuity that its presence could
be detected by no instrument less delicate than the human
organism, and that only in persons of exalted nervous sensi-
bility. To harness this exquisite essence to the gross antics
of the kitchen furniture was surely an ill^itimate extension
of the theory.

But probably the mesmeric movement of the previous
decade helped the new propaganda most conspicuously by
furnishing a band of able editors and lecturers already trained
and equipped for service. Of those who assisted at the birth
of the Revelations and afterwards united in editing the Univer-
caelum, many in the course of the next two or three years

' Forty Years on the Spiritual Host rum ^ pp. 14, 15. Boston, 1888.
' For additional instances sec Modem American Spiritualism, by Emma
Hardinge, pp. 374, 346, 408, etc., etc.

' See Aloaern Mysteries, etc., pp. 326, 327, and passim.

204 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

became editors of papers devoted to one aspect or another
of the new movement.

Till as late, indeed, as the end of June, 1849, when tlie
Univerccelum ceased to exist, none of the adherents of tlie
Harmonial Philosophy had publicly recognised the importance
of the new physical manifestations. But in the spring of the
following year, as we have already seen, Davis visited Strat-
ford, there witnessed some of them for the first time, and
became convinced of their reality.^ In the summer of the
same year the first number of a paper called the Spirit
Messenger was published in Springfield, Mass., under the
joint editorship of the Rev. R. P. Ambler, a Universalist
minister, and Apollos Munn, which appears to have been
Davis' chief organ for the next two or three years; for,
indeed, partly no doubt alienated by the intolerable arrogance
of the Poughkeepsie seer, partly because two of this trade
of prophet can rarely agree together for long, the little band
of Harmonial Philosophers were soon widely scattered. By
the middle of 1851 we find some six or seven papers in
existence devoted to the propaganda, in most of which the
late editors of the Univerccelum had a part At Auburn was
published Disclosures from the Interior and Superior Care for
Mortals, under the editorship of J. D. Scott and T. L. Harris ;
and another paper, The Spiritual and Moral Instructor, was
started in the same town under the editorship of T. S. Hiatt,
with Fishbough as a leading contributor. In September,
1 85 1, was published at Boston the first number of Heat and
Light, a review of A. J. Davis' philosophy, by W. M. Femald,
being the principal article.* Again, S. B. Brittan, in 1852,
brought out a well-written monthly periodical called Uie
Shekinah, which, during its brief career of about eighteen
months, represented Spiritualism at its soberest and best In
1853 appeared The Spiritual Telegraph, a weekly paper edited
by Brittan conjointly with Partridge, a New York merchant,
which lasted for nearly eight years.

But the first in the field of the Spiritualist editors was
Laroy Sunderland, whose acquaintance we have made in
previous chapters. In July, 1850, Sunderland started in
Boston a paper called the Spiritual Philosopher, which in the
following year changed its title to the Spirit World. In his
editorial address he offers the hospitality of his columns to
all sects, schools, and parties, and " to each world in the con-
stitution of the Universe." But even at this epoch he showed

* Pkiiosopky of Spiritual Intercourse^ p, 78.

* Spirit l^orld, vol. iii. p. 76.

SOME DWELLERS IN ARCADIA 205

something of the critical temper which had distinguished his
later writings on Mesmerism, for in another article in the
same number on the " Spiritual Knockings," after incidentally
mentioning that he had himself made pneumatology a subject
of investigation for the last thirty years, and had no doubt at
all as to the existence of other spheres beyond our own, he
reviews the History by Capron and Barron, pointing out
several difficulties in the spirit theory and defects in the
evidence so far adduced. Sunderland had not at that time
had the opportunity to satisfy himself as to the origin of the
knockings. A few weeks later, however, his own daughter,
Mrs. Margaretta Cooper, became a medium ; and he writes in
October, 1850 : "The manifestations of the Spirit World have
been continued in our own family in Charlestown, and our
Office in Boston, with increasing and wonderful interest . . .
the mysterious sounds have been made in nearly all the rooms
in our house, and have been heard at different times by
different people. The responses to questions are made freely,
at our tabliy during meal times, which are thus prolonged
often to an hour and a half by conversation with our
Heavenly visitants." He adds that articles of furniture had
been moved, that the spirits had made musical sounds, that
members of the family and strangers had been touched and
handled by the spirits, that manifestations had been made
to the sense of sight, and, finally, that communications had
been vouchsafed, as he believes, "from the Higher Spheres,
giving important information relating to the Spiritual Dis-
pensation now opening to the Universe of Human Beings." ^
But this state of exaltation was not to last long. Perhaps
his reversion to a more sober state of mind was hastened by the
result of a hoax played upon him in the early part of the year
1 85 1. An illiterate letter, purporting to come from a woman
who was anxious for news of her dead daughter, was sent
to Sunderland. He submitted it to the spirits, and received
from them a message of consolation to transmit to the
anxious inquirer. The letter, however, was a hoax, and the
inquirer and her spirit daughter alike fictitious.^ But it seems
probable that in any case the caution — natural or acquired —
which is so conspicuous in his earlier work would have led
him sooner or later to reject the extravagant absurdities
of the Spiritualists around him.

^ spiritual Philosophtr^ vol. i. pp. 68, 69.

^ Capron, Modem SpiriiutUism^ pp. 211, 313. The author of the hoax was
a clergyman named Austin, who wrote in the New York Exprtsi under the
pseudonym of ** Shadiach Barnes. "

206 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

In fact, we find that in later numbers, at any rate, of the
Spirit World Sunderland, though still believing that spirits
were concerned in some of the manifestations, yet constantly
urges his readers not to put implicit confidence in so-called
spirit revelations, nor even to believe that all the phenomena
commonly ascribed to spirit intervention have necessarily an
extra-mundane cause. He points out that table-tipping and
other physical movements, and trance speaking or writing,
may often be due solely to unconscious action on the part
of the medium ; and, generally, that it is unwise to believe
that a message comes from Swedenborg or St. Paul, merely
because the spirit or the medium says so. A few years later
even this qualified belief in Spiritualism seems to have left
him almost as completely as his former enthusiasm for
Phreno-Mesmerism. Warren Chase mourns over him as a
backslider ; and in the later book already quoted we find
him pointing out that " spirit-possession " can in most cases
be explained as possession by the idea of spirits present in
the medium's own mind ; and that, " unfortunately for * spirit-
ualism' technically so-called, neither the 'mediums' nor the
'spirits* who speak through them have ever been able to
show us where Uie human ends and the really spiritual begins
in these nervous phenomena." ^

However, at this early period Sunderland seems to have
entertained no doubt of the central fact of spirit intercourse ;
and it is probable that the adhesion thus early in the move-
ment of an investigator of this type, who combined shrewd-
ness and caution with his enthusiasm, and who was already
widely known by his lectures and published writings, did
much to attract thinking men to the subject.

A man of a different type, who also owed his conversion
to Spiritualism mainly to his earlier acquaintance with the
mesmeric trance, was the Rev. J. B. Ferguson. Jesse Babcock
Ferguson was bom in 1819.* He went to school at the
age of eleven in Winchester, Virginia, and two years later,
at the age of thirteen, was chosen by the Presbyterian
Missionary Society of Shenandoah and Frederick Counties
(Virginia) to conduct a school in a new settlement. The
school was carried on at one end of a log house, and a
shoemaker, who worked at his trade behind a partition at
the other end, held himself in readiness, if required, to assist

* The Trance, p. io8.

* This account is taken partly from the book, Supra-mundane Facts in the
Life of the Rev. J. B, Ferguson, edited by T. L. Nichols (London, 1865) ;
partly from Ferguson's own book, Spirit Communion : a Record of Communica-
tions from the Spirit Spheres^ etc. Nashville (U.S.), 1854.

SOME DWELLERS IN ARCADLA. 207

the youthful teacher in keeping order amongst his scholars,
some of whom were seven or eight years older than himself.
Later he was apprenticed to a printer, and afterwards earned
his living by light work in a newspaper office, whilst he
attended his classes at the Woodstock Academy. He
married young, became the editor of a religious miscellany,
and rapidly acquired fame as an eloquent preacher. Finally
he settled in Nashville, the capital of Tennessee, and there
drew around him a large and devoted congregation. He
became, indeed, one of the most noted preachers in the
South, received honorary d^jrees from two universities, and
was on many occasions invited to preach before public
bodies and to discharge public appointments. Because of
his eloquent addresses and exhortations and his pronounced
patriotism, he became a notable figure in the Civil War on
the Confederate side.

In the years 1842-3, early in his married life, Ferguson
had investigated the phenomena of Animal Magnetism, and
as a result had satisfied himself of "(i) the possibility of
mind acting through the outward senses of other bodies
beside its own ; (2) of its acting apart from its own and all
external senses, and of holding communion with disembodied
mind." In his portfolio he had, as he tells us, written in
1844: "If we may be allowed an opinion, where an opinion
is scarcely allowable, we would say that from the invisible
world there will be such a manifestation of the Saints that
the veil of flesh and sense will be rent away, and the con-
nection will be permanent The Cherubim, or 'living
creatures,' will appear upon the earth." ^ His wife was
apparently the clairvoyant subject in these experiments, as
she afterwards became the medium through whom he chiefly
received spiritual communications.

When the rappings and spiritual manifestations first broke
out, Ferguson tells us that he was inclined to attribute them
to imposture and fanaticism. Some years later, however,
in 1853, he visited a rapping medium in Ohio, and witnessed
the usual phenomena ; received correct answers to mental
questions through the alphabet, and a communication pur-
porting to come from a deceased fellow-preacher. Thereafter
he was favoured with other manifestations, including the
speaking in foreign tongues, and ultimately his wife and
young daughter became mediums for writing, speaking, and

* Spirit Communicn : a /Record of Communications from the Spirit Sphtrts,
with incontestable evidence of personal identity ^ by J. B. Ferguson, p. II.
Nashville, 1854.

208 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

seeing visions. An automatic communication given through
his wife is quoted in chapter iv. below.

Ferguson's high character, his eloquence, and the breadth
and liberality of his religious views gave him wide reputation
and influence, and there is no doubt that his advocacy did
much to advance the propaganda of Spiritualism in the
South. He appears to have kept his faiUi unchanged until
the end. His last public appearance in connection with
Spiritualism was in England, whither he accompanied the
Brothers Davenport in 1864, in order to introduce them to
a new public under the most favourable auspices.

But after all Poltergeists and a widely diffused interest
in Animal Magnetism were factors to be found at this time
in most European countries. It was rather in the conditions
of a new and rapidly expanding civilisation, and perhaps
in the special genius of the American people, that the ex-
planation must be sought for the extraordinary spread of
the new movement In the first place, we find a nation in
whom the standard of popular education and intelligence
was much higher than in England, and probably most other
European countries at the same date. But this very diffusion
of education was in some aspects mischievous. In the older
civilisations the world of ideas is still an oligarchy, with a
constitution to some extent fixed and defined. There are
recognised standards and precedents for the guidance of
thought in every department. But in the American Republic
of fifty years ago every man claimed the right to think for
himself, and to think as extravagantly and inconsequently
as he chose. Again, the geographical conditions gave specu-
lation a freedom which would have been impossible in a
more settled society. Even the eastern States were at this
time very sparsely populated ; civilisation was daily enlarging
its boundaries and absorbing more and more of the un-
claimed territory around. In 1850 not thirteen in a hundred
of the American people lived in towns of 8,000 inhabitants.
Thus we find, outside the few large cities, an immense fringe
of semi-rural ** townships," carved out of the wilderness but
yesterday, and filled with an enthusiastic horde of pioneers
who had learnt to read and to think from men, or as we
have just seen, from children, scarcely better trained and
equipped than themselves. In those raw, outlying districts
there was no intellectual centre, no recognised conduit through
which the gathered experience of the centuries could flow,
such as exists in every town and almost every village in
Europe. There was inevitably expended on the problems

SOME DWELLERS IN ARCADIA 209

of life a large amount of vigorous but crude and undisciplined
thinking ; and the results stand on record now in the his-
tory of various American religious epidemics, of American
Socialisms, of American phrenology, of crusades against
alcohol, tobacco, pork, and in favour of free land, free
marriage, and equality of the sexes.

It is in conformity with this view that we find the early
American Spiritualists, almost to a man, adopted every plank
of the platform roughly indicated above. Sunderland, indeed,
as we have already seen, had cooled somewhat towards
phrenology, and seems to have held aloof from most of the
popular enthusiasms. But his critical temper was, of course,
exceptional. There were no such reserves in the attitude of
the ordinary Spiritualist.

Of all the popular enthusiasms of the time, that which was
most intimately bound up with Spiritualism was the Fourierite
movement, which had shortly before swept in a great wave
over the United States. There appears to be some natural
affinity between Socialism of a certain type and Spiritualism.
The vision of a new heaven will perhaps be most gladly
received by those whose eyes have been opened to the vision
of a new earth, the dwelling-place of righteousness. It is
certain that many Socialists have been Spiritualists. The
veteran Robert Owen was converted to the new faith a few
years before his death. The Shakers claimed to have had
spiritual communications as early as 1837, and to have re-
ceived at that time predictions of the advent in a few years of
fuller revelations:^ and many of the older American com-
munities were founded by leaders who claimed direct inspira-
tion from spiritual sources. But the connection between the
Socialist revival of 1840-50 and the gospel of 1848 was more
intimate still. There were those who traced a definite re-
semblance between the ideas of Fourier and Swedenborg,
especially in the doctrine of Universal Analogy taught by
Fourier and the well-known "Correspondences" of the Swedish
seer. It is certain that there were many disciples of the one
prophet who joined in the cult of the other. The list of
writers in the Phalanx and the Harbinger^ given by Noyes
in his History of Atnerican Socialisms? contains many names

^ Elder Evans seems hardly to be justified in his claim. From the (un-
fortunately anonymous) account of an eye-witness quoted by Noyes {History of
American Socialisms^ pp. 604-9. London, 1870) and from the signed letter given
in Spicer's Sights and Sounds (p. 349), it seems clear that the all^[ed communica-
tions were not only purely subiectlve, but that they had little in common with the
Spiritualistic manifestations wnich they were supposed to foreshadow.

' Page 213.

I.— P

210 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

— such as Horace Greeley, Stephen Pearl Andrews, Henry
James, and J. Garth Wilkinson — which were afterwards well
known in connection with Swedenborgianism or Spiritualism.
Of the two leading Socialist communities founded under
religious impulses in the early forties, before the main crop of
" Phalanxes," Brook Farm, as is well known, cultivated
Swedenborgianism ; whilst Hopedale, in the person of its
founder, the Rev. Adin Ballou, helped towards the propaganda
of Spiritualism. Of the two most successful secular com-
munities of the day, the Wisconsin Phalanx was founded
by a Spiritualist, Warren Chase, and the North American
Phalanx had Horace Greeley as a Vice-President Nor did
the connection between the two movements cease with the
revelations of 1848. Two or three years later the Auburn
Spiritualists, headed by Thomas Lake Harris and James D.
Scott, founded the Mountain Cove Community ; whUe Harris
himself later inaugurated a new Spiritualist society at Brocton,
N.Y., and afterwards at Santa Rosa, California. Another
communist society of the same type was the Harmonial
Society, founded under angelic direction by one Spencer, an
ex-Methodist minister, and his wife in 1855. Again, T. L.
Nichols and other Spiritualists were members of the Socialist
community of Modern Times, founded on Long Island in
1851.^ And many of the "inspired" writings of the time
sketched out plans for an ideal society to be founded on
communist or phalansterian lines. Andrew Jackson Davis
and the other writers in the Univerccelum, as already pointed
out, preached social reconstruction as the concomitant of
spiritual regeneration.^

Of the typical American Spiritualist of the early days —
the man who began with Socialism and, adding thereto in
due course all the other reforms above enumerated, finally
found in Spiritualism the creed which would unify all his
enthusiasms — no better illustration could be found than in
the life of Warren Chase. Fortunately there are ample
materials for the study. With a confidence, which again is
typical of the man and the time, that what was so profoundly
interesting to himself could not fail to have both interest
and value for others, he has given to the world two
autobiographies — The Life Line of the Lone One: an Auto-
biography of the World's Child^^ and Forty Years on the

^ spiritual Roitrumy p. 50. An interesting summary of the relations between
Socialism and Spiritualism, on which the account in the text is largely based, will
be found in Noyes' lx>ok, already quoted.

'^ See above, p. 173. * Fifth edition. Boston (U.S.), 1868.

SOME DWELLERS IN ARCADIA 211

Spiritual Rostrum ^ — the former dealing mainly with his
Socialist, the latter with his Spiritualistic experiences. Bom
in 1813 in Pittsfield, a little village of New Hampshire, he
never saw his father, and his mother, unwedded, died when he
was five years old. In accordance with the laws of the State,
the friendless orphan was " apprenticed " by the Selectmen of
the township to a farmer, who was bound, in return for his
services, to feed and clothe the child until the age of twenty-
one, leaving him free to attend school in the winter, and
giving him a sum of money on completion of the full term.
The farmer proved a brutal master, and neglected his side of
the bargain, and the boy escaped in his fifteenth year, and
was finally bound over by the Selectmen to another family,
by whom he was kindly treated. In this new place he had
the opportunity of attending school for the first time, soon
learnt to read, and made good progress with his studies
generally during the next four or five years, passing on from
thence to the academy at Gilmanton Comers. Here he
appears to have read the works of various Freethinkers, and
to have adopted their views. The Boston Investigator was
at this period of his life his guide, and Rationalism his
religion. In 1835, when twenty-two years of age, he left
New Hampshire and went away West, into what was then
Michigan Territory, to seek his fortunes in new lands. There
he found friends, and in January, 1837, married a young
girl then employed as school teacher. Of his wife we are
told that she had already learnt to eschew pork, tobacco,
and coffee, a renunciation which Warren Chase himself did
not imitate until some years later, and that she soon gave
up her former faith (Baptist) to adopt the views of her
husband. In course of the next few years children were
born to them, of whom more than one died ; and they went
through many vicissitudes in trying to make for themselves a
home and a living in the still unsettled West. In 1838 they
moved to Southport, in Wisconsin, and for some years en-
dured the bitterest poverty, living through a whole winter
with their one child on potatoes mainly, with a little flour,
milk, and butter, sent by kindly neighbours, hardly richer
than themselves, in pity for the delicate child. There, as a
homeless, landless outcast, "the World's Child" had oppor-
tunity to meditate on social and economic problems.
Gradually, as the settlement developed, his worldly affairs
improved. He achieved a modest competence, and a certain
position amongst his fellow-townsmen ; he was appointed

^ Boston, 1888.

212 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

Street Commissioner and Road Master in 1843. '^ the
following year came the turning-point of his life. He had
already, in the winter of 1843-4, been studying Mesmerism,
in company with a few friends, under the guidance of
Sunderland's paper, the Magnet, At the same time he had
imbibed from the New York Tribune and other journals
Fourier's scheme of Socialism. The matter was much dis-
cussed through the winter in the local Lyceum. The glow-
ing accounts of the success already achieved, or manifestly
about to be achieved, by various communities already or-
ganised, fired the imagination of the untaught settlers.
They were dazzled by the great vision of peace, order, and
harmony, of want and crime abolished, of toil translated
by the magic of co-operation into pleasure, and earth made
to yield tenfold increase, of the return of exiled Justice, and
the vanished reign of Saturn. Early in 1844 they formed
an association, with shares of twenty-five dollars each, and
sent out a small committee to select a suitable spot for the
realisation of their dreams. A tract of virgin soil was chosen
in Fond-du-lac County, near the present town of Ripon,
situated on the banks of a beautiful stream. They named
their new home Ceresco, in honour of the goddess Ceres.
Thither, in the middle of May, 1844, the pioneers of the
new settlement, nineteen men and a boy, marched with
their waggons and household goods, reaching the spot on the
seventh day. They at once set to work to prepare for the
coming winter.

" The long days were well filled with toil by the pioneer Socialists,
and the short nights were devoted to sleep on the ground, under
the tents. The Scotch sailor cooked for them in open air, and
they ate on rough boards, under the shade of a bower, when it did
not rain ; and when it did, they ate standing, to avoid an excess of
water on the body, and because they could shed rain better in that
position. They put in one hundred acres of wheat on the prairie
for the next season, and potatoes, and com, etc., for the running
season. On the morning of June loth the ground was white
with frost, and used up most of the com, and beans, and vines,
which they had hurried up on the new sod, so beautifully turned,
where no rock nor root was in the way of plough and spade.
They also b^an to erect three dwellings, twenty by thirty feet
each, one and a half stories high, and thirty feet apart, which
were completed by winter, from oak trees, which furnished, with-
out saw-mills, the frame, the clap-boards, the shingles, and the
floors, and all except the stairs and upper floors, which were
obtained at a saw-mill twenty-two miles distant, at Waupim. A
saw-mill was also erected, and a dam ; and on this, in the hardest

SOME DWELLERS IN ARCADIA 213

work and most exposed labour, could be found the Lone One,
almost every day, never to be beaten at hard labour nor outdone
in devotion to what he believed true. It was late in winter before
the saw-mill was in running order, and then the stream was frozen
too much for use, and they had to winter once without many boards
for man or beast The hay, which was abundant, supplied the place
of boards for shelter for beasts and for beds for the families." ^

The community lasted for six years, the numbers rising at
one time to about i8o, of whom more than two-fifths were
under twenty-one years of age. Of all the communities of
the time it was perhaps the most successful. The members
worked and danced and sang and held high debate. They
solved the religious difficulty by allowing each denomination
to use the hall for worship in rotation ; they brought up their
children and kept themselves free from debt ; and when, in
1850, partly through internal friction and jealousy, partly be-
cause some among the members were hastening to get rich
elsewhere, the society was dissolved, it enjoyed the dis-
tinction, unique perhaps amongst the secular communities
of the time, of yielding a substantial profit to its members at
the division of the communal property. Warren Chase had
been its virtual founder, was throughout its existence its lead-
ing spirit, and was ultimately entrusted with the duty of
winding up its affairs.^

But meanwhile the World's Child was beginning to take a
prominent part in the larger political life outside. He was at
this time known as an active reformer, advocating the aboli-
tion of property in land, of usury, of banks and banking, of
capital punishment ; freedom for the negro ; and equal rights
of property, of person, and of franchise for men and women.
In 1846 he was elected a del^ate from Fond-du-lac County
to a Constitutional Convention of Wisconsin Territory. In

* Life Lifu^ pp. 117, 118.

"^ In the following passage he gives its epitaph : — " Had been a great stock
and grain grower, raising in one season as high as ten thousand bushels of wheat
Had one genius who did most of its preaching and law business, and others who
attended to the sanitary department. Never used intoxicating drinks, nor
allowed them on its farm. Never used prodane language, nor allowed it, except
by strangers. Never had a law suit, nor legal counsel. Had little sickness, and
no religious revivals. Never had a case of licentiousness, nor a complaint of
immoral conduct. Lived a strictly moral, honest, upright, and virtuous life ;
and yet was hated, despised, abused, slandered, lied about, and misrepresented
in all the countrv round about — mostly by preachers. Kept a school of its own
all the time. Took five or six newspapers to each fiimify. Stopped work on
Sunday to accommodate the neighbours, and rung its bdl for meetings. But
they danced without rum, or vmgarisms and promnity. They had meetings
without prayers, and babies without doctors." (Op, cit,^ pp. 126, 127.)

214 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

1848 Wisconsin was admitted to the Union as a State, and
Chase was elected as a member of its first Senate. At the
meetings of this body he sat side by side with a fellow-
Spiritualist, one Latham Sholes, and in their joint desk they
kept for spiritual refreshment and for sale to their fellow-
Senators copies of Natures Divine Revelations,^ In 1849 he
was nominated by the " Free Soil " party for the Governor-
ship of the State. For the next thirty years he seems to
have taken a prominent part in politics, moving ever west-
ward to new lands, and eventually becoming a member of
the Califomian Senate. During Uiose thirty years he was
also untiring in his advocacy, by lectures and writings, of the
new gospel of Spiritualism. Never had cause a more single-
hearted nor, for the type of men whom he addressed, it may
be surmised, a more persuasive advocate. An enthusiastic
visionary, he believed in other men as thoroughly as he
believed in himself It would have been as ungracious as
futile to seek to demonstrate to such a man that the move-
ment in which he found the realisation of his dreams for the
future of humanity was founded on folly and fraud. He
remained happy in his faith until the last, and deserves
some better tribute than the numerous " inspirational " poems
which, in his later years, were dedicated to him by grateful
mediums.

Another convert, gifted with the same childlike simplicity,
and with no less enthusiasm for humanity, was John Murray
Spear, one of the most attractive figures amongst the early
Spiritualists. Born in 1804, he had been baptised by John
Murray himself, whose name he bore. As a child he worked
in a cotton factory, and thereafter was apprenticed to a shoe-
maker in Abington, Mass. But his earnest desire was to be
a preacher. Ill health and the untimely loss of his hard-
earned savings interfered with his purpose for a time ; but
ultimately, through the aid of his brother and the well-known
Universalist, Hosea Ballou the younger, he received the neces-
sary instruction, and preached his first sermon in December,
1828. In 1836 he heard W. Lloyd Garrison speak, at once
accepted his views, and thenceforward became a prominent
champion of the emancipation of the negro. So much ill
feeling was aroused against him by his advocacy of the un-
popular cause that he was forced to resign his pastorate in
New Bedford, and removed to Weymouth, Mass. A few
years later, in 1844, whilst lecturing in favour of Abolition,
he was attacked by the mob and so seriously injured that his

^ spiritual Rostrum^ p. 68.

SOME DWELLERS IN ARCADIA. 215

life was endangered. In the following year he removed to
Boston, and in company with his brother Charles published a
weekly paper, The Prisoner's Friend^ designed, as its pro-
spectus explained, to promote the abolition of capital punish-
ment, criminal reform, and the spread of peace and general
intelligence. Thereafter for the next six or seven years Spear
appears to have devoted himself almost entirely to helping
the poor, and especially prisoners or accused persons, by his
personal service, advice, and, where needful, money. He
would attend the various courts, and go bail for many who
must otherwise have been imprisoned pending their trial ; he
would visit the prisons, and perform all such offices as a large
charity could suggest; he would communicate with the
prisoners' friends, write their letters for them, sometimes pay
their fines, or support their innocent wives and children ; and
when the prisoners were released he would, so far as his
ability served, help them to find honest employment All
this time he was lecturing and writing and doing all that in
him lay to further the cause of the prisoner. In one year he
is reported to have given as many as eighty-one lectures on
prisons and the cause and treatment of crime, to have dis-
tributed 7,500 books to prisoners, and to have travelled 8,000
miles.

Outside his lecturing, such work as Spear did no doubt
depended largely, if not almost altogether, for its success on
the personal influence of the man. A committee which
found bail for prisoners would have been liable to be de-
frauded again and again ; and a committee governed, as any
such body must be, by definite rules could scarcely have
performed to such good purpose, or with such spontaneous
grace of human kindness, the innumerable acts of mercy
with which Spear's life appears to have been filled during
these years. It may have been a wise instinct which led him
to refuse compliance with the expressed wishes of many of
his friends, that he should form a committee or society rather
than work single-handed. But such single-handed effort,
however disinterested the worker and however noble the
cause, has its peculiar dangers ; and if Spear's long and
successful labours for the poor and suffering led him at last
to believe that he was chosen and appointed from among all
the children of men to be the evangelist of a new gospel,
much may be forgiven to one who had already done so much,
and who had fairly earned the title of the "American
Howard."

Spears attention was first called to the Spiritualist

216 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

manifestations in 185 1. On the 31st March of the following
year his hand was involuntarily moved to write a message,
signed " Oliver," and understood to come from the spirit of
one Oliver Dennett, a friend who had nursed him in 1844
during the illness which followed the assault by the mob of
anti-Abolitionists already referred to. The message bade him
go to Abington, a town twenty miles distant from Boston,
where he then was, and call upon one David Vining; the
object of the mission was not stated. Spear went as he was
bidden, found that a man named David Vining lived, not in
Abington, but in an adjacent town, Weymouth, and was then
suffering from severe neuralgia. At Spear's touch the pain
left him, and he fell later into a refreshing sleep. Spear
stated — and no doubt quite honestly — that he had never
heard of David Vining until the message came to him ; but
it is to be noted that Spear had in his youth worked as a
shoemaker at Abington, and in manhood had lived for some
years in Weymouth, and had therefore probably many links
with these localities.

Other missions of a like kind were imposed upon him.
Later his hand was moved to execute various drawings,
representing in some cases parts of the human body,
inscribed with appropriate texts from the Bible and other
mottoes. There were also geometrical drawings and strange
unintelligible figures, of which no interpretation was vouch-
safed. A little later in the same year the spirit of John
Murray introduced himself at a seance, and asked that a
reporter might be found to take down the discourses which
he proposed to deliver through the lips of his namesake.
A reporter was found, and the discourses were actually
published at the end of 1852, under the title Messages from
the Superior State, They treat of righteousness, of the
glories of the spirit spheres, of the final salvation of all
mankind, and of the spiritual illumination which was about
to shine upon the world. Spear's later "inspired" writings
are treated of below, in chapter v. Spear paid more than
one visit to this country, and was a familiar figure at
gatherings of English Spiritualists in the earlier years of the
movement.^

The restless energy of the American people, and their
freedom from the restraints imposed in older societies by

' The foregoing account of Spear's life is based on the Biographical Sketch by
Mrs. H. F. M. Brown, in the Educator (Boston, 1857), the Preface to Messages
from the Superior State, edited by S. C. Hewitt (Boston, 1852), and Adin
Ballou's Modem Spirit Manifestatums^ chap. xii.

SOME DWELLERS IN ARCADIA 217

tradition and authority, were nowhere more conspicuous than
in the realm of faith. Unfortunately there was no attempt
at an authoritative enumeration of the strength of the various
religious denominations until a much later date than that
which we are now considering. But it is certain that out of
the population of twenty-three millions given by the census
of 1850 a relatively large proportion belonged to no special
Church.^ There are many circumstances, indeed, which
indicate the fluid character of the religious views commonly
held ; notably the rapid spread of Millerism and other
religious epidemics, the recent revival of Swedenborgianism,
and the facility with which preachers and congregations alike
from time to time changed their religious tenets. All these
features appear to have been symptomatic less of the weak-
ness and instability of the religious impulse than of a certain
freshness and spontaneity in its manifestation, strictly com-
parable with the insistent, childlike questioning of social
problems to which reference has already been made.

The ranks of the Spiritualists were naturally recruited
largely from those who had freed themselves entirely from
the Christian tradition, and had therewith lost all definite
hope or belief in a future life. One of the most prominent
of these converts was Professor Hare; and by the general
testimony of the Spiritualist writers of the time, Hare was
but one of many in like case.* But the converts who were
most active in the propaganda came as a rule from the
Churches, and especidly from those who, like the Friends,
the Unitarians, and the Universalists, held some liberal or
attenuated form of Christian doctrine. Thus amongst the
earliest converts we find the Friends Isaac Post and George
Willetts, the Swedenborgians Courtney, Tiffany, and Bush,
and ministers of various denominations, such as Sunderland,
Femald,* Newton, Hammond, Ferguson, Allen Putnam, etc.

No religious body gave a larger contingent to the new
faith than the Universalists. Of those whose names have
already been mentioned as associated with A. J. Davis on the

^ Judge Edmonds {StiHtualism^ vol. i. p. 9, dfhth edition, by Edmonds and
Dexter. New York, I053) says that there were but five millions of professed
Christians ; but he gives no grounds for this estimate, and there were no official
figures on the subject until much later.

' See €,g, Edmonds and Dexter, op, cii,^ vol. i. pp. 53« 61. TeUgraph
Papers^ vol. ii. pp. 79» I22» 469, etc.

' Femald {spirit iVorld^ vol. iii. p. 90) deprecates the title of Swedenboreian ;
but he certainly at this time held, and continued for many years to hold and
express the leading Swedenborgian doctrines. Probably, however, the title of
his then recently extinct paper, the Christian Rationalist^ fiiirly indicates his
position.

218 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

Univerccslunty Harris, Fishbough, and Brittan, as said, were
all Universalist ministers, whilst Femald at one time appears
to have been connected with the same denomination. Later,
we find prominent in the ranks of Spiritualism R. P. Ambler,
Adin Ballou, J. M. Spear, S. C. Hewitt, and many others
who had been educated for Universalist pulpits. A corre-
spondent of the Univercaslum had expressed his fear lest the
new movement should prove merely a division of the older
denomination ; and charges of the same kind continued to be
brought against the Davisian theology. It would be pertinent
to inquire, therefore, what special characteristics of the Univer-
salist faith led its followers to bulk so largely in the Spiritualist
movement. Universalism, to quote Sie definition of its
American historian. Dr. Eddy, is "the doctrine of the final
holiness of all men through the grace of God revealed in
Jesus Christ"^ In one form or another the Universalist
belief is almost as old as Christianity itself. In America the
foundation of the sect is usually ascribed to John Murray.
But Universalist tenets were held in America long before
Murray, as Dr. Elddy shows. So early as 1636 there were
two prominent mystical writers who preached the doctrine,
Samuel Gorton and Sir Harry Vane, then Governor of
Massachusetts. It is noteworthy that in its beginnings the
doctrine seems habitually to have been associated with
mysticism. No doubt the central dogma, as commonly held
until within recent years — the immediate and unconditional
entrance into glory of every human soul at death — is based
on the mystical doctrine of the divine and incorruptible
nature of the soul, from which it followed that all sin belonged
to the body, and that all the consequences of sin ceased with
the death of the body. Contributory sources of the faith in
America were the Rappists, a sect of German mystics, who
migrated to America in 1803, and there founded a Society
of celibates, who had all things in common, and looked for
the early advent of the millennium ; and the Dunkers, or
German Baptists, a sect which founded a monastic Socialist
community at Ephrata early in the eighteenth century. In
fact, the doctrine of Universalism, though not necessarily
under that name, has been very generally held by the re-
ligious communist societies.*'*

At the time of which we are now speaking the Universalist

^ Universalism in America^ by R. E^dy, D.D. Two volumes. Boston,
1884-6.

*■' Sec Eddy, of>. cit. ; Noyes' History of American Socialisms ; Nordhoff, Thi
Communistic Societies of the United States (London, 1 875).

SOME DWELLERS IN ARCADIA. 219

Church in America was in a state of transition. From an
early date in the nineteenth century a bitter controversy had
been waged within its ranks on the nature of the change at
death. The orthodox section, comprising at first the great
majority, held what appears to have been the primitive
doctrine, that in the next life there is no room and no need
for repentance, but that salvation comes to all alike at death.
The younger school, called Restorationists, denounced this
doctrine as immoral and contrary to the authority of the
Bible ; their opponents used hard words in return, and the
dissension waxed so bitter that in August, 183 1, a convention
of Restorationists, which included Adin Ballou, drew up a
manifesto in which they declared that "the doctrine of no
future accountability and immediate entrance into glory " was
incompatible with •* pure religion and subversive of the best
interests of Society," and therewith seceded from the Com-
munion. But notwithstanding this secession, it seems clear
that many of those who remained held the same Restorationist
tenets, and the rationalist view, in fact, grew so rapidly that,
in 1878, a representative convention of Boston Universalists
drew up a statement of the general belief of the Church on
this subject, in which it is laid down that "we believe that
repentance and salvation are not limited to this life. ... In
respect to death, we believe that, however important it may
be in removing manifold temptations and opera'ng the way
to a better life ... it has no saving power."

Such, then, was the position of the Universalist Church in
the middle of the nineteenth century. Founded originally on
a revolt from the rigid and unlovely eschatology of orthodox
Protestantism, its younger members had recently carried the
rationalising spirit still further, so that some of them had
already separated themselves from the parent body, and
others still within the pale were less openly working towards
the same position. To men who had thus been preoccupied
for a generation with the problem of a future life, and who
had for themselves evolved the conception of it as a life of
probation and progress, the new philosophy of the Spiritualists
came as a most welcome and timely revelation. Or it would
be equally true to say that their preoccupation with the
problem led them to grasp with eagerness those signs and
wonders which seemed to hold out the promise of light in
the darkness, and to shape their meaning in conformity with
their own dearest hopes. It is certainly not without signifi-
cance that for the first few years, at any rate, several editors
of Spiritualist papers and a large proportion of the more

220 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

influential and respected speakers and writers had originally
been Universalist ministers.

One of the best known of the early Universalist recruits
was the Rev. Adin Ballou, a member of a family who had
for two generations occupied a leading position in American
Universalism, and who had himself, as already indicated,
taken a prominent part, on the rationalist side, in die Restora-
tionist controversy. In 1842, the same year which saw the
beginnings of the more famous community of Brook Farm,
Ballou had founded near Milford, in Massachusetts, the
Society of Hopedale, to be, in his own words, " a miniature
Christian republic." In the year 1850 spirit manifestations
of various kinds — raps, movements of furniture, "direct**
writing and various trance phenomena — appeared in the com-
munity. Later, within a few days of the death of their son,
the Rev. Adin Augfustus Ballou, in February, 1852, the
parents received, through the hand of one Elizabeth Reed
of the community, messages assuring them of their son's
happiness and giving a sketch of his life and surroundings in
the spirit sphere, with other information of the customary
character. In the middle of the same year Adin Ballou
published his testimony, for the following amongst other
reasons, as set forth in his Preface : " Because he believes that
a just and discriminating faith in Spirit manifestations, such
as he sets forth, will promote the regeneration of mankind
individually and socially. Because he believes that only the
dawn of the manifestations has yet appeared, and desires to
assist in preparing all well-disposed minds for the brightness
of the approaching day."^

Others there were, of a spiritual temperament like that of
the early Friends, who whilst still holding to the central
doctrines of Christianity, had severed themselves from con-
nection with any Church or Christian society. Josiah A.
Gridley was a doctor practising in Southampton, Mass.
From his own account of himselP we learn that he b^an
life in poverty with feeble health, which had prevented him in
youth from pursuing his studies for the ministry, and continued
to beset him throughout his later years. He was further
hampered in his career by the charge of a wife, also in weak
health and at times deranged, and a numerous family.
Throughout, however, his main preoccupation appears to

' Modem Spirit Manifestations^ Preface, p. li. Liverpool, 1853. (Reprinted
from the second American edition. )

^ Astounding Facts from the Spirit World, Southampton, Mass., J. A.
Gridley, 1854.

SOME DWELLEES IN ARCADIA 221

have been with spiritual matters. This is his own account
of his life history : —

"With an ardent and unwaning desire to find the true and
unerring way of God, I ran rapidly through the various and multi-
form sectarianisms of the churches, as the Congregationalist, Metho-
dist, Unionist, Perfectionist, etc., till I reached Paul's charity, when
sectarianism of every form retired, for that is an inclosure into
which its profane and unhallowed feet' never enter. Yes, I ran
through all these, and in 1834-5 I was convicted for a higher life.
The sinning and repenting that I had followed imder the instruction
of all my teachers, from 18 16 (when I was fourteen years old),
became to me exceedingly loathsome.

" I sought help from the most renowned Spiritualists of that
day, but none understood my wants — ^none knew the unutterable
desires of my thirsty soul. I had been filled for years with the
blessings of ' Revivals,' but they could no longer reach that aching
void. I finally left everything that bore the name of religion and
betook myself to God." *

But even before he ultimately found spiritual peace,
Gridley had been the subject of frequent monitions and
angelic interpositions. He was constantly impressed, even
before seeing the patient, with the cause of the disease and
the treatment to be followed, and attributes the remarkable
success of his practice to his communion with the spirit
world. He gives an instance in which, in 1842, he believed
himself to have been the medium for effecting a miraculous
cure. He was seated at the bedside of a dear friend, having
done all that his art could effect to relieve her pain, and
believing her to be near death.

"In this emergency, with external hope cut off, I seated
myself at her bedside with my forehead in my hand, and my
elbow resting on my knee. In this position I opened my mind
upward. The swelling tide from the spirit world set in, while each
rolling surge which came in quick succession carried up my spirit
to a point of faith and power that seemed to me omnipotent. The
object I dreamed not, but instantly as on the next buoyant surge,
were evolved these words, which echoed through my spirit, mighty
as the roar of a thousand thunders, 'In the name of the living
Christ, I bid these pains leave you.' I knew she was healed." * . . .

He did not move or speak, but the pain left the patient
and she recovered. Like celestial guidance, as he believed,
followed him also in his business matters ; on more than one

» <?A «/., p. 231* " P»ge i88»

222 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

occasion saved his life or that of others ; directed him in
all his actions, telling him when to give and when to withhold
charitable doles; for the space of some months, for his
own spiritual edification, forbade him to make any charge for
his medical services ; and ultimately for a season withheld
him from practising his profession at all.

Finally, within a few weeks of the death of his son Albert,
he was privil^ed to have an interview with him in the spirit

"My spirit stretched itself immeasurably and inconceivably
into the sympathetic network of the heavens in its lengthened
desires for my son. Within two or three minutes he was by my
side. After exchanging the fulness of our affections upon each
other, which no language of earthly lovers can reach, as I had
desired, he first most strikingly and unmistakably impressed me
with his identity. He then showed me his condition and the body
he occupied — the heavenly radiance that glowed from within and
through that body may be felt better than uttered. It was
transparent ; I could see through it, yet its lineaments were clear
and well defined ; it was verily a glorified body ... I now desired
to know whether he remembered the Truths of which we had so
often spoken together during the last years of his earthly pilgrimage,
and whether he was still interested in them. In reply, had he
instantly daguerreotyped them in letters of fire on the wall before
me, they could not have appeared more clear and distinct. Such a
conception is very near the truth — they seemed to roll out from the
glorious body that stood beside me like a rapidly unfolding canvass,
till they completely covered the whole wall of the room." ^

A man whose lifelong experience had thus anticipated the
teachings of the Spiritualists became inevitably one of the
early converts to the new faith. It was not until February,
1852, however, that he came into close contact with the
movement. In that month he found a medium in his own
household, in the person of a young man who had been a
personal attendant on his deceased son Albert. From this
time he held almost daily converse with the " spirits." There
can be no doubt that Gridley's simplicity offered a strong
temptation to the young man Nathan, and probably to other
members of his household. The most singular scenes of
confusion and disorder took place at the early stances, ex-
plained by later utterances as denoting war between good
and evil spirits who were contending for the body of the
medium. Articles of furniture were moved about ; spirit
messages were written in various parts of the house in chalk ;

•

^ Op, cU,^ p. 170.

SOME DWELLERS IN ARCADIA 223

and on one occasion a famous manifestation of a later date
was anticipated — the breakfast -table was laid by spirit
agency.^

The earlier communications to the circle appear to have
been written or spoken almost exclusively through the
organism of the young man aforesaid, the communicating
intelligences purporting to be the son already mentioned,
one or two intimate friends of Gridley, or of other members
of the circle, and occasionally more famous personages. Later,
Gridley himself became a medium, and was " impressed," like
Davis, to utter spiritual truths.

The communications, not unnaturally, reflected Gridley's
own peculiar views on spiritual matters. Much of the book,
indeed, is devoted to the defence of the Christian doctrines
and the biblical miracles from the attacks of A. J. Davis.*
Apart, however, from these apologetics and the affirmation,
again in opposition to Davis, of the existence of evil as
something in its nature distinct from good, the book differs
little from other revelations of the period. It enters minutely
into the geography of the spirit spheres, the nature of the
spiritual body, and other matters of the kind. There are,
moreover, traces of one or two mystical doctrines to be
found ; especially the " interior " breathing, which Gridley
describes as a real physical experience of his own ; ' and
which afterwards figured prominently in T. L. Harris* later
mystical writings.

Of those whose faith in a future life, tottering apparently
under the stress of a recent bereavement, was restored and
enlarged by the Spiritualist manifestations, the most notable
instance was John Worth Edmonds, next to Andrew Jackson
Davis the most popular and most influential of the early
American writers on the subject. Judge Edmonds had been
a Senator of the State of New York, and a State Prison

* Op. cU,, p. 67.

'^ The defence was not perhaps always successful from the orthodox standpoint,
as the following extract will show. Gridley had asked the spirits for an explana-
tion of the sun's standing still in the valley of Jehoshaphat, Davis having said
that Joshua's statement was mistaken. The answer is : —

'* Mr. Davis sometimes draws hasty conclusions. V^en he affirms that the
laws of nature are as unchangeable as their Eternal Author, he affirms the truth ;
but the laws of Nature in Joshua's time might have produced some wonders eaual
to those in our own day, when we have seen the ignorant cobbler, in an incredibly
short time, converted into one of the profoundest philosophers of the age. Mr.
Davis should know that an angel's face, acting as a mirror or luminous cloud of
the right density, could reflect the sun's descending rays for a much longer period
than usual, upon the contending armies of Israel. Cannot the merest schoolboys
with a couple of mirrors make the sun stand still all day in the bottom of the
deepest well, if they choose?*' (p. 74). ' Op, at., p. 263.

224 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

Inspector, and at the time of his first public utterances on
Spiritualism was a judge of the Supreme Court of the State,
and in the fifty-second year of his age. He describes his
initiation as follows : —

"It was in January, 185 1, that my attention was first called to the
subject of * spiritual intercourse.' I was at the time withdrawn from
general society; I was labouring imder great depression of spirits.
I was occupying all my leisure in reading on the subject of death,
and man's existence afterwards. I had in the course of my life read
and heard from the pulpit so many contradictory and conflicting
doctrines on the subject that I hardly knew what to believe. I could
not, if I would, believe what I did not understand, and was anxiously
seeking to know if, after death, we should again meet with those
whom we had loved here, and under what circumstances. I was
invited by a friend to witness the * Rochester Knockings.'" ^

His attention was arrested by what he then saw, and by his
reflections on the momentous consequences which must
follow, if the Spiritualist interpretation were the true one. He
invoked the aid of several friends, amongst them an accom-
plished electrician, and together tihey attacked the problem.
In the course of a few months' investigation Judge Edmonds
satisfied himself that the rappings and other physical
phenomena were not due to any human agency. But what
impressed him from the first at least as much as the raps
themselves, and the movements of tables and chairs and
musical instruments which accompanied them, was the
apparent ability of the power which caused the raps to
respond to mental questions. Of the explanation of this
seeming mystery enough has already been said in a previous
chapter. Further, on one occasion his doings on a voyage
were faithfully chronicled for the benefit of his friends at
home, and other indications of supernormal powers of
acquiring knowledge were vouchsafed to him.

In August, 1853, 1" order to meet the constant attacks in
the Press, he made a public profession of his new faith and
the nature of the investigations which had led up to it. Later
in the same year his young daughter Laura, who had
hitherto, on account of her religious belief, held aloof from
her father's pursuits, became developed as a medium. She
gave in the first place various proofs of clairvoyance; and
later spoke several languages unknown to her in the normal
state ; her musical powers also became largely developed ; and
she frequently described spirits unknown to her, who were

^ SpiriitwHsTHt by Edmonds and Dexter, vol i. p. 71,

SOME DWELLERS IN ARCADIA 225

recognised from her description as friends of persons present
with her.^ Meantime, through the years 1853 ^^^ 1854,
Judge Edmonds, with a few chosen friends, was holding a
circle for the receipt of spiritual communications through the
mediumship of himself, Dr. Dexter, and others. Copious
extracts from these communications were published in the
two portly volumes already referred to, the first in 1853, the
second early in 1855. The work appears to have had an
enormous sale, and no doubt exercised a great influence on
the rising faith. The spirits who chiefly communicated to the
little circle were Swedenborg and Bacon ; Luther and Calvin
were reported as present on one occasion, but left without
giving any token or message.^

Such in brief were the social and intellectual conditions in
which the new religion had its birth, and such were its first
apostles — lecturers on Mesmerism, Socialists and reformers,
revivalist preachers. Unitarian and Universalist ministers.
Laroy Sunderland and J. R. Buchanan, and somewhat later,
Professors Hare and Mapes, represented the critical and
philosophic aspect of the new movement, and gave it what
seemed an assured scientific foundation. The strong impulse
which transformed the tricks of mischievous children, in other
circumstances merely a nine days' wonder for a gaping
village, into the beginnings of a new gospel of hope and
freedom proceeded from men like Warren Chase and John
Murray Spear, full of crude but sincere aspirations for the
bettering of the world ; men whose eyes were often blinded by
the very splendour of their distant ideals to all that was
sordid and contemptible in the present. There were many
men of the same type who were at that very time labouring
for the abolition of negro slavery ; and it is interesting in this
connection to note that at a later period both Abraham
Lincoln and William Lloyd Garrison professed their faith in
Spiritualism.

The shaping of the doctrines of the new religion was the
work of men, many of whom shared with the Socialists and
reformers their large enthusiasms and their generous in-
capacity to see the trickeries and mean ^otisms which
surrounded them, but whose aspirations tended to religious
rather than to social ideals. These men came for the most
part, as we have seen, from the outlying fringes of orthodoxy,
the Churches in which, under the powerful solvent of in-

' Op. cU.f vol. ii. pp. 44, 45.

' For some accounts of these spirit communications and of Edmonds' other
experiences see below, chaps, iii., iv., and v.

I.— Q

226 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

tellectual freedom, the sharp outlines of dogmatic Christianity
were already banning to disappear. There were comparatively
few Methodists and Episcopsdians amongst the advocates of
the new faith, but many Friends, Unitarians, and Universalists.
Sometimes, as would seem to have been the case with Judge
Edmonds and Adin Ballou, the intellectual openness to new
ideas was quickened under the stress of recent bereavement
into a vivid personal craving.

In this manner for a time the new faith seemed to focus in
itself much that was finest and most generous in the religious
and social aspirations of the growing nation, and spread
through all classes of society with a rapidity and persistence
unapproached by any other religious movement of modem
times.

CHAPTER III
THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA

SO far, in considering the phenomena presented at spirit
stances, we have confined our attention mainly to the
rappings. But while these remained for some time the
chief source of interest and the standard means of communi-
cation with the invisible intelligences, other physical phenomena
were soon added. So early as the autumn of 1849, indeed,
Capron and Barron, in their History} record a series of stances,
with Mrs.Tamlin apparently as chief medium, though Catherine
Fox occasionally assisted, at which tables were rocked and
tilted, small objects moved about, a guitar played, and so on.
The Rev. C. Hammond's account of a stance with the Foxes,
in January, 1850, testifies to similar phenomena.^ Later in
the same year, as we have already seen, Sunderland was
favoured with a surprising variety of manifestations in the
domestic circle. In many of the earlier sittings the phenomena,
as in the Hammond case and in Tallmadge's account quoted
below, seem to have taken place in the light, the table round
which the circle sat affording sufficient cover for the musical
performances and other manifestations. Sometimes, indeed,
as in the two cases last cited and in Elliott's stance,' the
investigator was alone with the two, or three, Fox girls and
their mother.

But when a larger circle was to be entertained — and the
circles of the day frequently numbered from twenty to thirty
persons — the advantages of darkness and of singing or piano
playing during the period of incubation were early perceived.
Capron's stances in 1849 were held in the dark ; and the
more violent physical demonstrations nearly always took place,
if the circle was a large one, in the dark.* The sitters were

' Pages 69 et seq, ^ Dewey, op, est,, pp. 17-32.

•'' Quoted in his book, MyUerUs^ or Glimpses ^ etc, pp. 146-51.

^ See e.g. Spirit World, vol. ii. p. 126, voL iu. pp. 102, 103, etc

227

228 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

also, as in later times, generally enjoined to sing or play
on some musical instrument — a compliment which the
"spirits" frequently reciprocated by rapping an accompani-
ment to the tune. In tfiese earlier stances, again, the pre-
caution of holding hands all round the circle appears to have
been frequently, but by no means invariably, observed.

Very few critical accounts of the earlier seances have been
preserved ; but they are not needed. The accounts given by
Spiritualists themselves, when they condescend upon detail,
are sufficient to show that we need look for no other cause for
the results described than trickery of the most trivial and
vulgar kind — trickery for the most part too obvious to need a
commentary.

But as I desire to put the case at its strongest, I propose to
select in the present chapter the best accounts which I can
find given by Spiritualists, beginning with extracts from the
personal experiences of some of the leaders of the movement,
told by themselves.

One of the most distinguished of the early converts was
the Hon. N. P. Tallmadge, Governor of Wisconsin. In a
letter to a friend, dated April I2th, 1853, which was published
in most of the journals at the time, he gives some account
of his experiences, the most remarkable of which were con-
nected with the " spirit " of the late John C. Calhoun. He
held, on dates not specified, several sittings with the Fox
family — the mother and two unmarried daughters — generally
with no other persons present. At these sittings he received,
through the raps, communications purporting to come from
Calhoun. The table was also alleged to move when no one
was near it. Further, on one occasion Tallmadge tells us
that he sat on the centre of the table, and the three ladies sat
at the sides, with their hands and arms resting upon it Not-
withstanding this added weight, the table rose, ''and was
suspended in the air about six inches above the floor^ Tall-
madge pours just scorn upon the hypothesis, put forward
by some ignorant persons, that this stupendous manifestation
could be explained by electricity. At a later stance bells
and a guitar were placed on a drawer under the table, and
music of indescribable beauty was produced. The climax
was the production of direct spirit-writing. The first sitting
held for this purpose was a comparative failure. The
mediums were the three Foxes, and Tallmadge was the
single sitter ; but only a few vague pencil marks were pro-
duced.

Through the raps, however, an appointment was made for

THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 229

the following Friday (date not specified), at seven. Apparently
the sitters were the same as before.

" We met, pursuant to appointment, took our seats at the table,
our hands and arms resting on it as usual I placed the paper with
my silver-cased pencil on the drawer, and said : —

"*My friend, I wish the sentence to be in your own hand-
writing, so that your friends will recognise it.' He replied, *You
will know the writing.' He then said, *Have your minds on the
spirit of John C. Calhoun.'

'* I soon heard a rapid movement of the pencil on the paper, and
a rustling of the paper, together with a movement of the drawer.
I was then directed to look under the drawer. I looked, and
found my pencil outside of the drawer, near my feet, but found
no paper on the drawer where I placed it. On raising up the
drawer I discovered the paper all under it. The sheets were
a little deranged, and on examining, I found on the outside sheet
these words : * Fm with you stilU "

Tallmadge showed the sentence to several friends, who,
according to his report, recog^nised the writing as " a perfect
facsimile" of Calhoun's; and two witnesses added that the
abbreviation " Pm " was characteristic of the deceased states-
man. Upon which Tallmadge comments : —

"How significant, then, does this fact become! We have not
only the most unequivocal testimony to the handwriting itself, but,
lest any skeptic should suggest the possibility of an imitation or
a counterfeit, this abbreviation, peculiar to himself, and known only
to his most intimate friends, and which no imitator or counterfeiter
could know, is introduced by way of putting such a suggestion to
flight for ever." ^

Another well-known name is that of William Lloyd
Garrison, who gave his testimony in the Liberator of
March 3rd, 1854. ^^ the sitting which he describes the
medium was Mrs. Brown (formerly Mrs. Fish). The date
is not given, but it occurred " recently." The circle consisted
of ten persons, four of whom were ladies. Raps and other
demonstrations were given. Then by means of the raps the
alphabet was called for, and

"letter by letter, it was rapped out that the medium must put her
feet in the custody of one of the party, and then we were told
to wait for demonstrations. This was evidently done to convince

^ The Healing of the Nations^ by Linton and Tallmadge, pp. 474-82. New
York, 1858.

230 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

everyone present that the medium had nothing to do with the
phenomena, by way of fraud or collusion; and during the entire
sitting (a protracted one), before any remarkable feat was performed,
the medium was invariably ordered to take such a position as to
render it clearly impossible for her to be privy to it The presence
of several spirits was indicated during the evening, and satisfoctory
tests were made; but the most communicative and efficient one
purported to be that of 'Jesse Hutchinson.' It was he who had
been playing bo-peep with us under the table; and now that the
medium was secured to the satisfaction of all present, he renewed
his salutations not only to us personally, but to nearly every one
of the circle. The ladies had their dresses, and the gentlemen their
pantaloons, pulled, and their feet patted, in the most emphatic
manner. . . . He then spelt out the following communications by
the alphabet : ' I am most happy, dear friends, to be able to give
you such tangible evidence of my presence. The good time has
truly come. The gates of the New Jerusalem are open, and the
good spirits, made more pure by the change of spheres, are knocking
at the door of your souls.' "

After this a bell was put under the table and rung, and
a stick was moved about ; three spirits, two of them being
the well-known Abolitionists, Isaac T. Hopper and Jesse
(Hutchinson), wrote their autographs on paper placed for
the purpose in the same spot, and spirit hands grasped —
also under the safe cover of the table — the feet and hands
of the company.!

Adin Ballou unfortunately gives no details of his personal
experience of the physical phenomena ; he merely recounts,
in general terms, tfiat he had heard at the circle noises of
various kinds, had seen tables and other articles of furniture
move about, with or without contact of the medium's hands,
and had witnessed " direct spirit- writing," besides other lesser
marvels.*

Judge Edmonds' testimony to the physical manifestations
is also wanting in detail. In his Appeal to the public, dated
August 1st, 1853, he merely describes in general terms
levitation, tiltings, and other violent movements of tables
and chairs, ringing of bells, and so on. But there is one
particular manifestation, reference to which is excluded from
the Appeal^ because it occurred when Judge Edmonds was
alone, which possesses a special interest, since we have two

* Quoted by Hare, Experinunial Investigation, etc, pp. 327-9. Hare
ascribes the account to Henry Lloyd Garrison, but there seems to be no doubt
that the famous Abolitionist is intended. The s^nce is referred to in the
Telegraph Papers , vol. iv. p. 418, and William L. Garrison is said to have been
present. ^^ The Modern Spirit Manifestations ^ pp. 19, 2a

THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 231

accounts of it, written by the judge at a considerable interval.
This is the later account, dated March 13th, 1859 : —

" And, finally, after weeks of such trials, as if to dispel all idea
in my mind as to its being done by others, or by machinery, the
rappings came to me alone, when I was in bed, when no mortal
but myself was in the room. I first heard them then on the floor,
as I lay reading. I said, ' It's a mouse.' They instantly changed
their location firom one part of the room to anodier, with a rapidUty
that no mouse could equal. 'Still, it might be more than one
mouse.' And then they came upon my persons-distinct, clear,
unequivocal. I explained it to myself by calling it a twitching of
the nerves, which at times I had experienced, and so I tried to
see if it was so. It was on my thigh that they came. I sat up
in bed, threw off all clothing fix)m the limb, leaving it entirely bare.
I held my lighted lamp in one hand near my leg, and sat and
looked at it I tried various experiments. I laid my left hand
flat on the spot — the raps would be then on my hand, and cease
on my leg. I laid my hand edgewise on the limb, and the force,
whatever it was, would pass across my hand and reach the leg,
making itself as perceptible on each finger as on the leg. I held
my hand two or three inches from my thigh, and found they
instantly stopped, and resumed their work as soon as I withdrew
my hand.

'* * But,' I said to myself, ' this is some local affection, which the
magnetism of my hand can reach.' Immediately they ran riot
all over my limbs, touching me with a distinctness and rapidity
that was marvellous, miming up and down both limbs, from the
thighs to the end of the toes."^

On comparing this account with that given in a con-
temporary extract from his diary,* we find some interesting
variations : —

(i) Nothing is said about the raps on the floor preceding
the raps on the thigh : the account in the diary begins,
" To-night, afler I had gone to bed, and while I lay reading
... I felt a touching on my left thigh," etc.

(2) Nothing is said about the raps being felt on the hand
when laid flat on the limb ; on the contrary, it is expressly
stated that this procedure stopped the manifestation.

(3) Nothing is said about the stopping of the raps when
the hand was held two or three inches from the thigh.

(4) "They ran riot all over my limbs" is represented in
the contemporary account by the following sentence : " After

^ Originally published in the New York THkum, March, 1859. Reprinted
in Letttn and Tracts^ p. 156. Memorial Edition. London, James Burns
(no date). '^ SpirituoHxm^ by Edmonds aad Dexter, vol i. pp. 18, 19.

232 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

this there came a storm of touchings from my left big toe,
all the way up my leg to the upper part of my thigh. . . .
This storm ran up and down my leg several times in a
perfectly straight line," etc. From a perusal of this earlier
account there seems no sufficient reason for r^arding the
experiences as other than subjective.

In the case of some other manifestations witnessed by
Judge Edmonds, we also have the advantage of two accounts,
in Ais case by different witnesses. C. W. Elliott quotes a
report, dated 25th May, 185 1, given him by a friend, of a
stance at which two young men of Springfield (Gordon and
Cooley) were the mediums. The stance was held at the
house of Charles Partridge on the 21st May, and Edmonds,
Gray, and some fifteen or twenty others were present. In
the first place Gordon gave various manifestations of trance
speaking and writing : —

"After this the spirits desired the lights put out, and, every
vestige and gleam of light being excluded, in the most pitchy
darkness, a series of proceedings took place, which utterly and
entirely disgusted me; of course, an3rthing done in the dark is
useless, so far as convincing people goes. We sat and listened,
for about one hour and a half, to a perfect pandemonium of noises,
bangs on the table as loud as could be made by hand or foot,
loud slaps, bells ringing loudly, the table creaking, flapping its
leaves and turning quite upside down, as was announced by the
exclamations of those about it, Judge Edmonds continually ex-
claiming, *rm touched — now I am tapped on the shoulder — hear
that — now they are at my feet, now my head,' and then he would
cry out, *They are pulling my coat-tails — they are pulling me to-
wards Margaretta (Fox) ' . . . . Meanwhile the white-haired (medium)
was going on in the most extraordinary manner, crying out,
seemingly scuffling and contending with spirits who wanted to take
possession of him. At one time Dr. Gray says, * They have lifted
him up in the air,' and someone else rejoined, * No, he is standing
on his chair'; at length, amid a loud outcry, and exclamations
of, * Don't, I don't want to ; leave me alone,' accompanied by the
noise of a struggle, he was dragged into the closet and shut up
there ; this we knew from Dr. Gray's exclamations. Presently Dr.
Gray was also sent in there, then Judge Edmonds, finally all the
mediums and some others. We were then favoured with the most
absurd series of noises from this closet that ever was heard : loud
hangings, a chorus of Auld Lang Syne, sung by all the closetees^
accompanied by raps on the door, and scrapings on an old violon-
cello, which was in the closet, violent ringing of bells, which were
afterwards hurled out into the room, and then rang all around a
sort of accompaniment to the music in the closet. . . . We left

THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 233

them at last at half-past eleven still in there, the noises going on
as loud and meaningless as ever."^

Fortunately, Partridge published a full report of the pro-
ceedings at this stance in the New York papers, from which
we learn that, in addition to Gordon and Cooley, E. P. Fowler
and Mrs. Fox and her daughters were present The most
interesting variation is in Partridge's account of the spirit
lights seen at the beginning of the dark stance, which do not
appear to have been visible to Elliott's correspondent.

" At the stage of the proceedings last alluded to it was proposed
by someone to darken the room, in order to try whether the lights
or sparkles known frequently to accompany the manifestations in
former instances would be perceptible. It was accordingly done,
and the lights were observed at different times and in different parts
of the room — sometimes resembling phosphorescent flames, some-
times forming luminous clouds moving about, sometimes like glisten-
ing stars, crystals, or diamonds. Physical demonstrations increased in
variety and force, and continued for three hours, * during which,' says
Mr. Partridge, * the Judge seemed to be in the possession of the spirits,*
Many things occurred to him, which he mentioned, that he alone
could be conscious of, though we could perceive that something
extraordinary was going on with and around him. Many things,
however, also occurred which all could witness." *

In other respects — except for the omission of all mention
of the " levitation " — the account given by Partridge agrees
pretty closely with that furnished by Elliott's correspondent,
the main difference being in the mental attitude of the reporter.
Judge Edmonds himself, in describing this stance, states that
his experience on that night finally convinced him that the
manifestations were produced by no mortal agency.^

It is interesting to note that Edmonds professes to have
seen on various occasions the odic light issuing " like a pale,
shadowy smoke" from the magnet, the human head and
fingers, and from the members of the circle before a stance.*

Almost the only experiences in these early days to which
the name of experiments could be applied were those re-
corded by Dr. Hare, sometime Professor of Chemistry in
the University of Pennsylvania, and a member of many

* Mysteries ^ or Glimpses of the SuptmcUural^ pp. 167, 168.

' Quoted in Sights and Sounds^ p. 120, etc. The account given by Spicer is
considerably abridged, and I have not had the opportunity of consulting the
original. ' Spiritualism^ by Edmonds and Dexter, vol. i. pp. 25-7.

^ Letters and Tract s^ pp. 169, 170; from a letter to the New York TrUwee^
dated April, 1859.

234 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

learned societies. Even here there was nothing that deserved
to be called scientific investigation. The machinery, indeed,
was not ill-devised, but its use did not dispense with the
necessity for close and continuous observation of the human
agent; and there is no evidence that Hare recognised this
necessity, or took any steps to guard against trickery.

He was, at the time when his attention was first called — in
the summer of 1853 — ^o the spirit manifestations, already
seventy-two years of age, and his book,^ published two years
later, shows him to have been ready — when once his first
repulsion from the subject had been overcome — to accept
without questioning the most amazing testimony, and to
place implicit trust in the mediums with whom his investiga-
tions were conducted.

Briefly, Hare's apparatus was of two kinds. The first, a
wooden board about four feet long, supported on a fulcrum
about a foot from one end, and at tihe other end attached by
a hook to a spring balance. A glass vessel filled with water
was placed on the board near the fulcrum, between it and the
spring balance ; a wire gauze cage attached to an independent
support, and not touching the glass at any point, was placed
in the water, and the medium placed one or both hands in
the wire cage. In this position he could, of course, exercise
no appreciable effect on the balance if he was effectually
prevented from touching the apparatus at any other point.
Nevertheless, on several occasions the balance showed a varia-
tion of weight, on one occasion indicating the exertion of a
force of eighteen pounds at what was assumed to be the
point of application. Gordon was the medium on this
occasion ; but the medium generally employed for this class
of manifestation was a little boy of eleven, of whom we shall
hear more later. No details of the experiments are given,
and there is no evidence that any measures were taken to
prevent the medium from forcing up the short end of the
lever. The experiment, indeed, is chiefly of interest as
having apparently furnished the model for the more elaborate
trials of a similar nature conducted some years later by Sir
W. Crookes.

The other machine, of which Hare invented several
varieties, consisted essentially of a revolving disc, with the
letters of the alphabet printed round its circumference, and
attached to a table. The disc was actuated by a band pass-
ing over a small wheel, attached to one leg of the table or

* Experimental Invesiimtum: The Spirit Manifestations^ etc., by Robert
Hare, m.d. New York, 1855.

THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 235

fastened to a fixed weight on the floor, so that as the table
moved different letters would come under the pointer. The
primary object of the device was to secure that the medium
should not see what letters were indicated by the pointer.
Further, it was sometimes sought, by placing on the table
a small board supported on castors or on metal balls, and
causing the medium's hands to rest on the board, to pre-
vent the medium from exercising any direct force on the
table except in a downward direction. Again no details
are given of the experiments, not even, as a rule, the names
of the medium and the persons present ; and there is no
indication that any precautions were taken to guard against
trickery on the part either of the medium or her friends.
The only particulars of interest which Hare gives are that
the spirits always expressed a dislike to the use of the board
supported on castors or balls, and professed to find it ex-
tremely difficult to give intelligible messages when the
medium could not see the alphabet, because, as they ex-
plained, it was in such a case necessary to see through
Hare's eyes. Some "spirits," indeed, through the moutihs
of their mediums, refused to have anything to do with the
machines, or tried and failed to produce any results.^

Even if we had the fullest confidence in Dr. Hare's com-
petence as an investigator, it is clear that experiments of
this kind, unless carried out with the most stringent pre-
cautions, could carry little weight But his readiness to
accept the most amazing and ludicrous accounts from others ;
his own complete faith in the communications received from
various spirit worthies — Washington, Franklin, etc. ; and,
finally, the simplicity shown in tiie following extract from
a speech delivered at the New York Conference in September,
1854, show that any confidence in his capacity for an investi-
gation of this nature would be misplaced. I have not space
to quote the whole speech, but a brief extract will no doubt
suffice. Hare was on his way to attend the meeting of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science at
Montreal. He was accompanied by a boy-medium, ap-
parently the same boy who was the medium in the balance
experiments.

" Next morning, while yet in their state-room on board the boat,
they [i\e. Hare and the boy] found the door locked and the key
missing. They searched for a long time unsuccessfully, when the
spirits said it was in the bottom of the carpet-bag. But the key of

* Op. cit,, pp. 41-3, etc.

236 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

the carpet-bag was also gone, when the spirits said it was at the
bottom of the trunk, and on taking out the baggage they found it,
and then found the key of the door at the bottom of the carpet-bag.

"When they arrived at Montreal and put up at their hotel, he
hunted his baggage for his toilet-case, but could not find it The
spirits told him it was under the bolster of his bed. He raised the
bolster and searched, but could not find it He had his eye upon
the boy all the time. The spirits told him to look again, and upon
raising the bolster again, precisely where he had looked before, he
found it. It was impossible, he said, that the boy could have done
this, for he stood in the same place all the time, and could not have
moved without his seeing him.

" The next evening they went to a large party, at the house of a
lady, to hold a circle. They had packed the spirit-scope, balls, and
other apparatus in the carpet-bag. There were many sceptics and
disagreeable persons present, many counter-mediums, as he supposed.
When they came to open the carpet-bag they could not find the
key. They went to the table, but could not get any communica-
tions. They entered into another room with the boy, and the spirits
spelled out, by means of raps, that he would get the key before he
got home. Whilst he was riding along the streets of Montreal on
his way home the key came down upon his breast !

"On another occasion, while alone with the boy in their room,
and after they had locked up the balls, spirit-scope, shaving-case,
etc., in his carpet-bag, the balls were, in some inscrutable way, taken
from the carpet-bag and fell upon him in a shower. Then came
the box, razor-strap, etc., all falling, apparently, from above, on and
around him."*

Among the most widely celebrated manifestations of these
early days were the spirit-writings given through the medium-
ship of Mr. E. P. Fowler, a younger brother of the well-
known phrenologist. The case is of special value for our
present purpose as having been the leading case selected as
illustrative of the phenomena in general, in a discussion
between Brittan, editor of the Shekinahy and Dr. B. W.
Richmond, a friendly sceptic, which was carried on in 1852.2

Mr. Fowler, a young medical student, was a member of the
New York circle. This is his own account of the first spirit-
writings, contained in a letter written at Brittan's request on
March 26th, 1852, and published in the Shekinah: — *

"... On the night of the 21st November, 1851, while sleeping
alone in the third story of the house, I was awakened about one

* Quoted in Modem American Spiritualismy by Emma Hardinge Britten,
p. 118. London : J. Burns (no date).

^ Republished in book form in the following year at New York.
' Vol. i. pp. 301-4.

THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 237

o'clock by sounds of footsteps in my room. Looking up, I saw five
men, some of them dressed in ancient costume, walking about and
conversing together. Some of them spoke with me, and among
other things told me not to be frightened, that they would not harm
me, etc. I attempted to rise, however, to go downstairs, but found
that my limbs were paralysed. These strange visitants remained
with me about three hours, and finally disappeared while going
towards a window and when within about two feet of it. They did
not open the window. During the succeeding night, and at about
the same hour, I was again awakened in a similar manner, and saw
several persons in my room. Some of those who were there on the
previous night were present, with others whom I had never seen
before. One of them had what appeared to be a box about i8
inches square; it seemed to contain electrical apparatus. They
placed the box on the table, and then electrical emanations, like
currents of light of different colours, were seen issuing from the
box. One of the company placed a piece of paper, pen, and ink
on the lid of this box. The luminous currents now centred around
the pen, which was immediately taken up and dipped in the ink,
and without the application of any other force or instrument, so far
as I could perceive, the pen was made to move across the paper,
and a communication was made which I have since learned was in
the Hebrew language. This information I received from Professor
Bush, to whom the writings were submitted for translation, and
whose letter addressed to you will accompany this statement. Soon
after three o'clock my new companions left me as they had done
the previous night, taking the box with them. During the time
they were in my apartment I was in possession of my natural
senses, and not only saw them^ but the furniture in the room, by
means of the illumination which their presence caused ; and I also
heard the clock strike and carriages passing in the street"

In a later letter, dated August, 1852,^ Fowler adds some
particulars about other writings. Another piece of Hebrew
was written in his room at three o'clock in the afternoon (date
not stated), he having been previously requested by the spirits
to leave the room for that purpose. This piece of Hebrew,
like the other, was a quotation from the Old Testament
Again, returning one day in the middle of December, 185 1, to
his room, about three o'clock p.m., he found upon his table
" written upon a sheet of drawing-paper which was incidentally
left" there, the l^end, "Peace, but not without Freedom,"
followed by the autographs of forty-three spirits. Subsequently,
according to a statement signed on the 25th December, 1851,

^ Published in Richmond and Brittan's Discusswn^ p. 12. A mach fuller
account, by Fowler, b given in the Appendix to Edmonds' and Dexter's
Spiritualism^ vol. i. pp. 443-51.

238 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

by sixteen members of the New York circle,^ the spirits,
owing ostensibly to the omission of any history of the
occurrence and the irregular mode in which the signatures
of the attesting members of the circle had been affix«l to the
document, directed the medium to bum it, and undertook to
write another. Accordingly, two pieces of parchment were
placed on the table in Fowler's bedroom, and on the morning
of the 23rd of December, when the medium arose, he found
the same l^end inscribed on the parchment, together with
the signatures of fifty-six spirits, including many of the
original signatories of the Declaration of Independence, in
their characteristic handwriting. At a meeting held on the
25th December the spirits were asked whether each wrote his
own name on the parchment, and answered emphatically,
" Yes ! " Thus far Mr. Fowler's own letters and the statement
drawn up by the circle on the 25th December, 185 1. Later,
in reply to Dr. Richmond's challenge in the Discussion^ already
referred to, a second and a fuller statement of the circumstances
was drawn up and signed by eight witnesses. This later
statement, and Brittan's covering letter, are alike undated,
but from the dates of the corresponding letters of Richmond,
it would appear to have been written in August or September,
1852.2

Apart from internal evidence, the authenticity of the
writings, it will be seen, depends exclusively on the testimony
of the medium, a young medical student with a turn for
drawing. It becomes important, then, to scrutinise the
character of the writings themselves. A reproduction of the
fifty-six spirits' autographs is given at the end of Mrs. Hardinge

^ Published in No. 9 of the SpirittuU Telegraph,

'^ Discussion^ pp. 14-16. It is important to point out certain discrepancies in
the evidence.

(i) Fowler, in his own letter of 25th March, 1852, says the spirit sienatores
were written on the first occasion on a piece of paper "incidentally left ' in his
room. In both of the statements signed by members of the circle it is expressly
said that the paper was placed there oy direction of the spirits.

(2) Fowler sa)rs the writing was executed on the first occasion in the daytime,
but the statement of the 25th December says that it was written upon ** in the
course of the night.'' The later statement agrees in this respect with Fowler's
own version.

(3) The earlier statement says that the medium awoke *' on the morning of the
23rd December," and found the second legend and set of signatures written on the
parchment. The later statement says that the writing was executed " during the
night of the 23rd December."

The first two of these discrepancies were pointed out by Richmond in the
Discussion. Brittan, in his reply, only alludes to one discrepancy, and without
specifying its nature, or attempting to explain it, says that it is only apparent,
being due to careless copying on his part. It is clear that he has not even taken
the trouble to understand the charge of inaccuracy which he attempts to refute.

THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 239

Britten's Modem American Spiritualism^ and the curious can
examine it for themselves. Richmond, a not unsympathetic
or unduly sceptical witness, as will be seen in the sequel,
could not digest the spiritual autographs. After comparing
them carefully with each other and with the originals which
they counterfeited, he drew attention to many points of
unlikeness with the originals, and to a common family re-
semblance between themselves, and hinted pretty plainly that
they were the work of one hand — and that hand the medium's.*
The only relevant point in Brittan's reply is that the tremulous-
ness of some of the lines was due, not, as Richmond had
suggested, to the slowness of the movement necessary to an
unpractised forger, but to the roughness of the parchment

An examination of the Hebrew writing proves still more
illuminating. This had been submitted to the Swedenborgian
George Bush, himself an occasional attendant at the circle,
who writes of it, as quoted by Brittan in his first letter,^ that
"altogether the specimens are of a very extraordinary
character, such as I cannot well convey by any verbal
description." The letter then goes on to express Bush's own
conviction of the medium's honesty. In replying, Richmond
points out that Brittan has omitted one important sentence
from Bush's letter, as originally printed in the Shekinah, and
himself supplies the omission, viz. : " The first of these
manuscripts was in Hebrew, containing a few verses from the
last chapter of the prophet Daniel. This was correctly
written, with the exception of several apparently arbitrary
omissions, and one rather violent transposition of a word
from an upper to a lower line."* Bush does not appear to
have carried his analysis further ; but Richmond submitted the
writing to two or three Hebrew scholars, one of whom, the
Rev. W. Carter, a graduate of Yale, enters into details of the
errors referred to. Carter points out that it is quite clear that
the Hebrew was copied by a person so completely ignorant
of the language as not even to know that it is written from
right to left. Thus, the quotation begins in the middle of a
line ; but it is the right half of the line (in Hebrew the beginning)
which is copied, corresponding to the last part of die ninth
verse of the twelfth chapter of Daniel^ " and sealed till the time
of the end** The first part of the next verse, " Many shall be
purified, and made white, and tried," which no doubt made up
the left half of the interrupted line, is omitted (except the

' Diseusswn^ pp. 45 et stq.

' Ibid,^ pp. 18, 19. Bush's letter was originally written at Brittan's request,

1 publii^ed in the Shekituth, vol. i. pp. 305-7. ' Ibid., p. ao6.

240 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

word "Many"), and the quotation continues, ^^Many but the
wicked shall do wickedly ^ and none of the wicked shall under-
standi but the wiser In the original Hebrew words equivalent
to " shall understand *' form the conclusion of this verse. But
these words in the " spirit " Hebrew come at the end of the
quotation, i.e, they have apparently been carried on from the
right-hand extremity of the last line but one to the left-hand
extremity of the last line. In English, of course, this would
leave the order of the words unaffected. In the Hebrew it
has the effect of taking the two last words of the tenth verse,
and inserting them in the middle of the twelfth verse, making
the end of the quotation read, ^'Blessed is he that waiteth and
conuth to days a thousand three shall understands^ ^

It is perhaps hardly necessary to consider further these
particular instances of spirit-writing. It will be seen that the
evidence for their production by spirits rests ultimately on
the testimony of one man — the medium ; that the witnesses
who have recorded the circumstances, and vouch for the
medium's trustworthiness, are so little concerned to be ac-
curate that several discrepancies may be detected even in the
scanty records which they have published ; that the Spirit-
ualist champion cannot see these discrepancies when they are
pointed out to him ; that in quoting the testimony of his own
Spiritualist expert he suppresses (no doubt in perfect good
faith) the only passage which is calculated to damage his
cause ; that this Spiritualist expert, though admittedly a
competent Hebrew scholar, is unable to appreciate the real
significance of the mistakes which he points out ; and finally,
that the claim of spirit authorship derives but questionable
support from an examination of the writings themselves.

That these deficiencies in the evidence were not conspicuous
to the Spiritualists may be inferred from Brittan's conclusion
on the matter in his controversy with Richmond : —

'* I leave this part of my subject with a single additional remark.
If it be difficult to convince sane men that spirits wrote that parch-
ment, the reason will be found to consist in their obstinate scepti-
cism rather than in any defect in the testimony." ^

But Richmond was critical of the phenomena only when,
as in the case last considered, their authenticity seemed to
involve the Spiritualist interpretation. In all other cases he

^ A corresponding analysis of the errors in the Hebrew quotation, by Professor
Vail, of Concord, together with a facsimile of the quotation, is published in
Mattison's Spirit- Rapping VnveiUd^ pp. 1 18-20.

* Discussion, p. 19.

THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 241

shows himself fully as hospitable to new marvels as his
opponent in the argument It is Richmond who first intro-
duces the famous Ashtabula Poltergeist, which he uses to
support his own view of the electro-odylic origin of the
manifestations. Richmond's own account of this case was
based mainly on oral evidence from two of the witnesses,
Miss Martha Cowles and Mrs. Rachel Cowles, with whom he
had a long-standing acquaintance. Later, Brittan procured
an exhaustive history of the case from Mr. L. M. Austin, of
Austinburg, Ashtabula County, Ohio, which is countersigned
by Richmond's two informants and five other persons.

Mr. Austin, dating his letter on the 4th February, 1853,
begins characteristically by acknowledging Brittan's letter
of the 19th instant, and then proceeds to tell the following
story : —

A young widow, H., after the sudden death of her husband,
came to reside with a neighbour in Austinburg, Mr. S. M. Cowles.
Soon after her arrival she became a rapping medium. Later she
went to Marlborough to study anatomy, and on her return to
Austinburg in the autumn of 1851 told a weird story of various
uncanny manifestations which had attended her during her recent
studies. Shortly after similar disturbances broke out, in H.'s
presence, in the Cowles' house. The stair-rods jumped up and
followed H. when she went up to the bedroom. When she and
her friend were in bed, in the dark, muskets, cartridge belts, candle-
sticks, and other objects came from all quarters and piled them-
selves in the middle of the room ; tables moved ; spirit raps were
heard; washstands and chairs started from their places when H.
came into a room ; pillows, brushes, boots, and other light articles
flew around. At Marlborough, when she resumed her anatomical
studies, the manifestations were still more outrageous. One night
H. and her room mate, alarmed by the most frightful sounds, * be-
held standing by their bedside the spectre of the corpse that they
had been dissecting, all reeking and ghastly, as they had left it on
the table, save that one of the arms was folded across the breast — a
change which was actually found to have taken place when the
remams were examined.' On another night H.'s brother, at her
entreaty, came to the side of the bed where H. and her friend lay,
'and saw by the moonlight a human skull dancing up and down
over their heads.'

•

Such, in brief, was the story. The account, it will be
observed, is dated February, 1853, and the disturbances
which the witnesses attest took place in the autumn of 185 1.
Moreover, not one of the eight signatories appears actually
to have seen anything remarkable. Most of the movements

I. — R

242 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

took place in the dark, or when H. was alone, or were wit-
nessed by visitors to the house whose attestation is not given.
No single incident is so described as to make it clear that
anyone who signed the account professed to have ever seen
anything in the act of moving. The disturbances at Marl-
borough rest upon H.'s word idone.

But Richmond is quite as ready to accept the phenomena
as Brittan himself The stair-rods, muskets, and candlesticks,
he explains, moved from their place because they were
attracted by the magneto-odylic energy radiating from H.
He adds some details (gathered, as he allied, in conversa-
tion) which the signed account does not g^ve, viz. that a glass
tumbler, a watch with crystal glass, and a scent-bottle were
not moved, owing, no doubt, as he points out, to glass not
being susceptible to the ms^eto-odylic attraction. A pillow
charged witii the same force was projected towards a person
who was badly frightened, and therefore negative. The
chairs, tables, etc., moved in the wake of H. as she passed
through a room, under the combined force of "electrical
vacuum " and odylic attraction. The phenomena took place
mostly in the dark, because light interferes with the evolution
of this subtle force, and were most violent at Marlborough,
because the emanations from the dead bodies in the dissect-
ing room reinforced the odylic energies proceeding from the
medium.

Lastly, the vision of the dead body was a vision only,
emanating by odylo-cerebral sympathy from the brain of
the doctor, who had altered the position of the corpse after
the ladies had left the laboratory.^

There were some manifestations at this time which, though
apparently of rare occurrence, created a profound and lasting
impression on all who witnessed them, and are constantly
referred to in the early books and discussions. One of them
was the phenomenon of human levitation ; another, of a table
tilting at an extreme angle, without the objects resting on
it falling off. The most circumstantial account which I have
come across of the latter manifestation is contained in a com-
munication made by Dr. R. T. Hallock at a meeting of the
New York Conference on June i8th, 1852. As Dr. Hallock
was himself the Secretary of the Conference, it may be
presumed that the account preserved in the minutes, and
quoted therefrom in the Spiritual Telegraph, is accurate.
The sitting took place on June nth at the house of Mr.
Partridge, and the medium was one Daniel D. Hume (Home),

^ Discussion ^ pp. S9-91, 262-72, etc, etc

THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 243

then at the beginning of his distinguished career. There were
seven sitters : —

"On the table round which we were seated were loose papers, a
lead pencil, two candles,^ and a glass of water. The table was used
by the spirits in responding to our questions, and the first peculiarity
we observed was, that, however violently the table moved, everything
on it retained its position. The table, which was mahogany and
perfectly smooth, was elevated to an angle of about 30 degrees,
and held there, with everything on it remaining as before. It was
truly surprising to see a lead pencil retaining a position of perfect
rest on a polished surface inclined at such an angle. It remained as
if glued to the table, and so of everything else on it. The table was
repeatedly made to resume its ordinary position and then its inclina-
tion as before, as if to fasten on us the conviction that what we saw
was no deception of the senses, but a veritable manifestation of spirit
presence and of spirit power. They were then requested to elevate
the table to the same angle as before, and to detach the pencil,
retaining everything else in precise position. This was complied
with. The table was elevated, the pencil rolled off and eveiything
else remained. They were then asked to repeat the expenment,
retaining the pencil and everything else upon the table stationary,
except the glass tumbler, and to let that slide off. This also was
assented to, all the articles retained their position but the tumbler,
which slid off and was caught in the hands of one of the party as it
fell from the lower edge of the table." *

At another stance with the same medium a witness relates
that he stood upon a table which canted to an angle of forty-
five degrees without throwing him off.*

But unquestionably the most striking manifestation of spirit
power was the levitation of the human body. This particular
marvel was vouchsafed at a very early period of the move-
ment. Even in February, 1851, Sunderland writes in the
Spirit World \^ "We have been assured by eye-witnesses that
Mr. Gordon has been taken up, and his body moved some
distance, entirely by spiritual hands."

About a year later, at the house of Dr. Gray, in New York,
the same medium is said to have been carried through the air
a distance of sixty feet* From Mr. Isaac Rehn, President of
the Harmonial Society of Philadelphia, we have a detailed
account, written in 1855, of a similar performance with the

' It is not stated that the candles were lighted.

^ Quoted in Brittan and Richmond, Discussion^ pp. 249-50 ; also in Sights and
Sounds, pp. 316-8. Thb feat is further considered in Book Iv. chap. iii. below.

' Sights and Sounds ^ p. 128. * VoL ii. p. 62.

' Telegraph Papers, vol. ii. p. 198, voL v. p. 195, etc. Brittan and Richmond,
Discussion, p. 248. Capron, Modem Spirituaiism, etc., p. 1 89.

244 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

same medium. The incident is said to have taken place
" some two years since."

" About the same time a company of persons, whose names, as &r
as I can recollect, I shall mention, were seated around two tables,
joined together, in order to furnish room sufficient to seat the party.
The house in which I then lived had two parlours, with foldii^
doors. The two tables referred to occupied the entire length of the
front parlour, leaving barely room enough for the chairs at the front
end of the room ; the other end of the table extended quite to the
folding doors, leaving, of course, no passage on either end. It so
happened that I was seated at that end of the table projecting into
the doorway. The medium, Mr. Gordon, was seated about midway
of the tables, on the left, the other seats being occupied by the rest
of the company.

" After a variety of manifestations had occurred, the medium was
raised from his seat by an invisible power, and, after some apparent
resistance on his part, was carried through the doorway between the
parlours, directly over my head, and his head being bumped along
the ceiling, he passed to the further end of the back room, in which
there was no one beside himself.

"Although all the individuals present had not equally good
opportmiity of ascertaining the facts in this case^ the room having
been somewhat darkened, still his transit over the end of the table
at which I was seated, and the utter imp>ossibility of the medium
passing out in other way than over our heads, his continued con-
versation while thus suspended, and his position, as indicated by the
sound, with other facts in the case, leave no reasonable doubt of the
performance of the feat." ^

D. D. Hume figured in another widely celebrated case of
the kind. A correspondent of Spicer's, in Boston, thus
describes the occurrence, from report : —

"One evening a unanimous request was preferred that the
spirits would afford the party assembled some irrefragable evidence
of their actual presence. To the utter amazement, as you may
suppose, of the entire circle — prepared, as they doubtless were,
for something strange — the medium was, on the instant, lifted into
the air, and there suspended by invisible agency for a space of two or
three minutes , without touching anything or anybody present, ^^^

This is the account of the incident as given by Brittan : — ^

"On the 8th of August, 1852, several gentlemen were assembled
at the residence of Ward Cheney, Esq., Manchester, Conn., where in

^ Hare, op. cit., pp. 291, 292. ' Sights and Sounds^ p. 131.

' Brittan and Richmond, Discussion^ p. 248.

\

THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 245

the course of the evening very remarkable demonstrations occurred.
One of the editors of the Hartford Times was present, and from
his account of the exhibition, as published in that paper, I cut the
following paragraph : —

"* Suddenly, and without any expectation on the part of the
company, the medium, Mr. Hume, was taken up in the air ! I had
hold of his hand at the time, and I felt of his feet — they were lifted
a foot from the floor! He palpitated from head to foot with the
contending emotions of joy and fear which choked his utterance.
Again and again he was taken from the floor, and the third time he
was carried to the ceiling of the apartment, with which his hands
and feet came in gentle contact. I felt the distance from the soles
of his boots to the floor, and it was nearly three feet ! Others
touched his feet to satisfy themselves.' "

Neither Brittan nor the anonymous Bostonian thought it
necessary to mention that some time previously to the
supreme manifestation the company had adjourned to a
darkened room, ostensibly that they might see the " spiritual
flashes of light said to have been vouchsafed to other
investigators."^ They saw apparently nothing, but they
heard plenty of raps, and some of them felt Mr. Hume's
boots.

But no account of this marvellous form of manifestation
would be complete without Dr. Hallock's testimony to what
he witnessed at Philadelphia. At one of the meetings of the
New York Conference,

"Dr. Hallock stated that on the previous Sunday afternoon (in
the course of his lecture) while, as he believed, every eye and all
thoughts were directed towards him [i.^., Dr. Hallock, the lecturer],
Mr. Henry Gordon, the well-known physical medium, who then sat
at some distance from, but in front of him, in the perfectly well-
lighted room, rose in the air, without any human aid, till the speaker
beheld him floating so high that his feet just grazed the top of the
seat, above which he himg in the air, where he swayed about from
side to side, and tiuned partly around. By this time the attention
of the entire congregation was rivetted on him, when he sank to the
ground. The manifestation was imperfect on the part of the power
that lifted him up, because it was afterwards declared by the spirits
that they intended to have carried him over the heads of the entire
congregation, and landed him on the rostrum, had the conditions
permitted ; but it seemed that the intense astonishment and agita-
tion of the audience had broken the conditions of passivity
necessary for the fulfilment of their design, and so he sank
suddenly to the ground. Still, there remain^ the phenomenon of

^ Sight i and Sounds^ P* 129.

246 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

his having been lifted up and suspended in the air without mortal
aid ; in fact, in a manner which no mortal could have achieved. . . .
The effect of this marvellous operation of spirits in a crowded
assembly and the full light of day, instead of distracting the atten-
tion of the audience from the address, intensified it to the utmost
degree. ' I think I may say,' added Dr. Hallock, * that I never was
in an assembly where so much serene joy and spiritual exaltation
was manifested. Each one felt that it was good to be there.
I cannot describe that Pentecostal scene in words.' "

I have not come across the testimony of any member of
the audience who, according to Hallock, were witnesses with
him of this marvellous sight, nor any other reference to the
incident in the literature of Spiritualism.^

But of all the wonders of the time, few perhaps excited
greater interest, or are more liberally attested, than the
performances in Koons' "spirit-room." Jonathan Koons
was a farmer living in a remote and mountainous district
in the township of Dover, Athens County, Ohio. Early
in 1852 he became interested in the Spiritualist movement,
and it was revealed to him at a stance that all, his eight
children, and himself in a supereminent degree, were mediums
for the spiritual forces. Thereafter, by direction of the
spirits, he built, a few feet from his own house, a log building
of one room, sixteen feet by twelve, to be used exclusively
for spirit manifestations. The room was furnished vrith
a spirit table and rack, supporting drums, triangles, tam-
bourines, and other instruments of music, with a certain
visible arrangement of wires, nowhere, so far as I can ascer-
tain, precisely described, attached to some of the instru-
ments, and having suspended from it bells, plates of copper
cut into the shape of birds, and other objects. The mediums
— generally Mr. Koons and his eldest son Nahum, a youth
of eighteen, accompanied occasionally by other members
of the family — sat at a smaller table in contact with the
" spirit table " ; the sitters, to the number of twenty or more,
sat on benches beyond — t,e, the mediums were between the
circle and the spirit table. Phosphorus was placed ready in
wet paper for the spirits to show themselves by. Doors and
windows were then closed, so as to exclude the light, the
candle was put out ; Mr. Koons began to play the fiddle,
and the spirits responded with a concert, in which another

* Quoted in Modem American Sptrihtah'snt, p. 279. The most probable
explanation of this extraordinary statement is that Hallock suffered a hallucina-
tion, of sight at the time, or of memory in the retrospect. See below, Book IV.
chap. iv.

THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 247

fiddle, the drums, a guitar, banjo, accordion, French harp,
the horn, tea bell, triangle, tambourine, etc, played their
parts. Most of the witnesses appear to have been impressed
more by the energy than the excellence of the resulting
harmony ; more than one tells us with pride that the strains
could be heard a mile off. But the music is sometimes
described as exquisitely beautiful, or even seraphic ; occasion-
ally a choir of angel voices would join in, but the words
of the song were rarely articulate. The leading spirit would
subsequently address the company, using for the purpose
a horn or trumpet to speak through. Of the other mani-
festations the following extract gives a fair idea : —

" Mr. Koons then said, * King, it is very warm here ; won't you
take Mrs. Gage's fan and fan us?' But before he had finished
speaking, the tambourine began to fly around the room like
lightning, breathing a strong current of wind and fanning all in the
house. Then the phosphorus was taken up and darted around the
room like flakes of lightning, and a hand began to develop. We
talked with the voice while this process was going on, and tried to
urge our spirit friends to write a communication for us. When the
hand was formed, it passed around the room and shook hands or
touched the hands of many of us. It took hold of my hand, and
then of my wife's. We both felt the shape of a hand distinctly.
It then got some paper and a pencil, and \aymg the paper on the
table, right in front of us, began to write with great rapidity,
covered one side of the sheet, turned it over again, wrote five lines,
signed it, filled the rest of the page with flourishes, folded it, and
placed it in my wife's hand. It then flew around the room, darting
from the table up to the ceiling, there making three or four distinct
knocks, and daiting down and up, repeating the knocks a njiimber
of times in succession; it then passed all around the room,
stopping and showing the hand to all that wanted to see it It then
commenced darting around the room again, and snapping its fingers
as loud as a man could do. It then threw the phosphorus in the
back comer of the room, said 'Good night,' and was gone.
Mr. Koons then lighted the candle, and my wife read the paper
which was given her by the spirit hand."

An extract from the message written under these con-
ditions may perhaps be of interest The presiding spirit had
been urged, by way of a test, to give the sitters, some of
whom had come from a distance to consult him, the names of
their deceased relatives personally present, as was commonly
done by the rapping mediums. He thus excuses himself: —

" On entering the assembly, he [the presiding spirit] looks around
upon his anxious inquirers, and sees thepi attended with their re-

248 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

spective safi^uards, such as he never saw before. In the discharge
of his official duty, however, he is necessitated to exclude himself
from the direct view and intercourse of the safi^uards, so as to be
brought into a nearer relation to the corresponding parties. The
interlocution accordingly takes place, when each one in turn begins
to interrogate the speaker in his excluded position, on subjects
relating to their excluded guard, of which the speaker knows but
little or nothing, except the cognition of their presence on his
arrival; and in order to acquaint himself with the circumstances
and matters inquired after, so as to answer correctly, the speaker
has to disencumber himself at every inquiry, and not only so, but
would also fail to perform his devofoed duty by submitting himself
to the scrutiny and criticism of the corresponding parties." ^

It should be added that the spirits by whom these mani-
festations were produced purported to be a spirit band of
pre-Adamite men one hundred and sixty-five in number, of
exceeding power and wisdom, bearing the generic name of
King. It was from this circle, indeed, that the celebrated
John King and his scarcely less famous daughter Katie,
beloved of two generations of Spiritualists throughout the
breadth of two continents, are said to be lineally descended.

These performances appear to have been accepted by the
Spiritualists with the same whole-hearted faith as any of
the other manifestations described in this chapter. Hare
devotes several pages of his book to discussing the evidence ;
so at a later date does Mrs. Hardinge Britten ; * the
Spiritual Telegraph^ from the commencement of the
phenomena admitted letters and articles from enthusiastic
correspondents describing the marvels ; and, finally, one of
its editors, Charles Partridge, in May, 1855, went to Dover
township, had several sittings, and recorded his experiences;
in a letter of some length in its columns.*

There were other physical manifestations at this date
which time would fail me to recount : spirit-writing on slates ;
writing in raised red lines on the bare arm or forehead ;
formation of spirit hands — this last a prominent feature
of D. D. Hume's stances;* miraculous materialisation of

^ Letter from Mr. John Gage to Professor Hare, quoted in Hare's book,
already cited, pp. 300, 301.

^ Modem American Spiritualism^ pp. 307-33.

' See e,g. Telegraph Papers^ vol. 1. p. 424 ; vol. lit pp. 267, 352 ; vol. vi.
p. 132 ; vol. vii. p. 248, etc.

* In du Potet^s book, Traiti complet du Magnitisme Animal (Paris, 1856),
a detailed account is given of a sitting with the Koons family by Dr. J. Barthet.
On this occasion, in compliment to the nationality of the vbitor, one of the
written messages contained four words in French {pp. cit,^ P* 5I7» etc).

* See e.g. Telegraph Papers^ voL viii. p. 293.

THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 249

spiritual ointment ; ^ the fire ordeal ; * spirit lights ; apports
of objects, and so on. Indeed, there is but one conspicuous
manifestation of present-day Spiritualism which could not
be paralleled from the records of 1850-5 — the "materialisa-
tion" of a complete human form. There were, indeed, as
we have seen, materialised hands, and some Spiritualists,
like Dr. Gray, contended that the spirits habitually created
temporary physical organisations, to enable them to deal
with material objects. Others held, with Brittan, that the
facts so far adduced hardly warranted such a hypothesis.
One writer, indeed, Professor Mapes (Phoenix), discoursed
learnedly on the means by which the semblance of such
temporary organisms could be produced, in accordance with
the kinetic theory of gases, with a minimum employment
of actual material particles, provided a sufficiently intense
energy of motion were imparted to them.' But, at any rate,
these hypothetical organisations, with the single exception of
the hand, had so far apparently been perceptible to the sense
of touch alone.

To quote further specimens of the evidence for physical
phenomena could hardly serve any useful purpose. The
foregoing extracts afford sufficient examples of the best
evidence which the most competent and distinguished
Spiritualists of the time could offer for their belief, so far as
it was based on purely material marvels. To the reader of
to-day the mere statement of such belief on such grounds
may well appear preposterous. Logical grounds for the
belief— as logic is understood in the modem world — were
clearly wanting. But the matter should not on that account
be summarily dismissed, as a pale recrudescence of mediaeval
superstition. For which of us is in better case ? The causes
of belief in the last analysis are not logical. It should not
be overlooked that, in the present instance, the men who
believed, if not of high intellectual distinction, had at least
proved themselves capable, and had won more or less repu-
tation amongst their fellow-citizens, as merchants, preachers.
University professors, physicians, lawyers, legislators, and
men of science ; that many of them had embraced such
belief when still in the prime of life and the ripeness of their
judgment ; that the same beliefs are held by a large number
of persons even at the present day. We may tod assured

' Supramundam Facis^ etc., p. 129, edited by T. L. Nichols. London, 1865.
' Itkgrapk Papers, vol. ii. p. 451 ; vol. iii. p. 189. Modmm
SpiritualisfHy p. 205.

' Ibid., voL vii. pp. 117, 149, 185, etc

250 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

that in one form or another the belief in such marvels, as it
has revived again and again in the past, will manifest itself
again and again in generations to come ; and history shows
that those who sneer at such credulity without attempting to
understand its causes are perhaps tliemselves not the least
likely to fall victims, precisely because they do not under-
stand.

Some further light will be thrown upon these causes during
the consideration, in the next two chapters, of trance utter-
ances and other psychological phenomena. But one remark
may be made at this point However large a part the
personal craving for assurance of a future life may have
played in predisposing the average Spiritualist to accept the
phenomena as genuine, it is clear that this was not the only,
perhaps not even the chief cause of belief. The whole
history of Animal Magnetism in France and of Mesmerism
in England testifies to the contrary ; and for further proof we
have the curious fact that men like Mahan, Richmond, and
Rogers, who rejected the Spiritualistic interpretation, gave as
blind a faith to most of the alleged marvels as any
Spiritualist of them all. To champion the cause of truth
disinherited is always an attractive part; so attractive that
many men are too little careful to scrutinise the title of
each pretender to the inheritance.

CHAPTER IV

CLAIRVOYANCE AND SPEAKING WITH

TONGUES

WHEN we turn to the psychological phenomena we
find that the records of this period add little or
nothing to the evidence already furnished by the
Mesmerists for the operation of some special faculty of
clairvoyance, or thought-transmission. Not, indeed, but
that the Spiritualists of the time firmly believed in the
existence of such a faculty, as in some cases an alternative
explanation to communication with spirits through the
organism of the medium, and held that they had themselves
received abundant proofs of its operation. That the medium
should answer mental questions, and give information con-
cerning friends long dead and private family matters, was
indeed so common an occurrence that Edmonds and others
excuse themselves from the superfluous task of furnishing
evidence in detail. When, however, details are given, we
find as an almost invariable rule that the information came
through the raps, and there can be no reasonable doubt that
in such cases die real explanation of the mystery lies in the
cunning and keen observation of the medium.

It is, indeed, a striking confirmation of this view that,
though writing mediumship was quite common at a very
early date in the history of the movement, it was only by
exception — an exception of the rarest occurrence — that a
medium undertook to reply in writing to a question of which
the answer was presumably unknown to him.^ There was
no obvious reason for this curious reserve, since the com-
municating intelligences were wont to be voluble enough on

^ Two cases are Quoted by Mrs. Hardinge Britten {Histcry of Modim
Amtrican Spiritualiim), In the first (p. 224) the medium wrot§ out a copy of the
first of a list of questions, but asked that the others should be answered by the
rapt. The other case (p. 257) is second-hand, and is open to other evidential
objections.

251

252 EAELY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

all other matters, in heaven or elsewhere, and when speaking
through the mouth or writing through the hands of their own
relatives, to whom the facts would be known, no such reti-
cence was observed. The inference is irresistible that what
the medium did not know the " spirit " could not tell.

There are, indeed, a few instances at this time, which were
widely advertised and recorded with all due circumstance, of
mental telegraphy at stances. But for the success of this
form of mental telegraphy it appeared to be essential to
have a professional medium at each end of the wire. The
earliest recorded instance of this kind is found in Capron
and Barron's History}

On the 1 2th February, 1850, Mrs. Draper, of Rochester,
had in the trance an interview with Benjamin Franklin, who
gave her, as a test, a violent electric shock, by which her
body was visibly shaken, and undertook in a few days to
provide an illustration of spiritual telegraphy. The first
attempt, three days later, met with only partial success. An
appointment was, however, made for the following Wednesday.

" On the day appointed, February 20th, the above-named persons
convened ; some of the company were late, and as soon as order
was observed, the question was asked, ' What are the directions of
Benjamin Franklin?' A, * Hurry; first magnetise Mrs. Draper.'
This was done, she immediately saying, 'He says we are behind
the time, but he will forgive us this time; we must do better in
the future.' The company was divided as follows : Mr. Jervis,
Mr. Jones, Mrs. Fox, Mrs. Brown, Catharine Fox, in a retired
room, with two closed doors between them. Mrs. Draper, Mrs.
Jervis, Mr. Draper, Mr. Willetts, and Margaretta Fox remained
in the parlor. Sounds unusually loud were heard in each room
by either company, as before, resembling the tel^raphic sounds.
They were so unusual that Miss Fox became alarmed, and said,
* What does all this mean ? * Mrs. Draper, while her countenance
was irradiated with animation, replied, * He is trying the batteries.'
Soon there was the signal for the alphabet, and the following com-
munication was spelled to the company in the parlor : * Now I am
ready, my friends. There will be great changes in the nineteenth
century. Things that now look dark and mysterious to you will be
laid plain before your sight Mysteries are going to be revealed.
The world will be enlightened. I sign my name, Benjamin Franklin.
Do not go into the other room.'

" After waiting a few minutes, Mr, Jervis came into the parlor,
sa3ring that he was directed by the sounds to come and compare
notes. They read as follows : Q, * Are you all right ? ' Answered
affirmatively; signal for alphabet, and the following was spelled:

> Pages 94, 95.

SPEAKING WITH TONGUES 253

* There will be great changes in the nineteenth century. Things that
now look dark and mysterious to you will be laid plain before your
sight. Mysteries are going to be revealed. The world will be en-
lightened. I sign my name, Benjamin Franklin. Go in the parlor
and compare notes.* Mr. Jervis returned to his company, and by
alphabet was spelled, *Now all go into the parlor.* The notes
were then compared in presence of the whole company. Q. * Is
there anything more from Dr. Franklin ? ' A, '1 think I have given
tests enough for this day.* Q, * Will it not be better to keep this
matter private ? ' -^. * No ; it should be published.* Q. * In what
paper ? * -^. ' In Democrat or Magnet J "

Later this form of telegraphy without wires became com-
paratively common ; messages were exchanged between New
York and Philadelphia, Baltimore and Pittsburgh, New York
and Washington, and so on. Professional mediums were
always present at each end of the line ; the most effective
batteries being Messrs. Gordon, Conklin, Whitney, Mrs. French,
and Mrs. Long.^ There were numerous other instances of
spurious clairvoyance, always through professional mediums,
including the pellet test, which need not be further discussed
at present^

But when we turn from the phenomena of the stance-room
to instances of a less obviously manufactured kind, we find a
marked deterioration in the quality of the evidence. The
records of the first class are unimpeachable. We can have no
reasonable doubt that identical messages were given to the
expectant circles in Mrs. Draper's house at Rochester, though
we may hesitate to credit the results either to Franklin or
to thought-transference. But in other cases the attestation
is of the most slovenly and inadequate character. When, for
instance, Judge Edmonds tells us that his friends in New
York were clairvoyantly informed of his doings on a voyage,
we can only regret that the judge's legal training did not
suggest to him die need for substantiating this statement by
furnishing extracts from his own diary and the minutes of
the circle ; and that the clairvoyant did not catch a glimpse
of him when he was engaged in some less readily conjectur-
able occupation than talking about Spiritualism.' When
Mr. Jarvis, a Methodist clergyman, narrates that his friend
Pickard received the news of the death of his child, and

^ Hare, op, cii.^ p. 294; TeUgraph Papers^ vol. iv. pp. 79, So, 447; voL vi.

p. 447.

' See «.^. TeUgraph Papers^ vot iiu, pp. lOi, 140; voL v. p. 400. Modem
American SpiriiualUm, pp. 172, 191, 193, 201, 252, etc.

* Spiritualism^ by Edmonds and Dexter, p. 3a

254 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

actually started on his homeward journey, before the arrival
of the annunciatory telegram, we ^ain note the unfortunate
omission from Mr. Jarvis' letter (itself undated) of precise
hours and other particulars, and the absence of any account
from the person chiefly concerned.^ Or, once more, in the
account given, apparently in entire good faith, by Mr. Willetts,
one of the early Quaker converts, of two or three instances
where excellent advice was given him by spirits in business
matters, exhibiting apparently superhuman knowledge of the
motives and future actions of third persons, we again note
with regret that Mr. Willetts did not think it necessary to
date his communication nor to offer any corroborative testi-
mony.^ Not less striking than the poor quality of the
evidence actually forthcoming in such cases is the paucity
of the records. The same examples — as was noted by Mahan
and other early critics — are quoted over and over again by
writers and lecturers on the subject Even Mrs. Hardinge
Britten, the later historian of the movement, whilst explain-
ing that she is embarrassed in her selection by the wealth
of the material at hand, including over two hundred narratives
in her own possession, contents herself with quoting as ex-
amples of this early time the three narratives here referred
to from Capron and Barron's book and one other.*

In nearly all cases we find that the Brother, Wife, or Child
who purported to communicate through the medium — when
raps were not the vehicle of conversation — seems to have been
taken on trust There are hardly any detailed accounts of
actual proof of their claim being asked for or furnished ; whilst,
on the other hand, there are several cases recorded where a
dead relative or friend greeted the anxious inquirer, and
furnished circumstantial proofs of decease, who was afterwards
found alive and well. In one case, acting upon information
received through the medium, the dead man's relatives dug
for his body in a swamp, and after an arduous and unsuccess-
ful search, learnt that tiie murdered man was sawing lumber
in the next county.*

' Capron and Barron, History^ pp. 38, 39. * Ibid,^ pp. 50-3.

^ Modern American Spiritualism^ pp. 47-55. Other instances of alleged
clairvoyance, thought-transference, etc., at this time will be found in Capron and
Barron, op. cit.^ p. 54 ; Asa Mahan, Modem Mysteries^ etc., pp. 227, 228 ; Adin
Ballou, Modern Spirit Manifestations ^ pp. 82, 112 : Spicer, Sights and Sounds^
p. 307, etc. ; in the Prefaces and Appendices to Edmonds and Dexter's Spirit-
ualism ; in Mrs. Hardinge Britten's History y pp. 136-40, 253 ; Richmond and
Brittan's Discussion^ pp. 198, etc. ; and in the Spiritual Telegraph.

* Spirit Worlds vol. iil, p. 38; see also ibid.., pp. 36, 37 ; Asa Mahan, op.
cit.y pp. 176, 177, etc., etc.

SPEAKING WITH TONGUES 255

There are a few cases, however, which excited considerable
notoriety, of a spirit furnishing detailed evidence of his
identity. Probably the best -known case is that of John
Chamberlain. At a circle held in Waterford, N.Y., on the
5th and 6th March, 1853, there communicated, through the
mediumship of Mr. John Proper, one John Chamberlain, who
claimed to have fought in the Revolutionary War, to have
frequently seen Washington, and to have died at Point
Pleasant, New Jersey, on the 15th January, 1847. Further,
he said that he had been the father of eleven children. The
postmaster of Point Pleasant was applied to, and all these
details (except the having seen Washington) were found to
be correct The case was looked upon at the time as a
remarkable proof of spirit identity : and John Chamberlain
may perhaps be regarded as the prototype of Abraham
Florentine, who communicated some twenty years later
through the Rev. W. Stainton Moses. It is perhaps hardly
necessary to point out that the evidence, in the earlier case as
in the later, depends primarily on the good faith of the
medium. And even if we could be satisfied of the good faith,
it would be almost impossible to exclude the possibility that
a latent memory might have been revived in the trance.^
• There is, however, one case recorded at this time to which
it is more difficult to apply this explanation. On the 5th of
August, 1854, there died at St Louis one O. F. Parker. On
the following day, at Maryville, Kentucky, Mrs. Ferguson,
wife of the Rev. J. B. Ferguson, gave automatically — orally, it
would seem, though this is not expressly stated — a long
communication purporting to be addressed by O. F. Parker
to Mr. Ferguson, who was his cousin and close friend. As
proof of identity, he referred, in the first place, to a conversa-
tion between them some time before on a peculiarly intimate
matter. The writing then went on : —

" But you shall have other evidence. My books I ordered to be
sold to defray my funeral expenses; but it was not done. I am
afraid, too, that there will be some flaw picked in my life policy, and,
if so, I wish you to order my books to be sold to pay my debts, and
if they fail, do not fail from any delicacy of feeling to write to my
mother, and she will have all properly settled. The policy now is in
the hands of Mr. Hitchcock.

" To show you further that I am he, I will remind you of the bill
you paid Mr. Hough. The medium, I know and you know, knows
nothing of that. I disliked, in your condition, pressed as I knew

* Telegraph Papers^ vol. i> pp* 69, 70. Capron, Facts and Fanaticisms^ pp.
284-7. For other cases, see Telegraph Papers^ vol. i. p. 302 ; voL v. p. 138,

256 EAELY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

you were with your own obligations, to have you add that to your
many kindnesses. You must pay yourself.''

Other matters were also referred to, and there were in-
terspersed reflections and exhortations of a general kind.
Mr. Ferguson thus comments on the communication : —

"Truth and candour require me to state that the evidence of
identity presented by the above communication was overwhelming.
At the time it was received the only account we had respecting his
death was a brief tel^raphic despatch. We have since had every
particular confirmed . . . His life policy to which he refers was, from
some neglect, without an endorsement of the payment of his pre-
miums, which fact was not known to any of us till six weeks after his
death. It was allowed, however, by the generous justice of the
company, without difficulty, and without the knowledge on their
part of this fact

'*At the time Mr. P. gave us the spiritual communication I sup-
posed the policy to be in the hands of Mr. W. Meriwether, of
Kentucky, for whose security it was issued. In the last conversation
with respect to it with Mr. P. in life, he informed me it was his
intention to leave it with Mr. M., and on his way to St Louis he
stopped in Kentucky for that purpose. I mention these &cts and
leave them to make their impression, which no honest man can
resist

"It should also be stated that at the same moment, upon my
return to Nashville from Kentucky, where the above was received,
some eleven days after the death of Mr. P., when I handed it to
Mr. M. C. C. Church, he handed me letters from St. Louis detailing
the circumstances of Mr. P.'s death and the state of his effects,
confirming the particulars given from the spirit world. Of course, no
language could express our gratification at the incontrovertible
evidence of the reality of our intercourse with the spirit of our worthy
relative. There are no less than eleven distinct particulars stated in
the communication, which could not have been stated under the
circumstances by any other than the spirit of our cousin friend." ^

It would, of course, have been more satisfactory if Mrs.
Ferguson's version of the incident had also been forth-
coming, and if it could have been made quite clear that she,
in her normal state, had no knowledge of the dead man's
aflfairs. But even as it stands the narrative is of consider-
able interest, and is certainly one of the most detailed and
best -authenticated cases of the time, Ferguson gfives other

^ Spirit Communion : a Record of Communications from tke Spirit Sphere^ etc,
pp. 41-8. By J. B. Ferguson. Nashville, 1854.

SPEAKING WITH TONGUES 257

cases of the kind, some with other mediums, but less striking
and insufficiently detailed.^

One other class of phenomena which is claimed as furnish-
ing evidence of supernormal knowledge remains to be con-
sidered. We find occasionally in the literature of the period
accounts of speaking "with tongues," and forced vociferation,
which recall the histories of possession amongst various
religious sects. What has been already said in a former
chapter* on the Ursuline Nuns of Loudun, the Tremblers
of die Cevennes, and other earlier cases, will help to explain
the American outpourings. But the differences are suffi-
ciently marked to justify a detailed examination.

The manifestations amongst the American Spiritualists
from 1848 and onward were pitched in a much lower key.
There were, as a rule, no convulsions, rigfidity, or insensi-
bility, such as we find amongst some of the more extreme
cases, even in Irving's congregation. But there seems no
reason to doubt that the phenomena, when not deliberately
counterfeited by professional mediums, were of the same
type ; that the utterance was unpremeditated and involuntary,
and the subject generally in a state of trance or ecstasy.
Moreover, the outpourings were often accompanied by danc-
ing and rhythmic gestures which represented, no doubt, the
more violent movements of the Nuns of Loudun and the
Convulsionaries of St. Medard, and appear occasionally, as
in the earlier outbreaks, to have been contagious.

The following account illustrates at once the epidemic
nature of the influence, and the tendency of the utterance
to assume the form of an "unknown" tongue, at least a
tongue presumably unknown to both medium and audience : —

"spirits in KEOKUK.

"From a letter dated Keokuk, Iowa, March 7th, 1854, signed
William Wittinmyer, we are informed that two mediums were de-
veloped at circles held on the 28th and 30th of January. One of
them was influenced to speak Latin and translate the same into
English, to sing in the Swiss language and speak in an Indian
ton^e, and also to delineate various Indian characteristics. The
Indian spirit claimed to be a Chippewa. The other medium was
made to deliver an oration on the bad treatment the Indians had
received from the white people, after which the spirits, through the
two mediums, held an earnest and lengthy oral interview, closing

^ See also Dr. Dexter's testimony, in his Prefieice to Spiritualism (Edmonds and
Dexter), and Rev. A. E. Newton's account of a conversation with his deceased
father through a medium, quoted by Hare, op, cit.^ p. 330.

' Book I. chap. i.

I. — S

258 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

with a majestic anthem, improvising words first in some Indian
dialect, then in the English language, praising God for sending
messengers to proclaim glad tidings of great joy to the children of
men." ^

There are numerous accounts of similar stances in the
literature of the time, but there is rarely any evidence that
the "languages" spoken were anything but a succession of
meaningless sounds. The rtext extract, however, introduces
a new feature — the writing in tongues.

"The friend who briefly narrates his spiritual experience in the
following letter is a clergyman of expanded views and liberal
culture : —

"*Kev West, May lo, 1853.

"'Friends Partridge and Brittan, — One week ago I com-
menced writing in my room, alone, with an ease and facility, if
possible, far above my usual voluntary writing. Since the first
effort I have conversed in writing with a number of spirits of
different degrees of intelligence. I have been a medium for the
Greek, Latin, French, and Spanish languages. The last-mentioned
I am entirely ignorant of. With the other three I have heretofore
had some acquaintance. — A. Gage.* "^

Judge Edmonds is the chief source of information on both
forms of manifestation. Of his own knowledge he enumerates
seven instances, two of them being his daughter and his niece,
of whose performances he gives, in a letter dated October 27th,
1857, the following account : —

" On another occasion some Polish gentlemen, entire strangers to
her, sought an interview with Laura [Miss Edmonds], and during it
she several times spoke in their language words and sentences which
she did not understand, but they did; and a good deal of the
conversation on their part was in Polish, and they received answers,
sometimes in English and sometimes in Polish. The English she
understood, but the other she did not, though they seemed to
understand it perfectly.

" This can be verified only by Laura's statement, for no one was
present but her and the two gentlemen, and they did not give their
names.

" The incident with the Greek gentleman was this : One evening,
when some twelve or fifteen persons were in my parlor, Mr. E. D.
Green, an artist of this city, was shown in, accompanied by a
gentleman whom he introduced as Mr. Evangelides, of Greece. He

* Telegraph Papers, vol. iv. p. 409. *•' Ibid., vol. i. p. 253.

SPEAKING WITH TONGUES 259

spoke broken English, but Greek fluently. Ere long, a spirit spoke
to him through Laura, in English, and said so many things to him
that he identified him as a friend who had died at his house a few
years before, but of whom none of us had ever heard.

" Occasionally, through Laura, the spirit would speak a word or a
sentence in Greek, until Mr. E. inquired if he could be understood
if he spoke in Greek. The residue of the conversation, for more
than an hour, was, on his part, entirely in Greek, and on hers some-
times in Greek and sometimes in English. At times Laura would
not understand what was the idea conveyed, either by her or him.
At other times she would understand him, though he spoke in Greek,
and herself when uttering Greek words.

'^ . . My niece, of whom I have spoken, has often sung Italian,
improvising both words and tune, yet she is entirely unacquainted
with the language. Of this, I suppose, there are a hundred
instances.

''One day my daughter and niece came into my library and
b^an a conversation with me in Spanish, one speaking a part of
a sentence and the other the residue. They were influenced, as I
found, by the spirit of a person whom I had known when in Central
America, and reference was made to many things which had
occurred to me there, of which I knew they were as ignorant as they
were of Spanish.

" To this only we three can testify.

"Laura has spoken to me in Indian, in the Chippewa and
Monomonie tongues. I knew the language, because I had been two
years in the Indian country." ^

Judge Edmonds, it will be observed, does not say how far
his own acquaintance with Spanish or Indian went, nor does
he in any instance give examples of the sentences actually
spoken, nor any proof of his statement that the two young
ladies knew nothing of the languages which they used, nor
the dates of any of the incidents, nor any corroboration from
the mediums themselves or any other person to support his
own unaided memory. We learn, however, from another
passage^ that the conversation with the Greek had taken
place some time in 1854, about three years before this, the
only detailed account of it which I have seen, was written.

His testimony to a corresponding manifestation with two
professional mediums possesses a much higher evidential
value, for a contemporary account was preserved in his
diary.

" November 3rd, 1852. There was a special meeting of the Qrcle
of Hope last evening, to meet some of our friends from Albany. . . .

^ See Letters and Tract s, pp. no -1 2.

'^ ^pirituaiistn^ by Edmonds and Dexter, vol. ii. p. 45.

260 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

Mr. Ambler was soon thrown into the magnetic state, etc. . . . After
he came out of the trance state Mrs. Shepherd was afiected, and
spoke in several languages. She occasionally spoke English. . . .
And she continued for an hour or two thus to speak in some foreign
language. It seemed to us to be Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. . . .
Mrs. Mettler was then thrown into a trance state, and she was
developed for the first time in her life to speak in diverse tongues.
She spoke in German, and what seemed to be Indian.

"And they two, Le, Mrs. Shepherd and Mrs. Mettler, then for
some time conversed together in Uiese foreign languages.

"Occasionally they spoke in English, and sometimes in broken
English." 1

Edmonds does not say whether he himself knew German,
and the identification of the other foreign languages is, it
will be seen, left ambiguous.

But besides testifying in his own person, Edmonds, early
in 1859, appealed in the Banner of Light for evidence of
this power, and received nineteen replies, giving in all, on
the personal knowledge of the writers, no less than thirty-four
cases of persons who occasionally spoke or wrote in the
"tongues.** Out of these thirty-four cases there are two—
and only two — instances in which sentences in a foreign
{i.e. a recognised foreign) language were written. In both
cases the circumstances were attested by several witnesses,
the evidence is recent, and the writings — French, German,
Latin, Greek, Gaelic, Chinese, etc. — were preserved and are
still open to inspection. The mediums were both pro-
fessional, viz. A. D. Ruggles, who had acted as medium for
Professor Hare, and J. V. Mansfield, who, from his skill in
reading and answering sealed letters, left in his custody for
that purpose, had earned the title of the " Spirit Postmaster."

The evidence, it will be seen, in these two cases is in most
respects unimpeachable; the only point on which the most
stiffnecked unbeliever could desire more rigorous proof is
on the medium's complete ignorance of the languages written,
a point on which the medium himself is of course the only
competent witness.

Amongst private mediums there are eight cases recorded
(six in one circle), also recent and on fairly good evidence,
of sentences being written in languages unknown to the
mediums. But these languages were also unknown to the
sitters or to anyone else, and had either not been identified
at all, or had been identified, on the authority of the spirits

* Letter i and Iracts, p. 219.

SPEAKING WITH TONGUES 261

themselves, as dialects spoken in the South Sea Islands or
other remote regions.

When we turn to the question of speaking, as distinguished
from writing, we find the same characteristics. There is
excellent evidence for Mr. Ruggles speaking in French (a
language which, according to his own statement, he did not
understand) ; and fairly good evidence for other professional
mediums — Mrs. Warner, Mrs. Thompson, Mr. Hersley —
speaking in German, French, Indian, and other langu^;es.
But the fifteen cases in which mediums who were apparently
non - professional are alleged to have spoken in French,
German, Italian, Chinese, Indian, or other recognised foreign
language, include no recent account of the phenomenon. In
four of the accounts the date of the occurrence is not given ;
in the remainder the time ranges from "about a year" to
some four years previously. The gift of tongues had not
ceased amongst professional mediums when Judge Edmonds
issued his appeal, nor amongst private mediums so far as
relates to speaking or writing in unknown tongues; and
it is difficult to resist the suggestion that the absence of
any records less than a twelvemonth old amongst private
mediums of speech in foreign languages was not a mere
accident, but that past experiences of this kind " could only
win a glory from their being far," and that had Edmonds
issued his appeal for evidence in the spring of i860 instead
of the spring of 1859, the year 1858 would have proved as
fruitful as any of its immediate predecessors.

Moreover, the evidence, alike for the medium's ignorance
in the normal state of the language alleged to have been
spoken, and for the identification of the language itself, is
extremely defective. Many of the instances are vouched for
by persons ignorant of the language, on the authority of
other persons, themselves imperfectly acquainted with it,
whose first-hand testimony is not given. Two young men
are said to have spoken a language which was *' recognised
by my father and brother as the Chinese, they having been
acquainted with many of them in California, but could not
speak the language."^ Other mediums are said to have
spoken Italian — " We learned that from a gentleman present,
who understood the Italian language partially (I have for-
gotten the gentleman's name)." * Mr. Sizer Bamum's Indian
songs were recognised by an aged widow lady who ''had
lived when young near or among a tribe of Indians in the
State of New York."»

' Page 323. * Page 225. ' Page 244.

262 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

It is curious to note that in many cases the proof of the
language being " Indian," etc., is based upon the " interpre-
tation " through the mouth, now of the same, now of
another medium, of an unintelligible utterance previously
given.^

If we turn to the literature of the movement at large, we
shall find abundant evidence for similar phenomena, but ail
pointing in the same direction. Thus a writer in the North
American Review^ April, 1855, relates that a medium of his
acquaintance, a lady of "transparent ingenuousness,** pro-
duced three poems purporting to have been written by the
spirit of John Milton. One of these poems was headed
" A Latin Sonnet " ; it was not a sonnet, nor was it written
in Latin, or in any other language; but it had throughout
a Latin sound, and the terminations were all Latin. The
explanation, no doubt, is to be found, as the reviewer suggests,
in the fact that the lady's father had for years prepared young
boys for college, and she herself had probably in her youth
often heard Latin read aloud. Again, we read that Mr. E.
McBride, of Iowa, a converted infidel, received a treatise
on the millennium from the spirit of the Rev. W. C. Davis,
written in an "unknown tongue," and wrote to the editor
of the Spiritual Telegraph to ask him where he could get
it translated. The editor comments that probably thousands
of pages of this kind of spiritual cryptography had been
produced in the past two or three years.^ Tallmadge had
seen a lady translating the Old Testament into hieroglyphics,
which, the spirits told her, represented the original language
in which it was written." Some of these spirit languages
were so condensed that eg, <he phrase Ki-e-lou-cou-ze-ta
required no less than forty-five words to furnish an adequate
translation in English.*

Sometimes, it may be surmised, though the evidence is
insufficient to substantiate such an inference, these later
ecstatics may have spoken with fluency in a language with
which in their normal state they were imperfectly acquainted,
as seems to have been the case with the Tremblers of the

* Sec Letters and Tracts ^ pp. 215-64.

• Telegraph Papers^ vol. i. p. 422.

' Healing of the Nations, pp. 59, 60.

^ Mattison s Spirit-Rapping unveiled^ p. 73. For other instances of speaking
or writing in tongues, see Nichols, Supramundane Facts^ pp. 56, 57 ; MattisoOi
op, cit,^ p. 76; Edmonds and Dexter, Spiritualism, vol. i. p. 87 ; Mrs. Hardinge
Britten, Modem American Spiritualism , p. 388 ; Telegraph Papers, voL i.
PP- 37, 253, 332 ; vol. iii. 7, 13. 62, 203 ; vol. iv. p. 409 ; voL vi. pp. 56, 191 ;
Asa Mahan, Modem Mysteries, etc , pp. 296 et seq.

SPEAKING WITH TONGUES 263

Cevennes. But, as a rule, the phenomena appear to have
been comparable rather to the speaking with tongues in
Edward Irvingf's congregation — a spontaneous outpouring
of articulate but meaningless sounds, at one time producing on
the imagination of some hearers the effect of rapid utterance in
some language with which they had a rudimentary acquaint-
ance, at another authenticated as the genuine utterance of an
unknown tongue by the subsequent interpretation vouchsafed
under spirit guidance. The only new element introduced — a
complication from which previous outpourings were happily
free — is the deliberate fraud of the professional medium.

CHAPTER V
TRANCE WRITING AND SPEAKING

IF we turn now from counterfeit clairvoyance and speak-
ing with tongues to utterances of a more coherent
and normal type, such as were poured forth in abund-
ance at this period at every Spiritualist meeting, we shall
find that, in private circles at any rate, it was less the
substance of the communications than the manner of their
occurrence which impressed the earlier investigators.
Whether or not the messages testified to matters outside
the medium's knowledge, whether the words were common-
place or sublime, were questions of secondary interest ; that
the human agent spoke and wrote through a power not his
own was patent to all, and was a fact of crucial importance.
And here it may be well to emphasise once more a dis-
tinction often lost sight of, but nevertheless essential to the
right understanding of the Spiritualist position. So far as
we have seen, there is no reason to doubt that the whole of
the so-called physical phenomena were due to fraud, if not
always to preconcerted and fully conscious fraud. We have
seen also in at least one notorious case before 1848 — the
Seeress of Prevorst — that such physical phenomena were
associated with examples of clairvoyance and premonition
themselves also apparently fraudulent. But taken in the
mass there seems as little reason to doubt that the mental
phenomena of the trance and of automatism generally were
genuine. There were, of course, spurious manifestations of
this kind ; but the mediums who feigned trance-speaking
were probably seldom content to exclude spirit-rapping and
other marvels from their repertory. And, indeed, as we have
just seen, cases of clairvoyance, mental telegraphy, and
speaking with tongues, which are in themselves suspect, are
generally connected with persons who have made themselves
responsible also for physical manifestations. But the bulk of

TRANCE WRITING AND SPEAKING 265

so-called spirit communications, both now and later, were
free from the taint of this association. The physical phen-
omena, indeed, throughout the history of the movement,
have been generally the privilege of professional mediums,
occasionally of young children, or other persons whose birth,
temperament, or circumstances rendered them specially open
to the temptation, not necessarily of a pecuniary kind, to
enhance their importance in their social environment by
fraudulent methods. Physical mediumship amongst adults
of good education and recognised social position was fully
as rare at the beginning of the movement as it has been
throughout its course. On the other hand, many of the best-
known of those who have practised inspirational speaking or
writing, even professionally, such as Mrs. Hardinge Britten,
Mrs. Cora L. V. Tappan-Richmond, Mr. J. J. Morse, have
had as little to do with the trickery of the stance-room as
any modem University Extension Lecturer.

The commonest form assumed by the automatic impulse
(for the manifestations were not necessarily confined to the
trance), at any rate amongst educated subjects, was that of
speaking or writing in the mother tongue. The descriptions
of their own experiences given by various automatists agree
that the impulse to speak or write was involuntary, and that,
for the most part, the human agent was not conscious of the
nature of the message delivered through his organism. In
the case of A. J. Davis, and of the mesmeric or " magnetic "
subjects generally, this characteristic was, as we have seen,
referred to the action of the subject's own intelligence
working under altered conditions. But after 1848 it became
natural to interpret all such involuntary manifestation^ of
intelligence in the light of the Poltergeist performances, and
to refer them to a common cause, the agency of spirits;
and the interpretation favoured by those around the auto-
matist inevitably reacted, as we have already seen in the
history of Animal Magnetism in France, Germany, and
England, on the content of the automatic utterance.

In some cases the impulse to speak did not affect the
external organs, but manifested itself merely as an inner
voice or mental impression. It was in this manner, as we
have seen, that A. J. Davis' later pronouncements were
inspired : " I am impressed " is his favourite formula in the
Great Hamtania, Josiah Gridley was also a medium of this
kind. He had, indeed, as we have seen, been the subject of
such impressions or angelic interpositions, as he occasionally
calls them, throughout his life ; and after he had attended

266 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

seances and witnessed automatic utterance in others, his own
internal monitor appears to have developed and systematised
its instructions. But the inspiration appears not to have
been, as a rule, verbal. Thus he writes, as a preface to a short
dissertation, " At this time Christ's position in the Universe
was as clearly impressed on my inner being as the rays
of a midday sun were ever impressed upon my outer being
. . . the best I can do at present towards clothing them
(sc. the truths impressed) the reader will find in what
follows.'** And again, in the course of an explanatory post-
script to his work, " It is due to the reader of this work
to say, that while the sentiment has been given me in every
instance by the spirits, I have often assist^ these friends to
clothe their sentiments in simple but suitable language."

But this no doubt represents a rudimentary stage of
automatic action, hardly perhaps to be distinguished from
normal reverie. In some of the more notewortfiy instances
of more developed automatism there seems no reason to
doubt the medium's own account of the matter, that the
utterance, whether verbal or written, was involuntary, and
for the most part unconscious. Thus Dr. Dexter gives the
following account of his own development as a writing
automatist. He had attended many stances, and had seen
his own little daughter of nine years old controlled to write,
apparently under spirit influence. He was not yet, however,
convinced of the Spiritualist belief until his own hand was
made the instrument of similar communications. The
process began late one night when he was sitting alone in his
office and felt the right hand and arm fixed tightly to the
arm of the chair on which it rested. Afterwards the whole
limb trembled violently, and two raps were heard on the wall
of the room. Similar experiences recurred again and again,
until at length he determined to yield to the influence : —

" When in pursuance of this design I attended circles, my hand
was seized and made to write. At first the sentences were short,
and contained a single idea, but as I became developed they wrote
out many pages, embracing various ideas and subjects. . . . Every
meeting, however, at which I was present something new was
always developed, and the handwriting of the spirits manifesting
assumed peculiar and distinct character, thus identifying the
individual who wrote through my hand. The earlier attempts we
were hardly able to decipher, but after some practice the writing
was rapid, bold, and easily read. From the first essay of the spirits

^ Astounding Facts ^ etc, p. l6a«

TRANCE WRITING AND SPEAKING 267

to influence my hand to write, it was the medium by which many,
both friends and strangers, communicated with the circle ; but when
the design was apparent that they had developed me for a special
object, my hand was controlled by two spirits, whose names will be
found recorded in this book as Sweedenborg (sic) and Bacon.

" During the whole time, from their earliest endeavour to write,
they have used my hand as the instrument to convey their own
thoughts, without any appreciation on my part of either ideas or
subject

** I know nothing of what is written until after it is read to me,
and frequently, when asked to read what has been communicated,
I have found it utterly impossible to decipher it. Not only is the
thought concealed, but after it has been read to me I lose all
recollection of the subject, until again my memory is refreshed by
the reading."*

Now that his powers were fully developed, he continues,
the influence often seized him when he was alone, and he
would even be awakened from sleep and compelled to write
out long communications before retiring to rest again.

Somewhat similar was Mrs. Hardinge Britten's initiation
into the mysteries of mediumship. She had attended, as
a sceptic, one or two public stances, had been interested in
what she had witnessed, and in the stock prediction that she
would develop into a remarkable medium. Thereafter she
held a few private circles, and, at her next visit to a pro-
fessional medium, she went off" into a trance, impersonated
the spirit of an old gentleman, and gave tests on her own
account*

But the phenomena of automatic utterance, whether within
or without the trance, are sufficiently familiar at the present
time to render it unnecessary to labour the point further.

The automatic utterances purported for the most part to
be communications from deceased friends or near relatives
of the sitters or of some person present, such as are common
at Spiritualist stances even at the present day. More rarely
the "control" gave himself out to be a stranger, who had
been drawn to the circle either to receive help and consola-
tion or to give it — an ignorant newsboy, a repentant drunkard,
a bright child-spirit, a murdered man seeking for vengeance,
or some uneasy ghost wishing to communicate with friends
on eftrtlL Numerous examples of both these types of com-
munication will be found in the works of Edmonds, Dexter,
Putnam, Hare, Tallmadge, and other writers from whom I

^ Spiritualism, Edmonds and Dexter, vol. L p. 93.
' Sec her History ^ pp. 136-40.

268 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

have already quoted. Of their evidential aspect enough has
already been said.

But frequently the names attached to the communications
claimed to be those of the mighty dead. Hare summoned a
convocation of spirit worthies, including Washington, Byron,
Isaac Newton, and Benjamin Franklin.^ Of all the august
names which figure in the "inspirational" literature of the
period, none, it should be remarked, occurs more frequently,
or is made sponsor for more outrageous nonsense, than
that of Franklin. Whatever sins of omission may be laid
to his charge on the Bailly Commission sixty or seventy
years before, the penalty was surely paid in full. Again,
Spear's revelations were signed, amongst others, by Franklin,
Jefferson, Seneca, Apollos Munn, Plato, and Aristotle.^ Davis
held converse with Franklin, Solon, Swedenborg, St Paul,
and St. John.' Harris and Scott, as will appear later, were
the chosen instruments of a circle of apostles and prophets at
Auburn.

But these extravagances were no doubt most conspicuous
in the earliest years of the movement The common sense of
the majority of Spiritualists soon revolted against the attempt
on the part of certain mediums to win recognition for them-
selves and their utterances by the use of great names. There
were, indeed, from the very beginning some, more level-headed
than the rest, to warn their fellow-believers against placing
implicit reliance on any of the spirit teachings. Of Sunderland
we have already spoken. Brittan, too, consistently appears
to have shown a critical spirit, and from a discussion at the
New York Conference, in the early part of 1854 — started
apparently by the intervention of a boy of fifteen and a girl
not much older, who had spoken under control at a previous
conference — it appears that many leading Spiritualists adopted
a similar attitude, and recognised that so-called spirit utter-
ances should be judged on their merits.*

Of automatic trance-speaking at this time, even to large
audiences, we have innumerable accounts; but as reports
were not, as a rule, preserved, we have rarely any means of
judging of the value of the utterance beyond the effect
alleged to have been produced on the audience. Thus a boy
of twelve is said to have preached sermons " characterised by
a depth of thought that would do credit to the most eminent
divines."^ Miss Vanduzer, controlled by the spirit of

' Op, cit.i p. 113. '-* The Educator, pp. 46, 297.

' 7 he Spirit IVor/d, vol. ii. p. 169.

* Telegraph Papers, vol. iv. pp. 146-9, 196, 200. * Ibid,, vol i. p. 387.

TRANCE WRITING AND SPEAKING 269

Lorenzo Dow, delivered discourses in Wampsville (N. Y.) and
its neighbourhood "to from five hundred to two thousand
earnest listeners."* The Eureka circle at West Troy were,
we read, "sitting at present for a course of lectures from
the spirit of Dr. Franklin on the laws of progression." The
next course, by the same lecturer, was to treat of the solar
system,^

But of the more important automatic writings of the
period many were published.

One of the earliest of these books was The Pilgrimage of
Thomas Paine and others to the Seventh Circle, by the Rev.
C. Hammond, Medium, published at New York in 1852. In
his Preface Hammond expressly disclaims any personal
credit for the work. " I had no will to write it, or exercised
any other control, than to let my hand be moved by an
invisible influence, and write as it would." Often, he explains,
he could not tell what word he was writing until it was
completed, and very rarely knew the whole sentence before-
hand. The book, which contains over two hundred and fifty
pages octavo, was produced with extreme rapidity. Hammond
b^an to write at the end of December, 185 1, the manuscript
was completed on the ist of February following, and thq
book published on the 5 th of March.

The Pilgrimage purports to be a recital by Thomas Paine
of his spiritual experiences. He begins by describing his
death-bed, and how in his dying hours he was visited by his
beloved wife, who revealed herself to him as a spirit and
explained to him something of the spirit world. After his
death he is present at his own funeral, hears the minister read
the service over the grave, and overhears later a conversation,
in which the minister expresses his fears that "poor Tom
Paine " is eternally lost

He is then cheered and instructed by conversation with his
wife and mother in the spirit world, and is made to see
" his former wisdom isolated and torn into fragments." He
meets Washington, Richard Rush, the inevitable Franklin, and
others, and is introduced to William Penn. Penn argues
with him through many pages, convinces him of errors in his
earth life, and finally converts him to a knowledge of the
truth. He is then led by Penn towards a light exceeding the
brightness of a thousand suns, through an archway built of
stones of the most excellent workmanship, and clear as
crystal, into a magnificent temple. The temple was all
inlaid with gold, and within it Paine saw

* TeUgraph Papers, vol. ii. p. 461. '•* Ibid., vol. i. p. 341.

270 EAELY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

*' a mind standing with elevated wisdom at his head, and at his feet
were sitting students of Nature, who received instruction from him.
In his right hand he held a book, and in his left a banner. The
book was opened and the banner unfurled. ' This is not made with
hands,' said he, * but came from Mount Horeb, where the everlasting
covenant was given to the children of the Most High. Advance,
Stranger, and receive the blessing which thou hast refused in thy
unbelief.' Paine thereupon came forward and received the boo]^
and the mind then sat down."

Thereafter Paine goes with his guide to a poor cottage
near London, where the tenant lies dying. " Near by lived
the lord of the heritage, who rode in livery and fared
sumptuously." The spirit guide impressed this nobleman to
visit the dying man, a labourer on his estate. When in the
cottage the spirits succeeded in effecting the nobleman's
conversion by rattling the catch of the window. Again,
William Penn

" conducted me to a wall. There was no door of entrance. It was
made of Scorn. I could see through the wall, for there were a great
many portholes. I saw a wide circle of minds peeping through those
holes, as though suspicious of our encroachments. When we had
passed round the fortress, I heard the centurion say, *To arms!
to arms!'"

There followed a long discussion between Penn and the
centurion, from which we gather that the centurion and the
folk in the castle are typical of Christians who hold
blindly to the letter of the Bible and persecute those who
differ from them. Paine is afterwards bidden to enter the
castle and instruct a deacon therein in the principles of true
religion ; and at the end of the chapter he succeeds in
converting him. Once more he goes to the castle with four-
and-twenty elders, and a thousand times ten thousand are
converted and received into the temple. Finally, he is rapt
up to the Seventh Circle, or Court of Beauty.

" The whole circle ascended, and were introduced into a mansion
resting on twenty-four pillars, which were polished smooth as glass,
and over which stood the most wonderful mansion that my eyes had
ever beheld. On entering the mansion I saw a white throne, and in
front thereof were written the words, * Purity, Perfection, and Bliss.'
Over the throne was written, * Nature unfolded by revelation,* under
it the words, 'Justice, Liberty, Peace.* On the right was a
representation of a little child leading a lion, and a wolf nursing a
lamb. On the left was a wounded serpent, with a spike driven
through his head and clinched in a rock. Beneath our feet were

TRANCE WRITING AND SPEAKING 271

pillars of Wisdom, while over our heads the beauty of sweet minstrels
appeared."

Then one of them that dwelt in the Court of Beauty ex-
pounded the meaning of the pillars, and the things that were
round about the throne.

The imagery, it will be seen, is obviously derived partly
from the Apocalypse, partly from the Pilgrim's Progress and
other religious works ; whilst in the substance of the revelation
there is nothing to indicate any other source than the
medium's own mental stores. It does not even appear that
he was acquainted either with the history or the opinions of
the spirit purporting to inspire him.

In the following year was published Edmonds' and Dexter's
Spiritualism^ which consists mainly of spirit messages written
through the hand of Dr. Dexter and others.

This is Swedenborg's annunciation, delivered April 4th,
1853, through Dr. Dexter: —

" In the name of God I am Sweedenborg {sic),

"Does a man know a star because he seeth the light thereof?
Sayeth he, The moon bumeth because she casteth a shadow ? Does
not the water bathe the shore of both worlds, and is not ocean's
bosom broad enough for the ships of all nations ? And yet a star
is but one in a galaxy of glory in the heavens, and the moon's light
is borrowed from a brighter orb than her own mountains. She
reflects only the light that she borrows. Can you contemplate a
whole creation because you see the light of one star or one moon ?
Can you determine the extent of the ocean because you behold one
of its waves ? Thus you can as little judge of Spirit Manifestations
as you can of the star, the moon, or the ocean. Wait and watch,
for ere long what is dark will be made light, and what is difficult
made easy. Do you love your wife or child, and see in them attri-
butes wluch confer happiness? Can you look on earth in her
beauty, her hills and dales, trees and flowers, and not feel as if it
was made for your enjoyment ? Have you ever examined truly your
own hearts ? Do you really desire their purity ? Are your thoughts
the mirrors of your souls? Do you sincerely live that your death
may be glorious? Let each one ask himself these questions to-
night, and when I meet you again you shall hear the truths which it
is my mission to teach. ^

A few weeks later, in the course of a long discourse from
Bacon, the following passage occurs : —

"I feel that your thoughts have been occupied in digesting the
great truths taught last night by Sweedenborg. I am writing through

* Op. cit^y vol. i. p. 10 '.

272 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

the hand of Dr. Dexter, and to many persons, looking on and be-
holding the use of the same expressions as you adopt on earth, they
would remark on its foolishness and absurdity as a spirit manifesta-
tion. But look at the ideas we inculcate, r^ard the thoughts we
express. And if in the whole history of written thought there is
anything that can approach it, either in the magnitude of the ideas
or the profundity of the thoughts, then I am heartily willing it
should be said to be a farce." ^

But Bacon himself could on occasion rise to a lofty strain,
as witness the following extract : —

" How glorious that man's destiny ! He leaves behind the errors
of time, and boldly pushing forward through the untried future, he
plants his standard on the very outward wall of etemity, and here he
makes his stand ; here he calls around him all the aid that position
furnishes, and he leaves the traces of his progress in his errors, the
doings, the actions sacrificed to truth, which he scatters in the path-
way which has led to this goal. — Bacon."*

It was such passages as these which moved Tallmadge to
write to Judge Edmonds that, after reading all the specimens
of ancient and modern eloquence, and after listening to some
of the greatest orators of the day, he could say without hesi-
tation, ** I have never read nor heard anything to equal the
communications from Bacon and Swedenborg. For beauty
of style and sublimity of thought their equal never proceeded
from mortal man.**'

One of the most remarkable writing mediums at this time
was Charles Linton. He was a young man of good intelligence,
but limited education, who for some years had earned his
living as a blacksmith. At twenty-two years of age he
became a clerk in a store in Philadelphia, and afterwards
bookkeeper. He then became developed as a writing
medium. Many communications were written through his
hand which purported to be from Daniel Webster.* At
another time Governor Tallmadge and Mr. Fenno, an actor,
held a conversation with the spirit of Shakespeare, writing
through the medium's hand. Tallmadge, in endorsing
Fenno's account of the stance, states that some of the ablest

' op, cit,^ vol. i. p. i8i. '^ Jbid,^ p. 267.

' Quoted in Telegraph Papers ^ vol. iii. p. 311.

^ Some of these are quoted in the Appendix to Edmonds' and Dexter's
Spiritualism^ vol. i. It is interesting to note that J. Bovee Dods says of them
that they bore a *' respectable impress of the exalted intellect " of the deceased
statesman {Spirit Manifestations Examified^ p. 129).

TRANCE WRITING AND SPEAKING 273

critics have pronounced the communications perfectly
Shakespearian. Two extracts are subjoined : —

" To act requireth two things — a brain and an eye ; the scene will
do almost all the rest.

** The eye calleth up and holdeth the magic spell, which in the
audience centres.

" Thy brain the gestures makes — the stand, the position ; and grace
doth take therefrom its own existence.

" The eye speaks volumes ; silly mouthers may mince and hawk,
but with thy piercing eye thou'lt dumb them a//."^

And again, in response to some remarks from Fenno about
the management of the voice, and the difficulty of portraying
passion without ranting : —

" The ocean waves rise and fall ; the mountains wave in earthly
strength ; the plains undulate in airy waves ; and the light, the life of
all things, partakes of the inmost principles producing these outside
results ; hence, to speak well and grace&lly, you must not beat the
sea flat with a hurricane, or with an earthquake rend the mountains,
or tear the plain into a level void; but imitate the waves of the
ocean, rise from a dead calm to grand sublimity, and subside again
with the gentle ease of the mighty fluid. You catch the breeze
gently, and a lovely strain will vibrate through your throat; your
spirit catches the tone, and in unison vibrates. Onward and upward
you rush, and as the waves rise in grandeur, the bark of opposition is
handled, as the boundless ocean handles the unmoored vessel."^

But some time in 1853 Linton was bidden by the spirits to
prepare for the inditing of a great work, and in the course
of the next four months there was written through his hand a
long dissertation, forming a volume of over 370 pages octavo
(considerably over 100,000 words). The writing, as we are
told by Tallmadge, who was frequently present, was performed
rapidly and in a clear hand, different from the medium's
ordinary writing, and the manuscript presented hardly any
erasure or alteration. The medium was not entranced
during the writing, and would indeed occasionally converse
with Tallmadge, interrupting his writing for the purpose.
But according to his own account of the matter, Linton had
no idea beforehand of the ground-plan of the book, and
frequently did not see even a word ahead of that which he
was writing ; he wrote what was given him from moment to

1 The Healing tf the Nations, p. 504, by Charles Linton. New York, 185S.
The italic marks, Tallmadge tells us, are the spirit's own.
^ Ibid,^ pp. 506, 507.

I. — ^T

274 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

moment to write. The book is a religious rhapsody ; an
outpouring, without definite logical plan or strict coherence,
of a devout and intelligent, but not highly educated mind ;
the ideas and imagery seem obviously drawn almost ex-
clusively from the Bible and various religious writings. The
following extracts will give a fair idea of the contents of
the book: — *

"71. Thy imperfection does not regulate God's perfection.

" 72. Thy unfaithfulness will never check his liberality.

" 73. If thou hadst never existed, God's power or his love and
light had never been less. Having existence, if thou dost not com-
prehend them surely the fault is thine own.

*'74. A little time is given thee on earth, and in that time
thou dost see all things perishing, changing, and unto thy si^t
passing away. Then why shouldst thou labour about and among
them?

" 75. The earth is regulated by time, thou by eternity,

" 76. That is the creature of a day, thou the ornament of a God-
given eternity. That is thy feeding-place, designed to give thee
strength and knowledge. Eternity is the home whence the know-
ledge Cometh, and in which thou wilt learn in purity that which
emanates from the eternal fountain of Light.

"77. Thou art a seed dropped in earth by God's own hand.

" 78. Thou art nourished by His own holy attributes.

" 79. His pure Light quickens thee, feeds thee with thought,
forms the harmony of thy mind ; His love, as a gentle dew, hl\s
upon thy morning and evening wanderings, and in the shade of the
sunny noon He fans thee as a mother doth her sleeping babe."

The book, which was published in 1855 under the title of
The Healing of the Nations^ represents inspirational writing
at its best Another book of the same type was produced
at about the same time through the mediumship of John
Murray Spear, of whom we have already spoken in chapter
ii.2 On the ist of April, 1853, Mr. Spear, who had for
about two years been interested in Spiritualism, and had,
indeed, already written some Messages from the Spirit
Life, under the inspiration of John Murray, found his
hand involuntarily moved to write a document setting forth
that a band of spirits, called the "Association of Benefi-
cents," had chosen him as their mouthpiece for certain
revelations to mankind. A few months later Spear and

^ Healing of the Nations f ip. 179.

" l^he Educator, being Suggestions, theoretical and practical, designed to
promote Man-Culture and IntegrcU Reform^ with a view to the uUinuUe estabiisk'
nunt of a Divine Social State on Earth, etc. Boston, 1857.

TRANCE WRITING AND SPEAKING 275

another medium, in inspirational strophe and antistrophe,
annoimced that there were six other associations with similar
ends, who designed to use for the teaching of mankind the
same earthly instruments. They were called severally the
" Association of Electric-izers/' the " Association of Element-
izers," the "Association of Healthful-izers," and so on.
Thereafter, at different periods, Spear was delivered in
the trance state of dissertations on the structure and laws
of society, the duties of humanity, the process of creation,
the nature of elementary substances, of electricity, of the
laws of health, etc., which were sometimes written by his
hand, sometimes spoken and taken down by an amanuensis.
They were afterwards edited by the Rev. A. E. Newton, and
published as Volume I. of the Educator, The work bears a
certain general resemblance to the Divine Revelations of
Andrew Jackson Davis, and, like it, teaches Socialism as
the highest form of human society, even sketching out a plan
for a model colony which would realise the divine idea upon
earth. In its cosmological section, however, it is less pre-
tentious than the earlier work, and is almost entirely innocent,
not merely of scientific terminology, but of the most ele-
mentary scientific knowledge. There is, indeed, an almost
mediseval quality in these untrammelled speculations on the
phenomena of the physical universe.

The various spirit associations, speaking through the mouth
of Spear, declared the sun to be the eye of God, and to
consist of vitalised electricity; it further acts as a focus
through which rays from the Grand Diamonics, which is
another term for " the Grand Central Source of all Life, all
Light, all Wisdom, all Knowledge," are directed on to the
earth. These rays, which we know as light, consist ulti-
mately of fine, angular, diamond-shaped particles, being
indeed of the same substance as the diamond itself. These
particles of light penetrate the interior of the earth, mingle
with certain fine sands, and there " copulate, cohere, multiply,
expand, grow, and take the form of gold.*'^ Or, again, here
is a passage which might have been written by Paracelsus or
Eirenaeus Philalethes : —

" Like all things else, polishing is wrought by a fixed, simple and
natural law. It is the action of the finer on the coarser. Each
thing has within itself a certain amount and quality of caloric. It

* This is a familiar idea amongst the alchemists. See, for instance, Fludd,
Tfu Mosaicall Philosophy, p. 221 : *' The Ethcriail Sperm or Astralicall influences
are of a £ar subtiler condition than is the vehicle of visible lighL Yea, verily,

276 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

may be in crude or coarse conditions in one substance, and in finer
or less crude conditions in another. Bring these two together ; the
finer acts upon the coarser, by friction the coarser caloric escapes
and the finer takes its place, and so the coarser substance is brought
into finer or more polished conditions. The substance called emery
has within it a very fine caloric, and hence its usefiilness as a
polisher." *

Turning to biology, Spear gives directions for magnetising
water, so as to impart medicinal virtues to it; he explains
tuberculosis as due to the accumulation in the lungs of certain
minute, floating, barbed particles, which are also responsible
for the moss on stones, the down [? mould] on certain vege-
tables, and so on. Under the section "Microscopies," it is
explained that the hairs, being tubular, are in reality organs
of perception, hence their location round the eye and ear. But
whilst the hairs round the eye see things in front, the hairs at
the back of the head see what has passed — />. they act as
organs of memory — " and those females who intertwine or
twist the posterior conductors [the hair at the back of the
head] thereby ignorantly render themselves less able to
recall or recollect"*

Of inspired poetry there was at this time an abundant
supply. Much indeed of what is so called consists of inferior
and ungrammatical prose cut up into lengths, without either
rhyme or rhythm. But some of the " inspired " productions
were distinguished by a certain sonorousness and melody.
Most notable, perhaps, were the poems of the Rev. T. L.
Harris, the former associate of the Poughkeepsie seer.

Harris had written poetry before; and one Spiritualist
critic concedes that nothing in his "inspired" poetry transcends
his possible natural powers. It is on the conditions under
whidh the poems were delivered and ostensibly composed
that the claim of superhuman origin is based. During
fourteen consecutive days in November and December, 1853,
T. L. Harris in the trance state dictated an entire poem, con-
taining between 3,000 and 4,000 lines, entitled "An Epic of
the Starry Heaven," which purported to have been composed
by a circle of mediaeval spirits having Dante amongst their
number. The dictation of the poem occupied thirty hours
and a half.* A few weeks later, on the ist January, 1854, the

they are so thin, so mobile, so penetrating, and so lively . . . that they con-
tinually penetrate even unto the center or universal bosom of the earth, where
thev generate metals of sundry kinds, so the antient philosophers do justifie."

1 Op, cit,, p. 555. « Page 291.

• TeUgraph Papers, vol. iii. p. 293 ; vol. iv. p. 151.

TRANCE WRITING AND SPEAKING 277

conception of a new poem b^an : " At the hour of noon the
archetypal ideas were internally wrought by spiritual agency
into the inmost mind of the medium, he at the time having
passed into a spiritual or interior condition. From that time
till the 4th of August, fed by continued influxes of celestial
life, these archetypal ideas internally unfolded within his
interior or spiritual self," and were then dictated by the
entranced medium at intervals, again during fourteen con-
secutive days. Harris himself professed entire ignorance
in his waking condition of the poem and all connected with
its utterance. This second poem, which contains over 5,000
lines, in varying metres, is called A Lyric of the Morning
Land, The poem consists almost entirely of a succession of
lyrics, strung on a slender thread of connecting narrative, also
rhymed. A few extracts are subjoined : —

"THE poet's song OF OUTER LIFE.

I.

^ We are shadows, we are shadows.
Fading with the night of time.
Till the poppy wreaths we twine
Overcome us m the meadows.
Shrouded in our robes of white,
Phantoms of a fled delight,
Pallid ghosts of memory.
To our children henceforth we.

II.

" As the stream to ocean glideth.
To its burial in the waves,
We are hurried to our graves ;
Death alone eteme abideth,
Sitting on his throne of graves ;
And Uie dreary wind that raves.
Blows us from life's shaken tree ;
Wind-swept shadows henceforth we."

Here are the opening stanzas from the " Song of Saturn " : —

I.

** 1 am the Patriarch Star ; I stand
And view, entranced, that Wondrous Land,
That Worlds ascend to when they rise
From outward space to inward skies.
1 am the eldest child of Space,
And gaze into the Sun's bright face.
And m the Sun, prophetic, see
My own approaching destiny.

278 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

II.

" Soon shall I cease, a planet fair,
To glow in Nature's azure air ;
Soon shall I circling cease to swim
Within the bounds that circle in
The Solar System. I shall pass
Beyond the sea of fire and glass,
And all my Angel-Nations rise
Into diviner harmonies/'

And here are extracts from the latter part of the poem de-
scribing the bliss of the after-state : —

'* Great Milton dwelleth here ; he sees with eyes

Grown brighter from Earth's desolate eclipse :
And Dante and his Angel-bride ; from skies

That outward bum he turns to her sweet lips.
Correggio here, the poet-painter, dips

His pencil in celestial light, and throws
Visions from God's unveiled Apocalvpse

O'er all the burning walls. In splendid rows
The Demigods of Song enjoy the Heart's repose.

These glorious ones are seated twain ; beside
Each Lyric Angel glows his Seraph-bride ;
And they who on the Earth, most desolate,
Died with slow (ires of wrong, sit most in state.
And they rejoice^ being free from mortal stain ;
And evermore within that sphered fane
The multitudinous anthems peal and roll ;
And evermore some New-ascended Soul
Joins their triumphant choir ; and far below
Lies the vailed sepulchre of mortal woe.
And evermore Celestial Angels twine
For them fresh garlands ; and they drink the wine
Of Poesy, and with diviner art
They chant their lyric hymns." *

From the foregoing extracts a fair — perhaps even an
unduly favourable — estimate may be formed of these " in-
spirational" writings. If we allow the claim put forward
that these various writings were, so far as the ordinary
consciousness of the medium was concerned, absolutely
extemporaneous, it must be conceded that they are highly
remarkable productions. Not, indeed, that any of them
appear either in thought or expression to be beyond the
possible range of the medium's capacities, working under
favourable conditions. So much, as we have seen, is admitted
in the case of T. L. Harris. But the improvisation of some

* j4 Lyric of the Morning Land, New Vork, 1855. Glasgow, John Thom-
son, 1869. See also lelegraph Papers^ vol. vi. p. 291.

TRANCE WRITING AND SPEAKING 279

5,cxx) lines roughly of the same quality as those set down
above— even if we assume that the work was polished at
leisure — would certainly be a remarkable feat in any circum-
stances. Part of the explanation, at any rate in the case
of comparatively finished work like that of Davis, Linton,
and Harris, is no doubt to be found in the sentence
already quoted from the last-named medium ; the ideas were
probably latent or fructifying for some time before they
found external expression, and that fructifying process was,
it is likely, carried on somewhere in the twilight of conscious-
ness.

The actual utterances, again, are distinguished by certain
characteristics which may be said to be typical of automatic
utterance in general. To begin with, we note the extra-
ordinary fluency of the speaker. Whatever we may think
of the value of their remarks, there can be no question that
the little boys and girls at this period who preached for an
hour at a time to crowded congregations, or uneducated
youths like Davis and Linton who indited long treatises,
could not in their normal condition have spoken or written
at such length, or with such copiousness of vocabulary. We
note, moreover, in some of the utterances of this time, as for
instance in "Bacon's" messages through Dr. Dexter, in Linton's
book, and in Harris' poems, a tendency to sonorous and
grandiloquent language, such as we have had occasion to
note amongst the Irvingites. We shall meet with many
more specimens hereafter, in discussing the later phases of
Spiritualism.

Much of this sounding stuff no doubt consists pretty
obviously of distorted echoes from earlier writings — the
Bible, Shelley, and popular poets and preachers of the day
being probably the chief sources. But there were few
instances of actual, even unconscious, plagiarism. Some
charges of this kind had, as already shown, been substantiated
against A. J. Davis ;^ some stanzas in Harris' inspired
poems have been traced to foreign sources ;2 and there are
three or four examples to be found of " inspired " poems
given at stances which were afterwards discovered to have
been previously written by Longfellow, James Wallis East-

' See ante. Book I. chap. xL

* Mr. Gerald Massey points out that in one volume alone of Harris* poems,
Hyntns of SpiriiucU Dtvotion (New York, 1857), there are couplets or stanzas
obviously suggested by corresponding lines in the works of Watts, Heber,
Mrs. Browning, Thomas Moore, and others. But Mr. Massey does not, I
think, make e^d his charge of deliberate plagiarism. {^Concerning Spiritualism^
pp. 19, 20. London, 1874?).

280 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

burn, etc^ But it is not necessary to presume fraud even in
such cases, and most of the inspired writings bear internal
evidence of their genuineness.

For what, after all, is the special characteristic of the auto-
matic utterances ? In the most favourable specimens we note
that, however full and rapid the stream, it is a trifle turbid —
"Cum flueret lutulentus, erat quod tollere velles": the ex-
pression has run away with the thought And at a slightly
lower level we can hardly detect any connected scheme at
all ; it is a sequence of detached images, the raw material of
thought, a heap of bricks waiting for the builder. This
characteristic was pointed out a generation earlier by
Bertrand, who showed that, in the trance, whilst the memory
and imagination of the ecstatic are stimulated to abnormal
activity, the critical faculties are more or less in abeyance.'

This defect in coherency is sufficiently conspicuous in
Davis' work ; to furnish a Ic^cal account of the teachihg
in Linton's Healing of the Nations^ or to unfold the steps of
the argument in any of Spear's inspired dissertations, would
require a double portion of inspiration in the expositor.
During these automatic performances, in other words, the
medium seems to be in a state allied to that found at certain
stages of intoxication, when the evolution of mental images
is more rapid than in ordinary life, whilst the judgment and
reasoning faculties are drowsy.

The various other phases of the automatic impulse need
no more than a brief reference. In some cases, as notably
with Judge Edmonds, and occasionally with T. L. Harris
and Mrs. Ferguson, the medium was vouchsafed allegorical
visions, which he would describe to those around him.*
There were many who drew automatically; the drawings
representing flowers, fruit, celestial figures and landscapes,
geometrical or symbolic designs. Others were given visions of
spirit persons, and directed to portray the features on canvas.
Allen Putnam devotes a considerable part of his book, Natty,
a Spirit, to describing how he was led by spirit guidance to
select an artist, and how the artist in trance was directed by
a power not his own in painting the portrait of Natty.* The
first volume of Edmonds' and Dexter's Spiritualism contains
as a frontispiece a steel engraving of a symbolic picture

* See Rogers, Philosophy of Mysterious Agents ^ pp. 169, 170; Telegraph
Papers f vol. iv. pp. 120, 205, 300; Mattison's Spirit- Rapping, p. 114.

'^ Traits du Somnambulisme,

* See Spiritualism, by Edmonds and Dexter, vol. i. pp. 268, 289, 300, etc

•* Boston, 1856.

TRANCE WRITING AND SPEAKING 281

representing a terrace in a formal garden surrounded with
plants of a tropical appearance ; on either side of a flight of
steps, which lead down to a lake encircled with mountains
and embellished with castles and a swan-prowed boat, are two
pedestals supporting each an angel, whose outstretched arms
convei^e on a figure, crowned with a sun-like halo, who floats
in mid-air a little above them, and himself points the way to
the skies. It is called " Invitation to Spirit Land."

The artist was a young man named Josiah Wolcott, who
had been brought up to the trade of chair-painting, had sub-
sequently risen to do the ornamental part of coach-painting,
and had finally seen visions and been commanded by the
spirits to paint what he saw, and show the world the glories
of the spirit sphere.^

Automatism — or spirit control —showed itself in various
other forms. Thus Tallmadge tells us that his daughter of
thirteen, who knew not a note of music and had never
touched a piano in her life, was controlled to play Beet-
hoven's Grand Waltz, and various popular afrs.^ We read
of a physician who, ** under influence," was made to mount
the stump in a public street and crow like a cock.^ And the
impulse to dance, frequently, as in earlier religious revivals,
seized the entranced persons, to the number sometimes of
fifty at a time. The dances performed in this way were
sometimes "recognised" by the onlookers as of Indian
origin ; sometimes they purported to have a symbolic sig-
nificance, which would be afterwards expounded by one of
the mediums.^

Again, there were numerous cases of healing mediums.
Sometimes the mediums were in the normal condition ;
sometimes they professed to be in the trance, and to receive
directions from a spirit-doctor as to the drugs and herbs
to be used, and the methods to be followed in the cure. In
not a few cases the healer would receive a " call " to go to a
certain street and a certain house in a distant town and ask
for a certain person who required his healing ministrations.
In some of these instances, as in the various cases related by
John Murray Spear, the impulse was, no doubt, a genuine
one, and the medium himself not consciously aware of the

^ Op. ciLy pp. 480 et stq. For other instances of spirit-drawing see Telegraph
Papers^ vol. iv. pp. 401-3 ; voL v. 181 ; Adin Ballou, Modem Spirit Mani-
festations^ p. 97 ; Mrs. Hardinge Britten's History^ p. 265, etc.

^ Healing 0} the Nations^ Introduction, p. 61.

' Mrs. H. britten, History^ p. 293.

* Telegraph Paper 5 ^ vol. i. pp. 352-6 ; vol. v. pp. 24, 91 ; Mrs. H. Britten's
History ^ p. 389.

282 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

object of his mission, or of any link of connection with the
sick person.^ There are several examples of similar guiding
monitions related on good authority of the early "Friends" in
this country. But obviously it would be extremely hazardous
to found on such evidence a presumption, I do not say of
spirit guidance, but even of supernormal knowledge. In
other cases recorded at this period — €,g. with the notorious
Mrs. French — it seems likely that the impulse was imaginary,
and the whole incident fictitious.

In fine, none of the cases recorded in this or the preceding
chapter afford even di primd facte ground for supposing super-
normal faculties of any kind. Such instances of clairvoy-
ance, speaking with tongues, and trance writing and speaking
as cannot readily be attributed to the known powers of
automatism find an adequate explanation in fraud and un-
conscious exaggeration.

' Adin Ballou, Modtm Spirit Manifestatiims, pp. 93-7 ; Messages from the
Superior State^ edited by S. C. Hewitt, pp. 28, etc Boston, 1852.

CHAPTER VI
GENERAL SURVEY OF THE MOVEMENT

SO far as the evidence before us enables us to form a
judgment, we have found little reason to infer any
supernormal element in the beginnings of Modern
Spiritualism. The earliest physical phenomena were ap-
parently of the ordinary Poltergeist type, but springing
up in an unusually favourable environment, they were
gradually improved and systematised by the Fox children
and by their numerous imitators. Even the raps which
formed so prominent a feature in the outbreak at Hydes-
ville and its subsequent developments can be paralleled from
many earlier records. The distinguishing characteristic of
the new movement was its permanency ; and this, again, was
no doubt due largely to the extraordinarily favourable recep-
tion which the youthful impostors encountered and to their
long immunity from detection. Some credit must also be
assigned to the "mediums" themselves for their skill in
inventing and perfecting one or more methods of rapping,
and for that practised facility in noting and interpreting
slight gestures, hesitations, changes of voice, and other in-
dications, which formed, no doubt, the secret of their ability
to answer mental questions.

As the movement grew, the physical phenomena, in re-
sponse, it may be surmised, to the insatiable demands of
its patrons, grew more elaborate and more audacious. But
their essential character appears to have remained unchanged.
It is clear that the records quoted in chapter iii. — and as
already said, I have studied to present the evidence at its
best — ilo not afford even a faint presumption of the inter-
ference of any unfamiliar mode of energy. The facts re-
corded suggest fraud ; they are such as are known to have
been produced fraudulently both before and since this epoch ;
and neither the precautions alleged to have been taken, the
qualifications of the observers, nor the circumstances of *

283

284 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

experiments, were such as to afford an effectual safi^^ard
against the ingenuity of practised tricksters.

This view of the matter finds strong confirmation in the
analysis of the mental phenomena given in the last two
chapters. On the one hand, we find that evidence, such as
we can regard as primd facie worthy of consideration, for the
exercise, by persons whose good faith may fairly be pre-
sumed, of any supernormal faculty, is almost entirely want-
ing, a want which is the more surprising because we have
found traces of such faculties in the past, and possess in
recent experimental work and in the trance utterances of
Mrs. Piper and others a considerable body of evidence for
their operations at the present time. On the other hand,
hireling mediums of this period furnished many instances
of mental telegraphy, speaking with tongues, and the like,
where the evidence would be quite unexceptionable, if we
could assume the honesty of the chief actors and their
witnesses.

As against the view that the physical phenomena and the
instances of mental telegraphy and speaking with tongues
furnished by professional mediums were in all cases due to
fraud, the rarity at this time of any demonstration of fraud
may be urged. It is no doubt true that trickery was seldom
detected. There are one or two cases, however, in which
mediums professing to bring "apports" of various objects
into stance-rooms were convicted of fraud. In one such
case it was claimed that a knife and a ribbon had been
carried by spirit agency across the Atlantic, but the impos-
ture was detected a few months later, and denounced in the
Spiritual Telegraph;'^ and there may have been other cases of
exposure which were hushed up. But it is probable from the
scantiness of references by hostile critics that exposures at
this time were extremely rare.

It is obvious, however, that the conditions were unfavour-
able to the detection of fraud. The exposures with which
the later annals of Spiritualism are filled have almost always
been concerned with such complicated and audacious mani-
festations as " materialisation," or spirit photography. The
earlier phenomena did not readily lend themselves to such
methods of investigation. Where no apparatus is used, and
the performance is shrouded in darkness, it is extremely
difficult to prove trickery, however certain the investigator
may be, on a wide comparison of instances, that trickery is
responsible for the manifestations. It would have been

' Telegraph Papers ^ vol. vi. p. 1 31.

GENERAL SURVEY 285

practically impossible, for instance, to convict Gordon or
Hume of fraud in their levitation performances. If the gas
had suddenly been turned up, and the medium found standing
on a chair or table when he should have been floating in the
air, it would have been as easy for him to suggest as for the
spectators to believe that the spirits had let him drop because
the action of the light prevented the completion of their task.
Or, again, if Fowler had been observed copying passages
from the Hebrew Bible on his own account, it may be
surmised that an explanation that he was acting under
spirit-control would have met with ready acceptance. In-
deed, the foundations of that famous system of Spiritualist
apologetics, the doctrine of spirit-control, were already
being laid. The Poughkeepsie seer, as we have seen in
chapter i. of the present book, first introduced it to account
for some of the Stratford performances. And the members
of the Springfield Harmonial Circle, in January, 185 1, gave
a testimonial to the medium Gordon which contains the
following passage : —

" It may be stated, however, as a circumstance which seems to
have been the cause of some misapprehension, that the individual
referred to is highly susceptible to the magnetic power of spirits,
and that, under the influence of an impression which he is unable to
resist, he occasionally endeavours to perform the very action which
he perceives to be in the mind of the spirit. Of this peculiarity we
were made fully aware at the commencement of our investigations,
and throughout the whole have been unable to discover any evidence
of deception, or even secretiveness, with regard to the assistance
which he sometimes undesignedly renders the spirits, in being acted
upon by their influence." ^

In such circumstances the task of exposing trickery would
have been a singularly thankless one. But, in fact, the ex-
planation of the immunity of the medium is to be sought
rather in the general conditions of the mental environment
than in any skill on his part, whether in apologetics or in
sleight-of-hand. That part of the American public which
concerned itself with the manifestations at all was possessed
by the belief that, whatever their explanation, they were
genuine. This belief became, in fact, an epidemic delusion
hardly less imperative than the ideas suggested by the
hypnotist to his subject It did not occur to the earlier
investigator, prepossessed as he was by this belief, to be
constantly on his guard against fraud. He did not turn

* The Spirit Worlds vol. ii. p. 21.

286 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

up the light while Gordon was being levitated, or look under
the table when the spirits were writijig, or seize the spirit
hands presented to him. Fraud was to him, at worst, an
occasional incident of the manifestations.

Again, the pecuniary factor was not so prominent at these
early stances as it has since become. The Fox girls are said
to have taken no money for their performances at first, until
indeed the "spirits" insisted on their doing so; and groups
of admirers from time to time subscribed, so that popular
mediums, the Foxes or others, might give gratuitous sittings
to inquirers.^ It is stated by Partridge and others that
Koons would take neither money nor recompense of any
other kind for the performances in his spirit-room.* Ballou
mentions the case of some physical mediums in poor cir-
cumstances who invariably refused to take money from those
who attended their stances.* The same thing is recorded
in the Spirit World^ of a rapping medium. But in this
case the medium was a child, who accepted ten cents for
himself, whilst his father, who refused the larger sums
offered, was probably ignorant of the deception practised.
It is significant that in the first volume, at any rate, of
the Spiritual Telegraph (1853) there are but few advertise-
ments of mediums, and those exclusively of medical clair-
voyants, who charged a fee for diagnosing and prescribing.

It is probable that the unseemliness of selling spiritual
gifts at a price was recognised at the outset, as it has more
or less been recognised ever since. It is stated on good
authority that in more recent times D. D. Home (Hume)
habitually, and Eusapia Paladino at least occasionally, refused
to accept money payments for their stances. But it is
certain that most mediums both then and now took regular
fees, and probably all have received a sufficient payment
in coin or in kind.* In any case, as will appear later, unpaid
mediumship is not necessarily honest ; there are other than
pecuniary inducements to fraud — even to systematic and
long-continued fraud. There is nothing, then, in the sur-
rounding circumstances to weaken the presumption of fraud
derived from an examination of the phenomena themselves.

* Mrs. Hardinge Britten, History ^ p. 134. ^ /^^,^ p. ^ii.

* Modem Spirit Manifestations ^ pp. 83-7. * Vol. iii. p. 45.

* Cf. the North American Review^ April, 1855: **The frequently mercenary
character of this necromancy goes far towards negativing the idea of its spiritual
origin. In almost every city in New England are rythonesscs (not alwa3rs
persons of fair reputation), who, for the price of fifty cents and upwards, will
command the presence and responses of the most exalted spirits that ever dwelt
on earth."

GENERAL SURVEY 287

The explanation of the ready credence which greeted
these supposed proofs of spirit intervention, notwithstanding
that to our judgment it seems clear that where not merely
inconclusive they were deliberately fraudulent, lies partly, as
we have seen, in the apparent marvel of answers to mental
questions through the raps, partly in the fact that the in-
dubitable genuineness of the automatic manifestations in
private persons predisposed the inquirers to accept as
genuine in the professional medium what purported to be
phenomena of the same class, but in a higher stage of
development.

But the explanation of the facile acceptance and rapid
spread of the new marvels is chiefly to be sought, as we
have endeavoured to indicate in chapter ii., in the special
conditions of the nation and the times ; in the general
diffusion of education combined with an absence of authorita-
tive standards of thought and the want of critical training ;
in the democratic genius of the American people ; in their
liability to be carried away by various humanitarian en-
thusiasms ; in the geographical conditions incident to a
rapidly expanding civilisation. But especially, as we have
seen, this tendency to belief was fostered by the still recent
growth of popular interest in Mesmerism and in the various
theories of a physical effluence — odyle, etherium, or vital
electricity — ^which were associated with it, and had already
been employed to explain the manifestations of various
" electric " girls and other impostors, as well as the probably
innocent hallucinations of Reichenbach's sensitives. No
doubt, too, the introduction throughout the continent of
the electric telegraph, an invention still so recent that the
popular mind had not become familiarised with it, and still
regarded its operations with something of childlike wonder,
helped to quicken expectation and generally to induce a
mental condition favourable to belief in other phenomena,
which after all were to the uninstructed not more mysterious.
A; we have seen, it was in electricity that Spiritualists
sought the physical basis of their phenomena.

But whatever the explanation, of the facts there can be
no doubt. The people who wrote and lectured about the
spiritualistic manifestations had been almost to a man pre-
possessed with a belief in their genuineness. The evidence
upon which they supposed this belief to rest played much
the same part in its structure as the element of external
sensation, according to some French writers, in a hallucina-
tion ; it was less a justification than an opportunity. Hardly

288 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

less remarkable than the existence of this epidemic delusion
is the fact that outside the obsessed circle so few persons
of any intellectual standing thought the matter sufficiently
important to inquire into, still less to write about, and that
by those writers who did express their entire disbelief in
the phenomena the subject was treated with a very in-
adequate conception of its importance. Page's pamphlet
consists of a few hasty memoranda. Mattison's book is
superficial, mediocre in quality, ill-informed, and warped by
theological rancour. C. W. Elliott, the most capable of
these early critics, devotes unfortunately two chapters only
of his book to the modem manifestations, and deals only
with the beginnings of the movement With these and a
few other unimportant exceptions, every writer who had
qualified himself by actual observation to express an opinion
believed in the phenomena, or the bulk of them, as genuine.
The odylo-mesmeric hypothesis as applied to Spiritualism
is well formulated by E. C. Rogers, a medical electrician.*
According to this authority, the alleged phenomena, both
physical and mental, were in the main — for he does not
attempt to discriminate — genuine. The explanation common
to both classes was that the medium was a person in whom
the conscious and personal control of the higher brain centres
was for the moment in abeyance, leaving the organism open
to be acted upon by the universal cosmic forces. Thus
he explains as follows the occurrence of raps at Sunderland's
house : " By means of a specific pathetism sensitive persons
are thrown into a condition of the nervous system in which
the brain, losing the controlling power of the responsible
agent, falls under the law of mundane dynamics, is acted
upon and acts by the material agency of the world."* So
clairvoyance, again, is explained as the result of a peculiar
condition of the nervous system, in which the outward
material world is brought into a special and intimate relation
with the human organism. The whole tribe of Animal
Magnetists and Mesmerists, the drummer of Tedworth, the
Seeress of Prevorst, the electric girls, and the Poltergeists
are cited in support of the theory; and a flavour of modernity
is imparted by quotations from Carpenter on cerebral
automatism, and by an exposition of Faraday's recent dis-
covery of the magnetic properties of oxygen. The book
is, in fact, nothing more than an elaborately futile attempt

* Phibsophy of Mysterious Agents, Boston, 1853. A discussion ott the
automatic Powers of the Brain {being an answer to the criticism of Rev. C,
Beecher), Same year. • Philosophy etc , p. 304.

GENERAL SURVEY 289

to restate in modem scientific terminology Mesmer's theory
of a universal cosmic fluid.

Another theorist of the same type, but with less scientific
pretensions, was J. Bovee Dods, who had been known for
some years previously as a lecturer and writer on Mesmerism,
and had in 1846 been interested in the trance revelations of
A. J. Davis. In 1854 Dods published a book in which he
essayed to give a complete explanation of the Spiritualist
phenomena.^ Dods' hypothesis is essentially the same as
Rogers', though he is careful to explain that he does not
believe in odic force. Like Rogers, he is satisfied that the
phenomena in general are genuine, and depend for their
manifestation upon the subconscious working of the medium's
organism. The genuine medium, he explains (and he ex-
pressly includes in this category the Fox girls), is always
honest The movements 6f tables and chairs which occur
in her presence are not consciously caused by her ; they result
from " a redundancy of electricity congregated upon the in-
voluntary nerves"; the raps are caused by "an electro-
magnetic discharge from the fingers and toes of the medium."
But the force has its limitations. Generally the more violent
physical movements — rocking and tilting of tables and chairs,
and so on — are due to involuntary and unconscious move-
ments on the part of the mediums. But tables may also be
moved "by electro-magnetically charging the table from a
living battery of many human hands, and thus attracting or
repelling it without contact " ; the process is really " as simple
as the raising of a balloon," though perhaps more arduous ;
" the millions of pores in the table are filled with electro-
magnetism from human brains, which is inconceivably lighter
than the gas that inflates the balloon."^ But the process will
enable a piece of furniture to be levitated only after pro-
longed contact with the human body has allowed saturation
to take place, and it will not be equally successful with all
substances. Dods is justly critical of Edmonds' description
of a dinner-bell moving round the circle unassisted. The
judge had clearly not realised the insuperable difliculties in
the way of such a feat, for, as Dods explains, " bell-metal
is so dense, and its pores so minute . . . that its gravity
cannot be overcome by charging it with nervo-vital force from
a thousand brains." ^

* spirit Manifestations Examined and Explained^ etc., by John Bovec Dods.
New York, 1854. 2 /^^^^ pp g^^ ^

^ Ibid.^ p. 164. Dods, it should be explained, a few years later became an
adherent of the Spiritualist doctrine.

I,— U

290 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

Even the North American Reviewer cannot but admit the
genuineness of some of the phenomena, both physical and
mental, and is constrained to propound a similar dieory. It is
probably, he thinks, the right hemisphere of the brain which,
in the automatic or trance state, acts independently of its
usual controlling centres in the left hemisphere. The spinal
column, he suggests, is a battery in which the vertebrae play
the part of the metallic plates and the soft matter of the
spinal chord acts as acid. The right hemisphere, becoming
in certain states overcharged with the electric force so pro-
duced, explodes and produces raps, lights, and physical
movements. Rogers' hypothesis of the interference of the
mundane forces reappears in the reviewer's suggestion that,
as the electrical equilibrium of the whole surroundings may
be disturbed by these explosions, the medium's organism can
thus in effect draw (unconsciously) upon a huge reservoir of
external energy for the production of physical movements
upon a large scale. ^

Other writers suggested that the legs of the tables were
filled with electricity before each sdance,^ or that mediums
resided near telegraph lines, and so became charged with
electricity to such a degree that they spontaneously exploded
in raps. ^ Hare's attention was first called to the manifesta-
tions by a correspondent who consulted him on the adequacy
of the electric explanation of the phenomena.

In the Press, again, it is surprising to note how hospitably
the phenomena were received. The smaller provincial
journals naturally gave up much of their space to the
manifestations as being excellent "copy." But many even
of the daily papers in the principal towns, as the move-
ment grew in importance, felt themselves unable to dismiss
the whole subject as imposture, and suggested that, if not
the agency of spirits, at any rate the working of some new
material laws were demonstrated by the mysterious occur-
rences. The North American Reviewer begins his article by
explaining that he had no liking for the task in hand, and
had deferred it in the hope that the movement would die
of itself. But so far from dying out it was growing in im-
portance, and now included in its ranks some men of high
culture and many persons of good repute and sound common
sense. He adds : —

* North American Review^ April, 1855.

* Telegraph Papers^ v*ol. iii. p. 485.
' Spirit World^ vol. ii. p. 107.

GENERAL SURVEY 291

" We do not think the following paragraph from the address of
the New England Spiritualists' Association an overstatement: 'It
is computed that nearly two millions of people in our nation, with
hundreds of thousands of people in other lands, are already
believers in Spiritualism. No less than twelve or fourteen periodi-
cals are devoted to the publication of its phenomena and the dis-
semination of its principles. . . . Every day, and much more than
daily, lectures are given in the presence of audiences quite respect-
able as to both number and character ; circles are held by day and
by night in nearly every city, town, and village throughout our
country.'"

Amongst the clergy of the various religious denominations
the tendency on the whole seems to have been towards belief
in the phenomena as being actually of spiritual origin. Many
ministers from the more advanced denominations had, indeed,
as already shown, accepted the new revelation in its entirety.
Others, like the Rev. Charles Beecher, whilst pleading for a
sierious and dispassionate investigation and a careful trial of
the claims put forward by the spirits, were inclined to suspect
diabolism. * So the Swedenborgians generally, whilst believ-
ing in the genuineness of the manifestations, held it unprofit-
able or even dangerous to meddle with them. Thus, Henry
James,^ in an essay on the spirit-rappings, after stigmatising
the assumed spirits as " ghostly busy-bodies," writes : " On
the whole I am inclined to r^^rd the so-called spirits rather
as so many vermin revealing themselves in the tumble-down
walls of our old theological hostelry, than as any very saintly
or sweet persons, whose acquaintance it were edifying or even
comfortable to make." *

Other Swedenborgians, however, took a prominent part in
the early propaganda. But by the more orthodox sects
generally the new movement was either condemned as mere
folly and chicanery, or regarded as of probably diabolic
origin ; and there were cases in which ministers were ex-
pelled from their churches, teachers from their schools, and
communicants from their congregations, for meddling with
the unholy thing.*

^ Review of the Spiritualist Manifestations, London, 1853.

'^ The father of the well-known novelist, and of Mr. William James, Professor
of Psychology at (larvard.

^ Lectures and Miscellanies^ p. 418. New York, 1852. See also Bush on
*' Pseudo-Spiritualism/' in New Church Miscellanies (New York, 1855) ; The
Phenomena of Modem Spiritualism^ by W. B. Hayden (Boston, 1855) ; and The
Spirit tVorldf vol. ii. p. 115- 17, for an exposition of the Swedenborgian views.

* See the extracts from various religious papers quoted by Ballou in his work,
Modem Spirit Manifestations, chap. ix.

292 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

This view of the matter was, in the time and circumstances
and from the standpoint of the Christian believer, not al-
together unnatural. For unquestionably the movement was,
in certain phases, extravagant, blasphemous, and dangerous
to accepted standards of morality. Perhaps the most damag-
ing accusation brought against the Spiritualists at this time
was that of the propaganda of free love. There were some
grounds for the charge. From their close association with
various contemporary Socialisms, so much might, perhaps,
have been anticipated. For Socialism in its extreme form has
generally included in its scheme for the reconstruction of
society a reform of the institution of marru^e; a reform which
has taken the shape, sometimes, of lifelong celibacy, as amongst
the Shakers, sometimes of a wider freedom, as amongst the
Oneida Communists. There were in the early years of
Spiritualism two or three societies which apparently taught
and practised a similar freedom, of which the most notable
was the Kiantone Community, which numbered amongst its
prominent members John Murray Spear.^ A few Spiritualist
writers and lecturers advocated, or were understood to ad-
vocate, like views.* Moreover, charges of loose sexual rela-
tions were brought against A. J. Davis, Warren Chase, and
others ; ' and the fact that many prominent mediums were
married several times in the course of a few years appears to
have been due to a certain laxity of the marriage tie, rather
than to any exceptional rate of mortality.

Finally, if additional evidence is needed that the charge
was not wholly baseless, we have the testimony of men like
Adin Ballou and Joel Tiffany. Ballou, in the autumn of
1854, published a solemn warning to Spiritualists against
the Free Love Movement, of which the signs were already
manifest to him in certain quarters, pointing out that sexual
aberrations of this kind had in the past again and again been
associated with Spiritual movements like their own.* And
Tiffany, in a course of lectures on Spiritualism delivered
before the New York Conference in February, 1856, thought it

^ Mrs. Hardinge Britten, History^ pp. 233, 234.

* Mattison, Spirit - Rappingy pp. 101-4 ; hlahan. Modem Mysteries^ etc,
pp. 285, 2S6 ; Telegraph Papers^ vol. vi. p. 336 ; and T. L. Nichols, in Marriage^

quoted by Davis, Great Harmonia^ vol. iv. pp. 410-14.

"pp. 397, etc., and Life Line oj sne ume uniy pp.
145-155. Both Davis and Chase refer to the circumstances and offer plausible

See the Magic Staffs pp. 397, etc., and Life Line of the Lone One, pp.

explanations of their conduct. Whilst, however, the episodes remain obscure, it
would seem that, at worst, they were guilty of weakness or indiscretion, not of a
calculated revolt against accepted and acceptable moral standards.
* Telegraph Papers, vol. vi. pp. 297, 298.

GENERAL SURVEY 293

necessary specially to distinguish the Spiritualist ideal of a
permanent union founded on love from the debased travesty
of so-called Free Love : " To say of the impulse calling for
such union that it desires change, and consequent variety, is
blasphemously false and absurd. The basis of conjugal love
is as deep and immutable as are the foundations of immor-
tality and eternal life." ^

Spiritualism, indeed, necessarily attracted within its sphere
the "cranks," the social theorists and reformers, the rebels
against convention and the exiles from society. And as
free love was in the air at the time, naturally the ranks
of the Spiritualists were to some extent recruited from the
adherents of that doctrine. But whatever the aberrations
of individuals, or here and there of small cliques of
Spiritualists, it would be impossible to substantiate the
chaise against Spiritualists as a body. In fact, the chaise
mainly rested upon a misconception. Free love, in the
sense of perfect liberty for contracting temporary unions to
be dissolved at will, was probably promulgated as an ideal
by very few writers, and by none who can fairly be called
representative Spiritualists. But there had been in America
before 1848, as already shown, a wide-spreading impulse of
social reform, which in one direction found expression in
free discussion and criticism of marriage, of the position
of woman, of sexual relations generally and of their bearing
on the future of the race. The Spiritualists of the radical
school had for the most part been brought up in an environ-
ment favourable to these ideas, and they were inevitably
reflected in the Spiritualist propaganda. But whatever may
have been the eflect here and there on undisciplined in-
dividuals, it was a singular misconception which accused
the teachers of the new ideas of a design to subvert the
existing social order in the interests of sensual licence. The
ideal put forward was even puritanic in some of its aspects.
It was, indeed, the wrongs of women and children which
for many advocates of so-called "free love" formed the
ground and the inspiration of their teachings. The following
resolution, moved by A. J. Davis and his wife Mary at a
Spiritualist Congress held in September, 1856, expressed
this aspect of tiie question. After reciting the claim of
women to co-equal civil and political advantages with men,
the resolution ends: "And that, in the marriage relation,
she shall be fully secured in her natural rights to property,
to the legal custody of her children, and to the entire control

1 Spiriiuaiism Explained^ |>. 205, by Joel Tiffany. New York, 1856.

294 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

of her own person, that thereby fewer and better children
may be born, and humanity be improved and elevated."*

To these purely mundane arg^uments Davis, Harris, and
other Spiritualists added the doctrine, as old perhaps as
mysticism itself, of spiritual counterparts. The infant was
born married ; somewhere or other in the wide world was
the counterpartal half of his nature, waiting to be united
to him. From this doctrine it followed that, while the true
marriage was necessarily indissoluble and eternal, being in
fact not a union, but a reunion, it was lawful and even
expedient that other unions should be dissolved as soon
as the mutual incompatibility became manifest and intoler-
able. "Transient marriages bring divorces. Divorces arc
natural until the harmonial plane is reached ; there only an
eternal union is natural."^

The spirit teachings of J. M. Spear are to a similar effect
Here is an excerpt from ** a prayer for a marriage occasion " :
" Entering intelligently into the new relations, comprehend-
ing the divine matehood, may they be faithful to each
other in all the relations of life; and should they, from
any cause, come to feel that they are no longer husband
and wife, amicably may they withdraw from one another."'
And Brittan writes : " To constitute a true spiritual marriage
two congenial souls must be irresistibly attracted and per-
fectly conjoined ... by the spiritual natural law of affinity " ;
and when the marriage falls short of this ideal, if the married
pair '* cannot possibly agree to live together, they should do
the next best thing, which may be to separate by mutual
consent"*

In brief, the Spiritualists of the time, whilst regarding
occasional divorces as a regrettable necessity, resulting
from imperfect conditions, advocated the permanent union
of one man with one woman as the ideal state. Their
teachings, no doubt, especially because of that unfortunate
doctrine of the " spiritual counterpart," may have done more
than the teachers contemplated to encourage divorce; but
I can find nothing to substantiate the charge that these
men deliberately advocated the forming of temporary unions,
still less that they connived at licence. It is obvious, indeed,
to those who study the matter that their ideals were higher,

^ A. J. Davis, Events in the Life of a Seer, p. 208. See also Warren
Chase, Life Line and the Spiritual Rostrum, passim, for an enlargement of this
theme.

•^ Great Harmonia, vol. iv. p. 418. See also vol. ii., The True Afetrria^,
3 The Educator, p. 669. * Telegraph Papers, vol. vi. pp. 241, 245.

GENERAL SURVEY 295

and founded on a wider and juster view of the facts of life
than appears to have been the case with some of their
accusers.

There were, however, extravagances of doctrine or practice
advocated ** under spirit guidance " by individual Spiritualists
which gave rise to much scandal. For such eccentric in-
dividuals could always reckon on a certain following amongst
the ranks of their fellow -believers. As instances of these
aberrations we may take the Mountain Cove Community
and the New Motor.

THE MOUNTAIN COVE COMMUNITY.

The town of Auburn, New York State, had been from
the first an active centre of spiritual propaganda. So early
as 1850 there were, according to E. W. Capron, between
fifty and a hundred mediums there. An "apostolic" circle
had also been formed under the direction of a well-known
medium, Mrs. Benedict, which claimed to receive through
the raps communications from St Paul, the prophet Daniel,
and other high personages. *' St. Paul " had also been instru-
mental in driving away an evil spirit which had obsessed
a young girl for the space of a day and a half. In 1850,
by direction of the same apostle Paul, given through the
raps at the circle, James Scott, minister at Brooklyn of
the sect of Seventh -Day Baptists, removed to Auburn;
he was shortly followed by the Rev. T. L. Harris, and they
soon gathered round them a group of disciples and founded
a paper, Disclosures from the Interior and Superior Care for
Mortals^ whose columns are filled with messages signed
"John the Divine," "Daniel the Prophet," etc., and with
poetry inspired by the spirits of Shelley, Coleridge, and
others.

Later, Harris being then in New York, the word came
that a community should be founded, and that the faithful
should yield themselves and their possessions implicitly to
the gruidance of the perfect medium, James Scott ; and Scott
himself, with about a hundred others, did in effect in the
autumn of 185 1 settle themselves on some land in Mountain
Cove, Fayette co., Virginia, which had been spiritually in-
dicated. The inspiration had now assumed a loftier source,
as will be seen from the following quotation : —

" I read, written in letters of fire : Dost thou believe ? and what
dost thou believe ? Who, thinkest thou, called thee here ? WhO|

296 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

believest thou, appeareth to control? Who inspireth? Not an
angel, for he is led ; not a seraph, for he is controlled ; noi created
existence^ for that is inspired. Who, then, thinkest thou, called thee
to the Mountain ? Who hut a God inspireth f Believest thou the
indication of these questions? Who is prepared for the coming
of the Son of Man ? Who is it that hath consecrated and yielded
themselves, severing therefrom every attachment to earth? Who
have submitted their dictation and design entirely to him who
ordereth this manifestation from the regions of intelligence per-
fected ? Who doth not exercise external judgment, will, and design ?
Who doth not violate that law by which perfect redemption shall
be accomplished in fallen man? / j4m Thai I Am inquireth
now of thee! and prepare to answer thou me! . . . None other than
God, thy Redeemer, calleth for thee. None other than He who
hath the keys of death and heli addresseth you through one of your
number I "

At about the same time the inspired utterance through
the mouth of Scott called upon the true believers to sur-
render all their worldly goods, and to hold them at the
disposal of the spiritual guide, as follows : —

"God . . . hath sUbretime committed to your charge, as His
Stewards, the means designed to be employed while conducting
the external in the manifestation into its consummation. And
lo, now He cometh and calleth upon you, and requireth the charge
committed, with its improvement. Whoso hath, and now con-
secrateth to this great work, to him shall be given ... to him . . .
who is wanting in disposition to render back to the author of all
blessing, from him the Spirit departeth, and shall be taken even
that which he hath."

There were, however, as we learn from T. S. Hiatt, who
himself joined the infant community in December, 185 1,
dissensions and money losses at the outset, and perhaps
some revolt of the natural man against the command to
divest himself of his worldly goods ; and the community
within a few months was in danger of breaking up. But
in the early summer of the following year Harris again
joined them, bringing with him more persons of property,
and the scheme was resuscitated. Another manifesto from
the controlling intelligence was now issued through the
organism of the faithful medium : —

"Dear Brethren, — The especially appointed and commissioned
spirits, through whom superior wisdom has approached and in-
structed mortals, dictate unto you the present epistle in the light
of understanding, in the purpose of council, and in the desire of

GENERAL SURVEY 297

harmonious interprocedure of love. They review their works,
declare their directed purposes, and seek to guide your feet in the
way of peace.

'*The Circle of Apostles and Prophets do finally declare that
in the eighth month of the year 1851, common diurnal time, the
Word of the Lord came unto them, commanding disclosure of
His most holy will concerning the establishment of a terrestrial
centre for the unfolding of His heavenly kingdom, and a refuge for
His obedient people ....

"In obedience to our instructions, we guided James, the medium,
into the place appointed, and have established upon this mountain
the standard of the cross, as a sign for the gathering of the obedient
people.

" In further fulfilment of our charge, we have guided Thomas,
the medium, to the appointed place, and have disclosed unto his
mind full evidence of his associate medium's faithfulness in all the
work given unto him to do; and that also all discord within the
boundaries of the place appointed is caused by the presence of the
unsanctified, and subsides with their removal therefrom.

" Having thus guided the vehicles of communication to the place
directed by His most holy will, and united them thereupon, the
Spirit, who deviseth and establisheth the Redeeming Procedure,
issueth commandment unto His messengers to resume the dis-
closure of His truth without delay, that His name may thereby be
glorified, His people instructed and comforted, and His com-
passionate and lovingkindness, in accordance with the purpose in
the consummation of His procedure, be manifest unto the earth
and the inhabitants thereof.

" Dictated at Mountain Cove,

"Fifth Month, 1852."

The dissensions and pecuniary difficulties, however, still
continued; some of the community left, others were banished
by command ; and the movement seems to have died out
early in 1853, Harris then returning to his ordinary work of
lecturing, writing inspirational poems, etc., for a time. The
impulse for community founding, however, was strong in
him, and some years later found more complete and per-
manent expression.^

' The history of the Mountain Cove Community is taken from the account
given by Capron, Modern Spiritualism, chap. vi. See also Noyes, History of
American Socialisms , pp. 568-74 ; Mrs. Hardinge Britten, History^ pp. 207-
17 ; The Spirit IVorld, vol. iL pp. S6, 122, 141, 169 ; vol. iii. pp. 29, 105.

298 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

THE NEW MOTOR-

In April, 1854, S. C. Hewitt, the editor of the New Era,
announced in the columns of that paper that the '' Associa-
tion of Electricizers " ^ had given directions through the
organism of Brother Spear for the construction of a machine
which was to embody the principle of a new motive power.
Later we learn that the machine was to be so constructed as
to draw upon the great reservoir of the magnetic life of
Nature, and to be " self-generative." All so-called electrical
machines hitherto constructed by merely human agency
derived their power, it was pointed out, from sources which
were artificial and easily exhausted. But the new motive
power — like the human body, with which it was compared
by its founders — was to be a living organism, quickened by
an indwelling spiritual principle. The analogy with the
human body was developed in an almost incredible manner.
Whilst yet the new motive power stood in its wooden shed at
High Rock, near Lynn (Mass.), an inert mass of zinc and

copper, it was announced in a beautiful vision to Mrs. ,

a respectable married lady, who numbered herself amongst
Spear's disciples, that to her it was appointed to be ''the
Mary of a New Dispensation." The word later came to her
through the mouth of Brother Spear that she should go to
High Rock, to where the New Motor stood. There she
endured pangs as of parturition for two hours ; " her own
perception was clear and distinct that through those agonis-
ing throes the most interior and refined elements of her
spiritual being were imparted to and absorbed by" the
machine. At the end of two hours there were indications
of life in the metallic framework, " at first perceptible only
to her keenly sensitive touch, but visible ultimately in
movement and pulsation to the eyes of all." Then followed

for some weeks on the part of Mrs. "a process

analogous to that of nursing," by which it was claimed
that the life of " the new-born child," the " Physical Saviour
of the race," was cherished and sustained. Thereupon the
enthusiastic disciples hailed the New Motor as "the Art of
all Arts, the Science of all Sciences, the New Messiah, God*s
Last Best Gift to Man." A. J. Davis went down in May,
1854, to see the wonder. He was "impressed" to report
that Spear was undoubtedly honest, and the design of the
mechanism undoubtedly the work of spirits, on the ground
apparently that it couldn't have been produced by Spear

' See afUe^ p. 275.

GENERAL SURVEY 299

out of his own head. Further, he was impressed to declare
that " the positive and negative — the male and female — laws
of Nature were very truthfully divulged and prescribed
theoretically"; yet that in practice the thing had not
moved, and obviously could not move, and that if it did
move it couldn't so much as turn a coffee-mill. The seer's
conclusion on the whole matter was that some mechanically
minded spirits, of good intentions and " correct philosophy,"
but " deficient in the practical knowledge of the means to
consummate its actualisation," were conducting experiments
at friend Spear's expense, to the extent of some two thousand
dollars, and that, in the interest of all parties, the less said
about the matter the better. Others of the more level-headed
Spiritualists reported to the same effect

The end of the New Motor, as we learn from a letter
written by J. M. Spear, came a few months later. The
machine had been moved to Randolph (N.Y.), that it might
have the advantage of more terrestrial electricity. One night
the neighbours arose, broke into the shed, and smashed up
the machinery. Spear finds comfort in the reflection that
Garrison was mobbed and Birney's printing-press had been
thrown into the river.^

But the main body of Spiritualists had as little sympathy
with such movements as those which culminated at Mountain
Cove or High Rock as they had with the propaganda of
free love. It was not merely that they were repelled by
their extravagance and absurdity ; they resented not less the
claims to exclusive inspiration put forward ; for the special
characteristic of the Spiritualist movement from the begin-
ning has been its democratic character. There has been
neither recognised leader nor authoritative statement of
creed. This characteristic, again, gave breadth, tolerance,
and expansiveness to the movement, which made it unique
amongst religious revivals, and rendered it possible for the
new belief to combine with almost any pre-existing system
of doctrine. As a matter of fact, many persons appear to
have found a belief in Spiritualism not incompatible with
dogmatic Christianity. As already shown, for instance, in
chapter v., the spirit communications published by J. A.
Gridley explicitly defended, against the attacks of A. J.
Davis, the genuineness of the biblical miracles and the
verity of the Christian doctrines ; and Spiritualists in general

* For the history of the New Motor, sec Capron, Modem Spiritualism^ pp.
220 et scq. ; The Educator^ pp. 23S-57 ; and Telegraph Papers^ voL iv. p. 484
vol. V. pp. 39, 182, 342, vol. vi. p. 397.

300 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

showed no hostility to the Christian faith. The new ideas
were in themselves so engrossing that the devotees rarely
came into active and conscious collision with older systems
of belief A partial exception is no doubt to be found in the
writings of Andrew Jackson Davis. Davis set himself to
explain the futility of the Christian scheme in the light of
the New Revelation ; he maintained that Jesus was a man
inspired from the same universal source as himself, and that
his wisdom had in some respects been greatly overrated;
that the Christian miracles were instances of the operation
of the same natural laws now responsible for the Spiritualis-
tic phenomena ; and he takes occasion to point out that the
evidence for some of the biblical marvels which did not
readily lend themselves to this interpretation was faulty and
insufficient^ Further, he taught that — all evil being but
good in the making — there is no hell and no personal devil,
and that in the temptation, therefore, Jesus was assailed
merely by the promptings of his own lower nature,*

But the tone of hostility towards Christianity adopted
by A. J. Davis was frequently deprecated by his contem-
poraries, and found few imitators. Writers like Sunderland,
Edmonds, Hare, and Brittan, whilst not admitting the
uniquely divine nature of Jesus, or the exclusive inspiration
of the Bible, seem to have regarded the Spiritualist utter-
ances as supplementing and fulfilling the earlier revelation.'
The essentially democratic character of the movement,
however, renders it a task of some difficulty to define its
creed. Creed, no doubt, in the sense in which the word is
understood by the Christian Churches, it had none. But,
nevertheless, certain factors can be recognised which went
to make up a general body of more or less defined belief.
The older mesmeric doctrines were represented abundantly ;
there was a strong Swedenborgian element, whose chief
spokesmen were such men as Joel Tiffany, W. S. Courtney,
and W. M. Fernald ; there was an element of newer
mysticism, represented mainly by Davis, and pre-eminently
in his later years by Thomas Lake Harris. Of the
universalist contingent, Brittan, the editor or co- editor
successively of the Univerccelum, the Shekinah, and the
Spiritual Telegraphy was the most conspicuous exponent

' Events in the Life of a Seer, pp. 235 et seq.

' Great Harmonia, vol. ii. p. 347.

^ See Sunderland, in Spirit Worlds voL ii. p. 45 ; Edmonds and Dexter,
Spiritualism, vol. i. pp. 209, 2 1 6, 3S4 ; Hare, lixperimental Investigation,
p. 427 ; Brittan, in Telegraph Papers, vol. ii. , p. 454.

GENERAL SURVEY 301

The chief negative aspects, as judged from a Christian
standpoint, of the resulting body of beliefs are thus summed
up by Beecher : —

''Rejecting the Bible as authority^ claiming for all men in-
spiration in common with Christ and the Apostles, and of the
same kind ; regarding sin as immaturity of development, eschewing
all received ideas of a fall of angels and men from original holiness,
of total depravity, atonement, regeneration, pardon, etc., the system
is in its last analysis, though but half-developed, a polytheistic
pantheism, disguising under the name of spirit a subtle but genuine
materialism.*'^

The one positive tenet common to all Spiritualists was
the possibility of communion with the spirits of deceased
men and women. But associated with this belief almost
universally was the conception of the other life as one of
limitations and conditions not unlike the present ; a world
of orderly and continuous progression. This conception
implicitly carried with it the negation of the distinctive
Christian doctrines, as commonly understood — the scheme
of redemption, of heaven and hell, and of a last judgment.
The vision of the other life was developed and embellished
by each believer according to his individual prepossessions
and environment But the anaemic optimism of Davis
pervaded the whole. And there was a widespread be-
lief, having its roots deep in older mysticisms, in a suc-
cession of concentric zones or spheres arranged in groups
of seven, which were commonly conceived as having a
definite location in space, insomuch that Hare tells us that
he learnt from the spirits that the bands seen through a
telescope over the equatorial regions of Jupiter are actually
the spiritual spheres of that planet ;* and Gridley gives the
exact dimensions of the various terrestrial circles, the first
being 5,000 miles and the sixth 30,000 from the earth's
surface.*

In fact, the common conception of spirit was of a more
refined matter. Thus Hare was expi^ssly taught by the
" spirits " that there were peculiar elementary principles out of
which spiritual bodies were constructed, which were analogous
to, but not identical with, material elements ; that the spirits
have bodies, with a circulation and respiratory apparatus ;
that they breathe a gaseous or ethereal matter, which is also

* Review of the spiritual Manifestations, LondoD, 1853, p. 79.
'■^ Experimental Investigatum^ p. 1 20.
■ Astounding Facts ^ etc., p. 96,

302 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

inspired, together with atmospheric oxygen, by men, beasts,
and fishes — ^the spiritual gas being especially necessary to
the latter class of animals.^ Ballou, in a summary of the
theory of Spiritualists, tells us that matter and spirit are
both eternally coexistent substances, the lowest grade of
spirit being always more subtle, elastic, and penetrative than
the most ethereal matter. This "subtle ethero-spiritual
substance" he calls *' Spiricity." ^ Dr. Ashbumer, in a
letter quoted in the English edition of Ballou's work,
defines a train of thought as " currents of globules of highly
refined matter."' Capron and Barron, in their History f^
speak of "the more refined substance to which we give
the name of spirit" And W. S. Courtney, one of the
most thoughtful of the earlier writers, quotes from the
Univerccelum —

"the following illustration of the only difiference between matter
and spirit 'If you fill a hogshead with cannon balls, there will
be left large interstices between them, which can be filled with
musket balls, still leaving interstices between the musket balls which
can be filled with shot, those interstices again with sand, those
again ¥rith water, those again with air, the air with light, the light
with electricity, the electricity with magnetism, etc' We might
pursue," Courtney writes, "the interiorising process, and say the
magnetism is pervaded by a principle of sensation, sensation by
intelligence, intelligence by love, etc., thus showing the difference
between spirit and matter to be only a difference in degree of
development or refinement — the higher associating with, infilling, and
actuating the lower, and holding it, as it were, in consistency." *

But it is needless to multiply quotations and authorities.
The unity of substance and the omnipotence of electricity —
" salvation by electricity," as James happily terms it — were
the two keys which for the early Spiritualist unlocked the
doors of all knowledge in heaven or on earth. Of the nature
of God, or other transcendental mysteries, the spirits have
nothing to say. The world they present to our view is
a strictly material world, developing by processes of material
evolution towards an unknown end. There is no mystery
about their teaching. Spirit is only attenuated matter ; the
other world a counterpart of this ; the living universe an
endless series of beings like ourselves. Their view, in short,

* Op, cit,y pp. 1 1 6- 1 8.
^ Modem Spirit Manifestations^ pp. 3, 4
3 Ibid,,^. 144. * Pages.

» The Spirit World, vol. ii. p. 42.

GENERAL SURVEY 303

represents the product of common sense, the common sense
of the ordinary uninstructed man, acting upon the facts,
or rather his interpretation of the facts, presented to him.
Given his interpretation as correct, the inferences which he
drew, the cosmological scheme which he constructed on the
lines of his own parochial experience, follow inevitably.
There is rarely any hint of deeper insight. The problems
of Space and Time, of Knowing and Being, of Evil and
Good, of Will and Law, are hardly even recognised.
Common sense is not competent for these questions; and
in so far as the Spiritualist scheme fails to take account of
them, it falls short of being a Theology, or even an adequate
Cosmology. But such as it is, though it makes no appeal
to the higher imagination and ignores the deeper mysteries
of life, it has for nearly two generations satisfied the in-
tellectual needs and the emotional cravings of hundreds of
thousands of votaries. And its followers can boast that
throughout that period they have shown a sympathy for
opinions differing from their own, and a tolerance for their
opponents, unique in the history of sects called religious.

The annals of Spiritualism, up to 1855 at any rate, are
filled almost exclusively with accounts of phenomena and
opinions. Of history, in any other sense, there is little to
record. The new sect certainly grew rapidly in numbers,
though there are no statistics, and it is difficult to find an
estimate which is even professedly based on anything but
conjecture. Hammond speaks of two thousand writing
mediums alone in 1852;^ Partridge, writing in 1854, says
that Spiritualists in America numbered over a million;^
Tallmadge, a few weeks later, says two millions;' Tiffany,
in 1855, writes, "they now number millions";* whilst a few
years later, at a Catholic convention, it was stated, "on
accurate and reliable information," that the Spiritualists
numbered eleven millions.^ But all these statements are
mere guesses, inspired by the hopes or fears of their
authors. Even the estimate adopted by the North Ameri-
can Reviewer, though at any rate disinterested, cannot
safely be regarded as presenting an approximation to the
truth.

But whatever their actual numbers, it is certain that the

* 7^he FilgrimcLgt of Thomas Paine (Preface).
^ Telegraph Papers, vol. iv. p. 270.

^ Ibid,y vol. iv. p. 531.

* Spiritualism Explained, p. 152.

* Mrs. Hardinge Britteo, History, p. 273.

304 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

new sect bulked largely in the Press ; that its followers held
conferences, services, and stances in almost every town of
importance in the United States ; that they supported many
periodicals of their own, and organised themselves into many
societies — Harmonial Brotherhood, Society for the Diffusion
of Spiritual Knowledge, and the like; and that, generally,
they carried on an active propaganda by their lectures, their
published writings, and their stances.

For the most part this propaganda, save for the accusation
of diabolism constantly levelled at them from the various
pulpits, seems to have proceeded peacefully enough. In one
or two instances, however, Spiritualism made its appearance
before the law. One of the most noted cases at the time was
that of Abby Warner. One Dr. Underbill (afterwards the
husband of Leah Fox) had on Christmas Eve, 1852, in
company with a medium named Abby Warner, attended
service at the Episcopal Church in Massillon, Ohio. Soon
after the service had commenced loud raps were heard. The
officiating clergyman requested that the noise might cease ;
but the sounds shortly recommenced, and became louder than
before. They apparently proceeded from the part of the
building where Abby Warner was seated — and, indeed, it
was rumoured that the spirits had directed Abby to go to
church on purpose that the manifestations might be produced
in so favourable a theatre. Abby was accordingly arrested,
and tried on a charge of disturbing a religious meeting. On
behalf of the defendant it was pleaded that though similar
sounds occurred in her presence, they were not made by
her conscious agency nor under her control. In the result
the evidence proved insufficient to locate the sounds with
exactness, or to fix the responsibility of their production,
and the accused was discharged.^ The Spiritualists, some-
what illogically, claimed the result as a triumph, and con-
tinued to take credit, on behalf of the spirits, for the
manifestation. A year later Dr. Underbill brought an action
for libel in connection with the case, but the jury dis-
agreed.^

Of other legal proceedings the Eddy case was the
most noteworthy. Insanity at this time was frequently
charged as a result of belief in Spiritualism. And there was
some justification for the charge. Andrew Jackson Davis
and other Spiritualists admit that cases of insanity had

^ History^ by Mrs. Harilinge Britten, pp. 299, 300.
'^ Telegraph Papers ^ vol. iii. p. 361,

GENERAL SURVEY 305

occurred in their ranks, and formidable statistics are quoted
by some writers.^

In any case, the matter is one of but little significance.
Religious mania is a well-recognised type, and no doubt
many persons lost their reason over spirit-rapping who might
otherwise have gone mad over the doctrine of hell-fire.
Something more than newspaper reports or unsifted statistics
from asylums is needed to establish a general tendency on
the part of Spiritualists to lunacy. One case of the kind,
however, excited much interest A man of some wealth
named Ira B. Eddy, of Chicago, started, apparently under
spiritual direction, a bank in that city in conjunction with
some other persons. His brother, D. C. Eddy, fearing that
Ira would dissipate his substance, took the case into court,
and, on the plea that Ira was incapable of managing his own
afiairs, was appointed conservator of the estates. Some of
the partners appear to have resisted the order of the court,
and legal proceedings followed. Later, D. C. Eddy, in a
somewhat high-handed manner, had his brother removed
forcibly in the chaise of some medical men to a private
asylum in another State, where he was incarcerated for a
week. The postmaster and other prominent citizens of
Chicago protested against thb arbitrary proceeding ; the
question was tried, and, as his incarceration appears to have
been illegal and no evidence was forthcoming that his deten-
tion in the Asylum was justified in the interest of society, Ira
Eddy was released, and the matter ended.^

There are other indications of the distrust and dislike not
unnaturally inspired in various quarters by the new move-
ment Thus so early as June, 1851, the New Hampshire
House of Representatives adopted a resolution, ''that the
Committee on the Judiciary inquire into the expediency of
making provision by law for protecting the people of the
State against imposition and injury by persons pretending to
hold intercourse with departed spirits, and report by bill or
otherwise."^ This particular resolution appears to have
borne no fruit ; but some nine years later the Legislature of
Alabama passed an Act prohibiting public spiritualistic
manifestations under a penalty of five hundred dollars.^

* Sie Davis, The Present Age^ pp. 245-6, 252 ; Spirit Worlds vol. iii. pp. 15, 5S ;
Teleg'.'-aph Papers^ vol. i. pp. 38, 159, vol. v. pp. loo, 186, 410; and Mattison,
Spirit- Raspings Unveiled^ pp. 158, 162. Mattison gives returns from various
asylums showing ninety alleged cases.

' Mattison, op, cit.^ p. 155 ; Telegraph Papers^ vol. i. p. 437, vol. ii. p. 10.
•* Spirit Worlds vol. iiL p. 3.

* Mrs. Hardinge Britten, History y p. 416.

I. — X

306 EARLY AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM

Spiritualism once in these early years came prominently
before the Legislature of the United States, by means of a
Memorial to Congress. The Memorial begins by represent-
ing " that certain physical and mental phenomena, of ques-
tionable origin and mysterious import, have of late occurred
in this country and in almost all parts of Europe, and that
the same are now so prevalent, especially in the northern,
middle, and western sections of the Union, as to engross a
large share of the public attention." After briefly describing
the various phenomena, and stating that two general hypo-
theses obtained with regard to their cause, viz. the spiritual-
istic and what may be called the odylo-magnetic, the
Memorial continues : —

" While your memorialists cannot agree upon this question, they
beg leave, most respectfully, to assure your Honorable Body they
nevertheless most cordially concur in the opinion that the alleged
phenomena do really occur^ and that their mysterious origin, peculiar
nature, and important bearing upon the interests of mankind de-
mand for them a patient, thorough, and scientific investigation.

" It cannot reasonably be denied that the various phenomena to
which the Memorial refers are likely to produce important and last-
ing results, permanently affecting the physical condition, mental
development, and moral character of a large number of the
American people. It is obvious that these occult powers do
influence the essential principles of health and life, of thought and
action, and hence they may be destined to modify the conditions of
our being, the faith and philosophy of the age, and the government
of the World."

Finally the Memorial prayed for the appointment of a
scientific commission of inve^igation. The Memorial, which
bore over 13,000 signatures, was presented to Congress in
April, 1854. The introducer, one General Shields, did not
conceive it to be any part of his duty to attempt to move
Congress to accede to the prayer of the petitioners, and,
after some rather cheap jests at its expense, the Memorial
was ordered to lie on the table.

In the same month Spiritualism met with another rebuff.
Hare, at a meeting of the American Scientific Association in
Washing^ton, read to the Convention an invitation from the
Spiritualists of Washington to attend a lecture to be given
by T. L. Harris. The invitation was laid upon the table.*

It remains only to add that the propaganda, even at this

^ Telegraph Papers ^ voL v. p. 112.

GENERAL SURVEY 307

early period, was not confined to the American continent.
At least two missionaries, Mrs. Hayden, wife of the some-
time editor of the Star- Spangled Banner^ and D. D. Hume
visited England before 1855 and helped to spread the new
doctrines there. Of them and their doings we shall speak
more later.

END OF VOL. I.

PLYMOUTH

WILLIAM BRXMDON AND SON

PRINTBXS

ef.

JAN 1 7 1939