UBRARlS CONGRESS QQQQ1^5'=iH5l Class. Boole. Copiglitlsl^ 4i Ciffi^RIGHI DEKISIC / ^L^ ^ \ M^.^ Emma Hardinge Britten . NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES; OR, SPIRITS AND THEIR WORK IN EVERY COUNTRY OF THE EARTH. A COMPLETE HISTORICAL COMPENDIUM OF THE GREAT MOVEMENT KNOWN AS ^'MODERN spiritualism:' K EMMA HARDINGE BRITTEN, Author of ' History of Modern American Spiritualism ; " " Wildfire Club ; " " Faiths, Facts, and Frauds of Religious History ;" " On the Road : or, a Manual for Spiritual Investigators ; " " The Electric Physician ;" "The Western Star Magazine ; " and numerous Lectures on Religion, Theology, Science and Reform. PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM BRITTEN. New York: Lovell & Co., 14, Vesey Street. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S84, By WILLIAM BRITTEN, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D.C. DEDICATION. losE Names, unknown on Earth, shine in Laipjortal Types IN the Archives of Eternity, This Humble Record of the Mightiest Work ever Performed on Earth. Is Gratefully Inscribed by The Author. THE Limes, HHmpJi.rey St., Chectham Hill, Jianchcster, E:igland. December, 1SS3. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page. Introduction i-5 SPIRITUALISM IN GERMANY. Chapters i to 6 7~4i SPIRITUALISM IN FRANCE. Chapters 7 to 11 41-90 SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN. Chapters 12 to 28 90-226 SPIRITUALISM IN AUSTRALIA. Chapters 29 to 31 ... 227-261 SPIRITUALISM IN NEW ZEALAND. Chapters 32 and 33 • 262-276 SPIRITUALISM IN THE POLYNESIAN AND WEST INDIA ISLANDS. Chapter 34 277-284 SPIRITUALISM IN SOUTH AMERICA, MEXICO, &c. Chapter 35 2S4-291 SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST INDIES— HINDOSTAN, &c. Chapters 36 to 38 291-326 SPIRITUALISM IN HOLLAND. Chapters 39 to 41 326-341 vi. TABLE OF CONTENTS. SPIRITUALISM IN THE DUTCH INDIES. Chapter 42 341-34S SPIRITUALISM IN RUSSIA. Chapters 43 and 44 348-365 SPIRITUALISM IN SCANDINAVIA, NORWAY, SWEDEN, &c,, &c. Chapters 45 and 46 •. 365-379 SPIRITUALISM IN SWITZERLAND. Chapter 47 379-389 SPIRITUALISM IN ITALY. Chapter 48 389-400 SPIRITUALISM IN SPAIN. Chapter 49 .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 400-412 SPIRITUALISM IN EUROPE CONCLUDED-^AUSTRIA, BELGIUM, AND TURKEY. Chapter 50 413-425 SPIRITUALISM IN AMERICA. Chapters 51 to 61 425-556 TABLE OF REFERENCE ON SPECIAL SUBJECTS. The following Table of References, although by no means designed to fill the place of a complete index, will be found serviceable to those who desire to refer to prominent cases on special subjects : — MESMERISM AS A STEPPING-STONE TO SPIRITUALISM,— Pages 7 to 18, 41 to 44, 48, 124 to 126. HEALINGS AND HEALERS.— Pages 26 and seq., 34, 60, 64 and seq., 68 and seq., 69, 72, 77. 83, 99. 125, 175, 217, 250 to 254, 277, 404, 415. SPIRIT MUSIC.— Pages 75-76, 143-4, 147, 322, 337, 339, 340, 423, 480, DRAWINGS BY SPIRIT POWER.— Pages 87, 100, 163, 170, 233, 339, 419, 423, 433. 480, 532 to 534, 536. DIRECT WRITINGS BY SPIRITS,— Pages 40, 59, 166-7-8, 214, 238, 291 to 296, 337: 339- PASSAGE OF MATTER THROUGH MATTER.— Pages 40, 44, 80, 82, 84, 92 to 96, 147, 148, 160 to 162, 166. FLOATING OF THE HUMAN BODY IN THE AIR.— Pages 33, 144 to 146, 160 to 162, 77, 258, 337, 422, 423. TESTIMONY OF ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONAGES.— Pages 27-8-9, 35, 37, 43, 73-4-5, 78-9. 105 to 128, 144-5, 150-1, 153, 176 to 180, 183 to 187, 189, 201, 202-3, 205-6, 218 to 222, 230, 347, 349 to 352, 444-5, 448, 393, 413 and seq., 456 to 469. ECSTATICS. — Pages 29, 30, 67, 85, 168, 99 to 102; Irish Revivals, no to 123, 323, 366, 415-16-17, 498 to 502. TALKING SPIRITS.— Pages loo-i, 103, 144, 385, 509 to 515. HAUNTINGS AND OBSESSIONS.— Pages 19 to 25, 31. Berg gheister, Kobolds.— Pages 32, 65, 80 to 85, 92 to 99, 343 to 346, 362, 366 to 377, 379 to 385, 389, 392, 399, 503 to 506. SPIRITUALISM IN THE LAW COURTS AND OFFICIAL INVESTIGA- TIONS. — Pages 13, 51, 81, 82, 88, 127, 157, 182, 188 and seq., 193, 194, ig6 to 198, 248, 270, 355, 358, 435, 469 to 477. MATERIALIZED SPIRIT FORMS AND PHYSICAL FORCE MANIFESTA- TIONS. — Pages 18 to 2o' 28 to 33, 38 to 40, 80 to 90, 94 to gg, 100 to 105, 142 to 149, 152 to 159, 159 to 171, 214 to 216, 235, 241 to 246, 255 to 266, 277 to 284, 311 to 313, 314, 338 to 341, 354, 359, 360,434, 435,405, 507 to 508, 515 to 518, 519 to 527, 539. SPEAKING AND WRITING WITH FOREIGN "TONGUES."— Dr. Slade, from pages 37 to 40; Irvingites, 100 to 109; Irish Revivals (chaps. 14 and 15), 227 to 236, 238 to 247, 434. WRITING MEDIUMSHIP.— 36 to 40, 42 to 45, 58 to 60, 165 to 170, 227 to 249, 318, 397, 401, 406, 414. NOTE TO THE ILLUSTRATIONS. The Author having found it impossible to procure many of the portraits of the various illustrious Spiritualists of different countries mentioned in this work, and a large number having been furnished from Great Britaih, America, and one or two other special localities, it has been deemed necessary to preserve the symmetry of the book by distributing the illustrations uniformly towards the close of every other chapter. The reader, no less than the honoured originals of the various portraits, therefore, must kindly allow for this necessity, and be prepared to find the portraits often widely removed from the pages wherein the persons so represented are mentioned. INTRODUCTION. Eternity and Infinity are the only words that seeiB, in our imperfect forms of speech, to embody the conditions of spiritual existence. Time and Space are equally apposite to the state of being we call " material." Whilst therefore, we essay to write of a dispensation which manifests the characteristics of the endless and illimitable, it must not be forgotten that we are yet denizens of a material sphere, bounded in on every side by the limitations of time and space. The author of these pages would press the above propositions upon the reader's attention, because they may serve to excuse the necessity of secularizing a subject, the high religious import of which should command the most sublime forms of expression that language can supply. But as the inspiring intelligences who prompt the production of this volume, mark out the beaten path of verbal simplicity as the best that can be adopted for the reader's benefit, and charge the author to leave to posterity only a brief compendious record of the footprints made by an invisible world of being in this, the nineteenth century, so must our chief aim be to reduce to the plainest possible mode of expression the tale we have to tell. The reader will find then in the following pages, nothing more than a concise historical summary of the spiritual movement as it has transpired in various countries of the earth, from the commencement of the nineteenth century. There have been certain features of specialty in this "cause" in America, which have given it a prominence there unparalleled in any other country. This remarkable distinctiveness the author has already testified to by pubHshing a voluminous work embodying the history of the first twenty years of American Spiritualism.* Any student endowed with ordinary powers of observation will soon discover that " the modern outpouring of the spirit" has been just as full in other lands as in America, but no where else has the same freedom of speech been allowed to testify to the facts of spirit communion. No other people have so fully organised the propa- ganda of the movement by the aid of professional media as the Americans, neither have the inhabitants of any other country so universally systema- tized the use and culture of " spiritual gifts." It must also be remembered, that the immense mass of spiritual literature put forth through the American press has contributed largely to the popular understanding of the subject. Considering however, the world-wide character of the spiritual outpouring in the nineteenth century, the author has been urgently entreated— by such * " Modern American Spiritualism : a twenty years' record of the open communion between spirits and mortals." By Emma Hardinge Britten. Published by Colby and Rich, office of the Banner of Light, Boston, Mass., U.S.A. I 2 INTR OD UCTION. dwellers of the life beyond as can make their wishes understood — to sup- plement the History of American Spiritualism, by one which shall include compendious sketches of the movement all over the earth, as well as con- tinue the record in America from its first twenty years of action to the present date. In carrying out this plan of the work, the author has been strongly counselled by the same inteUigences as prompt the undertaking, to write of what pertains to the history of Spiritualism without fear or favour, but to omit, as far as possible, all notice of those excres- cences which invariably fasten on the armies of reform, in the shape of fraud, imbecility, or such evidences of human selfishness as repre- sent what Spiritualism is not — not what it really is. Whilst then, we would "nothing extenuate, or set down aught in malice," we shall unhesitatingly point to any breaches made in the spiritual garrison by human intervention, but carefully avoid giving to the worthless interloper, that notoriety which so many seek to obtain, even at the price of tamper- ing with " the life lightnings," through which the angels telegraph to man ; in a word, the cheat, swindler, and parasite, whose genius it is to prey upon any cause strong enough to bear them along on the broad current of progress, may look in vain for opportunities to make capital out of this volume. Whether we send it down the stream of time to the one or the many, we do not propose to disgrace its pages with names which simply represent the darker features of humanity, not the light destined to be shed abroad by the great nineteenth-century spiritual outpouring. With these impelling motives to our undertaking, we essay its commence- ment, committing the result to God and the angels, whose work it is, and under whose guidance the author reverently attempts the record. CONCERNING THE WORKERS AND THEIR WORK. How far disembodied spirits are the authors of the startling phenomena which have obtained the name of " Modern Spiritualism," how much of the reported marvels are due to the spirit within man himself, or owe their colouring to exaggeration on the part of the narrator, and easy credulity on that of the observer, are questions which are agitating thoughtful minds everywhere, both within and without the ranks of Spiritualism. That fraudulent manifestations have been given, and in many instances publicly represented as proceeding from spirits, none can deny ; but the question of how to discern the true from the false, is of the most vital importance, especially to a writer, whose sole aim is to present a worthy record of a sublime truth, yet to free it from all the misrepresentation which would render such a record valueless. The chief obstacles which intervene between this purpose and its accomplishment, are the manifestations of partisan spirit, which find their readiest sphere of representation in the columns of the spiritual journals. One set of writers determinately upholds every asserted claim to medium- ship, however flimsy, and hurls denunciation against every individual who either presumes to question the validity of that claim, or draws attention to the most palpable evidence of imposture. This injurious spirit of credulity, so often mistaken by the world for complicity with the impostor, is met on the other hand by equally violent denunciation of all which the denouncer cannot himself fully apprehend. The editors of the spiritual journals are besieged with demands to make their columns the arena of this unseemly warfare. If they comply, they INTRODUCTION. 3 disgust and offend the impartial, whilst their refusals to do so, are regarded as tantamount to partisanship, to be construed at the pleasure of the belligerents. But a still worse result of this quarrelsome and self-assertive spirit, is the difficulty which it interposes of arriving at any reliable representation of a communion, which depends wholly for its acceptance on the validity of the facts claimed for it. The philosophy of Spiritualism, however beautiful in theory, or true in principle, grows out of its facts, for, if spirits are not the authors of the communications received in their names, the whole theory of a hereafter — as demonstrated by Spiritualism — crumbles into the dust and ashes which underlie the unsustained assertions of theology. To place religion upon the assured foundation of knowledge, and redeem mankind from the tempest-tossed ocean of speculative opinion, we have nothing, unless we have facts and basic fundamental principles. To demonstrate these, and guide our drifting souls into the ports of eternity by the infallible compass of truth, spirits have come to earth. What then can we say of the remorseless swindlers, who would simulate the personality of these angelic pilots, or the imbecile credulity of those who allow themselves to be duped by their shallow pretences ? Testimony on so weighty and solemn a question as Spiritual existence, can only be admissible when it is proven beyond the peradventure of one or two interested witnesses ; in short, the entire intercommunion between the two worlds, must be based on the impregnable rock of truth, or it can never shake the earth with the birth throes of a religion, which claims to demonstrate immortality, as the corner-stone upon which man's faith may rest unmoved. On the other hand, psychological conditions are subtle, and as yet often incomprehensible, in their working. Those who attempt to deal with them, whilst they should observe their modes with the closest scrutiny, should yet approach the subject in a con- siderate and even reverential spirit; always remembering, that they may break or destroy, whilst they endeavour to bend and shape, the invisible force, to suit man's ignorance and presumption. It is certain, however, that discourteous treatment and rude denunciation are not the methods best calculated to evolve psychic phenomena, or ensure results which obviously require calm and harmonious mental conditions. Dean Swift was not far wrong when he said, that " it required a man with brains to write a book, but any brainless ass could criticise it." And this is true of all intellectual processes, Spiritualism not excepted. Whilst the wise and philosophical investigator may take much pains to study out the best means of evolving phenomena, the presence of the boorish ignoramus may be quite sufficient to mar its production. At present, we are profoundly ignorant of all the laws and forces concerned in the evolution of spiritual phenomena ; hence, we should be prepared to extend an equal amount of charity both to the medium and the investigator, confident that the spirit of partizanship will never favour the discovery of truth, or promote the integrity of righteous judgment. Many attempts have been made to draw unfavourable comparisons between the value of testimony received from paid or professional mediums, and that obtained through persons whose rank and wealth might be supposed to exclude the hypothesis of motives for practising deception. Unfortunately for the theory that non-professional mediums alone are reliable, the assumption is not based upon admissible facts, for it can be shown, that a large percentage of the alleged spirit communications 4 'INTRODUCTION. received through non-professional mediumship, is often tinctured by hallucination, self-deception, and prepossession of opinion, especially upon religious subjects, whilst some of the most notorious exposes that have occurred in connexion with physical mediumship, have involved ladies and gentlemen, whose positions in society, were assumed to be sufficient warranty, to exclude all idea of fraud or deception. If the difficulty also of testing mediums, when the investigators are simply guests, and the slightest appearance of suspicion would be resented as a mortal affront, be taken into account, the balance, as a whole, may be struck in favour of maintaining professional mediumship, especially for the purposes of investigation and the more general advancement of Spiritualism amongst the masses. In the meantime, there are two forms of spiritual manifestation which are not open to any of the objections above suggested ; manifestations, which can be criticised and examined at pleasure, and which always present testimony of an indisputable character. These are, first ; spontaneous or unevoked phenomena, occurring without preparation ; and next, all such forms of intelligence as cannot be traced, either to the knowledge of the communicants or the mentality of the recipients. Multi- tudes of both these forms of spiritual agency will be found detailed in this volume ; in fact, the autltor has given the preference, wherever possible, to the records of spontaneous phenomena, because its production is freed from all those equivocal conditions which surround invocatory processes. These, together with the vast mass of supra-mundane intelligence which has been given during the modern spiritual dispensation, are quite sufficient to demonstrate the facts of spiritual agency, and place the cause on a basis of proof, that rises triumphantly over the most injudicious partisanship, or the most bigoted antagonism. We now trust our readers will understand in what spirit this volume is written, and why its author has withheld a large mass of offered testimony, extravagantly lauded by one party, and equally extravagantly denounced by another. Also, why those names are omitted from the roll-call of the grand spiritual army that have been made the Shibboleth of contending parties, to prove or disprove imposture. We may often err in the conclusions we attempt to draw, and utterly fail to do justice to the stupendous theme we treat of, but we will never wilfully aid in deluding a generation, seeking to find in Spiritualism, the path to Heaven that no merely speculative faith can point out. In endeavouring to trace out with all fidelity, the origin of the great modern spiritual movement, it will soon become apparent that though very momentous results were obtained in the Hydesville investigations of 1848 — especially in the discovery of a systematic mode of communing with spirits through a set of concerted signals — yet even in America, the land in which Spiritualism has attained to a pre-eminent degree of popularity, spirit com- munion was demonstrated, long prior to the " Hydesville disturbances " ; in fact, it is obvious that this century in the New, as well as the Old World, has been remarkable for the persistence with which spirits have endea- voured to effect a direct method of intercourse with mortals. The causes before alluded to, which have favoured the marked publicity to which Spiritualism has attained in America, should be carefully considered, and will be found explanatory of the custom of dating the commencement of the modern movement, from the "Rochester knockings" in 1848. One great difficulty in attempting to chronicle the details of this movement, is the very fact that it did not originate in any special locaUty, INTR OD UCTION. 5 or at any given time, inasmuch as it manifested its influence in a sponta- neous and universal outpouring all over the world, coming and going like the wind — few, if any, could say whence, or whitherward. Again ; it is because we cannot trace up the history of modern Spiritualism consecutively from point to point, either in time or place, that we find it expedient to take the com.mencement of this century for our data, and propose to treat of the manifestations as they occurred, independently, in the various countries of earth from which authentic records are obtainable. In pursuance of this plan, we shall commence our researches in Germany, where we shall find abundant testimony to the supra-mundane character of the intelligence derivable from spirit sources, as well as proof positive, that spirits have manifested their presence on earth through spontaneous action and wholly unprepared conditions. "NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES;" SPIRITS AND THEIR WORK IN EVERY COUNTRY OF THE WORLD. CHAPTER I. SPIRITUALISM IN GERMANY. (from the close of the I 8th to the beginning of the 19TH CENTURY.) William Howitt, that most indefatigable student of every subject on which he chose to exercise his facile pen, in his " History of the Supernatural," writes in strong terms against the custom of identifying the modern Spiritual movement with America as its birth place, or the "Rochester knockings," as the opening of intelligent communication between mortals and spirits. We have already pointed to the reasons which have tended to popularize Spiritualism in America, but we must add, that the very methods so favour- able to the diffusion of knowledge on Spiritual subjects, are not in accordance with the conservatism of older countries, especially in Germany, where the prevailing policy has been to discountenance and even forbid associations, having for their aim the investigation of subjects not im- mediately fostered by the government. In America, the investigator finds his best opportunities for gathering up knowledge concerning the status of Spiritualism, in public meetings, .s.*unday services, conferences, children's lyceums, and the columns of journals specially devoted to the interests of the Spiritual cause. In Germany, Spiritualism has no publicly defined status. It is not known as a movement, and until the last few years, has had no periodicals devoted to its exposition ; yet the higher class of German literature, redolent of Spiritual facts and philosophy, is most voluminous, and a long and briUiant array of eminent German writers could be mentioned, whose works are almost entirely devoted to Spiritualistic subjects. Take for example the history of Jiing Stilling, the famous pneumatologist, whose life-long experiences in seership, inspiration, prophecy, and the gift of healing, no bigot, however prejudiced, can deny. Cotemporary with this celebrated phenomenal character, was the noble Swiss philosopher Lavater, whilst the literature of the period was enriched by the writings of 8 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. Eschenmayer, Mayer, Gorres, Schubert, Werner, Kant, Dr. Ennemoser, the author of the most exhaustive treatise on magic, extant ; Dr. Justinius Kerner, the renowned magnetist and biographer of the hfe and experiences of "the Seeress of Prevorst"; Zschocke, the famous seer and mystic; and many others, whose works connect the close of the last century with the opening of the present, and by the profusion of spiritual evidences they bring, unite in one unbroken chain, the modern outpouring, with the Sweden- borgian and Paracelsian period ; with mediaeval spiritualism, or those forms of influx stigmatised by the ignorance of the times as " Witchcraft and Sorcery " ; whilst again ; the ghastly records of those dark days reach back in continuous links of connection with the more sublime, because more distant revelations of the Christian, Hebraic, and those other ancient dispensations, during which the foundations of world-wide religious systems were laid. To return to the immediate subject of this chapter. Germany has made no sensational mark in the form of popular spiritualism, but she has con- tributed to the age a wealth of recorded facts, philosophy, and high-toned spiritual literature, unmatched by any other nation of our own times. It is to Germany too, that the world owes one of the mightiest discoveries that has ever been made in spiritual science, for Germany was the birth-place of Anton Mesmer, a pioneer in the realms of the imponderable, through whose stupendous revelations, miracle became converted into law, the supernatural into the spiritual, and ancient alchemy into modern magnetism ; in a word, it is only in contemplating the great and revolutionary work effected by Mesmer, that we can begin to appreciate the influence of the German mind upon the movement we now assume to be of purely spiritual authorship. SEERS, PROPHETS, AND MEDIUMS. A close observer of all phenomena of a spiritualistic character, will recognise, that they require for their production the presence of certain exceptional persons, such as in ancient time were termed seers and prophets ; in the middle ages, witches and wizards ; and in our own time, magnetic subjects, or spirit mediums. In the mystic writings of the Orientalists, it is intimated that the wonder- working element displayed in special individuals is latent in the whole human race, and can be brought into action by certain elaborate methods of culure. Now, although the Mediaeval Mystics, especially Cornelius Agripf>^, Van Helmont, and Jacob Bohmen, have professed to give instructions for the unfoldment of magical power, the readers of their treatises have seldom profited by them ; in fact, so vast have been the claims for what might be done, and so futile the attempts to realize these claims, that magical processes have long been relegated to the realms of shadowy superstition. Not so however, the study of those mysterious forces with which the visible universe is teeming. Whether the affinities of chemistry, and the potencies of light, heat, and magnetism, &c., had anything to do with the "vital principle" in animated bodies, has been a question which often obtruded itself upon the philosopher, though never in such a shape as admitted of practical analysis. Paracelsus, Van Eelmont, and Bohmen, have hinted at the existence of such a connection, and the first named, professed to have made cures by discovering the assimilation of the magnet to the hunian system. Still the great problems of ,the vital NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 9 forces or the Elixir Vitce, have remained unsolved, and would have continued to do so but for the timely appearance of Anton Mesmer, who, about the middle of the last century, brought the wand of science to bear upon the enchantments of ignorance, and in a single lifetime, broke that spell of mystery which had enshrouded the hidden secrets of life, and the correllation of all forces in the universe. These may seem large claims to make for one who, in his own day, was denounced as an impostor by the scientific world, misunderstood and deserted even by those he had most benefited, and suffered to die in obscurity by the very followers who should have placed him on the highest pinnacle of fame. But Anton Mesmer is no exception to human procedures in every case, where the mind leaps before its age. Slowly but surely, the world recognises its benefactors, though it may be too late to return their benefits. To those who believe that the immortal spirit is the real man, acknowledgment of blessings received, will never seem too late, even if they are only sped by grateful memory and the pen of posterity, across the pathless realms which separate men from the land of ascended spirits. In considering the life, work, and influence of Dr. Mesmer, it would seem as if he had been providentially born and prepared for the part he was destined to fill in the history of human progress. Even in his'*eighth year, he would absent himself from home and school, to trace up the source of streams, and wander far to collect stones, shells, and minerals, which he would pore over with strange and unchildlike interest. Educated as a physician, he took his degree as a doctor of medicine, at the Vienna University, where he attracted universal attention by the curious nature of his inaugural thesis, the subject of which was, "The influence of the planets on the human body." During his residence at Vienna, he became acquainted with the professor of astronomy at the University, Father Hehl, a learned Jesuit, who claimed to be the inventor of certain steel plates, in which he could conserve the virtues of the magnet, so as to apply them successfully to the cure of disease. Whatever might have been the original merit of Father Hehl's discovery, his friend Mesmer soon improved upon it, and by his own superadded methods, produced such astonishing results in the cure of diseases, that he excited the spirit of rivalry, not only in the mind of his form.er friend, but also in the entire medical faculty of Vienna. The strife thus commenced was fanned into fury by Mesmer's continued successes, and though the machinations of his enemies ultimately obliged him to quit the city, opposition only had the effect of stimulating him to fresh energy in pursuing his path of discovery ; in fact, from the time when, in 1772, his attention was first called to the curative effects of the magnet, up to the date of his death, in 18 15, he never ceased to study, improve in, and practise the art of healing, which has been justly called, after its great discoverer, " Mesmerism." In his new mode of practice. Dr. Mesmer's earliest efforts were directed towards the utilization of the magnet, and his first cures were effected by the aid of magnetic machines, together with a baqtiet or bath, in which various mineral substances, immersed in water, were brought into connection with his patients. In a very short time, Mesmer discovered that which he had previously assumed, namely, that the chief virtue in his experiments resided in his own organism. It was from the point when he commenced the application of magnetic passes with his own hands, and found that he lo NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. could transfer the life principle from himself to his patients, under the direction of his will, that his system obtained the now familiar name of " animal magnetism." Our purpose js not to write the biography of Anton Mesmer; we simply aim to point out the gradations of unfoldment, by which the true knowledge of occult life forces was obtained. This stupen- dous result does not appear to have been known to, or anticipated by Mesmer, although it undoubtedly became familiar to many of his followers. The extent of this great man's discoveries, and the theorems upon which he based his whole system, are succinctly described by one of his most eminent biographers, Dr. Justinius Kerner, from whose admirable work, " The Life of Mesmer," we shall epitomize the summary of his views in the following chapter. CHAPTER II. SPIRITUALISM IN GERMANY (CONTINUED). Dr. Anton Mesmer. Jn the London Spiritual Magazine, Mr. Wm. Howitt, one of its ablest and most constant contributors, gives a series of papers translated from Dr. Kerner's life of Mesmer, from which the following extracts are taken : — " During his fifteen years medical practice in Vienna, Mesmer came upon his new art of heahng through observing the origin and career of diseases in connection with the great changes in our solar system and the universe ; in short, with what he termed ' Universal Magnetism.' He sought for this magnetism originally in electricity and subsequently in mineral magnetism It was after this manner Mesmer reasoned. There must exist a power which permeates the universe and binds toge- ther all bodies upon earth ; and it must be possible for man to bring this influence under his command. " This power he first sought for in the magnet. He then pondered upon it in regard to man and applied it successfully to the cure of the sick. This remarkable- result would, in any other investigator, have brought him to the end of his experi- ments. Not so with Mesmer. Ever accompanied by the idea of a primal power, which must pervade the universe, the thought occurred to him that the influence must exist yet more powerfully in man than in the magnet. . . He thus perceived that he could not ascribe alone to the magnet which he held in his hands the efi'ects produced, since he must also, in his turn, influence the magnet. '■Upon this, he cast aside his magnet, and with his hands alone, brought forth similar and unadulterated effects." Seifert, another of Mesmer's biographers, affirms that he wore beneath his vest a shirt of leather, Hned with silk, to prevent the escape of the magnetic fluid. He also believed that Mesmer wore magnets about his person, with a view of strengthening his own magnetism. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. ii The following description is given by Seifert of the Baquet which Mesmer used in the early days of his magnetic practice — "This receptacle was a large pan, tub, or pool of water, filled with various magnetic substances, such as water, sand, stone, glass bottles (filled with magnetic water), &c. It was a focus within which the magnetism was concentrated, and out of which proceeded a number of conductors. These being bent pointed iron wands, one end was retained in the baquet, whilst the other was connected with the patient and applied to the seat of the disease. This arrangement might be made use of by any number of persons seated round the baquet, and thus a fountain, or any receptacle in a garden, as in a room, would answer for the purpose desired." mesmer's theorems. The following summary of the twenty-seven theorems which Mesmer published when the French Academy refused to indorse his discovery, are taken from Memoire sur la Decouverte du Magnetisme Animal^ par M. Mesmer. Paris, 1779= — " Animal magnetism is a fluid universally diffused. " It is the medium of a mutual influence between the heavenly bodies, the earth, and animated bodies. " It is continuous, so as to leave no void. Its subtility admits of no comparison, " It is capable of receiving, propagating, and communicating all the impressions of motion. It is susceptible of flux and reflux. " The animal body experiences the effect of this agent by insinuating itself into the substance of the nerves — it afl"ects them immediately. " There are observed, particularly in the human body, properties analogous to those of the magnet, and in it are observed poles equally different and opposite. '' The action and the virtues of animal magnetism, may be communicated from one body to other bodies, animate and inanimate. " This action may take place at a remote distance, without the aid of any inter- mediate body. "It is increased, reflected by mirrors; communicated, propagated, augmented hyO sound. Its virtues may be accumulated, concentrated, transported. " Although this fluid is universal, all animal bodies are not equally susceptible of it. There are even some — though a very small number — which have properties so opposite, that their very presence destroys all the effects of this fluid on other bodies. ''Animal magnetism is capable of healing diseases of the nerves immediately, and others mediately. " It perfects the action of medicines, excites and directs salutary crises in such a manner, that the physician may render himself master of them. By its means, he may know the state of each individual's health, judge the most complicated diseases, prevent their increase, and heal them without dangerous efi"ects or troublesome con- sequences, whatever be the age, sex, or temperament of the patient. " In animal magnetism, nature presents an universal method of healing and pre- serving mankind." . . . Nothing in the history of the race is more admirably illustrative of providential methods, than the succession of steps through which great ideas are perfected, from their inception to their fruitage. Thus it is that we find the grand discovery of Mesmer, interpreting the dreams of the mystics concerning the " Philosopher's Stone " and " Elixir Vitse " ; illustrating the theories of Galileo and Newton, and converting the universal realm of gravitation which they perceived, into the soul-force of the universe, which could "be made the instrument of annihilating disease and indefinitely extending the life of man. But though Mesmer capped the climax of philosophic research in the direction of blind, non-intelligent forces, his powers of observation extended no farther. He himself per- ceived that there were unknown realms of knowledge yet to be traversed ; 12 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. and that as the element with which he was attempting to deal, was itself illimitable, so the paths of ~ new discovery must also be boundless. It has often been urged that Mesmer dared not advance to the verification of the hypotheses which he perceived — let us grant this — still it must be remem- bered that it was his bold hand which opened the temple door of life FORCES ; also, that the great discoverer laboured at first alone and unaided j and when at last he succeeded in drawing round him a cordon of sympathetic minds, he had to bear the brunt of all the persecution, scorn, and even martyrdom, which ignorance and bigotry ever launch against the pioneers of new ideas and progress. In process of time, the very bitterness of the denunciations that were visited upon the discoverer of animal magnetism, wrought their usual effect of provoking general investigation, and winning over numerous converts to the new system of cure. Amongst the most enthusiastic of Mesmer's early followers, was the Marquis de Puysegur, a wealthy and influential nobleman of Strasbourg, who, in carrying out the instructions of the great mesmerist, chanced to hit upon the still more remarkable and interesting sequence of clair- voyance, evolved through the mesmeric sleep. At first, the discovery of a highly-exalted intelligential state in connection with somnambulism, was so amazing to M. de Puysegur, that he was ' inclined to suppose the principle of cure itself, must result from the effect of magnetism upon the spirit. Like Mesmer, he immediately began to put forth theories in this direction, and, like Mesmer, he lived to realise that he had as yet attained only to the first glimmering of truth on these wonderful and occult subjects. Puyslgur's views upon the new discovery, as being connected with phenomena of the most curious and interesting nature, soon began to supersede those of Mesmer, and amongst his most devoted adherents, he had the good fortune to include the celebrated Lavater, through whose talents and influence, many other persons of eminence were attracted to the marquis's experiments. Thus it happened, that after the noble-minded Mesmer had laid his theory before the French Academy of Sciences, only to find it scornfully rejected, he returned to Germany, to experience neglect and ingratitude, and find the laurels he had so justly earned, already encircling the brow of another. The truth is, Puys6gur's experiments challenged from all observers, the deepest and most absorbing attention. Mesmer seems to have been aware that sleep-waking intelligence was not unfrequently a result of animal magnetism, but he affirmed this state was full of danger, and he not only steadily discountenanced the practice of deepening the magnetic sleep into waking trance, but he bitterly opposed the new sect formed by Puysegur, and disclaimed all alliance with his followers. It might have been partly as the result of this feud, and partly in con- temptible subservience to the opinions of the French savants, that the name of Mesmer, was for a time almost tabooed from the literature of the subject, and it became fashionable to speak of, and investigate the wonders of "Somnambulism," but carefully to avoid all allusion to the unpopular theme of animal magnetism. Time, the immutable touchstone of truth, has at length rendered justice to all sides of this vexed question. Puysegur, Barberini, Kerner, Cahagnet, Dupotet, Deleuze, and all who have written on, or experimented with these 1 ^r^^:::^:^. Mesmer NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 13 wondrous occult life forces, have each had their day, commanded the fickle mind of the populace for the time being, and aided in compelling the world to acknowledge the facts which were being daily enacted. Even the verdict of the French Academy has done a work for truth, by proving the incapacity of stereotyped associations to deal with matters out- side the groov^es laid down for their own action. In the mean time, the rival claims of Mesmer's various followers, have all been merged in the value of the great fundamental discovery of a demonstrable vital force, and the possibility of its utilization and transfer, as originally proved by Mesmer. Every other name takes rank — where it justly belongs — as secondary to his. Animal magnetism, and all the marvels which follow in its train, are now synonymous with the equally popular term, " Mesmerism," and the founder of the system, silently but inevitably, takes his place in the annals of fame, as the true alchemist, who discovered and applied to the use of humanity, the " Philosopher's Stone," and the " Elixir Vitae." CHAPTER III. SPIRITUALISM IN GERMANY (CONTINUED). The Philosopher's Stone in Action. During Mesmer's visit to Paris, and pending his efforts to obtain recog- nition for his new curative process from the French Academy of Sciences, he drew around him many interested followers, amongst whom was M. d'Eslon, a physician of great eminence. This gentleman, who was highly enthusiastic in his adherence to the new science, during Mesmer's absence from Paris conducted experiments himself, with more eclat than skill, and more display than judgment. It was under the advice of d'Eslon that Mesmer was induced to challenge the French Academicians, and urge them to investigate the working of " animal magnetism." It was also by aid of his indomitable energy, that the new methods of cure retained their hold upon the popular mind after the unfavourable verdict of the savants had condemned it. M. Bailly, the French astronomer, justly celebrated in his particular sphere of knowledge, but wholly incapable of pronouncing upon psychological phenomena, was one of those, whose opinions were most adverse to the claims of Mesmer. He gives the following account of the methods pursued by d'Eslon 3 we quote them here, to show how purely physical they were, and how thoroughly they disregarded all those conditions, which we now beUeve to be essential to the production of psychological phenomena. Bailly says ; — ' ' The sick persons, arranged in great numbers, and in several rows around the baquet (bath), received the magnetism by means of the iron rods, which conveyed it to them from the baquet by the cords wound round their bodies, by the thumb which connected them with their neighbours, and by the sounds of a pianoforte, or an agreeable voice, diffusing magnetism in the air. 14 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. " The patients were also directly magnetised by means of the finger and wand of the magnetiser, moved slowly before their faces, above or behind their heads, or on the diseased parts. " The magnetiser acts also by fixing his eyes on the subjects ; by the application of his hands on the region of the solar plexus ; an application which sometimes continues for hours. "Meanwhile the patients present a very varied picture. '' Some are calm, tranquil, and experience no effect. Others cough and spit, fee pains, heat, or perspiration. Others, again, are convulsed. " As soon as one begins to be convulsed, it is remarkable that others are imme- diately affected. " The Commissioners have observed some of these convulsions last more than three hours. They are often accompanied with expectorations of a violent character, often streaked with blood. The convulsions are marked with involuntary motions of the throat, limbs, and sometimes the whole body ; by dimness of the eyes, shrieks, sobs, laughter, and the wildest hysteria. These states are often followed by langour and depression. The smallest noise appears to aggravate the symptoms, and often to occasion shudderings and terrible cries. It was noticeable that a sudden change in the air or time of the music had a great influence on the patients, and soothed or accelerated the convulsions, stimulating them to ecstacy, or moving them to floods of tears. " Nothing is more astonishing than the spectacle of these convulsions. " One who has not seen them can form no idea of them. The spectator is as much astonished at the profound repose of one portion of the patients as at the agita- tion of the rest. ■' Some of the patients may be seen rushing towards each other with open arms, and manifesting every symptom of attachment and affection. " All are under the power of the magaetizer ; it matters not what state of drowsi- ness they maybe in, the sound of his voice, a look, a motion of his hands, spasmodi- cally affects them.* Let it be remembered that besides the official investigations of the Commissioners, numerous private experiments were instituted separately amongst them, the result of which brought conviction to their minds at least, that "hysteria, and imagination," not animal magnetism, as an actual force, were the sources of the effects they observed. Dr. Mackay, LL.D., in his work on "Popular Delusions," says : — ■ "The report of the Commissioners was drawn up by the unfortunate and illustrious Bailly. After detailing the experiments made, and their results, they came to the conclusion that the only proof advanced in support of ' animal magnetism' was its effects on the human body ; that those effects could be produced without magnetic passes or manipulations, and that s^ich effects never transpired without the patient's knowledge, hence, that imagination did, and animal magnetism did not, account for all that transpired." In justice to the cause of truth it should be observed, that none of that intelligence which often accompanies somnambulic states, such as clair- voyance, &c., seems to have been manifested before the French savants. Possibly the heterogeneous character of the assemblage organised by d'Eslon, forbade the unfoldment of psychological phenomena, or any of those curative results which had been claimed for Mesmer's practice. When these disadvantageous concomitants are borne in mind — and we remember the effect produced upon modern witnesses by the spasmodic jerks, gasps, shud- derings, &c., not unfrequently exhibited in nineteenth century spirit circles, our astonishment at the imbecility of the verdict pronounced against animal magnetism by the French Academicians may be considerably modified, indeed we may wish we had a few of those illustrious observers present to criticise the reports so freely and unconditionally published to-day, as " notes of spiritualistic phenomena" * Kapporte des Commissionaires. Redige par M. Bailly, Paris, 1734. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 15 The chief difficulty in sifting and describing occult phenomena was then, and is now, the distinction between mere nervous irritability and the genuine effect produced in the physical system by magnetism, or upon the mind by the psychological impress of a second mind, no matter whether that be by a disembodied or embodied operator. The force which can change a diseased tissue into a healthy one must be a genuine, substantial element, and the transmission of thought from one mind to another, so as to enable an entranced subject to render such intelligence as is wholly foreign to that subject's previous knowledge, is an objective proof of an outside power from which no candid observer can dissent. Tt does not appear, from a careful study of M. Bailly's report, that any such testimony was afforded. Tears, laughter, hysteria, and convulsions were prominent amongst the effects produced, and these were naturally enough deemed by superficial observers, to be the result of foreknowledge amongst the patients, who, in a state of expectancy, might quite as well have been under the influence of excited imagination as animal magnetism. It is scarcely to be wondered at therefore, that mesmeric experiments conducted on the crude and wholesale methods described by Bailly, produced no results that might not have been readily ascribed to the influence of diseased imaginations. Had no other methods been practised by Mesmer himself in the treat- ment of private patients, his reputation would never have survived the shock produced by d'Eslon's injudicious exhibitions. But more fortunate results did attend Mesmer's practice, and the many remarkable cures he was knoAvn to have effected, served in some degree to counteract the injurious report of the French Academy. Still more productive of sensational public interest were the phenomena evolved by the magnetic experiments of M. de Puys6gur. According to Dr. Mackay's statement in his sketch of the French Magnetizers, M. de Puys^gur's discovery of the sleep-waking state in connection with animal magnetism, appears to have resulted more from accident than design. Mackay says : — " The Marquis de Puysegur had one day magnetized his gardener, and observing that he had fallen into a very profound sleep, it occurred to him to address questions to him as he would have done to a natural somnambulist. To his great delight, the man answered him with such surprising lucidity, that he was encouraged to renew his experiments, when he found that tlie soul of the speaker was enlarged, and brought into more intimate connexion with the hidden things of life and nature, and with himself, M. de Puysegur. Very soon too, he discovered that all farther manipulations were needless. '■ Without speaking or making a sign, he could mentally impart his will to the patient ; in fact, he could converse with him soul to soul, without the employment of any physical methods whatever." M. de Puysegur, who was evidently feeling his way blindly along the new path of occult force, also discovered, that he coald impart his own magnetic power to inanimate objects, which, thus charged, would re-act upon those brought into contact with them. Thus, in order to reserve as much as possible the mysterious power with which he felt himself possessed, he proceeded to magnetize a tree, in contact with which he claimed, that any number of patients could receive all the benefit which could be imparted by personal manipulations. 1 6 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. Now, although the unthinking "great public" were of course sufficiently prompt to cast all manner of derision upon M. de Puysegur's "magical tree," and "the man with the enlarged soul," even the most ill-natured criticisms could not disguise the fact that veritable results of healing and clairvoyance were evolved. M. Dupotet's Histoire de Magnetisme bears witness to the multitude of remarkable cures effected by Puysegur, whilst his one clairvoyant soon multiplied into vast numbers, from whose entranced lips the most marvellous results of lucidity were constantly obtained. Writing of his first and most celebrated " lucid," the Marquis says, in letters to his friend, M. Cloquet, the Receiver of Finance, and one of his great sympathisers : — " It is from this simple man that I receive the wisest counsel and the most prudent directions in all great emergencies. Himself one of the most ignorant rustics of the country, in the magnetic sleep he is a peasant no longer. A being who awake, can scarcely utter a sentence, commonplace, illiterate and timid, when magnetized he is a poet, philosopher, and physician. I need not speak either. I have only to think Ijefore him and he instantly understands and answers me." Much more of the same nature M. de Puysegur pours forth concerning his clairvoyants, but as the powers then deemed so extraordinary, are now familiar enough to the reader, it would be unnecessary to pursue these quotations farther. Whilst the Marquis de Puysegur was making converts in every direction, by his wonderful somnambulists, a magnetizer of a still higher tone appeared on the scene in the person of the Chevalier de Bar- berini, a gentleman of Lyons, whose magnetic processes, associated with prayer, produced results even more extraordinary than the clairvoyants of Puysegur. The Chevaher de Barberini magnetized his subjects both by manipulations and will, but in most instances, the effects he produced, threw the patients into that state now known as trance and ecstasy. Visions of the most exalted character followed. The "lucids" described scenes and persons in the other world ; traversed the regions of disembodied souls, and only returned to earth reluctantly, to relate their aerial flights to won- dermg listeners, and describe to bereaved mourners, the apparitions of friends who had long since passed beyond the grave. The Continental Miscellany and Eoreign Review, describes "The New Sect of Bar- berinists," and affirms that in Sweden and Germany, where they were very numerous, "these fanatics were called Spiritualists, to distinguish them from the followers of M. de Puysegur, who were termed Experimentalists J' In this miscellany an account of the magnetic state by one of the subjects, is given in these words : — "In such an one, animal instinct ascends to the highest degree admissible in this world. The clairvoyant is then similar to God : his eye penetrates all the secrets of nature ; in spirit, he sees through all space ; friends, enemies, spirits. He sees all actions, penetrates into all causes; he becomes a physician, a prophet, a divine.'' ■ We shall now proceed to consider the final results achieved by Mesmer and his followers in Germany. In such a review we may regard Mesmer, Puysegur, Barberini, and their various adherents, as so many index fingers pointing on the well-defined path which leads the investigator through the newly discovered fields of occult force ; from mineral to animal magnetism ; from their effects upon the body to those of the nerves, soul, and spirit ; from the clairvoyant flights of the spirit upon earth to the life beyond, and into realms of being, peopled by spirits with spiritual entities. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 17 From the time of Mesmer up to the present date, the practices of the Mesmerists have been continuous, and the results, though variable with the characteristics both of operators and subjects, may be classified after the following manner : — 1. We have unmistakable effects produced in the physical organism, sometimes modifying, and at others curing diseases of various types. 2. Magnetized subjects, when questioned during their sleep, sometimes describe their own states ; prescribe remedies of a more effective nature than their physicians could do for them, and occasionally delineate the nature of disease, and prescribe remedies for others. 3. Some magnetic subjects can describe distant scenes, objects, and persons ; traverse space spiritually, find lost property, and occasionally, describe past and future events ; speak in languages they have not studied, play on instruments of which they have had no previous knowledge, and exhibit other supra-mundane powers. 4. The magnetized subject not unfrequently quits the realms of earth and descends into dark spheres, and ascends into bright ones inhabited by spiritual beings, the descriptions of whom, correspond perfectly with the identity of those who have once been known as dwellers on earth. 5. Besides the effects proceeding as above described from magnetic manipulations, thousands of instances are recorded of persons manifesting one or more, and sometimes all the phenomena described in these speci- fications, without the agency of any human magnetizer at all. As these persons have claimed that they were under the control of a Spiritual magnetizer, or a soul who had once inhabited the human form, and as the phenomena they exhibited, paralleled in all respects those evolved by the agency of a human magnetizer, the conclusion is inevitable, that the Spirit of the magnetizer, when disembodied, can produce the same effects as when on earth, and that those who are susceptible to animal magnetism, may become equally receptive of the same influence, projected by a Spiritual magnetizer. Finally, it is proved, that a certain class of individuals are not receptive to the influence of magnetism at all, whflst others are by predisposition, operators rather than subjects; and others again, erect psychological barriers of dislike or antagonism to the whole subject, thereby actively repelling the influence. It has also been demonstrated that, whilst some magnetized subjects cannot attain to more than one, two, or three of the states above specified, others may attain to them all ; thus the several states may be recognized as degrees to which differently constituted subjects attain, by laws at present but little known or understood by man. Experience has shown, that the presence of disease, which at one stage of the enquiry was deemed a necessary element for the receptivity of magnetic influence, is now only one of its contingents ; hundreds of robust and healthful persons having exhibited all the phases of somnambuUc power above described, both with human and spiritual magnetizers. It will appear evident, that in these successive states, we first trace out what effects animal magnetism can produce when both operator and subject are mortals, and next, show that precisely the same results are obtained when the operator is a spirit and the subject only is a mortal. Whilst spirits, from their superior conditions of knowledge, can effect more wonderful results by magnetism and psychology than mortals, we may assure ourselves that the modus operandi is in each case one and the same thing. Magnetic subjects are the mediums for spirits still in the body, and mediums are the subjects of spirits out of the body. The one is the 2 1 8 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. stepping-stone to the other. Animal magnetism is the body of the science ; spiritual magnetism the soul; but as animal magnetism most generally prepares the organism of the subject for the reception of the higher and more subtle force of spiritual magnetism, so it is evident, that the univer- sality with which animal magnetism has been practised all over the civilised world, during the last century, has prepared the organisms of multitudes of susceptible persons for the influx of spiritual magnetism, besides stimulating and preparing the minds of men for the unfoldment of occult phenomena. In this view of the question, the great alchemist, Anton Mesmer, may well be regarded as the human founder of the New Spiritual Dispensation ; whilst the work he has effected has already advanced from matter to force, from thence to mind, and from mind again onward to spirit, and realms of purely spiritual existence. AUTHOR'S DEFINITION OF BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT. Body — Matter. Soul — Force. Spirit — Intelligence. Man — a Trinity of Body, Soul, and Spirit. A Spirit from the earth spheres — a duality of Soul and Spirit. An Angel from the celestial heavens — Pure Spirit. (Teachings of some Oriental occultists.) CHAPTER IV. spiritualism in GERMANY (continued). Wonderful Narratives by Dr. Justinius Kerner. Amongst the most important contributions to modern German spiritual literature are the writings of Dr. Justinius Kerner, especially a volume published in 1834, entitled " Geschichten Besessener neurerer Zeif." This work contains numerous narratives of what is commonly called "obsession," but what the learned writer uncompromisingly designates as " Demoniacal Possession.^'' Taking the ground that all haunting spirits have once inhabited the human form. Dr. Kerner throws an immense flood of light upon the dark regions of " supernaturalism," proving conclusively the modes in which unhappy earth-bound spirits afflict mediumistic sensitives, and by their strange and repulsive acts of possession, give rise to the frightful superstitions that have heretofore been called "Witchcraft and Diabolism." NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 19 Many of the cases narrated by Dr. Kerner came immediately under his own supervision. It was to his residence, that the afflicted peasant Grombach brought his unfortunate daughter Magdalene, a young girl who, from the weird notoriety obtained by her state of obsession, was named in the records of the time, "The Maid of Orlach." Of this case we must now give some details, as they afford a striking evidence of the difficulties which attend the investi- gation of psychological phenomena, unless it be understood that spirits can control susceptible human beings magnetically as well as mortals. Kerner's narrative, considerably condensed, is as follows : — " In the small village of Orlach, in Wurtemburg, lived a peasant named Grombach. He was a good Lutheran Protestant, and an honest, respectable man. He had four children, of whom his daughter, Magdalene — a lively, healthy, industrious girl — was one. In February, 1831, strange disturbances began to occur in the cow-house. The cows were found tied up in unusual ways and places. Sometimes their tails would be found plaited all together, and that with as much skill as if the finest lace weaver had executed the work. For some weeks these occurrences were repeated, but the most incessant watchfulness could never detect any human agency at work. About this time, Magdalene, whilst sitting milking, received a smart box on the ear, and her cap was struck off with so much violence, by invisible hands, that it flew against her father, who was attracted towards her by her cry. On several occasions, strange cats and birds came and went in the cow-house, no one knew from whence or whither. "On the 8th of February, 1832, whilst Magdalene and her brother were cleaning out the cow-house, a clear fire was suddenly found to be burning in it. No com- bustible matter whatever was known to have been near the building ; and though the flames were soon extinguished by the help of the neighbours, the origin of the fire was entirely unknown. "The sudden bursting out of flames was repeated on the gth, loth and nth of February, until — at the urgent request of Grombach — watchers were stationed in and around the premises day and night, notwithstanding which, flames broke out in different parts of the dwelling, obliging the poor family to empty it of all furniture ; still the burning continued from time to time in the dismantled cottage. "A few days after the last burning, Magdalene saw in the cow-shed, about eight in the evening, the grey shadowy form of a woman, whose head and body appeared closely swathed. Before she had time to cry for help, the figure said to her — in a strange, distant, though clear voice — ' Remove the house ; remove the house ! If it be not removed before the 5th of March of next year, great misfortune will befal you. The house has been set on fire by an evil spirit ; but unless it be pulled down before the 5th of March next year, I cannot protect you from great misfortune. Promise that the house shall be destroyed." " The girl, who seems to have rallied under the sense of a benign and protecting influence in this apparition, gave a promise to that effect. Grombach and his son were present at this interview. They heard Magdalene's words, and the sound of some distant voice as if in conversation with her, but they could neither distinguish what was said nor did they see the apparition. From this time, the female spirit frequently appeared to Magdalene, and always brought with her a sense of strange strength and protection. Magdalene loved her, and conversed with her without the slightest sentiment of fear. The spirit said she had been born at Orlach, in 1412 ; that she had been made a nun against her will, and had been guilty of many crimes, of which she could not then speak. She seemed very religious, but very sorrowful. She could read the girl's thoughts, but refused to tell why the house should be pulled down, or what was the cause of her grief. She often referred to a ' black spirit,' by whom she was bound in some mysterious way, and alleged that he was endeavour- ing to work great evil to the family, which she desired to prevent. This ' white spirit,' as Magdalene called her, often foretold events truly, and manifested a tender interest in all that concerned Magdalene. " On St. John's day, when all the family were at church except Magdalene, who remained at home to prepare the dinner, she was startled by a loud explosion in the cow-house. She was about to rush out to see what had occurred, when she beheld close to her, on the hearth, a heap of yellow frogs. " She was on the point of gathering them up in her apron, as a curiosity to show her 20 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. parents on their return, when she heard a voice seeming to call up to her from the ground, ' Magdalene, let the frogs go,' when instantly they vanished. " After this, a terrible time of persecution ensued. Magdalene was pursued every- where by voices, scornful laughter, and frightful apparitions of animals of different kinds. " At length, in mid-day, whilst she was haymaking, she encountered the apparition of a black man, who said to her, ' What does she want who comes to thee ? Do not thou speak to her ; but speak to me, and I will give thee the key to the cellar beneath thy house. There are eight firkins of wine there, and many rich things.' Then he laughed contemptuously and vanished. For several days during the season of hay- making, this black spirit appeared to the girl, trying to tempt her to answer him, and threatening her with all sorts of woes if she conversed any more with the white spirit, whom he spoke of as that ' bag of bones.' He tried to induce her to have mass said to keep the weather fine, though Magdalene and her family were all Protestants. He seemed to be dressed as a monk, and often alleged that he was one. He could imitate the voices of her neighbours, and often did so to induce her to answer him when he called her, but she was always conscious of his presence and mockery, and by the advice of her ' white angel ' never answered him. He often jeered about her old father carrying a bible with him, and told her 'the mass was much finer and grander.' " No language can do justice to the persecutions which the poor girl suffered from this terrible spirit. His voice was frequently heard by others as well as herself, mimicking the tones of her family or friends, and always calling upon her for answers : but her peculiar sensitiveness enabled her so to distinguish his voice, that she never answered him. He often predicted the future truly, and on one occasion promised to give her some money in proof of his friendship. The next evening, Magdalene and her sister being in the cow-house, a small bag fell suddenly from a beam, and on opening it they discovered several thalers and eleven gulden. No one could give any account of how the money came there, or who owned it. In the evening of the next day, the white spirit told Magdalene that her persecutor had placed the money there in fulfilment of one of his promises, but that she must not keep it, but give it to various charities. " The spirit then added, that she should be rewarded for her obedience by having money really given her, with which she advised her to bYiy a hymn book. The day after this interview, Magdalene, with her father, hastened to the town of Hall to dis- pose of the money to the orphanage, and as she returned she was accosted by a shop- keeper, who enquired if she were not the wonderful peasant girl of whom he had heard so much. " Magdalene modestly informed him of her name, when he begged her acceptance of a gulden to buy a new hymn book with." Many incidents of this kind are given in Kerner's narrative, showing the singular and antagonistic intelligences by which the young girl was besieged. " At length her persecutor appeared to her in such frightful and monstrous shapes, that she frequently swooned from excessive fear, and it was in one of these cataleptic attacks that a new and most distressing phase of her enemy's power was made mani- fest. The girl affirmed, that a black and frightful monster would come and lay a cold icy hand on the back of her neck previous to the attacks, which now became frequent. Sometimes she would remain unconscious, cold, and rigid for hours. At others, she would strike violently at everyone who approached her, with the left hand and foot, which were icy cold, whilst the entire right side of her body was warm and quiescent. " Her parents sent for doctors and clergymen, but all without effect. When ques- tioned she would cry out, ' The black spirit ! it is he that plagues me.' ' Where is he then ? ' the doctor would enquire ; for answer, she would invariably strike at her left side with her right hand. That some most inexplicable but powerful effect was produced in the girl's system, all the reports of the medical men who were called in to attend her testify. Generally, the left side was cold, stiff, and unmanageable ; the right warm, and perfectly natural. These states increased in strangeness and violence as the year progressed, until at last, according to her own account, the black spirit would enter her lifeless body, and cause her to rise up and speak in a hoarse bass voice, language thaf was only worthy of a demon. " The doctors who were first called to attend her, treated her according to their custom with bleeding and leeches. In her somnambulic states she would frequently say to them, 'This will do no good. I am not ill. No physician can help me.' It NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 21 was asked, ' Who then can help thee ? ' Then she would awake suddenly, and joyfully cry, ' I am helped ; the white lady has helped me.' '' Dr. Kerner's report on this extraordinary case seems free from the exaggerated horrors of other narrators; yet his descriptions are sufficiently appalUng. We quote his own words Hterally in the following statements. "From this time" — about the 25th of August — "the white spirit told her in connection with many comforting texts of Scripture, that the black spirit must for a time gain full possession of her body, but that she would always be with her and conduct her soul to a place of safety, whilst the black spirit remained. " Magdalene's own account of her frightful persecution was this : — She would see, even in the midst of her work, the outline of a monk's form, clothed in black ; the face she could never clearly discern. Then she would hear him say, 'Wilt thou still give me no answer ? Take care, I shall plague thee.' Then she would feel him press against her left side, and seize the back of her neck with five cold fingers. " This was always her last conscious memory. From this time, she only spoke with the hoarse man's voice, and demoniacal speech of her tormentor. Generally, she lay with a face as livid as death — her eyes closed, the pupils when examined turned inwards, and the left foot and hand constantly moving up and down or extended to strike or menace. These attacks lasted from four to five hours, and on awakening a struggle of an extraordinary character would appear to ensue between her right and left sides. It must be noticed that the left side was always icy cold, though in constant motion, whilst the right was warm and quiescent. " She never seemed to have any knowledge of the language used on these occasions, but would declare that she had been to church, and prayed and sung with the congregation. "After this condition had lasted five months without alleviation, at my request, the poor girl was brought to my house, "Whatever I might myself have thought, I never encouraged the idea to her parents, or the various physicians who examined her case, of 'demoniacal possession.' '' Still I felt compelled to pronounce her sufferings beyond the ordinary means of relief from medical treatment, ' ' I only prescribed for her myself, prayer, and spare diet. The magnetic passes which on a few occasions I tried to make, were immediately neutralized by the demoniacal power which impelled her to make counter-passes with her own hand. " Thus mesmeric, and indeed every other mode of treatment, were unemployed by me, who recognized in her a demoniacal magnetic condition, and confided in the divina- tion of the white spirit, who foretold her recovery on the 5th of March. " Thus believing, I allowed her without anxiety, to return to her parents, convinced by long and careful observation, that there was not the slightest shadow of dissimu- lation about the young girl, nor was it possible to exaggerate the extraordinary, and obvious character of her attacks. I earnestly advised the parents to make no exhibi- tion of their daughter's preternatural condition ; to keep her attacks as secret as possible, and call no one in to witness them. I believe it was not owing to any negligence on the part of the parents, to whom their daughter's condition was a great loss, as well as a serious affliction, but to the curiosity of the outer world, that crowds of inquisitive people streamed to the hitherto unknown village of Orlach, to see and hear the miraculous girl. In this, there was at least one good result, which was, the observation and testimony of so many astonished witnesses. "One of these was an intelligent and scientific man, Pastor Gerber, who saw Magdalene in several of her attacks, and printed his observations on her case in the Didaskalia. " On the 4th of March, whilst workmen were in course of pulling down the house, as the white spirit had incessantly commanded, that apparition suddenly stood before Magdalene. This time she was so radiant, and attired in such dazzling white robes, that the poor girl could scarcely dare to look upon her. She made a confession of her earthly sins through Magdalene's lips, alleging that she had been seduced by a monk, the ' black spirit,' and become the partner of his fearful crimes. She spoke through the entranced lips of Magdalene, of her centuries of suffering, penitence, firm reliance on the atonement of her Saviour, and the final termination of her long and weary penance. After a most affecting and ecstatic prayer, the White Spirit left her, and for the last time as it seemed she was possessed bodily by her foul tor- mentor. . . . From Sunday night until Tuesday at noon, the girl took no food, and remained unchanged, with the same signs of demoniacal possession before described. 2 2 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. During the Tuesday, an immense multitude assembled in Orlach, to witness the final demolition of the house, and question the demon. His language though still uttered in a man's bass voice, was religious and full of hope of redemption. He prayed in affecting terms, acknowledged that he had committed fearful crimes, but his term of earthly imprisonment was nearly ended. '■ He described castles, and scenes in the country, of which the girl could have had no knowledge, and the accurate description he gave of the ancient monastery of Krailsheim, on the site of which Grombach's cottage and farm had stood, was pro- nounced by an antiquary present, to be perfectly correct. It was half-past eleven in the morning when the workmen engaged in the demolition of the house, came to an extremely ancient piece of masonry, which, on being removed, disclosed a large dry well, filled with rubbish, mixed with human bones, amongst which were the remains of several infants. These tokens, coupled with the confessions of the spirits speaking through Magdalene excited the most profound interest in the community at large. " Magdalene herself had been removed to the house of a neighbour at some distance from the scene of her former home, but the crisis of her attack kept constant and faithful pace with the progress of the work, and just as the above-named ancient piece of masonry was discovered, the livid appearance of her face entirely changed to a bright and healthful glow. Her eyes opened, and never shall I forget the astonishing transformation she exhibited. Confused and amazed at seeing herself surrounded by so many strangers, the poor girl covered her face with her hands, and began to weep ; she soon recovered however, and became at once and entirely free from the monstrous obsession to which she had been subject for more than eighteen months. "No return either of this obsession, nor the faculty of ghost-seeing was ever experienced. Mind and body alike were instantaneously restored to their normal condition of health and strength, and but for the theory of demoniacal possession, the case has been and must ever remain a paradox which the ordinary experiences of the physician can never explain." Besides the curious facts connected with this case, Dr. Kerner relates many others of an equally striking character. Of course it will be understood by every well-informed reader of Spiritual literature, that the most extraordinary illustration on record of German Spirituahsm, or indeed of any country, is to be found in the history of Kerner's renowned "Seeress," Madame Frederica Hauffe of Prevorst, whose mediumship was not only spontaneous and wholly undesired, but whose philosophic teachings and doctrine of the spheres, deserve far more attention than has been generally accorded to them; in fact, they antedate in some respects, and far excel in others, all that has since been demonstrated in the modern Spiritual movement. The continual recurrence to the experiences of this famed Prevorst ' Seeress, in the writings of nearly all Spiritualistic authors, would render their repetition here tedious and unnecessary. We cannot close Dr. Kerner's invaluable record however, without adding one more narrative in which he was interested, although for special and private reasons it was not pubUshed among his other collected cases :— SCENES PROM BEYOND THE VEIL. " Some ten years ago there resided in New York, U.S.A., an aged lady of German birth the widow of an eminent American merchant, by name Madame Walter. This lady having become deeply interested in Spiritualism, communicated to Mrs. Hardinge Britten the particulars of her own early experience, at a period of her life when she had been a patient of the renowned German physician, philosopher, and writer. Dr. Justinius Kerner, The circumstances of her case were so remarkable that Dr. Kerner had noted them down with a view of incorporating them with other narratives of a kindred character, in a forth- coming volume. At Madame Walter's earnest request, her experiences, which seemed to her at that time too sacred to be entrusted to a cold materialistic world, were simply recorded in MSS. but not published. At the time when the strange tale was communi- cated to Mrs. Britten, the narrator deemed it her solemn duty to offer her record as a contribution to an age, better prepared than formerly to receive it. It need only be added, NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 23 that in addition to the high and unimpeachable character of the venerable lady from whom Mrs. Britten received the history orally, she is also in possession of Dr. Kerner's MSS., from which she has already drawn some details for her published sketches, and which she now deems worthy of being presented in more complete form. " Dr. Kerner stated that it was in the year 1827 that a medical friend of his, residing in the neighbourhood of Weinsberg, expressed a wish that he, Dr. Kerner, would take charge of a singular and interesting patient, a young lady who had been placed under his care for medical treatment. " To this proposition Dr. Kerner assented, and thus he became acquainted with Mdlle. Olga Schwartzenberg, the daughter of the Baroness M , of Vienna. " At the age of twenty, Mdlle. Olga had become the victim of a severe nervous and epi- gastric disorder, which had determined her mother to send her to Weinsberg, to the care of her trusty family physician. " The mother herself was a gay, heartless, fashionable widow, who had just contracted a second marriage with an immensely wealthy, but very aged man, the Baron M , who had become captivated with the fair widow's remarkable personal attractions. " Under the treatment of Drs. Kerner and Moran, Mdlle. Olga not only began to recover her health, but she displayed to a wonderful degree, the faculty of clairvoyance, and by the magnetic passes administered to her, became a somnambulist of extraordinary lucidity. " In the magnetic sleep she could speak in several foreign tongues she had not studied ; play on any instrument presented to her, though entirely unacquainted with music, and discourse most eloquently on various scientific subjects. Besides these interesting results of the sleep-waking condition, Mdlle. Olga, in her normal state, could see, and actually describe, the spirits of many deceased persons known to those around her, yet wholly strange to herself. Notwithstanding the peculiar excellence and accuracy of these descriptions, Mdlle. Olga treated the whole subject of spiritual existence with the utmost scorn and derision, and insisted on attributing the apparitions she perceived, to the reflex action of the minds of those with whom she came in contact. " As this young lady had been brought up by a worldly-minded, atheistical mother. Dr. Kerner was at no loss to account for her total disbelief in immortality, and her contempt of all religious ideas ; still it pained him to perceive that her rare gifts of seership made no other impression on her mind than to furnish food for ridicule, and denial of spiritual agency. " It was on a certain night in October, 1827, that Mdlle. Olga was left by her physician in a peaceful magnetic sleep, her maid, Anna Matterlich, occupying a couch in an adjoining apartment, to restrain — as her mistress gaily alleged — any undue flights of her somnam- bulistic wanderings ' beyond the confined earth.' "At a very early hour the next morning. Dr. Kerner was summoned in haste to attend his patient, and he then received from her pale lips the following astounding statement : — " ' Dr. Kerner,' she said, ' the sleep in which yoa left me must have been of very short duration, for the moment after your departure I became so wide awake that I heard, and could have counted the number of your retreating footsteps. At the instant that you closed the door behind you, I felt irresistibly impelled to rise from my bed, throw on a dressing gown, and seat myself by my writing-table. Whilst I sat, abstractedly gazing at the still blazing fire, to my unspeakable astonishment, my door was opened noiselessly and my mother entered the room, and without attempting to salute me, took a chair, and sat down by the fire on the opposite side to myself.' " ' If I was astonished at her unexpected appearance, I was still more so at the extraordinary change manifested in her person.' " ' Her dress — the splendid lace in which she was married to the Baron M gave me the idea of a cold so intense that it froze my very marrow to look at her ; indeed, I felt — though she did not complain, or shiver — that she was perishing with cold. I had always been accustomed to hear my mother spoken of as a very beautiful woman, and I had often gazed at her myself with admiring wonder ; but oh ! what a contrast did she How present to the loveliness which had so fascinated all beholders ! Her hair was loose and hanging around her shoulders in disorder ; but to my amazement I perceived that it was nearly «11 false, and from its lack of arrangement failed to conceal the grey locks which it was designed to hide. One cheek was coarsely patched with rouge, whilst the other was deadly pale. A set of false teeth was in her hand, and her neck and arms were only half smeared with enamel.' " ' I had never seen my mother at her toilette, and these disclosures fairly overwhelmed me, yet all this was forgotten, totally overlooked, whilst gazing on the unutterable expression of woe which marked every lineament of that wretched face. I had never seen despair, rage, and remorse so awfully depicted on a human countenance, nor did I deem it possible that those passions could find such a fearfully vivid expression.' 24 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. " ' I seemed to see, moreover, — and wonderful it was for me to perceive it, — my mother's entire past history, all written, — I could not tell how or where, — yet impressed clearly upon her, and obvious to every eye. And, oh Heaven ! may I never again witness the naked deformity of an ill-spent life, thus indelibly imprinted on the form !' " ' Aghast and speechless, I listened in silence, whilst my mother spoke to me ! but her very tones were changed, and instead of the soft silvery accents of other days, her voice was hollow and faint, and seemed to come from an illimitable distance off, and in no way to proceed from the forlorn figure that sat before me. It said : " Olga ! I have come to tell you of a very, very terrible dream I have had, a dream you ought to know, and one which, if I had realised 'before, I should have been happier— happier now ! " She sighed ; — and oh, what a sigh of anguish was that ! — then motioning me to the writing table by my side, she bade me tnke down the words she was going to speak.' " ' Mechanically I obeyed her, when she continued as follows, speaking so slowly and with so many pauses, that, though I never seemed to possess the courage to address her, I was enabled to transcribe her words faster than she uttered them : — - " ' I was dressing, as you see, to go to court, when a sudden faintness seized me, memory fled, and consciousness only returned in the form of this horrible dream.' " Here a shudder of agony seemed to shake her frame, and a long pause ensued. " ' I found myself on the brink of a dreary, high cliff, overhanging a wild and stormy sea. The air was thicker and heavier than night ; yet it was not night. All was lonely, wild, black, and dreary. It seemed as if I had stood in that awful solitude for ages, yet why or how I came there, I knew not. " ' Suddenly, the ground rocked and parted beneath my feet. Shrieking in mortal terror. I caught at the earth, blades of grass, the very motes in the air, to stay my fall, but all in vain. Down — down — I was hurled ! oh, how long I was in falling ! Surely I must have spent years in that awful descent, for the whole of my past life, even to its minutest details, passed in solemn march before me as I fell. Not the vivid flashes of sudden remembrance, but the stately panorama of every year, hour, and minute unrolled itself before me as clearly as in the time when each event was enacted. I saw my own pale mother sinking into an early grave, but the bitter causes of that untimely death came with her ; my disobedience, ingratitude, and desertion. Every unkind word or act of folly I had committed against her, was engraved on the funeral pall from which her faded form seemed to emerge. " ' I saw dim effigies of young, timid hearts that my idle coquetries had broken. I saw the charms of beauty and intellect with which God had endowed me, first adorning, then disfiguring my own phantom likeness, with the semblance of reptiles and loathsome animals. I saw faces of many a weary drudge whom I had sacrificed to my service ; and those who had bowed to me and cringed before me, now reviled me and pointed with foul grimaces to my unfinished toilette. " ' AU this and more, more than tongue can speak, I saw, and knew, and felt, during that tremendous fall. " ' I tell you, girl, a thousand years must have passed in that downward flight. At length I landed — landed on a distant shore, where thick haze clouded at first my straining vision, and the cold winds swept around me with such a piercing, icy chill as I never dreamed to exist before. " ' As I shrank and shivered in their tempestuous cruelty, myriads of ragged forms flitted before me, and I knew they were wretched creatures whom I had passed by unnoticed in my town drives, and then I wept to think I had never done anything to alleviate their misery. They mocked at me now, and then they passed away. I would have helped them, but the bitter blast sighed out, " Too late ! Too late I " " ' Lies I had spoken, and trivial follies long since forgotten, seemed now to assume tangible shapes, and rose up to meet me so palpably that I felt with shame and horror they were fastening themselves upon my form — my very dress, and would be seen and known by all beholders. '^ ' I strove to hide myself for very shame, but millions of eyes were upon me, and all seemed to read me through and through. " ' Then arose the wild and agonising wish, since I could not conceal my true self, that I were changed. " ' I screamed aloud a frantic prayer to return to earth and lead a new life — do some- thing, everything, over again, and be a better, truer, and purer woman. But again the bitter winds sighed out the doleful cry, ' Too late ! Too late ! ' In my despair I cried to those who surrounded me that I was not fit to be seen. I must and would be some- thing better. And then I remembered what the priests had taught — how they had preached that the blood of Christ would cleanse the worst of sinners, and redeem all who believed in Him from the penalty so justly due to iU- spent lives. I had never believed this. I had never been taught to believe, but I would do so now ; and then with frantic NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 25 haste I sped on to find a priest. With the wish came the realisation. A celebrated minister of the Christian Church, long dead and gone, started up suddenly in my path, alive again, and ofi"ered me a crucifix. But, oh, horror ! As I gazed upon this man I saw he was worse than I was. He was a hypocrite, a base deceiver, and his changing form was marred by the wild, despairing images of thousands of shipwrecked souls whom his false teachings had misled. Still, a shadowy hope was left. I would cling to the crucifix. Pictures of faithful believers thus redeemed flitted before my eyes ; but even as with out- stretched arms I strove to clasp the image, it sfolce, and in sweet, though relentless, tones it said, " Not everyone who saith unto me. Lord, Lord ! but he who doeth the will of my Father, who is in heaven, he shall be saved." Then I shrieked out, " Is there then no salva- tion?" The answer came, "Work out thine own salvation." "But how?" "Inaction." " But," I cried again, "I am dead. There is no hope, no repentance after death." " There is no death," answered the voice, so still, so soft, yet so full of power that it seemed to fill the spaces of infinity. Confused and overwhelmed, yet still aroused and stirred by the strange new thought that there miyM he progress even beyond the grave, I asked, " Where, then, is hell ? " No answer came, but yet I felt that answer, and it impelled rhe to look around through the murky air on the bleak and barren prospect, and the dreary stunted forms of beings on whose faces I read images of mis-spent lives like my own. Then I cried, " Lo, I am in hell, and I myself have made it ! " " ' Then I thought, but did not dare to ask, of Heaven. " ' Thought in spirit life is action, reality, and with the thought came a view ! Oh, that I could speak of the radiant visions that one brief glance presented ! '' ' The brightest and highest flights of ideality on earth fall short, far short, of that blooming, sunlit land, and the happy, lovely people that inhabit it. And yet I saw what they had been, as clearly as I saw the evil lives of my associates. Some had been crippled, blind, starved, worked to death, or worn out with cares and toils, but all had been true and faithful unto death, and good to one another. All those that dwell in those heavenly spheres, those lands of light and beauty, that even to look at for a single instant is worth a thousand years of suffering, had been kind, patient, brave, or helpful. " ' Oh, what a glory it was to look upon the good ! Oh, that I had been good, ever so little ! Oh, that I had left some record behind, to bless mankind ! that single blessing would have saved me ! But whilst I sighed in heaviness, with Milton's fallen angel, " Me miserable !" the sweet soft voice breathed in my ear : " Up and be doing ! prepare, and commence thy life anew. Work out thine own salvation. Arise, and go to thy Father." I thought, for it was but a dream, Olga — I thought, and said, I will arise : and I did go, and I came here, as the first fruit of my new life and new resolution, for I found, that is, I thought I found, that the only way to help myself was by helping others, and so I came hither to warn my child ; to tell her that not in church, in pulpit, or in the good deeds of another, does the path to heaven lie, but in her own strivings after good ; in her deeds to her fellow mortals ; in pure thoughts, good acts, kind words, and the motives for good which move us through every second of our mortal pilgrimage. Heaven and hell are states, my child. No foot can tread the path by which we reach them but our own ; no mouthing hypocrite can teach us how to find the way, or save, or guide us, only the im- pulses to good and truth which God has given to every human soul, if we would but heed them. These are our saviours, Olga. Arise ! and save thyself ! " " ' She ceased, and gaining self-possession from the cessation of the agonising tones that had so long rung in my ear, I cried out — " * Oh, mother ! tell me one thing more. In the name of heaven, tell me how and when you came here ! ' " ' Raising my eyes as I spoke, I sought to meet her glance, but I gazed on vacancy. The empty chair alone remained ; the pen, ink, and wet writing inscribed with the fearful tale were the only mementos that remained of that awful interview ! ' " The lady concluded her narrative by adding, that after the disappearance of the appari- tion, she remembered no more until she found Dr. Kerner and her maid bending anxiously over her. As a sequel to this terrible vision, Dr. Kerner stated that the Baroness M died at Vienna, on the very night in question ; she had been found at her toilet half dressed, but covered with blood. The sudden rupture of a blood vessel had robbed her of life, in the very act ef preparing to ensnare all hearts in the meshes of her unreal charms. " The appearance of the corpse in all respects corresponded to the apparition witnessed by the daughter, even to the set of false teeth still clutched in the hand of the mute but eloquent dead. It need only be added that to the last day of her earthly life Madame Walter's terrible vision bore fruits in her chastened spirit, by inciting her to ceaseless acts of benevolence, holy thoughts, and words of tender sympathy, which made all who knew her in life, and remembered her after death, ' rise up and call her blessed.' " 2 6 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES, CHAPTER V, SPIRITUALISM IN GERMANY (CONTINUED). Wonderful Phenomenal Personages. During the progress of the Spiritual movement, the desire to satisfy the many marvel seekers who crowd its ranks has no doubt induced those journalists whose business it is to administer to popular taste, to ransack the literature of the past for proofs of Spirit intercourse. Thus there are very few well-attested cases but what have already found their way into print, and helped to feed man's craving appetite for addi- tional wonders from the Spirit world. At the risk of reiterating some experiences that have been already worn threadbare, the scope of this compendium obliges us to reprint such cases as will illustrate various phases of our subject occurring in different countries. It is with this view that we now proceed to give a brief notice of the remarkable cures effected through the instrumentality of the celebrated Prince Hohenlohe, Archbishop of Gross wardein, in Hungary, and Abbot of St. Michael's Monastery at Gaborjan. It must be understood that this eminent ecclesiastic attributed his great powers of healing to the special interposition of his " Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." The excellent and amiable Arabian gentleman, Nathaniel Aymar, of whom Bayard Taylor and other Eastern travellers make men- tion, attributed cures just as remarkable as those of which we are about to write, to the influence of Mahomet. A very successful Chinese doctor of California, " Ah Sing," claimed to heal diseases only under the influence of Fo, and Dr. Valmour, a negro, of New Orleans, performed the most astonishing feats of healing solely through what he assured the author, was the influence of his father's spirit, who was a physician before him. The most renowned healers of America cite the names of divers spirits as the sources of their astonishing powers, and any number of Buddhists of whom the author has cognizance make cures by the influence of their God- man Buddha. To the one-idead sectarian of any shade of opinion it is necessary to preface our account of Prince Hohenlohe's cures with these remarks, lest we should be instrumental in deluding our readers concerning the real sources of that remarkable man's beneficent powers. The true scientist will be at no loss to find a common origin for all spiritual and magnetic potencies, and that independent of sect, creed, or clime. The following particulars are taken from the autobiography of Prince Hohenlohe, of which a fine translation has been rendered by William Howitt. From this we learn that the Prince was born in 1794, and being destined for the church, filled many clerical positions of distinction in Olmiitz, Munich, and Bamberg. In 1820 he became acquainted with a peasant named Martin Michel, whom he met at a watering-place in the Duchy of Baden, and from whom he learned that the power of healing, " through the name of Christ" was NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 27 constantly practised by him, and could be exercised equally well by any other true Christian. The Prince relates the first cure he effected under the influence of his new friend Martin in the following terms : — "At the commencement of the year 1826, I proceeded to Hapfort, to pay a visit to Prince Louis, heir to the crown of Bavaria. There finding Martin, I invited him to journey with me in my carriage to Wiirtzburg. On the morrow I paid a visit to Baron von Eeinach, and when we were about to dine, the domestics carried in the young Princess Matilda of Schwartzenburg, who for eight years had not the power of walking, through paralysis. . Touched with compassion for the poor cripple, who was placed at my side, I bethought me of Martin, who had cured me of a violent sore throat, and I said within myself tlaat probably, if the Princess had firm confidence in the help of the Saviour, Martin could cure her likewise. " On the 21st of June, after performing mass, I felt myself irresistibly impelled to hasten to the Princess, and tell her that if she had a firm reliance on the promise of Jesus Christ she could be healed. I went to the Princess, accompanied by Martin Michel, and leaving him in the ante-chamber, was shown into the apartment of the Princess, whom I found reclining on a bed, enveloped as it were in a mass of machinery. After the usual salutations I said to her, ' My dear cousin, God is able to help you through Jesus Christ His Son, and I have brought with me a pious peasant, at whose prayer God has already succoured the affiicted. If you are willing I will call him in, that he may pray for you.' " ' With all my heart,' replied the Princess, whereupon I called Michel. "After some words addressed to the invalid, Martin commenced praying, but it is necessary to have seen him to have a just idea of the depth of fervour with which he prayed. I avow on my own part that I threw myself on the ground in supplication also. The prayers ended, I felt a secret power which I could not explain nor resist, which impelled me to say in a loud voice to the Princess, ' In the name of Jesus Christ arise and walk ! ' " As I pronounced these words, ever memorable to me, the Princess was not only able to rise, which she had not done for eight years, but to walk with perfect ease and strength. " The rumour of this event was quickly spread, and I was surrounded by invalids. I say nothing of the number of such facts as then took place, for it is not for me to speak of them. The Princess it seems walked to church on the following Sunday, to the astonishment of the whole community, and in sight of multitudes who for years had been accustomed only to see her reclining in a carriage, or borne in the arms of attendants. The next notable cure was performed by the Prince alone, and it took place on the person of Louis, Crown Prince of Bavaria, the well-known monarch of that country, and the liberal patron of arts and sciences in Munich. The following letter, although it has often appeared in print before, is selected for quotation in this place, because it bears a testimony which none can question to the powers of the celebrated Therapeutist. It was written by Prince Louis of Bavaria, and is as follows : — "to the count von sinsheim. " Mt Dear Count, — There are still miracles. The last ten days of the month the people of Wiirtzburg might believe themselves in the days of the Apostles. " The deaf hear, the blind see, the lame freely walk, not by the aid of art, but by means of a few short prayers, and the invocation of the name of Jesus Christ. The Prince of Hohenlohe demanded only faith in Jesus Christ to heal the sick ; but this faith was an indispensable condition. " On the evening of the 28th the number of persons cured amounted to more than seventy. These were of all classes, from the humblest to a prince of the blood, who, without any exterior means, recovered the hearing which he had lost from his infancy.* This cure was effected by a prayer made during some minutes by Prince Hohenlohe, a priest of only twenty-seven years of age. *Prince Louis here speaks of himself and his own cure. 28 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. " . . .In my ante-chanber, the Prince twice unsuccessfully pronounced his prayer for a woman who had been blind for twenty-five years, but at the pressing solicitation of the woman, he prayed a third time, and she recovered her sight. . . . "The inhabitants of Wiirtzburg have testified by the most lively acclamations the pleasure which my cure has given them. You are at liberty to communicate this letter, and to allow any one who wishes it to take a copy of it." "Louis, Prince Eotal. "Bruckenau, July 3rd, 1822. " Whilst no honest reader can fail to admire the manly candour with which Prince Louis testified to those marvels, which many a cowardly ingrate would have kept secret, and many an interested bigot would have tried to smother up, the scientist might suggest the pertinent enquiry, why the Prince's prayers could not cure the blind woman mentioned in the above letter until the third repetition. It could not have been for lack oi faith on the part of the patient, because it was at her pressing entreaty that the third prayer was offered. Was the good healer's "Saviour" harder to be entreated in this poor woman's case than in that of the Crown Prince, who was cured instantane- ously, and upon the strength of the first prayer offered ? If we were called upon to solve such a problem through magnetic and psychologic laws our difficulties would be explained at once. We should perceive in this, as in many other instances, that special and continuous applications of the good healer's force were required, whilst in the Prince's case a mere shock, or primary exertion of will, was all that was needed. Meantime, those who insist upon calling in " the Lord Jesus " as the sole agent of cure, could not deny that he was somewhat partial, and not always just, for the memoirs of Prince Hohenlohe prove that there were occa- sional failures, although all that came appeared to have been "full of faith and the holy spirit." Professor Onymus, of the University of Wiirzburg, himself an eye-witness of Prince Hohenlohe's wonderful operations, has given the following account of them : — " Prince Hohenlohe cures the sick by his prayers. From all sides they bring the sick, the blind, the lame, deaf, and dumb to his door. The victims of every evil that afflict humanity besiege the house where he stays, and it is not without great trouble, and by the assistance of the pohce, that you are able to get to him. Notwithstanding, he never seems fatigued. " He never refuses his aid to any one, even to the poor, or mendicants with the most disgusting complaints. " When he quits the house, it is not to carry alleviation to the palaces of the great ; l\e goes in preference to the cabins of the poor. When he prays we see that the prayer comes from the bottom of his heart, and that with so much fervour, that he oftentimes seems ready to sink with exhaustion." As we cannot do justice to one tenth of the laudatory notices that were written of the Prince's marvellous cures, we must conclude by selecting a few of the notable cases recorded by Legation Councillor Scharold, who, like many other distinguished personages of the time, wrote of what he himself was an eye-witness to. "Elizabeth Laner, cured of a rheumatic affection of the nerves, which made her a helpless cripple of twenty-five years' standing. " Captain Ruthlein, of Thundorf, seventy years of age, and Fraiilein Fegelim, upwards of seventy, both cured of total paralysis, and able to use every limb and organ freely. "Michal Dinsenbacher, aged twenty-four, for three years suffered dreadful agonies NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 29 with an abscess of the chest, and caries of bones. Patient of hospital, cured on the spot, and at work in the fields the next day. ' ■ Two lame men, carried in arms into the house of Aulic Councillor Martin, total paralysis, — cured on the spot. •' The widow Balzano, and another woman of Narstadt, blind ; one for twenty-five, another, nineteen years ; cured at the Legation office of Counsellor Scharold." It would be needless to pursue this list farther. Prince Charles of Bartenstein, in a letter to his father, dated August 18, 1821, expresses his amazement at the cures- which he himself had witnessed in the chapel at Bruckenau, where he declares, " four hundred blind, deaf, dumb, and paralytic people &c., &c., were instantaneously and completely cured." A vast number of thoroughly attested cases were collected and pubhshed in 1825 in the German papers. At the solicitation of the medical faculty of Geri7iany however, the Government at length forbade these operations ; and Prince Hohenlohe retired to Austria, where he continued his divine work until his death, which took place in his fifty-fifth year, at Boslon, near Vienna. Among the great variety of manifestations recorded by the American Spiritual journals, none have excited more interest than the appearance of letters, names, and figures on the flesh of the mediums, thus affording incontrovertible evidence both of the intelligence which arranges the characters, and of a new and wonderful phase of chemistry, involved in their production. Not to depreciate the value of such a curious form of supra-mundane agency, but to show its accordance with some unknown law at work in various directions, we point to one or two remarkable cases of " stigmata," many of which have been indisputably attested on the Continent of Europe. Our German illustration of this singular phase is the celebrated Katherine Emerick, the nun of Diilmen, of whom we give the account published by Herr Clemens Von Brentano, who visited the Ecstatic, and observed her case for many years. He says — '' The most remarkable features of this case were — a bloody crown encircling the head ; marks of wounds in the hands, feet and side, and two or three crosses on the breast. These, and the mark round her forehead, often bled, the latter usually on Wednesday, and the former on Friday, and with such obstinacy, that very often heavy drops ran down. This statement has been subscribed to by numerous physicians, and others also who have visited her. " In 1 820 the Ecclesiastical Board visited Diilmen several times, and found the facts more or less to agree with the published reports. " On the breast was found a double cross, in red connected lines. The bleedings had developed for years, and all accounts agree that they could not have been produced by any known applications from without. They have been continually watched for days, and washed by physicians, but never varied in appearance, nor could they be accounted for on any known physiological cause. Katherine appeared to have been a highly sensitive devout person from childhood. " In one of her numerous visions she informed her confessor that she had a vision of the Saviour, who appeared to her as a radiant youth, offering her a garland with the left hand and a crown of thorns with the right. She seized the latter, and pressed it to her brow, but on regaining outward consciousness she felt a severe pain encircling her head, accompanied by drops of blood. Soon after this, in 1802, she entered the convent at Diilmen. "About 1814 her case became generally known, through a pamphlet published by her attending physician. Still later she submitted — though reluctantly — to an official investigation, and though she always desired most earnestly to be left in strict retirement, she yielded patiently to any form of investigation that could throw light on her wonderful case." The celebrated naturalist, Count Stolberg, visited Katherine in 1821, so NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. and from his account we learn that for many months at a time, her whole nourishment consisted of water and small portions of an apple, plum, or cherry, daily. She was subject to trances, and fasts prolonged for incredible periods of time. She often spoke in trance, in strange and beautiful language. Her prevision, knowledge of character, distant events and places, was astonishing, and her cheerfulness, piety, and resignation excited the admiration of all around her. Early on the Friday morning, the thorn wounds on her head began to bleed ; later in the day the eight wounds on her hands and feet commenced bleeding. No artist could have more accurately painted the crown and crosses, and no matter what pains were taken to wipe off the drops of blood, they continued to flow throughout the entire day. She had many remarkable spiritual gifts, and besides the phenomena already described, her clairvoyant perceptions were constant and most penetrating. Ennemoser, in his " History of Magic," relates many other equally remarkable and well attested cases of Stigmata, none of which are more striking in the persons of religious ecstatics than that which has recently attracted the attention of the Continental world, in the person of a poor servant girl of Belgium, of whom the following account is rendered by Father Johann Weber, a Dominican physician, who was sent by the Bishop of the Diocese to the village of Bois d'Haisne, in Belgium, to investigate the case :— The Dominican's visit is described in the Roman CathoUc Tablet of 1869 in the following words : — " He arrived at the village of Bois d'Haisne, at the house of the Lafans, about one o'clock in the day. Louisa was at that very moment in Qne of her mysterious trances ; but the venerable Provincial was only disposed to doubt, since her appearance was per- fectly natural. However, the parish priest who accompanied him soon convinced him of the reality, by shaking her violently, and then sticking pins into her arms and legs with- out producing the smallest effect upon her ; nor did blood flow from the punctures, though they were deep. Finding that she was entirely insensible, they proceeded to examine her hands and feet, in which they found the distinct marks of the stigmata. There were also marks of the crown of thorns round her head, but there was no trace of blood in any of the wounds. After about a quarter of an hour's observation, the priest recalled her to consciousness by the simple words, " Well, Louisa." She opened her eyes quite naturally, and then saw the Provincial. The priest explained to her that he had been sent by the bishop to investigate the matter. In answer to his enquiry as to what she had seen in her ecstacy, she replied that she had been assisting in the bearing of the cross. He was very much struck both with her simplicity and ignorance. She was merely a peasant girl, and nothing more. The priest having left the house, the Provincial resolved to remain and watch the case ; but that he might not appear to be doing so, he took out his breviary and began to say his ofl[ice. He remarked only that she turned to the east, and that her expression was one of singular modesty and reflection. At a little before two o'clock she gave a deep sigh and lifted up her hands. Soon her watcher perceived a stream of blood to issue from the wound in her left hand, which could not have been caused by any instrument or other agency, as she had not moved from her arm- chair, and her hands did not touch each other. Tears flowed from her eyes and fell un- heeded on her cheek. Her expression changed to one expressing great anguish, a kind of foam escaped from her lips and filled her mouth. At a quarter to three she fell, her arms being extended in the shape of a cross. Her sister ran to j)ut cloths under her head and feet, the former being lifted with great difficulty. Her face was warm, but her hands and feet were icy cold as if dead, while the pulse apparently ceased to beat. At three o'clock she moved, crossing her feet a little, and assuming exactly the attitude of Christ on the cross. Thus she remained until four o'clock, when she suddenly rose, knelt with clasped hands, and seemed to pray with the utmost fervour. Her body during this time appeared as if it scarcely touched the ground. After about ten minutes she seated herself again in the arm chair, resuming her attitude of modest recollection, and the Provincial thought she would soon be herself again ; but the most curious phenomena were yet to come. After a few seconds her expression became painfully distressed ; she lifted her arms again in the shape of a cross, sighing heavily, and greenish foam again escaping from her mouth, NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 31 while the mark of the crown of thorns on her head became more and more distinct. Suddenly she burst forth in a loud cry, and bowed her head. At that moment her body had all the appearance of death ; her face was deadly pale, and even cadaverous ; her lips were black and livid ; her eyes glassy, open, and apparently without life. A few moments after, the coloiir returned to her cheeks, and her face assumed an expression of intense beatitude. The parish priest came back at this moment, and taking a lamp of petroleum, put it close to her eyes without her perceiving it. The Provincial pricked her feet, both on the soles and on the upper parts, without her feeling it in the smallest; degree. At a quarter past six she suddenly became perfectly natural, the pulse began to beat as usual, and she was " herself " again. She had no recollection of anything she had herself done during her ecstacy. She seemed to think little or nothing of these extraordinary visions, and did not attribute to herself any merit or holiness in consequence. She is a tertiary of St. Francis, but knows very little of his history. In answer to some questions which were put to her, she replied that she had never been spoken to by Our Lord, and that she had seen the evil one under various forms ; when she mentioned him she was filled with great fear. " The following morning she was at the parish church, and received the communion at the hands of the Provincial with great reverence. The priest's housekeeper being absent, she came to the presbytery to prepare breakfast. The Provincial was struck with her brisk, healthy appearance, and could scarcely imagine that he beheld in the bright, simple servant girl the Extatica who, in a few hours, probably, would be again undergoing the mysterious conformity to the Passion above described." Of Stone-throwing, hauntings, or the disturbances which in Germany are commonly attributed to the " Polter Gheist," we have so many accounts, and the manifestations so nearly resemble each other, that it would be tedious to repeat them. Almost every reader of Spiritual literature is familiar with the accounts published by Brevior, Howitt, Owen, Mrs. Crowe, &c., concerning the hauntings in the Castle of Slawensik, in Upper Silesia, especially those which occurred to Councillor Hahn and his friend Cornet Kern. Dr. Dorfel, a physician resident at Hamburgh, quite recently sent the author a numerously-signed document, containing accounts, known to and witnessed personally by the signers, of manifestations which tally almost exactly with those in the Castle of Slawensik. These hauntings followed the family of Dr. Dorfel for a period of more than three years, during which he removed from Darmstadt, Berlin, and Bonn, in the hope of avoiding them. They came in the shape of frightful apparitions, groanings, shrieks, poundings, throwing of missiles, movements of heavy furniture, &c., and had been witnessed by Madame Dorfel and her two daughters, besides about one hundred different persons, neighbours of the suffering and afflicted family, who had been called in at various times and places in the vain hope of exorcising the persecutors who tormented them. In answer to Dorfel's statement sent to the author, the latter advised him to form circles, and endeavour to communicate with the invisible persecutors, on the generally pursued system of American Spiritualists. This advice being followed, proved successful. During the year 1870, the harassed family succeeded in communicating by raps and planchette writing, with the Polter Gheist, and a number of his weird associates. In this way they learned a terrible history of crime and wrong, involving persons of high position, of whom it would now be injudicious to write. The spirits represented that they only attached themselves to the doctor's family because they found in its members the requisite medium power. The communications soon grew orderly ; the criminal spirits manifested penitence and desire for progress, after which the hauntings entirely ceased. In all probability, hundreds of similar cases would be thus explained and terminated, if those who are cognisant of 32 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. them, would only enter upon a systematic method of communing with the invisibles, on the plan of the modern spirit circle. From the reports of M. Kalodzy, the author of several valuable works on mineralogy, mining, engineering, &c., we have received a curious collection of narratives concerning the knockings which are so common in Hungarian and Bohemian mines. M. Kalodzy says, these knockings have been repeatedly heard by him and the pupils that he — as a teacher in the Hungarian School of Mines — has introduced there, and that many of the miners are so accustomed to the signals of their " Kobolds " that they would not like to work in any direction against which the knockers warn them. In Northern Germany, these knockings are quite common in mines, and are attributed to the Berg-geister, or spirits of mountains and mines. From Mdme. Kalodzy, the writer of "Rambles in the Hartz Mountains," and " The Clock Makers of the Forest," &c., the author of this work has received the following account of these " Kobolds " or spirits, as witnessed by Madame Kalodzy and three companions, who spent a week in the hut of a peasant, one Michael Engelbrecht, in whose family the Kobolds seem to have been perfectly familiar :■ — " On the three first days after onr arrival," said Madame K , " we only heard a few dull knocks, sounding in and about the mouth of the mine, as if produced by some vibrations of very distant blows, but when on the thii-d evening Michael came home from work, he brought us the welcome intelligence that his friends, the Kobolds, had promised by knockings to make us a visit. This we were right glad of, as Dorothea, our Michael's mfe, had expressed her fears that they might be shy of so many strangers, and would not appear, unless we spent some hours in the mine. "We were about to sit down to tea when Mdlle. Gronin called our attention to a steady light, round, and about the size of a cheese plate, which appeared suddenly on the wall of the little garden directly opposite the door of the hut in wliich we sat. "Before any of us could rise to examine it, four more lights appeared almost simul- taneously, about the same shape, and varying only in size. Surrounding each one was the dim outHne of a small human figure, black and grotesque, more like a little image carved out of black shining wood, than anything else I can Uken them to. Dorothea kissed her hands to these dreadful little shapes, and Michael bowed with great reverence. As for me and my companions, we were so awe-struck yet amused at these comical shapes, that we could not move or speak until they themselves seemed to flit about in a sort of wavering dance, and then vanish, one by one." The narrator went on to say, that she and her husband have since both heard and seen these little men, who always come and go very suddenly ; appear as above described in the shadowy image of diminutive black dwarfs about two or three feet in height, and at that part which in the human being is occupied by the heart, they carry the round luminous circle first described, an appearance which is much more frequently seen than the little black men themselves. Mr. Weske, a we'althy and intelligent German gentleman of San Francisco, has related to the author a graphic account of his discovering a fine gold lode by aid of these knocking mining spirits. Mr. William Howitt, in an article on the Berg-Geister, written' some years ago for the London Spiritual Magazine, says : — " We know that the miners of Germany and the North have always asserted, and do stiU assert, the existence of Kobolds and other Berg-geister or spirits of the mountains and mines, and that they assist or thwart their exertions in quest of ore, as they are irritated or placated." The miners describe them as short, black, and declare that when they are NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 33 attached to certain miners they go before them in the sohd subterranean rock, knocking with their hammers, and thus indicating the presence of metal and the devious course of the vein. If it is lost by a break in the strata, or " fault " as they call it, the sound of the Be?'g-geister's hammer directs where again to seek it, and when there is a busy and energetic thumping of many hammers, it is the certain announcement of abundant ore. Not caring in this plain matter of fact compendium to enter more fully into the vexed question of sub-human spiritual intelligences, we shall treat no more on what is termed by the Occulists "elementary existences." As abundance of testimony on this question can be found in other writings, we must return to our narrative of phenomena which may be attributed to the agency of human spirits, or originate in the realms of magnetism and psychology. It may not be uninteresting to the student of SpirituaHstic phenomena to learn, that besides the instances of levitation recorded of Mr. D. D. Home, and other physical media of the New Dispensation, several spontaneous cases of this kind are on record. The following brief article is selected from many other illustrations of this phase of sptrit power, because it comes from respectable and authentic sources. A correspondent in t\iQ Journal de Frankfort, of September, 1861, writes as follows : — To the Editor of the "Spiritual Magazine." " We read in the Geqenwart of Vienna that a Catholic Priest was preaching before his congregation last Sunday in the Church of St. Mary, at Vienna, on the subject of the constant protection of angels over the faithful committed to their charge, and this in words of great exaltation, and with an unction and eloquence which touched profoundly the hearts of numbers of the congregation. Soon after the commencement of the sermon, a girl of about twenty years of age showed all the signs of ecstacy, and soon, her arms crossed upon her bosom, and with her eyes fixed on the preacher, she was seen by the whole congregation to be raised gradually from the floor into the air, and there to rest at an elevation, of more than a foot, to the end of the sermon. We are assured that the same phenomenon had happened several days previously at the moment of her receiving the communion." — Journal de Frankfort, Sept. 6, 1861. This remarkable occurrence was also testified of by the late Baron de Palm, who was present on the occasion, and himself related it to the author. In connection with this event, Baron Kirkup, of Florence, a well known and esteemed correspondent of the Londo?i Spiritual Magazine, writes to the Editor in the following terms : — " This is a confirmation of my friend Mr. Home's repeated elevation, of which there are a thousand witnesses. I possess eight engravings from different copperplates of a similar elevation of Pope Pius VII. There is this inscription : " ' Pius Sep. Pont. Max. Savonce in Ecstasim iterum raptus die Assumptionis B. F. M. lUh Augusti, 1811.' " I have two ancient prints of diEferent risings in the air of St. Catherine of Sienna ; one inscriptisn is : " ' Sublime per echstasim rapta divina arcana contemplatur,' &c. " I believe many of your friends know " Your obedient servant, " Florence, 15 October, 1861. Seymour Kirkup." From the letters of an esteemed Spiritualist of Baden Baden, Col. Kyd, a gentleman who, in connection with his amiable lady's Planchette writing, 3 34 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. has done much to stimulate investigation into Spiritual matters throughout many of the most fashionable circles of Germany, the author learned accounts concerning a certain Pastor Blumhard, which have since been verified by several persons who have visited that gentleman, and published details of his wonderful achievements. Pastor Blumhard resides at Boll, near Gappingen in Wiirtemberg, and is a noble-minded enthusiast, whose life, in a more limited sphere than that of the excellent Pastor Oberlin, still greatly resembles it. M. Blumhard performs many marvellous cures by the laying on of hands, having in one instance cured completely an unfortunate woman, a parishioner of his, of an immense wen. The report of this extraordinary case attracted so much attention to the good Pastor, that he was visited from far and near, by great numbers both of the curious and afflicted of earth. M. Blumhard not only cures the sick, but he administers to the miserably poor, of whom his parish is full, by presents of fruit, vegetables, wine, and provisions of all kinds. These his narrow means could never enable him to purchase, but all his great benefactions, though procured through human means, are generally brought to him by entire strangers, and always in answer to prayer. Hundreds of persons report that they have been compelled by a power they could not resist, to send presents of clothes, or food, to Pastor Blumhard. On these occasions it is invariably found that some poor needy parishioner has besought the prayers of the good Pastor for precisely the articles sent in. Like Miiller, of Bristol, England, the philosophy of this life of prayer and faith is easily understood by the student of magnetism and psychology, but as in Miiller's case. Pastor Blumhard's religion alone is held responsible for the Divine response. Be it as it may, a good work is accomplished, and an humble German priest is the instrument through whom it is wrought. A few such evidences of Christian faith in action, would do more to prove the truth^ and value of Christianity, than the Pope of Rome and all his Cardinals,' or the barren fruitless sermons of the whole Bench of English Bishops. CHAPTER VI. SPIRITUALISM IN GERMANY (CONCLUDED.) To the writings of Kerner, Ennemoser, Eschenmayer, and their cotem- poranes, we must refer our* readers for further details concerning the subjects treated of in the last chapter, meantime it needs no reiteration to show that all the spiritual phenomena now so generally known throughout the world, were quite famiHar amongst the Germans during the entire of this century, Even the inspiration exhibited on the public rostrum, for which American Spiritualism has been so specially and justly celebrated, has not been wanting in the nineteenth-century marvels of German Spiritualism. In proof of this we cite the case of the celebrated Baroness Von Krudener, a Prussian lady of high birth, who for more than twenty years, during the Prince Emil de Sayn. Wittgenstein NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 35 stormiest days of revolutionary strife on the Continent of Europe, that is, from 1793 to the period of her death in 1824, deemed herself called upon to quit the brilliant life of the salon, and the attractions which her rank and station offered, in order that she might preach a gospel of peace and purity, in the presence of warlike and violent men, many of them the contending generals, princes, and potentates who ruled the destinies of Europe. A prophetess and orator of the most remarkable power, this beautiful and accomplished lady pursued her mission in despite of threats, dangers, and captivity. The following anecdote will suffice to show the great power she wielded over the most influential personages of her time. In William Howitt's charming biography of the Baroness Von Kriidener, when describing the chaotic state of Europe during the Napoleonic wars, he says : — " One evening the Emperor Alexander of Russia who had been making his way across Bavaria wearily for days, through crowds of exulting people who looked upon him as a saviour, entered an hotel at Heilbronn borne down by fatigue." " He shut himself up in his room, filled with deep and painful reflections. " Alexander is supposed to have been aware of the intended murder of his father, the Emperor Paul, and despite his wish to become his people's benefactor, he could not rise above the dark memories that haunted him. "He himself relates that he had just exclaimed aloud, "Oh, that some holy soul might be sent to me, who could solve the great enigma of my life and destiny !" when the door opened, and Pnnce Wollonsky, entreating pardon for the intrusion, announced, that Madame Kriidener waited without, and would insist upon seeing His Imperial Highness. '' ' Madame Kriidener!' replied the Emperor, 'then surely she comes in answer to my prayer ; let her enter.' Madam Kriidener had met the Emperor before, and won his confidence by her marvellous spirit of prophecy, fearless love of truth, and simple piety. " For three long hours the noble lady counselled with the tempest-tossed soul of the monarch, " He himself declared, ' she spoke music to his spirit, and brought him a peace which no other on earth could give.' Before she quitted him, she declared, she had come to plead the cause of the starving peasantry of Russia, famine-stricken and perishing, from the ravages of the armies that had passed through the land, and con- sumed all their means of subsistence. "The representations of this admirable woman were effectual, as Alexander exhausted his resources in sending provisions to the sufferers, and relieving to the utmost extent of his power those, for whom the good Baroness had so ably pleaded." Referring to Madame Kriidener's subsequent residence in Paris, in the eventful year 181 5, her biographer says : — '' Here then we reach a point in our heroine's life, which fixed upon her the eyes and wonder of all Europe. '' Three times a week, she held religious meetings, which were attended by all the princes, nobles, and great generals of Europe. There, in a simple black, or dark blue dress, with her hair cut close, and although past fifty, retaining traces of her former singular beauty, she addressed the assembled potentates in the most exalted strains of eloquence. ' ' She exhorted them to put an end to the horrors of war, and inaugurate true Christianity, by peace on earth, and good will to men. " It was a strange spectacle, to see those who commanded the destinies of Europe sitting humbly at the feet of this inspired woman. '■Madame Von Kriidener, by the wonderful fulfilment of her predictions, and the inspiration of her preaching, had herself become one of the powers of Europe, and for a time, there is no doubt, that she actually directed the movements of the allied princes." 36 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. Few who read this description will fail to recognize in it, the characteris- tics which — with all due allowance for difference in surrounding circum- stances — distinguish the "trance-speaking mediums" of America, who, like Madame Kriidener, have become an irresistible power in the circle of their special ministrations. Up to the last quarter of a century, despite the universality with which spiritual gifts were manifested in individual cases, the tendency to materialism on the one hand, and intolerance on the other, succeeded in repressing the public advance of Spiritualism in Germany. No better illustration of this Teutonic conservatism can be given, than the antagonistic reception that was accorded to Baron Von E.eichenbach's brilliant discoveries, in what he termed " OdyUc or Od Force." Although Reichenbach's treatises on " Od Force," have been made familiar to English readers by Dr. Ashburner's fine translation, it may not be amiss to explain in brief the nature of Reichenbach's discoveries. This indefatigable scientist procured the aid of a large number of " Sensitives," or what would now be termed, clairvoyants or spirit mediums. These persons he placed in dark rooms, and then submitted to their spiritual sight, magnets, shells, crystals, minerals, animals, human hands, and a great variety of animate and inanimate objects, known only to him- self, but detected by the Sensitives, through the flames or luminous appearances, that each substance gave forth. These flames differed in colour, size, and intensity, according to the nature of the object examined, but as large numbers of persons fully corroborated each other's observations, and the Baron's experiments were conducted for years, with the most persevering attention, he conceived himself justified in arriving at the conclusion, that from every object in the human, animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, there emanated a force which could be detected under favourable conditions, as flames, or luminous appearances, and whilst some observers were disposed to regard these as the universal life of things, he (Reichenbach) for special reasons defined them in his writings as " Odyle," or " Od Force." Whatever name or style Von Reichenbach, Mesmer, Galvani, Volta, Newton, Paracelsus the Rosicrucian, or Geber the Alchemist, may have thought proper to give to the "force," or "element," of which they dis- coursed, the intelligent reader will be at no loss to correlate all such forces, and resolve them into the one all-pervading life principle of the Universe. It would be needless to enter upon further details of Von Reichenbach's discovery, to which no mere summary could do justice ; it is enough to say that when he first gave the result of his researches to the world, instead of winning the applause and gratitude of his countrymen, he simply drew down upon himself an amount of insult and contempt, of which the most unenlightened age might have been ashamed. In 1865, the first regular journal devoted to SpirituaHsm was published in Germany, under the title of Psyche. A contemporary French paper makes the following notice of this periodical in connection with the Baron Von Reichenbach's discoveries. "■Psyche is the only German paper treating of Spiritualism, odic force, and other \ kindred subjects, It is published monthly, and its chief editor is H. A, Berthe- [, lea, D.M,, Zittan, Saxony. Since this excellent little periodical was commenced, many fine works have been contributed to the treasury of spiritual literature, prominent amongst which stands a noble spiritual journal conducted by the eminent Russian Councillor Hon. Alexander Aksakof, entitled, Psychische Studien. It was first NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 37 published at Leipzig, in 1874, since when it numbers amongst its contributors the honoured names of the Baron and Baroness von Vay, Prince Emil Wittgenstein ; Professors Maximilian Party, Wagner, Fichte, and a long list of potentates and scientists of high standing and distinguishad ability." For a more detailed account of its editor Alexander Aksakof, and the great services he has rendered to the cause of human progress, we must refer our readers to our section on Russian Spiritualism. Amongst the most distinguished supporters of the movement in Ger- many, we would again mention the Baroness von Vay, a highly-gifted seeress ; also Colonel and Mrs. Kyd, of Baden Baden ; His Imperial Highness Nicholas, Duke of Leuchtenberg ; the late amiable and lamented Princess Alice of Darmstadt, the Barons Holmfeld, Guldenstubbe, and de Palm, and many other celebrated Spiritualists of distinction. Still, Spiritualism as a cause, made but little public progress until the advent of the Davenports, Henry Slade, and other mediums from America, who, by their professional announcements, compelled the press to notice the subject, and draw forth investigators from the privacy of the salon, to the arena of public discussion. There are many reasons for believing that the demonstrations that had already been published abroad, in the shape of hauntings, obsessions, &c., had tended to repel rather than attract investigators. Thus, about 1865, when Spiritualism had completely captivated the American, and British mind, and in France, no less than six spiritual journals were liberally supported, Germany could only boast of the peri- odical before mentioned, called Psyche. About 1867, several works in exposition of Spiritualism were put forth at Vienna, and found a rapid sale in the establishments of Lechner and Wenedikt. Reports of American spirit photographs being taken, and stirring accounts of the phenomena produced through the mediumiship of the cele- brated Mr. D. D. Home, and Rollin Squire of America, were published in tract form, and widely circulated. 1\i^ seances of the above named gentlemen being given non-professionally, were of course limited only to the favoured few with whom they were guests. Still the accounts of the marvels enacted in their presence, stimulated public curiosity to the highest pitch. About this time, several other works on the subject of Spiritualism were put forth, amongst them, a fine treatise on the Science of Soul, by Dr. Epps. This brochure became so popular, that the publishers could hardly keep pace with the demand. Private circles too began to multiply rapidly, but the chief impetus given to a wide-spread interest in the cause of Spirituahsm, was unquestionably due to the agency so much, and so unwisely denounced by many leaders of the Spiritual ranks, namely, professional mediumship. The distinguished services rendered to the cause by Mr. D. D. Home, were, as above remarked, confined to such influential personages as sought this gentleman's society, in the character of a friend and equal. The deUberate investigation of the subject, requisite for scientific experi- ments, could not be conducted in the presence of monarchs and princes, neither could the guest of such exalted personages be examined, with the severe scrutiny to which the Davenports, Messrs. Foster, Slade, and other professional mediums, have felt called upon to submit. Strictly speaking then, it is in a great measure due to the services of professional media, that Spiritualism has at last conquered the stolidity of 38 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. German conservatism, and made itself known and acknowledged through- out the length and breadth of the land. With a view of rendering equal justice to both sides of the question, and to show how both public and private medium ship appeals each, to its appropriate class of minds, we shall present notices of each phase, commencing with a sketch taken from the book reviewer's notice in a recent number of the Banner of Light, concerning the mediumship of the gifted Baroness von Vay. The extract is as follows : — "VISIONEN IM WASSERGLASE," ETC. " We have received from Baroness Adelma von Vay, of Gonobitz, Austria, a copy of a work of some hundred pages, printed in the German tongue, in which a marked and novel phase of her mediumship is practically set forth to the reading; world. In her preface, this talented writer and worthy lady presents the object of the brochure as follows : — " ' In my book, " Studies of the Spirit- World," I have mentioned my visions wit- nessed in a glass of water. For the benefit of the reader who has not perused that work, I here present the following explanation of those visions from the " Studies," page 85 :— " ' Our spirit guides advised me to make the attempt to see visions in a glass of water. They disclosed to me one day that I possessed the gift of being able to see spirits without becoming somnambulic. They said I was to fill a glass with water, and look therein, and they would then produce spiritual representations in the same. Upon making the trial, I immediately saw all kinds of objects in the water. At first the water seemed to be agitated ; by degrees the pictures appeared at the brim of the glass. I perceive these visions only in the evening, never by day, and I must feel dis- posed thereto through an earnest desire for the same. I am in a normal condition — i. e., in full consciousness of what I observe and say. The desire of others to see this or that picture has absolutely no influence upon me. These pictures often remain a long time in the same place, others again disappear instantaneously. They often appear to be much larger than the surface of the glass would seem to permit ; some- times appear like photographs, then again in colors, or like brilliant light cloud- pictures. As I perceive the visions in the water I dictate the view to my husband, Baron Eugene von Vay, who transcribes it, and it is then explained by my guides. ' Adelma Vay.' " For some time previous to the breaking out of the Russian war with Turkey, Professor Boutlerof, and M. Aksakof, both eminent Russian scien- tists, had agreed with their immediate friends, to engage Dr. Slade, of America, to assist them in a series of experiments on the subject of physical force mediumship, in which direction, Dr. Slade bore a high reputation. The disturbed state of -Russia in consequence of the late war, measu- rably interfered with this project, and though some satisfactory seances were conducted, the investigation did not assume the character originally intended. During Dr. Slade's tour through Europe however, he was induced to give a special course of seances, to some of the Professors of the Leipzig University, the result of which was, that six of that distinguished body, gave in their testimony to the truthfulness of Dr. Slade, and signed a docu- ment, absolving him from the slightest implication of fraud or personal agency in the manifestations. Now if report speaks truly, at least five of the savants have yielded assent to the claim of a spiritual origin for the marvellous effects they witnessed, whilst the sixth, now to the grief of his many friends the late Professor Zoellner, issued a work, entitled *' Transcendental Physics," in which, though attempting to show that the wondrous phenomena he described, were due to the interference of " a force," which he vaguely defined, as, NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 39 ' a fourth dimension in space," he yet fully endorsed the truthfulness of Slade, acquitted him of any attempt at imposition; described the super- mundane character of the results produced, and challenged the world of science to account for the same, on any hypothesis, save the spiritual one alleged by the Medium, or his own (Zoellner's) theory of " a fourth dimen- sion in space." The amazing statements put forth by authorities so eminent as Zoellner, and the other Leipzig professors, have not only awakened universal interest throughout Germany, but they have also attracted world-wide attention, and amongst other unlooked for effects, provoked a curious discussion in America, to which it will now be in order to make some allusion. A certain blatant preacher and lecturer, one, Rev. Joseph Cook, of Bos- ton, America, during a course of what he announced as " Scientific Reli- gious Lectures," made the Leipzig professor's investigations, the subject of several addresses. In these, he read aloud, numerous extracts from Pro- fessor Zoellner's book, and commented freely on the astonishing phenomena there recorded. Whilst the Rev. Joseph Cook was thus making converts to the Spiritual cause, of all those listeners who were prone to beUeve on the authority of others, he seemed to have forgotten, how far he was committing himself, in the opinion of those clerical brethren, to whom Spiritualism has been the grand bete noir of the age. Beginning to reaUze possibly that he had gone too far, yet unable to unsay what he had already said, or explain away the marvels on which he had so freely descanted, he undertook to beat a retreat in the following creditable (?) fashion. In a lecture to be given by him at Saratoga, New York, for the bene- fit of some Christian Church, Mr. Cook announced, that he would take that opportunity of setting himself right, on the question of Spiritualism. Feeling possibly, that the " ism " itself, as underlying the entire structure of the religion he, and all other Christians profess, was too much for him to grapple with, Mr. Cook proceeded to set himself right, before an immense audience, including a large number of highly respectable SpirituaHsts, by pouring forth upon the latter, as a class, such a string of vituperation, and abuse, as to call the blush of shame to the cheeks of every listener present. At the request of the indignant SpirituaHsts of the place, the author, who was one of the Rev. Joseph Cook's audience, gave a review of, and answer to this address, in a lecture delivered the following evening. Thus the whole subject was re-opened, and from the reports taken down on that occasion, graphic accounts of what actually occurred in the presence of the Leipzig professors, as detailed by Mr. Cook himself, were placed side by side, with the vituperations which he had just poured out against those who believed in the facts he had been at such pains to relate. Without any farther preface we shall quote as much of the author's lecture, as will re-state Cook's account of the Leipzig investigations. Mrs. Hardinge Britten said : — '' In the Journal of February 21st, of this year, I find a report of a lecture delivered by Mr. Joseph Cook in Boston, on the 3rd of that month, in which he gives a full account of some noteworthy experiments of six distinguished German scientists, whose spiritual investigations with Henry Slade, the American medium, were pub- lished in a work written quite recently by Prof. Zoellner, Professor of Physical Astronomy at Leipzig University. Without attempting to reiterate experiments which seemed as amazing to Mr. Cook and the Leipzig scientists, as they are familiar, and 40 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. their recital stale and uninteresting to experienced Spiritualists, I must still commend to your attention the following extracts from Mr. Cook's lecture. He says :— '"Six renowned German names to their own credit or discredit can now be quoted in the list of believers'in the reality of the alleged facts of the modern psychical or spiritual manifestations. They are Profs. Zoellner, Fechner, and Sctieibner, of Leipzig University ; Prof. Weber, of Gottingen University ; Prof. Fichte, of Stuttgart, and Prof. Ulrici, of Halle University.' " After detailing minutely what is the standing and reputation of these emment scholars, and describing with equal care the phenomena they witnessed, he, Mr. Cook, goes on to descant on the high moral character and intellectual ability of a certam Signer Bellachini, Court Conjurer of Germany. This gentleman, he shows, havmg called on Henry Slade, and witnessed many of his manifestations, given both at Slade's lodgings and the conjurer's own apartments, tendered to Slade a sworn affidavit to the effect that no conjuration known to him could account for the extraor- dinary demonstrations of occult power and intelligence he had thus witnessed. Bellachini, like a true man, as well as a true artist, commends Mr. Slade's manifesta- tions to the respectful consideration of science, and deprecates any unfavourable judgments that may be passed upon it hastily, or without thorough investigation. This manly testimonial, legally witnessed and duly filed, Mr. Cook read out in full. '■ His next noteworthy remarks are as follows, and are given verbatim from a work on ' Psychography ' recently published in London by M. A. Oxon. " ' Henry Slade having proceeded to St. Petersburg to fulfill his engagement with Mr. Aksakof and Prof. Boutlerof, and to present the phenomena of psychography to the scrutiny of a committee of scientific experts, has had a series of successful sittings in the course of which writing has been obtained In the Prussian language. At one recent sitting, writing in six different languages was obtained on a single slate. " ' On Wednesday, February 20th, accompanied by Mr. Aksakof and Prof, Boutlerof, Slade had a most successful sitting with the Grand Duke Constantine, who received them cordially, and himself obtained writing on a new slate held by himself alone.' " Mr. Cook next goes on to describe a fresh set of experiments, remarkable enough to early investigators, but sufficiently familiar to us as the phenomenon of writing obtained m closed slates, &c. Mr. Cook also read out in detail the account of a very curious phenomenon, being no other than the sudden disappearance of a small table in a light room, which for several minutes was thoroughly searched in vain to find it. Whilst the amazed Prof. Zoellner, was continuing his fruitless attempts to account for the disappearance of this ponderable body, it appeared as suddenly as it had^disap- peared, floating in the air just below the ceiling — the legs upwards. From thence, it floated down and was laid by invisible hands gently on another piece of furniture. In commenting upon this extraordinary manifestation Mr. Cook says: — " ' The mechanical theory of matter is exploded if Zoellner's alleged facts can be proved to be real, but here are grave experts who unite in assuring the world that these events occurred under their own eyesight. [Then how dare Mr. Cook insert his presumption if in this category ?] Here is the Court Conjurer who says he can do nothing of the kind. I hold in my hand a volume by Fichte, and he says, quoting these experiments, and naming the professors who witnessed them, that he could him- self, if he were authorised, give in addition to these names many others in Germany who by the experiments at Leipzig, have been convinced of the reality of the facts and of their worthiness to be made the subject of scientific research.' " But Mr. Cook does not stop here. He gives yet more facts, details yet more of the Leipzig experiments and after the recital of one remarkable bomb-shell thrown into the camp of materialism, breaks forth into the following bombastic burst of oratory : — " ' If this single circumstance attested by the Leipzig professors is a fact, it blows to the four moons of Jupiter the whole materialistic mechanical theory of matter. The materialism of ages is answered by a simple fact like this. But here we have these six men agreeing these Leipzig assertions are worthy of credence.' Save and except the insolent imbecile if, with which Mr. Cook commences this paragraph, and the possibility which that if implies, that the six Leipzig professors who have investi- gated, don't know as much by aid of their senses, as he. Cook, does, who had not then investigated, without the aid of his senses ; this paragraph alone shows that when he was dealing with grand dukes, eminent professors and men of higher rank than he could have ever before dealt with, the manifestations were worthy of all credence, and blew opposing theories to the four moons of Jupiter. But when he, Cook, feels the hand of clerical pressure hard upon him, and he is in his own country, and amongst his own circle of grundy-worshipping priests and deacons, he is accused of believing that which his spiritual pastors and masters desire him not to believe, grand dukes, NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 41 emperors, statesmen, kings, queens, princes and princesses ; nobles, potentates, pro- fessors without end; magistrates, lawyers, doctors, ladies, gentlemen, mechanics, operatives, clergymen, peasants, for all these grades and every other unnamed, make up the tens of millions of European, Asiatic, Australian, Indian, and American Spiritualism — all these become at once vermin, reptiles, toads, frogs, snakes, monsters, wretches, &c., together with every other hard and vulgar name, which this truly Christian man's vocabulary can supply." We must apologize to our readers for the insertion of the above choice collection of epithets. All we can say is, that the language — although strangely out of place in this book — was used by one who called himself a " gentle- man," and a Christian minister ; the author only repeats it, for the sake of giving the paragraph, in which the present status of Spiritualism is summed up, in its entirety, We have now brought to a close, all that our space will allow us to give, concerning the progress of Spiritualism in Germany, during the nineteenth century, up to the present date. Germany ! The land of Anton Mesmer, the modern discoverer of the true Elixir Vitce, and the master mind from whom Puys^gur, and Barberini, derived that inspiration, which proclaimed to the world the power of the soul to transcend the barriers of time and space ! Land of Zschocke, whose sensitive spirit detected the invisible soul of things ; of Kerner, that brave and good physician, who dared the sneers of materialism, and the threats of dogmatism, in proclaiming abroad the stupendous facts of the soul's return, beyond the grave. Land of Schubert, Werner, Kant, and Fichte ! Land where the soul enfranchised by the wand of magnetism, was first made free to soar away into the realms of the inimitable, and bring back tidings from the shores of the eternal beyond ! Germany ! The country from which the noble Aksakof could freely send abroad the message of spiritual hght and life through the columns of a high-toned press ! where sages and schoolmen, princes and potentates, listen in reverend silence, to the oracles of inspired utterances. Ger- many ! The land bound up in the external fetters of cold materialism, but inwardly illuminated by spiritual gifts of such wondrous potency, that it only needs to remove the barriers of social and conventional restraint, liberate the mind, and permit the soul and its possibilities free expression, to make it the church of humanity, from which all the rays of spiritual sunlight shall stream forth, to illuminate, bless, and elevate, the entire family of mankind. CHAPTER VIL SPIRITUALISM IN FRANCE. Although the sameness which prevails in reports of all phenomena arising from a common source, must to a great extent mar the interest of the present record, there are two features of compensation' even in this respect which must not be overlooked. The first is, the circumstantial evidence which this very sameness affords, to the unity of the source from whence " Spiritual manifestations " are derived. And next ; we cannot fail to 42 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. observe, that certain characteristic features of variety are impressed upon those manifestations by the peculiarities of the people to whom they are addressed. Turning our lens of observation from Germany to France, we find the same historical proofs that the phenomena derived from the practices of animal magnetism, which antedated the unfoldment of Spiritualism in the one country, are just as strikingly demonstrated in the other. The impressions produced upon the people of these two lands, however, were totally different. In Germany, the physical and scientific aspects of SpirituaHsm have found more favour than its religious tendencies. In France it is otherwise. There, the national characteristics are impulsive, and emotional, hence Spiritualistic teachings have promoted the formation of new sects, and inspired its votaries with a deep rehgious sentiment. Mesmer, with characteristic caution, never sanctioned any advance beyond the physical results of his discoveries, whilst his followers Puysegur, and Barberini, soared away into the spiritual realms to which the enfranchised souls of their somnambulists pointed the way. Very soon after public attention had been drawn to the subject of magnetism in France, by Drs. Mesmer and d'Eslon, several gentlemen distinguished for learning and scientific attainments, followed up their experiments with great success. Amongst these was the Baron Dupotet whose deep interest in the subject of magnetism induced him to publish a fine periodical which, under the title of Journal du Magnetisme — still forms a complete treasury of well collated facts, and curious experiments in occult force. From this work we learn, that the Baron's investigations commenced in the year 1836, since which period up to 1848, he chronicled the produc- tion of the following remarkable phases of phenomena, the occurrence of which is testified to by numerous scientific and eminent witnesses. Through the Baron's magnetized subjects was evolved, clairvoyance, trance-speaking, and healing ; the stigmata or raised letters and figures on the subject's body; elevation of somnambuUsts into the air; insensibility to fire, injury, or touch. In the presence of the magnetized subjects also, heavy bodies were moved without human contact, and objects were brought from distant places through walls and closed doors. Sometimes the "Lucides" described scenes in the spirit world, found lost property, prophesied and spoke in foreign languages. In these seances., styled by the Baron in later years, magical^ apparitions presented themselves in crystals, water, mirrois, and often in forms, tangible alike to the sight attd touch of all present. Amongst the witnesses to these seances were Messrs. Bertrand, d'Hunin, Seguin, and Morin ; men whose position in the world of science rendered their testimony absolutely unquestionable. In 1840, Baron Dupotet writes that he had "rediscovered in magnetism the magic of antiquity." " Let the savants,'" he says, "reject the doctrine of spiritual appearances ; the enquirer of to-day is compelled to believe it, from an examination of undeniable facts." . . . "If the knowledge of ancient magic is lost, all the facts remain on which to reconstruct it." The Baron after summing up the phenomena named above, challenges the world, of science either to account for, or disprove them. But of all the revelators to whom French Spiritualists are indebted for indubitable proof of super-mundane intercourse, none stands more prominent NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 43 in truthfulness and worth, than M. Cahagnet, the well-known author of "The Celestial Telegraph," a work translated into English in 1848. M. Cahagnet was an unlearned mechanic, a man of the people, and though a sensible and interesting writer, was neither well read, nor highly educated. He affirms that he was a " Materialist " when first his attention was attracted to the subject of animal magnetism, but being of a thoughtful nature, he determined to devote all the leisure he could spare to a thorough examination of its possibilities. When he found that he possessed the power to induce the magnetic sleep in others, he proceeded on the plan then generally adopted by mesmerists, namely, to try how far he could succeed in biologizing his subjects, that is to say, to substitute his own senses, mind, and will, for those of the sleeper. In the course of these experiments M. Cahagnet discovered, that he could effect remarkable cures of disease, and being naturally of a benevolent dis- position, he determined to bend all his energies in this desirable direction. He soon found however, that he was destined to realize the aphorism, " he builded wiser than he knew." A new and most perplexing obstacle arose to confound his philosophy and scatter his theories to the winds ; this was the fact, that some of his subjects, instead of representing what simply he willed, or manifesting — in accordance with his views of biology — merely the influence of his mind, began to transcend both will and mind, and wander off in space, to regions they persisted in calling the " land of spirits," and to describe people, whom they emphatically affirmed to be the souls of those, the world called dead. For a long time M. Cahagnet strove vehemently to combat what he termed these " wild hallucinations," but when he found them constantly recurring, and vast numbers of those who had come to witness the experi- ments in magnetism, recognizing in the descriptions given by the somnam- buUsts, the spirits of those whom they had known on earth, and mourned as dead, conviction became inevitable, and the magnetizer, like his visitors, was compelled to admit a new and wonderful phase of lucidity, and one which carried the vision of the clairvoyant from earth to heaven, and pierced the veil which separated the mortal from the realms of immortality. It was after a long series of carefully conducted experiments of the above description, that M. Cahagnet was finally persuaded to give the results of his wonderful seances to the world, under the name and style of "The Celestial Telegraph," or, " Secrets of the Life to Come." The following extract from the introduction to the second volume of these " Secrets," will give the reader some idea of the cautious spirit in which this excellent investigator estabhshed the authenticity of his revela- tions. He says : " When in January 1848, I presented the public with the first volume of the ' Secrets,' I was unable to verify the facts therein contained by any testimony but my own. " My position as a simple workman — my very confined social relations, absolutely null in the scientific world, — could give no weight to the statements I had propounded, I felt that despite their truth, I ought to support these revelations by honourable testimonials. To attain this end, I have given apparition sittings to persons who solicited them, and now I can surround my own name with multitudes of others whom the public venerate as authorities. In this second volume, I present to the world a vast number of testimonials to apparitions obtained, recognized, and testified of in writing, as true, by princes, nobles, generals, pastors of many creeds, merchants, men of letters, artisans, personages of all classes, and many nations, all of whom are ready to confirm by verbal testimony the acknowledgments signed at my abode." 44 mNETEJ&NTH CENTURY MIRACLES. About the year 1848, M. Cahagnet, having become very familiar with somnambulic revelations from the world of spirits, through several of the most remarkable and lucid subjects of the age, received a number of com- munications affirming the fact of the soul's existence anterior to its appearance upon earth. Whilst denying emphatically any behef in the doctrine of Re-incarnation and declaring against it in the most positive terms, the communicating spirits uniformly alleged that, when freed from the trammels of matter, they all remembered having lived in an anterior state of purity and innocence as spirits ; that they perceived how truly and wisely their earthly lives were designed for probationary purposes, and meant to impart vigour and knowledge to the soul ; but that once undergone, it was never again repeated, and the return of the soul to its former spiritual state was never interrupted by re-incarnations on earth. These spirits, too, alleged that the sphere of eternity afforded the souls of evil or unprogressed men all the opportunities necessary to purify them from sin and its effects, through innumerable stages of progress. As being peculiarly apposite to the subject discussed in this chapter, especially in commenting on the great French magnetists, who may be justly ranked as the Joh7i Baptists, who ushered in the Messianic Spiritual movement of the nineteenth century, we call attention to the following quotations from the recondite work entitled " Art Magic." On page 433 the author says : " The narrow conservatism of the age, and the pitiful jealousy of the Medical Faculty, rendered it diificult and harassing to conduct magnetic experiments openly in Europe within several years of Mesmer's decease. Still such experiments were not wanting, and to show their results, we give a few excerpts from the correspondence between the famous French Magnetists, MM. Deleuze and Billot, from the years 1829 to 1840. By these letters, pubhshed in 1836, it appears that M. Billot com- menced his experiments in magnetizing as early as 1789, and that during forty years, he had an opportunity of witnessing facts in clairvoyance, ecstasy, and somnambulism, which at the time of their publication transcended the belief of the general mass of readers. On many occasions in the presence of entranced subjects, spirits recognized as having once lived on earth in mortal form — would come in bodily presma before the eyes of an assembled company and at request, bring flowers, fruits, and objects, removed by distance from the scene of the experiments. " M. Deleuze frankly admits that his experience was more limited to those phases of somnambulism in which his subjects submitted to amputations and severe surgical operations without experiencing the slightest pain. ... In a letter dated 1831 M. Billot writing to Deleuze says : — " ' I repeat, I have seen and known all that is permitted to man. I have seen the stigmata arise on magnetized subjects ; I have dispelled obsessions of evil spirits with a single word. I have seen spirits bring those material objects I told you of, and when requested, make them so light that they would float, and, again a small boiteau de bonbons was rendered so heavy, that I failed to move it an inch until the power was removed." " 'To those who enjoyed the unspeakable privilege of listening to the '' somnam- bules " of Billot, Deleuze, and Cahagnet, another and yet more striking feature of unanimous revelation was poured forth. Spirits of those who had passed away from earth strong in the faith of Roman Catholicism — often priests and dignitaries of that conservative Church, addressing prejudiced believers in their former doctrine, asserted that there was no creed in Heaven — no sectarian worship, or ecclesiastical dogmatism there prevailing. " ' They taught that God was a grand Spiritual Sun — life on earth a probation ;— the spheres, different degrees of Compensative happiness or states of retributive suffer- ing ; — each appropriate to the good or evil deeds done on earth. They described the ascending changes open to every soul in proportion to its own efforts to improve. " 'They all insisted that man was his own judge, incurred a penalty or reward for which there was no substitution. They taught nothing of Christ, absolutely denied the idea of vicarious atonement — and represented man as his oWll Saviour or destroyer. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 45 " 'They spoke of arts, sciences, and continued activities, as if the life beyond was but an extension of the present on a greatly improved scale. Descriptions of the radiant beauty, supernal happiness, and ecstatic sublimity manifested by the blest spirits who had risen to the spheres of paradise, Heaven, and the glory of Angelic companionship, melts the heart, and fills the soul with irresistible yearnings to lay down life's weary burdens and be at rest with them.' " It seems unfortunate for the good people who insist upon making a heaven or hell to suit themselves, and whose strong sectarian bias, induces them to banish every spirit from their presence who presumes to deny their views, that Cahagnet's revelating angels would neither endorse Catholicism, Protestantism, or Re-incarnation. Having shown that Spiritualism arose in France as in Germany from the awakening of soul powers evolved by magnetism and traced the footprints of the great temple builders who have laid the foundation stones of the mighty Spiritual edifice in the human system, and steadily worked upwards from matter to force, and from thence to spirit in every gradation of sphere, life and progress, we recall the pithy words of the Baron Dupotet, who, addressing the would-be leaders of public opinion in his splendid essay on the " Philosophical Teaching of Magnetism," says : " You savants of our country ; you have not shown yourselves better informed than the Siamese. '' For these sixty years it has been shouted in your ears, The magnetizers march to the discovery of a moral world ; all the phenomena they produce indisputably prove its existence. " You have declared that they were impostors, imbeciles, and the most illustrious amongst you, have only pronounced a verdict which will attest to future ages your ignorance or your insincerity. '' Before the soul is disengaged from matter, it can, and does, converse with pure spirits. Already it can gaze prophetically on its own future destiny, by regarding the condition of those who have gone before ; — but a step ; — yet one, which the eye of spirit alone can measure, and if men are spirits already, who can stay the eagle glance of the soul into the land of its own inheritance ? " In following up the history of Spiritualism in France, although we find it has gained an immense foothold, and exerted a wide-spread influence upon the popular mind, it is nevertheless evident, that one of the chief obstacles to its general acceptance has been its lack of internal unity, and the antagonistic sentiments which have prevailed amongst its acknowledged leaders. Two of those who have figured most prominently in the grand drama of French Spiritualism, and in all probability exerted more influence upon public opinion than any other members of its dramatis personce, were MM. Allan Kardec and Pierart the respective editors of the two leading Spiritual journals entitled La Revue Spirife and La Revue Spiritualiste. These gentlemen may be also regarded as the representatives of the two opposing factions known as SPIRITUALISTS AND SPIRITISTS the former teaching, that the soul of man undergoes but one mortal birth, and continues its progress through eternity in spiritual states, the latter affirming the doctrine of Re-incarnation, and alleging that the one spirit in man can and does undergo many incarnations in different mortal forms. It will be understood that M. Kardec and his followers represent the " Spiritists " or re-incarnationists — M. Pierart leading the ranks of the opposing faction most commonly called Spiritualists. 46 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. To M. Kardec has been generally attributed the merit or demerit — as the case may be — of originating the doctrine of Re-incarnation, — at least as that doctrine is taught in this century. This is quite a mistake, as will be shown by the following extracts, taken from a paper published in the London S;piritualist of 1875, and written by the accomplished scholar and statesman, the Hon. Alexander Aksakof. As the duty of a faithful historian is rather to record facts, than enunciate opinions, we shall make no apology for introducing M. Aksakofs paper to the attention of the reader, however much it may seem to savour of partisanship. It is entitled " RESEARCHES ON THE HISTORICAL ORIGIN OF THE RE-INCARNATION SPECULATIONS OF FRENCH SPIRITUALISTS : — " In view of the approaching publication of translations in the English language of the works of Allan Kardec, of which the principal volume, ''The Spirits' Book," is already out, I feel it my duty to lay before the English public the result of my researches in the direction of the origin of the dogma of Reincarnation. When " Spiritism," newly baptised with this name, and embodied in the form of a doc- trine by Kardec, began to spread in France, nothing astonished me more than the divergence of this doctrine from that of "Spiritualism," touching the point of Reincarnation. This divergence was the more strange because the sources of the contradictory affirmations claim to be the same, namely the spirit-world and commu- nications given by spirits. As Spiritism was born in 1856 with the publication of the " Book of Spirits," it is clear that to solve this enigma it was necessary to begin with the historical origin of this book. It is remarkable that nov/here, either in this volume or in any of his others, does Kardec give upon this head the slightest detail. And why was this? the essential point in all serious criticisms being to know before all things how such a book came into existence ? As I did not live in Paris, it was difficult for me to procure the necessary information ; all that I could learn was that a certain somnambulist, known by the name of Celina Japhet, had contributed largely to the work, but that she had been dead for a long time. During my stay in Paris in 1873, I explained to a Spiritualistic friend my regret that I had never met this somnambulist in life, to which he replied that he had also heard that she was dead, but he doubted whether the rumour was true ; also that he had reason to suppose that this was nothing but a rumour spread abroad by the Spiritists, and that it would, be well if I made further personal inquiry. " He gave me the former address of Madame Japhet, and what was my astonish- ment and joy to find her in perfect health. When I told her of my surprise she replied, that it was nothing new to her, for the Spiritists were actually making her pass for a dead person. " Here is the substance of what she was obliging enough to give me. " Mdlle. Celina Bequet was a natural somnambulist from childhood. About sixteen years of age she was mesmerised for the first time by Ricard. In 1841 she was attacked with a serious illness which confined her to her bed for twenty-seven months. " Finding no relief from medicine, she was put into the mesmeric sleep by her brother. She then prescribed the necessary remedies, and after six weeks, could leave her bed, and walk by aid of crutches. At last, after about eleven months, she entirely recovered her health. " In 1845, she went to Paris to search for M. Ricard, and made the acquaintance of M. Roustan at the house of M. Millet a mesmerist. " She then, for family reasons, took the name of Japhet, and became a professional somnambulist under the control of M. Roustan. In this position she remained till about 1848. Under her assumed name, she gave medical advice by the direction of the spirits of her grandfather, Hahnemann, and Mesmer, from each of whom she received a great many commuDications. " In this manner also the doctrine of re-incarnation was given her, hy the spirits of her grandfather, St. Teresa and others. As the somnambulic powers of Madame Japhet were developed under the mesmeric influence of M. Roustan, it may be well to remark in this place, that M. Roustan himself believed in the plurality of terrestrial existences. (See Cahagnet's Sanctuaire au Spiritualisme. Paris, 1850. p. 164. Since dated — 1848. " In 1849, Madame d'Abnour on her return from America, desired to form a circle for spiritual phenomena, of which she had lately been a witness. For this purpose NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 47 she called upon M. de Guldenstubbe, by whom M. Roustan and Celina Japhet were asked to become members of his spirit circle. " This circle was joined by the Abbe Chatel, and the three Demoiselles Bauvrais ; it consisted of nine persons, and met once a week at the house of Madame Japhet, 46, Rue des Martyrs, afterwards, almost up to the time of the war of 1870, it met twice a week. "In 1855, the circle was composed of M. Taillandier, M. Tillman, M. Sagia (since dead) Messrs. Sardou father and son, Madame Japhet, and M. Roustan, who con- tinued a member of it until about 1864. They began by making a chain, American fashion, in form of a horse-shoe, round Madame Celina, and they obtained spiritual phenomena more or less remarkable ; but soon Madame Celina developed as a writing medium, and it was through that channel that the greater part of the communications were obtained. " In 1856 she met M. Denizard Rivail, introduced by M. Victorien Sardou. He correlated the materials by a number of questions ; himself arranged the whole in systematic order, and published 'The Spirits' Book' without ever mentioning the name of Madame C. Japhet, although three-quarters of this book had been given through her mediumship. The rest was obtained from communications through Madame Bodin, who belonged to another spirit-circle. She is not mentioned except on the last page of the first number of the Revue Spirite, where, in consequence of the number of reproaches that were addressed to him, he makes a short mention of her. As he was also attached to an important journal, VUnivers, he published his book under the names which he had borne in his two previous existences. One of these names was Allan— a fact revealed to him by Madame Japhet, and the other name of Kardec was revealed to him by the medium Roze. After the publication of the ' Book of Spirits,' of which Kardec did not even present one copy to Madame Japhet, he quitted the circle and arranged another in his own house, M. Roze being the medium. When he thus left, he possessed a mass of manuscript which he had carried off from the house of Madame Japhet, and he availed himself of the right of an editor by never giving it back again. To the numerous requests for its return which were made to him, he contented himself by replying, ' Let her go to law with me.' These manuscripts were to some extent useful in the compilation of the ' Book of Mediums,' of which all the contents, so says Madame Japhet, had been obtained through medial communications. " It would be essential in order to complete this article to review the ideas on pre- existence and on reincarnation which were strongly in vogue in France just before 1850. An abstract of these will be found in the work of M. Pezzani on ' The Plurality of Existences.' The works of Cahagnet should also be consulted. As I am now away from my library, it is impossible for me to give the relative points exactly. '' In addition to the foregoing supplementary details, bearing upon the origin of " The Book of Spirits " and the different points connected therewith, testimony ought to be obtained from living witnesses to throw light upon the conception and birth of this book, such as Madame Japhet, Mdlle. de Guldenstubbe, M. Sardou, and M. Tallandier. The last continues up to the present time to work with Madame Japhet as a medium ; she is still in possession of her somnambulic powers, and continues to give consultations. She sends herself off to sleep by means of objects which have been mesmerised by M. Roustan. I think it a duty on this occasion to testify to the excellence of her lucidity. I consulted her about myself, and she gave me exact information as to a local malady, and as to the state of my health in general. Now is it not astonish- ing that this remarkable person, who has done so much for French Spiritism, should be living entirely unknown for twenty years, and no notice or remark made about her ? Instead of being the centre of public attention she is totally ignored ; in fact, they have buried her alive ! Let us hope that reparation which is due to her will be made one day. " Spiritualism " might, in this matter, offer a noble example to " Spiritism." " Now to return to the question of Reincarnation. I leave it to English critics to draw their deductions from the facts which I unravelled by my researches, incomplete though they be ; I will do no more than throw out the following ideas : That the pro- pagation of this doctrine by Kardec was a matter of strong predilection is clear ; from the beginning, Reincarnation has not been presented as an object of study, but as a dogma. To sustain it he has always had resource to writing mediums, who it is well known pass so easily under the psychological influence of preconceived ideas ; and Spiritism has engendered such in profusion ; whereas through physical mediums the communications are not only more objective, but always contrary to the doctrine of Reincarnation. Kardec adopted the plan of always disparaging this kind of medium- ship, alleging as a pretext its moral inferiority. Thus the experimental method is altogether unknown in Spiritism ; for twenty years it has not made the slightest 48 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. intrinsic progress, and it has remained in total ignorance of Anglo-American Spiri- tualism ! The few French physical mediums who developed their power in spite of Kardec, were never mentioned by him in the Revue ; they remained almost unknown to Spiritists,. and only because their spirits did not support the doctrine of Reincarna- tion ! Thus Camile Bredif, a very good physical medium, acquired celebrity only in consequence of his visit to St. Petersburg. I do not remember ever to have seen in the Revue Spirits the slightest notice of him, still less any descriptions of manifesta- tions produced in his presence. Knowing the reputation of Mr. Home, Kardec made several overtures to get him upon his side ; he had two interviews with him for this purpose, but as Mr. Home told him that spirits who had communicated through him never endorsed the idea of Reincarnation, he thenceforth ignored him, thereby disre- garding the value of the manifestations which were produced in his presence. I have upon this head a letter from Mr. .Home, although at the present moment it is not within reach. " In conclusion ; it is scarcely necessary to point out that all that I have herein stated does not affect the question of Reincarnation, considered upon its own merits, but only concerns the causes of its origin and of its propagation as Spiritisih." " Chateau de Krotofka, Russia, July 24, 1875." Without attempting to offer any comments on M. Aksakofs narrative — the plain facts of which speak for themselves — it may be remarked, that in most magnetic operations, it is generally found that the first effects pro- duced, are deep somnolency, or a sleep-waking state. The next is most commonly the biological condition, in which the subject represents the mind, will, sense, &c., of the magnetizer ; and the next succeeding that, is a condition beyond and independent of the operator, in which an invisible spirit often takes control, and substitudes his mind, will, and sense, for that of the earthly magnetizer. This last named degree is now recognised, as " Spirit Mediumship." It is one which may or may not be induced by human magnetism, but whenever it does ensue, the power of the human mind ceases to operate, and that of the spirit controlling takes its place. Now whilst we have abundant historical testimony to show that this condi- tion of spiritual control was attained by the " lucides " of Messrs. Billot, Dupotet, and Cahagnet, we have no such evidence of independent spiritual influence operating upon Madame Japhet, whilst she was the magnetic subject of M. .Roustan. How powerful this gentleman's magnetism must have been, and how completely Madame Japhet was dependent upon his control, we learn from her own acknowledgment to M. Aksakof, namely, that she still gives consultations, and sends herself off to sleeps by mea?is of objects which have been mesmerized by M. Roustan, What stronger proof can we have that the controlling spirit of Madame Japhet was M. Roustan ? and that " The Book of Spirits," emanated far more reasonably from his biological impression, than from the saints, apostles, martyrs, and other historical celebrities, to whom it has been attributed ? Still it may be asked by the devotees of the re-incarnation theory, of what consequence is it whether this doctrine was first taught by Roustan, or Kardec, so long as it is true ? Aye even so ! So long as it is true! That indeed is the main question ; but ere it can be answered, another arises, and that is. How can the truth of this doctrine be tested ? and again ; Can we arrive at any veritable knowledge of spiritual existence except from spirits themselves, and that in communications given under conditions which preclude the possibility of human interference or bias ? To this it may be objected, that no such independent conditions exist, the general opinion being, that spirit communications are always more or less tinctured by the characteristics of the medium through whom the intelligence is given. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 49 Whilst we admit the force of this objection to a certain extent, we still insist that there are some conditions far more favourable for the trans- mission of spiritual revelations than others; such for example, were the circumstances under which spirits influenced the visions of Messrs. Puys^gur and Barberini's clairvoyants, and subsequently gave direct com- munications through the "lucides" of Messrs. Dupotet, Billot, and Cahagnet. In all these cases, the magnetizers themselves were wholly unprepared for the nature of the intelligence rendered, in fact they were at first disposed to reject it, because it conflicted so strongly with their own preconceived opinions. The same independent character pervaded the spirit communi- cations first received in America, they being in general, not only new and strange, but totally opposed to the views of many of those who received them, and it is a fact worthy of the gravest consideration, that in all these EARLY AND UNBIASSED REVELATIONS, no word of the doctrine of re-incar- nation was ever given, except to individuals who had already cherished the belief. If we add, that in the most independent form of spiritual revelation, namely through physical mediumship, few if any instances are known wherein spirits have taught the doctrine of re-incarnation, we deem we have proved that the theory in question has not originated from authentic and reliable spiritual sources, but is in reality one of those Oriental ideas which other philosophers besides M. Roustan cherish. The author is even now well acquainted with a gentleman who appeals to every person inhuman enough to ill-treat dumb animals, imploring them to desist, on the plea, that they may, in all probability be abusing one of their own ancestors. Thousands of such erratic opinions have been in vogue and that without any reason for attributing them to spiritual sources. As a result of M. Aksakof's researches into the origin of the modern French re -incarnation doctrine, those readers who have had any experience in psychological experiments, will neither be surprised to find Madame Japhet reflecting the powerful idiosyncrasies of M. Roustan, or M. Kardec impressing his equally strong opinions upon the susceptible individuals with whom he came in contact. It must be remembered also, to account for the great prevalence of this remarkable man's doctrines on the Continent — that he was the only notable writer who distributed works in the French language on this subject, and maintained its propagandism with untiring zeal. In respect to the question of testimony, it must be remembered that M. Kardec derived his communications chiefly from those writing and trance mediums who might have proved the most susceptible to his influence, and is said to have persistently banished from his circles, not only Mr. Home, M. Bredif, and other physical mediums, but all those who did not endorse his favourite dogma through their communications. Having now presented the historical view of one side of the question, it becomes necessary to call attention to some of the representative writings of the opposite faction, distinguished from the followers of M. Kardec by the soubriquet of " SpirituaHsts." To do justice to this portion of our subject, we must now introduce M. Pierart, the editor of the opposition paper published in Paris, of which mention has already been made, under the title of La Revue Spiritualiste. Although it seems something of an anomaly to commence our record of a noble life by treating of its close, we find we cannot present to our readers a more compendious view of M. Pierart's good service in the cause 4 50 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. of Spiritualism, than by republishing his obituary notice, written by M. F. Clavairoz, Consul General of France at Trieste, and copied into most of the English and American Spiritual journals. This gentleman says : '•The valiant champion whose last work, 'The Primitive World,' I noticed a short time ago, has been struck down by death. It was, alas ! so to speak, the last flame bursting forth from the soul of this apostle. He corrected the proofs upon his bed of suffering, where my hand pressed his. M. Pierart succumbed to the malady with which he had been afflicted for several months, but of which he had hoped to be cured. The cause of Spiritualism has suffered a great loss ; but progress is not arrested because a combatant falls in the strife. Without being in any way dis- couraged in our aspirations, our regrets follow beyond the grave those whom we have known and loved, and whose courage has sustained us in our efforts in the struggle. He whom we have just lost is stamped with the seal of brave soldiers of the truth. Born in an humble condition, he valiantly made himself what he afterwards became. M. Pierart received his first education at the College of Avanes ; entered the grammar school of Douai, which he quitted with the diploma of teacher, and subsequently became professor at the College of Maubenge. While there he was chosen by Baron Dupotet to be his secretary, and they worked together several years. In 1858 he founded La Revue Spiritiialiste, at which time it required courage to propa- gate the new facts which had opened up an unknown field for speculation concerning the soul. His magazine reported the psychological phenomena which began in America, and it was continued by M. Pierart until he substituted for it the Concile de la Libre Pense'e, which was stopped in 1873, in consequence of clerical influence. Afterwards he resumed his spiritual labours by publishing the Benedictin de St. Maur, which he continued until the last. It is not only in the treatment of spiritual phenomena that M. Pierart has shown the power of his ardent soul, which was so captivated by all that is great and generous, for he published a number of historical works. No labour was too great for him when what seemed doubtful required investi- gation, and no consideration ever caused him to hesitate to divulge what he considered to be true. An indefatigable worker and careful investigator, history and archaeology attracted him as much as mesmerism and the occult sciences. He penetrated the arcana of Druidism, and studied the origin of the most ancient religions. His style — always precise, clear, and enlightened by clairvoyance^gave to his words a real authority. No one had more knowledge than he of the mysteries of the past, and death came upon him just as he was preparing to publish the result of his investigations. M. Pierart has for twenty years fought for the cause of Spiritualism, loved by all who knew him, and appreciated by all who read him. His death will leave a great gap, and the work he has left undone will be difflcult for another to accomplish. His faith supported him in his earthly struggle against poverty, and the secret persecutions by which he was beset. As for Spiritualists, who know that death is only a transformation, we believe that Pierart's soul will be with us and continue to interest itself in a cause which so occupied him during his earthly sojourn," In order to make our readers still better acquainted with this admirable champion of Spiritualism, and show some of the curious intrigues by which a great cause may be sacrificed to human ambition, and selfishness, we shall present a few extracts from an article published by M. Pierart in 1878, a translation of which was sent to the English Medium of London, by F. Tennyson, Esq., of St. Ewolds, Jersey. The article is headed — APPEAL OF M. PIERART. To the old readers of the Revue Spiritiialiste, and the Concile de Libre Pensee, and all those who love the truth, in connexion with Morality and Philosophy. " Friends and Brothers,-— It is now many years since our voice which won your sjmpathies, has made itself heard, but the day has come when we entertain the hope that its tones will once again rally you round the banner of truth which for fifteen years we upheld with unflinching resolution and zeal. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 51 ■'In the year 1858, when we started our journal, we also established a focus of re-union where you could all meet for the discussion of those consoling verities which were our delight, and the common subject of our most earnest meditations. This association continued until 1864. " It was then that we quitted Paris, and withdrew into the country keeping up how- ever at intervals our intercourse with those who remained faithful to us, and our cause. " Many among you have asked why we quitted the capital, to bury ourselves in the woods, and we have given reasons which we must now reproduce, for doing so. " Paris is a sink of corruption, and the man who does not lend himself to it, leads a life anything but agreeable. There is no room in this Babylon for upright, courageous, and liberal ministers of Truth. To obtain intellectual distinction, one must cringe ' to the powers that be,' a degradation we would not sink to. " Besides, we encountered not a few such men as are descrided in the gospel of St. Matthew — chap. 10, ver. 17 to 27. " We were desirous of resting the question of Spiritualism on the ground of facts, and critical analysis, trusting that the phenomena would eventually prove themselves. But in this we were unsupported, left alone, and misunderstood. Clever pychagogues launched out into wild guesses ; published catechisms, and foolish articles of belief, the results of ill-digested compilations, yet of a nature to impress the simple- minded. . . . What is more, the enemy wormed himself into the heart of our unpre- tending society in order to paralyze its action. " Mediums deceived us. Others introducing themselves through our journal, availed themselves of this opportunity to alienate our readers and set up opposition organs. " It was then, that profoundly discouraged, we proceeded to take up our perma- nent abode in the country ; to live the life of a hermit, alone in the society of our beloved books, in presence of the works of God, and the surroundings of Nature, which, at any rate, do not sadden or deceive the spirit open to their influences. "At length the Jesuits interfered to obstruct our work. In 1873, about the time the ' Gouvernement de Combat " was installed ; in direct violation of all law, our journal, which had never busied itself with politics, was suppressed. It seems that, in spite of its obscurity and slight importance, it troubled the slumbers of the ecclesiastics. It was regarded by the prelates and politicians of this same " Gou- vernement de Combat " as extremely dangerous. Our just appeals for its reinstate- ment were disregarded. Even to this day the suppressed numbers are in the office of the Minister of the Interior, and we have never been able to recover them. Our letters have received no answers, Thereby hangs a tale which may be better under- stood by the following letter, sent to the republican journals in the month of February, 1876 : — "'Saint Maur des Fosses, Jan. 6th, 1876. " ' Mr. Editor, — The abuse of the state of siege in regard to the political press, has been recently animadverted upon from the tribune and in the journals : but nothing has been said of the outrages which the periodical and non-political press has had to endure. I am myself a victim of this new-fangled torture; and my case is so perfectly unprecedented, that I can no longer keep silence. "'In 1858 I started a journal, which I called the Revue SpirittiaUste, devoted to the examination of philosophical questions and religious exegesis. This paper was succeeded in 1870 by the Concile de Libre Pensie, which continued to discuss the same subjects. It cannot be alleged that this publication was atheistical, or that it propagated evil principles, or stimulated bad passions. " ' Unceasingly it pleaded the being of a God, the immortality of the soul, and carefully avoided entering upon political and social questions. The Empire, though by no means favourably disposed towards the Press, had left it alone. Not so the men of the ' Gouvernement de Combat,' whose rise, three years since, France beheld with astonishment. It was then that my journal was suppressed. '"When I requested an explanation they did not deign to answer me. After waiting two years, I wrote to the Director of the Press to know whether, if I bound myself by entering into recognisances and agreed to publish my paper in a depart- ment not subject to the state of siege, I might be permitted to continue it. The answer was that under no conditions whatsoever, and in no part of France, would it be suffered to appear. Why ? Not the shadow of a reason was assigned on this any more than on the previous occasion. " ' I began to publish, about this time, a work entitled " Revelations and Com- mentaries on the History of the Early World," I found that after several pages had 52 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. been printed, the proofs were seized at the post-ofl&ce, and I never heard any more of them, so that I was constrained to discontinue the work. " ' Now, what elements of sedition were there to be found in my work on " The Early World " ? They could not assert that it was the spark to fire the powder magazine of social and political passions. But it opposed the cosmogony and chronology of the Bible. Besides, it demonstrated the wide difference between actual Catholicism and primitive Christianity, and had perpetrated the unforgivable sin of exhibiting in new points of view the abuses of the confessional and the celibacy of the priesthood. " ' Such are the noted facts, as unquestionable as they are incredible.' " It would be unnecessary to republish M. Pierart's eloquent comments on what he considers these "incredible" facts in farther detail, there being few Spiritualists of any experience who could not parallel, and in some respects exceed them ; but we shall yet claim the reader's attention for a few more extracts from this gentleman's voluminous writings. The fol- lowing sketches of his power as a prophetic Seer being both original in style and characteristic of French Spiritualism : — Extracts from the " Concile de Libre Pensee " {Books 8th and gth). '' The year in which visions of great cotemporary events followed close upon one another was i860. " I anticipated the war which terminated in the bloody battle of Sadowa. The night before the battle, I had a vision of a Lancer whom I recognised by his uniform to be an Austrian Uhlan. He held a lance with a black pennant, and was singing a mourn- ful air which I remember to have heard in my youth sung by the veterans who witnessed the disaster of 1812 and 1813, It commenced thus — ' They lie and sleep on the ground, And the drum shall wake them no more ! ' This vision made a painful impression upon me in my waking hours, but its signifi- cance was soon explained by the arrival of the telegram which announced the defeat and slaughter of Sadowa. '' Towards the end of 1867, I saw in vision vast multitudes of armed men approach- ing Paris from Germany, and the French Empire tottering beneath their heavy tread. " This prophecy was soon sadly realized in the fall of the Second Empire, already often predicted by a host of mediums. "Before the advance of the Black Prussians and the carnage of Champigny and Villiers-sur-Marne, I saw their approach in a cloud of black ravens which swooped down before the place where I was sitting. " Shortly after this, I had a distinct vision of myself returning from the north of France to Paris. On the way I encountered cavalry officers in foreign uniforms, one of whom thrust me aside with the point of his sabre, ordering me in an imperious voice to stand off. Very soon after, this scene was enacted in all its minutiae, for on quitting my native place to return to Paris, I encountered suddenly a party of Prussian soldiers who represented exactly the persons and scenes of my vision. "Just before the war, when all was apparently peaceful and calm, for more than fifteen days, every morning quite early, as I was dressing, I heard a dull sound as of a cannonade, which seemed to come from Paris, and its environs. At first I imagined there was some emeute in the great city, to the tune of artillery practice on the esplanade at Vincennes, but I soon learnt that there was nothing of the kind. Whence came this noise of cannon firing, which only I myself could hear, but at regular intervals, and unmistakably ? I could not account for it. It was not hallucination ; I was in perfect possession of my senses, and laying my ear to the ground I heard the sound intensified. Even now I ask myself how ever this audible phenomenon could be. Was I to understand it as a prophecy of the dreadful cannonade which was soon to thunder in Paris and its environs ? At this present date I should so explain it. About this time I had a letter from my friend M. Clavairoz. He asked me what my spirits said about the war. As for his spirit, in whom he had perfect confidence, he announced nothing but disaster, NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 53 '' A few days after this an English friend of mine paid me a visit. It was Mr. S. Chinnery, a very sensitive man, and good seer, whose presentiments rarely deceived him. He, no more than myself, had faith in the coming triumphs of France, He related tome a scene he had just witnessed in the gardens of the Tuileries, by the fountain nearest the Palace. A man — his dress in disorder, wild-looking, and hollow- eyed — had come there to weave a sort of incantation and denounce prophetically the potentate who resided close by. Laying coals on the edge of the basin and turning toward the Tuileries in an attitude of malediction, he thundered out these words : ' Napoleon, thy days are numbered, thy kingdom is coming to an end. Witness these coals, which have been sent me by one in the last stage of phthisis, whose death is close at hand.' ' ' After giving the particulars of this scene, which had made a strong impression on him, Mr. Chinnery recounted various prophecies and presentiments, of which he had made a collection, and which convinced him that France was about to pass through a very lamentable crisis. " I was in Belgium at the time of the disaster at Sedan. Before leaving, I had offered to the Flamant family, who dwelt at Joinville-le-Pont, on the other side of the Marne, the use of my apartment, in case the tide of war should reach Paris and its environs. I knew the enemy would not cross this stream in the teeth of the forts which protected it, but the left bank was in great danger of being ravaged. The members of this family, though they had no faith in my predictions, were very soon only too glad to accept my offer. " But I have now to relate the most wondrous of all the phenomena of that grievous period of terror. I was far away, but my good genius guarded my home. As I had quitted home in a hurry, everything had been left in confusion ; but when they took possession, everything was found in the most perfect order. Certainly no mortal hand could have acomplished this in an apartment under lock and key. Who then, could have put everything to rights? If it was a spirit, the new occupiers saw nothing of him ; but their dog no doubt saw him, for no sooner had the animal entered than he began to tremble all over, and to howl, so that they were obliged to open the door for him, and find him quarters in the garden. A luminous spirit was seen to go out from the house and to soar over it in the open air, with outstretched arms in sign of protection, at the moment when the enemy's cannon announced the investment of the Marne. " From that time I pursued in the journals every detail of the siege with the greatest anxiety. As the enemy's projectiles were aimed at the heights which crowned the approaches to the river, I dreaded lest they should force the passage, or a cannonade come down upon the lofty building that contained my apartment, which was close by the church, on the highest point of the locality, and therefore could not fail to be a target for them. One morning I had a vision — it seemed to me that a bombardment had commenced, and they were stowing away my books in safe hiding places. I afterwards ascertained that this vision was true. " I had had a thousand proofs of the action of the spiritual world on the natural. My good genius over and over again had saved me from great misfortunes. To turn aside the balls once fired off seemed to me impossible even for him, but I believed it might be in his power to act on the organs of a human being, so I besought him, in case the house should be in danger of bombardment, to exercise his influence on the visual organs of the artillery officers who pointed the cannon. I had no hope except in this. " I was not deceived. For six weeks an iron hail of shells hurled over the centre of the village of St. Maur. The houses all round mine were burnt, but mine remained intact. This so astonished the Wurtemburg artillery officer who directed the firing, that at the time of the armistice he came to see it, and declared, in presence of the assembled villagers who had returned, and the brave Flamant family, that 'the house must either be the devil's house or the dwelling of a sorcerer, as he had tried to set fire to it for six weeks, and had not succeeded.' At the same time it cannot be denied that the good dames of the neighbourhood attributed this fact to the agency of ' Our Lady of Miracles ' of St. Maur ; but, at all events, Our Lady might as well have preserved the other burnt houses while she was about it. " Whether people believe in these things or not, and howsoever they explain them it is not the less certain that they are facts ; and we have our own way of looking at them, undreamt of in their philosophy." " Z. T. Pjerart." 54 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. CHAPTER VIII. SPIRITUALISM IN FRANCE, Spiritism and Spiritualism (continued). It must not be supposed that the schism which divided the two leaders of French SpirituaUsm was confined to the immediate sphere of action in which they moved. Scattered sympathisers with the writings of Allan Kardec may be found all over the Continent of Europe and in small numbers in America also. Few people who read works put forth with authoritative pretentions, have the faculty of thoroughly digesting what they read, hence, when M. Kardec's books were translated into the English language, and it became the publisher's interest to aid in their circulation, they found more readers than thinkers, and their plausible style attracted more admiration than sincere convicton. In France, no doubt M. Kardec's personal influence and strong psychological power, admirably fitted him for a propagandist, and when we remember how readily any doctrines eloquently advocated will command adherents, especially amongst restless and excitable natures, we need be at no loss to discover why M. Kardec's writings have become so popular and his opinions so generally accepted by his readers. Little or no Spiritual literature was disseminated in the French language when Allan Kardec's works were first pubUshed. He possessed that indomitable energy and psychological influence in which his much harassed rival Pierart was wanting. Thus in a measure, the field of Continental Spiritual propagandism was his own, nor did he fail to make use of his great opportuuities. The successes achieved by Kardec's journal La Revue Spirite, communi- cated a wave of influence also, which propagated journals of a similar character all over the country. Thus in 1864, there were no less than ten Spiritualistic periodicals published in France, under the following titles : La Revue Spirite, La Revue Spiritualisfe, and L'Avenir, Paris ; four Spiritist journals published in, Bordeaux, which, in 1865, became merged into L Union Spirite Bordelaise ; La Medium Evangeliqut, Toulouse; LEcho d outre Tonibe, Marseilles ; and La Verite, Lyons. The editors of these journals are said to have been all followers of Allan Kardec, with the exception of M. Pierart, editor of La Revue Spiritualiste. How far the Re-incarnationists were in sympathy with Spiritualism proper, may be gathered from the fact, that they never noticed an opera published in 1865 in M. Pierart's paper, said to be the production of spirits, through the mediumship of Dr. C. Maldigny, entitled "Swedenborg." Several persons of literary talent pronounced this opera a very meri- torious work, but as its publisher M. Pierart was a Spiritualist, amongst a host of Spiritist journalists, not one contributed to popularize it, by a single word of comment. This is but one out of many kindred facts which tend to prove the total lack of sympathy existing between the opposing parties. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 55 It must be remarked that the doctrines of the Re-incarnationists, although defended with great ability by their propagandists, who in- cluded many of the most capable minds of France, were not suffered to pass without severe castigation on the part of their English neigh- bours ; and as we are pledged to represent the history of the movement, rather than our own personal predilections, it becomes necessary to note how the French spiritual schism was received on the other side of the Channel. In the London Spiritual Magazijie of 1865, the editor, in commenting on the ominous silence of the Spirite journals concerning Dr. Maldigny's opera of Swedenborg says : — ''It is worthy of note that the journals of the Kardec school, so far as we have seen them, do not take the least notice of this opera. The Avmir of Paris which appears weekly, but greatly wants facts, has not a word to say about it. . . . It is greatly to be regretted that the main object of the Kardecian journals, seems to be, not the demonstration of the constantly recurring facts of Spiritualism, but the deification of Kardec's absurd doctrine of Re-incarnation. "To this doctrine — which has nothing to do with Spiritualism, even if it had a leg of reason or fact to stand on — all the strength, and almost all the space of these journals is devoted. "These are the things which give the enemies of Spiritualism a real handle against it, and bring it into contempt with sober minds. Re-incarnation is a doctrine which cuts up by the roots all individual identity in the future existence. It deso- lates utterly that dearest yearning of the human heart for reunion with its loved ones in a permanent world. If some are to go back into fresh physical bodies, and bear new names, and new natures, if they are to become respectively Tom Styles, Ned Snooks, and a score of other people, who shall ever hope to meet again with his friends, wife, children, brothers and sisters ? When he enters the spirit-world and enquires for them, he will have to learn that they are already gone back to earth, and are somebody else, the sons and daughters of other people, and will have to become over and over the kindred of a dozen other families in suc- cession ! Surely no such most cheerless crotchet could bewitch the intellects of any people, except under the most especial bedevilment of the most sarcastic and. mischievous of devils." In the January number for 1866, a still stronger article on this subject appears from the pen of Wm. Howitt, who writes the following fearless words of protest against the doctrine of Re-incarnation : — '' In the Avenir of November 2nd, M. Pezzani thinks he has silenced M. Pierart, by asserting that without Re-incarnation all is chaos and injustice in God's creation — ' In this world there are rich and poor, oppressed and oppressors, and without Re-incarnation God's justice could not be vindicated.' That is to say, in M. Pezzani's conception, God has not room in the infinite future to punish and redress every wrong, without sending back souls again and again into the flesh. M. Pezzani's idea, and that of his brother Re-incarnationists is, that the best way to get from Paris to London is to travel any number of times from Paris to Calais and back again. We English that the only way is to go on to London at once. . . . As to M. Pezzani's notions of God's injustice without Re-incarnation, if souls were re-incamated a score of times, injustice between man and man, riches and poverty, oppression and wrong, all the enigmas of social inequality would remain just then as now. " In noticing these movements in the Spiritist camp in France, we should be doing a great injustice if we did not refer to the zealous, eloquent, and unremitting exertions of M. Pierart in the Revjce Spiritualistc, to expose and resist the errors of the Spirites to which we have alluded. The doctrine of Re-incarnation M. Pierart has persistently resisted and denounced as at once false, unfounded on any evidence, and most per- nicious to the character of Spiritualism." Again he adds : — 5 6 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. ■ " What are the fruits which this serpent doctrine of Re-incarnation have already begun to produce in the South of France ? There the medium Hillaire, having run away with his neighbour's wife, it is stated that the unhappy husband appealed to their leader Kardec to use his influence to bring back the fugitive wife with the money which she and her paramour had carried off. " But the answer is stated to have been from Kardec, that he could do no such thing, as the husband was no doubt punished for a similar crime in some former state of existence." M. Pierart in commenting on this notorious case says in the Revue Spiritualiste, 8 th vol. : — " In the south of France a people has only awakened from the death of materialistic belief, to the death of all virtue, sense, morality, and reason. " There a tribunal has lately heard enunciated the doctrine, that it is necessary to tolerate theft and adultery, because these crimes can only happen as the punishment of like sins in a former existence." M. Pierart concludes a scathing article on this case in the following words : — " Away then, with these doctrines destructive of progress, negative of the spirit which ought to reign in humanity ! Away ! and it is high time ; for seduction and blind error are arising and spreading themselves on all sides like a leprosy, which it will soon be too late to attempt to cure. They go on originating fanatical impulses, made obstinate by the force of ignorance and the absence of a critical spirit. And no one calls attention to the danger ! and we ourselves stand nearly alone and unable to vanquish the hydra. But we shall at least have done our part. Our warnings have been heard from time to time, and if they remain without response, we shall at least enjoy the consciousness of having performed a great duty." Again William Howitt writes : — " We may regret the necessity, — one which amounts to a duty, — of devoting so much space to a doctrine which assails, and would uproot if permitted to flourish, the most vital principles of Spiritualism, amongst which are — " I. The immortality of the soul— utterly annihilated if an individual known as such on earth, is not himself at all but somebody else in past life and will be somebody else in the future. " 2. It negatives eternal progress, if the soul is to return to this weary earth for endless births as somebody else, instead of marching on through the decades of eternity in unchanged, and ever strengthening individuality. " 3. It crushes out for ever the sweet ties of family affection — if, for example ; — the blessed mother whom we have known and adored, is not our mother, but we are perchance her great grandfather, and she may be presently born again as the child of our worst enemy ! "4. It wholly discredits the facts of spirit communion upon which alone, the foundations of Spiritualism rest; because Spiritualism came to us a stranger, and before we had begun to pervert its revealments or interpolate them with our own wild theories, it declared that the soul moved on for ever, but never retrogressed back into its rudimental shell of mortal mould. It showed us the worst of spirits, progressing through the spheres of Spiritual existence, growing brighter and fairer beneath our very eyes, but never returning to be re-born in strange households, to the distraction of all kindred ties, and the annihilation of that divine sentiment of love for one another, which is the redeeming element in the lowest depths of humanity." " Can you give me any indisputable proof that the doctrine of the soul's Re-incarnation in matter is true ? " asked the author of a Spirit, communicating under test conditions so well defined, as to render doubt touching that spirit's personality impossible. '•' Can you give me any indis- putable proof," replied the spirit, " that an acorn having once grown to be NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 57 an oak, ever becomes an acorn again, or the eagle having once given birth to its young, ever becomes again a germ egg ? " Who cannot follow out these living pictures of Nature's harmonious and 'Unbroken laws, from plant and animal life to man, nor dwarf the intellect down to the measure of M. Roustan's dreams, filtered through the lips of his somnambulic subject, even though they be stamped with the mighty genius of M. Allan Kardec ? And now that same Allan Kardec is a spirit ! He passed from the scene of his earthly pilgrimage on the 31st of March, 1869. Whatever might have been the impulse that led him to promulgate a doctrine fraught with so much that many SpirituaUsts deem false and injurious, it is impossible that he could have exerted over his own imme- diate sympathizers so unbounded an influence as he wielded, without being a man of powerful intellect, and indomitable energy. It is also impossible that he could so long have remained the centre of a large • circle, without becoming known for what he truly was, and as all his most intimate associates pronounce upon him the verdict of superior excellence, who shall venture to visit a stupendous intellectual misconception, upon the heart and intention of the man ? That he had the elements of greatness, let us cordially acknowledge. Meantime, whatever he may now be in sentiment and knowledge, we are assured he is in the land of light, where he will no more "see as in a glass darkly, but face to face," with divine truth. Were it not for the vice of the age, which rejoices to represent greatness through the shams of mediocrity, we might hope to learn from the lips .of the enfranchised spirit himself, how it fares with him, and how far his spiritual eyes have been opened, to the realities of his new sphere of existence. Still again, we are consoled by the assurance, that all progress for all living souls, is but a question of time, and that sooner or later, he will join the mighty armies of progression, whose watchword through eternity is. Excelsior ! It should be stated in this brief notice of a memorable man, that the followers of Allan Kardec are accustomed to assemble annually at his tomb in Pere La Chaise and celebrate with all the love and interest which his memory excites, their continued affiliation, in spirit at least, with their great leader. Until within the last twelvemonth, these touching anniversary services have been participated in by the venerable Madame Kardec. Quite recently however, the noble widow has gone to join — as we faith- fully believe — the husband to whom she seemed to be bound by ties of tenderness and personal affection which strangely contradict her cherished philosophy of Re-incarnation. Madame Kardec leaves a munificent bequest behind, in aid of the fund ■designed to publish and disseminate her husband's writings, and it seems to have been in view of her noble character and earnest endeavour to act out her highest sense of right, that her obsequies were attended by crowds of persons distinguished alike for their literary and social eminence. The reader cannot fail to be interested in the following excerpts which give brief accounts of one of the anniversary gatherings held at the tomb of the celebrated French Spiritist. The Daily News of London says : — " The other day a solemn conclave met in Paris to do honour to a name which, ;although a borrowed one, has in the space of less than twenty years made the 58 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. circuit of the globe, and founded a school of religious philosophy in which its- adepts seem to find the meeting point of Mysticism and Methodism. Allan Kardec, whose imposing tomb at Pere La Chaise cannot fail to have attracted the atten- tion of the most careless visitor to that city of the dead, was the son of a French lawyer, and was born at Lyons in the early years of the century. His real name was Hippolyte Leon Denizard Rivail, and with it for more than fifty years he was content to live a life of obscurity. Some few years however, after the establish- ment of the Second Empire, Spiritualistic manifestations were imported into France from across the Atlantic. It fascinated Rivail's mind, long given up to the study of the mediaeval Mystics. In 1858 he had gathered around him so many fellow-believers that a ' Societe des Etudes Spirites ' was constituted, and a few months later their organ, the Revue Spirite, appeared. Both the Association and the organ still survive, and claim to be making important progress, not only in France, but in every Continental country." Writing of the same occasion, one of the American papers remarks : — • " There was a large gathering of Continental Spiritualists around the tomb of Allan Kardec in the cemetery of Pere La Chaise, Paris, on the occasion of the recent anniver- sary of his death. Speeches in honour of him and his work were delivered by prominent disciples. One of the floral crowns to decorate his tomb was brought from America. Madame Kardec was present, and received the sympathetic salutations of the assemblage. '' In the evening many were present at a banquet and concert. About three hundred brothers and sisters in belief met at the rooms of the Society for continuing Allan Kardec's work, in the Rue des Petits-Champs. The rooms are now too small for the growing Society. The evening was devoted to oratorical, poetical, and musical tributes to the memory of the venerated founder." Those who are familiar with the writings of R. D. Owen, Shorter,. Howitt, and other celebrated European Spiritualists, will have read with absorbing interest, accounts of the marvellous phenomena which frequently occurred in the presence of the late Baron de Guldenstubbe, and his gifted sister. The speciality of the Baron's mediumship was, the production of writings executed by the hands of spirits themselves. These writings the Baron, Mdlle. Guldenstubbe, and their friends, obtained in the following way. According to certain theories of his own, the Baron de Guldenstubbe believed, that tombs, altars, statues, and other objects consecrated to the memory of the illustrious deceased, were imbued with special magnetic properties, which aided in attracting the spirits to whose memory they were dedicated. With this impression he was in the habit of placing blank papers in concealed niches of remarkable monuments, and under the most crucial test conditions, obtained spirit writings, drawings, and hieroglyphics of the rarest interest. A volume could be filled with descriptions of these wonderful productions, the genuine character of which it is impossible to question. As some facsimiles and elaborate accounts have been published by several well-known authors, of these writings, we shall ask our readers to satisfy themselves on the pre- sent occasion, with two short narratives, both of which are selected, as much for their unquestionable authenticity, as for their rarity. The first is written by Dr. G. L. Ditson for the Banner of Light of 1881, and reads thus : — " Following the above is an account, from the pen of Mons. Leymarie, of a visit made, by order of the spirits, by Baron Guldenstubbe to Versailles. He was required to go with certain ladies named, whom he was to invite, and evidently for a special purpose. While in the gallery at V. the Bishop of Orleans, M. Dupanloup, passed on his way to celebrate mass in the chapel. Knowing the ladies referred to above, he NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 59 stopped and addressed them, and also the Baron, to whom he expressed his regrets that he was a follower of Luther, who would suffer in purgatory for the division he had caused in the true Church. The Baron replied that he did not think that Luther was in purgatory or in hell, and as a proof of it, if the Bishop would place a blank piece of paper on Luther's portrait, there would come some evidence of his (the Baron's) belief. The Bishop tore a piece of paper from his register, and placed it as suggested. After a few moments he took it down and found written upon it : '/k vita pestis eram Papce, ■ In morte mors ero. Luther." (Living, I was a flail to the Pope ; dead, I will be his death.) They were all greatly astonished. The Bishop extended his hand to the Baron and his sisters (both mediums), asking permission to visit them in Paris. The permission was obtained, and he frequently availed himself of it subsequently. '' Among the signatures of royalty which the Baron obtained by direct writing in the crypt of St. Denis was that of Marie Antoinette, which resembled hers while she was in the flesh, as the Director of the Gobelin tapestry manufactory declared — for he had some of her letters. Baron Guldenstubbe, as is well-known, held a high position among men of science, and his sister is perhaps hardly less distinguished. The Baron healed the sick, also, by animal magnetism. M. Leymarie refers to the Baroness Guldenstubbe as a lady devoted to the cause of Spiritualism as well as to the sciences in general." The second and last notice which we can give of Baron de Guldenstubbe was first printed in the Daily News, of London, in 1859, and has been since copied into some of the Spiritual papers. It reads as follows : — " Among the most famous ' mediums ' nowhere [Paris] is a German, the Baron Guldenstubbe, and his sister. The Baron is a nobleman of well-known status and good fortune ; his wife is a firm believer, but is not a 'medium,' while his sister — said to be very clever and amiable, but the most weird, unearthly, elfin-looking little creature imaginable— shares her brother's gifts, and even surpasses him in this line. The Baron and his sister, with a number of friends, have been in the habit for two years past, of going to the churches here, placing bits of paper and pencil on the tombs, and finding messages written on the papers by the spirits of those whose mortal remains lie beneath the marble. Those who have been to the scene of operations say that the Baron lays a bit of paper and pencil on each tomb from whose occupant they desire to hear, and retires a few paces from them ; that in the course of ten minutes the friends approach the tombs and take up their papers, when messages are found written on the latter. The papers are examined carefully before they are laid on the tomb, and are known to be innocent of all trace of writing ; the visitors remain within a few paces of them, so that no one could approach without being seen ; and yet when the papers are taken up, they are found to contain writing, always distinctly visible. A week or so ago Madame S caught a violent cold ; the white of her eye changed, as it were, to a piece of red cornelian. It was frightful to look at, and she fully expected that she would find herself " in for a long and painful attack." Before the attack had come on Madame S had been desired (by the " spirit " of some old Norman knight, with a very romantic name, who came to her one evening at the Baron's house) to go on the following Friday to Sevres, to place a paper and pencil in the middle of the public road, at thirty paces from the entrance to the famous china manufactory, and to wait there for a message from him. Though her eye was so inflamed as to compel her to relinquish all invitations, Madame S did not hesitate, protected by a thick veil, to go to Sevres at the time appointed. She and a friend, having counted off the thirty paces, held a bit of blank paper over the spot indicated for a few minutes, " to magnetise it," and then laid it on the ground with a pencil, covering them with some stones, so as to prevent the wind (which was high and cold) from blowing the paper away. Madame S says that she hardly ventured to hope the writing would take place, as Baron Guldenstubbe, who had been told to accompany her, took no part in the thing, but walked about with his sister in various directions, looking at the building and fine prospect. Presently the two came up to Madame S and oifered to place the paper for her. " 'Thank you,' she said, 'I have placed it myself; it is under those stones yonder.' '■ ' But you will probably have no message,' returned the Baron ; ' you are not yet a medium, and it would have been better to allow me to help you.' 6o NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. " ' Perhaps so,' replied Madame S , ' but I felt an impulse prompting me to try my own power. I have magnetised the paper before putting it under the stones, and by-and-bye we shall see what is the result.' At that moment Mdlle. Guldenstubbe suddenly went off into a sort of cataleptic vision, throwing up her arms, which grew rigid, and declaring, with a face of horror that she saw a man in armour where the stones were; a javelin had struck him under the arm, between the joints of his mail, and the blood was flowing in torrents. " ' He will not die of his wound,' she cried, ' but he suffers dreadfully ; he Uegs Madame S • to take the paper from under the stones ; he has written upon it, and says she must place the paper, as though it were a plaster, on her eye to-night when she goes to bed, and it will cure her.' " On going to the spot, and lifting off the stones that covered the paper, the latter was found to be marked with a single letter — an L or an S— very indistinct, but so firmly traced, that the paper was raised by the pressure of the pencil, and under it was a queer mark, much better traced, which appeared to be not a letter, but a cabalistic sign. Intensely delighted with the success of the experiment, the party returned to Paris ; and on retiring for the night, Madame S laid the paper on her inflamed eye, tying it carefully in place with a handkerchief. Next morning, to her great satisfaction, the eye was cured ! Now, it is certain that Madame S , however much she may unconsciously deceive herself, is quite incapable of attempt- ing to deceive others ; and as to the fact of the sudden and inexplicable cure of her eye, numbers of her friends, are witnesses to its reality ; but what is one to think of such an occurrence ? In this case good seems to have been done." We shall close this chapter by a brief account of a wonderful healer who is even now effecting cures by spirit power, as remarkable as any one recorded during the present century. Our subject is an excellent mechanic ; — a watchmaker by trade, by the name of Hyppolite; — and the following sketch of his noble work is transla- ted for the columns of Light (l^ondon) of this current year, 1883, from an account written by M. Ch. Fauvety, President of the " Scientific Psycho- logical Society " of Paris. M. Fauvety says in the Society's Bulletin, for the new year : " In one of the poorer quarters of Paris, cures have been, and are still being, per- formed, by imposition of hands, &c. The subjects, many of them have been treated unsuccessfully at hospitals. The healer asks for no payment. What good he does is, he says, for the love of God and humanity. Orthodox practitioners could gain nothing by prosecuting a heterodox therapeutist like this, so he goes on in his work unmolested. "The healer's name is Hippolyte. He is between forty and fifty, and is in the business of a watchmaker with his father, a hale and upright man of eighty. " In the room at the back of the shop early every morning Hippolyte's daughter is ready to receive sick visitors, giving to each a number in the order of which each will be attended to. At nine o'clock Hippolyte begins and keeps at his work of healing until past noon, and then he goes to the watchmaking and mending by which the household is supported. " With respect to his method of treatment, Hippolyte says that as soon as rapport is established between the patient and himself — which seems to be pre-requisite — he has impressions as to what is out of order and what he has to do ; sometimes his hands are used to make passes ; sometimes somnambulic sleep comes on, in which communications are made through the patient about his case, to help in the cure. In chronic cases the method generally pursued is evidently calculated to rouse into activity the will and organic forces of the patient, in aid of which Hippolyte uses manipulations. In these he declares he is moved by his ' spirit guides.' ' ' Various persons have watched Hippolyte's treatment, and all concur in recog- nising positive cures or palpable amelioration. "The maladies we saw cured included paralyses, neuralgia, gouty and rheumatic affections, diseases of joints, — some condemned to amputation at hospitals, — spinal disorders, &c. As many as thirty patients came some days, of both sexes and all ages. The following few cases will illustrate some of Hippolyte's modes of proceeding ; they are from a note containing more written for me by him : — '■ ' A youth suffering from epilepsy was brought to me after much orthodox treat- ment. As I spoke to him he went into a fit of fearful severity, I felt myself moved NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 6i to lay my hands upon him, my right to his heart, my left to his head, and to direct my gaze to his throat. He presently came out of the fit, passing into the somnambulic sleep. Then, in answer to questions, he said, that the exciting cause of his fits was fright occasioned by some mischievous companions ; he then predicted the day and hour of the next fit, and said he would be well and would not need treatment until then. When he returned to ordinary consciousness he had no memory of what had been said through him. I got his promise to come on the day named. He came in accordance with the promise and went into a similar fit, but less strong, exactly at the predicted hour. My hands were applied as before ; the fit lasted but a few minutes, he passing again into the somnambulic sleep ; in it came another prediction that the next fit would not be until after twenty-one weeks, and date and hour were named ; that the fit following that would be at a still longer interval and would be the last. The fulfilment of these predictions is looked forward to with complete confidence. '■ ' A. Delavigne came, after long and fruitless treatment by the faculty, with chronic articular rheumatism and cold swelling of wrist, and hand, and fingers, quite disabling her from her work of lace-making. While treating her I felt the impulse to put a wooden roller under her hand, and upon this roller, without her own volition, and without any aid from me, her hand was exercised for three hours with intervals of rest. This was repeated at every treatment. Sometimes the bare hand would be made to beat the table forcibly with blow after blow, without any effort of her own, as if to rouse the internal parts of the limb into action. She completely recovered and returned to work. " 'A neighbouring tradesman asked my attention to the case of a lady-customer of his. Three weeks previously she came to his shop to make purchases, and while doing so her little boy, who accompanied her, fell down some cellar-steps, Thinking he must be killed — but he was not hurt — -she fainted and fell. She was carried home, for it was found that all power had left her lower limbs. She had been under medical treatment ever since, but with no good result ; she was getting very weak, had lost desire for food, and was almost sleepless. She came in an invalid's chair and was carried in. " ' After the first treatment of twenty minutes she was able to walk to her little carriage. The next day, while under treatment, she passed into somnambulic sleep. In it she spoke of her internal condition and predicted coming pains, from reaction, and their duration. At every subsequent treatment she passed into the sleep, assisted with directions, and predicted her full restoration. At the end of a few weeks, her visits having become less and less frequent, she felt quite well. Her last visit was to tell me, with radiant and grateful countenance, that she had been invited to a soirie dansante, and had found that her limbs had entirely regained their full strength and activity. '' M. Fauvety says that although people not poor find their way to Hippolyte, the greater number are very poor, as may be judged from the circumstance that on the table were always tickets for bread placed at Hippolyte's disposal by the Conseil de Bienfaisance of his district ; there was also a wooden bowl to receive the small contri- butions of the less poor for him to distribute among those who needed better nourish- ment than their own means afforded, or to pay omnibus fares for those unable to walk." A large number of additional testimonials both printed and in MSS., have been sent to the author concerning the beneficent gifts of this noble healer, and the excellent uses to which he devotes his powers. Our space forbids any more extended notice than a hearty " God speed," words which will find an echo in the hearts of hundreds, whom this man's Christ-Hke work has already blessed and benefited. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. CHAPTER IX. SPIRITUALISM IN FRANCE (CONTINUED). OF PHENOMENAL AND EXPERIMENTAL SPIRITUALISM. The Cur^ D'Ars, Jacob the Zouave, and Our Lady of Lourdes. Notwithstanding the fact that the experimental method of receiving communications through physical mediumship was not in favour with M. Allan Kardec and his followers, (the ruling party in the modern movement in France), there is an abundant amount of phenomena of all kinds recorded in M. Pierart's excellent journal La Revue Sj>tritualisfe, also in many other European journals devoted to the subject. From this treasury we are about to select such facts of a representative character as will give a general view of French Spiritualism in the nineteenth century. Pursuant to the plan of this work, we shall first record a case of spontaneous spirit power or one which gives unmistakable proof of spiritual influence without the aid of invocatory processes, and the illustration we are about to introduce, is the celebrated " Cure D'Ars," the founder of the D'Ars " Providence," and many other noble works of charity. Jean Baptiste Vianney, was born in the vicinity of Lyons in 1786, in an humble sphere of life. His natural capacity was by no means remarkable, and at school he was only remembered as a somewhat dull scholar. Circumstances having opened up the way for his becoming a priest, although he had only Latin enough to say mass, and no learning beyond the routine of his profession, yet his amiable nature and unaffected piety won him friends wherever he went. After some changes of fortune and the rejection of two good offers of rich positions, which in his extreme humility he did not deem himself fit for, he accepted the pastoral charge of the little agricultural village of D'Ars, now in the arrondisement of Trevoux. This place, the scene of his life-long labours was almost as stagnant and full of ignorance as good Pastor OberHn's famous valley of Ban de la Roche. When M. Vianney became its Cure, his deep devotion, fervent preaching, and the genuine interest he displayed in the happiness and welfare of his flock, soon won their confidence, and placed him in the very centre of their hearts and affections. Although he was wholly dependent for subsistence upon the small pittance he received for his pastoral services, he managed to live upon such meagre fare that he was enabled to disburse nearly all his salary in charity. Very soon his reputation for beneficence drew around him a much larger circle of poor dependents than he could provide for, and then it was that he commenced his extraordinary life of faith, supplicating in fervent prayer for whatever means were necessary to carry out his divine NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. (^z mission of blessing to his unfortunate fellow creatures. In this way the sphere of his benevolence and the wonderful results of the means he employed to maintain it, reached proportions that could scarcely be credited. Amongst other great undertakings he built three chapels, and estab- Ushed a " Providence " or home for destitute children, to which he added another for friendless women. When the number of his poor pensioners exceeded his means of accommodation, he devoted one room after another of his own humble dwelling to their use, reserving only the garret for himself. All these undertakings involved not only incessant labour but vast expense. The Cure had not a franc of his own to devote to these purposes, for he gave away in casual and daily charities nearly all his means, sometimes even depriving himself of his small allowance of bread and milk to feed the hungry. He gave away the bed on which he lay and cheerfully substituted for it a couch of straw, which he declared was quite good enough for him. He often robbed himself of the decent clothes provided for him by admiring friends and administered to the wants of others in fluttering rags. Always cheerful, contented, indomitably active ; planning his own build- ings and helping to raise them himself; preaching incessantly and never weary of speaking words of good cheer and consolation, this wonderful being became the life and soul as well as the founder of the most gigantic enterprises. When the orphans of poor dependents wanted bread he prayed for it, and it was sure to come. When the treasury was empty and food and fuel must be purchased he prayed and the money came pouring in from all quarters. When the work on his buildings came to a standstill and the workmen would not tease the good father for help, he knew exactly what they wanted—and prayed accordingly — food, money, building materials, and clothes, were sent just as certainly as they were needed, but not until the good pastor had put up his fervent petition for the same. Kind helpful women tendered their services as teachers and seamstresses, whereupon he opened schools for the children and established clothing depots for the destitute. The idea of his *' Providence " too became contagious, and numbers of other institutions of a similar kind began to spring up in different provinces of France. M. I'Abbe Monnin, whose biography of this wonderful man occupies two bulky volumes avers, that his " Providence " was established fifteen years before that of Miiller in Bristol, England, both being supported. in the same miraculous way by faith and prayer. M. Monnin relates endless miracles of the good Cure, the recital of which could add but little to the reader's interest in the astonishing facts already narrated. Here were three chapels erected, four or five houses built and endowed, countless numbers relieved, and upwards of one hundred poor women and children regularly maintained, and all by a man without a penny in the world, and a stipend barely sufficient to provide for the daily wants of one person. But now a still more wonderful thing was to happen in the enchanted region of D'Ars. Persons afflicted with disease began to experience sudden cures, whilst praying before the altar, or making confessions to the Cure. The fame of this new miracle soon spread abroad, until the Abbe Monnin 64 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. declares, that upwards of 20,000 persons annually came from Germany, Italy, Belgium, all parts of France, and even from England, and that in less than six years, this number increased to an average of 80,000. Diseases of every kind that had been pronounced incurable were dissi- pated at once. The indefatigable Cure gave himself up to the work heart and soul. His church stood open day and night, and the immense crowds that surrounded it, were obliged to wait for hours and sometimes days to reach the good healer. No one was allowed to take precedence of the rest, except in cases of extreme poverty or extreme suffering. Princes, nobles, and great ladies, often drove up as near as they could to the church in grand carriages, and manifested the utmost astonishment when informed, that notwithstanding their rank, they could not be admitted except in turn. The Cure only permitted himself to take four hours sleep, namely from eleven to three, and when he came to the confessional again, the church and all the approaches to it were crowded with those who had waited all night to secure their places. Omnibuses were established to convey patients from Lyons to D'Ars, and the Saone was covered with boats full of anxious pilgrims. Amongst thousands of reported cases of wonderful cures, there was one which Mr. Wm. Howitt, another of the Cure D'Ars' biographers, relates in the following touching terms. He says : " A poor woman came from a great distance, carrying on her back a boy of eight years old who had no use in his legs whatever. For four-and-twenty hours the poor mother perseveringly endeavoured to get near the Curd At length he put his hands on the child and blessed him, saying some words of comfort to the mother. On entering their lodgings for the night the boy said, ' Mother, buy my sabots, for M. the Cur^ has promised that I shall walk to-morrow.' The words of the Cure had not been quite so positive, but the child had such faith in him that he felt confident of his cure. The mother went and bought the sabots, and sure enough, on the morrow the child was cured and ran through the church crying joyfully, " I am cured ! I am cured !' The mother was overwhelmed with tears and emotion." We cannot conclude this brief notice which does but poor justice to the subject as detailed by the Abb^ Monnin, without making the following additional extracts from Mr. Howitt's interesting account of the Cure. He says : " Numerous letters are found in these volumes [Abbe Monnins' biography] from people, detailing the circumstances of their ailments and their cures, and many others from well-known persons soliciting the prayers of the Cure for themselves and friends. All this time the Cur^ was not only expending superhuman exertions in church services, from year to year, giving himself but a short pause for a very meagre breakfast and dinner, but he was receiving large sums from all sides and bestowing them as promptly in relieving distress, assisting poor pilgrims, and sending relief to distant places. When somebody asked him the secret of obtaining such great supplies of money, he replied that it was by simply giving it away again as fast as he could, to those who needed it. Nobody at the same time could be more unassuming, unosten- tatious, or unselfish. He expended everything he had, money, prayers, strength, as long as he had any : and this life he continued till within four days of his death, in August, 1859, at the age of 73. One of the most remarkable features of the Cure d'Ars was the condition of spiri- tual clairvoyance to which he had attained. By his extreme abstemiousness, his intense exertions, and his ardent piety, he seemed to have purged away almost all fleshly impediments betwixt the invisible world and himself. Notwithstanding the constant throng of people that surrounded him so that he had difficulty to pass amongst them in his church, or to and from his house ; though they were coming and going continually, NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 65 he seemed to know them, their names, their connections, and circumstances as soon as he cast his eyes on them. He would pick out particular individuals in the crowd, tell them the cases he knew were pressing, take them into his confessional and speak to them of their wants in a manner that filled them with astonishment. " Seeing a young Savoyard lady in the congregation, he told her in passing, that he would see her on the morrow. As she had but just arrived and was a perfect stranger she thought he had mistaken her for some one else, but on the morrow when she was admitted to his confessional, he told her her most secret thoughts ; amongst other things of which she had never spoken, of her desire to enter a religious house, of the sisters she had left at home, and their special characters, all of which was perfectly correct. " Another lady from a distance, he advised to look after her property and dispose of it at once to her relatives as she had no time to lose. Although in middle life and perfect health apparently, she died suddenly, almost immediately after following his advice. This the lady's relations, grateful for his judicious council, informed him of. "Le Pere Nigre who was planning in his own mind a soldier's home at Tourbieres, when preaching there, stated in the pulpit, that he had just been to D'Ars, when the Cure, to whom he was a stranger, accosted him by saying, ' Well, father, how go on your plans for the soldiers' home ? Come ; when will you have done thinking of it, and begin building it.^ 'Now,' said the preacher, 'though this thing was in my mind, I had never spoken of it to a living creature, yet he knew all about it.' " During the excitement of the Revolution of 1848, many persons consulted him about the safety of their families. He bade them rest in peace for there would be no blood spilled except in and just round Paris. " During the Crimean war he was asked to pray for the safety of a soldier there, and a sister ill at home. He replied, ' The soldier will return quite safe ; the sister is ripe for heaven.' He was quite right in both cases. A young lady, during the Italian war, was in great terror for her husband. 'Tell her,' said the Cure, 'that she has nothing to fear. Peace will be made directly.' This was on the 25th June. The news of the interview of Villafranca came directly afterwards. "A man who had a little land, offered it for sale to the Cure; he advised him whatever he did not to part with it. Very soon after, a mine was discovered in it, which secured the proprietor two thousand francs annually. On the other hand, a director of mines consulted him on investing in a new mine lately opened, and which promised to pay richly. He counselled him by no means to do it. "Twelve days after, the mine was flooded with water and became unworkable, besides causing the death of various persons. "The Cure, like many of the old saints, believed himself terribly assailed by the devil, and no doubt he was, but perhaps not to the extent that he supposed. But let us see what phenomena surrounded him, for actual spirits were busy about him ; and let us take their proceedings from his own point of view. From the moment that the Cure opened the orphan house at D'Ars, six years after his going there, and thence to the end of his life, he was beset by the continual evidences of what he deemed Satanic influence. At nine o'clock one evening, as he retired to rest, he was startled by three loud knocks at his outer gate, as if they would drive it in with a huge club. He arose, threw open the window, and asked who was there. No answer was given. He returned to bed, but was scarcely asleep when he was roused again by other blows, this time not on the outer gate, but on that of the staircase leading to his chamber. He arose and called out, but again there was no answer. Imagining that they were thieves who came to steal some valuables belonging to the Viscomte d'Ars, he had two stout men to come and sleep at the parsonage ; these men heard the same noises, but were unable to discover any one, and soon came to the con- clusion that they were produced by no human power. They continued their watch for several nights, still hearing the noises, but discovering no one. A snow fell in the night, and the blows coming on the front door, the Cure descended quickly, thinking this time he should be abb to trace them by their footmarks in the snow. To his astonishment there were no marks at all. He was now quite satisfied that the men were right, that they were no mortal disturbers. Some young men of the village, however, formed themselves into a guard over the house during the night, and a party of his neighbours came and slept in the room adjoining his own. The cart- wright of the village came, carrying his loaded gun with him. At midnight there came a terrific noise, and the furniture of the room in which this poor man was stationed, resounded as if with a storm of blows. The cries for help caused the Cure and other watchers to rush in, but nothing was either to be seen or heard. " These disturbances continued with more or less violence for a period of over thirty-live years. Sometimes there were heard sounds as if a wild horse were rearing 5 66 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. in the hall below the Cure's room throwing his hoofs to the ceiling and then plunging with all four feet on the tiled floor. " At other times a gendarme seemed to be ascending the stairs in his boots, and stamping loudly as he ascended. Again it seemed like a great flock of sheep passing above his head, and making sleep impossible by that monotonous patter of hoofs. Catherine Lassagne in her notes of her life at the Providence at Ars, relates many such things, and says that every one who knew the Cure, knew that he would sooner suffer death than state an untruth. He said to her one day that when the flock of sheep seemed running over his head, he has taken a stick and struck smart blows on the ceiling to cause them to be silent, but to no purpose. Just as he would be dropping asleep, ' Grappin, ' as he called the devil, or the grappling iron, would begin, as it were anew, hooping a cask with iron hoops, and with a tremendous din. •' All this things, remarks the Abbe Monnin, are precisely what happened to the ancient saints, and which are to be found in abundance in the Diabolische Mystik, of Gores, B.V., chapters xxi. and xxii. On the occasion of the Cure going to Saint Trivier-sur-Moignans to preach, at a great jubilee held by the missionaries, he was much teased by his brother clergymen about these hauntings. They were very witty about them, telling him they all came of not living well enough ; that they were rats, and a dozen other things. The Cure took it all in good part, bade them good night, and went to bed. At midnight these gentlemen came rushing to his room in terrible affright. The house seemed turned topsy-turvy ; the doors banged, the windows rattled, the walls shook, and ominous cracks appeared to announce their fall. ' Rise ! rise ! ' they cried to the Cure, who was lying quietly, ' the house falls.' ' Oh ! ' said he, ' I know very well what it is ; go to your beds : you have nothing to fear.' An hour after a bell rung : there was a man at the gate who had come several leagues to con- fess to the Cure. He always expected when these disturbances took place that some one was on his way to seek consolation from him ; and it never failed to prove so. He believed the demons made the uproar out of envy of the good he was about to do. The clergy, however, were cured of laughing at him, and one of them made a vow never again to jest on apparitions and nocturnal noises. Another night the devil, the Cure said, had amused himself by pushing him about his chamber all night on a bed on castors ; and the next day when he entered his confessional, he felt himself lifted up and tossed about as though he had been in a boat on a rough sea. '' But was the devil really engaged in all these transactions ? The truth probably is, that M. Vianney had so reduced his body by fasting, p-enance and enormous exer- tion, that he had opened himself to all kinds of spiritual impressions, in which the devil was sure to have his share. But most likely many of these ghostly visitors were merely spirits of a low order who liked to amuse themselves, as they found the Cur^ accessible to them. Many, no doubt, like those who visited the Seeress of Prevorst, would have been glad of his prayers, had he not been so completely shut up on that head, by his catholic demonophobia. " Nothing, however, is more certain than that the worthy Cure d'Ars was actively beset by spirits of one kind or another for upwards of thirty years. He exorcised several persons who were possessed, and records dialogues with these demons in which they assured him that they often said mass. " Altogether the biography of the Cure d'Ars is one of the most remarkable of modern times. Miracles of the highest and lowest kinds were in active operation round him for a long course of years. They were exhibited before thousands and tens of thousands of people of all classes and ranks and of many countries. " What had been reported from all past ages by men of the highest character for veracity learning and talent, was repeated at Ars for thirty-five years in all its powers. ... Yet we are told that all this time the press of France preserved a profound silence on the matter as though no such things were taking place." To the well-informed Spiritualist, all comment on this strange history is unnecessary. The greatest miracle of the good man's life is the fact that the stolid scepticism of a cold materialistic age can still exist, after events of _ such astonishing and world-wide celebrity have testified to divine and spiritual interposition in human affairs. Another phenomenal personage of whom the world has heard much, was a soldier commonly known as Jacob the Zouave, a healer of remarkable power, and one who during his brief mission performed many wonderful cures. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 67 In 1866 or 1867, he first became publicly known whilst yet attached to his regiment, for his curative as well as clairvoyant powers. From childhood he seemed to have been endowed with spiritual gifts of which those around him had little understanding. Without any instruction, he often executed beautiful drawings of strange fruit and flowers which he said grew on the planet Venus. He could readily detect the nature of obscure diseases and read the character and lives of strangers — in a word, he exhibited constant proofs of clairvoyant powers up to the time when he became famous amongst his military associates for " curing sick people by magnetism, sympathy, and in other strange ways." As soon as it was known outside his regiment that he possessed these gifts, he was followed everywhere by solicitations to exercise them. Amongst those who heard of and appealed to the famous Zouave, was a talented young gentleman studying at one of the universities, but who was obliged to relinquish all his hopes of name and fame on account of a confirmed sciatica which settled in the right hip and obliged him to walk painfully on crutches for four years. This gentleman, M, Marney, informed the author he paid but one visit to Jacob who held his hands, stroked his body a few times and then bid him walk — he did so, and never after experienced the slightest sense of pain or lameness. This marvellous cure wrought on the son of a wealthy landowner, attracted so much attention that the barracks at Versailles where M. Jacob was quartered became thronged with visitors. The officers and men were plied with entreaties for permission to see the healer, and the place — ^to use the words of one of his superior officers, when describing the scene to a company in which the author was present — " resembled a bear garden." Order and discipline was interrupted, the annoyance was unendurable, and the wonderful Zouave was informed he must either give up his profession of killing or curing, for the two were incompatible. After much effort on the part of his friends and admirers, the Zouave's release from the army was procured, and he commenced his career in earnest as a healing medium. Many of his most astonishing cures were effected whilst he yet remained in the army, but when he was emanci- pated from that restraint, the enthusiasm which followed him knew no bounds. Doubtless, many of the reports concerning him were exaggerated, and many understated, according to the predilections of the narrators. Certain it is, that his cures were often remarkable enough to be called miraculous, although he himself told the author in an evening visit paid to her in London, that he never professed to cure every one, and indeed many he felt from the first moment of their approach so strongly repelled from, that he knew instantly they were no subjects for him. On this same occasion he explained to those present, that he saw the diseases of those who came to him, and very often realised that they had sick friends or relatives whose condition, if time had permitted, he could have described accurately. To prove this, he undertook to describe a young lady well known to the author, and then a resident of America. He gave an excellent account of this lady's personal appearance, but insisted that she was the victim of a disease which would terminate fatally in a given period of time, a prediction which was actually fulfilled, although the disease itself was unknown at the time. He (M. Jacob) added, that he almost always saw spirits busy in ministering to the patients who called upon him, and helping him in his modes of treatment. 68 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. Many persons complained that this soldier-doctor was brusque and abrupt in manners, hence that he was not generally popular with those even whom he had most benefited. Whether M. Jacob deemed it prudent to imitate the rough, repulsive, manners adopted by so many of our most popular EngUsh doctors, under the impression, doubtless, that it is Abernethy-like and imposing, or whether the complainants asked too much of an humble private soldier, when they required polished manners, in addition to a GRATUITOUS CURE, we need not take the trouble to enquire. That which we do know is, that the lame walked, the blind received their sight, and the deaf heard, and all this and much more than any ordinary chronicle can record, was done without money and without price, for the Zouave would neither accept of money or presents for his great services, and beyond a paltry franc, paid by those who chose to buy his photograph of his father, who stood at the door with them for sale, this generous and magnanimous creature never received aught for his services, beyond the consciousness of the priceless good he was performing. Although the readers of the Spiritual journals on both sides of the Atlantic have become familiar with the name of Jacob the Zouave, and the methods of his cures have been too frequently described to need reitera- tion, it is but justice to this noble and self-sacrificing worker to insert at least one testimonial from a grateful patient, and that in relation to a cure, which may be taken as an illustration of the Zouave's usual mode of pro- cedure. The letter in question was addressed to the Patrie newspaper. It was written by the Count Chateau Villard, residing at 60, Rue St. Lazare, Paris, and was introduced by the editor in the following words : — " We have several times alluded to the Zouave Jacob, garrisoned at Versailles ; but who comes to Paris to effect his marvellous cures. " What is the secret of all this, and has he any ? Is he gifted with a degree of magnetic influence unrecognized until now ? How are the various cures of suffering people to be explained ? We can give no opinion ; all we know is, that the house in which he operates is continually attended by invalids; one after the other takes his ticket in order to arrive in turn. " We must add that the Zouave will receive no money, gifts, or thanks ; he will accept literally nothing ! All these facts are attested by an honourable witness in the person of the Count Chateau Villard, residing at 60, Rue St. Lazare, who writes as follows : — " ' Sir, — Reading in the newspapers that I had offered a part of my private residence to the Zouave Jacob, I beg of you to be so good as to insert, that I have made the offer only in the event of his being forced to quit his quarters in the Rue Roquette. " ' God knows that I have no wish to take him away from the poor afflicted who will know well where to find him ; I have made the offer in gratitude, and for the benefit of humanity. " ' I had heard such extraordinary things of the Zouave, that, paralyzed as I was, I had a desire to attend one of his seances ; I took my lady with me, who has been a continual sufferer also, and I here state what actually occurred. " ' On arriving in the Rue Roquette, where there was a stoppage, I alighted from my carriage with the aid of my valet, and a kind working man who hastened to take my other arm. These two assisted me to the workshop of Monsieur Dufayet. In this condition I arrived at the door, where a person who could not be bribed, refused me admission without a numbered ticket ; my secretary, who by a fortunate accident happened to know the principal clerk of M. Dufayet, beckoned to him, and he seeing my state of impotence allowed me to enter into the court, crowded with sick people. The arrangements of the Zouave are that those who are at the worst, should be treated first. " ' My lady began to weep at seeing so much misery. There was a lady who had brought her daughter ; she stated that the child was being treated within ; that she herself was not allowed to assist, inasmuch as the doors are only open to actual NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 69 invalids. I observed after, the young girl come out, and walk to the vehicle which had brought her, followed by her mother. This same girl had been taken to the place carried by a man. " ' I also noticed a man with a distorted back, unable to walk, make his exit jumping with joy ; whilst the plaudits of the crowd, and persons from that quarter of the town who recognized him, joined in. " ' We were introduced at last to the chamber, which may really be designated the miracle chamber. I saw there a human being frightfully afflicted, paralyzed and incredibly ill, brought in by M. Dufayet and his assistants, and placed m chairs closely packed one against the other. '' ' As soon as the apartment was full, the Zouave entered and said, " No one must speak unless I interrogate him, otherwise I leave you." Here the greatest stillness reigned. He then went round telling each one what was the matter with him, and without touching them he said " Rise up ! " and those that had been paralyzed arose ; I am one of the number and raised myself without the slightest effort. '' ' At the end of about twenty minutes, he told us all to retire and amidst profound silence each one left. My wife, more polite than I, wanted to thank him ; he imme- diately imposed silence and said, " Other sufferers await me ; you are cured, let that suffice, begone ! " On going out I was much crowded upon by persons asking me affectionately of what had occurred, and I regained my carriage without help, walking upon a very badly paved street where the best man might find it awkward. ''' From that time forth, my wife also has been marvellously well. ''' There is an extraordinary fact connected with this strange circumstance which it gives me pleasure to relate ; the street is crowded with sick people ; not only one is desirous to give a helping hand, but all seem to forget their ailments in their interest to help others. '"Can it be, that this immense charitable influence spreads itself from one source into the hearts of all ? '"I am, &c,, " ' (Signed), Chateau Villard.' " " ' Paris, August, 1867." " More than one half of the columns of the Petit Journal, a paper of the largest circulation in Paris, was occupied for several days the following September with Jacob's past and present history. One of the editors of that journal made the Zouave's acquaintance at the camp at Chalons in August 1866, where his fame created as much excitement as it subse- quently did in Paris, and the editor vouched for a wonderful cure of a long standing complaint effected for a woman who was a servant in his family. The crowds that assembled daily round Jacob's tent at Chalons, obliged the officer in command to put an end lo Jacob's practice of his great and undoubted gift of heahng. The phenomenon of healing by magnetic or spiritual methods has been by no means an uncommon one in France. Many mediums less distinguished than Jacob the Zouave, but not less successful in a more limited sphere, have practised their art throughout the land with excellent results. Amongst the records of remarkable cures, it has often been questioned, how far the reports of " healing miracles," attributed to the celebrated shrine, grotto, or fountain of "Our Lady at Lourdes," may be relied on as genuine. As many of our readers may not be famiUar with the current accounts rendered of this famous spotj, we deem it in order to conclude this chapter with a brief narrative furnished from a distinguished writer, who himself visited the scene of the reputed miracles, brought away with him a small phial of the healing water, and left behind a severe ulcer which for many months had fastened on his arm, without his being able to obtain any reUef from the ordinary course of medical treatment. This gentleman who was obliged to conceal the little 70 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. specimen of the water he carried away, from the watchful eyes of the atten- dant brothers, who have the sacred place in charge, could only learn from them an account of its miraculous discovery with a mass of attendant circumstances so completely in harmony with ten thousand other legends of Catholic wonders, that he was at much pains to obtain information from somewhat more disinterested sources. These he at length arrived at, and from a young peasant who had been one of the most intimate associates of the favoured Seeress Bernadette, the discoverer of the spring, he received the following particulars. Bernadette was the invalid child of a very poor couple, Soubiroux by name, who lived on the outskirts of the town of Lourdes, a small place but little known till recently, in the Upper Pyrenees. Marguerite, the peasant friend of this family, seemed to imply, that little Bernadette was subject to fits, and on the whole, was what the Scotch country folks would call a Httle " daft," or at the most, not quite as bright as ordinary children. With a view of promoting a more rugged condition of health, this little one was permitted to wander round the neighbouring heights, and follow the simple occupation of sheep tending. One day as the child was wandering with some of her other companions on the banks of the river Gave, having lingered behind them to bathe her feet in the clear stream, she was amazed to find herself breathed upon by a sweet wind, although at that time there seemed to be no air stirring. Presently a sense of deep awe fell upon her, and as her companion to whom she confided her experience, informed the narrator, a white angel all radiant and glorious with a halo around her head, and shining white garments, appeared before her, bidding her not to be afraid. When the angel disappeared, the little Seeress hastened to rejoin her companions, and at their suggestion returned to the spot, hoping they too might see the glorious vision. The girl Marguerite, seemed to imply that no one in that neighbourhood believed much that this child said, hence they were neither surprised nor dis- appointed that no shining white lady appeared to them. It was added, that no one would ever have had faith in these visions although httle Bernadette repeatedly averred that she continued to see them, until she one day came home and reported, that the white angel had conducted her to a grotto in the rocks, and there made her bathe her feet in a cold spring, and that then she went on her way Hghter and stronger than she had ever been in her life. This tale induced her protectors, some poor peasants who had the charge of her, to repair with her to the grotto, when one of their number who had a paralyzed hand dipped it into the spring, to try if he too could feel how cold it was. On withdrawing it, great was his astonishment to find that he could use his hand and that in all respects it was entirely restored. Others following the peasant's example, flocked to the newly-discovered spring and each experienced immediate relief of whatever ailment possessed them. Why follow up the narrative farther ? The peasants of Lourdes when separately and cautiously questioned, all unite in confirming the above story in all its general features ; all moreover have marvels to relate of the hundreds, and some insist, thousands^ of miraculous cures that have been effected by these wonder-working waters. But who may describe the elaborations and embeUishments that the Brothers of Lourdes report of the sacred spring ? For there are Brothers there now, and they not only have charge of the sacred waters, but of litde Bernadette likewise, and very good care they take of her — so much so, The Cure D'Ars NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 71 that she is never seen nor can she be enquired of by the profane, only by select members of Holy Mother Church, and faithful votaries of — not the white angel any longer, but " Our Lady of Lourdes " even " the Blessed Virgin herself," through whose miraculous inspiration — " her adopted child," the Saint in embryo, Bernadette, was also miraculously guided to the sacred grotto, &c. From this plain narrative of plain facts, the reader is at liberty to draw his own conclusions as we venture to draw ours. If he happen to be a good Catholic, little Bernadette's angelic visitor will of course be the impersonation of " the Blessed Virgin," and the chances are ten to one but he or she will give a donation towards the erection of a magnificent church and a full staff of priests and attendant church dignitaries, whose duty it will ultimately become to absorb the healing spring for the sole use and benefit of the said church, of " Our Lady of Lourdes." If these pages be scanned by medical eyes of the " Lankaster " and " Forbes Winslow " type, the child's visions will be bosh ! the water's magnetic properties " trash," and the cures — all the effects of that most wonderful of all healers — "imagination." To any Spiritualist readers comment is unnecessary. White angels leading poor mortals to benefi- cent discoveries are not so rare amongst us as to create wonder or disbe- lief All we may have to regret is, that little Bernadette and her angel visitants have not an opportunity to manipulate the heaUng waters of Lourdes without the aid of a band of highly interested " Brothers." CHAPTER X. SPIRITUALISM IN FRANCE (CONTINUED). Phenomenal and Experimental Manifestations. We presume our readers are sufficiently informed of the modus operandi of Spiritual manifestations, to be aware that their production is due either to the spontaneous action of spirits, or to their evocation through the modern circle. Some instances of the former mode we have already cited, and hundreds more could be described did space permit. M. Alphonse Cahagnet has recorded numerous cases of apparitions, stone- throwing, hauntings, visions, prophetic and warning dreams, &c.,all occurring spontaneously, in this century, in his appendix to the first volume of " Secrets of the Life to Come." The Baron de Guldenstubbe has made a still more voluminous collection of modern facts in his invaluable work entitled Pneumatologie Positive. Some of these have been detailed by Mr, R. D. Owen, in his " Footfalls," and others again are mentioned in Wm. Howitt's magnificent work " The History of the Supernatural." From a large collection of kindred narratives we select the following as an illustra- tion of the beneficent character of spirit influence in respect to spontaneous healing. As the case was fully reported in the Revtie Spirite of 1877, ^^ 72 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. take advantage of a translation made by Dr. Carter Blake for one of the London Spiritual Journals, which reads as follows : — " M. Dauzac had both his legs broken by a heavily laden cart passing over them. The doctors in consultation declared amputation necessary, so shattered were the limbs. M. Dauzac's son, who is a medium, retired from the sick room, and prayed fervently that advice might be given him from the spirit world, and in particular that a good spirit, known to him as Dr. Demeure, might be sent to help his father. The following words were then written through his hand :— ' Do not consent to the ampu- tation, your father will recover ; he will be able to walk and attend to his affairs again. I will mesmerise him spiritually, and give him strength to bear the operation, which I will perform myself; after much suffering he will be delivered from this affliction.' "The doctors came, but pronounced against amputation as useless to save the patient's life. He was in a high state of fever, and already doomed. They replaced the bandages and left the house. Immediately Demeure, aided by a band of spirits, began his operations. M. Dauzac says — " 'I was placed in a position in which I could not have held myself without iron supports ; I then felt a hand rubbing me so hard that I cried out ; everything seemed to be unwound and displaced ; I believed that I was suffering from cramp, for my son had invoked the beneficent spirit unknown to me. In about ten minutes, when I was quite exhausted with pain and fatigue, I was allowed to rest a little ; and what ease I felt ! Ten minutes later I exclaimed, '' There it is again ! It is in the other leg ! Everything is being undone." The watchers declared nothing had happened; the operation was repeated five times on each leg, at mtervals of ten mmutes ; after that I slept the whole night. "The following morning the son consulted his spirit-friends, and Dr. Demeure declared that bones, tendons, veins, and fibres had all been duly laid in proper order, and that the cure would be effected. The legs would be slightly shorter than before, but the patient would not be lame, though he would sometimes suffer pain. A dan- gerous crisis followed, consequent on the extraction by the doctors of a portion of detached bone ; nevertheless, young M. Dauzac, encouraged by the assurance of his spirit guides, would not give up hopes of his father's recovery. One evening he was told, ' To-morrow he will begin to mend, and will steadily 'improve until restored to health.' The next morning the doctor inquired of a neighbour, before entering the house, whether M. Dauzac were dead. ' No, he is better,' was the reply. ' I am astonished," said the doctor, 'this change must be the precursor of death.' A fort- night later he told his patient, ' You may now get up ; but be careful, for only one in a thousand could have lived through this : whether this cure be of God or the devil I do not know, but there is something in it which I cannot understand.' M. Dauzac replied, ' You only see in disease a disorganisation of matter ; when you have learned the part played by the soul and the perispnt m the physiology of man, and the relations between spirit and matter, this fact will be no longer a mystery to you, and you will make many more remarkable cures.' The doctor had nothing to reply, except that M. Dauzac would certainly never walk again. He went on crutches for a fortnight, and was then able to dispense with them altogether. " The record from which the above is somewhat condensed is signed by M. Dauzac, his son, and thirteen other persons, and is dated Naujean par Brame, Gironde, January i8th, 1877, and is published in the June number of the R&vw Spirite." As professional mediumship is Httle practised in France except when patronage is bestowed upon visitors of that class from other countries, we do not feel at liberty to name the various media through whom the members of private circles have the opportunity of witnessing phenomena, still we have personal evidence of the fact, that hundreds of circles are held in Paris and various parts of France, at which phenomena both of physical and mental types are produced in great abundance. There can be no doubt that the first well marked impulse which experimental SpirituaUsm received through the invocatory processes of the circle, in France, as in many other countries of Europe, was due to the visit of Mr. D. D. Home, the celebrated, non-professional, physical medium NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 73 and subsequently to the large influx of professional mediums who found in France an excellent field for the demonstration of their peculiar gifts. Of Mr. Home's stances it would be superfluous to write, he himself having related them in two volumes pubHshed at different periods of his career, and his many admiring friends having sufficiently described the marvels of which they were witnesses in numerous magazine and news- paper articles. Mr. Home's manifestations were given in France almost exclusively to personages of rank or those distinguished by literary fame. He was a guest of royalty, the nobility, and persons of the highest position. During his residence in Paris, under the Imperial regime, he was a frequent and ever welconje visitor at the Court of the late Emperor, Louis Napoleon. A record of the manifestations produced through his mediumship was kept by command of the Empress, and frequently read to her favoured friends. Amongst these memoranda is one which went the round of the papers at the time of its occurrence, hence there can be no impropriety in alluding to it now. It stated that on one occasion a sianee was held at the Tuileries, when none were present save the Emperor, the Empress, the Duchess de Montebello, and Mr. D. D. Home. On the table were placed pen, ink, and paper, and presently a spirit hand was seen, which dipped the pen in the ink and deliberately wrote the name of the first Napoleon, in a perfectly facsimile of that illustrious monarch's handwriting. The Emperor asked if he might be permitted to kiss this wonderful hand, when it instantly rose to his lips, subsequently passing to those of the Empress, and Mr. Home. The Emperor carefully preserved this precious autograph, and inscribed with it a memorandum to the effect, that the hand was warm, soft, and resembled exactly that of his great predecessor and uncle. From personal knowledge of Mr. Home, the author is able to testify that his powers were most unique, and his mode of exhibiting them clear, candid, and unaffected. None but the most wilfully blind or prejudiced observer could attach the idea of fraud or deception to Mr. Home. The author has been present in brilliantly lighted salons, when the spirits have impelled Mr. Home to take burning coals in his hand, and lay his head upon a blazing fire without the slightest injury to the tissues of the skin or hair; when his body was elongated several times, from five to eight inches beyond his usual height without the least perceptible motion on Mr. Home's part ; when he was floated in the air above the heads of all present ; also, when delightful strains of music were played on an accordion untouched by human hands. These, together with loud rappings, spirit music, motions of heavy bodies, entrancement, speaking in various languages, the apparition of many hands, in a word every form of spiritual manifestation exhibited through other media, have all been produced through Mr. Home, without the equivocal conditions of darkness, cabinets, or the smallest show of deception, or desire to evade any proposed test. It is no wonder that the phenomena abundantly produced, and freely given under such circum- stances, should have created an immense sensation in the circles of privileged witnesses and excited a corresponding amount of bitterness and antagonism amongst the enemies of Spiritualism, especially those who were not favoured with an entree to the scene of the marvels. Thus it was, that certain disreputable members of the press, scribblers 74 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. whose speciality it was to pander to the lowest appetites of the vulgar, and slander those whose positions were beyond their reach, began to pelt Mr. Home and his friends with the scurrility peculiar to their calling. Disgraceful lampoons were directed against him, and libellous charges freely circulated. The total absence of justice which marks all judicial proceedings in which Spiritualists are concerned, deterred Mr. Home from attempting to seek redress for these harassing attacks, meantime their effect was confined to those who wished them to be true, Mr. Home's personal friends being too well satisfied of his work to be affected by scurrility or slander. Another efficient labourer in the spiritual vineyards of France, was Mr. RoUin Squire, a young American gentleman, now an eminent lawyer in Boston, who visited Europe about i860, and passed some months on the Continent. Mr. Squire was a physical medium endowed with an extra- ordinary amount of the power which enables spirits to lift immense weights, and perform feats of strength impossible to a giant, much less to a fragile youth like the medium. The young American soon became highly popular, and as he never received any payment beyond the pleasure he felt in obliging those who feted him, his motives were of course, placed beyond suspicion of self- interest. In 1865 the work of experimental Spiritualism was greatly aided by the introduction of the celebrated American mediums, the Davenport Brothers, who were induced to visit Paris at the instance of Mr. Samuel Guppy, a wealthy English gentleman, devoted to the study of Spiritualism and its phenomena. During their stay in Paris, the Davenports were called upon to give a specimen of their peculiar power in presence of the Emperor of the French. Mr. Benjamin Coleman, a steady adherent of the Spiritual cause in England, furnished the following account of this seance for the London Spiritual Magazine : — THE BROTHERS DAVENPORT AND THE EMPEROR OF THE FRENCH. '' The French special correspondent of the Star announced that the Davenports had ' performed at St. Cloud in the presence of the Emperor, Empress, Prince Imperial, and all the Court ! ' The facts of their visit I have from one who was pre- sent, and they are as follows : — " On the arrival of the Davenports at St. Cloud, accompanied by their confrere, Mr. Wm. Fay, they found to their surprise that all the preliminary arrangements had been made for the dark circle. Two strong common chairs were placed in the salon, and the fires had been put out to secure the necessary condition of complete darkness. The cabinet being erected in the presence of the Imperial party, under the closest scrutiny, the exhibition commenced ; as it proceeded, the Emperor showed that he was not only intensely interested, by repeated ejaculations of ' How extraordinary ! ' 'How wonderful ! ' but he readily comphed with every condition, and insisted upon perfect order being kept. Two persons who were laughing and making sceptical remarks, were reproved, and reminded by him that if they felt no interest in the exhibition they might find more amusement in the billiard room. The Marquis la Grange having entered the cabinet with the Davenports, he extended his arms, and was fast bound to each of the brothers in the usual way. The instant the doors were closed the noise and confusion which was heard within the cabinet surprised the Imperial party extremely ; when the doors were thrown open and the Marquis was seen with his cravat removed, a bell stuck in his waistcoat, the violin and guitar fan- tastically arranged about his person, and the tambourine upon his head, the Emperor threw himself back in his chair and laughed heartily at the grotesque appearance of the helpless and somewhat frightened Marquis, who on his part seriously and emphatically assured the company that the brothers had not moved a muscle. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 75 " During the dark circle the Emperor and Empress frequently exclaimed, ' A hand is touching me.' A watch being held b}^ the Emperor in the palm of his hand, it was at his request given to the Empress, and upon her asking that it might be taken to the Prince Imperial it was instantly conveyed a distance of 60 feet to the young Prince, who threw it from him exclaiming, ' It was so hot, he could not hold it.' " When Mr. Fay's hands were tightly bound behind his back, the Emperor gave his seal to impress the wax with which the knots on Mr. Fay's wrists were secured. In an instant Mr. Fay's coat was whisked from his back, and was seen flying through the air. The Emperor satisfying himself that the cords and seal were still intact upon Mr. Fay's wrists, he exclaimed again and again, ' Most wonderful ! most extraordinary ! ' '■ At the close of the seance the Imperial party asked many questions, the Emperor saying he was not surprised at the excitement which such an extraordinary exhibition created in a large assembly. It was, he thought, imprudent to attempt to show such phenomena to many persons at one time, who could not test for themselves their reality. After many expressions of their entire satisfaction the Imperial party with- drew at half-past one in the morning, and the Davenport party sat down to a sumptuous supper which had been provided for them at the palace. '' On the following day the Emperor marked his further appreciation of the exhibi- tion by sending to the Davenport party an unusually munificent gift for their services. "At the Davenports' suggestion the Emperor sent for M. Houdin, who exhibited his imitations, and without any comment being made by the Emperor, he was dismissed and paid the usual fee of 500 francs, and his expenses." Since the advent of the Davenports in Paris, many celebrated American and English mediums, such as Messrs. Chas. Foster, Henry Slade, Heme, Williams, Eglinton, Miss Fowler, Miss Nichol, Miss Cook, and others, both in a professional and private capacity have visited Paris and the principal cities of France, and stimulated investigation by their remarkable medial powers. xA.s there is very little variety in the demonstrations of clairvoyant or physical force mediumship and the public for years past has been fairly surfeited with magazine and journalistic accounts of seances, half a dozen of which will exemplify thousands, we forbear to offer the reader any detailed description of the phenomena produced through the various parties above named. Suffice it to say, they have collectively demonstrated beyond a peradventure to many thousands of believers, the solemn affirmative of the question, " if a man die shall he live again ? " There are a few incidents which break the monotony of ordinary circle representations, of which the following examples may QOt prove unacceptable. In the Gazette de France of 1855, we find a curious anecdote related by the Count de La Resie, Author of Traitt des Sciences Occultes concerning the mode in which the celebrated violinist Urham, received his charming morceau entitled Audition — (hearing). The Count says : — " Urham was a very pious man, and addicted to devotion ; he divided his life betwixt music and prayer. He had composed a melody to the charming words of the poet Reboul — ' Angel at the Cradle of the Sick Infant,' which is, as we know, his chef-d'-oeuvre. Urham after composing this was walking in the Bois de Boulogne. He was alone in a narrow glade, plunged into profound thought. All at once, he heard in the air a sound which greatly agitated him, and lifting up his head, he beheld a light without form and precision. To the sound which had so startled him succeeded another which was continuous, It was an air commenced — there was no doubt of it, and a voice sang the words of ' The Angel and the Infant,' but to an air totally different to the one he had composed. It was more simple and touching than his own. The melody acquired body in developing itself. Giving an attentive ear, he not only distinguished the air, but also an accompaniment with the accords of an .^olian harp. Astonished, and at the same time seized with a deep sadness at this celestial inspiration, he fell into a kind of ecstasy, and distinctly heard a voice which said to him : — ' Dear Urham, write down what I have sung.' He hurried home in a 76 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. state of mind not to be described, and noted down the air which he had heard with the greatest facility : for the notes, he said, scored themselves on the paper. He pub- lished his inspirations, which he named Audition, as we have said, and it is a chif d'ceuvre of grace, simplicity, and delicious harmony. It is a similar case to that of the Devil's Sonata, of Tartini, except that it was in a dream that Tartini received it, and that the spirit, the more to strike his attention, had assumed a legendary form of a demon, for assuredly the sonata has nothing diabolic about it, but, on the contrary, is a very good composition for the time." The author, being deeply interested in the progress of musical art, and learning that the following remarkable incident had occurred in the experi- ence of one of her most intimate musical acquaintances, took much pains during a visit to Paris to ascertain the exact circumstances connected with it. It was stated by M. C. S. Bach that he had sent the account of his rela- tive's experiences to Le Grand Journal, which gave the narrative in terms of which the following is a translation, furnished by Mr. B. Coleman, of England : — " On the 4th of May, 1866, M. Leon Bach, of No. 3, Rue Castellane, great grandson of the celebrated Sebastian Bach, purchased a spinette of antique fashion admirably carved. After carefully examining it, he discovered on an interior board an inscription stating that it was made in Rome in 1564, He passed part of the day contemplating his precious spinette — he thought of it as he went to sleep, and it is no wonder that he had the following dream : — He saw a man stand at his bedside, who had a long beard ; shoes rounded at the toe, and large bows at the instep ; large full breeches, a doublet with slashed sleeves, stiff collar, and a hat with pointed crown and broad brim. This person bowed to M. Bach, and spoke as follows : — ' The spinette that you possess belonged to me. It frequently served me to entertain my master. King Henry III. When he was very young he composed an air with words, which he was fond of singing, and which I frequently played to him. This air and these words he composed in memory of a young lady that he once met with in a hunt, and of whom he became deeply enamoured. They took her away, and it is said that she was poisoned, and that the King was deeply distressed at the circumstance. Whenever he was sad he hummed this song ; and then, to divert his mind, I played on my spinette a sara- band of my composition, which he much loved. Thus I came to confound together these two pieces, for I was continually playing them one after the other.' " Then the man of the dream approached the spinette, and played a few notes, and sung the air with such expression, that M. Bach awoke in tears. He lit a candle, noticed the hour — two o'clock — and again fell asleep. Now it was, that the extra- ordmary scene took place. In the morning, on awaking, M. Bach was no little surprised to find on his bed a page of music covered with very fine writing and notes quite microscopic. It was with difficulty that he could decipher them by the aid of his eyeglass, for he is very near-sighted. " He then tried the air on the spinette. The song, the words, and the saraband were exactly as the person of the dream had represented them. Now M. Bach is no somnambulist ; has never written a verse in his life, and is a complete stranger to the rules of prosody. " Here are the three couplets as we have copied them from the MS. : — " Une jour pendant une chasse lointaine, Je aper9us pour la premiere fois. Je croyois voir un ange dans la plaine Lors je devins le plus heureux des roys ! " Je donnerois certes tout mon royaume Pour la revoir encor un seul instant ; Pres d'elle assis dessous un humble chaume Pour sentir mon cceur battre en I'admirant. " Triste et cloistree, oh ! ma pauvre belle, Fut loin de moy pendant ses derniers jours. EUe ne sent plus sa peine cruelle ; Icy bas, helas ! je souffre toujours. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 77 " In this plaintive song, as well as in the joyous saraband which follows, the musical orthography is not less archaic than the literary orthography. The notes are of a form different from those of the present day. The basse, is written in one key and the song in another. M. Bach has obliged me by playing to me these two pieces, which have a melody simple, naive, and penetrating. "The Journal de VEto He S3.y 5 that Henry III. had a great passion for Marie de Cleves, the Marchioness d'Isles, who died in the flower of her age in a convent, the 15th of October, 1574. Was she 'la pauvre belle triste et cloistree,' who is mentioned in these verses ? The same journal says that an ItaUan musician, named Baltazarini, went to France at that epoch, and became one of the favourites of the King. Did not the spinette belong to Baltazarini? Was it not the spirit of Baltazarini who wrote the song and the saraband." The necessity of passing on to other scenes compels us to limit the closing notices of this chapter to two or three extracts, for which we are indebted to the columns of the journal once so admirably conducted by the late M. Pierart, La Revue Spiritualiste :— " Paragraph i. M. Debray writes us from Noce (Orne) that Spiritualism in the experimental mode is making rapid progress. There are, he says, several circles held, at one of which — Mdlle. Hermione P being the medium — direct writing is obtained from' spirits who address each of the company by name, and write in small but almost perfectly finished characters, resembling copper-plate. " Paragraph 2. At the trial of Jean Lamenire, for forgery, the Judge gave sentence against the prisoner, but our friends at the Bordelaise circle, on the previous night had spelled out the exact words in which the sentence was given, and the number of years of the conviction. Our medium Catalina N was present with us ; could the Judge have read our minds ? " (Signed) Dr. J. Vernay. " Paragraph 3. Our old friend Jobard writes from Metz — ' I cautiously sounded my host as to whether there was any table talking there.' ' Certainly,' was the answer. ' Metz is a second Paris for novelties ; we have here several Nobles, Professors, and other celebrities, who are so unfortunate as to be believers and practisers too of the table talking art.' Even old pupils of the Ecole Polytechnic, finished mathematicians, and others, who have never before shown signs of mental derangement, turn religious, and put up prayers to God to send them — what would you think ?—good spirits to be their guardian angels ! What are we coming to next ? Some of us may be heard by- and-bye talking of the Spirit land instead of Heaven or Hell, and inviting our deceased ancestors, to a dejeuner a la fourchette." Continuing to write of the Metz Spiritualists M. Jobard says : — "A collection of communications received by these Metz Spiritualists is just pub- lished. The tract I speak of will give you an elevated idea of the mediums here. " Spiritualism has made an opening at Havre, the medium being a young American lady. In Belgium we have two excellent mediums now — one French, the other English. "Among other interesting particulars in the correspondence of the Revue is the following : — " ' Phenomena of an eminently spiritual order have been long observed in the religious community of La Souterraine (Creuse). Madame Dubourg, the venerable superior, while at prayer, is often raised above a foot from her Prie Dieu, remaining suspended in an ecstatic state and unconscious for several minutes. She was raised in this way one day while receiving the communion, to the dismay of the priest, who could not, for his agitation, finish the celebration of the office. Other facts of a similar character take place in this establishment, but they are kept concealed as much as possible, so as not to attract a crowd of curious people to the place. " At la Chatre (Indre), in the Ursuline community, one of the sisters was disabled with hip disease, in which there was dislocation from disorganization of the joint. She has long been laid up, under the care of Dr. Vergne and others. Given up by them, the lady superior had recourse to prayer. A neuvaine was commenced ; on the last nine days, the patient, worn out with her long suffering and prolonged recumbent position, was carried on her couch into the chapel. There, in the presence of the 78 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. statue of St. Joseph, and after prayer, the superior cried out in an inspired tone — ' In the name of St. Joseph, arise and walk ! ' The sister arose and walked perfectly healed. " Dr. Vergne first denied the possibility ; but upon seeing that the girl is well, he attributes the necessary healing and reduction to— emotion /"' As an evidence of the wide popularity to which the subject of Spiritualism had attained in 1869, M. Pierart quotes in one of his numbers of that year, an article from the Siede, a leading paper, but one which had hitherto contained many notices inimical to Spiritualism. The writer, M. Eugene Bonnemere, says : — " Although Somnambuhsm has been a hundred times annihilated by the Academy of Medicine, it is more alive than ever in Paris : in the midst of all the lights of the age it continues, right or wrong, to excite the multitude. Protean in its forms, infinite in its manifestations, if you put it out of the door, it knocks at the window ; if that be not opened it knocks on the ceiling, on the walls ; it raps on the table at which you innocently seat yourselves to dine or for a game of whist. If you close your ears to its sounds, it grows excited, strikes the table, whirls it about in a giddy maze, lifts up its feet and proceeds to talk through mediumship, as the dumb talk with their fingers. " You have all known the rage for table-turning. At one time, we ceased to ask after each other's health, but asked how your table was. 'Thank you, mine turns beautifully ; and how goes yours on ? ' Everything turned ; hats and the heads in them. One was led almost to believe that a circle of passengers being formed round the mainmast of a ship of great tonnage, and a magnetic chain thus established, they might make the vessel spin round till it disappeared in the depth of the ocean, as a gimlet disappears in a deal board. The Church interfered ; it caused its thunders to roar, declaring that it was Satan himself who thus raised the devil in the tables, and having formerly forbade the world to turn, it now forbade the faithful to turn tables, hats, brains, or ships of huge size. But Satan held his own. The sovereign of the nether world passed into the new one, and that is the reason that America sends us mediums : beginning so gloriously with the famous Home, and ending with the brothers Davenport. One remembers with what a frenzy every one precipitated him- self in pursuit of mediums. Every one wished to have one of his own ; and when you introduced a young man into society, you did not say, ' He is a good waltzer ; ' but ' He is a medium.' Official science has killed and buried this Somnambulism a score of times ; but it must have done it very badly, for there it is as alive as ever, only christened afresh with a new name." Amongst the many distinguished adherents of Spiritualism in the depart- ment of French Hterature, none have more bravely asserted and defended their belief than Camille Flammarion, the celebrated astronomer, Messrs. Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, and Victorien Sardou, the renowned writer of French comedy. M. Sardou has been himself a medium of sin- gularly happy endowments. Some years ago he executed a number of curious drawings, purporting to represent scenes in the spirit world, amongst which was an exquisite and complex work of art, entitled " The House of Mozart." As the author is the fortunate possessor of a fine etching taken from this drawing, we may venture to say it is at once a design of singular imagina- tion and extraordinary execution. The ^ot(f ensetnble of the sketch suggests the face of a highly-ornamented organ, every marking, to the finest hair- lines, being made up of musical notes, bars, and staves. The effect of the whole is striking, original, and highly suggestive. As a writer of comedy, the following tribute, copied from the Cornhill Magazine, will give an idea of Sardou's ability, and the mode in which his successes have been aided by invisible dramatists : — " M. Victorien Sardou is known to many as the drawing medium, through whom were produced, many years back, the Maison de Mozart, and several other curious NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 79 drawings. Since that time he has become, perhaps, the most successful and celebrated of modern dramatists in Paris. The court of France is at this moment entertaining a distinguished company at Compiegne, where a series of theatrical representations are given, and the first play selected, entitled La Familk Benoiton, has been written by the hand of Sardou. He has publicly announced that not a line of his comedy is the genuine production of his own brain, but, on the contrary, he asserts that it is entirely the inspiration of the spirits of departed dramatic celebrities, with whom he is in constant communication. If this were not true, why should he deprive himself of the honour of being the author of the most successful of modern dramas, as La Famille Benoiton has proved to be ? " We cannot draw this chapter to a better close than by quoting the noble words of M. Jaubert, Vice-President of the Civil Tribunal of Carcassonne, in a letter written by him to the editor of La Verite, in reference to some scandalous slurs cast upon Spiritualism by the Bishop of Barcelona. The letter is dated September, 1864, and reads as follows : — " I have lately read the charge of the new Bishop of Barcelona on Spiritualism which contains amongst others the following passage : — ' It is thus that we come to create a religion which, renewing the wild errors and aberrations of paganism, threatens to conduct Society — greedy of marvels — to madness, extravagance, and a filthy obscenity.' " If I had the honour of speaking with the Bishop of Barcelona I would say to him, ' Monseigneur, permit me to cast a glance backward, perhaps it may carry us a step forward. Spiritualism has launched itself into space ; it has passed the sea on a ray of light. France has received its cradle. I have had the honour to assist at some of its first rockings. I have seen it lisp by aid of that instrument known under the name of the table parlante. It has spelt through the planchette; to-day it writes with a pen which is at your service and mine. It writes sufficiently well, though it has not been spared chastisement ; the child has been mocked, buffeted, covered with mud, crowned with thorns. The hatred shown it, has produced a monstrous alhance, such an one as history has not recorded the like. The Materialists and the "servants of God " are leagued together, the first to disdain or deny it, the second to affirm it, but only to spit in its face, and endeavour to strangle it. " ' And the child has nevertheless suffered no injury. It plants one foot on each world. It embraces in its little arms, France and her colonies ; Belgium, England, Russia, Germany, Italy, and even Spain. It has its organs multiplied in Paris, Bordeaux, Lyons ; Antwerp, Turin. The domestic hearth serves as a sure and impene- trable asylum to myriads of its friends. " ' In your turn, Monseigneur, enter the lists against it ; teach all the world that Spiritualism is only a resume of filthy obscenity. Ah ! without doubt, the evil is immense. Descend with us, Monseigneur, into the reformatories and the prisons. The picture of our miseries is vast ; 4,990 accused before our courts of assize ; 176,456 prisoners judged by our correctional tribunals ; 3,767 suicides, and every year the same gulf is opened to receive its fresh prey. Spain undoubtedly, in this point of view, has no reason to envy us. Behold the filthy obscenity ! but believe me, Monseigneur, the Spiritualists are not there ! '' Do you wish to learn the cause of all these evils ? I will tell you. I do not draw my proofs from anger nor from vain declamation, I find them in the general account of the administration of our criminal justice. Misery, reverse of fortune, loss of employ, losses at play, sorrow caused by the ingratitude and misconduct of children, adulteries, jealousy, debauch, drunkenness, idleness, disgust of life, immoderate desire of riches, political exaltations, love of power, ambition, religious terrors. Do you comprehend, Monseigneur ? This leprosy which dooms us. Spiritualism destroys ; it does what you have not been able to do. You know very well that Spiritualism is not a religion, — it leaves all religions just where they were. The great mission of the dead is to prove that they are not dead ; that they live and influence our actions. The spirit is certain of its future life ; it expects from the Eternal that justice due to all his works ; it combats his enemies not by crushing them but by raising and loving them. It does not sacrifice to the kingdom of this world. Anxious to discharge all its duties, it gives to Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and to God the things which are God's. It conspires not in the dark, but in full daylight, and for the happiness of mankind. " ' Reassure yourself, Monseigneur of Barcelona ; reassure your friends in France ! In your turn become a Spiritualist ! Affirm to your people that man never dies, that 8o NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. his immortality is proved, not by books, but by material and tangible facts, of which everyone can convince himself; that anon, and our houses of correction and our prisons will disappear ; suicide will be erased from our mortuary tables, and nobly borne, the calamities of earth shall no longer produce madness. But if you prefer it, Monseigneur, persist in your insults, strive not to teach as to forget then, the treasures of love and charity." ' CHAPTER XI. SPIRITUALISM IN FRANCE (CONCLUDED). The two extraordinary narratives we are now about to present to our readers are furnished by A. J. Riko, Esq., of the Hague, and although their substance is to be found in several printed records, Mr. Riko's plain unvarnished descriptions correspond so closely with the accounts given orally to the Author by an eye-witness, that we prefer to transcribe — as far as possible — our kind correspondent's own words. The first case is headed : — " TAe Phenomena at the Abbey of Prunois-som-Ablis — Arrondisement of Rambouillet — France. " One of the most interesting records extant on the subject of Spirit power is an account of the disturbances which took place at the above-named Roman Catholic Abbey in the year 1835. On October 1st at eight o'clock in the, evening, a great many stones were thrown at the window of the Presbytery. Several witnesses were present, and numbers of others were called by the priest to watch the proceedings. The stones were thrown by no visible agency, and struck the window panes in showers, without breaking any. " October 2nd. A box filled with dirt and refuse, was found in the place usually kept for the bread, which was thrown on the ground close by. Stones were thrown aU that day at intervals, but though the windows were struck in showers, no glass was broken. " October 3rd. At three in the afternoon, all the doors of the Abbey being shut, a quantity of ashes — salad plants, spoons, coals, and rotten fruit — fell about the floor and furniture of the Presbytery, also in several of the other rooms, every door and window being shut. The showers continued falling till ten o'clock, when one of the witnesses, — the Cure of Alix, said jokingly, that money would have been more welcome than stones. As he spoke, every one in the room was pelted with ' Hards.' " October 4th. The fire irons — brought without noise from the Priest's private room — were found in a locked chest. Pieces of butter and knives used in the larder, were found in another locked chest. As the Abbe was passing out to go to service, a pot full of sand was tossed into a pail of water before his eyes. No disturbance took place in the church, but when he returned, chalk from the walls and ceiling, coals, ashes, fruit, bread, and all sorts of objects were thrown hither and thither through the house, and the stones were flung from outside against the windows all day. " October 6th. — The bedclothes in the Priest's room, and those of several of the inmates, were pierced with round holes, and the pieces taken out were found in distant closed rooms. " October 7th. — At nine o'clock the servant maid retired to her room, but found everything displaced, and the furniture in such disorder that she swooned from fear. That night one of the Priest's relatives whom he requested to pass the night in the same room with liim, called out in great terror, that his legs were being tied together. When the Priest succeeded in getting a hght, he found the young man thrown into a corner, with his legs tightly bound together above the knees with a cord nine feet in length. "October 14:th. — The cook found pieces of coal, sweepings, dust and filth in every article she was using to prepare the meals, in fact she could not put a dish or saucer out ^ WlLLIAM HOWITT NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 8i of hei' hand, but what it was instantly but noiselessly filled with rubbish. The same was found in all the pots and kettles. Watchers stationed in all directions failed to find any visible agent. "October 17th. — Stones were thrown in larger numbers and more incessantly than ever. Fires were lighted on hearths in empty rooms. The young man before mentioned — the priest's relation — had his cap taken from his head and it was afterwards found in a chimney in a distant part of the house. "October 18. — A violent noise being heard in the Presbytery, the party who rushed to the spot found a ball of paper containing a large quantity of gunpowder. The ball was tied with a string, and a hole was cut in the wrapping ; close by was a match. Soon after this the disturbances increased, and the garden walks were found indented with marks of huge claws, not belonging to any known animal. Heavy blows and sounds as of tramping feet were now heard during the night in the corridors. As a large number of watchers were stationed day and night within and without the Abbey, it soon transpired that similar disturbances had occurred several times within the last thirty years, though never with such violence as now. " October 22nd. — The cook was pelted with stones, coal, &c., wherever she went — nothing struck her, though objects fell in showers around her. The Priest, on going to bed, found the wood which had been laid in the grate ready for lighting, taken out and all arranged on his bed in the form of a cross. In the morning, his clothes were found stufied tightly in a large pitcher full of water — and this, though the door was locked inside, and the window made fast." Mr. Riko follows up this narrative with a long list of witnesses' names, many of whom were persons of high respectability, holding official situa- tions. It may be added, that in the course of three months, the disturbances died out, though no cause could ever be discovered for their occurrence. M. Riko's next narrative is the well-known case of the dis- turbances at Cideville — Seine Inferieure, France. The author is in possession of two French newspapers containing reports of the trial in this celebrated case. To save the necessity of a fresh translation, we will again resort to M. Riko's concise narrative. He says : — "In the spring of the year 1849, the Curate of Cideville having called to see one of his parishioners who was sick and confined to his bed, found at the bedside a man who had the reputation in the neighbourhood of being a "Sorcerer," and was, besides, a fellow of very bad character. As a friend of the Curate's had been attended by him and died under his hands — as the neighbours alleged, by evil practices — the Curate di-ove him from the house and warned him not to return again. Soon after this "the Sorcerer" was arrested for some mal-practice, and thrown into prison. There he uttered fierce menaces against the Curate, and swore he would be revenged, ascribing his misfortunes wholly to the priest's enmity. Shortly after this, two boys, who were placed with the Curate for education, happening to be at an auction, met there Thorel, a shepherd, who was a friend, and said to be "a disciple" and follower of the Sorcerer. Thorel had been heard to swear he would have revenge for his master's imprisonment. When he met the children at the auction, he approached them, and it was affirmed at the trial, laid his hands on one of their heads, and muttered words they did not understand. " Immediately after their return to the Abbey, violent poundings were heard on the walls, floors, ceilings, passages, and in every part of the building. Sometimes these blows were so heavy as to make the inhabitants fear the walls would be demolished. Numbers of persons passing near the Abbey stopped to inquire what was the matter. After these blows had been given for several days, and crowds surrounded the building day and night, it was found that the thumpings would keep time to music, and beat correctly the measure of any tune asked for. Windows that could not be reached from without were smashed, crockery broken, and furniture hurled "hither and thither with frightful force. " Officers of justice were sent for, and police stationed everywhere. The furniture flew around them and piled up into curious forms before their very eyes. Some of the heavy furniture seemed to be lifted about as lightly as feathers. Other things were broken into the smallest fragments, and no one was hurt except the Mayor of Cideville, who on one occasion was struck so heavily on the leg, that he feared the bone was broken. As he sat down, he felt a soft hand stroking and patting the affected part, and the pain ceased instantly. 6 82 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. "Several of the visitors had their dresses pulled, and their arms and faces gently- patted. M. de Mirville, who often attended these wUd weird scenes, could hold quite intelligent conversations with the invisible knockers, and get them to answer, or to move any object he wished. All this was done in the light, and in the presence of crowds of witnesses. Meantime the child who had been touched by the shepherd, was always complaining of the shadow of a man following him, and several others described a hand of a grey colour, which seemed to be busy amongst the moving objects. Very often visitors would ask the knockers to spell out their names, ages, and anything they wished to say ; and they afterwards testified in court, the intelligence thus rendered was always correct. In course of time, wreaths of smoke were seen winding through the rooms, and disappearing as suddenly as they came. Footsteps, and the rustling of silk were the next sounds heard. One day, the child touched by Thorel screamed out that there v*as a black hand coming down the chimney, — no one saw it but the boy, but all in the room heard a smart smack, and the child's face remained red for a long time afterwards. Some one suggested that pointed irons should be driven into the walls at every place where the blows were heard. A large jDarty proceeded to follow this advice. With every blow a stab was made. Immediately upon this, flames burst out from every hole, together with such thick smoke, that the witnesses were obliged to open doors and windows to get rid of it, and desist from all farther attempts of the kind. All the party there assembled testified that they distinctly heard the word ' pardon ' cried out in a piteous voice. " That night all was quiet. The next day, Thorel came to the door of the Presbytery, and asked to see the priest. " His behaviour was humble, his words embarrassed ; he tried to hide with his hat bleeding wounds in his face. The child saw him and cried, " That is the man who perse- cutes me." The priest asked him from whence came the wounds he had in his face. Thorel refused to answer, but the priest forced him to fall on his knees and ask pardon, which he at length did ; at the same moment he tried to get hold of the child's frock, in which he succeeded. The priest made him promise to go to the Mayor, and there Thorel in presence of many witnesses fell again on his knees and asked for pardon, trying at the same time to touch the priest, who, in order to defend himself, struck the sheiAerd with his stick. Thorel on a subsequent occasion confessed that his master the sorcerer was the cause of the disturbances at the Abbey, and that he hated the priest because he had chased him away from a patient ; but he offered to dehver the Abbey of all further dis- turbances if the priest would offer him something. This was refused, and then Thorel prosecuted the priest for the strokes he had given him in legitimate self-defence. It was on that trial that aU the mysterious phenomena at the Abbey of Cideville became generally known, and was commented on in the newspapers of the day. The priest was acquitted and Thorel condemned in all the costs. This verdict was given after the learned discourses of the well-known advocates Vaquier du Traversain for the priest, and Fontaine for Thorel. The latter did not appeal. Several other strange feats performed by Thorel were brought to light during the trial. He predicted several things which happened as he had announced ; he walked through the field with another witness, and said to him, " Every time I shall strike my basket with my fist you will fall," and every time Thorel did so, the witness was seized at the throat by an invisible grip, and thrown to the ground. Others declared that when passing Thorel on the road, they were persecuted by stone throwing, the stones flying towards them from diff'erent directions by invisible power, but falling directly before their feet without injuring them. The phenomena began on November 26th, 1850, and ended on February 15th, 1851, at which date the Bishop ordered the two children to be taken away from the Abbey. In the judicial verdict passed against Thorel, the judge in summing up says that ' the, cause of the extraordinary facts ivhich occurred at the Abbey of Cideville, as very clearly stated by the testimony of all the ivitnesses heard, has remained unknown.' " It was very remarkable to note the uniformity with which the witnesses related the diff'erent strange phenomena observed by them. Some testified with all the simplicity of peasants, others with all the exactness of highly educated people ; but the facts were given by all as identical. Though some of the sceptical newspapers declared all the twenty- five witnesses to be hallucinated, etc., not one had the courage to indicate them as hars ; their good faith was acknowledged by all. "The phenomena at the Abbey of Cideville stand as one of the best established incidents of the work of an invisible world in our days." Narrative translated from the Journal Indre-ei-Loire, dated July 29th, 1882 :— " A shower of stones has fallen at intervals during the past sixty days, upon the farm- house of Lioniere, near Montbazon (Indre-et-Loire). This farm-house, situated in an open field, is prominent to view, and is approached by two broad thoroughfares, over which persons cannot travel without being se^n. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. Z^ " The stones begin to fall at dusk, and the shower continues until morning. They seem to come from all directions, and their collision leaves deep indentations upon the walls and doors of the farm-house. No one has ever been wounded by them, however, and the intention seems to frighten rather than to seriously injure. " The rural guards and the armed police of Montbazon have for many nights watched in ambush around the Lioniere without discovering any marauders. The stones fell around them in the darkness in their hiding-places. One of the police, who was crouched upon the roof of the house, was hit upon the shoulder, though very lightly. Companies have been organised, with the assistance of the farm hands and neighbours, to thoroughly beat about and search the place. Nearly a hundred persons gathered at the farm and scoured it in every direction. Nothing suspicious has been seen. During the going and coming, the projectiles have not ceased to whistle by the ears of the investigators. " The dwellers at the farmhouse of Fontaines, commune of Rouziers, have been awakened almost every night by singular and varied noises. Sometimes it is like the noise of a heavily-laden wagon. The jolting of the wheels in the ruts of the road, the clash of the iron tires against the stony obstructions are heard, as also the prolonged cracking of the whip. The walls of the house tremble as by the passing of some heavy vehicle. " Sometimes dancing music is heard — sound of a violin accompanied with stamping, like the noise made by iron-nailed boots striking against the floor in beating-time. Again a noise is heard in the well, hke the fall of some heavy body, that on striking the surface of the water chops and spatters it about with a splashing sound, but no one has ever been able to discover the cause of these noises. In vain have the fai'm people, reinforced by their neighbours, placed themselves upon the watch at night — in vain have they used every strategy they can invent ; they are still ignorant of the cause of their annoyance, The manager, M. Ronnin, who has been but a short time in this part of the country assures us that he used to hear the same noises and sounds in Vendee." " An extraordinary medium has been found at Agen. She is quite young — is a Mdlle. Honorine — and when the spiritualistic phenomena occur through her, her liands are tied, together with a handkerchief and she is placed upon a bed. Cards are placed under her pillow, or are pinned to the bed-curtains, and mental questions are asked, with the desire that the answer shall appear on said cards ; and there indeed the correct answer is found. The ' Marseillaise ' is then drummed out, the ' Dame Angot,' the ' Chant clu Depart,' the ^Retreat' — in fact, anything called for. The sound of the horses' feet as the cavalry retreat, is perfectly represented. Musical instruments are played upon and carried about the room. An officer of the army placed a ribbon under the pillow, and invisible fingers tied a knot in it. Money laid outside of a closed tobacco-box was found within it. The bed was drawn across the room, or, as the child-medium said, ' ^as, pushed.' The direct writing obtained, manifested familiarity with the pen, whereas Honorine can scarcely write or read." — Revue Spirite, December, 1881. " The Revue Spirite has from time to time made mention of a young girl residing at Saint Marie-de-Campan, in the province of Bagneres-de-Bigorre, among the Pyrenees mountains, under whose mediumship wonderful phenomena have taken place, and which have attracted the attention of the French secular press generally." M. Aviragnet, writing to the Editor of the Revue Spirite, says : — "On the 21st of January, 1882, the young gu-1 from Ste Marie-de-Campan, Marie Alexandrine Torne, of whom we have spoken, and who has created a sensation in all this Department, came to me and is with me still. She reads a book without looking at it ; she plays dominoes with her eyes closed. I had hardly formed an idea of tying her hands behind her back than they were tied and untied by invisible hands. I desked to have something brought to me, and yesterday evening I was presented with a flower that does not grow in our gardens. They (the spirits) have manufactured for me a .flower of a beautifiil red colour, and to-day after dinner, the young girl came to my bedside with a flower in her hand, which immediately disappeared." It must be stated that M. Aviragnet was a chronic invaUd and had been confined to a bed of sickness for a long time. The general impression of tliis excellent gentleman's friends was, that the medium — quite a young child — who came of her own accord to the house, was sent to redeem a promise of M. Aviragnet's spirit guides that they would cure him. M. Aviragnet continues his narrative as follows : — " Marie Alexandrine returned to her home shortly after the phenomena that I have detailed to you. At the end of some six days, having received the order to come to me 84 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. again for an urgent necessity, she set out before day, quite uneasy, fearing to be too late for the operation, which consisted in removing other parasites from my ear. On Sunday morning she came to my bed, and a hand was formed in her presence. She made passes over my heart, and infused a mild fluid into my ear and over my eyes. ... On Monday the medium was forbidden to eat anything. She was ordered to fast for three days and two nights, and she gave herself up to prayer. I was told not to be uneasy, that the child would be in no danger ; that the angels would sustain her. I would fain have shared tha sufferings of the child, but lovid knocks upon the table made by the friends said ' No.' " " On Tuesday evening at seven o'clock the child was permitted to take refreshment. Vaporous forms became manifest all around her. These forms approached me, took me by the hand, patted my face and my breast." Without following out M. Aviragnet's diary any farther, it is enough to say he was raised from the sick bed he had so long and hopelessly occupied, and testified before a number of officials in his district that without the aid of medicines, or any other means than the presence of this extraordinary medium and her attendant spirits, he was entirely restored to health. In the issue of Za Revue Spirite, of December, 1880, is the following ; — "A new writing medium has appeared in France, in the Gironde, who attracts no little attention from the fact that, of himself, he knows nothing about the art of penman- ship. Our friend and brother in the faith does not know how to write, and in opposition to his parents in 1867 he was incited to write mediumistically through the spirits two letters which contain forty-eight lines, have many antique words, and combination of words that must awaken interest, while their sentiments are lofty and impressive. It seems also that he now speaks as if learned, and has the gift of healing." " A new i-apping medium has also been discovered in the village of Chauvirey, Cote d'Or — a little girl about thirteen years of age. The noise begins when she retires to bed ; sometimes it is like a scratching with the finger naUs ; then it increases in volume till it resembles the sound of revolving mill-wheels. The clergy and gendarmes have, as usual, been called in, but cannot account for the phenomenon — which continues when the feet and hands of the girl are held fast, and which has now for about two months and a half defied the scrutiny of all her visitors." In the same journal, of date 1877, we find a large number of cases describing various kinds of phenomenal mediumship. Amongst them the following : — " The spirits of the people of the ' barricades ' seem not to forget in the spirit world those exciting scenes by which, some of them at least, passed beyond the confines of our sphere ; indeed it is in France, above all other coimtries with which we are acquainted, stone-throwing by the invisibles is most common. Some years ago in Paris, near the Pantheon, as reported by the police, a house was pelted with stones, some of which were so large that the doors and windows, secured by heavy timbers, were demolished. The missiles descended with mathematical precision, but whence could not be discovered by the police, though stationed on housetops in the immediate neighbourhood. Quite a number of like cases I have since recorded. Now, M. Par jade writes that at Omet (Haute Garonne), at the house of M. Vimeney, the same phenomena have been taking place ; the furniture, crockery, cooking utensils were tumbled into confusion, whUe stones flew in every direction. ' These facts,' says the writer, ' have excited all the inhabitants of the canton, but no one but the Spiritualists could discover the cause ; they are identical with those of Tabanac in the year 1872.' " ' The Spiritualists of this region,' he continues, ' evoked the spirits and reasoned with them ; the daughter of M. Vimeney was restored to health, and the phenomena dis- appeared. ' " In confirmation of the above, Mons. Vimeney wrote himself to the editor of the Revue, and says : ' By our appeal and by prayer, these spirits came to us and promised to listen to our counsel ; my daughter has become perfectly well, and the disturbances have ceased completely.' The letter is signed by sixteen witnesses." The Revue of October, 1880, gives an interesting account of still another physical medium, quite celebrated in the Spiritualist circles of Paris, but Icnown only under the sobriquet of Amelie. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 85 The phenomena obtained in the presence of this young girl are very varied. The following is a brief narrative of one seance detailed by Dr. G. L. Ditson, the foreign correspondent of the American Banner of Light. This gentleman says : — " In June, 1875, at a stance, the spii'its caused the musical box to play, stopping and starting it at will. When visiting a Mme. X., a letter which should have been sent to Lim some time previous, but had been lying in a receptacle with many others, was brought by the invisibles and placed in his hands "One evening," he says, "Amelie's hands were drawn behind her and fastened very firmly with a cord, whose ends were carried down and ' fixed solidly ' to the leg of her chair. The spirits also essayed a duo on the harmonica and tambour, and themselves gave the signal for applause produced seemingly by the hands of little children. The fol- lowing was given by direct writing : ' We love these stances, and will do our best to materialize.' In the next month flowers were broiight by the spirits — xme masse des 2^etites plantes— blue flowers, moist, with fresh earth. Their name however had been forgotten. Amelie took a pencil and wrote : ' Forget me not.' " Dr. Ditson adds the two following narratives, translated from the Revue Spirite of the same date as above : — "Of Mme. Sardou' in lethargic sleep and her voyage in space I must quote a little. Mme. S., sixty-two years of age, made the following statement to the narrator : — " ' About twelve years since I was in the hospital at Lyons, and died, to all appearances, and so remained for twenty -four hours. I had no consciousness of what was passing around me. During this time I went up, up, till the earth appeared blue, like the heavens, and then was out of sight. On I went. Finally I arrived in front of a magnificent chapel, gleaming with indescribable beauty, and in which there was a light of surpassing brilliancy. Attempting to enter, I was warned that I was not yet pure enough ; that I had to return to the earth and suffer much, and then I should be admitted to this I^aradise. I then went on without knowing what impelled me, till I looked upon a vast, arid, boundless field. There I saw a prodigious quantity of persons all bent towards the ground, which they were scratching vigorously with their two hands, as a dog scratches with his paws. I saw here priests of all ranks ; people well and ill-dressed. I was astonished. Looking on one side I saw une dame blonde ; it was a very beautiful woman. There is none upon earth like her. She did not speak to me, so I said : ' Madame, what is this, all this multitude?' 'My child,' she replied, 'this is Purgatory.' 'Where then is heU ? ' I asked. ' There is none,' was the reply ; ' it is here that penitence is made. See, my child, these had upon the earth all they needed, but were never satisfied, wanting always more, and never doing any good to their fellows. Look yonder,' she said, extending her arm, ' see those down there, down there afar off ; it is two thousand years they are there, two thousand years ! ' When some dissent was expressed to Mme. Sardou respecting her vision, she replied with much vivacity, ' Oh ! hut I saw it ! ' (She had once before made a like asservation when some doubt had been expressed.) " These earnest replies," continues the writer, " prove abundantly the sincerity of her recital. When the spirit of Mme. Sardou returned to her body and awoke it, she found her friends were about enwrapping it for its final disposition. She screamed and drew many persons about her bed. To these she related her voyage and experience, and she was assured that she had seen the Virgin Mary. She suffers, as was predicted by the angel ; and, not unmindful of her vision, she says sadly, when she sees a person in affluence with- holding a farthing from the needy, 'See still another who is going to scratch the earth.' .... " Suffice it to say, the woman was persecuted for her faith, and even threatened by the clergy ; and her house, No. 54, Rue de la Heine, was named the ' Folle Bretonne.' " Within the last two or three years a young person who will quite compare with any of the most powerful physical mediums of America or London, has come prominently before the Spiritual investigators of Paris, by name " Madame Babelin." From a large number of reports of seances with this medium, we select the account given by Dr. G. L. Ditson, who writes as follows to the Banner of Lights of October, 1882 : — " Last week, at a Mme. BabeKn's, where I was introduced by the courtesy of Mme. Leymarie, I was very satisfactorily entertained. About fifteen of us, joining hands, 86 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. encircled Mme. B., the medium, who, at her own request, was tied to her chair, ' Universal scepticism,' she said, 'requiring it.' The medium's hands were intricately bound, and as intricately secured to the chair, the ends of the cord being taken by one of the circle, which formed itself around the table, the medium sitting near it. On the table were two musical boxes, three fans, a hand-bell, a child's whistle, a toy barking-dog, and a box of lozenges. On taking seats the candle was extinguished, the circle interlinked little fingers and sang. After a little, there were vai-ious manifestations, more than one always occuri-ing at the same time ; detonations in, on, or under the table ; overhead were heard, moving hither and thither, the musical boxes, the bell, whistle, and barking toy, all in rhythm ; the air was kept in motion by the fans, which were also rubbed against our heads ; our faces, shoulders, and hands were patted with soft warm hands. " Each one was also favoured with a large bunch of wild flowers. A bunch of them was forcibly arranged beneath my vest, and later some were put between my neck and collar. Phosphoric lights were then seen floating about, coming sometimes, as it were, from under the table and going into the laps of diiSferent parties. There was also seemingly an attempt to iUumine a figure that stood close to me — at least, some drab drapery was near me, enveloping apparently a human form. This efl"ort was unsuccessful. A small part of a human figure was however, quite well developed, and there was a per- sistence in showing me this. At first I thought that only a simple ball of phosphoric light was before me, but as its action was peculiar, I regarded it attentively, and saw unmistakable fingers of two hands that were manipulating the phosphoric ball, taking light from it to show themselves. When I expressed aloud to my neighbour the fact, the two hands separated, one going to the right of the circle, the other to the left — an unmistakable proof that they pertained to no human being. In response to a mental request, some fingers pressed my forehead, and on asking the question mentally, if a loved deceased cousin were present, my cheek was several times smoothed as if by the gentle hand of aSection. "At a sitting last evening, at Mme. Huet's, where I had been presented by M. Lacroix, we had the levitation of a heavy table, and those unmistakable raps which are so very characteristic of the Fox sisters' circles. "At a seance at Mme. Chavee's we were also, through raps, favoured with several interesting messages from the ' promised land.' Though a stranger to almost every one present, I received, in English, the first communication. My brother, who died in Natchez in 1833, not only spelled out his entire name, but expressed ys relationship to and super- vision of my son, in such terms as to make it a moral certainty that no other than my brother William was actually giving the welcome sentences that at this moment so unex- pectedly were being recorded by one (a French lady) who knew nothing of the meanuig of the words she penned. " Paris, France, Oct. 6th, 1882. G. L. Ditson." Dr. Ditson subsequently adds the following translation from the Revue Spirite : — " Dr. Chazarain resolved, in order to add to the weight of his testimony, to hold his future seances at his own home, with his family and friends, Madame Babelin still being the medium. "At his first home seance, fourteen in the circle, on the light being extinguished the medium described, in mmute detail, the appearance of a spirit, whose wife and daughter were present ; he had also been weU known to Dr. Chazarain. " ' The medium,' says he, ' passed then into the trance ; after some rapping sounds, hands touched and pressed us all, the objects placed upon the table floated over our heads, the musical instruments sounding ; fresh flowers were laid upon our hands. There were no flowers in the house before the seance. Then phosphorescent hands gradually developed themselves as I previously described. The form of a child was then seen upon the table, visible by its own light. It moved about, kissed its hands to us all ; we heard the kisses; and as the fingers left contact with the lips they emitted a soft light and whitish vapour. The child disappeared and reappeared three times, but was visible altogether for about ten minutes. When I afterwards showed the photograph of my httle Marie all recognised it as that of the cluld-spirit. Then by my side, appeared the well-defined face of my mother, deceased at seventy- five. " ' I felt then a large hand laid upon my head ; in reply to the question, mentally put. Are you he of whom I am thinking ? the hand gave three taps. My thoughts were of my deceased brother, Then came sounds of the pencil ; these ceasing, we lighted up and NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 87 foimd a little writing on two pieces of paper ; on one, " My beloved sisters, I am with you and shall be your guardian. — Marie." On the other, " Seek not thy brother on earth ; he is in God's immensity. I am happy to be able to be with you. — Paul." This was the naine of my brother. He was in the Army of Reserve in 1870. After the battle of Chateauneuf no news ever came from him ; his name was neither in the returns of killed nor of prisoners. A spontaneous communication had been received by me through another medium, to the effect that he had been killed for plunder by some dissolute men of his company. I had thereupon written to the authorities to know how I might direct inquiries among the men of his company at that period. As if in reference to my letter came another scrap of paper, " No vengeance, expiation." I received this as a lesson on which I pondered.' " In an article written for a scientific paper of Paris, by M. Chas. Hue, editor of the journal — Prosperite Agricole et Commerciale — there is a long account of a mediumistic couple who have lately excited much interest in Parisian circles. M. and Mdme. d'Alesi are the parties alluded to, and M. Hue says, writing of the husband : — "The medium is a young Hungarian of brUliant education, but who, through many misfortunes, has been reduced to poverty. His young and estimable wife shares with him heroically his ill-starred existence, and when under magnetic influence, proves to be also a clairvoyant, able to see and describe spirits and give good medical advice. M. Hugo d'Alesi sits at a table in a room so dark that it is almost impossible to see the figure he is sketching. He seems to pay but little attention to what he is doing, executing rapidly, and in the space of a few minutes accomplishes a remarkable work — the head of a woman, for instance — wonderful in respect to finesse d'execution. He has thus in pastel produced a striking likeness of Pius IX., and in aquarelle a magnificent landscape. The latter bore the signature of Diaz, a fine artist, who passed away about a year since. Most of M. d'Alesi's productions bear the initials T. D., which, on account of the general style, are attributable to Donato, who contributed in his day largely to the resurrection of sculpture in Italy." It was in the summer of 1882, that the author, then a guest of Madame La Duchesse de Pomar (Countess of Caithness), at Paris, had the pleasure of witnessing M. d'Alesi's remarkable mediumship as an instru- ment for artistic spirits. The seance was given in a brilliantly lighted library, in presence of about half a dozen persons, including the Due and Duchesse de Pomar, the author, Dr. Britten, Madame and Mdlle. Leymarie. M. d'Alesi occupied about ten minutes in sketching a large crayon drawing. During the performance he was engaged in lively conversation with the company who stood around him, and the author and her friends can all testify that he scarcely ever glanced at his drawing, his hands appearing to move with lightning speed and occasionally with some violent, though unknown impulse, without any apparent volition of his own. When the drawing was finished, M. d'Alesi gracefully presented it to the noble mistress of the mansion, the Duchesse de Pomar. On first regarding this sketch, nothing was discoverable but a mass of uncouth crayon scratches without apparently a vestige of design. On placing the paper against a distant wall, the rude scratches resolved themselves into a fine and spirited likeness of the beautiful Marie Stuart, whom the Duchesse de Pomar not only resembles strikingly in person, but who has been reported through numerous sources to be the "guardian angel" of the Duchesse. This lady had, during the day, expressed to the author her earnest wish that the gracious Scottish Queen would favour her with her likeness through the artistic medium who was that evening expected ; but this wish was entirely unknown to M. d'Alesi, neither could he have had the slightest idea of the spiritual relations existing between the Duchesse and her much-loved spirit guide. 88 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. During a recent visit to Paris, the author had the privilege of inspecting the fine collection of spirit drawings, and the splendid library, possessed by the "Psychological Society of Paris," and arranged at their rooms by M. and Madame Leymarie, with the taste and elegance peculiar to the French character. Many of the drawings are as wonderful for their artistic excellence as for their occult mode of production. Amongst these are the drawings of M. d'Alesi, and those of M. Fabre, formerly a black- smith, who, with a marvellous gift for spiritual art, and a romantic history too long to cite in this place, has produced, amongst other marvels of spirit influence, a splendid copy of Raphael's famous Bataille de Cofistantifi, the original of which is now in the Vatican. When it is remembered that the Medium, " Fabre," was an uneducated blacksmith, who, by no possi- bility could ever have seen Raphael's magnificent picture, and that the work executed by this man is an almost faultless copy of the grand original, something of its real merit may be conceived. The author has only to add, that, through the courtesy of M. Leymarie, one of M. d'Alesi's wonderful crayon sketches, and a fine photograph of Fabre's Bataille de Constajitin, now grace the walls of the study where these lines are being penned. The mention of M. Leymarie's name, calls for some notice of the invaluable services rendered to the cause of Spiritual progress in France by that gentleman and his noble wife. Although the author by no means sympathises with the teachings of Allan Kardec on the subject of Re- incarnation, no candid mind can deny the vast ability displayed by that eminent man, nor the wide-spread influence which his writings have diffused over the Continent of Europe. The Society founded by M. Kardec, and the paper which he so ably conducted, entitled La Revue Spirite, are now in charge of M. Leymarie, and it must be owned, that the followers of Allan Kardec have been fortu- nate in securing such a successor to their great leader in his immense work. M. Leymarie is a man of the most undoubted probity and sincerity. Pure minded, unselfish, wholly devoted to his work of propagandism and the best interests of what he believes to be right, a nobler or more self- sacrificing evangelist, does not live than M. Leymarie, and even the most determined opponents of his behef, among whom the author is one, find their hands stayed, when they would raise them to strike a blow at what they deem to be a stupendous fallacy for fear of wounding the admirable spirit of the Re-incarnationist leader M. Leymarie. It is wortliy of note that this noble gentleman has himself been called upon to suffer martyrdom in the trial for fraud, in producing spirit photographs, by a certain pair of conspirators, one of whom claimed to be a medium for spirit photography. Writing on the subiect of his trial before its conclusion, the Hon. J. L. L. O'Sullivan, formerly U. S. Consul at Madrid, who was in Paris at the time, and warmly interested in Mons. Leymarie, gives the following version of the case to the London Spiritualist : — " My previous letters will have prepared your readers for a very mockery of justice in the trial of our friend Leymarie before the Seventh Chamber of Correctional Police, but not for the length to which it has been carried. Leymarie, that devoted and conscientious Spiritualist, successor of Allan Kardec as editor of La Revue Spirite, and managing director of the Societe cles Sinrites, has been sentenced to a year's imprisonment. Leymarie's crime is the prominence of his position in Spiritualism, his zeal, activity, and the useful- ness of his labours, to the cause to which his soul is devoted. Happily, imprisonment for opinion and its propagation is too common in France, and has been the penalty paid by too many honourable men for the social crime of having a conscience and a fearless spirit, to involve any real disgrace, NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 89 " Lachaud's speech in his defence was one of the most brilliant and convincing efforts of forensic pleading I have ever listened to. His thesis was simple. Leymarie was a sincere zealot, deceived by Buguet, and honestly parading in his Review, as proofs of his doctrine and cause, the spirit photographs produced in hundreds of which the resemblance was recognised and attested by the sitters. He had no complicity with Buguet, and it is impossible to condemn him on the authority of such a manifest liar saying that he had. This, I repeat, was a simple thing, and it was developed in a most masterly manner by Lachaud. He exhibited the man living an honest and honourable life, labouring from rise of sun till the hours of sleep, on a mere pittance of income ; blameless in all domestic relations as husband and father, working off a balance of debt resting on him from an old failure in business which had grown solely out of a too confiding character, and having, with aid from his family, nearly accomplished it, and allowing himself no personal indulgence till he should have fully done so. He then showed how he had not accepted Buguet's spirit photographs until he had put them and him through a series of test investigations with the aid of persons the most competent to detect fraud or error. He referred to the hundreds of letters of attestation of resemblances from sovereign princes down to the humbler strata of society, all of which continued to confirm Leymarie in his sincere conviction of the genuineness of Buguet's pictures. And finally he pro- duced a series of letters from Buguet himself the very day before his arrest, on the face of which stood manifest, as though in large print, Leymarie's perfect good faith and total absence of any sort of complicity in deception. And yet with all this, Leymarie is sentenced for swindling, to the penalty of a year's imprisonment ! It is enough to take one's breath away in the telling of it. I have never known anything more monstrous in the worst courts of injustice." [The prosecution was initiated by the police, and none of Buguet's customers or dupes appeared in support of it. M. Leymarie had recently written some severe criticisms on the Archbishop of Toulouse, and many think this had something to do with his persecution. The general opinion amongst Spirituahsts is, that some of the earlier photographs pro- duced by Buguet were genuine, but a desire to make money prompted him to commence the manufacture of fictitious ones. — Ed. Spiritualist^ Our review of French Spiritualism must end here. Mediums still continue to arise, and in accordance with the spirit of European conserva- tism thousands of eminent persons become indoctrinated with the truths of Spiritualism, who still shrink from giving their testimony to the world. La Revue Spirife, like the American Banner of Light and Religio Philosophical Journal, holds its own against all comers, and many another journal appears and disappears on the hemisphere of public opinion, when its work is demanded and its mission is fulfilled. There are at this present time of writing, about ten Spiritual journals published in the French language, but there are many more that have been the useful and influen- tial ephemera of the hour. It seems certain that M. Leymarie's paper, La Revue Spirite, will never go out in darkness, however much it may be eclipsed by circumstances and the force of public opinion, so long as its noble and self-sacrificing editor remains on earth to print and distribute it. The waves of human thought on the subject of Spiritualism continue to rise and fall, as it is the nature of elastic fluids to do ; but no ebb has yet set in from the shores of earth, and when it does, all things seem to predicate that it will only return with additional force, to ebb and flow between the coast lines of mortality and immortality, till time shall be no more. It may be asked why in this review of French Spiritualism we have omitted to notice the illustrious name of EHphas Levi {the Abbe Constant) and his magnificent contributions to the realm of occult literature such as the great work on Haul Magique, &c., &c. The attempts which have lately been made by many writers of eminence to draw sharp and even impassable lines of demarcation between the facts and teachings growing out of spirit communion, and the theories put forth in the name of " occul- tism " render it impossible for the author to combine the two subjects in this work. 90 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. Through teachings received also from individuals, who of all others, merited the name of occult adepts, the author has been led to consider that Occultism is in theory the revealment of that which was hidden, or the occult powers and potencies in the animate and inanimate realms of being ; whilst Spiritualism is the demonstration of the same occult forces mani- fested from a super-mundane state of existence. The modern writers who have assumed for themselves the name of " Occultists," are not contented with this position. Their interpretation of what and who "Spirits" are, and what is the work which this volume has been written to record, will be briefly described in our section on India ; it must suffice for the present to say, that the author's definitions would appear in connection with the theories of " the Occultists," as worthless and shadowy as the spirits of whom we write appear, in comparison with the inconceivably high presences, or " 144th embodiments" of exalted "egos," of whom the "Occultists" write. Eliphas Levi, without soaring into the extraordinary flights of revelation assumed to be authoritative by these same modern " Occultists " still occupies ground that takes no direct part with the spontaneous develop- ments of spirit power manifested in the modern outpouring, nor yet with the simple formulas of the spirit circle. The day will come when true Occultism and "common place Spiritual- ism," will be recognized as being built upon earth and founded in man himself; leading to heaven, and culminating in the personaHty of angels. In that day. when theories shall be scientifically formulated from facts, and facts will not be scornfully derided to suit theories, Eliphas Levi and many another profound writer, whose words are now "Kabbala" to the multitude, will be recognized as the prophets of the grand Spiritual science of the future. Till then, it would be unphilosophical to give " that which is holy to the dogs." CHAPTER XII. SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN. One of the chief difficulties which besets a writer who would attempt to give a faithful account of the Spiritual movement in Great Britain, is the very "embarrassment of riches" with which the subject is loaded, Spiritualistic experiences having become so universal that the author's requisition for evidence is met by an influx of responses which make the task of selection too herculean for the purposes of this volume. Still another subject of perplexity arises from the characteristic reserve of those with whom the phenomena of SpirituaHsm are very generally associated in this country. In America, where the sources of popular power are derived from the people, SpirituaHsm may be found more generally represented by the rank and file of Society, than among the wealthier classes. J,^ The Countess of Caithness duchesse de pomar . NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 91 In Europe on the contrary, where the governing power centres in an hereditary and influential aristocracy, the people derive their opinions as they do their laws and fashions, from the ruling classes, and it is chiefly amongst these that Spirituahsm flourishes. It is not claimed that this wonderful movement is confined to any class in either hemisphere. It will be found in the hut, and the palace ; in the mining camp, and the halls of legislation. Nevertheless its greatest prevalence is ever with the ruling power. Since then Spiritualism in Europe takes the deepest hold of those whose rank and station induces them to shrink from subjecting their personal experiences to pubHc criticism, the author too frequently becomes the recipient of valuable testimony which cannot be made available, because the communicants insist on withholding their true names and addresses. " Miss E." and " Mrs. D. ; " " Captain A." and " My Lord X. Y. Z." are impersonals, whom no one puts any confidence in. There is no satisfaction in offering such shadowy testimony to those who are asked to believe in occurrences of an unprecedented and often startling character. Resolving as we have done, not to demand credence for phenomenal incidents upon any testimony open to the charge of unreliability, we feel obliged to relegate an immense mass of interesting matter of this kind to the obscurity which unauthorised statements justly incur. It would seem as if the Spiritual founders of the great outpouring had been experimenting with the forces at their command, and seeking to open up communion with the two worlds in many places, before they succeeded in systematizing the direct telegraphy which has marked the American phase of the movement. Those who have perused the author's work entitled, " Modern American Spiritualism," will remember that a statement to this effect was made through the lips of an entranced subject magnetized by Dr. Hallock, of New York. If this hypothesis is admitted, it would account for the great prevalence of Spiritual phenomena which has marked this century in many parts of the world, prior to the disturbances in America known as " The Rochester Knockings." Thus it seems that Scientific Spirits, desirous of founding a Spiritual telegraph between the mortal and immortal realms of being, were instrumental in promoting the phenomena which occurred at Epworth Parsonage, in the family of John Wesley, and influencing Mesmer and his followers in the discovery of the life principle of magnetism. The wonderful " preaching epidemic in Sweden ; " the obsessions in Morzine; the uprising of Mormonism, Shakerism, the gift of tongues amongst the Irvingites, and the great revivals in Ireland, are all unmistakable fruits of the same mighty contagion of Spiritual forces, surging through an age specially prepared for their reception. Let any candid student of Pneumatology peruse with attention the array of facts collected by Kerner in Germany, Cahagnet in France, and Mrs. Catherine Crowe in her English work, "The Night Side of Nature." Let him remember that these eminent writers contributed their vast mass of Spiritualistic testimony in advance of the " Rochester Knockings," and it will be impossible to evade the conclusion, that the widely separated lines of evidence all diverge from one powerful spiritual centre. Commending to our readers' attention Howitt's exhaustive " History of the Supernatural," the writings of R. D. Owen, Thomas Brevior, Kerner, Ennemoser, and Mrs. Catherine Crowe, for a wealth of detail not attainable in this work, we shall 92 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. now lay before our readers some of those striking spiritual way marks which antedate the introduction of the modern spiritual telegraph in England. The first representative case of spontaneous spiritual manifestations we select, occurred in the village of Sandford near Tiverton in Devonshire, about the year 1812. Quoting from an account published by the author some years ago, the particulars of which were derived partly from the newspaper reports of the time, but chiefly from the testimony of Mrs. Floyd — the author's venerable mother who was an eye witness of the scenes described, we call attention to the following details which we give in the language before published. "It was about the year 1812 when my mother, then a young single lady, went with her parents to visit friends at the town of Tiverton, Devonshire. " It was summer time, and during her first evening's residence she remarked, with surprise, the throng of private carriages which aU seemed to be passing one way, and coming forth at one special time. Upon inquiry she learned that the object of this remarkable exodus was to proceed to a village some four or five miles distant, where a number of clergymen — of whom there were many residing in the town — together with the mayor and the principal physician of the place (both personal friends of my mother's f amUy) were going to ' lay the ghost ' which had, for a long time, haunted a certain old- fashioned residence in the village of Sandford . The ' trouble ' which attached itself to this house, consisted in unaccountable noises, the ringing of bells, pattering of footsteps, lights proceeding from no human source, and other forms of preternatural disturbance. " The house had been occupied for many years past by diflerent tenants, none of whom had been able long to endure the terrors of their weird surroundings. Every effort made by the owner of the property to detect a mundane source for these annoyances had proved unavailing. At the period when my mother visited the neighbourhood, the house was tenanted by a family who had been induced to occupy it rent free, and who devoted the lower part to the business of a general shop. " The presence of this family, however, seemed to have no effect, for the disturbances were as constant as ever. Even in open day passers-by could 'hear the knocking resound- ing ' like the tap of a shoemaker's hammer.' After nightfall the timid inhabitants of the vUlage carefully avoided even the precincts of the place, whilst doctors, divines, politi- cians, and officers from the neighbouring garrison, assembled nightly to hold colloquies with the invisible tormentors. " It seems that the order of these midnight conclaves was as follows. A large wooden table was placed in the centre of the room wliich the ghosts most commonly affected. Round this the assembled company would seat themselves, and question the rapper in much the same manner as we adopt in our modern investigations. " For example : Several coins would be placed upon the table, and their number be indicated, wpon demand, and alivays correctly, by knocks. At times the number of persons present, even their ages and professions, would be correctly told by signal raps. Had the sitters of seventy years ago been instructed how to anticipate the formula of the modern spu-it circle, they could not have depicted its modus operandi more faithfully. Through the medium of certain signal raps, the sitters were always informed that the knocker was a spirit, a female, and one who had terminated an evil career by a violent death. " Now although the united wisdom of a neighbourhood famous for its learning and piety pronounced through the press the solemn verdict, that ' a tremendous imposture existed someivhere,' yet for ten years, during which the house perpetually changed inhabitants, and was the subject of unceasing examination, the said ' imposture ' was never brought to hght, nor could any mundane origin for the mysterious disturbance be detected. "The mixture of ignorance and conservatism which prevailed amongst those who investigated this subject may be judged of from the following circumstances. " Mr. Colton, a clergyman well known in the literary world as the author of ' Lacon ' and other metaphysical works, had been a constant attendant upon the ghostly seances, and finally gave it as his opinion ' that the affau" could never be cleared up on mundane grounds.' No sooner was this statement circulated, than the journals of the day inferred, that Mr. Colton must know something more of the causes than he chose to tell ; in fact, who hiew hut luhat the ivhole thing might have proceeded from him, as a clever ventriloquist ? Not until Mr. Colton's departure for a foreign land, and the continuance of the hauntings, was the theory abandoned, that he, who dared to hint at a super-mundane origin of the NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 93 mystery must himself be its source. Again, the magnates of Tiverton pitched upon a poor soldier of somewhat questionable character, who had returned from the war and was glad to share with his parents, the shelter of a place obtainable rent free, as the cause of the trouble. These wiseacres forgot that the disturbances had preceded the soldier's presence for two years ; however, in order to test the validity of their theory, they spirited him out of the village, and shipped him to a foreign land. But all was in vain. Neither the absence of the learned scholar nor the ignorant soldier affected the Sandford invisibles except — as if in mockery — to increase the force of their harassing demonstrations. "The tenants who had been found bold enough to occupy the haunted mansion at the period when my mother's family came to visit Tiverton, were a poor shopkeeper with his wife and several children. " Amongst the latter, a little girl of about ten years of age seemed to be the special theme of the ghost's malevolence. " The child often complained of an ugly old ivoman whom she could see crouching in a corner of the room, making faces at her, and who would wake her up at night, and almost scare her into fits. One day this child was found lying dead upon the hearthstone. A coroner's inquest was held, and the verdict of the jury left it doubtful whether the poor little creature had been struck by lightning, died in a fit, or by the visitation of God. One thing was certain, namely, that the child had perished in the haunted room, and that she, above all the rest of the household, had been the victim of the ghost's malignity. A calamity of such a nature was too much even for the hardihood of the present tenant. He resolved upon an immediate removal, and would have put his determination into effect, had he not been delayed by the premature confinement of his wife, whose period of trial was hastened by the tragic circumstances of her little girl's decease. " Pending the recovery of the sick woman, the physician, at whose house my mother and her family were temporary visitors, was called in to attend the woman. He was also requested to send a nurse competent to assist in such a case. Dr. Guffet, although well acquainted in his professional capacity with all the poor women of the neighbourhood, was unable to induce any one however necessitous to take service in the ' haunted house.' " Having at length obtained a suitable attendant from a long distance off, the doctor flattered himself that his patient's case was progressing favourably. He soon found how- ever that he was reckoning — in this instance at least, without his ghost — for it became evident that the stranger nurse was as much an object of the invisible's malignity as the deceased child had been. "Having been put to sleep for convenience in the room where the child had so mysteriously died, she became the target for an incessant system of persecution. She was unable to obtain rest by day or night, and one morning when Doctor Guffet was sum- moned to attend her, he found her confined to her bed, from the effects of the severe beating she had received during the night from invisible hands. Her body was com- pletely black with bruises, and these she testified before a magistrate, she had sustained from some invisible source which came and went without any known means of access to the chamber. The woman affirmed, that she felt a hand belabouring her, as if with a stone. The room was uncurtained, and the brightly shining moon made it as light as day. She testified upon oath in her examination, that no human being was in the room, nor could she discern a single creature near her. When at length her cries for help aroused the other inmates, and brought them to her room, the whole party heard a heavy bumping sound, as if something was falling off the bed, and moving of its own volition across the room, out at the door and down the stairs. The chief witness to the truth of this strange story was the doctor himself, who not only testified to the pitiable condition in which he found the poor nurse's body, but he added, ' the woman whom I sent to that house, hale, hearty, and stout, only a fortnight ago, is now an emaciated object, worn to a very shadow, and so distraught by fear that it would be murder to keep her there one hour longer.' " The next incident which I have to record of this terrible abode, occurred at the sale of furniture which ensued, the very first hour that the mother of the family became convalescent. "The auctioneer, who was related to Dr. Guffet, with whom my mother and her parents were visiting, informed them that as he was making an inventory of the goods, previous to the sale, he passed into the ' haunted chamber ' about noon, and there found an old lady rummaging a wardrobe which stood partly open near the door. Deeming it one of the members of the family, although her dress pointed her out to be a person of some distinction, he proceeded with his work for some minutes, until he heard the voice of the landlord calling to him to come to dinner. Bowing to the old lady as he passed her, he stood at the door to see if she would go first ; but as she continued her occupation without noticing him, he descended the stairs, and having taken the seat placed for him, proceeded with a courtesy peculiar to himself, to put another chair for 94 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. the lady whom he had noticed above. On being questioned why he did so, explanations followed, and the family in haste ascended the stairs to see if any hviman being could jeally be found. All was in vain. Every nook and corner was searched without result, and when the auctioneer, at request, described the appearance of the strange visitor, it was universally admitted that the description corresponded exactly to the detestable vision which had tormented the poor deceased child. "After these persons quitted the house it remained tenantless for many months. The noises could be heard for a considerable distance, and lights were seen flashing at the ^vindows at all hours of the night. " Workmen were employed to rip up the floors and pull down the walls, in the hope of discovering concealed siDrings and trap doors. All was to no purpose, however. During these researches, two windows at opposite ends of the long chamber — the principal scenes of the hauntings — were pierced by a bidlet or missile of some kind, projected with such skill, that two perfectly round holes were found in corresponding panes of glass. The wind was felt of the passing missile, and the shiver of the glass heard by the workmen, yet nothing was seen, and as the room was on the second storey, Avithout a ledge or the slightest foothold for any human being -without, it might be inferred that the haunters desired to prove that no human agency could be at work in these manifestations. At length the sounds became so frightful that neither free tenants nor workmen would enter the place by day or night. It was ultimately abandoned, fell into decay, and what remained of it was pulled down. The papers of the time were full of reports, doubtless much exaggerated. Sages and scientists were alike baffled. Magistrates blustered and threatened, and several officers of the army, who had volunteered to sit up during the night, abandoned their watch, end refused again to enter such a 'veritable Inferno.''" Remembering how many respectable witnesses testified to these facts, — how many years their continuance was a source of horror to a whole neighbourhood, and loss to the proprietor of a once splendid mansion, recollecting moreover, that one of the eye-witnesses is now living, and is a venerable lady incapable of falsehood, we have as good a right to admit this narrative into the category of historical records, as any well attested event of ancient or modern times. We now turn to another form of haunting, selected from nmnerous other cases, because some of the witnesses are still living, and holding positions of the highest resi^ectability. We refer to the unaccountable and persistent ringing of bells, which occurred in the house of Major Moor, a gentleman till lately residing at Great BeaUng, near Woodbridge. These disturbances commenced on February 2nd, 1834, and continued at intervals with more or less violence till March 27th. The phenomena consisted of incessant ringing, sometimes of two or three, and not unfrequently of a whole row of nine bells at the same time — they rang day and night ; at times when Major Moor, his servants, and friends, were facing them, when the doors were locked within, and the house was guarded without; when the wires of communication were cut, and nothing but the bells remained. The ceiling and walls were dented by the violence with which the bells were dashed against them, and despite the stringent measures taken to discover imposture or trick, this strange disturbance continued without evidence of human interference, for a period of fifty-three days. At the end of that time, it stopped as suddenly as it had originated, leaving its cause involved in impenetrable mystery. From a pamphlet published by Major Moor on this subject, entitled " Bealing Bells," also from some accounts printed in the Ipswich and other journals, we learn, that during the continuance of this persecution. Major Moor's investigations were assisted by several of his brother officers, some scientific gentlemen, and not a few clergymen who were attracted by the accounts which appeared in the papers of the day. Amongst the persons who addressed letters to Major Moor, alleging that similar phenomena had occurred in their own houses, were families in NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 95 Cambridge, Ramsgate, London, Oxford, Windsor, Ipswich, and numerous other places. Mr. Wm. Felkin, Mayor of Nottingham, and Mr. Ashwell, a gentlemen of high standing in Chesterfield, gave accounts of the mysterious bell ringings occurring at their residences. But one of the most marked cases reported by Major Moor, in addition to his own experience, was that of Lieutenant Rivers, one of the officials of Greenwich Hospital. This witness stated that he had detailed thirty-seven watchers by day and night in the attempt to detect fraud in vain. He employed a bellhanger and his assistant to cut the wires of every bell in and about his premises, and then, in the face of the men and the presence of many neighbours who had come in to witness the wonder, the entire set of bells all over the house began ringing at once, and kept up incessant peals for several hours. The bells in some of the other officers' apartments in the Hospital were rung in the same way, and when Major Moor himself visited the place, he not only received the personal testimony of a large number of witnesses, but examined carefully the locality, and was made aware of the impossibility of the ringing being effected by any human agency. The publicity which Major Moor gave to these circumstances, called forth a flood of testimony to events of a preternatural character, from various sections of the country. Then it appeared that bell-ringing was not the only form of disturbance prevailing. Hauntings not unlike in character those of the " Sandford Ghost," were reported from many quarters. The Rev. Mr. Stewart, Incumbent of Sydensterne near Fakenham, Norfolk, wrote in a letter to Major Moor : — " Our noises are of a graver character. Successions of rappings, groans, cries, sobs, heavy trampings, and thundering knocks in all the rooms and passages, have distressed us here for a period of nearly nine years, during the occupancy of my cure. They still continue, to the annoyance of my family, and the alarm of my servants. I am enabled to trace the existence of these disturbances during a period of sixty years past." Mr. Stewart said that in 1833 and 1834, his predecessors in that house opened the doors to all respectable persons who desired to satisfy their curiosity or wished to investigate the hauntings, but he adds: "Their kindness was abused, their motives misinterpreted, and even their characters maligned. We therefore," he says, " shut our doors, and they remain hermetically sealed." In closing these curious narratives it may not be amiss to give a few extracts from the records of a spirit circle which was held not long since, in which some parties present were commenting severely on the " unmean- ing character of such manifestations as bell-ringing and knocking." At this juncture one of the communicating spirits interrupted the conversation with the following pertinent questions : — " Sjiirit — Pray, sir, what do you do when you want to enter a house and find the door closed ? '' Mortal — Well ! If we really want to get in we knock or ring. " Spirit — Then, don't yciu suppose it probable that those who have been knocking and ringing in your houses for the past half century are trying to get in too ? " Mortal— 'Whj, what can spirits want to get into our houses for ? Having left the earth, it seems strange that they should want to get back to it again. " Spirit — Most of those who knock and ring in your houses have never left the earth, and would far rather get away from it than remain in it. But higher and wiser spirits wish to call the world's attention to the actual facts of spiritual existence, and the real conditions under which life beyond the grave is continued. Spirits of a very ethereal nature cannot affect material substances, and yet, in order to call the world's attention, 96 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. and waken humanity up to what they have to say, they use the methods so familiar to yourselves — thty hnock and ring ; and those who cannot do this for themselves influence the earthbound spirits, who are magnetically chained to the scenes of their earthly mis- deeds, to do this for them. " MoHal — May we regard these hauntings, then, as transpiring under the direction of superintending spiritual wisdom ? " Spirit — Everything in the univei'se outworks the conditions of the being that belong to its state, and providential wisdom avails itself of different states to convert evil into good, and evolve uses out of the worst of abuses. Ten thousand preachers on the human plane of existence could not demonstrate the fact of spiritual existence so conclusively as a spirit who rings a bell in response to a human voice, or answers a question by JcnocJcs, when no mortal is near to produce the sounds heard." Verbum sap. As a final example of hauntings, especially of that kind which subse- quently connected itself with the intelligence manifested at Spirit circles, we shall cite a history furnished to the author some years ago by a party of her personal friends, amongst whom was a gentleman of probity and scientific acumen, well remembered amongst dramatics writers and musi- cians, as Mr. Lenox Home. This gentleman being in somewhat embarrassed circumstances about the year 1829, took up his abode temporarily in apartments offered to him at a very moderate rent in an old house near Hatton Garden, long since pulled down. At the period of which we write the house was large, the rooms spacious, especially one, supposed to have been a banqueting chamber, which Mr. Home used as a music room. As all the lower chambers were either appropriated to the storing of goods, or rented to legal gentlemen as offices, there were no persons sleeping in the house except Mr. Home and a porter, who occupied a small room on the ground floor. The building had long borne the reputation of being haunted ; it was fast falling to decay, and the former occupants of Mr. Home's chambers were seldom known to remain long within the gloomy precincts. Report alleged that the place had once been the residence of Sir Christopher Hatton, and the weird reputation that attached to the antique domicile, connected itself with the magical practices attributed to his unfortunate lady. Mr. Home had tenanted these apartments some months before he was aware of the phenomena occurring within his own premises. At length he was apprised by Mr. March, a police officer with whom he was acquainted, that for several consecutive nights he and a number of persons invited to share his watch, had remarked that long after the hour when Mr. Home was accustomed to retire to rest, the great banqueting room, which he had no means of fighting up, and therefore never entered except in daylight, could be seen from the court below brilliantly illuminated. Whilst acknow- ledging that he had often been disturbed by strange noises, odd music, loud laughter, and footsteps, for which he could not account, Mr. Home — at once the most fearless and least superstitious of beings — strenuously combated the idea of the lights, and it was only when, after watching for several nights with March and his associates, he himself beheld every window of his own apartment, one that he had left closed, locked, and in total darkness, lit up as if by a multitude of gas jets, that he could be brought to befieve in the story his friends narrated to him. On several succeeding occasions the same party beheld this spectacle repeated, and whilst some of their number remained below to watch that no intruder passed out from the one entrance of the house, the others would hasten to examine the apartment, to find it enveloped in thick darkness. One of the curious features of this appearance was, the invariability with which the NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 97 lights disappeared from the eyes of the watchers below, at the moment when the apartment was opened by the searchers above. Only on one occasion was this rule reversed, and that was on a certain night in February, when a larger number of persons than usual had assembled in the court below to watch for the phantom lights. They blazed out suddenly and in fall radiance about one o'clock in the morning, when, after observing them for some five minutes, Mr. Home, Mr. March, and a nobleman whose name we are not at liberty to mention, determined to ascend the stairs and open the door of the haunted room ; and as they did so they agreed to give the signal of a whistle to those in the court below. At the moment when Mr. Home threw open the large door of the room in question, he and his companions were thunderstruck to perceive that it was full of company. One of the three observers had given the signal agreed upon of the whistle which he held in his hand, as he gazed upon the extraordinary scene that met the eye. The vast company seemed to be in the act of dancing. They represented ladies and gentlemen, arrayed, not in the Elizabethan style attributed to the Hatton period of the mansion, but in the costume of the reign of Charles the Second, and the whole air seemed to be full of waving plumes, fluttering ribbons, and sparkling jewels. The three witnesses, who subsequently compared notes with each other, and found their own observations fully corroborated by those of the others, affirmed, that the particulars of the whole scene as above related were plainly, clearly defined, in addition to which, all three declared that every one of these splendidly attired revellers wore, or appeared to wear, a mask., resembling some disgusting atiimal. Before the astounded witnesses could sufficiently collect their senses to take any action on what they saw, the lights began to pale and shimmer, the whole scene quivered, melted out slowly and gradually, as in a dissolving view, and at length, that is, in the space of a few minutes, the apartment was seemingly empty and in total darkness. The watchers below reported to those above, when at last they had sufficiently collected themselves to descend, that the lights were stationary for about five minutes after the whistle sounded, and disappeared more gradually than usual. Immediately after this vision, the house became wholly uninhabitable even to Mr. Home, and the two friends who volunteered to share his quarters with him. Heavy poundings were often heard during the day, for which no account could be given. But these were nothing to the Saturnalia which ensued as soon as darkness had set in. Tramping of feet, clashing of arms, the clinking of glasses, the crash of broken china ; all the sounds attending drunken revels, rude brawls, and even murderous fights, were heard, at times with horrible distinctness. Low moans, wails, and bitter sobs, were still more frequent, and the rushing as of blasts of winds, from unknown sources, was a frequent feature of these frightful disturbances. The witnesses, and they were many, represented their experiences to their friends only to encounter the usual sneer of incredulity and scornful derision. Two or three clergymen volunteered to offer prayers, and one zealous Catholic went through the formulae of exorcism in the possessed mansion ; but always to encounter such a storm of blows, laughter, and hideously derisive sounds, as drove them in horror from the place, a retreat in which they were shortly imitated by the tenants, who never after 7 98 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. recurred to their painful experiences without a TeeHng of deep awe, solemnity, and an earnest entreaty that their narration should not be met with the ordinary methods of rude denial, and insulting jest. Despite what he had already witnessed, Mr. Home had no knowledge of, or behef in, the reputed modern Spiritual manifestations, the spread of which, since the year 1848, he had noticed but never investigated. About the year 1853, being invited to spend the evening with some musical friends residing in Hollo way, London, Mr. Home was there introduced to Madame Albert, a French lady who was accompanied by her little daughter, a child of some eleven years of age. During the evening, the hostess proposed that they should try the the experiment of "table turning," which was at that time, the technical expression used for evoking Spiritual manifestations. Madame Albert had it seemed become developed for mediumistic powers, whilst little "Josephine," was reported to be a fine somnambulist or trance medium. When the seance was first proposed, Mr, Home laughingly alleged his entire ignorance of the subject, but at once placed himself in position at the table, under the direction of the attendant Sybils, " to see what would come of it." No sooner were the party seated, than Mdlle, Josephine seizing the pencil and paper which had been placed on the table, wrote in an incredibly short space of time, in a large bold hand, the following communication, addressed " To Mr. Lenox Home," a name which the child up to that moment had never heard. The writing was given in English, a language, it must be remembered, of which the Uttle medium was entirely ignorant. " You say you know notliing of spiritual existence or the soul's power to return to earth. Oh, my friend ! Why will you reject the light that has already dawned upon you ? In your own house, you have heard the sounds, and seen the sights, which bore witness to the presence of human spirits. Have you forgotten the phantom dancers, whom you and your companions thought wore animal masks ? Thise dancers were my cempanions in vice and wickedness. They and I lived amidst scenes of revelry too shameful to be detailed. We were associates of the frivolous roue, that occupied the throne of England, — Charles the Second,— and in the house where you found shelter, we often iised to hold such revels as demons alone could take pleasure in. When we became spirits, the base passions with which our lives on earth were animated, became so engraved upon our spirits, that all who looked upon us from a higher plane, beheld us transfigured into the semblance of the animals whose natures we partook of. Shocking as this disclosure of our true natures may be, it haply may help future generations to account for the idea of the doctrine of the transmigration of souls. Unhappily, that doctrine is not true. We might be happier as the animals whose limited instincts we represent, but oh, unhappy that we are ! we are at once the human beings we ever were, with the additional humiliation of knowing that we take to others the semblance of the lower creatures, whose passions we have imitated. Friend Horne ! Our hell is, not to pass into other states, but to live in our oivn, and by the knowledge of what we have made our- selves, to grow into higher conditions. You thought we wore masks. Alas ! We had only dropped them, and exchanged the mask of seeming for the face of reality. In the sf)irit world, all its inhabitants are known for what they are, and the soul's loves take the shape of angelic beauty, or brutish ugliness, according to the tendencies of the life within. On the night when you beheld our revels, we were obliged, by the law of our being, to go through the earthly scenes which we had taken too much delight in. On earth such revels were our heaven ; in the spheres they are our hell. Their enforced enactment was part of our penance ; but thank God ! I have seen the erroi-s of the past, and hencefor- ward I am atoning for it, and living my wasted life over again. I am on the road of progress, and even this humiliating confession will help me forward, and aid me to become stronger to save others and myself from the vices, the memories of which still cling to me like a garment. Farewell ! My earthly mission is done ; there will be no more haunting spirits in the old house in Hatton Garden." The signature to this singular communication was, " One who was known in the day and time of Charles Stuart as the finest woman of her age — Lady Castlemaine." D.DuNGLAS Home NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 99 Appended to Mr. Home's manuscript, entrusted to the author some years ago with a view of publication, were the following words : — " Great Heaven ! If this be indeed a true picture of the life hereafter, should it not make us afraid of doing wrong ? But, above all, what a wicked and soul-destroying delu- sion has been the clerical farce of salvation by a vicarious atonement ! — L. H." CHAPTER Xni. EARLY SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONTINUED). Representative Cases Considered. The circumstances of the following narrative, although they have been frequently referred to in other publications, are too nearly related to the early history of Spiritualism in Great Britain to be omitted. They bear, moreover, so closely upon the hypothesis that wise Spirits have been experimenting during this century in many directions, with a view of establishing telegraphic communications between the two worlds, that our present recital seems peculiarly apposite to this portion of the work. It seems that a young girl of about 13 years of age, the daughter of Mr. John Jobson, a resident of Bishop Wearmouth, near Sunderland, sometime during the year 1839 became the subject of a severe but inexpUcable illness. Mary Jobson had been a strong healthy girl up to the period named, when she suddenly seemed to collapse under an attack which confined her to her bed for over seven months, during which she became blind, deaf, and dumb. From time to time numerous physicians were called in, by whose directions the poor patient was subjected to all the penalties of the " heroic " system of treatment. Her case was described as " an abscess on the brain," but whatever the malady might have been, it was obviously increased by the applications resorted to by her medical attendants. Soon after the most serious features of this case became developed, it was remarked that the whole house, and especially the sick girl's chamber, resounded with unaccountable sounds, consisting of heavy poundings, pattering of feet, the ringing of bells, and the clashing of metallic substances. As the girl's disease progressed in violence, these disturbances grew more marked ; there were times however when they changed to soft and delightful music which centred in the invalid's chamber, yet resounded through every part of the dwelling. Sometimes it would seem as if a vast crowd of people were ascending the stairs and thronging into the room. Even the ■wind that might be occasiojied by passing bodies was felt, when no one but the ordinary attendants were visible. During the progress of these phenomena, the tones of a human voice were frequently heard protesting against the application of leeches and blisters, and recommending mild herb drinks, which, when tried, invariably alleviated the poor patient's sufferings. On one occasion when several members of the family, together with Drs. Clanny loo NINETEENTH CENTURA MIRACLES. and Embleton, were present, this voice spoke clearly and said ; " Your appliances will never benefit, but materially injure the girl. She will recover, but by no human means." On several occasions the glasses containing medicines, together with blisters and leeches, were snatched out of the attendant's hands, and thrown to distant parts of the room. Not unfre- quently a crooning tone was heard, as of a mother soothing a sick child, and the poor girl's hair was put back and smoothed by tender invisible hands. Dr. Beattie who witnessed many of these scenes, affirms, that it would be impossible either to describe or forget, the angelic expression of the invalid's face at the time when the manifestations of invisible presence were most evident. About the sixth month of this strange drama, the ceiling of the room in which Mary Jobson lay, was suddenly found adorned with a beautifully painted representation of the sun, moon, and stars. The father of the patient — who from the first had been determinately hostile to the invisible actors, alleging that they were " demons," and the cause of his child's sickness^no sooner perceived this fresh proof of spiritual agency, than he proceeded to obliterate the paintings with a thick coat of whitewash. His work was in vain however, for the obnoxious paintings re-appeared as soon as the whitewash was dry, only fading out when the child's recovery was established. On June 22nd, 1840, Mary Jobson regained her speech, hearing, and sight, as suddenly as she had lost them. Her strength too returned, and in a few days, without any apparent cause for the change, she was entirely restored to her usual health and, spirits. For several weeks the occasional sounds of music, voices, knockings, and the movement of bodies continued, but these phenomena ultimately ceased, and have never since returned. The chief witnesses to this wonderful history Were the girl's parents, numerous friends and neighbours; Doctors Embleton and Beattie; also Dr. Drury, Messrs. Torboch and Ward, eminent surgeons, and Dr. Reid Clanny, F.R.S., physician in ordinary to the Duke of Sussex, and at the time of these occurrences, senior physician of the Sunderland Infirmary. Dr. Reid Clanny, who was not professionally called in to attend the child, became informed of her case through the reports that were in circula- tion concerning it. Like a true and candid scientist, this gentleman, heedless of all the wild rumours that reached him, called on the parents, and subse- quently followed up the case with the closest scrutiny, often witnessing the phenomena described, and satisfying himself according to his own published statement, " that the power — come from whence it may — was not only kind and beneficent, but that it manifested all the tokens of human intelligence, and was better able to prescribe remedies and delineate the course of the disease than any of the attendant physicians." These admissions were made in an account of the case which Dr. Clanny pubhshed in pamphlet form, and though he staked his reputation upon the truth of his statements, and cited the testimony of numerous respectable witnesses, including Doctors Drury, Embleton, Ward, and Torboch, his fearless and timely publication was met by the scoff of the press> the ridicule of those scientists ivho had not witnessed the phenomena described, and the special denunciation of the learned and pious. The pamphlet, nevertheless, was eagerly bought up, and a second edition soon called for. In this Dr. Clanny bravely maintained his position, adding the following earnest words from Mr. Torboch, one of the surgeons who followed the case throughout : — NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. loi " I have had lengthened and serious conversations at different times with nearly all the persons who have borne testimony to this miraculous case, and I am well assured they are religious and trustworthy, and, moreover, that they have faithfully discharged their duty in this important affair between God and man." Since the above account was \A'Titten the author has been favoured with a perusal of Dr. Clanny's pamphlet, from which the following few additional details are gathered. After commenting on the pecuUarity of the voice heard speaking in Mary's chamber, Dr. Clanny says : — " The phenomena of human voices speaking, did not seem to be special to the sick girl's chamber. Mrs. Elizabeth Gauntlett, a schoolmistress, was suddenly startled by hearing a voice crying to her, 'Mary Jobson, one of your scholars, is ill ; go and see her, it will be good for you.' This person, the child's school teacher, did not know where she lived, but finding the address, she went as directed, and was called by the voice in a loud tone, audible to all those in the house, to come upstairs. On her second visit, delightful music filled the room, and was heard by sixteen persons. " The voice often declared the child did not suffer, her spirit being away, and her body being sustained by guardian spirits. These voices told many things of distant persons and scenes which came true. " Before the girl lost her speech she affirmed that she was often visited by * a divine being who looked like a man, only exceedingly heavenly and beautiful.' Mr. Joseph Slagg, and Mrs. Margaret Watson, friends of the family, who often visited the sick gM, alleged that each of them had at different times beheld the same divine apparition, and had been assured by it that the girl would recover. On several occasions ' the voice ' desired that water should be sprinkled on the floor, and when the sceptical father refused com- pliance, water from some unknown source fell in showers around the witnesses. " On the 22nd of June, when the poor child seemed to be in the last extremity, the family assembled round her bed united in prayer that God would be pleased to take her and terminate her sufferings. At five o'clock in the afternoon the voice cried out, ' Prepare the girl's clothes, and let every one leave the room except the baby.' This was a little child of two yeai's and a half old, who was playing about near the window. When the family at length most reluctantly obeyed, they remained outside the closed door for fifteen minutes ; they then heard a voice calling out, " Come in," and when they entered they found Mary quite well, sitting in a chair with the baby on her knee, smiling and happy." The report adds : — "Up to this time, January 30th, 1841, no relapse has taken place, and Mary Jobson seems as well as girls of her age ordinarily are." Dr. Drury, Dr. Clanny, and Mr. Torboch all assert that many persons ot rank and some ministers of the Established Church visited Mary Jobson, and unreservedly testified to the truth of Dr. Clanny's published report. Few seekers into the evidences which cluster around the history of Spiritualism in England will forget the law suit instituted by a Mr. Webster, the proprietor of a house at Trinity, Edinburgh, for damages done to his property by Captain Molesworth, a gentleman, who with his family, rented Mr. Webster's house, and was accused of causing extensive dilapidations therein, by his attempts to discover the secret of the terrible hauntings which beset the place. Captain Molesworth entered upon possession of the house in question in June, 1835. Shortly after this, one of his daughters died, leaving a sister of about thirteen years old. This young lady soon after fell into ill health, took to her bed, and after some months of a strange and unaccountable illness, died. Tt was generally asserted that the cruel suspicions and harassing investi- gations, that followed upon the disturbances, the principal scene of which I02 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. was the poor invalid's chamber, did more to hasten her decease, than either the phenomena, or the course of the disease. In this case as in that of Mary Jobson, dehghtful music, and audible human voices from unknown and invisible sources were constantly heard around Miss Moles- worth's bed. In other parts of the house, heavy poundings, loud enough to be heard in the street, together with groans, cries, footsteps, and rustlings, were of frequent occurrence. The sleepers were awakened at night by the beds being heaved up, and rappings, which would respond by given signals to questions asked by the family. In Mrs. Catherine Crowe's "Night Side of Nature," it is stated, that carpenters, masons, city officials, justices of the peace, and the officers of the regiment quartered at Leith who were friends of Captain Molesworth, all came to aid in his investigations, in the hope of detecting imposture, or exorcising his tormentors, in vain. Cordons of guards were stationed round the house by day and night, whilst the poor invalid, whose room seemed to be the chief centre of the hauntings, was not only carefully watched, bat even tied up in a bag, and subjected to all sorts of harassing annoyances to make sure that she had no hand in producing the disturbances. Absurd and vexatious as these suspicions were, they were soon put to flight by the suffering girl's decease. Meantime, the evidence called forth by the trial for damages done to Mr. Webster's house, conclusively enough proved to the world the supramundane character of the hauntings, and the impossibility of any human agency accounting for them. The case of Elizabeth Squirrel, the vision seeress \ of the haunted house at Willington — still in possession of its spiritual occupants, as the latest reports from Newcastle testify — together with many hundreds of well-attested instances of hauntings, ghost seeing, visions, wraiths, and divers other forms of Spiritual manifestations, occurring in Great Britain during this, and the preceding century, have been so minutely described in the works already alluded to, that it would be unnecessary to add to the examples already cited. In reviewing the narratives thus presented, there will invariably appear to be many striking points of resemblance amongst them. For instance ; they will most generally be found to represent the spirits of human beings, and to manifest human intelligence. Invisible though they may be to mortal eyes — except in rare instances — the actors seem to take cognizance of persons and things in the material world ; to hear speech addressed to them, and to respond intelligently by signal sounds or motions. In some cases — as in that of the " Sandford ghost"— the invisible presence seems to be malign and mischievous — in others, as illustrated by the bell-ringing at Great Bealing, the demonstrations appear to be simply meaningless and silly. Intelligence, skill, and kindness, marked the action of the invisible presence that attended Mary Jobson, and lessons of deep import and suggestion grew out of the hauntings detailed by Mr. Lenox Home. Could all Spiritual manifestations have been thoroughly sifted, and direct question and answer have taken the place of the foolish exorcisms, threats, and denunciations, with which these hauntings were formerly received, might they not have been explained upon the same hypotheses which are revealed to humanity in the open communion that now exists between the Spiritual and natural worlds ? NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. [03 By these we learn, that haunting spirits are magnetically fettered to the scene of their earthly crimes ; that the sounds and sights heard and seen in such places, are projected from the spirit world into the earth's atmos- phere by unhappy spirits; the remembrance of their former evil deeds becoming their hell, in which they are compelled to re-enact the deeds that continually recur to their minds. Other spirits of a higher grade with better intentions, and better guidance, ring and knock to attract attention, and compel enquiry ; and still again others, whose love for humanity prompts them to become the guardian spirits of dear relatives still remaining on earth, endeavour to make their watch and word known, as in the cases of Mary Jobson and Matilda Molesworth, by acts of beneficence and tokens of tender ministration. Could every demonstration of Spiritual presence, whether it comes in the form of haunting or loving ministry, be thoroughly investigated, whilst its phenomena would unquestionably afford to mankind the indication of Spiritual laws now unknown, it would also resolve itself into such strictly human intelligence, that we should marvel how we could have ever rele- gated it to the dreary horrors of a weird supernaturalism, Mr. S. C. Hall, the venerable editor of the Art Joiirtial, was the first writer we believe who contributed to the literature of SpirituaHsm the well-known narrative of the spirit calling himself " Caspar." This denizen of the other world seemed compelled, in his first attempts to communicate with earth, to manifest his presence by the usual array of terrifying sounds and movements which accompany supernatural agencies ; in process of time however he was enabled to converse with the family to whom he was attracted, through the methods of ordinary human speech. For over three years this Spirit took part in the daily life, interests, and welfare of his human friends; talking with them, advising, and counselling them, with all the wisdom and affection of a beloved member of their household, and when at last he left them, in pursuance of some Spiritual conditions which, as he alleged, would aid his progress, but deprive him of the power to hold farther audible intercourse with them, they felt " as if they had lost their best friend," and could hardly be reconciled to his absence. Nothing can more conclusively prove that the darkest shadows of " Supernaturalism " have become dissipated, and given place to light and reason, than the present open communion with the Spirit world. In this, we recognize the men, women, and children of this world over again ; the good ascending into angel-hood, the indifferent still lingering on the threshold of the earth, with which their affections have been ail too closely inter- woven, — and the evil-minded, either exhibiting the first monitions of remorse which impel them forward on the path of progress, or the same hardened adherence to criminal tendencies which await the softening influences of penitence, to lead them into the way of reform. The great American Seer A. J. Davis, describes in one of his works, a visit he made to the bedside of a man, suffering under an aggravated attack of delirium tremens. On entering the room, Mr. Davis beheld the apparition of a beautiful female Spirit standing at the foot of the bed, scattering visionary flowers over the coverlid, and endeavouring by magnetic passes of her fair hands, to soothe the sufferer's fever-haunted condition. Oh describing this celestial visitant to the family present, she was at once recognized as a departed relative, whose pure life corresponded to her T04 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. angelic appearance. It seemed however that the spiritual perceptions of the unfortunate patient were sufficiently awakened to be conscious of the presence, although not of its beneficent character, for in the midst of his frantic ravings, he was perpetually complaining of a demon, who stood at the foot of his bed, stinging him with thorns, a?id throwing off fire from her hands. He often appealed to those around, asking if they could not see this demon, whose frightful appearance filled him with horror. Is not the delirium of ignorance and superstition just as capable of transforming angels into demons, as the delirium of drunkenness? We must now invite the reader to consider in some detail, the signifi- cance of four well-known movements, each of which, by the wide-spread influence they have exercised over their votaries, demands recognition and earnest attention from the students of psychological philosophy. These are Mormonism ; Shakerism, the sect known as Irvingites, and the Irish Revivals ; of course the two former, although largely recruited from British sources, belong to the history of American Spiritualism. Neither of these movements may be commended to public acceptance, for their beneficial influence upon mankind. But, though the cui bono of the subject is not the point with which the facts of history are called upon to deal, it will become self-evident to thoughtful students, that there is something wonderfully significant in the lessons which these singular and exceptional movements teach us. For example ; Mormonism, which originated through the Spiritual Mediumship of Joseph Smith, illustrates with overwhelming force the depravity into which human beings may be plunged, by seeking authority for their religious beliefs, in the days of ancient barbarism; and setting up for modern example, the old Jehovah system, which not only sanctioned, but even enjoined the horrors of relentless warfare, 'and the infamies of Polygamy. On the other hand, we have the religion of Anne Lee, the spiritually- inspired founder of Shakerism, rushing into that opposite extreme of excessive asceticism, which, if Shaker life and practice could prevail over the earth, would depopulate it in a single generation. Both these movements owe their origin to spiritually-inspired founders ; both are advent footprints in the wilderness of modern materialism ; but whilst Mormonism illustrates the futility of looking to the past, to find authority for our religious beliefs, Shakerism equally proves the imbecility of attempting to inaugurate in the earthly present, a system of asceticism which only belongs to our condition as pure spirits, in the future. THE IRVINGITES. The third movement to which allusion was made above, is the wonderful Pentecostal outpouring which fell on certain members of a church presided over by the Rev. Edward Irving, from whom the aff"ected persons were called by the name of " Irvingites." The following brief summary of this remarkable demonstration, is gathered chiefly from the history of Edward Irving by Mrs. Oliphant, published in Mr. Thomas Shorter's excellent account of Spiritual manifestations, entitled " The Two Worlds," and a small volume on " The Revivals," written by W. M. Wilkinson, Esq., solicitor, of Lincoln's Inn, London. The latter in introducing his subject says : — " Of Mr. Irving himself, it is only necessary to say that he believed and preached that the Church might and ought to have a restoration of the divine gifts which are promised NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 105 in the gospels, and that the not having such, was a sign of its low state and was in fact its condemnation. " "Whatever may be thought of his theory, he was a great and good man, as all who knew him testify. " Carlyle, who knew and loved him, says of him — ' He was the freest, brotherliest, bravest human soul mine ever came in contact with. " ' I call him on the whole the best man I have ever, after trial enough, found in this world, or ever hope to find.' " One thing is certain, that panegyrists and detractors ahke, attribute to Mr. Irving a character of singular purity and rectitude, whilst it is univer- sally admitted, that his eloquence, and the marvellous power he exerted over his immense and fashionable congregations, were as remarkable even before the Spiritual outpouring with which his name is associated, as any phenomena which occurred during that wonderful visitation. It was in the magnificent church in Regent Square, erected at a cost of fifteen thousand pounds expressly for Mr. Irving — then the most popular preacher in London — that the outpouring of " the gift of tongues " occurred. It seems that the first manifestation of this singular power, commenced in Port Glasgow sometime in 1830. Mr. Irving, a Scotchman by birth, had commenced his ministerial career in Glasgow, and as the reputed demonstrations were of the character which he himself alleged the Church of Christ should possess, he became strongly interested in the tidings that reached him, and forthwith sent one of the elders of his own church to enquire into, and report upon the matter. The following extracts are condensed from Mr, Irving's own narra- tive of the "gift of tongues," published va. Eraser's Magazine (vol. iv.), in which is embodied the report of the agent above alluded to. The latter, writing to his Pastor, Mr. Irving, says : — "About this time (1830), in the death-bed experiences of certain holy persons, there appeared many and very wonderful instances of the power of God's Spirit, both in the way of discernment and utterance. They were able to know the condition of God's people at a distance. In one instance, the countenance shone with a glorious hrightness, as if it had heen the face of an angel ; they spoke much of a bright dawn about to arise in the Church ; and one of them, just before death, signified that he had received the knowledge of the thing ahoid to ie manifested. , . . " In March, 1830, on the evening of the Lord's Day, the gift of speaking with tongues was restored to the Church. The handmaiden of the Lord, of whom He made choice on that night to manifest forth in her His glory, had been long afHicted with a disease which the medical men pronounced to be a decline. It was on the Lord's Day, and one of her sisters, along with a female friend who had come to the house for that end, had been spending the whole day in fasting and prayer before God, with a special respect to the restoration of the gifts. They had come up in the evening to the sick chamber of their sister, and, along with one or two others of the household, were engaged in prayer, when the Holy Ghost came with mighty power upon the sick woman as she lay in her weakness, and constrained her to speak at great length, and tvith superhuman strength, in an unknoivn tongue, to the astonishment of all who heard. She has told me that this first seizure of the Spirit was the strongest she ever had ; and that it was in some degree necessary it should have been so, otherwise she would not have dared to give way to it. " The editor of the Morning Watch * writes : ' We have seen eight different individuals who have been eye-witnesses of these manifestations, and who are unanimous in their testimony to the supernatural, holy, and influential energy of what they there ivitnessetV We subjoin the testimony of one of these, Mr. John B. Cardale, who is now the head of the church. He was specially sent by Mr. Irving to make enquiry, with five others, into these alleged tongues, and he thus gives their observations : — ' During our stay, four individuals received the gift of tongues. The tongues spoken by aU the several persons who had received the gift are perfectly distinct in themselves and from each other. J. M'D. speaks two tongues, both easily discernible from each other. J. M'D. exercises his * A periodical established mainly as an organ of the Irvingites. io6 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. gift more frequently than any of the others ; and I have heard him speak for twenty minutes together, with all the energy of voice and action of an orator addressing an audience. The language which he uttered is full and harmonious, containing many Greek and Latin radicals, and with inflexions resembling those of the Greek language. The only time I ever had a serious doubt whether the unknown sounds which I heard on these occasions were parts of a language, was ivhen Mr. M'D.'s servant spoke during the first evening. When she spoke on subsequent occasions it was invariably in one tongue, which was not only perfectly distinct from the sounds she uttered at the first meeting, but was satisfactorily estabhshed, to my conviction, to be a language. " ' One of the persons thus gifted we employed as our servant while at Port Glasgow. She is a remarkably quiet, steady, phlegmatic person, entirely devoid of forwardness or enthusiasm, and with very little to say for herself in the ordinary way. The language which she spoke was as distinct as the others, and it was quite evident the language spoken at one time, was identical with that spoken at another time. " ' The chanting or singing ivas also very remarhable. J. M'D.'s ordinary voice is in singing, harsh and unpleasing ; but when thus singing in the Spirit, the tones are perfectly harmonious. On the morning after the day on which Mrs. received the gift of tongues, I heard her singing stanzas with the alternate lines rhyming. The tune was at first slow, but she became more and more rapid in her utterance, until at last, syllable followed syllable as rapidly as was possible, and yet each syllable distinctly enunciated. " ' These persons, while uttering the unknown sounds, as also while speaking in the Spirit in their own language, have every appearance of being under supernatural direction. The manner and voice are difi'erent from what they are on ordinary occasions. " ' Their whole deportment gives an impression not to he conveyed in words, that their organs are made use of by supernatural power. M. M'D. one morning, having, in conse- quence of a severe cold, so entirely lost the use of her voice as to be unable to speak out of a whisper, yet, on a sudden, commenced, and from ten a.m. to two p.m. continued speaking in a loud voice — sometimes in intercessory prayer in the Spirit, sometimes in denouncing the coming judgments, and occasionally speahing in an unknown tongue — and at the end of that time she relapsed exactly into her former state.' " When this messenger returned to London with his tidings, it was to find the tongues of flame sitting on his oivn ivife and daughters. StiU, not rashly, nor arrogantly, was the marvel proclaimed to the world. For some time, only in private meetings was the ' gift invited to manifest itself.' There, philological learning^ pronounced the utterances something more than jargon, and observation failed to detect imposture. Prayer- meetings were then held every morning at the church in Eegent-square, and were numerously attended. At these meetings, exhortations would be uttered in the ' tongue ' by one person, and the interpretation chanted in English by another. Warnings and pre- dictions were sometimes given. On Sunday morning, October 16th, a 'sister' {Miss Hall) hurst forth in the open congregation ivith an utterance in the tongue. I calmed the 1,500 or 2,000 people who had risen in alarm, bade the sister console herself — for she had struggled with the power that had possession of her, and hastened her into the vestry of the church, there to give it speech — and expounded to the congregation the 14th chap, of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, as explanatory of the occurrence. In the evening a ' brother ' produced even greater excitement than the morning speaker.; and in the course of the week all London was talking of this new phase. The ' unknown tongues ' continued in the church, and other ' utterances in the Spirit ' were also given ; and remarkable cases of healing by spiritual power occurred. " Those who speak in the tongue always declare ' that the words uttered in English are as much by power supernatural as the words uttered in the language unknown.' But no one hearing and observing the utterance could for a moment doubt it, inasmuch as the whole utterance, from the beginning to the end of it, is ^vith a potver, and strength, and fulness, and sometimes rapidity of voice altogether different from that of the person's ordinary utterance in any mood ; and I would say, both in its form and in its effects upon a simple mind, evidently supernatural. There is a poiuer in the voice to thrill the heart and overawe the spirit after a manner which I have never seen." Besides "the tongues," the gift of heahng became manifested in the church, and the power extended to other congregations. At Liverpool and Baldock in Hertfordshire, manifestations similar in character to those of the churches in Port Glasgow and Regent Square, became openly displayed. Mr. Irving at the earnest solicitation of many interested persons, wrote accounts of the manifestations which were published in Eraser'' s Magazine NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 107 (vols. iv. and v.) ; he also contributed largely to the columns of the Morning Watch, a quarterly magazine in which the facts and philosophy of the strange movement were freely discussed. Mr. Irving very highly commends the manner and forms of this " divine speech," and by abundant and earnest reasonings, endeavoured to show that it was a renewal of Apostolic gifts and powers. After some two years continuance of these manifestations, certain members of Mr. Irving's congregation began to utter loud complaints of the disorders that had arisen, the result of which was, that a charge of heresy was ultimately preferred against him. At the trial that ensued " an utterance in power " came from Mr. David Dow, charging those who were faithful to arise and depart, whereupon Mr. Irving and Mr. Dow made their way out of church, and sentence against the pastor was formally pronounced. Besides this ruinous division in the excellent and amiable clergyman's congregation, there were other causes of disunion at work with the Revivalists themselves, which militated against the subject, and tended to bring it into ill odour with the world. The principal causes of this division originated with Mr, Robert Baxter, once an enthusiastic subject of the lingual gift, and subsequently a disbeliever in the divine origin of the power which he himself had manifested. This secession from the Irvingite ranks, was announced by Mr. Baxter himself in a tract which he published entitled, A narrative of facts characterizing the supernatural manifestations in the members of Mr. Irving s co?igregation, and other individuals in England and Scotland, and formerly in the w titer himself As no description of the subject can depict it in the same vivid light that it borrows from the testimony of witnesses and participators, we shall give the following quotations from Mr. Baxter's pamphlet as the best illustra- tion on record of " the power," and a subsequent condition of disenchant- ment. Mr. Baxter says, writing of himself sometimes in the third person, and again in the first : — "He had heard many particulars of the extraordinary manifestations which had occurred at Port Glasgow, and thought that there were sufficient grounds in Sci-ipture to warrant a fair investigation of them. Being called up to London in August, 1831, he ' had a strong desire to attend the prayer-meetings which were then privately held by those who spoke in the power and who sought for the gifts.' Having obtained an intro- duction, he attended, and heard ' the utterances,' both in the unknown and in the English tongue. In the latter there was, he says, ' a cutting rebuke to all who were present, and applicable to my own state of mind in particular. In the midst of the feeling of awe and reverence which this produced, I was myself seized upon by the poiver ; and in much struggling against it, was made to cry out, and myself to give forth a confession of my own sin in the matter for which loe were rehuTced. There was in me at the time of the utterance, very great excitement, and yet I was distinctly conscious of a power acting upon me beyond excitement.' " From this period, for the space of five months, I had no utterances in public ; though when engaged alone in private prayer, the power would come down upon me, and cause me to pray ivith strong crying and tears for the state of the church. On one occasion, whilst in my study, endeavouring to hft up my soul in prayer, the power came upon me, and I found myself lifted up in soul to God, and by a constraint I cannot describe I was made to speak a prayer that the Lord would deliver me from fleshly weakness, and graciously bestow upon me the gifts of his Spirit. This prayer was so loud, that I put my handker- chief to my mouth to stop the sound, that I might not alarm the house. When I had reached the last word, the power died off me, and I was left as before, save in amazement at what had passed. io8 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. " In January, 1832, when I again visited the brethren in London, the gifts in Mr. Irving's church were now being exercised in the public congregation. The day following my arrival, being called upon by the pastor to read, I opened upon the prophet Malachi, and read the fourth chapter. As I read, the power came upon me, and I was made to read in the power. My voice, raised far beyond its natural pitch, with constrained repetition of parts, and with the same inward uplifting which at the presence of the power I had always before experienced. When I knelt down to pray. / was carried out to pray in the poiver for the presence and blessing of God in the midst of the church ; in all this I had great joy and peace, without any of the strugglings which had attended my former utterances in the power. " On the Sunday following, the power came in the form of revelation and opening of scripture ; and as I read, the opening of it was just as light fiittiag across the mind. A passage would be opened in the clearest manner, until portion after portion having been opened, and an interpretation given ivhich I not only had never thought of, hut tvhich was at variance ivith my previous systematic construction of it. " If it were convenient here to make particular mention of men's names, I could name you many, who of late years have received such strange preservations, even against the common course of nature, that might convince an Atheist of the finger of God therein. '' It hath been my oion case more than once, twice, or ten times. When means have all failed and the highest art has senteaced me hopeless, I have been relieved by the preval- ence of fervent prayer." During the prevalence of "the power," a large number of seemingly miraculous cases of healing occurred with those upon whom the spiritual gifts were poured out. Among the most notable was the cure of a Miss Macdonald, an invalid of many years standing, who was entirely restored to health, by the touch, prayer, and command to " arise and walk," of her brother James, one of the Port Glasgow subjects of the "supernatural power." This same man, after raising his sister from the sick bed to which she had been confined for years, addressed a letter to a dear friend, a Miss Mary Campbell, who had just been given up to die by the doctors. In this letter, James Macdonald informed the sick lady, she must instantly arise and go forth to testify for the Lord. Without the least help, " the dying girl" arose, dressed herself, walked down to the meeting-room, and entered upon a career which lasted for many months as a prophetess of the new church. Mrs. Oliphant in her life of Irving, also mentions a sister of Mary Campbell's — Isabella, who was cured in the same way and with the same results. Still more renowned was the case of Miss Fancourt^ the daughter of a clergyman, who for eight years had been a helpless cripple, and whom her father's congregation had been accustomed to see carried to church in the arms of attendants and laid on her back in her pew during the service. The wonderful cure of Miss Fancourt was effected iji a single minute by the prayers of an eminent subject of the gifts, Mr. Greaves. As the cure has been reported at length in numerous religious as well as secular publi- cations, we must close our notice of it with a brief extract from a letter written by the lady's father, the Rev. T. Fancourt, to the Christian Observer.) of November, 1831 : — " Her backbone, which was curved before, is now perfectly straight, and her collar-bones are quite equal, whereas one of them was previously much enlarged. It is four years since she walked at all, and then it was but for a short time with the assistance of a stick, and subject to a pain in her hip. She now walks stoutly and free from all pain." It is almost unnecessary to add, that whilst the fact of these, and many other equally marvellous cures could not be disputed, the invariable tone of explanation adopted by the religious journals was, that "the cures NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 109 were wholly wrought by the name of Jesus ; " and " faith in the Lord Christ," &c., &c. These religious writers then, as now, forgot to explain why the millions of earnest Christians that have been done to death and tortured barbarously by other Christians, during the ages of Christian warfare and persecution, were neither saved from death at the stake, or mutilation, by faith in the name of Christ. John Huss, Latimer, Ridley, Joan of Arc, and tens of thousands of devout Christians, have called upon the name of their Lord in their hour of anguish in vain. If the prayer of faith was all that was necessary to save from death and agony, why were the Misses Campbell and Miss Fancourt cured, and ten thousand Christian martyrs unregarded? An equally pertinent question arises in reference to the thousands of cures which have transpired amongst the modern Spirituahsts, many of which are recorded in their literature, and some few referred to in this volume. The prayer of faith in these instances is wanting, and the name of Christ is seldom or ever used. Can our Christian friends explain the modus operandi of these anti-Christian healing exploits ? Even Mr. Baxter, after abandoning the Christian solution of his problematical state, does not deny the facts of healing of which he was an eye-witness, and a subject himself Can the " Satanic " theory upon which this eminent witness falls back, cover the ground of Spiritual healing as well as the name of Christ ? If so, can our Christian friends explain the difference of the power, and the superiority of one source over the other? As the limitations of our space will permit of no more extended notice of this remarkable movement, nor of the vast multitude of witnesses whose testimony was rendered to the facts of healing as well as of tongues, we must conclude with the following brief extract from the life of Edward Irving by Mr. Wilks, one of his admiring followers. This writer, after detailing the circumstances of Mr. Irving's trial, and final withdrawal from the church, concludes with the following touching remarks : — " His public work was over. His flesh became wan ; his raven hair hoary as with extreme age. His eye gleamed with au unquiet light, and the hectic spot on his pale cheek betrayed the fire burning at his heart. On December the 8th, 1834, he passed to that rest for which his weary spirit longed. The last words he was heard to utter were ' If I die I die unto the Lord. Living and dying I am the Lord's.' " It would be needless to pursue in farther detail the course of the Catholic Apostolic CJmrch, an organization which claims the noble-minded and devoted Edward Irving as its founder, although it neither adopts his name, nor conserves " the power" which made that name during four short years a milestone on the highway of immortality. Numerous records of kindred powers are to be found in the history of Spiritualism, but those which distinguished the uprising at Port Glasgow, and the Irvingites in London, undoubtedly owe a large share of their world-wide renown to the talents, eloquence, and unspotted life of the brave and devoted gentleman who gave all he was, and all he had, even to his very life, to uphold the truth and divinity of the mighty outpouring with which his name is associated. It is one of the triumphs as well as the consolations of Spiritualism, to be assured, that Edward Irving still lives, and though removed from the scenes of earthly trial in which his pure life was consumed, " he being dead, yet speaketh ! " NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. CHAPTER XIV. EARLY SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONTINUED). The Irish Revivals. The fourth and last great movement of a Pentecostal character to which we can call attention as occurring during the present century, has been named " The Irish Revival," and though we have no direct account of its unfoldment before 1857 — nine years after the commencement of " Modern Spiritualism " in America, the scenes of the Irish drama were so distant from and unconnected with other European centres wherein "spirit circles" were generally held, and the people upon whom " the power " fell, were so far removed in rank and national isolation from the cultured classes amongst whom Spiritualism in Great Britain for the most part took root, that there does not seem even a possibility of tracing any connexion between the two movements, unless we admit the hypothesis of a universal outpouring of the Spirit all over the world and one moving in psychological currents of influence from all points of the compass. In commencing our necessarily brief review of the Irish Revivals, we must give some account of the place as well as the persons with whom they originated, and this we do in the words of William Arthur, A.M., a learned gentleman who published several voluminous tracts on this subject. After speaking of the colonies of Protestants from England and Scotland who peopled Ulster, and whose descendants form now its main population, Mr. Arthur says : — " The people are notoriously cool, practical, money -making, strong-willed, and fond of disputation. " None of the popular rehgious delusions which took effect in other places found their way into Ulster. Spiritual life was low, but the exaggerated crimes which prevailed in Eomish parts of the land were rare. Still many forms of vice were very prevalent. DrunJcenness raged like a plague ; swearing, cockfighting, gambling, and large numbers of illegitimate births, formed its natural train. A policeman on the streets of Belfast told us that he had lived in Ahoghill for two years, and that it was the ' worst wee place in the world.' On a day when a funeral took place, he said, there was so much drinking and fighting, that the lock-up was always full ; and on a fair day you could not go many yards without hearing drunken men cursing the Pope. " The origin of the present movement is clearly traced to Connor, a parish seven miles long, peopled by small farmers, weavers, and linen manufacturers, nearly all Presby- terians, mixed only with a handful of Church people, and scarcely any Eoman Catholics. " There was a young man residing at Ballymena, a few miles away, who was zealous for religion after his manner, and stood in his own eyes as a Christian. But he heard a lady from England conversing with some young women, and describing true conversion. Her words reached the heart of the young man. He sought the inward and holy power of religion, and found clear and joyful acceptance with his Father in heaven. Full of this new happiness, he returned to his own parish. "In the month of September, 1857, he and three other young men joined together in secret felloivship, to pray for Ood's special blessing on the people around them. " Three months later what is called ' The Spring Communion' came. The parish had been more or less filled with tidings of the prayers that were being offered, and of the happy conversions which had taken place. Their minister had been preaching on the subject of a great revival, and telling what the Lord was doing for his vineyard in America, . NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. tii ■with a strong desire for the like at home. The services of the Communion were crowned with unwonted influence. Life, inquiry, deep convictions, strong crying and tears — these became the familiar tidings of that favoured parish. Prayer meetings sprang up on every hand, and wonderful was it to the staid Presbyterian folk to hear, out of the lips of the unlearned and the ignorant, out of the mouths of babes and suckUngs in religion, prayers of deep import and heavenly power." After many fervent expressions of thankfulness for the conversions effected as above shown, Mr. Arthur goes on to say : — " At a prayer meeting in the meeting-house there were about three hundred persons. All were unexcited, though earnest. At the call of the minister, a young man, one of the recent converts, read a portion of Scripture, and delivered a short exhortation. Then the minister called on them to spend a little time in silent prayer. At first it seemed as if the moments would pass in deep silence ; but after a while, breathings began to be heard, loiv, subdued, but earnest — no voice, no tone, tw words ; but a breathing throughout the place, as if each one apart was breathing out the soul to God. That strange sound rose and came quicker till it almost rushed, and the place seemed all astir ivith suppressed but ouibursting prayer." Very different results soon grew out of these peaceful "unexcited" prayer meetings, as the reader will perceive if, passing over a few pages filled with descriptions of similar scenes and individual experiences, he takes up the thread of Mr. Arthur's narrative in June, 1859, two years later than the first "conversion" alluded to. We resume our extracts at the following point of advance : — " One who had felt the joy of pardoning love filling his own soul, and opening in his breast a little heaven, longed to see his mother, who lived in a neighbouring parish. He got one of his comrades to join him in earnest prayer for her conversion. After this, he went home to see if prayer had had any effect, and, to his joy and wonder, found that just loliile they had been praying, deep conviction had fallen up)onhis mother's soul ; she had sought mercy, and was now rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. This triumph of prayer was no sooner won than came the question, Where was his brother ? Aioay at a cockfight. Thither he followed him : there he found him, and, seizing him, he said, ' I have a message for you from the Lord Jesus.' This went to his heart ; he too fled for refuge to the open arms of the crucified Redeemer. His burden fell off, joy and peace took possession of his soul, and he rushed away to his minister, exclaiming, ' I am saved ! I am saved ! ' " Converts from Connor then came to tell the people of Ahoghill what the Lord had done for their souls. It was a strange thing to hear weavers, and stone-breakers, and butchers, and others unskilled in speech, pouring forth reverent and thoughtful prayers. It was more wonderful still to hear them tell how the Lord had sent his arrows through their souls. " ' You ask,' cries a convert, ' if you did find mercy, how you would know it ? Ah, you would know it very well, you would feel it.' And there his argument ended. But something was in these new-born souls — which tvent further than ten thousand arguments. The power of the blessed Spirit attended them. And then began those ovenvhelming affec- tions of body and mind together, which have resounded through the world, and made the Ulster Revival notorious to the religious and the curious alike. " In an opposite direction to Ahoghill lies the town of Ballyclare. There, one fair day, a slater coming home to dinner, was told by his \vife that there ^oas a man in the fair ivho had lost his reason ; for on the ' fair hill,' in his cart, he was praying aloud, and crying for mercy to his soul. The man went to see, and found it even so : it was a man from the neighbourhood of Broughshane, where the Revival had now begun ; and, as he came into the fair, such deep conviction of sin seized upon him, that he cared not for the eye of the crowd or the course of business, but felt he was going down into the gulf ; and he cried, ' Lord, save, I perish ! ' There ivas something in the cry which went to the soid of the slater, who had come to see the man ' out of his mind.' He felt. It is time for me to seek mercy too. " And, as if the Lord had said, ' Return to thine house, and show what great things the Lord had done unto thee,' he did return, and told his tale of redeeming love, and speedily the holy flame was lighted up in Ballyclare. 112 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. " At Hyde Park, a village a few miles from Belfast, I had the happiness of witnessing a wonderful work of revival, and, on inquiry as to its origin, found it traced to a lad from Ballyclare. He told how the Lord had converted him, and seeing a boy impressed by it, fell upon liis neck, and ' the affection of this boy seemed to break down the hearts of the people.' HowsHght a cause is followed by wonderful effects, when a mighty power of the Sj^irit operates ! " After nearly txoo years the first converts are steadfast, and the original seat of the revival more and more alive. Only within the last two months has it attracted public notice ; but in that time it has spread Hke fire, among country districts, market towns, and considerable cities. From Belfast to Coleraine, I have been permitted to see its effects, with wonder and deep adoration. I never read of anything equal at once in extent and transforming power, and hereafter it wUl be my endeavour to trace the work through some of those stages in which, instead of the tranquil and gradual progress which marked its early course, it burst forth with such manifestations as filled the newspapers, and became the all-absorbing topic of the country." As Mr. Arthur's views of revival practices are evidently dictated more in the spirit of orthodox sympathy with the actors than that of philosophic and deliberate investigation, we now tarn to the testimony of a still more impartial collator of revival incidents, in the person of Dr. Massie, a writer of eminence, whose excellent account of the Irish Revivals is thus rendered in Mr. W. M. Wilkinson's volume on this subject before alluded to. Dr. Massie says : — " We may remark, that the first noticeable cases of decided impression appeared in Ballymena, on the morning of Monday, the 16th of May ; and, up till noon of the fol- lowing Wednesday, the entire number was about thirty. These cases occurred chiefly in streets of an inferior description, and among the lower classes of the population. It would be impossible to ascertain the exact number so visited within the town — for cases are now to be found in every street, among all classes of the people. We know of one house wherein seven persons were impressed in the usual mysterious manner in the course of a single evening ; and the total number in BaUymena alone cannot be reckoned at less than three hundred. On the evening of Thursday, the 19th instant, the public excite- ment, particularly in SpringweU Street, was intense ; and we visited that locality for the express purpose of witnessing and reporting upon the phenomena. On one portion of the street we found an assemblage of at least two thousand people engaged in services of prayer and praise under the leader shii^ of laymen, six or seven houses elsewhere in the same street were crowded with people in every spot Avhere standing room could be obtained. The doors, and in some cases the windows, were open, and besieged by a throng of all classes anxious to hear the proceedings within. These houses we found to be the homes of ' stricken ' parties, who were then labouring under the influence of the shock in sundry stages of its operation. Some were in a state of very great weakness and partial stupor ; some were dreadfuUy excited, calling upon God for mercy, with an earnestness of which no intelligent investigator could doubt the reaUty for a single moment ; some were uttering exclamations of despairing agony ; others were pouring forth accents of heart-touching and adoring gratitude. In all cases they were surrounded by crowds of friends or comforters. They were prayed over, in some cases by a single leader, in others by several persons at the same moment, the stricken person sometimes uniting with them in language of glowing and continuous eloquence, and at other times by inter jectional ex- clamations of doubt, hope, faith, or joy unspeakable. During the earlier paroxysms the sufferers generally experienced considerable relief from sacred music; and hence the devotional exercises were frequently varied by the singing of psalms, in which all who were vsdthin heai'ing appeared to join most cordially. This description of the proceedings in one house may be regarded as applicable to all the others—for we visited them all, and were favoured with opportunities for investigation in seventeen different cases. " In the course of the evening we had an opportunity of witnessing cases of ' impression ' in the earlier stages, the scene at one of which we shall attempt to describe. Having made our way up a narrow stau-case, crowded with anxious listeners, we entered a small apartment in which about twenty people of both sexes were grouped in various attitudes of deep attention or devotion. A neatly-attired young woman, apparently about twenty- two years of age, had been stricken an hour previously, and was supported in the arms of an elderly female, who was seated upon a low stool. The person impressed, appeared to be in a state of partial stupor, from which she was occasionally roused into a feeling of mental agony, depicted in heart-rending expressions of the countenance, and NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 113 deep, low wailings of terrible despair. Her face was deadly pale, and her eyelids closed, except when partially raised by a convulsive paroxysm, and even then no part of the eye was visible, except a narrow line of white. Her pulse was intermittent and feverish, and her face and hands covered with perspiration. Occasionally she extended her arms with an action as if groping in the air, and at other times they were elevated high overhead, the hands clasped, and her features rigidly fixed into an expression of supplication, of which no language could convey an adequate idea. Her utterance was inter jectional and incoherent, mingled with sobs, moans, and agonizing expressions of despair, like the fol- lowing : — ■' Is there no hope ? ' ' Oh, my heart, my heart ! ' * Pardon, pardon ! ' ' Oh, Jesus, save me ! ' ' Oh, God, have mercy ! ' Beside this poor girl two men were standing and praying aloud alternately. " In other portions of the room hands were clasped, and tears silently streaming from many an eye, but our attention was irresistibly attracted to the movements of a young woman, evidently of the lower classes, who had been ' stricken ' two days previously, but had now recovered, and was bending over the sufferer with emotions exhibiting the deepest and most affectionate solicitude. She told her of Jesus, who was ever willing to save ; she repeated passages of Scripture that spoke of hope and consolation to the peni- tent ; and then burst forth into a lengthened and apparently impulsive prayer, well expressed and perfectly intelligent, but chiefly inter jectional. " Now, it may be asked, who was this earnest suppliant for peace and consolation to the afflicted sufferer ? Four days previous to the evening of which we write, she was a reckless and, apparently, God-forsaken young woman — a common street prostitute in Bally - mena ! Before we left the scene which we had thus attempted to describe, the impressed person had obtained considerable relief, and, at intervals, we observed that her lips were silently moving, as if in inward prayer. " In the meantime the movement was 'progressing with rapidity in every district of the surrounding country. Soon after breakfast hour on Saturday morning, six or seven young women became suddenly affected with all the usual symptoms, while engaged at work in the spinning factory at Eaceview. Intense excitement immediately ensued, the alarm soon became general, and within an hour twenty or thirty people of both sexes were found prostrate. The business of the entire estabhshment was interrupted, and, as a matter of necessity, the factory was closed at twelve o'clock. It was re-opened on Monday, but nearly half the ordinary number of hands were absent, and we understand that the busi- ness of Ballygarvy bleachworks has been seriously impeded, owing to a similar course. About six o'clock on the evening of Sunday week, a congregation, numbering fully four thousaad people, assembled in the open air, in front of the Presbyterian Church at Broughshane, where services were conducted by the Eev. Mr. Robinson and a number of Revival converts from other localities. Numerous and strongly-marked cases of sudden ' conviction ' occurred among the audience, and several persons were carried into the church, from which place they were not in a condition for removal till midnight. The total number of persons affected on that occasion has been estimated at more than one hundred. On the same evening open-air prayer-meetings were held at Cullybackey and Straid. At Carniney, about a mile from Ballymena, the assemblage numbered fully two thousand, and they separated into large groups, for each of which there was a speaker. Numerous impressions occurred, and some of the parties so affected were removed from the ground on cars, followed, in some cases, by ranks of people singing psalms." " Dr. Massie gives the following extracts from a Ballymena correspondent : ' Last night, at a prayer meeting in Wellington Street Church, so crowded that the doors and win- dows were surrounded by a multitude who could not obtain admission, scenes occurred which bowed the heart with awe and solemn fear, as if the invisible world was opening to view. Attempts have been made to describe such scenes, but no one can describe them, they must be witnessed. During the time that Mr. Shaw was speaking, a person labour- ing under strong convictions of sin was carried out into the session-room. He was a person who had had convictions before, but on this occasion they returned in a manner most distressing to witness. He was a strong, middle-aged man ; but in the mysterious, half-conscious state in which he was, his soul actually seemed to the beholders as the battle-ground between the powers of light and darkness, filling his body with agony un- utterable. His cries for mercy, for salvation from Satan, and from his former sins, at first inarticulate, but at last so loud as to be heard over the body of the house — his clasped hands, as he knelt in prayer, with his face turned upwards, his eyes shut, every vein swelled almost to bursting, and the perspiration streaming down his face — his becoming calmer while listening to singing, and at last the torrents of tears running down his face, as he asked the 116th Psalm to be sung, showed the agonizing conflict that had been going on. Would that sceptics and those at a distance would at least suspend judgment until they saw one such case as this ! I would venture to say that if they had stood over that man in his agony and listened to his unutterable groanings for pardon and for peace, 8 114 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. if not convinced themselves, they would speak of the present movement, not with sneers or mockery, but with solemn and reverential awe. Further, with respect to this man, he has shown one of the best tests of sincerity, in giving up a lucrative business, when first convinced of sin, about three weeks ago. He feels, as many now do, that a Christian and a whiskey-seller are not compatible terms. During the time that this man was suffering so much last night, others, all children, were, irought in, or ivere seized with convictions in the room. The same cries for mercy, for deliverance from Satan, were repeated. During this scene in the session-room, the vast crowd in the church, led by one of the ministers, were praying, great mimbers of them audibly, for those under convictions.' " " On the 18th of June, the Observer of Ballymena remarks — ' In the town and neigh- bourhood of Ballymena the mysterious influence continues in unabated operation ; and numerous cases, accompanied by all the wonderful phenomena so frequently described, are occurring daily. At the Presbyterian church, the congregation was so numerous on Sunday last, that many persons were unable to obtain admittance, and four or five new cases of "conviction" occurred during pablic worship. In the evening an immense con- course of the community assembled for united prayer in a grass park to the west of the Galgorm Road. All the churches in Ballymena would not have contained the number present ; and the spectacle was one of the most solemn we have ever vritnessed. " ' The services were opened by the Rev. S. J. Moore ; after which addresses followed in succession from four or five lay converts. Their language was characterized by the unpolished but effective eloquence of nature, for they were thoroughly in earnest. Several strongly-marked cases of sudden conviction occurred, while these exhortations were in progress ; but the parties had been carried to a remote corner of the enclosure. The services were brought to a conclusion by the Rev. Mr. Moore ; but the audience did not separate, for strange and most exciting scenes immediately ensued. Suddenly one person, and then another, and another, in rapid succession, fell to the ground with piercing cries of mental agony. The mysterious iniluence loas at xoorh. It spread still further among the assemblage ; and within half-an-hour we found not fewer than twenty human beings stretched upon the grass, exhibiting emotions, both of soul and body, sufficient to appal the stoutest heart. In all cases it appeared as if every fibre of the heart, and every muscle of the body were im^ung ivith some excruciating torture. Then followed loud cries for the Redeemer's mercy, expressed in tones of anguish which no imagination can conceive or pen describe. " 'By some intelligent investigators it is believed that just in proportion to the fairness or immox'ality of previous character the visitation is more or less severe. The correctness of that opinion is liable to considerable doubt ; but we know that, from whatever cause, there is a great variety in the extent of suSering. Some cases are comparatively mild. But the majority of the cases of this evening were among the severest that we ever witnessed — and we have now seen hundreds of them. In general, the stricken parties were carried out from the pressure of the thronging multitude, to localities where they became objects of solicitude to smaller groups in other portions of the enclosure. At about half -past ten o'clock we reckoned nine circles or assemblages of this nature, in a single one of which we found eleven prostrate penitents, smitten to the heart, and fervently suptplicating God, for Christ's sake, to pardon their iniquities. " ' Over these parties, pious bystanders or some of the converted offered prayer. Other circles laboured to console the sufferers by singing appropriate hymns or psalms. In one of the circles we noticed a case of terrible severity, one in which visions of unspeakable horror must have been pictured to the imagination of the unhappy sufferer. A young woman lay extended at full length, her eyes closed, her hands clasped and elevated, and her body curved in a spasm so violent that it appeared to rest, arch-like, upon her heels and the back portion of her head. In that position she lay without speech or motion for several minutes. Suddenly she uttered a terrific scream, and tore handfuls of hair from her un- covered head. Extending her open hands in a repeUing attitude of the most appalling terror, she exclaimed, " Oh that fearful pit ! — Lord Jesus save me !" "I am a sinner, a most unAvorthy sinner — but oh, Lord, take him away, take him away !" " Oh, Saviour of sinners, remove him from my sight I " During this paroxysm three strong men "were hardly able to restrain her. She extended her arms on either side, clutching spasmodically at the grass, shuddering with terror, and shrinking from some fearful inward vision ; but she ultimately fell back exhausted, nerveless, and apparently insensible. How long she remained in that condition we are unable to say ; but we understand that she was treated with Christian sympathy, and removed from the field in safety before midnight. " ' This was an extreme case — not vrithout parallel, but certainly the most frightful that we have ever witnessed. We may remark that, three days afterwards, that woman was visited by a Christian friend, who had been a witness of her agony. He found her weak in body, but her mind was thoroughly composed, She was a new creature. The light of peace and love was beaming from her countenance, and joy reflected in her eyes as NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 115 she told him of her perfect reconciliation with God, and her unwavering faith in the Redeemer. Now we do not pretend to explain the moving cause of these mysterious con- victions ; but we feel bound to say that such have been the results in every case brought under our notice during the last two months. In that respect there is not the slightest perceptible distinction in the influence, whether upon the old or the young, the rich or the poor, the learned or the unlearned. Whether the agonies are brief or lengthened, moderate or severe, the e/ec< is invariably the same — the fruit is love, peace, joy, tem- perance, and humility. Some of the " impressed " recovered ability to walk, but the greater number were supported by their friends, or carried away, and the ground was entirely vacated about half-past eleven o'clock.' " Painful as it is to narrate, and call upon common-sense readers to follow these narratives, it is imperatively necessary that the philosophic student of psychology should trace out the workings of the wonderful modern Spiritual outpouring, in all its various phases. It is not an unin- teresting subject of consideration moreover, to observe how the same influx operating upon different grades of rehgious thinkers, is estimated by the ruling powers of modern society. When an ignorant and half-savage multitude screams and writhes, and, in convulsive agonies, only to be paralleled in the cells of Bedlam, howls forth supplications "that God will pardon them" for imaginary crimes, the clergy fold their hands, look reverently on, and cry, " Behold the work of the Lord ! " When a broken-hearted mother listens to the telegraphic signals which assure her the child she mourns as lost, still lives and blooms in Paradise, and she dries her tears, and calmly goes forth to proclaim in m.odest and eloquent terms, the fact of immortality demonstrated — that same clergy holds up its hands in holy horror, and cries, " Behold the work of Satan ! " It is time that a discerning public should have the opportunity of pro- nouncing judgment upon both sides of these pictures, and of comparing the theologic with the Spiritual influences prevaiHng during the psychological upheavals of this century. With this view we shall present a few more examples of the celebrated Revival movement in Ireland. A Belfast paper, speaking of Messrs. Ewart's mill, Crumhn Road, says : — " On the morning of Tuesday, in one of the departments of a manufacturing concern, which employs a vast number of workers, male and female, nearly twenty girls were struck down, each in an instant, at their work, several becoming apparently insensible at once, and others uttering agonizing cries for mercy. The scene produced the greatest excite- ment throughout the entire works, and not a little alarm. Cars were provided for those who could not otherwise be removed to their homes, and the rest were assisted out of the premises, and taken to their respective places of abode. Orders were given that the work- rooms should be closed for the day ; hut some additional cases of visitation occurred efoen as the young women were leaving the -place and passing down stairs. Some of those attacked, have not yet been able to return to work. In most cases, on reaching home, the persons afifected, or their friends, sought spiritual, and some of them medical advice ; and when prayer had been offered up, in a majority of instances, speedy relief both from physical and mental sufiPering appeared to be produced. Several of the young women, we have been informed, have found peace, and a number are earnestly seeking it in prayer." " The Rev. J. O'Bi-ien, writing to. the Dublin Express, says : — " ' Mrs. Connor has been one of the most striking cases I have seen. Her bodily affec- tion was very severe. She screamed so as to be heard a quarter of a mile off. She said " she had felt heavy for some days, and had to hold up her heart,'^ putting her hands to her .stomach. She was still in a very weak state. Her husband, who had been a man of very bad character, had been converted also, but was now able to return to his work, and spent all his spare time in trying to convert others.' " " ' He speaks of another who " complained of a burning from her throat down to the bottom of her heart, and said that none but God could do her any good.' ' " The editor of the Ballymena Observer writes : — ii6 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. " ' We went to Ballyclare last night to attend a revival prayer-meeting, and, truly, I cannot understand it. I can only say that '' it is the Lord's doing, and marvellous in our eyes." The scene when we arrived baffles all description. Imagine a large meadow, with an immense multitude of people in all attitudes— some praying, weeping, and cryipg for mercy ; others lying in utter helplessness, only able to utter feebly their entreaties for pardon, surrounded by groups of friends and strangers, all interceding for them, and urg- ing them to call on Christ ; and again, others with their faces beaming with a more than earthly light, listening to the speaker, with rapture, eloquently praising God ; fathers and mothers, tender children and strong men, the infant of a feio years, &nd the grey-haired woman, all equally struck, all equally earnest and eloquent. I saw stalwart men led away as if they were helpless childi-en ; and during the singing of one of the Psalms, a man beside us suddenly burst out into the most terrific cries, running round and round in circles in such a wild manner that it was dangerous tc be in his way — -when his cries changed suddenly into calls on the name of Jesus, and in a few minutes, after the most awful suffering, he fell, unable to stand or even speak. The public-houses are empty, all through the town. There is a prayer-meeting in almost every second house. Groups about the streets are praying or conversing on the all-engrossing topic. Public works are stopped in consequence of this strange and awful manifestation. All places are alike ; people are struck do-wn while following their daily avocations, resting on their beds, or traversing the streets. Among the people the visitation is sudden. The prayers and supplications for mercy by and for the afflicted are, oh, how awfully solemn and earnest ! From being one of the wildest toiuns in the neighbourhood, Ballyclare has become one of the most religious.' " " Dr. Carson, of Coleraine, who has written an excellent pamphlet on the Physical side of the Manifestations, gives the following : — " ' A poor child, I think about seven or eight years of age, came to my house one night at a late hour, and asked to see Mrs. Carson, who had gone to her bedroom. The inter- view was readily gi-anted. The child became affected. Her imploring and heart-rending cries for mercy, for she said she was a sinner on the brink of Hell, were so absolutely dis- tressing that I had to leave the house for a time, as I could not bear to listen to the melancholy tones of her infant voice. The expressions of deep despair on her countenance could not be imitated by the best actor I ever saw on the stage. It was a dreadful scene. In a few hours, the poor child got the most perfect relief, and her countenance appeared almost superhuman with delight. She then began to pray, and her prayer would have melted the heart of a rocL It was so jDOwerful, so fluent, and so full of thought, that it almost looked like inspiration in a child so very young.' " "The Rev. Dr. Spence, of the Poultry Chapel, giving the results of his personal experience, says : — " ' I saw by the countenance of many of them that they were conscious of an unusual joy. I spoke to several of them individually about their spiritual change and their Christian hope. In some cases I could find nx) intelligent foundation for their joy beyond the simple fact that they had been "struck," and by-and-by had found happiness ; but in other cases I found the most profound sense of sinfulness, and the most loving reliance on the Lord. I endeavoured, when I was brought into contact with those who had been " struck," to test in every case the character of the change which had been experienced. The result was various. Sometimes I could find no solid scriptural basis for the transition from sadness to joy ; often, on the other hand, was my own soul refreshed by the simple narra- tive of a deepening sense of personal unworthiness, and a growing experience of the Saviour's grace. There may be ground, however, to fear that in not a few cases feeling alone had to do with the change.' " " Dr. Massie relates of ' M. Napoleon Eoussel, who came to see the revival, that he was full of mistrust, and that he had decided " to surrender his judgment only to evidence, to let no one know his intention of publishing." He describes the physical crisis much as I saw it ; in general consisting ' in wringing of the hands, raising the arms, moving the limbs, or holding the stomach in the hands, in a state of violent despair, or at least of great excitement under a sense of sin.' '' "The Rev. Mr. Tocock writes : — "*I was requested to come to a young boy, in a most frightful state, stricken in a moment, and fearfully distracted, throwing out his arms, and kicking/ toith his feet, and dancing and shaking in great agitation. I told him to be a little calmer, for he would displease the Lord by his conduct ; urged him to look to Jesus, and to pray for pardon ; engaged with him in prayer, he repeating the words ; then we sung, and being aided by tivo young converts, he came to Jesus, and found peace very soon afterwards.' " " From BaUibay it is written : — " ' The church ministers are beginning to join us. Twenty-five fell in one church along with the minister. In another church, there is a hundred of the congregation and the minister converted.' " NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 117 " The Rev. Mr. Steel, of Dairy, describing a meeting at Glengarnock, says : — " ' About ten o'clock, a person rose and said that we ought to kneel and engage in prayer. A working man then rose, and, with a heart like to burst, poured out a most earnest prayer to Almighty God. At the close of the prayer, the whole meeting seemed to be moved by an invisible power. Here and there were persons crying out for mercy, and strong men crying in such a manner as I had never heard before. I have seen persons suffering under various stages of cholera — I have seen much agony in my day, but never such a sight as this.' " ''The Ballymena Observer, describing similar cases, says : — " ' On Sunday evening last, an assemblage numbering 2,000 people, many of them from Ballymena, congregated at a prayer meeting in the open air near KUconriola. The third speaker had nearly concluded his exhortations, when a case of sudden impression, with all the ordinary symptoms, occurred among the audience. The patient was a young woman of the neighbourhood, who had been slightly affected some evenings before, at a meeting near Carncoagh. Some excitement immediately ensued, and other cases folloived in rapid succession. Within half an hour fully twenty people of the audience were laid prostrate ; some of them utterly helpless, and for a time unable to utter anything but incoherent expressions of bodily pain and mental agony. The excitement now became intense, and the scene that ensued baffles all power of description.' " " Mr. Wilkinson, on p. 91 of his volume, ' The Revivals,' says : — ' Let us read the following, which we quote from the Ballymena Observer : — " ' The most extraordinary event of that evening occurred in the case of a mere child, only seven years of age ; a poor barefooted girl, cleanly but indifferently clothed. Without the slightest appearance of any previous agitation, she was struck prostrate in a single moment. For a time her body was found to be perfectly rigid, and her face colourless. On partial recovery she clasped her hands, and, looking up, exclaimed in low accents, " Lord Jesus, have mercy upon me, and bring me to the foot of thy cross ! " For a considerable time she continued to repeat — but in an undertone, " Jesus !'' "Jesus !" "Jesus !" Her fascinated and soul-absorbing look was fixed, far away beyond all spheres ; and the mild, unclouded spiritual light of that unwavering gaze into the heavens will never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. We certainly never saw any condition so manifestly preter- natural ; nor any result so nearly approaching to a practical illustration of the poet's beautiful, though fanciful, idea of the " Angel's whisper to a slumbering baby." The trance-like attitude of body, and the rapt expression of her eye, appeared to favovtr the supposition that a world of glory, invisible to other mortals, had been unveiled to her inner sight, and that, for a temporary 'period, she had been admitted to communion ivith the spirits of the just made perfect. We understand that the girl was restored to nearly her ordinary condition in about an hour. Phenomena analogous to the foregoing came under our personal observation at a house in Alexander Street, in the afternoon of Tuesday last — and it is worthy of special notice that the party affected had never been at any of the revival meetings. We there found an interesting girl, less than eight years of age, and we ascertained that her general character is that of a shy, intelligent, and truthful child — that she is a pupil in the infant department of Guy's free school. When we first saw her she was extended upon a pallet, and slowly recovering from a somnambulic trance, into which she had been instantaneously stricken about five hours previously when in the act of preparation for school. For some time subsequently to the visitation, her eyes were fixed on vacancy, her hands clasped, and her lips moving as in silent prayer. Her arms were frequently elevated, as if to grasp some object immediately in view ; and, on one occasion, she clasped her father's hands, and pointing upward, motioned him to look and pray. At another time she called upon the bystanders to raise her up, in order that she might take hold of some glorious object presented to her imagination. On recovery from this state, she insisted that she had been in the company of superhuman beings in a world of light and blessedness ; and, to the utter amazement of her parents, she affirmed that she had there intuitively recognized her infant brother, who had died eleven months after his birth, and Jive years before she ivas born ! ' " " The following remarkable case is given in a Coleraine paper about the same time. It occurred at Kilconriola : — " ' The person affected was a mamed woman, of middle age. She appeared to be greatly excited and feverish ; her pulse was quick, there was a hectic tinge upon the cheeks, her eyes were bloodshot, and her face was streaming with perspiration, and for the space of fifty- six hours she was unable to taste anything but water. After the first four hours of rack- ing pain and incessant cries for mercy, she remained prostrate for nearly three days in the condition which we have described. During the prostration of this woman her house was visited by hundreds of the neighbouring people. She had never been taught to read or pray, and was unable to distinguish one letter of the alphabet from another, yet she prayed with intense fervency, and exhorted the people to repentance with astonishing fluency and ii8 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. accuracy of speech. This case, like many others, was accompanied by visionary scenes^ — illusions, certainly, but of a very extraordinary character. Among other things she main- tained that a Bible, traced in characters of light, was open before her, and, that, although unable to read, a spiritual poioer had endowed her with capacity to comprehend the meaning of every word in it. It is an undoubted fact that she repeated with literal accuracy, and as if reading from the volume, a very large number of quotations from the Old and New Testament, applying them in an appropriate manner in connection with the prayers wherein she was engaged ! but these perceptions gradually faded in her progress towards recovery, and entirely disappeared on restoration to her ordinary health.' " " The Rev. J. Marrable narrates the following, as occurring under his own eyes : — " ' I was particularly struck with the following case : N. C., not eighteen years of age, was in the act of holding a conversation ivith an invisible Being tvhom she called an "angel." I shall not attempt to describe this scene, or the words she uttered ; but when, in about half an hour, she awoke out of the trance, to see many faces looking in amazement at her, with tears flowing from all eyes, her tongue, which could scarcely articulate plainly before, became loosened, and in the most eloquent manner she addressed all present on the subject of salvation, with an expression of holy joy and gratitude beaming in her intelligent coun- tenance. She continued for several minutes in such eloquent strains that all present were compelled to admit that they had never seen or heard anything like it before. I ivould myself have gone a thousand miles to see this one case, and did not think it possible that the human countenance could be lit up with so sweet and happy an expression of delight.' " " Dr. Massie introduces the following narrative in these words : — " ' On Monday evening we called to visit a little girl in the Commons, called M. E. R. (aged fourteen), who had been labouring under conviction for some days previous. We found her in a melancholy, depressed state, and after conversing with her for a little, we intimated that we would engage in singing and prayer before leaving her. While singing, she fell speechless at our feet, when it was evident to all that she had been deprived of both speech and sight ; her mind, however, was active as ever, and her sense of hearing unimpaired. During the forenoon, Drs. Macaldie and Clarke visited her, and expressed their opinion that none could heal her but the Physician of souls. Later in the day, the dispensary doctor visited her, and endeavoured to restore her by applying remedies to the body, but without effect. About half- past three in the afternoon of the next day, we again visited her, and sung, " Lo ! He comes with clouds descending," and ere this hymn was finished, her tongue was loosed, he reyes we reopened, and she joined us in praising God, This was about four o'clock on the evening of Tuesday — she having been eighteen hours deprived of sight and speech.' " " Dr. Massie proceeds : — " ' In compliance with numerous appHcations upon the subject, we proceed to notice other recent phases of manifestation not less astonishing. Two young unmarried women (whom we shall call Jane, aged eighteen, and Ellen, aged twenty-three) reside at a locality about two miles distant from Ballymena, and within three hundred yards of each other. Both were apparently in good health ; and about a month ago they were stricken with " conviction," accompanied by agonies of conscience and nervous excitement. It would appear, that a species of sympathy became established between them in such a manner, that whatever affected the one party was sure to exercise a corresponding influence upon the other. On Monday, about two o'clock in the afternoon, Ellen, whilst busily engaged at work in her own house, suddenly exclaimed that Jane had become ill — said that her mind told her so, and that she must go and visit her. With that intent she left the house ; and on entering that of her companion, found that she had just fallen into a trance — deaf, dumb, and motionless. Within a minute afterwards, Ellen had fallen upon the floor in a precisely similar condition, and both remained in that state and -position for fully three hours. Both recovered at the same moment, and immediately on their recovery they were separated ; Ellen being forthwith taken to her own house, where she feU upon her knees, and was engaged in prayer for half an hour. To the great surprise of her relatives, she then affirmed that, precisely at four o'clock on the following evening, she would become deaf, dumb, blind, and without power of motion in one side of her body, for the space of six hours, and that she should be restored to her natural condition at ten o'clock. On being asked how she could know that she would be visited in such a manner, she replied, " I cannot explain how I know it ; but my mind tells me that it will surely be as I have said." Every effort was made to remove the impression from the mind of the party thus affected ; and care was taken that Jane should have no information of what had been predicted in reference to her companion. Ellen continued at her ordinary work, and apparently in her usual health, throughout the forenoon of Tuesday ; and the hand of the house clock was secretly put back fifteen minutes in the course of the day. Precisely at the moment when the clock indicated that it wanted a quarter to four, but when the real tinae was fifteen minutes later, Ellen's arms dropped, her eyes closed, and she NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 119 fell from her chair without speech or motion, and in a state of absolute insensibility ! She' was carefully laid upon a bed ; and on examination it was found that the joints of her right arm and leg were perfectly immovable, and rigid as iron. The excitement among the people of the house was naturally very great ; but it was doubled in intensity when intelligence arrived that Jane had fallen into a state exactly resembling that of Ellen, precisely at the same moment that Ellen had been thus affected. " ' In this abnormal condition both women remained for a period of six hours, and both awoke to consciousness, and in the full possession of all their faculties, precisely at the same moment. At five minutes before ten, Ellen's rigid arm regained its natural condition, and she was observed to raise her hand and lay it gently across her breast ; but up till the stroke of the predicted hour, no other change became perceptible. Before the remain- ing strokes of ten had sounded from the clock, she was fully awake ; and her first excla- mation, amid a house then crowded with anxious visitors, was, '' Christ is my Saviour ! He is all and in all ! " It may appear incredible, but the fact is established beyond all controversy, that these identical words were the first uttered by Jane in her own house, three hundred yards distant, as she awoke to consciousness at the same moment ! ' " Dr. Massie relates with great minutiae of detail, many additional cases of a similar character to those already given, together with instances in which the " stricken ones," both male and female, were poor ignorant people — some of them very yomig children, — servants, and workmen, — who could neither read ?ior write, yet, these persons in their " trances," did intelligently read out consecutive verses, and sometimes whole chapters of the Bible, and exhort, pray, and sing, with a fervency and eloquence, not to be equalled by the best cultured ministers of religion. The last cases which we can cite are as follows : — "The Rev. R. Gemmell, after saying, 'With regard to the bodily manifestations, I can give no opinion, nor do I like to hear any opinion, as I beheve no man can give any satis- factory explanation,' gives the following : — " ' A young lad about sixteen years of age was struck down in his own house. It took four strong men to hold him, to prevent him from dashing his brains out on the floor. He continued in this state for several hours. When he recovered, he had lost the poiver of one of his sides, and ivas unable to titter a word distinctly. The third day after, I visited him, about three o'clock ; he was still in the same state, but, to my utter astonishment, when standing at the door at seven o'clock, he came running forward, and shook hands with me, and said, " Sir, I am now quite well !" ' " " Dr. Massie says : — " ' One fearful case was specified to me of an infatuated scoffer, who professed to fall down as an awakened and stricken sinner, while a companion, as depraved, ran to request the attendance of a servant of God. When they came to the spot where the feigned penitent was lying, they found him dead.' " " The Rev. Mr. Moore says : — " ' In my own congregation five or six cases — and some of them very painful — have occurred. We hear occasionally of dreams and visions — the mere drapery of the ivorlc, and the effect of its deep and intense reality — but though beautiful and interesting in themselves, such things are not made much of here, and the less the better.' " " At Paisley, in September, similar cases were frequent. The Rev. Mr. Macgregor says : — " ' Among the young women affected, two were for a time deaf and dumb, and while in this state, their countenances indicated, from their expression, the most joyous happiness. Many of them had been dreaming dreams and seeing visions. It was the case that, tvherever the revivals had arisen, they had dreams and visions, and they were to be regarded as evidence of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.' " " The Rev. Hugh Hunter writes : — " ' It is now nearly five weeks since the Lord's work commenced in good earnest in this neighbourhood. It was going on amazingly in the neighbouring county of Antrim. Every day brought new tales of trances, sleeps, visions, dreams and miracles ; such as, that persons ivho never Jcneio a letter of the alphabet when aivake coidd read the Bible distinctly, sing psalms and hymns, preach, atud pray with ease, eloquence, and fluency.' " " The Rev. J. Whitsitt, of Drum, Monaghan, writes to a friend : — " ' It was true the report which you heard. At one of our meetings for prayer, at which there were a number of convictions, a dark cloud formed on the ceUing, and, in the I20 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. course of a few minutes, a number of forms burst out. One in particular was of human appearance, which passed and repassed across all the lights, and descended to the pew in which a young woman was rejoicing. The appearance lasted for three minutes, or more, produced no terror, but joy, especially among the converts. All present did not see it. Perhaps 300 saw it, and can testify to the reality. I cannot tell what it was ; the substance is in heaven, and will not be visible until the time when " every eye shall see Him." ' " CHAPTER XV. SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONTINUED). Summary of Conflicting Opinions Concerning the Irish Revivals. It cannot be supposed that the mighty wave which had surged over the "stricken" subjects of the Irish Revival, could pass away without calling forth an immense array of diverse opinions from various leading minds, concern- ing the origin and significance of the wonderful movement. As a general rule the attempts to find an adequate cause for the marvels which flooded the land, during the Revival frenzy, may .be classified thus : — 1. The work proceeds from "the Devil." 2. From the Holy Ghost. 3. From interested and artful professional Revival preachers. 4. From mesmerism, hysteria, and other unknown physical agents. About the time when the Irish Revivals were at their height, some scenes of a kindred character, though conducted on a more limited scale, and promptly checked by the officiating ministers of the time, were proceed- ing in some of the rural districts of England, and amongst the lowest of the East-end ragged schools of the metropolis. An able writer in the London Sunday Times thus comments on scenes of this character, of which he claims to have been an eye-witness in a ragged school in St. Giles' on the preceding Sunday. " Here are one hundred and fifty ragged, ill-fed, uneducated little boys and girls, from six to fourteen, kept until after ten at night to listen to a ' deeply impressive ' account of the doings in Ireland, in all their agonising details. "Was there no mercy in the heart of the speaker ? No sense of childhood's weakness ? No thought of the Divine Justice ? And there they were rolling upon the floor, crying out until two in the morning about their sins. Great God ! how art thou insulted. Their sins ! Why surely, if God arose in His anger it would be, not to crush down and agonise these little friendless, hungry, orphaned children, only six years old, who cannot comprehend the meaning of such subjects, but He would rise against the high and the mighty, the men of wealth and statesman power, who, through neglecting their duty, have left these little ones to become the victims of hunger and cold, and hence also the victims of our hard laws, and, to them, cruel institutions. Comments upon such mockery and cruelty are needless." And again : — " I am not dealing unjustly in thus speaking. I see the poor little girl crying in the Irish churchyard ; I see the young women rolling in agony upon the Irish meadows ; I see the ignorant men, the hysterical women, and the fear-struck children in the Irish churches, with horrible anxiety pictured upon their terror-stricken countenances ; and I see the poor little boys and girls in the St. Giles' refuge rolHng upon the floor, then- young hearts filled with fear through the story of Irish madness which, without stint or mercy, had been poured into their ears. Yes, I see all this, and more than this — more v^ ? THE Brothers Ira & W¥ Davenport NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 121 than can now be told ; and then, while listening to the wild screams which burst from the agonized hearts of an ignorant and frenzied people, I hear also, and blended with the screams, the voices of the ' holy men ' — voices of the leaders and teachers in our spu-itual Israel — raised as in thanksgiving to God for aU this agony, which, either in their blindness or through their hypocrisy, they dare to call ' His great mercy.' I hear them pray that the same ' blessing ' may be granted unto us ; and, from aU this, what is it possible to conclude other than that, if they are in earnest, then are they blind also ? but, whether earnest or not, they are endeavouring to inflict upon England one of the heaviest curses that could descend upon a people whose ancestors won freedom alike on the fields of civil and ecclesiastical conflict." Mr. Wilkinson, in his excellent work on " The Irish Revivals," says : — " Archdeacon Stopford of Meath is the champion of the physical mode of accounting for the Revival, whose arguments are the best poised, and sufficiently comprehend those of others having the same views. He does not, however, fail to see 'much good in the movement.' He says, ' Even a stranger cannot fail to be struck with the earnest concern about religion which appears to pervade the people ; as I listened to a street preacher — the best sermon which I heard in Belfast — it was impossible not to be impressed with the earnest and reverent expression of countenance in all the working men and lads who gathered round, perhaps one hundred and fifty in number ; faces so earnest I never saw before in any congregation. From house to house I saw much of the same feeling.' " The question of hysteria has been so widely canvassed, that it is worth while to present the argument as it appears in one of Dr. Carson's excellent letters. Dr. Carson says : — " I see a good deal of time and labour have been spent in asserting, over and over again, that the physical manifestations are neither more nor less than hysteria. Were it not that the public might be misled by the plausible and ostentatious statements which have been put forward on the subject, I would not think of occupying time with its consideration. " There is no reason why the country should be free from hysterical cases now, more than at any other time. Hence,'as might be anticipated, some cases of hysteria are to he met ivith in every district ivhere the Revival has appeared. But the man who will confine his observations to these cases, or confound them with the Revival manifestations, has but a poor capacity for the observation of facts. The fact is, the Revival and hysteria have scarcely any symptoms in common. Any person in the Revival district may easily convince himself of this fact by turning to the article ' Hysteria,' in the first work on the 'Practice of Medicine ' he can lay his hands on. To enter fully into the distinguishing marks of these two affections would extend this letter to an unreasonable length ; but there are two or three features which require to be noticed, and which are capable of being judged by all parties. . . . Hysteria is almost entirely confined to the female sex. It is very common in the female, but so extremely rare in the male, that the late Dr. Hooper, and the present Dr. Watson, of London, in their immense practice, have seen only three cases each, which they could at all compare to hysteria, and these cases occurred in debilitated subjects. ... In regard to the Revival, it occurs chiefly amongst the lower and middle classes of society, who are obliged to earn their subsistence by their daily labour. It is to be found as readUy amongst the hardy inhabitants of country parishes and moun- tain districts, as in towns and sities. If all ages are included, there are very nearly as many males aff'ected by it as females. I have seen and known of an immense number of instances in which the strongest, the stoutest, most vigorous, healthy, and lion-hearted men in the country have been struck doivn like children, and have called, with the most agonising entreaties, for mercy for their souls. How could all this be hysteria 1 " Dr. Watson, an eminent medical practitioner of London, who spent some time in personally examining the condition of many of the Revivalists, arrives at the conclusion that the principal source of the movement is a physical, though unknown agent, and his views are given in the following remarks : — " I now fearlessly state, that, in my opinion, there is a physical, as well as a Spiritual, agent concerned in the Revival. There does not appear to me to be any other rational way 122 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. of accounting for the facts. Whatever I may have been disposed to think at first, I am now fully satisfied the symptoms of a Revival case do not correspond to the efiects which are manifested as the result of mere mental impressions. The unearthly tone of subdued entreaties, and the partial prostration of muscular power in the individual afiected, are very different from the wild screams, and convulsive paroxysms, which arise from sudden mental anguish ; and we cannot consistently refer them to a sudden view of spiritual danger, because the same siidden view of spiritual matters has been revealed to thousands of individuals of different constitutions, at different periods of the history of the ivoiid, without prod/iicirCg the like results. " The explanation by mere mental impressions will not satisfy a close thinker in regard to them. There must be a special physical agent concerned. " This view is greatly strengthened by the way in which the Eevival has travelled. It has foUowed a steady, gradual, and uninterruped course from parish to parish, and district to district. It has travelled almost like a loave. Again, it was observed that the most illiterate convert, ivho had himself been physically affected, had far more poiver in producing the manifestations in the audience, than the most eloquent speaker who could address them. There did not seem to be any proportion between the words uttered by the speakers and the results produced. It looked more like a physical effect produced by individual on individual than anything else. " The idea of exclusive spii-ituality in the Revival would involve us in endless diffi- culties^ which can all be avoided by the simple idea of the double agency. If we do not adopt this view, what are we to do with those cases of deafness, dumbness, blindness, extraordinary visions, and prophesying, wliich have occurred in some localities ? They are not either directly or indirectly the effects of the Holy Spirit. They are entirely owing to the effects of the physical agent on the brain and nervous system. " In regard to the nature of the physical agent, I have no hesitation in acknowledging my utter ignorance. I know of nothing to correspond exactly with it in the whole range of philosophy. "No person but the man who has witnessed them could have any idea of the awful effects produced by a number of Revival cases. A scene like the one which took place on the night in which the new hall in Coleraine was first fiUed with these cases has, perhaps, never been equalled in the world. It was so like the day of judgment, when sinners would be calling on the mountains and the rocks to hide them from the storm of God's wrath, that it struck terror to the heart of the most hardened and obdurate sinner." As the Evangelical views of the causes operating to produce these Revivals, have already been sufificiently hinted at to make the reader aware that a large number of Ministers of the Gospel attributed the above movement to the direct action of the " Holy Ghost," it only remains to call attention to the very suspicious way in which those peculiar demonstrations were received, which in the form of trances, dreams, visions, and prophecies, seemed to be all too dangerously allied to the M^e noir of every denomination, namely modern Spiritualism, a development which might well have been unknown to the poor illiterate subjects of the Irish Revivals, but which was by no means either neiv or strange to the better-informed Doctors, Lawyers, Divines, &c., &c., who watched the Spiritual epidemic of the unmanageable Irish Revivals. Mr. W. M. Wilkinson opens up this question with significant force when he says : — " What are we to think of that class of phenomena, of wliich there are so many instances, in which the converts have fallen into swoons and trances, and into those peculiar states of the organism in which they have seen and described visions of angels and devils — of heaven and of hell — and which were so common, ' that almost every girl now struck in Belfast had visions, and would be greatly disappointed if she had not.' ' There are also very many astonishing statements and events which, some years ago, and in other circumstances, would have been called clairvoyance by those who believed that there was such a mode of obtaining knowledge.' Others, again, who could not read a word in their ordinary state, had a faculty or power, when in this wondrous state, of perceiving in letters of light, and reading whole pages from the Bible ; others of seeing things and persons at distances beyond the ken of natural eyes. . . . " Now, how it has come about we know not, but thesi3 phenomenal aspects of the Revival have brought down upon it, its bitterest opponents, and in view of them, the NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 123 whole movement has been characterised by some reUgious critics as the direct work of Satan, and by the more sceptical as a work of imposture, or as the product of diseased imagination. Here, again, it is to be noted, that at first there are not so many words used against the calm and quiet part of the awakening ; but when it came to pass that its subjects were seers and seeresses no words are strong enough for its condemnation." Again, Mr. Wilkinson in commenting on the pyschical aspect of this movement, and the various phenomena (far too numerous to admit of farther description) which corresponded with the manifestations of Spiritualism, says ; — " In attempting to gather up facts of this nature at a distance from the places of their occurrence we find, of all those who could not in fairness omit noticing them, there is not one who gives them a kindly welcome. Several suppress them altogether, the others have to apologize for them in the best way they can. " The excellent Minister at Connor, when in the great excitement of prostrations and ecstatic phenomena, some similar cases were threatened amongst his flock, set his face against them altogether. Others are blamed for not having followed his plan, which had the good efiect of preventing them. We shall see that they were amenable to this treat- ment, and it is a suggestive fact for our consideration. " In the early days of the excitement arising from these cases, some were made public through the newspapers, and there are others to be found in some of the narratives, but every day they become more difficult of access, as mention of them is seldom made, and it is only from occasional glimpses that we see how common they were — so common, indeed, that they occurred in the majority of the stricken cases, and those who did not have visions, or some of the other extraordinary phenomena accompanying their pros- tration, complained of the deficiency of the Holy Spirit, and feared that their conversion was not complete. . . . " We could have wished that these cases had been as fully stated and as largely investigated as the others, for they form a chapter in the book of man that is worthy the most serious and earnest consideration." We have already extended the notices of this singular movement to so great a length, that we turn, though most reluctantly, from the many suggestive arguments adduced by the author of " The Revival " to show that a great magnetic wave, contagious as magnetism ever is in its effects, world-wide in its centres of evolution, and purely spiritual in its source, underlies these Irish Revivals, just as surely as it does the doings of the Polter Gheist in Germany, the manifestations of clairvoyance in France, or the Rochester Knockings in America. Who can doubt that if this Revival had occurred on Mahometan ground, the visionists would have seen Houris and paradises ; screamed for Mahomet, and sought through him reconciUation with Allah ? Occurring in a land, the very atmosphere of which was saturated with Calvinistic ideas, and governed by a Calvinistic priesthood, the great magnetic influx which poured into the hearts and minds of a naturally impulsive and susceptible race of people, inevitably partook of the dominant religious idea ; and this was so strengthened by the powerful influence of Revival preachers, that it was only now and then that angel faces could look through the theological veil of terror, in which the peasantry were enshrouded, or in rare cases, that true Spiritual mediumship could be unfolded, and triumph over the unreasoning ecstasies of religious gloom and mystery. The sunbeam which gives life to the rose and lights up the blue eye of the violet, quickens the heap of corruption into the life of the foul reptile, and stinging insect. The sun of spiritual existence shines on the just and the unjust, and quickens, but creates nothmg. Thus we may realise by careful research into the fanaticisms of the Irvingites, the abominations of Mormonism, the unnatural asceticisms of Shakerism, and the frenzied agonies of Irish Revivalism that " all are but parts of one stupendous whole" — differences of adjni?iistration, but the same spirit ivorki?ig in all. 124 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. CHAPTER XVI. SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN. — SECOND PERIOD. In searching amongst the scattered records of Spiritual manifestations in England, the historian cannot fail to come to the conclusion that there are two well-defined sources of power which antedated in point of time the introduction of that systematic mode of telegraphy practised by the American mediums who commenced to visit this country in 1852. The first of these was the very general outpouring of Spiritual manifesta- tions noted in preceding chapters, and occurring in the form of haunting isolated phenomena, and Religious Revivals. The second was Animal Magnetism, which, by preparing the world for the study of occult phenomena, and unfolding in many organisms the potencies of clairvoyance and other Spiritual endowments, paved the way for the more pronounced and comprehensive demonstrations of Spiritual Mediumship. From the year 1820 to 1840, numerous gentlemen of learning and high social standing, openly avowed themselves disciples of Mesmeric philo- sophy, and practised with success healing by Animal Magnetism. As experiments of this character were very often productive of clair- voyance, prevision, trance speaking, and even Spiritual seership, a wide- spreading interest began to arise concerning these mysterious potencies. About the year 185 1, a Mesmeric Infirmary was estabUshed in Wimpole Street, of which Drs. EUiotson, Ashburner, Wilson, Haddock, Mrs. De Morgan, and numerous other ladies and gentlemen became patrons and supporters. In this institution, patients were treated by magnetic pro- cesses, and in many instances cures were effected of cases deemed hopeless by the ordinary methods of medical practice. For some years previous to the formation of this establishment, the advocates of Mesmeric philosophy had conducted an excellent periodical entitled the Zoist, in which hundreds of notable experiments were recorded, and the phenomena as well as the facts of magnetic practices were carefully detailed. In view of the persistence with which the columns of the secular journals are open to all manner of communications antagonistic to new discoveries, and new ideas, and closed against their advocates, the publication of the Zoist which was continued for many years, and supported by an able staff of editors and contributors, will be understood to have been the principal means of widening the sphere of knowledge on occult subjects, and preserving many valuable records which would otherwise have been lost to the world. In the initiatory numbers of this journal, Dr. ElHotson, one of its earliest and most distinguished supporters, alleges, that Mesmerism as a recognised "science," was first established in England in 1828, through the influence of an Irish gentleman, a Mr. Chevenix, who after a long residence in Paris, where he had witnessed, and personally assisted at a number of experiments. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. .125 finally began to practise on his own account in Ireland, where he found a fine field for his operations amongst the susceptible peasantry of that country. Drs. McKay, Peacock, Cotter, Gooch ; Mr. Smith, surgeon to the Coldstream Guards ; Professor Gregory of Edinburgh, Drs. Elliotson and Ashburner of London, Dr. John Wilson, physician at Middlesex Hospital, and many gentlemen of equal standing in their profession, who had avowed themselves advocates of Mesmeric practices, succeeded, both in creating a wide-spread public interest in their philosophy, and in awakening the most relentless spirit of antagonism from those who thought proper to range themselves on the opposite side of the question. To those who realise with the author, that Mesmerism has been — humanly speaking — the corner-stone upon which the Temple of Spiritualism was upreared, the following notice of some of the curious experiments recorded in the early numbers of the Zoist, will be of interest. Dr. Ashburner, in reviewing a pamphlet written by Dr. John Wilson of Middlesex Hospital entitled, " Trials of Animal Magnetism on the Brute Creation/' says : — " Dr. Wilson successfully magnetized fish, birds, and savage beasts. I was with him on one occasion at the Surrey Zoological Gardens while honest Mr. Cross was proprietor of the menagerie. The great male elephant was put into a deep sleep by the strenuous and energetic passes of my colleague. The keeper told me, * The Doctor off with his coat, wrought like a Trojan, and got the old animal into a sound sleep and no mistake.' " Mr. Cross had a very savage and irascible hyena. Dr. Wilson mesmerised him, and it was amusing to see the delight of the fierce creature at the Doctor's approach." In the pages of the Zoist will be found an answer to the sneer with which those readers will peruse the above-named experiments who — having found their efforts to stamp out unwelcome facts ineffectual — proceed to depreciate their value by the imbecile query, "What is the use of it?" The icse of Mesmerism is shown, even in the early stage of the movement of which we are writing, by the facts that the Mesmerisers recorded ; namely ; well attested cures of typhus fever in its last and most hopeless stages; con- sumption, dropsy, bronchitis, all manner of nervous disorders, besides many surgical cases. Amongst the latter, is described the perfect cure of a woman, employed in the Hospital at Hoddesden, superintended by the celebrated writer Mrs. Ellis, — who was suffering from a severe case of ovarian tumour, for which in fact she was on the point of submitting to a dangerous and doubtful operation. Dr. Ashburner hearing of her dilemma, persuaded her to try Mesmerism, through the instrumentality of which, she became entirely cured. Several other instances of a similar kind are recorded in the Zoist, including one, of malignant cancer., — a cure so thoroughly well proved, and of such a remarkable character, that we would refer the curious reader to its full details, which may be found given by Dr. ElHotson in the 6th volume of the Zoist, page 213. Mesmeric practices received a strong impulse, especially in the unfoldment of remarkable psychological powers, in the year 1849, by the visit to England of two renowned French clair- voyants, Messrs. Alexis Didier, and Marcellet. Through numerous experiments conducted with these gentlemen, the Magnetizers were enabled to prove, not only that disease could be cured, but that mental power of a highly exalted and wonderful character could be evolved in the magnetic sleep. 126 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. The French clairvoyants were adepts in the examination of obscure diseases, in tracing lost, hidden, and distant objects, also in the faculty of mind reading. The powers thus displayed in the magnetic sleep, were found to be more general than had hitherto been supposed ; hence, clairvoyance, in addition to the healing faculty, became another horn of the dilemma with which the materialistic opponents of the new philosophy found themselves compelled to do battle. To the voluminous writings of Mr. Henry Thompson, Professor Gregory, Mrs. De Morgan, Drs. Earth, Dixon, Elliotson, Ashburner, and Haddock, Mr. Joseph Hands, and above all, to the experiences of Drs. Deleuze and Eisdale, in India, we must refer the readers, desirous to acquaint themselves in farther detail, concerning the origin, practices, and results of Mesmerism in Great Britain. Quite recently — that is, at the present date of writing — the practice of Mesmerism, whether as a curative process, or an agent for the unfoldment of marvellous psychologic powers, has received a most favourable impulse from the writings, lectures, and private practice of Miss Chandos Deigh Hunt (now Mrs. Wallace), a lady who has thoroughly and philosophically mastered as much of the subject as can at present be known or experi- mented with. In a scholarly and exhaustive treatise written by this lady on the Science and Art of Organic Magnetism,* the powers and possibilities of this wonderful mesmeric force are admirably described, and the immense range of operations, both curative and psychologic, which the talented authoress delineates, renders it now, as heretofore, a reproach to the age, that no philanthropic as well as philosophic associations should be formed for the study of the stupendous principles suggested by Mrs. Wallace's writings, and practically taught by her, to all who are interested enough to put vague theory into the form of demonstrable proof. Another valuable work treating of the results, though not of the modus operandi of Mesmerism, is Mrs. De Morgan's work, written quite early in the advent of the Spiritual movement, entitled, " From Matter to Spirit." Our learned authoress says : — "Every wonderful effect produced by mesmerism, has since found its explanation or its counterpart in the spiritual phenomena, so that had unseen powers been working for our instruction, they could not have taken a better method of giving the needful elementary knowledge, than by making us acquainted with the processes and results of Mrs. De Morgan in illustrating the statement given above, cites numerous examples, amongst others, the following experience, recorded by Dr. Jacob Dixon in his published manual, entided " Hygienic Medicine." This author says : — " Persons in some of the highest mesmeric states, appear to have gained an insight into the world of spirit. Of this I had striking experiences long iefore the time of raps, seeing mediums, and mysteries of the present day. " Although I had too many instances of earthly clairvoyance to remain sceptical in that direction, yet I held all belief in intercourse with spirits to be a delusion. This scepticism was first shaken by the following occurrence. * Private Practical Instructions in the Science and Art of Organic Magnetism. By Miss Chandos Leigh Hunt. Philanthropic Beform Publishing Office, 2, Oxford Mansion, Oxford Circus, London, W. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 127 " Being invited to see a young lady in a clairvoyant state, in which she professed to see and converse with spiritual beings, I entered the room after she had been put in the mesmeric state, whilst my name was not even mentioned or my presence known. . . . At length my friends asked, whether she could look for any spirit for the party sitting beside her. She would try. I mentioned two names without giving age, sex, or relation- ship to myseK. " She then said : ' / mn now in a garden quite fvU of flowers. There is a group of children} Ttoo come oid of the group. The girl is the oldest. They are ten and eight years' old.' She then described perfectly eveiy feature of the two children I had asked for, dwelling with animation on their beautiful appearance and surroundings. The ages she mentioned, however, were much in advance of the reality. " When I remarked this she said : ' They say that I see them as they are now, you must remember, that they have been here some time.' " The writer adds — " It then appeared that the ages she mentioned woxild have been exactly correct had the two remained on earth." In the year 185 1, there was a society organised in England for the purpose of collecting and examining evidence into the alleged facts of " Supernatural- ism." In relation to this society, called in the usual tone of popular derision, " The Ghost Club," Mr. Robt. Dale Owen in his exhaustive work, " Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World," speaks as follows : — " A society was formed in the latter part of the year 1851 at Cambridge, by certain members of the University, for the purpose of instituting, as their circular expresses it, * a serious and earnest enquiry into the nature of the phenomena vaguely called supernatural.' The society included some of the most distinguished members of the University, most of them clergymen and fellows of Trinity College, and almost all of them men who had graduated with the highest honours. " The names of the more active amongst them were kindly furnished to me by the son of a British peer, himself one of the leading members. " To him also I am indebted for a copy of the printed circular of the Society, an able and temperate document, which will be found at length in the Appendix.* " Mr. Owen adds in a footnote to page 34 : — " The Society popularly known as ' The Ghost Club,' attracted a good deal of attention outside its own circle. Its nature and object came to my knowledge through the Bishop of , who took an interest in its proceedings, and bestirred himself to obtain contribu- tions to its records." Although we may often encounter in future chapters some of the individual members of this association of investigators, our notice of their combined researches must terminate here, hence we deem it not entirely out of place to anticipate by a few years the effect which those researches must have produced upon some at least of its members, when we give as the addenda to the subject, the following extracts from the London Sp'rifua/is^ nev/spa,per, dated April nth, 1879 : — "An Address by Mr. James Campbell. — Mr. J. A. Campbell, President of the Cam- bridge University Society for Psychological Investigation, will read a paper next Monday week, April 21st, at one of Mrs. Makdougall Gregory's evening receptions. There wiU be a large and influential gathering of Spiritualists and non- Spiritualists, the latter of whom will have an opportunity of learning that Spiritualism is not what it is represented to be by daily newspapers. The title of Mr. Campbell's address will be, ' The Record of the Seers concerning the Great Change.' " . * Appendix. Note A. " Footfalls on the Boundary of another World." By R. D. Owen. 128 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. In the Spiritualist of the same date, is an address from Mr. Camp- bell entitled : — The history of the movement known as Modern Spiritualism, and the facts and theories connected with it, by J. A. Campbell ; President of the Cambridge University Society for Psychological Investigation. Mr. Campbell's speech, although a most excellent one, would only anticipate statements which the progress of the history itself must unfold — but its presentation some twenty years or more after the formation of the society of which he was and we believe is still the honoured President, is noticed now to show that the subject has not proved an evanescent one, or unworthy the consideration of eminent and learned scholars during a period of nearly a quarter of a century. CHAPTER XVII. spiritualism in great BRITAIN. second period (continued). American Spirit Mediums in England. Hitherto our history of the Spiritual movement in Great Britain has followed the waymarks made by an invisible host in the production of spontaneous and unsought phenomena. We must now proceed to consider those results which grew out of the invocatory processes of the Spirit circle, and the agency of acknowledged Spirit Mediumship. Long before the rumour reached England of the American disturbances called the " Rochester Knockings," the practices of " table turning " by what was supposed to be will power, were quite popular in many a fashion- able circle. That these curious evidences of an unknown force had any connection with the agency of "disembodied spirits" never seemed to enter the imagination of " table turning " experts, until the advent in England of Mrs. Hayden, an American lady, who came to this country on a professional tour, in company with her husband and a business agent — as an avowed medium for comviujzications between earth and the world of disembodied spirits. Very shortly after the advent of the " Rochester Knockings " in New York State, America, Mrs. Hayden, the wife of a respectable journalist, found herself the subject of the same strange rappings connected with intelli- gence, which distinguished the earUest American Mediums. Having been induced to sit for the public as a professional Medium, Mrs. Hayden was visited by a Mr. Stone, an English gendeman on a tour through the United States. Mr. Stone received such striking tests of Spirit presence through Mrs. Hayden's mediumship, that in 1852 he persuaded her to accompany him to England, never doubting that his own countrymen would become as much interested in the results of her marvellous gifts as he himself had been. ■^ K Alfred Russell Wallace, f.r.gs. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 129 In all the accounts published of early Spiritualism in England, Mrs. Hayden is mentioned as the Medium who first introduced the American system of communicating with Spirits through the alphabet and rappings, and strange as it may appear to thoughtful minds that any human beings could do otherwise than hail with delight a system of telegraphy which restored to the mourner his beloved dead, and converted the mere hope of immortality into demonstrated proof, it is nevertheless an historical fact, that an avowed Medium for Spiritual communications no sooner appeared on the scene, than the leaders of the press, pulpit and college, levelled against her a storm of ribaldry, persecution and insult, alike disgraceful to themselves, and humiliating to the boasted liberalism and scientific acumen of their age. From the author's personal knowledge of Mrs. Hayden, she is convinced that her gentle womanly spirit must have been deeply pained, and the harmony of mind so essential to the production of good psychological results constantly destroyed, by the cruel and insulting treatment she received at the hands of many of those who came, pretending to be investigators, but in reality burning to thwart her, and laying traps to falsify the truths of which Mrs. Hayden professed to be the instrument. Sensitively alive — as all mediumistic persons are — to the animus of her visitors, she could feel, and often writhed under, the crushing force of the antagonism brought to bear upon her, without, — at that time — knowing how to repel' or resist it. In those early days of the movement, the Mediums had neither the advantage of experience nor precedent in such embarrassing circumstances. Oppressed as they were by the opposing force which was purposely arrayed against them, their distress of mind only served to complicate the mental inharmony of the surroundings, and make it most difficult for Spirits to construct those delicate psychologic batteries, upon which the success of the communion depends. We all acknowledge that the most carefully prepared and chemically adapted elements are necessary to evolve the force of electricity, and promote a perfect result from the formation of a battery, yet, we overlook the fact, that the mental and spiritual telegraph must work through laws just as absolute, and whilst men ruthlessly invade those laws and destroy the equilibrium under which that battery works, they triumphantly regard failure as an evidence that no such battery was in existence at all. We not only know better now, but with all that tendency to exaggeration which marks the crises of man's ignorance and fanaticism, too many Spiritualists of the present day rush into the opposite extreme, and endeavour to palliate the most daring frauds, by pretending that sceptical minds and antagonistic forces have compelled detected impostors to prepare masks and other paraphernalia to personate spirits, when injurious conditions prevented their materializing, &c., &c. That the real truth lies between the extremes of antagonism on the one hand, and wilful imposture on the other, none can doubt. In Mrs. Hayden's time, there is good reason to believe that the occasional failures which occurred at her circles, were the result of cunningly prepared traps to involve the inexperienced medium in contradictory statements, and when once the would-be detectives thought they had succeeded in these notable plots, the columns of the public journals were filled with triumphant accounts of " the entire collapse of the Spirit rapping delusion." As an illustration both of the spirit of the times, and the manifest injury to Mediumship, which determined antagonism can exercise, we give a few 9 I30 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. extracts from a little work which the writer has wisely bequeathed to posterity in an ajionymous form. Doubtless "he builded wiser than he knew," and whilst his evil record serves the purpose of preserving both sides of the shield of history, he is spared the disgrace of sending down his name to posterity, branded with the tokens of folly his writings display. The title of the work is " Spirit Rapping in England and America," and the author after a derisive and perverted account of the American manifes- tations, goes on to detail the incidents of a seance which he professes to have held with Mrs. Hayden shortly after her arrival in London in 1852. Let the reader picture to himself the poor Medium, leaving the pleasant homes of New England, and establishing herself in the proverbially cold and cheerless shelter of a London lodging-house, in the "pea soup" atmosphere of a London November, and amongst a people not, at thai time, particularly in favour of " Yankee speculators." Sneering scoffers of the " gent " order, as described by the late witty writer, Albert Smith 3 insolent aristocrats seeking for a new sensation and dividing their interest between wrenching off door-knockers at night, and Yankee Spirit rappers " by day ; ghb press men bound to supply a funny item, and not caring if the fun is made out of the souls of their ancestors, so long as they were employed to indite journalistic satire against an unpopular thing — these were amongst the daily visitors of the poor foreigner, whose power to satisfy their demands depended upon the most peaceful and harmonious conditions of mind and body. When we add to this, that the Medium herself was as much a tyro in the means of producing success- ful manifestations, as those who sought her, the marvel is that any Spirit short of a Mephistopheles or Lucifer, could be enabled to rap out names and dates correctly at all. If the reader has fully possessed himself of the conditions under which the first Spiritual telegraphic messages were pro- duced in London, he need not be surprised at the results obtained, as narrated in the anonymous work which we are now about to quote. After a great deal of circumlocution of an unimportant character, the reader is informed that the visitors were "Brown " and "Thompson;" names no doubt meant to imply that they were assumed to mask two very illustrious personages. After all sorts of derisive remarks about the Medium's lodging and surroundings, these gentlemen proceeded to hold a seance, of which the following extract is a specimen : — " At length, getting too weary of the scene to pursue it farther, ' I wish,' said Brown, ' to ask some questions concerning the future ; can the spirits answer them without your knowing what they are ? ' 'If they cannot, they will be silent,' said the medium, ' some- times they do so. Try.' ' As they are questions which I should not like to ask in public, will they see them written on paper?' '0 yes.' Brown wrote down very clearly: ' Shall I soon be married ? ' ' Will the spirits answer this question ? ' Rat-tat-tat. ' Is " yes " the answer ? ' Rat-tat-tat. ' How many children shall I have 1 ' was written next. Brown saying ' This is a question that must be answered in numbers. Does the spirit see it ? ' Rat-tat-tat. ' Can it answer me ? ' Rat-tat-tat. And so the spirit answered by the usual process, 'One hundred and thirty-six.' When the 1 was obtained, and then the 3 to go next to it, and then the 6 to go after that, the rapid growth of Brown's family amused Thompson, and the imminent carrying on of the sum into thousands was prevented by his ill-timed mirth. The production of children by Brown stopped, therefore, prematurely, at the number of one hundred and thirty-six. " The medium, who always asked whether the answers fitted, and who did not clearly know whether she might not be succeeding vastly, although she evidently felt a little puzzled by the sense that she was not doing so well as might be expected, was now re-assured by the reverent tone in which the too explosive Thompson asked whether the spirits of his sisters were in the room. His only sister being in vigorous health, he did not expect her ghost ; but it was there, and very prompt to answer him. How long had she been dead ? Two years. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 131 " So the dreary labour was continued ; but we cannot fatigue our readers with the whole monotony of a sitting that was not enlivened by one happy guess." "Brown" cursorily remarks, among other contemptuous comments on this scene, that Mr. Stone, the party who had undertaken the management of the seances, enquired if they were satisfied, and offered if otherwise to give another seance free, to which the said Brown only adds in his gracious way, " But we had seen enough," and so there was nothing more to do than to show up the whole thing as "a humbug, through the medium of the press." The late Judge Edmonds, of New York, assured the author, that he did not dare to make up his mind definitively upon so unprecedented, and important a subject, until he had attended at least one hundred circles, and seen some fifty Mediums for various forms of Spiritual power. " It was through such methods of investigation as these," said this learned 'jurist, "that I at length became convinced of the fact that the soul of man is immortal, can and does communicate, and that we are even now standing in the dawn of a great and wonderful day of Spiritual science. This know- ledge so invaluable, and opening up possibilities so unUmited, is surely worth more than the cost of one hundred hours out of any man's life, however exigea?it the demands upon his time may be." " But Judge Edmonds was a crazy SpirituaHst," answers Brown. "Thompson and I spent one hour with a mejiuni, and found it all false ; what are his hundred hours' experiences compared to our one ? " Shortly after this, a favourable report appeared in the Leader, in which a party of ladies and gentlemen who had engaged Mrs. Hayden to attend in their own house, bore testimony to her entire honesty, the excellence of the tests they had received, and the utter impossibility of her agency in producing either the sounds, movements, or intelligence ; whereupon certain gentlemen of the press, who seemed to have made it their special duty " to explode the thing," proceeded to the accomplishment of their creditable work in the way recorded as follows. " Mr. Lewes," the Leader's editor, or representative, was the party from whom the annexed report proceeded. He says, in the work on " Spirit Rapping," above alluded to : — " Before I had witnessed these ' astounding phenomena,' I had formed an hypothesis of the whole process, which turned out to be accurate. It did not seem in the least sur- prising to me that the questioner should be correctly answered, even when asking questions mentally, of which no living soul but his own knew the answer. I invariably said : ' The cause of your delusion is that you direct your attention to the i king said, and not to the loay in which it is said. Whatever the trick may be, it will be just as easy to answer a question of one kind as of another — the nature of the question has nothing to do with it. If you ask where your grandfather died, his death being a mystery to the whole world, the answer is as easy as if you ask where Napoleon died ; because as it is you who really give the answer, not the medium, what you have in your mind is what will turn out to be the answer. You assure me solemnly that you do not tell the medium anything ; I declare unequivocally that you do. It is the same in cases of clairvoyance : you tell all, and fancy you are told. You do not tell it in so many words, but unconsciously you are made to communicate the very thing you believe is communicated to you.' . . . " I had formed an hypothesis, and according to that hypothesis I framed certain traps into which the medium would infallibly fall if my supposition were correct ; the hypothesis and the traps I explained to certain friends before the experiment was made, and the result not only fully confirmed expectation, but showed what was certainly not anticipated — viz., that the trick was a miserably poor one. " Our party comprised Mr. and Mrs. Masters, Sir WilKam, Mr. Purcell, and myself (for obvious reasons, the names given are fictitious, except my own). It was after dinner, and we were smoking our cigars, when the footman announced that Mrs. Hayden was in the 132 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. drawing-room. "We soon joined her there, and found her talking to Mrs. Masters about the ' spirits,' in the most easy, familiar way — indeed, she always spoke of them without awe, but with implicit confidence — as if they had been pet monkeys. The conversation soon became general, as we formed a circle round the table. It of course turned upon the ' Manifestations,' and Mrs. Hayden was copious ia anecdotes (adroitly mingled with aristocratic and well-known names) of the surprising success which had attended her. At last, the rappings having announced that the ghosts were impatient to do something for the money jjaid, we took our cards, on which the letters of the alphabet, and the numerals from one to ten, were printed, and the seance began. " Sir William was the first. He thought of one dead. On asking whether the person he was then thinking of was present, an alacrity in rapping assured him of the fact. He took his card ; the raps were distinct ; but the letters were all wrong. He tried another spirit — again the letters indicated were wrong. He tried a third, but a third time nothing came right. I was beginning to get anxious lest repeated failures should alarm the medium, and make her give some evasive excuse ; so I suggested that Mr. Masters should try. He tried — but with the same desperate ill success. It was now my turn. Let me pause here to remark that both Sir William and Mr. Masters were determined to give no clue whatever — they remained purely passive, awaiting a result ; they passed their pencils along the alphabet with such terrible uniformity that the medium was reduced to vague guessing, and of course in each guess it was thirty-five to one against her. This was what I had anticipated ; but it was only negative evidence, and I was to elicit some- thing positive. " I thought of a relative of mine, and said aloud, ' I should Hke to know if she is present.' Rapping answered ' Yes.' Observe, the person I thought of was a real person — I was planning no trap this time, because the experiment was to be every way conclusive. I passed my pencil equally along the alphabet without once lingering, until after I had passed the letter J, with which her name began. Finding that I was not to have the real name, I thought I would try if I could not make the raps answer where I pleased. I chose N. Eaps came ; N was written down. What name, thought I, shall it be ? Naomi or Nancy ? Before I had finally settled, my pencil had passed A, and as I saw E, I determined E should be the letter, and E was indicated. N E, of course, would do for Nelly, and Nelly was spelled ! Then came the surname, which ought to have begun with H ; but as my pencil did not linger at H, on we passed until we came to S, which was indicated without any intention on my part. I had then to inyent some name beginning with S, which was not done at once, from the very embarras de richesses ; however, I thought would do, and was indicated ; then E, ; and after that I resolved the name should be Sorel. It is unnecessary to follow further thus in detail my first trial ; enotigh if I add, that Nelly Sorel informed me she died in 1855, leaving six children, two of whom were boys, the eldest fourteen — every answer beiag ludicrously wrong, but declared by me to be ' astonishing,' which declaration was accepted in perfect faith by the medium, who thought she had got one good, credulous listener, at all events. That was my object — to make her fall into my trap it was necessary she should believe I was her dupe. " As far as my hypothesis went, it was confirmed by this conversation. I knew that it was the questioner who suppHed the answer, and I made the answer turn out whatever I pleased— not, be it remembered, having that answer originally in my mind, so as to admit of any pretended 'thought reading' — but framing the answer according to the caprice of the moment, and invariably receiving the answer I had resolved on. Now you have only to replace acted creduhty by real credulity, and the trick is explained. What I did consciously, the credulous do unconsciously. I spelled the words, so do they. The medium knows nothing ; she guesses according to the indications you give, and only guesses right when you give right indications ; therefore, if you ask what you and you alone can answer, she will answer it only on the supposition that you indicate by your manner what the answer is. But if any doubt lingers in your mind, let this my second trial suffice. " To show how completely the answers are made at random, when no clue is given, but only a ' yes ' or ' no ' is required, here are four questions I wrote on a piece of paper, and the answers I received : — " ' Had the ghost of Hamlet's father seventeen noses ? ' Yes. " ' Had Semiramis ? ' Yes. " ' Was Pontius Pilate an American ? ' No. " ' Was he a leading tragedian ? ' Yes. " I thought Mr. Purcell would have had a stroke of apoplexy, when I showed him these questions ; how he restrained the convulsion of laughter is a mystery ! " Let me not forget, that when Mr. Purcell caUed up a spirit, the answers were tolerably correct, not quite, but stUl near enough to be curious to one unsuspicious ; he confessed afterwards, however, that he had semi-consciously assisted the medium ; but, in NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 133 his second conversation, he called up the spirit of an old family servant, who, at an advanced age, married an elderly woman, and who subsequently drowned himself. These were the questions and answers as written down : — " ' Does James miss his children ? ' Yes. (Never had any.) " ' How many had he ? ' Yes. " ' How many boys ? ' Yes. " ' What did he die of ? ' Wafer. " To explain this ' wafer,' it may be observed, that Mr. Purcell meant the death to be called water on the chest, which was his fallacious hint by way of an explanation of drowning ; and, when he said aloud that the word was incorrectly spelled wafer, whereas it ought to have been ' water on the chest,' Mrs. Hayden pointed triumphantly to the accuracy, ' Only one letter wrong, you see ; tvafer instead of water ! ' and she referred to this several times in the course of the evening. " I have not half exhausted my stock of questions and answers written down at the time ; but the foregoing will surely suffice ; and, should they be deemed inconclusive, perhaps this one will close the question. As I had been so very successful in getting correct answers, and was evidently regarded by the spirits with singular partiality, they never declining to answer any question I put, it occurred to me to write this question ou my paper, which I showed to Mr. Purcell : — " ' is Mrs. Hayden an imjpostor ? ' "An unequivocating Tes, was the answer ; and, to make assurance doubly sure, Mr. Purcell affected not to hear that answer ; so we repeated the question, and again were assured that she was an impostor. This was the most satisfactory answer of the evening, and I felt very sorry that the medium was a woman—not a man, to whom I could have said, ' I asked the spirits if you were an impostor, and you hear them declare you to be one.' For I must plainly say, that a more ignoble imposture than this spirit manifestation never came before me — and that was the opinion of the whole party. It is easy for the reader to convince himself of this by a similar process." " In the following number of the Leader the editor observed : ' Iconoclasts are generally welcomed with abuse from devotees. Entering the temples of superstition and charlatanism, they smite the hideous idols from their pedestals, amidst the bowlings of indignant worshippers. It was to be expected, therefore, that in exposing the imposture of spirit manifestations which America has shipped for our guUible market, we should have to bear hard words and worse insinuations from indignant dupes ; and what we expected we have received.' ■' ' Dr. Ashburner, for example, has felt himself personally insulted, and has written an insulting letter, complaining of the " flippant " treatment this " very sacred subject " received at our hands, but as he opposes our experimental ^roo/ by nothing stronger than his own emphatic assertion, he cannot expect those who reason, to attach much weight to mere declarations.' " The portion of Dr. Ashburner's letter above alluded to, quoted by the veracious editor of the Leader, reads as follows : — "Sex ought to have protected her from injury if you gentlemen of the press have no^ regard to the hospitable feelings due to one of your own cloth, for Mrs. Hayden is the wife of a former editor and proprietor of a journal in Boston, having a most extensive circulation in New England. I declare to you that Mrs. Hayden is no impostor, and he who has the daring to come to an opposite conclusion must do so at the peril of his character for truth. I defy Mr. Lewes or any one else to prove the acts of imposition or fraud in the phenomena that require the presence of such a medium as Mrs. Hayden for their development. I have calmly, deliberately, and very cautiously studied this subject. It may please superficial thinkers to treat it as they long treated Mesmerism and clair- voyance. The fire from the Zoist, the researches of Baron Von Reichenbach, Mr. Butter's important discovery of the magnetescope, have settled, for posterity, the questions scouted by the twaddling physiologists of this generation. A battle is to be fought for the new manifestations. I have no hesitation in saying that, much as I have seen of Mesmerism and of clairvoyance — grand as were my anticipations of the vast amount of good to accrue to the human race, in medical and physical improvement, from the expansion given to them by the cultivation of their extensive relations — all sink into shade and comparative insignificance, in the contemplation of those consequences which must result from the spirit manifestations. This is a very serious truth, and must and will force its way. Animal magnetism and its consequences appeared marvellous to petty minds. The spirit manifestations have, in the last three weeks, produced miracles, and many more will, ere long, astound the would-be considered philosophers, who may continue to deny and sneer at the most obvious facts. I am. Sir, your obedient servant, "York Place, March 14th, 1853."' "John Ashburneb. 134 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. No reformers who have attempted to present a new idea to the world^ and been compelled to run the gauntlet of ignorance and prejudice, will fail to acknowledge that antagonism is as necessary to ultimate success, as ready acceptance. So did it prove in the case of Spiritualism and " the American Medium." The attacks upon her so deliberately planned, carried out with utter dis- regard to all psychological influence, and subsequently so rudely and inhospitably trumpeted abroad as the blow which was for ever to crush out of existence the supernaturalism of thousands of years, had the effect which wise invisible ivire puller?, might possibly have foreseen. It called into print a perfect flood of testimony of a totally opposite character, and so far from crushing out the " delusion " by one fell swoop of the editorial pen, it became a hydra-headed messenger of an established Spirit telegraphy, to thousands of persons, who would otherwise have never known of its existence. From multitudes of letters which poured in from every quarter in favour of the truth of the manifestations, letters which the press were at that time compelled to place side by side with the opposing testimony, we select the following as specimens of what calm deliberative minds were — even in that early day — impelled to think of the newly-developed telegraphy. Both the following letters were printed in the Leader., in connection with reiterated charges on the part of the editor, against " the fraudulent practices of the American Medium." " Sir, — Having observed in your journal of the 5th instant a statement respecting the alleged spirit manifestations, from a correspondent who appears to have but partially investigated the matter, I take the liberty of transmitting to you a few additional particulars. " I, upon the iirst occasion, called the spirit of an old servant —the experiment was unsatisfactory ; I then attempted to help him, but got on with difficulty ; had I had the inclination, I feel confident answers could have been obtained equally absurd as those your correspondent prides himself with having so ingeniously succeeded in obtaining. " I, however, did not throw discredit on, or treat with scorn, the experience of others ; I, therefore, determined to try again the nest evening, believing that the failure rested either in myself or some other unknown cause. I called the spirits of two of my own nearest relations, who might naturally be supposed to be more intimately connected with myself ; they both presented themselves, giving proofs of their identity which could never have occurred to me to seek. I tested them in various ways. I was also anxious to ascertain whether by willing strongly, and dwelling upon wrong letters, I could obtain false answers, but failed to influence them in any way whatever, whether the alphabet was placed upon, or concealed under, the table, and at each of the several successive interviews the rapport appears to be more thoroughly established ; whether I ask questions audibly or mentally, concise and clear answers are given, excepting in some few instances when no reply can be obtained. " So far as the moving of the table is concerned, I obtained my request, during the second interview, in so satisfactory a manner, that I consider time may be more profit- ably employed than in seeking a repetition of it ; it moved out of reach of Mrs. Hayden, and soon after suddenly regained its former position ; it also moved upon its axis in a peculiarly smooth, gliding manner ; not the top only, but the whole table, as I particularly observed, commencing with an almost invisible motion until it gained a rapid pace, and stopped suddenly. I immediately endeavoured myself to produce a similar motion, but was unable. " I will conclude by stating, that I have reason to consider Mrs. Hayden to be a lady possessed of courage, but, having a delicate and sensitive mind, any insults directed against her, whether personally or through the medium of the press, may be likely to have a tendency to disarrange and interrupt that subtle and mysterious agency so intimately connected with our higher nature. May I venture to recommend those who determine to investigate for themselves, to refrain from publishing the crude ideas of one hour's experience, especially should they arrive at conclusions opposite to those of the thousands who have been making the subject their earnest and constant study during the past five years ? I am, sir, your obedient servant, "March 21, 1853." " C. F. I.* '^' Sir Charles Isham. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 135 Another letter makes us acquainted with a novel mode of Spirit writing by medium intervention : — " Sir, — Permit me, if you conveniently can, the opportunity of affording Mr. Lewes a peg on which to hang a few shreds of additional comments, in defence of his ' hypothesis' relative to the spirit-rapping ' imposture.' Mr. Lewes does not hesitate to impute, by anticipation, imposture to others, nor to ' act ' an imposture himself ; why should ' the spirits ' be denied their revenge upon him ? Are there no wags out of the body as well as in it ? Are we to dictate to the wag above how he is to treat the wag below ? " But, further, Mr. Lewes's hypothesis does not cover the whole facts of the pheno- mena. It does in no way explain the unexceptionably attested cases, recorded in the American literature on the subject, and in the records of private investigation, into which the vulgar notion of imposture, besides being excluded by the very nature of the occurrences described, is, on other grounds, wholly inadmissible. How, for instance, does it apply to the following case ? — A pair of scissors is held, by the points, by a • medium,' over a sheet of writing-paper. One of the persons present drops a pencil into the thumb- hole of the scissors. Presently, the pencil stands apart from the steel, begins to move, and the hand of the medium is carried across the paper, and the signature of a person known to be dead appears ! The father, or other near relative of the person is present, and, from some peculiarity in it, disputes the genuineness of the signature. The recent letters of the person are appealed to, and there the very same peculiarity is found, and the exact correspondence of the two signatures demonstrated. " This case Ls reported in Horace Greeley's paper, the Tribime, and he voiiches for the honour and capacity of his correspondent, who gives the original letter of the father, or relative of the alleged spirit writer, I mention it from memory, but am certain the main facts of the record are as stated. " A.+ " Liverpool, March 21, 1853." The next sword that was aimed against the new faith was drawn from an unexpected quarter, namely, by the hand of Dr. Elliotson, one of the most prominent writers in the Zot'sf, and a gentleman whose extensive experiences in mesmeric and psychologic phenomena suggested the expec- tation, that he would be prompt to welcome a phase of power so nearly related to many of the mental revealments that must have come under his own observation. We do not pause upon the stern and relentless acts of warfare which this gentleman directed against the American Medium, nor is it necessary to say that his adherence to the ranks of the opponents was all the more eagerly welcomed by them, because they had anticipated from Dr. Elliot- son's antecedents, a totally different result. It is a far pleasanter task to the author to record, instead of the harsh diatribes pubHshed in the Zot's^ by this ever faithful soldier of what he beUeved to be the truth, a delightful interview which she enjoyed with this venerable gentleman when, nearly sixteen years after the period now under consideration, Dr. Ashburner invited the author to call with him upon an aged and infirm gentleman unable himself to go through the ceremony of the first call, but who, as a warm and devoted Spiritualist of ma?iy years stafiding, was all anxiety to welcome and co?iverse with Mrs. Emma Ilardinge, or any of the ivell-knowfi American Mediums of the holy faith. This " aged and infirm gentleman " was Dr. Elliotson, once the bitter foe, now the warm adherent of Spiritualism, a faith which the venerable gentleman cherished as the brightest revelation that had ever been vouch- safed to him, and one which finally smoothed the dark passage to the life beyond and made his transition, a scene of triumphant faith and joyful anticipation. t Mr. Andrew Leighton, 136 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. CHAPTER XVIII. SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONTINUED). Besides the Leader., Zoist, and Household Woi^ds, the columns of several of the London journals began to be filled with/r " This apj)earance drew a general exclamation from all the party. Sir Charles Wyke now entered the cabinet and sat between the two young men, his hands being right and left on each, and secured to them. The doors were then closed and the Babel of sounds recommenced. Several hands appeared at the orifice, amongst them the hand of a child. After a time. Sir Charles returned amongst us and stated that whUe he held the two brothers, several hands touched his face, and pulled his hair ; the instruments at his feet crept up, played round his body, and over his head, one of them lodging eventually on his shoulders. During the foregoing incidents the hands which appeared were touched and grasped by Captain Inglefield, and he stated that to the touch they were apparently human hands, though they passed away from his grasp. " I omit mentioning other phenomena, an account of which has been rendered elsewhere. " The next part of the seance was performed in the dark. One of the Messrs. Daven- port and Mr. Fay seated themselves amongst us. . . . Two ropes were thrown at their feet, and in two minutes and a haK they were tied hand and foot, their hands behind their backs, bound tightly to their chairs, and their chairs bound to an adjacent table. While this process was going on, the guitar rose from the table and swung or floated round the room and over the heads of the party, slightly touching some. Now a phosphoric light shot from side to side over our heads, The hands and shoulders of several were simultaneously touched or struck by hands, the guitar meanwhile sailing round the room, now near the ceihng, now scuffling on the head and shoulders of some luckless wight. The bells whisked here and there, and a Kght murmuring was maintained on the violm. " The two tambourines were rolled hither and thither on the floor, now shaking violently, now visiting the knees and hands of our circle, all these foregoing incidents being simultaneous. Mr. Rideout, holding a tambourine, requested it might be plucked from him, when it was almost instantaneously taken. At the same time Lord Bury made a similar request, and a forcible attempt was made to pluck a tambourine from his grasp, which he resisted. " Mr. Fay then asked that his coat should be removed. " We heard a violent twitch and here occurred a most remarkable fact. A light was struck before the coat had quite left Mr. Fay's person, and it was seen quitting him, and plucked off him upwards. " It flew lip to the chandelier, where it hung for a moment and then fell to the ground. Mr. Fay was seen meanwhile bound hand and foot as before. One of our party now divested himself of his coat, and it was placed on the table. The hght was extinguished and this coat was rushed on to Mr. Fay's back with equal rapidity. " During the above occurrences in the dark, we placed a sheet of paper under the feet of the two operators, and drew with a pencil an outhne around them, to the end that if they moved it might be detected. " They of their own accord offered to have their hands filled with flour, or any similar substance to prove they made no use of them, but this precaution was deemed unnecessary ; NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 155 we required them however to count from one to twelve repeatedly that their voices con- stantly heard might certify to us that they were in the places where they were tied. Each of our own party held his neighbour so firmly that no one could move without two adjacent neighbours being aware of it. At the termination of this seance, a general conversation took place on the subject of what we had witnessed. " Lord Bury suggested that the general opinion seemed to be that we assure the Brothers DavenjDort and Mr. Fay that after a very stringent trial and strict scrutiny of their proceedings, the gentlemen present could arrive at no other conclusion than that there was no trace of trickery in any form, and certainly there were neither confederates nor machinery, and that all those who had witnessed the results would freely state in the society in which they moved that so far as their investigations enabled them to form an opinion, the phenomena which had taken place in their presence were not the product of legerdemain. This suggestion was promptly acceded to by all present. " Before leaving this question, in which my name has accidentally become mixed up, I may be permitted to observe that I have no belief in what is called ' Spiritualism,' aud nothing I have seen inclines me to believe in it — indeed the puerility of some of the demonstrations would sufficiently alienate such a theory, but I do believe that we have not quite explored the realms of natural philosophy — that this enterprise of thought has of late years been confined to useful inventions, and we are content at least to think that the laws of nature are finite, ascertained, and limited to the scope of our knowledge. A very great number of worthy persons, seeing such phenomena as I have detailed, ascribe them to supernatural agency ; others wander round the subject in doubt, but as it seriously engages the feeling and earnest thought of so large a number in Europe and America, is it a subject which scientific men are justified in treating with the neglect of contempt ? " I am, &c., "Dion Boucicatjlt. " Regent Street, October 12, 1864." It may be asked with some point, why we republish accounts of phenomena so well known and which have long since been put into the shade — in the opinion of many Spiritualists — by the marvels of what they term " form materializations ? " On the other hand, there has been a kind of fashion in the assertion, both within and without the ranks of Spiritualism, that the Davenport Brothers are "impostors," and many assume, without any known grounds for the assumption, that they have been proved to be impostors. To all classes of objectors we would carefully commend a perusal of the seance reported above. Let it be remembered that it is written by one who only admits that his name is " accidentally " mixed up in the affair, and who guards that name with unnecessary caution from the charge of being a Spiritualist. All those who have witnessed the Davenports' seajices know, that their phenomena were performed with lightning speed ; that no singing was called for — "loud, louder, louder still" ;— during the dreary waiting time when Spirits are " materializing," and all who read the report of these press men, scientists, and sceptics, will observe, how often they insist upon their own caution in examining, and of the utter impossibiUty of their detecting fraud, or the personal agency of the Mediums in the phenomena. Now, uninteresting as the facts themselves may be, the above report shows a set of conditions under which human agency or contrivance was simply iiNiPOSSiBLE. Our aim in dwelling upon this seance is to show, that in the case of the Davenports, as in those so often described as occurring with Mr. Home, stringent tests do not hinder the manifestations, neither does the presence of sceptics destroy them. Here are conditions under which conjurers may be defied and scepticism baffled ; and though imposture is impossible, true Mediumship could not fail to come out of such trials triumphant and unimpeachable. But these 156 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. conditions are " too degrading for sensitive Mediums to submit to," urge their apologists, "and you who demand it of them, are no true Spirit uaUs ts ; you are Spirit grabbers, Mediums' enemies, the worst foes of SpirituaHsm," &c., &c., &c. To this class of talkers and writers, we have no answer to make, neither desiring nor intending to hold intercourse with them ; but to the confiding victims whose heart strings are wrung, and whose pockets are so often robbed to sustain impostors, we would say. See what Spirits could do, and did do, through the mediumship of the Davenports, and have no hesitancy in refusing to accord faith to any professions of Spiritual agency that are not equally well guarded round, against possibility of human interference and deception. That the poor Davenports were often inhumanly, and even brutally treated, we not only admit, but are about to demonstrate ; but the tests appUed by the party whose record we have given, neither degraded nor insulted the Mediums ; on the contrary, they submitted to them cheerfully, and often, to the author's personal knowledge, suggested still more stringent tests, with which their manifestations could readily be given. The truth is, the Davenports have seldom been fairly dealt with. The people that could not explain their manifestations, have contented them- selves, like Mr. Boucicault, by denying that they could be "Spiritual," because they were too puerile, whilst multitudes of Spiritualists who will gaze with rapture upon the tinsel ornaments sewed on to cheap finery by Mediums, whilst their masked dummies are contemplated with awe, stretched out on sofas, will turn with disgust from the obvious and unmis- takeable proofs of Spirit power, furnished through the Davenports, because they come from " such very low Spirits ! " Had we an opportunity of questioning Mr. Boucicault concerning his opinion as to what becomes of the great mass of mankind that sit nightly to watch his dramas, perhaps we might be in a position to show that the taste of the majority inclines to puerility only, and that anything that was not puerile, would not represent the vanished millions that have passed through the gates of death to the life beyond, where it is exceedingly doubtful, if puerile Spirits become wise in the twinkling of an eye, or low men and women suddenly become exalted angels. Meantime the question is not one of quality but kind. Were the manifestations recorded above, made by the Davenports, if not, by whom and what? These are the real questions at issue, and those manifestations can no longer be called " puerile," which defy the whole realm of science to explain, nor those Spirits be tabooed as " too low " for pious company, which prove the fact of man's spiritual existence, better than all the sermons that were ever preached from the mere standpoint of belief without knowledge. Following immediately upon the seance recorded above, with the Daven- ports, were others of a more or less wonderful nature. These exhibitions were at first confined to private circles held in the houses of the nobility, or of scientific persons ; at length however, the Mediums enlarged their borders, and appeared at the Queen's Concert Room, Hanover Square, attracting select and distinguished audiences, by whom they were still esteemed as entirely free from all shadow of fraud or suspicion. For some time the gentlemen of the press, especially those who were favoured with invitations to attend the more exclusive circles, were fair and candid in their statements concerning what they had witnessed. No sooner did it appear however that the Mediums seemed in a fair way to remunerate themselves for time and service by successful public exhibi- NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 157 tions, than the press suddenly became alive to the " impiety," " American audacity," &c., &c., of the whole affair. Dr. Nichols in his biography of the Davenport Brothers quotes the press utterances of this character at large, and to judge by their general tone, the Davenports had become unmistakably popular, and were very generally feted and patronised by the highest rank of society, whilst their success in " making money " by their public exhibitions, and baffling all attempts of the scientific or learned to " find them out," very naturally, and very Justly, merited the united storm of journalistic indignation from all parts of the country, and the united " anathema maranatha" of every pious professor of Spiritual doctrines, who could not prove what they professed, quite as well as the Davenports. So the storm raged, and so the enemies of the cause contributed to feed the flame by the virulence of the persecution directed against it. The culminating point of these proceedings however was reached, in a demonstration o{ popular sentimejit displayed towards the Davenports on the occasion of their visit to the north of England. Although the character of this incident is such an one as no English writer would care much to descant upon, we feel obliged, in the interests of truth, to give the narrative in all its ugly details ; still we prefer to let others tell the tale. We shall therefore place it before the reader in the language of the parties most nearly concerned, and as the following letter from the Brothers Davenport contains published facts which for many years have remained uncontradicted, we cannot do better than reprint it in their own words. The following quotation, explanatory of the letter, is written by the Rev. J. B. Ferguson, A.M., LL.D., a gentleman from one of the Southern States of America, who having become well acquained with the Davenports, and placing implicit faith in their honesty, and the thoroughly Spiritual nature of their endowments, had consented to accompany them to England, as a travelling companion, and was well advised of all the facts which were pubUshed indeed under his own supervision. Writing to the author Mr. Ferguson says : — " The Brothers Davenport have been subjected to a series of extraordinary outrages in some of the provincial towns of England, which show that the spirit of opposition manifested by a portion of the public press is likely to take more violent form when it falls into a lower stratum of society. The facts connected with the riots at Liverpool, Huddersfield, and Leeds are very clearly stated in the following address of the Brothers Davenport to the British public, which, as a portion of the history of the movement, deserves a place in these records : — " "the brothers davenport to the BRITISH PUBLIC. " We appeal to the free press and the enlightened and fair-dealing people of the British Empire for a candid consideration of the following statement, and for the even-handed justice usually given in this country to all persons, rich or poor, citizens or strangers. We ask, also, as a matter of justice, that journals which have published accounts of the recent riots at Liverpool, Huddersfield, and Leeds, of which we were the victims, should also give the facts contained in this statement. " We beg, furthermore, most respectfully to commend to the consideration of the Eight Honourable Sir George Grey and the magistracy and police authorities of the United Kingdom, the fact that within two weeks, in three of the most important provincial towns in England, without any fault of our own, transgressing no law of the realm, and offering no violence or injury to any person, we have been made to suJfFer in property, and have been menaced with extreme personal injury, with apparent danger to our lives, as will appear by the following statement of facts : — 158 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. "After having given over two hundred public and private seances, or exhibitions of physical phenomena, such as have been described in all the leading journals of Europe and America, and in our published biography, at the Queen's Concert Rooms, London, and the mansions of the nobility and gentry of England, we visited Liverpool on the 13th of February, and, as is our custom, gave a private seance, to which the members of the press and others were invited, who reported the satisfactory character of the exhibition. February 14th we gave two public seances at St. George's Hall vnth like results ; a private seance at a gentleman's mansion and a public morning performance on Tuesday were alike satisfactory. " On Tuesday evening we were proceeding with another exhibition, when two persons, a Mr. Hulley and a Mr. Cummins, acting as a committee from the audience, in attempting to tie our wrists, caused so much pain that we were compelled to protest against the torture they were inflicting. We were willing to be tied with entire security, as we have been many hundreds of times by riggers, sailors, engineers, and other skilled persons, or to give any reasonable test in proof that we have no active part in the phenomena witnessed in our presence ; we had no fear of a ' Tomfool knot,' or of any mode of fastening that did not inflict unbearable torture. We declined to be bound by a committee whose unfair- ness and even brutality were soon manifest. Hulley and Cummins refused to retire and give place to another committee ; the audience was made to believe that it was the form of a particular knot, and not the cruelty of its appUcation, to which we objected, and we were compelled by an unappeasable tumult to return the money taken for tickets, and postpone further proceedings. " On the following evening printed regulations were given to every person entering the hall, and read from the platform, in which we distinctly claimed the right of rejecting any person on a committee whom we should find acting vsdth unfairness. This would be our right were we criminals on trial for felony. Before commencing, we invited all persons who were not satisfied with these regulations to retire from the hall, and receive the money they had paid for entrance. " Messrs. Hulley and Cummins, backed by a crowd of their friends, came again upon the platform, and, from their previous unfairness, were promptly rejected by us as a committee. They insisted upon tying us, and appealed to the audience to support them- in their demand. They refused to leave the platform when requested, took possession of our cabinet, and in various ways excited violent manifestations in the audience. " We were then assured by a gentleman of Liverpool that unless we submitted to the demands of these men there would be a furious riot. He promised that they should not be permitted to injure us, and we finally yielded to his assurances. But they had no sooner placed the cords upon our wrists than they inflicted a degree of pain which could not be endured. We protested against this violence, but in vain, and, refusing to submit to it longer, had the cords cut from our wrists, and left the platform, which was instantly invaded by the mob ; our cabinet was broken in pieces, and Hulley and Cummins, the heroes of this assault of some hundreds of brave Englishmen upon four unarmed, unoffending, and unprotected foreigners were borne from the hall upon the shoulders of their friends, apparently proud of their triumph. " Our cabinet destroyed and our business interrupted, with heavy pecuniary damage in Liverpool, we returned to London, had a new cabinet constructed, and on the following Monday returned to Halifax, where we gave our usual public and private exhibitions without interruption. " Our next engagement was at Huddersfield, February 21st. On our arrival we were informed that Hulley and Cummins, the heroes of the Liverpool mob, had been telegraphed to, and were coming with a strong deputation from that town, to break up our exhibition. The infuriated mob was the common talk of the town. We appealed to the police, and we axe happy to say that, in this instance, a sufiicient force was promptly sent to the hall for our protection. The crowd that assembled gave many indications of being prepared for violence. When our representative had stated the regulations adopted, and that we proposed simply the presentation of certain facts, without any theory, and asked for the appointment of a committee, two gentlemen, instructed, it was said, by Hulley and Cum- mins, came upon the platform and commenced to tie our wrists together behind us, which they did with needless severity. We Jbore the pain, however, until carrying the ropes thraugh the hole in the seat, they drew the backs of our hands down upon it with such violence as to threaten dislocation, placing their knees upon the seat, and in one instance upon the hands of one of us to give them greater purchase. This torture, deliberately, and to all appearance maliciously inflicted, we of course could not bear, and at our demand the cords were instantly severed. We exposed our livid wrists, in which every strand of the cord was visibly imprinted, to the audience, who, to the credit of their humanity, cried out ' Shame !' But the mob organized to break up our exhibition had no such feeling, and made a simultaneous rush for the platform, where, however, an efl&cient police Charles Blackburn Esq. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 159 force saved our property from destruction and us from a violence which, under the stimu- lating addresses of the heroes of the Liverpool outrage, expended itself in hootings and howlings. " We had engagements for two nights at Hull, but on our arrival we were informed by the gentleman who had engaged us, the chairman of the hall committee, and the police superintendent, that there were such indications of a violent mob, that we could not be permitted to give our exhibition, and we received from the gentleman chiefly interested the following note : — " ' Music HaU, Jarret Street, Hull, '" 22nd February, 1865. " ' Sir, — As I believe there is reason to apprehend a disturbance at the hall this evening, if the seance of the Davenport Brothers takes place, I have come to the conclusion that it would be advisable to postpone the seance. I am sorry to do this, particularly as yourself and the Messrs. Davenport have arrived in Hull, and are ready to fulfil your engagement ; but I am driven to do so by the organized attack which I am given to tmderstand is in preparation. I am also urged to do so by the proprietors of the hall, who are alarmed lest their property should be damaged by any disturbance. " ' I remain, yours faithfully, " ' Egbert Bowser. "'Rev. Dr. Ferguson, Royal Station Hotel, Hull.' " Falling to find at Hull that protection in our legal rights which we had supposed was extended to every man on English ground, we went to meet our next engagement at Leeds, where the scenes of Liverpool and Huddersfield were re-enacted with increased violence. We were met by an organized mob, and were refused the protection of the police when it was demanded. When the ringleaders or agents of the mob, taking possession of the stage, had subjected us to the same violence that had been planned and practised upon us at Liverpool aud Huddersfield — the mob again destroying our property, smashing the cabinet and breaking up or purloining our musical instruments, and we were protected from personal violence, amid the smashing of door panels and the howling of an enraged populace, by the tardy arrival of a detachment of police and the brave and firm conduct of one of its members — our agent, contrary to all justice, was compelled to order the return of the admission money paid by those who had come for the very purpose of making the riot from which we sufiered. On the same day we had given a pubKc seance, attended by the members of the press and some of the most respectable citizens of Leeds, in which the famous ' Tom-fool knot ' was used, and in which, so far as we were able to judge, the phenomena exhibited gave entire satisfaction. " It remains but to state two or three facts which may throw further light on these proceedings. " In Liverpool, as reported in the Mercury, Mr. HuUey, when accused of acting unfairly to, and being an enemy of the Davenports, said, ' I avow it. I am a bitter foe to the Davenports.' After such an avowal, what right had he to act on a committee whose duty was strict impartiality ? " We wish to be just to the police. At Huddersfield, though they could not give us order, we were protected from actual violence. At Leeds such protection was withheld until too late to save our property. " At Liverpool the Mercury says : — " ' The appearance of Inspectors Valentine and Southwell, with a force of thirty men, did not stop the process of demolition. The police, indeed, did not attempt to interfere so long as only the 'property of the Davenports was threatened.' "The Leeds Mercury, reporting the violent proceedings against us at Huddersfield, says : — • " ' Mr. Walker, not considering that his hands could pull the rope tight enough, used his Jcnee to assist him, and the brother he was operating on again protested Several persons had at that time gone to the cabinet, and Davenport showed his wrist to some of them. It had a livid mark fringed with red, about the breadth of a finger, and in the holloiv of this mark there ivere the marks of the individual strands of the rope.' " Yet some have been found to insist on inflicting this brutal torture upon us, with howling mobs to back them, as if we were malefactors or wild beasts. It may be doubted if such an amount of violence, wrong, and outrage has been inflicted on any unoffending men in England since Clarkson was mobbed by the slave-traders of Liverpool, and Priestly by the mad bigots of Bhmingham. . . . " (Signed) " Ira Erastus Davenport. " William Henry Davenport. " William M. Fat." i6o NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. CHAPTER XXI SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONTINUED). Another of the abnormal personages who made a deep mark upon the faith of European society, was Miss Nichol, better known as Mrs. Guppy, the wife of a gentleman of wealth and good social position, who previous to his union with Miss Nichol, had become remarkable in the Spiritualistic ranks as the author of a singular book entitled " Mary Jane." The speciality of this publication, which was issued in two handsome volunies, was to this effect. Previous to the decease of his first wife, Mr. Gappy's attention had been drawn towards a succession of extraordinary disturbances occurring in his own house, and which continued for many months, in the form of rappings, movements of furniture, direct writings, and at last, when advised by Spiritualistic friends to try and obtain communications with the unseen tormentors through the ordinary methods of the Spirit circle, the manifesta- tions changed to intelligent question and answer, rendered through rappings, table tilting, and planchette writings. Being of a somewhat materialistic turn of mind, and greatly interested in the study of the natural sciences, Mr. Guppy — whilst compelled to admit the supra-mundane character of the new development in his household — attributed it to a species of aromal force, given off unconsciously, from certain human organisms, and combining itself into a sort of magical impersonal personality, to which he gave the anomalous designation of " Mary Jane." As the said " Mary Jane" manifested a remarkable amount of intelligence, often transcending that of any member of the household, and betrayed moreover, tokens of a strong will of her own, Mr. Guppy conceived such an amount of respect for his " Ariel," that he proceeded to write her history, and completely filled the two volumes above alluded to, with accounts of her strange freaks, varied accomplishments, and demonstrations of preternatural power. After the death ot his first wife, Mr. Guppy being introduced to Miss Nichol, found in that lady's Mediumship, a very striking counterpart of his invisible friend Mary Jane's performances. The interest thus excited, not only ended in Mr. Guppy's complete conversion to Spiritualism, but also in the transformation of Miss Nichol into the wife of the wealthy scientist, in which position, as a nonprofessional Medium, Mrs. Guppy was enabled to exert a widespread influence both in England and many of the Conti- nental cities. As Mrs. Guppy's Mediumship is of that representative character which it is the aim of this work to depict, we avail ourselves of the accounts given of Mr. Guppy's seances, pubhshed by several authoritative witnesses. The first whose testimony we cite, is the late eminent jurist, Serjeant Cox, who, in a paper read before the Psychological Society of Great Britain, relates in very minute detail, how he one day called at Mrs. Guppy's residence at Highbury, and soHcited the favour of her company at a Spiritual circle, to be held that evening at his own residence. Serjeant NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. i6i Cox candidly states, that he desired to take Mrs. Guppy unaware of his invdtation, and the lady in her own simple and amiable way, immediately complied with the request preferred. It was winter time, and the ground was covered with snow. Mrs. Guppy having arranged her dress, entered the hired cab which Serjeant Cox had brought, and drove with him some four miles to his residence. From the time of her arrival at his house, till the period of the seance, about five hours later, Serjeant Cox or the ladies of his family never for one moment lost sight of Mrs. Guppy, and yet within three minutes of the time that the circle had assembled, in a room which had been thoroughly searched, the one door locked, and the key deposited in Serjeant Cox's pocket, when the light was extinguished, heavy thuds were heard on the table, the lights were called for by signal, and the table w^as found to be covered with heaps of pure white snow. When this unwelcome freight of matter had been removed, the party re-formed, and the gas extinguished, more deposits were heard falling, fresh signals were made for lights, and the table was found literally piled up with lovely hothouse flowers, arranged with exquisite taste mto divers fanciful groups. The author on one occasion, in a locked room, too thoroughly searched to admit of the concealment of a single article however small, was pre- sented, at her own request, with a live pigeon, which fluttered down upon her lap, almost as soon as asked for. The bird being released, and flowers asked for, when the signal was given for lights, an immense pyramid of flowers was found tastefully built up around a pot of tulips. The lights — at the request of the Spirits— being again put out, the flowers, including immense branches of ferns, were so completely hidden or removed from the room, that though the one door was locked, and the key in the pocket of one of the company, the strictest search failed to reveal a single leaf. All that was left was the pot of tulips, on which was found a paper with very small writing, presenting the tulips as a gift to the author, " from the Spirits." One of the most curious narratives in connection with this lady's Mediumship, is given in the following account, which was published as the statement of a seance, in which a gentleman present was suddenly, mysteriously, and unconsciously transferred from the locked circle room of Mr. Guppy's house, to the locked and closed premises of a friend of his, two miles distant. Quite twenty reliable witnesses at the two ends of the line, signed their names to an attestation, one party declaring the gentleman was in their midst at nine o'clock p.m. in a locked room, the key of the only door being in the pocket of one of the company, and the other party witnessing that the same gentleman suddenly made his appear- ance, at nine o'clock also, in a yard, locked, shut up, and enclosed on every side against the possibility of entrance, except by the locked and barred gate \ also, that on that night, zvhen the rain was pouring, and the streets were covered with mud, this transfer of a human being, through two miles of space, was made, without leaving one trace of dampness or mud upon his clothing. The names of the twenty witnesses are those of well-known and respecta- ble persons, but as the gentleman himself would not allow his name to be published in connection with the circumstance, we simply allude to it, with- out ranging it in the category of the narratives given- in this volume ; indeed we only reprint thus much of the details because the account which was sent to several London papers for publication, was prefaced by a concise 1 62 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. summary of a similar event occurring in the experience of Mrs. Guppy, of which the most exaggerated accounts have been put in circulation. The following brief statement has been pronounced to be so reHable and accurate by all parties concerned, that we deem it in order to republish it. It must be understood, that it was printed in connection with the narrative ofthe gentleman before alluded to, in the New York Sun, from which we give the following extract : — " Before entering upon particulars, it is desirable to advert to a somewhat similar circumstauce that took place on June 3rd, 1871, upon which occasion Mrs. Guppy, the famous medium, was conveyed instantaneously from her breakfast parlour at Highbury (where she was engaged making up her housekeeping accounts) to a locked room at 61, Lamb's Conduit Street, where she was suddenly found in a state of trance or unconscious- ness, upon a table around which ten persons were sitting for the investigation of alleged spiritual phenomena, in the presence of Messrs. Heme and Williams, the widely known professional mediums. A minute and circumstantial report of this event appeared in the current spiritual journals, as well as in several newspapers, attesting, not only her unex- pected arrival, but also the fact, amongst many others, that she held in her hand her housekeeping book and pen with the ink still liquid— such report being signed by all present at the seance in question — viz., N. Hagger, 46, Moorgate Street ; Caroline Edmiston, Beckenham ; C. E. Edwards, Kilburn Square, Kilburn ; Henry Morris, Mount Trafford, Eccles, near Manchester ; Elizabeth Guppy, 1, Morland Villas, Highbury Hill Park, N. ; Ernest Edwards, Kilburn Square, Kilburn ; Henry CUfford Smith, 38, Ennis Road, Stroud Green ; H. B. Husk, 26, Sandwich Street, W.C. ; Charles E. Williams, 61, Lamb's Conduit Street ; W.C. ; F. Heme, 61, Lamb's Conduit Street, W.C. ; W. H. Harrison, Wilmm Villa, Chaucer Road, S.E. Three members of this party (as a deputation), to fully test the circumstance and to prevent collusion, escorted Mrs. Guppy home, and took the testimony of Mr. Guppy and Miss Neyland to the fact of Mrs. Guppy's presence in her home at Highbury, immediately preceding her appearance at Lamb's Conduit Street." In this case it must be borne in mind that Mr. Guppy — a gentleman of unquestionable probity — his housekeeper, and Mrs. 'Guppy's maid, testified to her presence in her house at Highbury about half-past eight in the evening, and at or about the same time, ten persons sitting in a third floor room, locked and bolted, in Lamb's Conduit Street, a distance of at least four miles, holding a dark circle, with the window closed, the one door locked, and the key in the pocket of one of the sitters, hearing a sudden noise on the table — struck a light, and found Mrs. Guppy in a state of partial consciousness, arrayed in a loose morning gown, housekeeping book in hand, sitting in their midst, on the table. Let it be noted also, that the whole of the witnesses were credible, respectable persons, and though their testimony was received with the fool's argument of ridicule, and bald denial, it was o'f a reliable character, and from persons whose witness thus given, would have been received in any court of judicature as undeniable. The next and last account we can give of Mrs. Guppy's Mediumship is one published by Miss Houghton in her "Record of Spirit Seances," and confirms numbers of other and similar statements made by Professors Wallace, Varley, Serjeant Cox, the late King Victor Emanuel of Italy, General Garibaldi, Prince George of Solms, Mr. R. D. Owen, and numerous other notables for whom Mrs. Guppy often sat, and who have freely testified to manifestations occurring in their presence of exactly the same character as the following extract from Miss Houghton's book : — " In October, 1868, a seance was held, at which eighteen persons were present. Miss Nichol being the chief medium. Each of the sitters vrished for fruit, the wish being in every instance granted. The following were brought and dropped on the table around which the company sat : A banana, two oranges, a bunch of white grapes, a bunch of black NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 163 grapes, a cluster of filberts, three walnuts, a dozen damsons, a slice of candied pine apple, three figs, two apples, some almonds, dates, pears, a pomegranate, two greengages, a pUe of currants, a lemon, a bunch of raisins, which, as well as the figs and dates, were quite plump, as if they had never been packed, but brought direct from the drying ground. While the wishing was in progress a lady said, ' Why does not some one wish for vegetables, such as a potato or an onion ? ' and even while she was speaking a potato and an onion fell into her lap." In recalling the phenomenal personages who between the years i860 and 1880 have contributed most liberally to the diffusion of Spiritual light and knowledge, it would be ungenerous to omit a notice of Mr. David Duguid, of Glasgow, a young man occupying the humble position of an industrious mechanic, and one whose limited means of education entirely precluded the expectation of an exhibition of his powers in the direction of the fine arts. The following account however, furnished to the London Spiritual Magazine by Mr. Benjamin Coleman, one of the most persevering as well as dis- interested observers of Spiritual phenomena, will give a fair illustration of the modes by which Spirit influence can evolve latent faculties and cultivate unknown germs of talent, even from the most unpromising sources. In the Spiritual Magazine of June, 1866, Mr. Coleman writes : — " There are several other mediums in Glasgow, one among them, Mr. David Duguid, a working cabinet-maker, is likely to be distinguished as a drawing medium; One very remarkable and interesting fact connected with this young man it is my purpose to relate, which I do upon the authority of Mr. H. Nisbet and Mr. James Nicholson, vrith whom I had the pleasure of becoming acquainted whilst in Glasgow. " After David had been recognised as a medium for the ordinary manifestations, he developed as a drawing medium, but made little progress at first without the aid of a young lady who formed one of the circle. When she placed her hand on the back of his, it would move with great facility, and at this stage his left hand only was used. " At the third sitting David became entranced vdth his eyes shut before commencing to draw. At each succeeding seance his powers increased as the trance condition became more intense, and his eyes more firmly closed. ." The objects usually drawn at first were human heads and flowers ; but, when a certain proficiency was obtained, flowers, fruits, and a rough landscape were done in colours, the pencils and brushes being now taken in his right hand. "At the fifth sitting, a remarkable painting in water-colours was commenced and finished, representing the entrance to an arcade, the archway being surmounted by the figure of Justice, standing upon a globe, around which a serpent is coiled, with the figures on either side of Hope and Charity. These figures are very masterly in concep- tion. The interior of the arcade is panelled with niches, in which figures and vases of flowers are placed. The floor is carpeted, and at the extreme end there is a rotunda, in the centre of which a cross is placed. The picture is a transparency, and, when held up to the light the cross dissolves into a throne, upon which a figure is seated with a halo of glory surrounding the head, supported by twelve figures, six on each side. Those present were anxious to hno^o the name of the artist, hut he declined fw the present to satisfy them, giving as a reason that he would ultimately give them the means of establishing his identity. Subsequently, they were told that he was an artist of celebrity, who had lived in the seventeenth century ; that he was born in 1635, and died in 1681 ; and that he was con- temporary with Steen, the celebrated Dutch painter ; that he had not been accustomed to paint figures, but that his delight had been to represent Nature, and that he would attempt at their next sitting a sketch of one of his paintings — his masterpiece. " Accordingly, on the evening of the 18th of April the promised sketch was pencilled out, and on the 21st it was finished in water-colours, in the short period of four hours, and in the left hand corner the initials "J. R" were placed. This painting is considered a very able production. " Up to this time, none of the party had the least idea of the name of the spirit-artist, and their curiosity was unsatisfied until Mr. Logan brought an artist friend to see the picture, who was much struck with it, and said he was sure he had seen the painting somewhere, though he could not at the moment name the painter. " A day or two after, Mr. Logan's friend informed him that he had made the desired discovery, and showed Mr. Logan a volume of Cassell's Art Treasures' Exhibition, where, 1 64 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. at page 301, there is an engraving, nearly /ac simile of the spirit drawing, from a painting of ' The Waterfalls,' by Jacob Ruysdael, acknowledged to be his chef d'ceuvre. " This circumstance was communicated to the persons forming the circle ; but they determined to keep the medium in ignorance of the fact, being satisfied that in his normal condition he knew nothing of it. " At the next sitting, on the 28th April, David became deeply entranced, and after the usual short conversation between him and the spirit-ai-tist, the latter spoke through the medium, and informed the company that he was aware of the discovery they had made 'that his name was Ruysdael.' They then placed before the medium Cassell's volume, which also contains a portrait of the painter, and invited the spirit's inspection of it. The spirit remarked that the engraving of the picture was a good coiDy, and the likeness tolerable when at the age of thirty. They then pointed the spirit's attention to the absence of figures in the new drawing which were in the original. The spirit replied, ' That the figures in his paintings were not by himself, but were put in by an artist friend ! ' which, upon reference to a biography of Ruysdael, they found to be correct. " It remains to be stated that Mr. David Duguid, the medium, has no knowledge whatever of drawing, and that he is, as I have already said, a plain working man ; that the drawing was executed in the presence of several persons, including those I have named, in four hours, whilst the medium's eyes were fast closed ; and, further to satisfy the scepticism of some of those present, there was a bandage put over them during part of the time. The medium declares that he had no knowledge of the existence of Ruysdael' s picture, nor that such an artist had ever lived, and there is no reason to doubt his asseverations." For the satisfaction of those who deem that the inipelUng motive with humanity in general, and Spirit Mediums in particular, is " the greed of gain," and the desire " to make capital " out of the world's interest in Spiritual phenomena, we must here state, that David Duguid, although pursuing steadily the cultivation of his mediumship for many years — up to the time indeed of this present writing — has never done so professionally, but still lives by his mechanical labours, following out his simple unosten- tatious career, producing in the brief leisure hours he can afford to give to his mediumship, hundreds of paintings, drawings, and sketches, some of rare merit and others more indifferently executed, but all without the slightest attempt to convert his extraordinary gift to the same means of compensa- tion, which would be freely accorded to any other form of artistic production. We shall conclude this brief notice of our excellent and self-sacrificing Medium's career, with the following short excerpt, the nature of which speaks for itself. It is taken from T/te North British Daily Mail (Glasgow) of March, 1870, and reads thus : — " So much has been said and done lately regarding 'the exposure of Spiritualism,' that a few notes may be of interest as to what the writer witnessed the other night at a private stance given by Mr. David Duguid. This gentleman was comparatively unknown untU publicly challenged by Mr. Bishop during his recent 'exposure of Spiritualism.' Mr. Duguid has never courted publicity, but at the same time he has always been very willing to give every information regarding his manifestations. The seance took place in his parlour, and was attended by ten gentlemen, five of whom were rank heretics regarding all Spii'itualistic phenomena. Immediately on Mr. Duguid taking his seat at a small table he went into a trance condition, his eyes closing and a smile playing on his counte- nance. A piece of cardboard, about six inches by nine inches, which had been previously examined by the company, was then handed to him. After breathing on it Mr. Duguid made a rough pencil sketch, and then picking up his palette and brushes commenced to paint a landscape with his eyes firmly sealed. To make assurance doubly sure, a hand- kerchief was firmly bound across his eyes, but he did not appear to be the least incon- venienced by this arrangement, and painted away quite briskly, first rubbing in the sky, and then the faint outline of the distant mountains ; and finally boldly dashing in the foreground with a few vigorous strokes. At the suggestion of a gentleman present the light was put out, but this made no difference, the action of the brushes being quite audible in the darkness. After the expiry of half an hour the sketch was complete, and was a most remarkable picture to be produced under such peculiar conditions. What in NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 165 Spiritualistic circles is called a ' direct drawing ' was then attempted. A common card, coated with iodine, was placed on the table before Mr. Duguid, whose hands and feet were firmly secured with silk handkerchiefs. The gas was turned oif, and the company, joining hands, sang the 100th Psalm. After the lapse of about five minutes a rap was heard on the table, and on the gas being lit Mr. Duguid was found sitting as firmly bound as before, and on turning up the card on the table, a nice little miniature landscape was observed, the colours being quite wet and newly painted. Without attempting to give an opinion or explain how such manifestations could be accomplished, we simply narrate the circumstances of the seance as they occurred." Besides the remarkably-endowed Mediums above mentioned, a large number of ladies and gentlemen moving in various distinguished circles of Great Britain have manifested extraordinary spiritual gifts and exercised them freely, in a non-professional way, for the beneiit of their friends and acquaintances. Medium power indeed has been exhibited in every class of society throughout the United Kingdom, and for some years it would have been impossible to visit any town or hamlet, without discovering way-marks of Spiritual power in the form of healings, trance speaking. Spirit drawing, writing, seership, or physical force manifestations. Besides the large number of private Mediums, of whose gifts we are not privileged to speak, except in these general terms, there are a great many excellent and disinterested labourers in the Spiritual vineyard, who give their services to the public in the capacity of clairvoyants, and trance speakers. Very few of these persons will receive compensation for their services, and many of them — especially in the North of England — voluntarily travel from place to place each Sabbath day, incurring a vast amount of fatigue and freely bestowing time and service, for the purpose of dis- seminating the glad tidings of Spiritualism, to all who will come to hear them. Throughout the large and thickly-populated districts of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Durham, and Northumberland, scores of these self-sacrificing missionaries may be found. Many of them are miners, pit men, weavers and factory hands, who, notwithstanding the unceasing toils of the week, cheerfully devote themselves to the duties of the Spiritual rostrum on the Sunday; and though they are simply "children of the people," and wholly untrained to such work, their rude natural eloquence, heightened by the afflatus of the spirit intelligences that speak through their lips, produces a much deeper influence upon audiences of their own class, than the metaphysical arguments of more polished speakers could do. The very fact too, that wholly uneducated men and women can give correct diagnoses of disease, make cures that the medical faculty could never succeed in, and pour forth moving strains of exalted eloquence, far in advance of their normal capacity, clearly proves the control of some outside power, and brings conviction to many minds, that could not be reached by all the subtle logic of well-trained orators. We are not pleading in this category either for the expediency of non- professional Mediumship, or advising the exercise of inspirational powers upon the public rostrum, which are liable to be marred in transmission through ilhterate channels, but in reporting the status of SpirituaUsm as it really exists, we should omit one of the most important factors in Spiritual progress amongst the rank and file of society, if we failed to render justice to the self-devoted labourers who throughout England, but especially in the North, have for years rendered invaluable services as healers and speakers, with few to thank, and none to compensate them, save the consciousness of the good they have performed, and the approbation of the angels whose servants they are. If any readers are curious to learn who these self- 1 66 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. sacrificing individuals are, let them turn to the plan of speakers for the Yorkshire districts as advertised in the Medium and Daybreak, the reports from the Lancashire, Durham, and Northumberland towns and mining districts, together with a few reports from the South and West, and they will there find a list of humble names recorded, whose place will surely be found, in the day when the Master of Life " numbers up his jewels." Before quitting the subject of non-professional Mediumship in England, we must call attention to the inestimable services rendered in higher and more influential grades of society than those above named — in fact, amongst the most distinguished and aristocratic circles of the metropolis— by Mrs. Everitt, a lady of independent position now residing at Hendon, formerly of Islington, London. Mrs. Everitt's Mediumship has been distinguished by the variety and intellectual character, no less than the force of the manifestations given in her presence. Besides loud rappings and the movement of heavy bodies which have been brought through closed doors and carried hither and thither in broad light, often without Jmman contact, Mrs. Everitt is a remarkable Medium for the production of the direct Spirit voice, and writings executed in the most minute form of caligraphy, in an almost incredibly short period of time. The illustration (given on another page) of these spirit writings, purported to come from Dr. Burns, a clergy- man of London, and one eminent alike for his noble character, his eloquence as a preacher, and the fearless candour with which he avowed his belief in Spirit communion. Dr. Burns granted the use of his Church to Dr. Newton for the purpose of practising therein his marvellous gift of healing. He attended several of Mrs. Everitt's circles ; publicly expressed his entire belief in their supra-mundane character, a.nd after passing into spirit life, returned to those circles, to add his testimony as a spirit, to that which he had borne on earth as a mortal. The writing, of which a facsimile is given, was produced in nine seconds upon a piece of marked paper — in the presence of some ten witnesses — honoured guests of Mr. and Mrs. Everitt. Mr. Everitt has in his possession hundreds of similar writings — most of them produced under the most crucial test conditions. The writing here exemplified was produced by the Spirit of one well known to the parties present, and is of a thoroughly characteristic style. Sometimes the house in which the seances were in session has been shaken as in an earthquake. On other occasions the circle room has been filled with delicious perfumes or strong currents of air. The intelligence rendered by the direct writings, no less than the Spirit voices conversing with the company, is for the most part of a religious or moral character. The writings have not unfrequently been given in Greek, Latin, and Oriental languages, all of which are totally unknown to Mrs. Everitt. As an example of the preternatural mode in which these writings are produced, the following incident may be narrated. At a seance held in a semi-darkened drawing-room, with closed doors, and a company of some twenty persons assembled, a very large and splendidly illustrated book with paper covers, suddenly fluttered down from the ceiling and dropped in view of all present on the table in their midst. The book had been kept for many previous months in a locked drawer, in a room above that wherein it now appeared, and no human being at that time, could have had access to the place from which it was taken. This book was passed round amongst the company, of whom the author was one, and the illustrations being very fine, it was examined with so much NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 167 attention by all parties present, that not a leaf coald have escaped observa- tion. Whilst the visitors were commenting on the astonishing though by no means unprecedented manner in which this manifestation had occurred, the Spirits spelled out by rappings the request that the lights should be put out. This was prompdy done^ but in less than twenty seconds another well-known signal was given for the restoration of the lights. Deeming that Some preliminary had been forgotten which the Spirits wished attended to, the chandelier was hurriedly relighted, when it was found that the margins of two leaves, at the place where the book was lying open, were covered with very fine pencilled writing. On further examination, it appeared that over twenty of the leaves were similarly marked, thus making in all, nearly three hundred words inscribed upon paper, that, sixteen seconds previously, had been proved to be entirely blank. It must be added, that although Mr. and Mrs. Everitt's position in the social scale placed them^ on an equality with all their guests, this excellent lady has ever cheerfully submitted to the most exigeant demand for tests, and furnished opportunities for thorough and searching investigation as gracefully, as if she had been a professional medium, or had not been in her own estimable character beyond all possibility of doubt or suspicion. For many years she devoted her varied gifts to the service of her friends, and such guests as could obtain an introduction to her delightful seances. Here the noble, the scientific, and the learned, no less than the plain, untitled citizen, were freely welcomed, and ever hospitably enter- tained by the master and mistress of the mansion, and the author is in a position to affirm, that thousands of persons in this generation, owe their assurances of immortality, and their happiest hours of pure communion with blessed ascended ones, to the inimitable gifts of Mrs. Everitt, and the genial hospitality of her noble husband. Mrs. Everitt was also a seeress, and could readily receive impressions by mental telegraphy, from her friends. The author has often exchanged messages with this lady, when separated by miles of distance, such messages being invariably found subsequently to be correct. In Mr. Everitt, the cause of Spirituafism has found an equally indefatigable and able champion, Mr. Everitt's eloquent expositions of Spiritualism upon every available opportunity having attracted large audiences, and respectful consideration, whenever presented. If we speak somewhat in the past tense of Mr. and Mrs. Everitt, it is not because their devotion to the cause of Spiritualism has waned, or the lady's Spiritual gifts have failed, but in the retirement of the family from the busy metropolis to the seclusion of a suburban residence, the opportunides for the exercise of Mediumship to all comers, have necessarily become very infrequent, and it is now only in the family circle and its immediate visitors, that Mrs. Everitt's charming phases of mediumship can be witnessed. We shall now direct the reader's attention to another wonderful display of Sibylline power manifested in the family of Mr. Bertolacci, a gentleman too well known and esteemed by his wide circle of friends, to incur the slightest shadow of suspicion, either in respect to the disinterestedness of his motives, or the truth of his statements. As Mr. Bertolacci was very free in placing the Mediumistic power of his family at the service of numerous credible witnesses, his testimony is susceptible of full verification in every particular. After eleven years of astounding and continuous demonstrations of Spirit power, Mr. Bertolacci • — at the instance of his friends and numerous 1 68 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. interested witnesses, — consented to embody his experiences in a small volume, which — in deference to his devoted adherence to the tenets of the Christian religion, or, it may be assumed, as a line of demarcation between himself and less orthodox believers in Spirit communion — he entitled as follows : — Christian Spiritualism : Wherein is sheivn the Extension of the Human Faculties by the Application of Modern Spiritual Phenomena, according to the Doctrine of Christ. By William Robert Bertolacci. — Pubhshed by Emily Faithfull. The following extracts are taken from a fine analytical review of Mr. Bertolacci's work by Mr. Thomas Shorter, the learned author of " The Two Worlds," editor of the London Spiritual Magazine, &c,, &c. Mr. Shorter introduces his subject in these words : — " The experiences of M. Bertolacci extend over a period of eleven years, and this little volume must be regarded as only a synopsis or sample rather than a complete and elaborate history of them. Previously thereto, M. Bertolacci was, he informs us, a 'complete dis- believer in all miracles,' and he adopted the popular talk of 'laws of nature," 'priest- craft,' and 'weak-minded credulity,' as aU-sufficient to explain them. Under the influence of these derided manifestations this unhappy attribute and tone of mind has become changed to one of earnest and devout Christian assurance, as this book sufficiently evinces. But to come to the facts. M. Bertolacci says : — " ' "We have produced most of the manifestations witnessed in other circles, such as table-turnings, and tiltings, raps and many sorts of sounds in different parts of the house. Tables and other objects have been raised from the ground without contact ; and have, when in the air, resisted the efforts of a strong man to force them down again. Tables have been made to adhere so fixedly to the ground as to resist every endeavour to raise them ; and in more than one instance, when five or six persons have combined their whole strength, the wooden top, fixed on with strong screws, has been wrenched completely off, while the light framework and legs have remained adhering to the ground ; whereas these, immediately after, have risen quietly up into the air without being touched on being told to do so. Clocks have passed the hour without striking it on being told not to do so. . '"In one circumstance, we obtained direct writing by placing a clean sheet of paper in a drawer overnight, the drawer and room being locked and secured, so that no one could obtain access to them. The next morning, was found written on the paper, as had been foretold through the planchette, " Christ soil avec vous," " Christ be with you.' "' " The raps on the table being too slow a process for communicating information, the use of the planchette had been indicated. "By means of the planchette the author, has thus obtained some 1,200 or 1,400 pages of manuscript in English and French, *^ncluding a work of 500 or 600 pages, explanatory of phenomena of which these writings form a part. " The seances have not been confined toi«j|hysical manifestations, such as have been already named, nor has the attendance at' them been limited to M. Bertolacci and his family ; intimate friends were at first ad^nitted, and these introduced others, and the- attendance so increased that after a short time it became requisite to appoint reception days, and on these occasions to hold both morning and evening meetings. These witnesses are, therefore, additional evidence to the facts certified by M. Bertolacci. " The proceedings of the stances were regulated by the planchette writing ; and we learn that — " ' If among those present any one was ailing, or in a state of ill-health, they were generally singled out, and desired to come to the table. When there, they would often be told what their sufferings were, how long they had been ill, &c., although no previous mention had been made of the subject, and while under the surprise which these unex- pected communications generally created, they would be told that if they had faith in Christ they should be cured, which was, in several instances, realized immediately. " ' At other times, the seance would begin by first one person and then another being selected among the company, and each in their turn being conversed with by means of the planchette-writing. Then, to the astonishment of many present, persons appearing amongst us for the first time would be called by their Christian names, and others by their famihar nicknames, telling them their peculiarities of disposition, their favourite pursuits, and their thoughts at the very moment. It has constantly occurred that at the very time this was going on, the table on which the planchette was writing would be seen to rise into the air, all its four legs being a foot or more from the ground.' . . , NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 169 " Contagious maladies, and even the action of poison, have been arrested, and organic disease successfully treated. The following is an instance : — " ' At one of our receptions, a Madame G a, of Pontoise, was, by appointment, introduced by mutual friends. The assembly was very numerous — some twenty persons being present. Madame G a had, for eleven months previous, lost the use of her legs from a paralysis which extended from her waist downwards, resulting from a premature confinement. It was with difficulty she could move about on crutches upon very even ground, and she had to be carried from the carriage which had conveyed her from the railway station to our reception room on the first floor, in the arms of her friends. '"The siance was a very animated one. Many wonderful things occurred; the planchette had written at once under the hands of persons who had never witnessed anything of the sort before, &c., &c. Madame G a was then selected, and during fifteen or twenty minutes, she had it all to herself, much in the same way as it occurred with Mrs. K d previously to her being cured. Many tears were shed by Madame G a, who was deeply affected by the words of kind and gentle sympathy and of encouraging hope addressed to her by the sublimely inspired phrases written under the planchette. While this was going on, the rest of the company were conversing quietly among themselves in undertones. Then, all present being desired to give their whole attention, we were exhorted to join our hearts in an act of inward and fervent communion, and implore God to show His mercy upon our suffering sister. During the total silence which ensued, a short and impressive prayer was rapidly written under the planchette, which was read aloud, then the Spirit through the planchette, addressing Madame G a, wrote, " Do you believe in Christ's invariable goodness and power ? " to which she answered, " Yes, truly I do." While she was answering, the planchette was writing, " Then stand upright ! " As though recollecting her weakness, for a moment she seemed to look round for assistance, and at the same instant the words, "Alone in Jesus Christ's name!" were written with such rapidity, that they seemed as if they had been struck off upon the paper ; and they had not time to be read, when Madame G a sprang on her feet, and she was no longer a paralytic. She was then told to walk up and down the room, which feat she accomplished with unhesitating firmness and perfect ease, and was after that sent downstairs to walk, accompanied, but unassisted, by my wife, for five minutes round the garden, where she was all the time in full view of the company assembled on the balcony and clustered round the windows ; and having come up again, she expressed her gratitude towards God for the mercy she had received, amidst the congratulations of all parties, who by that time had begun to be sufficiently recovered from their first surprise to reflect upon and appreciate the miracle which had been performed. We resumed our places. A thanksgiving to God was written through the planchette, and an hour afterwards, Madame G a's carriage having been previously discarded, she returned vfith the rest of the company, going on foot to the railway station, about a mile from our house, and was perfectly cured of her paralysis.'* " Surgical cases were treated in like manner and with Uke results. M. Bertolacci says : — " ' When any of my girls cut themselves or met with any other accident, such as bruises, sprains, &c., not only is all pain immediately taken away, but indeed the healing is almost as rapid. One day, one of them, in cutting a loaf of bread, gave herself a deep gash across the left hand, an inch long. The blood was flowing very copiously and had quite wetted a towel, which she had wrapped round it, through and through many folds, by the time she came to me, though she lost no time, however, in so doing. The towel was taken off, and I held the lips of the wound together, while those present joined us, during eight or ten seconds, in communion, the name of Jesus Christ having been invoked. The blood ceased to flow, and the wound was closed. Not more than four hours afterwards, some friends having come to pass the evening with us, she played several long pieces on the pianoforte, and had totally forgotten that she had cut herself in the day. Nevertheless, the wound was sufficiently severe to leave a scar still very plainly to be seen, although it is now somewhere about seven years since the accident occurred. On another occasion since that, one of her sisters cut the top of her thumb from one side to the other, down to the very bone, and was cured in the same manner, as completely and as instantaneously. " ' I have mentioned these two cases in particular to give my reader a notion of the efficacy of the cures ; but, indeed, it is almost of daily occurrence with us, either for one thing or the other— a cut, a bruise, and the blistering of an arm from the effects of a poisonous plant, having, the very day on which I \\n:ite this narration, been cured, each in the space of eight seconds. A few days back, it was a hand and wrist which had been * Compare this case with the analagous and equally remarkable one of Miss Fancourt, as given in Brevier's "Two "Worlds," pp. 230-235. I70 NINETEENTH CENTURY ^MIRACLES. pretty smartly scalded with boiling water. Toothaches and caries are as effectually stopped, even to the destroying of the nerve, in order to obviate any recurrence of the pain from extraneous causes. On one occasion, when the request was ma^de that the nerve should be destroyed, the most complete insensibility immediately succeeded ; but we were told, that as the tooth was only slightly attacked, if it were stopped within a few days, in order to keep the air and moisture from it, it would be preserved ; but that, if that were not done, in ten days it would begin to fall to pieces. It was not done, and on the tenth day, a large portion of the tooth fell off, and, in a very few days more, nothing but the bare root was left, which, however, was very easily extracted without occasioning the least pain.' " There can be no mistake about cases like these, the facts are recent, and are pub- lished to the world ; the witnesses are living, and well known as persons of credit and integrity. The faculty and the press may ignore or deny the facts ; from their ante- cedents it may be expected that they will do so ; but this, though it should affect their own credit, will not affect the facts, which are neither made nor destroyed by the opinions which may be formed about them. "We omit, from want of space, the magnetic and clairvoyant phenomena related, but the spiritual education of his family, as M. Bertolacci relates it, is something so unique that notwithstanding our already copious extracts we quote it in extenso. After a chap- ter on ' Initiation,' he proceeds : — " ' With this foundation to work upon, and confiding in the revelations and spiritual guidance by which we had already attained the degree of spiritual strength shewn in the preceding narration, I boldly withdrew my two younger daughters from the school they daily attended ; and in spite of the opposition and common-place arguments of other parties, began their new mode of education in the manner indicated by our invisible spiritual conductor, which was pursued much in the following order : — " ' Lessons were learnt by heart by reading to my students in theie magnetic SLEEP, ordering them to retain in their memory when they awoke, all they had heard. Lessons were next learnt by heart by the pupils reading, themselves, once over, in their magnetic sleep, one or more pages of a book. When this began to become familiar, and the organs of memory showed that they were in a fit state of rapid obedi- ence, the action of the organs of outward perception upon the memory was submitted to the strong developing power of the soul's direct influence, and lessons were learnt by THE simple inspection OF (or staring at) the open page op a book, — the students being in their normal waking state. In the beginning, the inspection, or staring, was made to last a certain number of seconds, and that number being gradually reduced, after a short space of time, the duration of a single second or a mere glimpse at the page was sufficient for the pupils to retain in their memory the whole contents of it. " ' In this manner and in the following, the daily lessons of my children, equal at times to a week's corresponding school tasks, were learnt in the space of a few seconds ; lessons that take hours to interrogate them upon, with any degree of detail. Lessons are also LEARNT by A SIMPLE ACT OF PIOUS CONCENTRATION FROM BOOKS CLOSED OR TOTALLY OUT OF SIGHT. In this case, we have usually named the page where the beginning of the lesson is to be found, for we have, as yet, had recourse to the process less as a matter of immediate utility than as a jDractice of the powers of distant clairvoyance. It will be easily conceived that by a slight extension of this faculty, or rather by the special direc- tion being given to it, it may be applied to obtain references from, and even the perfect knowledge of, works one does not oneself possess, but which are known to exist in certain libraries and other places, rendered either by their distance, our own want of time or otherwise, inaccessible to us, " ' DICTATION. " ' Dictations were given by the teacher reading from a book in the ordinary MANNER ; but WITHOUT NAMING THE STOPS OR ANY OF THE OTHER SIGNS, these being seen by the students through their pre-acquired clairvoyant capacities, the phrases becoming visible to them as soon as they are dictated. The mental dictations. — In this case the pupils are made acquainted — by the hnoioledge of their " inner man" and the perfected obedience of the organs of their " outer man," with the contents of the page held open in a position visible alone to the eyes of the teacher- — and as the latter desires to communicate a phrase to the pupils, they hear a voice dictating it aloud to them in the air, although no person is speaking at the time. " ' HISTORY. " ' The direct clairvoyance gives the student a correct sight, with regard to THE historical PERSONS AND PACTS treated of in the lessons learnt by the inspection of books, either open, closed, or at a distance — as explained in the foregoing. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 171 '"natural history and philosophy. " ' The sight of the plants, flowers, minerals, animals, &c., described or mentioned in their books, as also such other useful details as may have been omitted by the author, or belong to a more minute study of the subject, is enjoyed in the same manner. " ' GEOGRAPHY AND ASTRONOMY. " ' Geographical and Astronomical Studies from Charts or Globes. — When a locality is named by the teacher, or is to be designated for any purpose in the course of study, the forefinger of the pupil is, hy iiispiration, instantaneously drawn to the exact spot of the map or globe where it is to be found. This action takes place before the reason of the students can have given them the slightest notion of the relative position or bearing of the place, the head following the movement of the hand, instead of directing it. The students are also, by the facility they acquire for receiving inspirations, so perfectly identified with everything belonging to the places spoken of in their study of geography, that they feel as though they were on the spot. So correct are the impressions made by the ubiquitous power of their souls on all the organs of the body in their temporarily perfected condition, that they appear to themselves to be, not where the lessons are going on, but in the very places therein referred to ; seeing, hearing, and feeling all that they are required or desirous to see, hear, or feel.' " M. Bertolacci has written in a tone of moderation and a religious spirit ; and he disclaims all idea ' that there is any peculiarity in his nature or that of his children, by which they are exceptionally qualified for the attainment of the gifts they have received.' "* Whilst no persons who have ever become acquainted with Mr. Bertolacci, or conversed with his witnesses — of whom hundreds are still living — are capable of questioning his veracity or impugning his statements, we know we are drawing heavily on the faith of those readers who are not personally cognizant of the overwhelming mass of testimony which surrounds the case and its narration. Perhaps in future ages, the substance of what we are now so reticent in offering to the acceptance Of modern readers may be deemed trivial or insignificant, in comparison with the soul growth to which humanity'may have then attained — meantime, where does our duty lie ? Why, even in turning to the motto of this volume, and accepting practically as well as theoretically the charge to proclaim "The truth against the world." CHAPTER XXII. SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONTINUED). Besides the merely phenomenal phases of Spiritualism illustrated by the narratives given in the last few chapters, the message which relates to the conditions of life hereafter, and the religious element which grows out of Spiritual communion, has not been lacking in its full share of representa- tion, in England, although there was a strong desire manifested on the part of some of those who stood in the position of " I-eaders " in the ranks of English Spiritualism, to keep all questions of a religious and controversial nature in the background. The author's experience has ever been in this, as in all other departments of human thought and interests, when connected with Spiritualism, that Spirits themselves are at the helm of the new movement, and with or with- out the sympathy of mortals, they will raise up instruments, and create * This review may be found in full in the London SpiritvM Magazine for October, 18(35. 172 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. opportunities for the impartation of whatever ideas they may determine to communicate. Thus it was, that whilst certain believers in Spirit com- munion, who were still steadfast in their adhesion to the Christian Church, and its belongings, were constantly deprecating the attempt to incorporate religious ideas with Spirituahsm, and protesting — often in no measured terms — against the " infidelities " of the American trance speakers, the Spirits on the other side of the Atlantic were opening up opportunities, and presenting impelling motives to those very speakers, to visit the mother country, and widen the borders of Spiritualism from its conservative position in private families, to the more diffusive arena of the public rostrum. It has been quite a common practice amongst many European Spiritual- ists, to endeavour to narrow down the diffusion of Spiritualism to the private circle, or the perusal of such " well digested " literature, as was specially prepared to warn preaching Spirits off the sacred preserves of orthodoxy. All would not do however. The stream whose sources are not on earth, has made its own channels, and swept away all barriers that intervened to check the course laid out for its flow, by higher wisdom than that of humanity. It was under this special guidance, and in virtue of her commission from a well-tried band of Spiritual guides that the author — a Medium for many phases of Spirit communion, but chiefly recognised as a speaker under Spiritual influence, was impelled after many years' pilgrimage in the New World to return, with her venerable mother, to settle once more in her native city of London. Mrs. Hardinge* reached England in the fall of the year 1865, a period that may truly be called, the blossoming time of Spiritualism in Great Britain. Her intention was to retire from her long and toilsome career as a public speaker into the qi^iet of home and literary occupations, but her arrival had been already anticipated by generous notices m the London Spiritual Magazine, and immediately on landing, she found herself surrounded by hosts of warm sympathizers, who although strangers — in the ordinary sense of social relations — were still one in heart with the new comer, in the desire to promote the interests of a much loved cause. It was in this spirit that Mrs. Hardinge, soon after her arrival in London, found herself compelled to abandon her projected seclusion, and once more to enter upon the vortex of effort to promulgate the truths of Spiritualism, by means of rostrum addresses. Early in the winter succeeding Mrs. Hardinge's arrival, a series of " winter soirees" were inaugurated, chiefly at the instance of Mr. Benjamin Coleman, Mr. William Wilkinson, Mr. Thomas Shorter, and other leaders of the Spiritual cause, interested in the promulgation of its philosophy. The scene of these gatherings was the Beethoven Rooms, Harley Street, Cavendish Square, where a splendid suite of salons, capable of seating several hundred persons was engaged, and where the guests were admitted in evening costume, by subscription tickets, or introductions permitted by the Committee. The company included many persons of the highest rank or eminence in literature and science, and at these gatherings Mrs. Hardinge gave weekly addresses in her capacity as an inspirational speaker during a period of many months. The subjects of the lectures were most generally selected by the audience, and questions on all manner of abstruse, scientific, and metaphysical points, were answered at the close of the addresses. * Now Mrs. Hardinge Britten. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 173 The proceedings were received with tokens of the highest interest, and at the close of each series announced, Mrs. Hardinge was induced to renew her lectures, at the earnest solicitation of the friends of the movement. How gladly the chief promoters of these meetings welcomed the oppor- tunity of extending phenomenal Spiritualism into the realms of philosophy and mental science, may be gathered from the glowing accounts that were published from time to time in the London Spiritual Magazine^ especially the numbers for 1865-6. However gratifying these eulogimns might have been to the speaker, they can find no place here, and are only alluded to in order to mark the deep interest which inspirational addresses awaken, even in the minds of those least disposed to sympathize with the speaker's views, and to show how the cause progressed from phenomenal to intellectual phases of the movement. During her long and arduous career as a speaker in America, Mrs. Hardinge, having taken special interest in tendering the consoling doctrines of Spiritualism to the masses, was unwilling to narrow down her ministry to the exclusive and aristocratic listeners of the Harley Street soirees. She therefore proposed to her friends, that public meetings of a more general character should be inaugurated, the first to consist of three lectures on " America," to be given in St. James's Hall, the next to enter at once and publicly on the subject of Spiritualism in a course of Sunday evening addresses of the same character as those given at the winter soirees, to which all classes of the public should be admitted. To both these propositions Mrs. Hardinge's Spiritualistic friends lent their wilUng and generous aid. The secular lectures were at once undertaken, and called forth even from the London Times wonderfully complimentary notices of the lady lecturer and her pretensions ; in fact, as these addresses were totally unconnected with the obnoxious, and all too popular Spiritual bete noir of the age, they were received with the most laudatory notices from the press in general ; so enthusiastic indeed was the tone of commendation adopted by the leading journals of the metropolis, that Mr. Benjamin Coleman, a Machiavelh of strategy, as well as an indomitable general of strategical forces, collected these reports from the various papers, and published them in pamphlet form for general distribution. As the very next appearance of Mrs. Emma Hardinge's name in the public journals was an announcement of her Sunday evening Spiritual lectures, Mr. Coleman was generally thought to have stolen a march on the secular press, which might have induced them to regret that they had contributed so large a share of advertising to " the Spiritualists' new Pythia," as one of the repentant journals now designated the lady, who but a short time ago had been the subject of unqualified laudation. Not any longer from the columns of the secular press, but in the London Spiritual Magazine came the announcement of the next move on the Spiritual chessboard, which was to the effect that the Sunday evening lectures were attracting such immense and enthusiastic audiences, that they would be continued for an indefinite period, or at least, as long as the speaker could remain in the country to give them. About this time a valuable impulse was communicated to the Spiritual movement by the publication of a new paper called The Medium and Day- break — started by Mr. James Burns, now so well known in connection with this and other periodicals, as well as being the founder of the Spiritual Institution, Southampton Row, Bloomsbury. The assistance which an 174 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. editor of ability and a devoted Spiricualist like Mr. Burns was able to render, in publishing and distributing Mrs. Hardinge's lectures, can scarcely be estimated. The secular journals had obviously entered into a conspiracy of silence in regard to meetings which were attracting immense and over- flowing audiences every Sunday. In this juncture Mr. Burns — of whom we shall have more to say here- after — devoted himself heart and soul to the work of publishing the addresses, which were issued, some in the columns of The Medium, others in tract and pamphlet form, whilst the Harley Street lectures were collected into small volumes, and distributed broadcast by hundreds, and on special subjects by thousands. By the indomitable energy of Mr. Burns,* the press found themselves defeated by their own weapons, and from the time when this spirited publisher commenced in earnest his work of literary propagandism, the movement acquired a diffusive popularity which made a deep mark upon public opinion both in the metropolis and in the provinces. Hitherto, circumstances had not favoured the dissemination of Spiritual teachings through the platform. Enghsh Spiritualists had been honoured with a visit from, the celebrated American inspirational speaker and poet, the Rev, T. L. Harris, known in the Spiritual ranks as " The Medium," through whom was communicated the charming poems entitled, "A Lyric of the Morning Land," and "An Epic of the Starry Heavens." Unfortunately, Mr. Harris's visit failed, to promote any interchange of kindly sentiment between the American and English SpirituaUsts, the former having incurred Mr. Harris's wrath for refusing to install him into the position of a settled ministry. The results of this disappointment he ex- pressed in his English addresses, wherein his former associates and fellow labourers were so roundly abused, that it was evident to his grieved listeners that the ex-reverend gentleman was afflicted with a very unspiritual form of Spiritualism ; hence his ministrations served rather to retard than advance the cause in England. Mr. B. P. Randolph, another American Spiritual lecturer, had also essayed the' platform, but failed to reconcile his hearers to his marked eccentricities. A far more satisfactory expositor of the Spiritual doctrines had been found in the Rev. J. M. Peebles, formerly an American clergyman, but then a speaker on Spiritualism, whose eloquence created a deep impression on audiences gathered to hear him, on both sides of the Atlantic. At the time of Mr. Peebles' first visit, however, there was no available organization to give effect to his public efforts, hence, however valuable, they were not appreciated as they should have been. On several subsequent occasions Mr. Peebles' platform addresses were listened to with deep interest, and his visits to England welcomed with tokens of high appreciation. Time and circumstances combined to favour the effect of Mrs. Hardinge's advent in London, hence the results of her inaugural meetings were most influential in opening up opportunities for platform work in other directions. Although Mrs. Hardinge could never reconcile herself to a permanent residence in England, and for the last fifteen years has only revisited the country for limited periods of time, the kind greetings and cordial farewells — often accompanied by substantial tokens of interest — which these flying visits called forth, served to create pleasant " revivalisms," which heightened the effect and popularity of her labours. One of the most talented of the lecturers that succeeded Mrs. Hardinge NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 175 during her absence in the United States was Mrs. Cora Tappan, a, lady whose high reputation as an able and eloquent expositor of the Spiritual philosophy, stands unrivalled on both sides of the Atlantic. Mrs. Tappan's lectures were not only pronounced ' to be miracles of eloquence by the elite of the London Spiritualists, but by her efificient missionary labours in the provinces, she succeeded in awakening a wide- spread interest in Spirituahsm throughout the country. We have already alluded to the remarkable test facts of Spirit presence, afforded by the visit of Mr. Charles Foster, an American medium renowned for exhibiting names of deceased persons, and test facts of Spirit presence, by writings in raised letters, on the arm. Besides this remarkable personage, England was visited by Messrs. Redman, J. B. Conklin, and Colchester, all powerful physical test mediums. The fact that they were professional mediums and demanded liberal fees for their services, was of course a subject of reproach, which the opposition could not afford to pass by unheeded. Not that the English people are grudging'in their dealings, whether in trade, commerce, or art ; but, as we have already noted, the orthodox method of regarding Spiritual gifts as " Divine endowments," which must not be desecrated by association with " filthy lucre," threw an absurd and superstitious glamour over the subject, which exempted it from the ordinary methods of justice and common sense. When this unreasonable spirit was met on its own ground, and mediums, visiting the country from foreign lands, refused to take compensation for their services, rich presents were often pressed upon them in greater prodi- gality than their services could have commanded as payment, but when set fees were required, the whole community was aroused to the iniquity of making God-like gifts the subject of traffic, &c., &c. We shall devote the remainder of this chapter to a brief notice of another Transatlantic visitor whose reputation for the beneficent use he made of his marvellous powers of healing by touch, had long preceded him; we speak of Dr. J, R. Newton of Rhode Island, U.S., who arrived in this country for a second visit during the month of May, 1870. Stimulated by the reports of his many wonderful cures, the leading Spiritualists of London met together at the "Beethoven Rooms," Harley Street, on Thursday, May 12th, to tender to Dr. Newton a cordial welcome in the form of a public reception. The meeting was not only a representative one, the Spiritualists of eminence from the provinces as well as from the metropolis flocking in from all parts of the country, but those who attended were prompt to bear testimony to the excellent services of their distinguished guest, by relating several incidents in connection with his powers as a healer, the recital of which must serve in this place, as a sample of the good work performed by Dr. Newton during his brief residence in England. In the course of their several addresses, Messrs. Coleman, Tebb, Shorter, the Rev. J. M. Peebles — who happened to be in England at the time— and Mr. S. C. Hall, gave pointed and interesting delineations of the real status of English Spiritualism at the period in question, and the unpre- meditated testimony borne by these gentlemen at a time when their utterances were not given for effect on the outside world, may be received as of more value than any elaborately prepared statements. Mr. Benjamin Coleman, the chief promoter of the meeting, was unani- mously called upon to preside, and the exercises of the evening proceeded as follows. The Chairman, after stating that the object of the meeting was to 176 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. give Dr. Newton a hearty welcome, closed a pertinent speech on the value of the healing power with the following remarks : — " In America Dr. Newton stands pre-eminent for his healing powers, as proved by- recorded facts spread over the last fourteen years, and many of the cures effected by him were of a very wonderful description. When in New York and Boston, I heard of Dr. Newton's powers in this respect. One gentleman told me of a case where Dr. Newton had restored sight to a blind man, who had been unable to see for seven or eight years previously, and who was cured by Dr. Newton in a few minutes. Dr. Newton only arrived in Liverpool last Saturday, May 7th, and he was asked to go on the following day and see Mr. Ashley, of that town, who had been afflicted with a very serious illness for some time, and Mr. Wason, who is present, has given me the following statement of what took place : — " ' Mr. Ashley resides at 5, Catherine Street, Liverpool. On the 27th December last he was at Oxford and broke a blood-vessel in the lungs. A leading medical man, Mr. Freeborn, was called in, who prepared Mrs. Ashley for the worst, and told her that there was no hope ; that her husband would go off in a rapid consumption, and none could say how soon ; he advised that he should not be removed to Liverpool, as his strength was not equal to the journey. Mrs. Ashley prayed fervently for Divine aid, that she might be comforted and directed according to her trial, feeling assured that her husband would shortly depart — and turning to her Bible, opened it at a venture, and found her finger, she knows not how, on the text in St. John, where Jesus, speaking of Lazarus, says, " This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God." From that moment she felt assured that her husband would not die, and she told Dr. Freeborn her strong impressions. Some nttle time after this Mr. Ashley was removed to Liverpool on a bed fitted up in a railway carriage. For about five months he was confined to his room, no one expecting his recovery except his wife. Once Mr. Gardiner carried him like a child down stairs, and had great difiiculty in getting him back, and fears were entertained that he would not recover the shock. Last Saturday, May 7th, Dr. Simmons prepared Mrs. Ashley for the worst, and intimated that, the great change might take place at any moment. Last Sunday, the 8th of May, Dr. NevH:on and myself went in a cab to Mr. Ashley's ; the Doctor went upstairs to Mr. Ashley's sick-room, requesting that none should follow but Mrs. Ashley. In about five or six minutes. Dr. Newton brought Mr. Ashley down stairs, and took him into the open air and said he was cured ; he told him that he coidd walk a mile and a half, which he urged him to do, and to eat a beefsteak and drink a pint of ale for dinner — although his doctor had fed him on slops for the last five months. Mr. Ashley came to the evening service and stood alone a considerable time, whilst Dr. Newton told the audience of the case, which Mr. Ashley confirmed in all respects. Mr. and Mrs. Ashley gave me this account yesterday (Monday), at their house, after Mr. Ashley had been out, and eaten a mutton chop with pudding and ale, and after a long walk. . . . Previous to Dr. Newton's seeing him, Tie had not been out of his bed for five months,^ " Mr. Coleman then went on to say : — " I cannot in this short address give one-hundredth part of the cases on record, some of which have taken place very recently. Mr. Watson, who has come over from America with Dr. Newton, told me that he had lost the sight of one eye, in consequence of a piece of steel getting into it by accident ; inflammation set in, and he lost the sight of the other eye. Two years ago his wife was impressed to induce her husband to go with her to Montreal from New York, to visit Dr. Newton. They arrived in Montreal as Dr. Newton was on the point of leaving it, and directly Dr. Newton saw the patient, whose eyes were covered with a bandage, he told him that he would do good to one of them, thereby showing a knowledge that both of them were not in the same state. He then removed the bandage, and said, ' You can see, can't you ?' and althoiigh he had only been in the room seven minutes, he found that he could read small print. Mr. Watson is present, and can testify to the truth of these facts. " In London Dr. Newton will doubtless encounter plenty of opposition ; if he does not succeed the medical profession will call him a sharper, and if he does succeed they will call him a lunatic ; they are sure to say that he is mad, because he has announced his intention not bo charge a fee to anybody during his stay in England. " I do not beUeve that Dr. Newton will cure everybody, nor indeed half of those who call upon him, but there is no doubt that he can efiect very wonderful cures, and that he has a great work to do in this country." NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 177 After the reading of a cordial, and scholarly address, from the pen of Mr. Thos. Shorter, that gentleman was called upon to speak, which he did in substance as follows :— " I had the good fortune to make the personal acquaintance and friendship of Dr. Newton on the occasion of a brief visit he paid to this country in the autumn of 1864. I was then deeply impressed, as I think all who know him must be impressed, with his great simplicity and gentleness of character — his ingenuousness of disposition, singleness of purpose, and entire disinterestedness. I allude to this, not for the purpose of compli- ment, but because I believe that these qualities of character — this large-heartedness and quick active sympathy has had much to do with the marked success as a healer which Dr. Newton has achieved. On the occasion of that visit, as but little previous notice of it had been given, and it was at the time of year when most of our friends were absent from town, there were but few to meet him and hold out to him the hand of welcome. However, a genuine man with a high sense of duty, and who delights in the execution of a noble mission, is not easily discouraged, and I am glad to find that the untoward circumstances to which I have referred, have not deterred Dr. Newton from repeating his visit under happier auspices, and I hope it will be found with more satisfactory results. During the interval that has elapsed since his first visit the position of Spiritualism in England has changed very much for the better ; pubhc opinion on the subject has grown and ripened ; publications and books devoted to its exposition and advocacy have multiplied ; the platform, too, as well as the press, has been called into requisition — lectures have been dehvered, conferences held, Sunday services established, various forms of associative effort instituted, and societies and individuals have been stimulated to its investigation ; and thus conviction has spread, and a better understanding of the subject has been reached ; and to-night, instead of the few friends who welcomed Dr. Newton on his first visit, I am glad to see so goodly an assemblage. I trust that the work which Dr. Newton has begun so well in Liverpool will be continued in London, and that he will be as successful in curing disease in England as he has been in America. Many no doubt will think him mad, but looking at the results of this so-called insanity, I can only hope that it may soon become contagious Some four or five years since, when Dr. Newton was in Philadelphia, he was brought before a magistrate on some trumpery charge at the instigation of the doctors. Those whom he had cured, naturally indignant at the treatment of their benefactor, came forward unsolicited to the number it is said of about fifteen hundred, thronging the court and all its avenues, eager to tender their unsought-for evidence of the reality of their cure — these included the cures of blindness, deafness, lameness, paralysis, and other chronic maladies, seemingly incurable. Of course the charge was summarily dismissed. I will refer to one other case nearer home. The Rev. Frederick Rowland Young, pastor of the Free Christian Church, Swindon, was not only a minister of the Gospel, but a believer in the gracious word of the Master, ' The works that I do shall ye do also,' and when evidence was brought before him of the cures wrought by Dr. Newton in America, so strong was his faith, that he crossed the Atlantic to be cured by him. His faith was rewarded by an immediate cure. Not only did he return cured of the neuralgia with which he had been afiiicted for many years, and which physicians had been unable to remove, but he himself received through Dr. Newton the gift of healing, which he has freely exercised in his own town and neighbourhood, as well as for the benefit of persons living at a greater distance. Last summer, while at Swindon for a few days, I heard much of these cures, and one case came under my notice of a poor woman who had lost her eyesight for many years who had been cured by Mr. Young by the simple laying on of hands and prayer ; and she was then going about her ordinary household occupations. Whether Dr. Newton will be as successful here as in America I cannot say. When I consider the educated prejudice and indurated scepticism with which he will have to contend, I confess my expectations are greatly moderated. All the more credit to Dr. Newton, who, knowing all this, and in the face of these repellent influences, has ventured again to come amongst us. The least we can do is to acknowledge his great kindness in doing so, and by our sympathy and co-operation to aid him all we can in the great and good work in which he is engaged — the relief of suffering humanity, irrespective of all considerations of sect, party, country, class, or creed." " Mr. William Tebb said : ' I do not rise to make a speech : there are those here, some of whom have already addressed you, who are accustomed to speak in public assemblies, and I am not. I cannot, however, refrain from expressing my concurrence with the sentiments contained in the address just read, and my satisfaction in seeing so many assembled here this evening to do honour to so distinguished a philanthropist as Dr. Newton. It is related of Faraday, that when he made a new discovery he would show 12 178 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. it and explain it to his friends, evincing a delight which they could not always appreciate, and the question was frequently put to him, " What is the use of it ?" To which the Professor would reply, '' Wait, and we'll find some use for it." Now, this question is frequently put with regard to Spiritualism, and I confess that if it was confined, as many seem to suppose, to the phenomena of raps, table-tipping, and the like, one might be puzzled to answer the question satisfactorily. But when it is shown there is a continuous influx from the spiritual world, which is manifested in all the variety of forms witnessed in the Apostolic age, in healing the sick, as illustrated by our gaest Dr. Newton ; in inspirational speaking, so powerfully instanced in this hall by Mrs. Hardinge ; in the power to cast out evil spirits ; and when the facts of modern Spiritualism demonstrate the truth of all the most cherished beliefs of humanity, showing the ever- watchful interest which those who have gone before take in those that remain, and giving us clearer and better views of the future as well as of the present life, I think we may affirm that the good is unquestionable. I do not, however, intend to pursue this subject, but permit me before taking my seat to assure Dr. Newton that the kindly feehngs he has expressed in his letters to Spiritualists in this country are reciprocated by Spirituahsts here towards himself and his fellow-workers. We in England owe a deep debt of gratitude to the earlier advocates of the movement in America, to public men like Governor Tallmadge, of Wisconsin, and Judge Edmonds, of New York ; to clergymen like the late Rev. John Pierpont, of Boston, the successor of the celebrated Dr. Channing, and Adin Ballou ; to men eminent in the scientific world, like the late Professor Mapes, and Dr. Hare, of Philadelphia ; to men like Dr. Willis, and A. E. Newton, who for their faith as Spiritualists have been expelled from college and from church, and many others — with noble women not a few, who have borne the loss of worldly position, the ridicule, vituperation, and all that general hostility which ever seems to follow those whe identify themselves with the advent of unpopular truths.' "Mr. J. M. Peebles said : ' I feel some embarrassment in making any remarks, as this is a meeting of noble-hearted Englishmen to welcome a distinguished friend of my own from America. I am exceedingly happy to be in your midst, and especially to be upon this platform alongside a friend and brother whom I have known, loved, and respected for many years Truly it is often asked, " What good does Spiritualism do ?" It gives demonstration of a future existence, for even now clear-headed men often ask the question, " If a man die, shall he live again ? " Once, as a minister, I attended a funeral of an only child. My text was " Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid thern not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." The whole of m;^ sermon was about " faith," but as the mother baptized the coffin with her tears, she turned and said to me, '' Tell me what you know about the immortal world ; my aching heart asks for more than faith — for knowledge." She added, " Tell me what you know of that world ; shall I know my child ? Will my child know me ?" — and 1 was dumb. But now, since I have talked with the angels, and have heard their lute-like voices, I no longer talk only about ''faith," for now "We know that we have a house eternal in the heavens." Spiritualism teaches us and proves that there is an immortal life beyond the tomb. Spiritualism is spreading to the ends of the earth. I found its phenomena in Smyrna, in Constantinople, in Athens, and upon the Pacific coast ; in fact, wherever thinking men are found, there is this living truth proclaimed. I know much of Dr. Newton, for hundreds have clasped my hand who have been healed by him. To pick out sohtary instances from among the large number is like trying to select some specially bright star from the thousands in the midnight heavens. In Buffalo, several years ago, I was present at the house of Dr. Newton, when a gentleman was brought in upon his bed, who for years had had paralysis ; Dr. Newton looked at him, simply laid his hands upon him, and said, " Disease, I bid you depart ! Arise ! you are well ; " and the man left the bed and crossed the room, then stood before Dr. Newton weeping with joy. " Stop," said Dr. Newton, "it is not I ; it is the spirit power of which I am but the humble instrument." On another occasion a lady could not get near him, and Dr. Newton was impressed to say, " It does not matter, she is well," and she was cured. He has cured the lame, the dumb, and the blind As Mrs. Hardinge stands at the head of American inspirational speakers, so Dr. Newton stands at the head of all the healing mediums connected with the movement. Before him disease departs, and when it does not depart at once, it sometimes departs very shortly afterwards, because of its cause being removed — a stream will flow for a little time after its sources of supply have been cut off. I have great faith in Dr. Newton's cures, far more faith than has been expressed by some of those who have spoken before me, because I have seen more of Dr. Newton's work than they have. I know that Dr. Newton will nobly do his work, and that he will be blessed by God and His holy angels : I trust that all present will extend to him love and warmth of soul. Personally, the more time I spend in England, the better I comprehend and love Englishmen, and I wish to bespeak for Dr. Newton cordial welcomes and greetings while he remains in this country.' NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 179 " Dr. J. R. Newton then rose amid loud and continued applause. He spoke under spirit influence, with slowness and frequent pauses, and said : ' I feel overwhelmed by your cordial welcome. I stand before you as a plain man, and feel like a Utile chUd. I am a practical Christian, and am ready at any time to make a sacrifice of myself for the sake of Christianity. It is a wonder to me that few men ever try to live daily as Jesus lived. When I became Chiistian in life, spiritual gifts were showered upon me, and this was as wonderful to myself as to those whom I address. I believe in spirit communion, and I even know the names of some of the spirits who control me in the exercise of my gifts As to the power of healing, it is merely an illustration of the power of love. When any sick person comes before me, I lay my hands on that person and feel that I love him, and if the patient is not antagonistic, he is almost sure to be healed ; tell them I love them, and when this opens their hearts to me, the disease must depart. I make no profession to be a public speaker. I am entirely under the control of the spirits I cannot say that I have come to England at any sacrifice, because it was the will of my Father that I should come. I have not come to London to make money, and I shall receive rich and poor alike. The welcome I have received prevents me from speaking as freely as I wish to do. I have much to say, but I feel overwhelmed at the reception you have given me. I am heart and soul with you It is not a matter of belief with me that spirits control me — it is knowledge. Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato walk the earth to-day, and so do all the great and good men wh'b have gone before us. I shall meet you again next Sunday, and wish you all well, with many thanks and blessings for your kind attention.' " Mr. S. C. Hall said : Before the meeting closes, I should like to say a few words of congratulation to Dr. Newton. I believe that I express the sentiments of all Spiritualists when I say that it is their desire to give a cordial greeting to all Americans ; and that it is a great duty to bring Americans and Englishmen closer together, that they may under- stand each other better than they have done. I should not have risen at all except to call attention to one point. I want to tell Dr. Newton that Spiritualism is making great progress in this country among great men and great thinkers, and men who will become great authorities. I rejoice to tell him that a Society the other day called vsdtnesses before them, and made clear and close inquiry ; that that Society is about to send forth a report which will do much good among outsiders. ... I believe that the report of the Dialectical Society will go far towards the removal of the chief obstacles in the path of Spiritualism, and make it easier to help on our divine belief. We shall then be, I trust, the humble instruments in God's hands of destroying the Materialism of the present age, for this I consider to be the great purpose of Spiritualism. ... I have myself full knowledge of the truth of Spirituahsm, and I hope that many who are not Spiritualists will take my testimony as worth something when I express that certainty of belief. The more Spiritualism has been inquired into, the more its truth has been exhibited ; I thank God for having given us "opportunities of proving that which we now believe and know. Dr. Newton has reached London at a good time, with less difficulties than of old to encounter, and with less probability of being considered mad or dishonest.' " Thanks having been voted to the Chairman, the business part of the meeting then came to a close, and it assumed the character of a conversazione." . . . " DR. NEWTON AT THE CAVENDISH ROOMS. " On Sunday evening at the close of the service, and after a very excellent discourse by Mr. Peebles, Dr. Newton invited all who wei-e afflicted with disease or pain to come forward. Many did so ; and declared themselves either cured or greatly benefited by the Doctor's treatment. These included headache, deafness, stammering, neuralgia, heart disease, &c. His success in one case was very marked ; that of the son of Mr. F. Cowper, 388, Edgware Road, who had been unable to walk without crutches for eight years past. After Dr. Newton's treatment, the lad was able to walk home — a distance of about two miles. On Monday he attended at the Cambridge Hall, and had his spine straightened, which has made him measure about four inches taller. He now walks with a stick, and improves daily. On Sunday, May 22nd, a similar scene was witnessed, and on both occasions the hall was densely crowded." '' DR. NEWTON AT THE CAMBRIDGE HALL. " The Medium says : * Dr. Newton commenced a regular course of treatment of the poor on Monday morning. May 16th, in the Cambridge Hall, Newman Street, Oxford Street. He attends between the hours of nine and twelve, and will accept no money for his services. A large number came to be healed, and they have steadily increased each i8o NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. day. Many remarkable cures have been made. It would be of little use to fill our columns with an account of the remarkable instances of benefit which could be culled from the Doctor's treatment on one morning only. Dr. Newton commenced on "Wednesday morning by removing a curvature from the spine of a young lady, the daughter of Lady Helena Newenham. A lad who had not spoken, except in a whisper, for three years, was enabled to speak, so as to be heard distinctly over the hall. Mr. Hubbard, of Rathbone Place, was cured of asthma of long standing. Mr. Watts, Rathbone Place, was cured of lameness from wounds. Mr. Charles Clutterbuck, 74 years of age, had been totally blind for six years ; after treatment, he could see faces and tell the colour of Mr. Watson's beard. Mrs. Anna Crisp, 23, King Street, had been paralyzed for three years ; cured by one treatment. She had been affected on one side throughout. Robert Andrews, 151, Metropolitan Meat Market, was blind of one eye, and had pains in the head and hand ; after treatment he pronounced himself " all right." James Armstrong, 44, Brindley Street, Harrow Road, was afflicted with paralyzed legs for nearly two years. He could walk with difficulty on a pair of crutches, but he went away with his crutches over his shoulder. Many who were not perfectly cured were much relieved. Some were pro- nounced absolutely incurable. " It would be as easy to make new eyes as to cure you," said the Doctor to several who were entirely past recovery. Others were benefited, and some were told to come again ; others that their diseases were mitigated, and would pass away in a few weeks.' " " DR. NEWTON AND MR. ASHLEY. " Since the foregoing was in type, we have received the following communication : — " ' To the, Editor of the Spiritual Magazine. "'May 23rd, 1870. " ' Sir, — I have received a letter this morning from Mr. Wm. Ashley, of Liverpool, whose case I alluded to at Harley Street, and which was the first case upon which Dr. Newton tried his healing power after his arrival in England. Mr. Ashley now writes : " May 22nd. " You will be pleased to hear that I am gaining strength daily. I generally walk out one or two hours when the weather permits, either alone or with my wife. I enjoy my food as much as ever I did, and have no doubt but in a sliort time I shall be in robust health — thanks to dear Dr. Newton." '' * You can make whatever use you please of this communication. " ' You will see that the press is in full blast against the Doctor ; the Telegraph of this day being most violent ; the Echo of Saturday pubHshing a letter from a patient who was not healed ; the Advertiser denouncing him as a humbug. " The only fair account was given in the Daily News of Saturday ; but the writer did not half state the facts he witnessed. I was there, and many cases were marvellous — unmistakable ! " Yours truly, " Benj. Coleman." "dr. NEWTON AND THE PRESS. " The Liverpool Mercury has a long article on Dr. Newton's proceedings in Liverpool. On Sunday, May 8th, he attended two meetings and operated on from thirty to forty persons, and all, it is admitted, with one exception, professed themselves benefited, A portion of the London press has begun to Telegraph false reports and Echo dirty insinua- tions. "Tis easy as lying,' said Shakespeare, and newspaper scribes well know how easy that is. " The Daily News in a long article gives a tolerably fair account of some of the pro- ceedings during what the writer calls Dr. Newton's morning performance, and this toler- able fairness was so much a surprise to Dr. Newton, amidst the furious blasts of others of the press, that he had the innocence to thank the Daily News and even to ' bless ' the editor. This was too much for the editor, and he has hastened to repudiate the blessing, and to withdraw all his fairness, saying, with great truth, that such a thing was never in his mind. A great deal more of this is of course in store for Dr. Newton, and he has made up his account to meet it. Perhaps the source of the Doctor's power to heal may itself render him not the most philosophic or prudent person in speaking, and he may not be a good exponent of the philosophy of the subject. In this way additional difficulties may be thrown in his own way, and in that of the public, to prevent their understanding the rationale of this power, even to the small extent to which it can be understood. . . .... But apart from this, we should be glad to know why a benevolent gentleman cannot assert this power in his own person, and endeavour to exercise it at his own cost. \ NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. i8i without drawing down on himself the blind ferocity of the press and the public. We do not know why he should be called a blasphemer and an impostor, and have the whole pack of the press, like so many hounds, yelping at his heels. In America, where we hav? watched his course for many years, he has relieved and cured thousands, and is a poorer man to-day than he was five years ago, though his powers of healing are said to be greater. Already he has been the means of curing many in England during this short visit ; and we should have thought the wise plan would have been to watch the result and tabulate his work, and see what it comes to before becoming abusive. It suits the temper of the press, and its ignorance of such matters, to begin by abuse ; and so we must be content to let them go on in their own way. Anything above mere physics always produces this unholy rage. We wish that some healer could be found who could cure this public Our Spiritualistic readers have, no doubt, like the author herself, too often heard the parrot cry of Cui bono to marvel why — even with all the excisions of extraneous matter we have made — we should have published the above account in extenso from the pages of the London Spiritual Magazine of Uecemher, 1870. To non-spiritualistic readers who may perchance glance over these pages we would say, "Eead, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" the above account, before you again ask the ten thousand times answered question, " What is the use of Spiritualism ? " CHAPTER XXIII. SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONTINUED). Of Spiritual Associations, In 1865 an association was formed under the name and style of "The Association of Progressive Spiritualists of Great Britain," and the following is a brief summary of its aims as reported in the London Spiritual Magazine for December, 1865 : — " The ' Association of Progressive Spiritualists of Great Britain,' which recently held its first convention at Darlington, has issued — ' A circular respectfully addressed to the friends of Spiritualism and the public generally ; ' in which, accepting as their definition of Spiritualism the motto of the Spiritual Magazine, they state that : — " ' The principal objects we have in view, are, as an association, to meet once a year, or oftener, if it be deemed advisable, for the purpose of social communion, interchange of sentiment ; to record our united experiences, and the progress which Spiritualism is making in and around us ; to devise means for difi"using among our fellow men and women the principles of this Divine philosophy, by the distribution of the best tracts and books we have upon the subject, and the delivery throughout the kingdom of lectures by persons of approved character and abihty.' " A second convention is announced for the last week in July, 1866, at Newcastle-on- Tyne. The secretary of the Association is Dr. McLeod, of Newcastle." Of the Convention announced as above, the reports were scarcely as favourable as could have been desired. A general lack of unity seemed to pervade the assembly and the papers presented were not calculated to edify those outside the ranks of Spiritualism, however interesting they i82 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. might have been to the writers. The following remarks conclude a report of this gathering furnished by the London Spiritual " Amid much that is crude and undigested in the papers and speeches here reported, there are some well worthy a better companionship, especially one by Mr. Etchells, on ' The Atmosphere of Intelligence, Pleasure, and Pain ; or a Chapter from the Harmony of Matter, as unfolded in the Circles of Spiritualists who meet at Brothers Chapman, Varley, and Etchells', Huddersfield.' This paper has evidently been prepared with great care ; the facts it relates, especially those concerning the phenomena of ' the Double,' are of great interest ; and the circles named by Mr. Etchells can hardly be better employed in the interest of Spiritualism than in the further prosecution of these investigations." For a few succeding years, conventions were held either in London or the provinces, but these gatherings were seldom participated in by the majority of the English Spiritualists, nor were they conducive to any very important results. Conventions appear to be more in harmony with the genius of American than English Spiritualism, and we have but few evidences that their action in England has promoted the progress of the cause or the spirit of unity amongst its supporters. The invariable struggle between the extremes of RadicaHsm and Conservatism which so often disturbs the harmony of associative bodies, is a prevaiHng condition, of which the Spiritualists have had to learn, by painful experience. One of their most severe lessons in this direction was read to them in the determined opposition manifested by "The Royal Society of Great Britain,'' against the admission of '' Spiritualism " as a theme of discussion worthy the attention of that august body. Several of the Fellows were earnest believers in Spiritualism, and thinking they perceived in its phenomena, subjects quite as worthy the attention of eminent scientists as the genesis of a worm or the precise number of markings on a fossil trilo- bite, they made strenuous efforts to introduce papers on the subject of the marvellous demonstrations of unknown force which the phenomena of Spiritualism display. It was in the amazing assumptions of contempt and indifference with which these propositions were repelled, that the Spiritualists were led to believe that Societies in general are banded together for the defence of the old against the innovations of the new, and those who presume to try and enhghten the said Societies upon the subject of new ideas, must be taught, that anything a very learned, especially a Royal Society, does not already know, cannot exist, or if it presume to maintain an existence without the pale of such an authoritative body, cannot be worth knowing. It was doubtless under the influence of this high-toned monopoly of all knowledge worth the having, that Professor Tyndall, Mr. Palgrave, and other members of the Royal Society of Great Britain, maintained a long and acrimonious correspondence with Mr. William Wilkinson, Professors Wallace and Cromwell Varley, Sir J. E. Tennant, and others, on the question of bringing the phenomena claimed to be " Spiritual," before the members of the Royal Society, and although the Mediumship of Mr. D. D. Home was courteously tendered as an illustration of the assertions made by the SpirituaUsts, the scornful rejection of this offer seemed necessary to con- vince the zealous propagandists, how useless it is to try and convince those, who neither desire nor intend to be convinced of any facts they do not originate, or any truths they do not themselves already know. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 183 Although the action of Societies as a general rule appears to be ephemeral in connection with Spiritualism, its use being simply available for temporary purposes of propagandism, there have been a vast number of attempts at organization in the ranks of Spirituahsm. One of the most permanent and influential associations that has ever been formed in Great Britain has been known under the name of " The British National Associ- ation of Spiritualists." It may not be generally understood that this organization owes its first foundation in the metropolis to the steadfast though quiet and unobtrusive efforts of Mr. Dawson Rogers, of .Rose Villa, Finchley. This gentleman — one of the veteran Spiritualists of London — has for many years laboured unceasingly to promote the interests of Spiritualism, and both by purse and person has maintained every good work which has tended to advance " the cause." Besides devoting himself with tireless energy to the foundation and conduct of the " British National Association of Spiritualists," the movement owes to Mr. Dawson Rogers the foundation of the admirable periodical entitled Light. With the excep- tion of the London Spiritual Magazine., Light is unquestionably the highest toned, and most scholarly periodical that has ever issued from the Spiritual Press, and Mr. Dawson Rogers's good services to the cause of Spiritualism have been for many long years pursued so faithfully, so effectively, yet with such a total' absence of personal display, that we feel but too happy in offering this humble tribute to one, whose way marks in the path of progress have been far more prominent, than his honoured name. To return to Mr. Rogers's first great public effort in promoting the foundation of the British National Association of Spiritualists. In a brief sketch of this important movement published a few years since in the London Spiritualist., the editor says : — " Some time in 1873 it was resloved to form a national organisation of Spiritualists in Great Britain. This was done at a meeting at Liverpool, to which everybody had been invited by means of advertisements and special letters to well-known men. Thus was the standard raised of "Friendly union among SpirituaKsts." Fierce attempts were made to kill the organisation, more especially by the press, but the workers fought their way, and succeeded in planting a central establishment in London, and in doing some public work in addition, more especially the founding of fortnightly meetings to consider public questions relating to Spiritualism." Soon after its first inauguration, the Society issued a well-prepared tract, in which was published the list of distinguished persons who became its members and associates. Although it would be impossible to give in extenso a Ust which includes more than a hundred names and addresses, it may not be out of place to make the following selection from amongst the most noteworthy personages of the association : — "BRITISH NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SPIRITUALISTS (ESTABLISHED 1873.) Alexander Calder, Esq., 1, Hereford Square, West Brompton, S.W. VICE-PRESIDENTS. Blackburn, Charles, Parkfield, Didsbury, Manchester. Coleman, Benjamin, 1, Bernard Villas, Upper Norwood. Fitz-Gerald, Mrs., 19, Cambridge Street, Hyde Park, W. Fitz-Gerald, Desmond G., M.S.Tel.E., 6, Loughborough Road North, Brixton, S.W. Gregory, Mrs. Makdougall, 21, Green Street, Grosvenor Square, W. Honywood, Mrs., 52, Warwick Square, S.W. 1 84 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. viCE-PBEsrDENTs — Continued. Jencken, Henry D., M.R.I., Barrister-at-Law, Goldsmitli Buildings, E.G. Massey, 0. C, Barrister-at-Law, 96, Portland Place, W. Rogers, E. D., Rose Villa, Church End, Finchley, N. Speer, Stanhope Templeman, M.D., Douglas House, 13, Alexandra Road, South Hampstead, N.W. Wyld, Geo, M.D., 12, Great Cumberland Place, Hyde Park, W. Isham, Sir Charles, Bart., Lamport Hall, Northampton. Ivimey, Joseph, Berkeley Mansion, 64, Seymour Street, W. Joy, Algernon, M.I.C.E., Jimior United Service Club, S.W. Stock, St. George W., M.A., Queen Street, Oxford. Theobold, Morell, 30, Mark Lane, E,C. HONORARY OR CORRESPONDING MEMBERS. His Imperial Highness Nicholas, Duke of Leuchtenburg, St. Petersburg, Russia. Prince Emile de Sayn Wittgenstein, Lieutenant- General, Aide-de-Camp General de S.M.I. I'Empereur de Russie, Vevey, Switzerland. Ahmed Rassim Pacha, Khan de Rassim Pacha a Bahdj^ Capoussou, Constantinople. The Baron Von Vay, President of the Spiritual Society at Pesth. The Baroness Adelma Von Vay, Gonobitz, bei Potschach, Styria, via Gratz, Austria. The Baroness Guldenstubbe, 29, Rue de Trevise, Paris. Colonel Don Santiago Bassols y Folguera, Madrid. El Visconde de Torres-Solauot, Madrid. The Hon. Alexandre Aksakof, Russian Imperial Councillor, Nevsky Prospect, 6, St. Petersburg. The Baron von Dirckink-Holmfeld, Pinneberg, Holstein. M. Gustave de Veh, Bischoffsberger ViUa, Interlaken, Switzerl9,nd. Mme. de Veh, Bischoffsberger Villa, Interlaken, Switzerland. Signor Sebastiano Fenzi, Banca Fenzi, Florence, Italy. Baboo Pearychand Mittra, 7, Swallow Lane, Calcutta. James Mylne, Esq., Beheea, East Indian Railway, Bengal. A. J. Riko, Esq., Gude Molstraat, the Hague, Holland. M. C. Constant, Smyrna, Turkey in Asia. Dr. Maximilian Perty, Professor of Natural Science, Berne, Switzerland. Dr. Franz Hoffmann, Professor of Philosophy, Wurzburg tjniversity, Germany. Gregor C. Wittig, Esq., Kornerstrasse 2b, Leipsic, Germany. W. H. Terry, Esq., 84, Russell Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. M. Leymarie, 7, Rue de Lille, Paris. Epes Sargent, Esq., Box 2,985, Boston, U.S.A. H. T. Child, Esq., M.D., 634, Race Street, Philadelphia, U.S.A. E. Crowell, Esq., M.D., 196, Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. M. F. Clavairoz, Consul-General de France, Trieste, Austria. G. L. Ditson, Esq., M.D., Albany, New York, U.S.A., W. L. Sammons, Esq., Cape Town, South Africa. J. H. Gledstanes, Esq., Merignac, Gironde, France. Rev. Samuel Watson, Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.A. Luther Cobby, Esq., 9 Montgomery Place, Boston, U.S.A. M. de Bassompierre, 285, Chaussee St. Pierre, Etterbeck, Brussels. M. A. Anthleme Fritz, President de I'Union, 67, Rue du Midi, Brussels Lieut.-Col. P. Jacoby, 11, Rue de Vienne, Brussels. Le Comte de Bullet, Hotel de I'Athenee, Rue Scribe, Paris. Captain R. F. Burton, F.R.G.S., H.M. Consul, Trieste, Austria. A. R. Wallace, Esq., F.R.G.S., Rosehill, Dorking. Isaac B. Rich, Esq., 9, Montgomery Place, Boston, U.S.A. W. S. Godbe, Esq., Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A. Dr. Grunhut, Waitzner Boulevard, 57, Buda-Pesth, Hungary. Dr. A. E. Nehrer, Eperjes, Hungary. Signor Damiani, Salita Pontecorvo, 60, Naples. Berks T. Hutchinson, Esq., 2, New Street, Cape Town, South Africa. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 185 ALLIED SOCIETIES, The Liverpool Psychological Society. Secretary, S. Pride, Esq., 8, Grampian Road, Edge - Lane, Liverpool. L'Union Spirite et Magnetique. Secretary, M. Charles Fritz, 121, Rue de Lou vain, Brussels. The Brixton Psychological Society. Hon. Sec, H. E. Frances, Esq., 22, Cowley Road, Brixton, S.W. The Spiriter-Forscher Society, Buda-Pesth. Secretary, M. Anton Prochaszka, Josefstadt Erzherzog Alexander -gasse, 23, Buda-Pesth, Hungary. Dalston Association of Enquirers into Spiritualism. Hon. Secretary, T. Blyton, Esq., 74, Navarino Road, Dalston, E. Cardiff Spiritual Society, Hon. Sec, Mr. A. J. Smart, 3, Guildford Street, Cardiff. Sociedad Espiritista (.Espanola, Cervantes 34, 28, Madrid. President, El Visconde de Torres-Solanot. Sociedad Espirita Central de la Republica Mexicana. President, Senor Refugio T. Gonzalez, 7, Calle de Amedo, Mexico. Sociedad Espirita di Bogota, Colombia, South America. President, Senor Manuel Jose Angarita. For several years this Association has maintained its meetings, established a library, held soirees, investigating circles, and social gathings, with an amount of fidelity specially commendable in a movement so fluctuating as Spiritualism. Many internal changes have of course taken place, especially in its officers and directors. Many of its once prominent members have been removed by transition to a higher life ; others have been impelled to withdraw from personal motives, and still many eminent persons not enumerated in the first list, have become affiUated with the organization. So much influence for good however has been exerted by the persistent energy of its leaders, that we feel pleasure in adding a notice of the last change that has been effected in its arrangements. The excerpt we are about to subjoin was only published in May, 1882, and is taken from Light. The annexed report is the last announcement of the British National Association of Spiritualists under that name, the society being henceforth destined to be known as "The Central Association of Spiritualists." The article is headed : — " BRITISH NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SPIRITUALISTS. " Annual Meeting. — The annual general meeting of this Association was held on Tuesday evening last, at 38, Great Russell Street, Mr. E. Dawson Rogers, vice-president, in the chair. The principal business of the meeting was to receive the annual report of the Council and statement of accounts, and to consider a recommendation involving a change in the name and constitution of the Association. The report was unanimously adopted, as was also a proposition in favour of the adoption of the name ' The Central Association of Spiritualists,' by which designation, therefore, the Association will hence- forth be known . The change, we think, is a wise one ; but after eight years' famiharity with the title of the ' B.N.A.S.,' we give it up with some regret." Then follows an elaborate report of the Council, by which it appears that the society is stiff in a ffourishing condition. The following items, however, may possess some interest to the reader, because they allude to the depart- ture of more than one honoured friend of the Spiritual cause, and give further particulars of the status of the association under its new designation in 1882. The report concludes thus : — " The following is a concise summary of the history of the Association since the last annual meeting : — 1 86 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. '' Changes in the Membership. — Number of new members elected, 52 ; number of resignations 16. Deaths during the year — M. Leon Favre, Prof. Friedrich Zollner, Rev. Sir Wm. Dunbar, H. D. Jencken, M.R.I., Alex. Thorn, Mrs. Hook, A. E. Hunter, B.A. (Cantab). Present number of honorary and subscribing members, 294. "Allied Societies. — The Gateshead Society for the Investigation of Spiritualism, the South African Spiritual Evidence Society, and the Paris Psychological Society have allied themselves to the Association during the year, making a total number of sixteen in friendly union. "Work of the Association. — A series of Discussion and Social Meetings has been kept up through the season. Many of these have been highly interesting and successful. " Mr. T. P. Barkas, F.G.S., was appointed as a representative of the Association at the discussion on Spiritualism at the Church Congress held in October of last year. This discussion, and the extent to which the report of it was circulated, has done much to raise the position which the whole subject of Spiritualism occupies in the public mind. '' On the 5th and 6th of January last, conferences of an excedingly interesting character were held in the rooms of the Association, on the invitation of Professor Barrett, of Dublin. These conferences have resulted in the formation of a ' Society for Psychical Research,' which, while working to some extent on similar lines to those of the B.N.A.S., does not commit itself to a belief in Spiritualism, but aims at approaching the inquiry solely from a scientific standpoint. The Council feels that there is abundant room for such a society without in any way affecting the necessity for a Central Association avowedly for the investigation and propagation of Spiritualism. " The new organization alluded to in the last report sufficiently indicates its aims by its nomenclature — namely, " The Society for Psychical Research." The announcements put forth by this Society point to the Unes of de- marcation which separate it from any thoroughly pronounced Spiritual organizations ; in fact, the addresses of its President and Members on the occasion of its first general meeting, which took place in July, 1882, clearly show, that though Spiritualists may and do take part in its researches, a belief in Spirit communion is by no means the leading prin- ciple upon which the association is based. To illustrate this position still more forcibly, we append a note which the Society print in connection with their prospectus. It reads as follows : " To prevent misconception, it is here expressly stated that Membership of this Society does not imply the acceptance of any particular explanation of the phenomena investi- nated, nor any belief as to the operation, in the physical world, of forces other than those recognised by Physical Science." After publishing the list of eminent literary and scientific ladies and gentlemen who compose the officers and members of this association, the prospectus gives the following, which may present a satisfactory synopsis of the subjects of proposed research. " (1) Committee on Thought-reading ; Hon. Sec, Professor W. F. Barrett, 18, Belgrave Square, Monkstown, Dublin. "(2) Committee on Mesmerism : Hon. Sec, Dr. Wyld, 12, Great Cumberland Place, London, W. " (3) Committee on Reichenbach's Experiments ; Hon. Sec, '^Walter H. Coffin, Esq., Junior Athenseum Club, London, W. "(4) Comrnittee on Apparitions, Haunted Houses, &c. ; Hon. Sec, Hensleigh Wedgwood, Esq., 31, Queen Anne Street, London, W. " (5) Committee on Physical Phenomena ; Hon. Sec, Dr. C. Lockhart Robertson, Hamam Chambers, 76, Jermyn Street, S.W. " (6) Literary Committee, Hon, Sees., Edmund Gurney, Esq., 26, Montpelier Square, S.W. ; Frederic W, H. Myers, Esq., Leckhampton, Cambridge." Besides these well selected subjects for consideration, and the marked ability of the gentlemen who have consented to aid in their investigation, NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 187 the success of the undertaking is guaranteed by the high standing and hterary attainments of the parties under whose direction the work is announced to proceed. Any committee of investigators into psychic phenomena which includes the names of the subjoined officers and Council can scarcely fail to command the respect of the community at large and the sympathy of every earnest investigator into the subjects under consideration : — President. Henry Sidgwick, Esq., Trinity College, Cambridge. Vice-Presidents. Arthur J. Balfour, Esq., M.P., 4, Carlton Gardens, S,W. W. F. Barrett, Esq., F.R.S.E., 18, Belgrave Square, Monkstown, Dublin. John R. Holland, Esq., M.P., 57, Lancaster Gate, London, W. Richard H. Hutcon, Esq., Englefield Green, Staines. Rev. W. Stainton-Moses, M.A., 21, Birchington Road, London, N.W. Hon. Roden Noel, 57, Anerley Park, London, S.E. Professor Balfour Stewart, F.R.S., Owens College, Manchester. Hensleigh Wedgwood, Esq., 31, Queen Anne Street, London, W. Council. W. P. Barrett, 18, Belgrave Square, Monkstown, Dublin. Edward T. Bennett, 8, The Green, Richmond, near London. Mrs. Boole, 103, Seymour Place, Bryanston Square, London, W. Walter R. Browne, 38, Belgrave Road, London, S.W. Alexander Calder, 1, Hereford Square, South Kensington, London, S.W. Walter H. Coffin, Junior Athenaeum Club, London, W. Desmond G. FitzGerald, 6, Akerman Road, Brixton, S.W. Edmund Gurney, 26, Montpelier Square, London, S.W. Charles C. Massey, 1, Albert Mansions, Victoria Street, London, S.W. Frederic W. H. Myers, Leckhampton, Cambridge. Francis W. Pereival, 28, Savile Row, London, W. Frank Podmore, 16, Southampton Street, Fitzroy Square, London. S.W. C. Lockhart Robertson, M.D., Hamam Chambers, 76, Jermyn Street, S.W. E. Dawson Rogers, Rose Villa, Church End, Finchley, N. Rev. W. Stainton-Moses, 21, Birchington Road, London, N.W. Morell Theobald, 62, Granville Park, Blackheath, S.E. Hensleigh Wedgwood, 31, Queen Anne Street, London, W. G. Wyld, M.D., 19, Great Cumberland Place, London, W. Many other associations besides those already named have been formed with kindred aims. Some have maintained a more or less permanent existence — but whether they still survive or have passed out of being, all have achieved some use as temporary levers in the spiritual progress of the race. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. CHAPTER XXIV. SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONTINUED). Spiritualism and the London Dialectical Society. It now becomes necessary to give a brief account of a movement which has exerted a marked influence over the progress of SpirituaHsm in Great Britain, namely, the investigations and pubhshed report of " The London Dialectical Society," the action of which in connection with Spiritualism arose thus. In January of the year 1869, an association composed of ladies and gentlemen distinguished for their literary and scientific attain- ments, entitled "The Dialectical Society," determined to investigate the subject of modern Spiritualism. The minute of the proceedings which inaugurated this investigation reads in their published report as follows : — "At a meeting of the London Dialectical Society, held 6th of January, 1869, Mr. J. H. Levy in the chair, it was resolved, — ' That the Council be requested to appoint a Committee to investigate the phenomena alleged to be Spiritual manifestations, and to report thereon.' " In consequence of this resolution, the members issued a circular couched in courteous terms, inviting the leading Spiritualists of England to assist them by personal or written testimony in the investigations they proposed to pursue. One of the first respondents to the call issued by the Council was the author of this work, who happened at that time to be in England, and who, in company with J, C, Luxmoore, Esq., of Gloucester Square, Mr. and Mrs. Everitt, and a few other Spiritualistic friends, waited on the Society at a meeting appointed for that purpose on the evening of March i6th, 1869. After offering such testimony as she felt to be apposite to the place and time, Mrs. Hardinge gave a long address upon the main features of the Spiritualistic movement, the characteristics of Mediumship, the Spirit circle, and the difficulties which beset the path of the investigator, all of which will be found duly recorded in the printed report of the Society, The address closed with a strong recommendation to the Society to con- duct their investigations, not in general sessions of the whole body, but to form themselves into groups or sub-committees, of from four to eight, or at most ten persons ; selecting the members of these groups on the principle of mutual goodwill, or such cordial relations with each other, as would be most likely to produce harmony of feeling, and psychological equilibrium. In answer to various queries propounded by members of the Committee at this stage of the proceedings, Mrs. Hardinge described in detail the best and most approved methods of forming circles, founding her advice not on her own opinions, but on the well proved experiences of the Spiritualists with whom she had been associated for many years. During the entire course of this address, which was occasionally inter- rupted by appropriate questions, listened to with deep attention, and NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 189 responded to by a cordial vote of thanks, the Spirits, or invisible audience present, availed themselves of the Mediumship of Mrs. Everitt, who was one of the party, to emphasize the entire speech with loud clear raps which resounded in unmistakable cadence to every sentence, on the uncovered library table, at which the Committee were seated. Both Mrs. Everitt and the speaker were too far from the table to give rise to the supposition that they had any agency in producing the sounds, yet these manifested an intelligence which was so unmistakable that it must have appeared astounding to the sceptics present. On some occasions, the invisibles emphasized the utterances with the customary signals for " yes " and "no," joining in most vociferously with the applause, and taking part throughout the proceedings with a force, spontaneity, and independence, which was as amusing to the Spiritualists as it was startling and unexpected to the rest of the party. After the official work of the evening was ended, the company amused themselves for some time by questioning the invisible rapper, and though the meeting did not in any way assume the form of a seance, or commit itself by making any report of this informal action of their invisible atten- dants, the curious proceedings obviously made a deep impression upon some of those present, whilst it called forth from others that involuntary spirit of denial, which would rather discredit the testimony even of the senses than recede from the standard of obstinate and preconceived opinions. It is more than probable that out of the large number of circulars which were sent to other well-known Spiritualists besides Mrs. Hardinge, not one failed to produce a response of more or less interest to the investigators. Amongst those respondents whose names will be found in the Society's published report, and who attended in person, to give oral evidence of their faith, are the following persons : — Mrs. Emma Hardinge, Mr. H. D. Jencken, M.R.1. 3 Mrs. Honeywood, Mr. T. M. Simkiss, Mr. E. Laman Blanchard, Mr. J. Murray Spear, Mr. Benjamin Coleman, Mr. George Childs, artist; Mr. J. Enmore Jones, Miss Alice Jones, Miss Douglass, Lord Borthwick, Mr. James Burns, Mr. Thomas Sherratt, Professor Crom- well F. Varley, Miss Houghton, Mr. Thomas Shorter, Mr. Manuel Eyre, Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. Hockley, Mr. D. D. Home, Mrs. Cox, Signer Damiani, Lord Lindsay, Mr. Chevalier, Mr. Percival, Miss Anna Black well, &c., &c. Letters .in response to the Society's circular were received from — Mr. George H. Lewes, Mr. Wm, Wilkinson, solicitor ; Dr. Garth Wilkinson, M.D. ; Dr. Davey, Dr. J. Dixon, Mr. Wm. Howitt, Lord Lytton, Mr. Newton Crosland, Mr. Robert Chambers, Dr. Lockhart Robertson, Dr. Charles Kidd, Mr, Edwin Arnold, Mr. J. Hawkins Simpson, Mr. A. Glendinning, Mr. T. A. TroUope, M. Leon Favre, Mrs. L. Lewis, The Countess (now Duchesse) de Pomar, M. Camille Flammarion, &c., &c., &c. Papers also, though of an antagonistic character, were received and published from Profs. Huxley and Tyndall, Dr. Carpenter, Mr. Bradlaugh, and others. It would be impossible without giving the substance of a volume of some 400 pages published by the Dialectical Society as their ultimate report, to convey to the reader the least idea of the candour and zeal with which this investigation was pursued, nor the vast sum of testimony which resulted from it; in short, without any such intention on the part of its authors, the Dialectical Society's report forms one of the best collections of test facts and irrefragible testimony in favour of the Spiritual hypothesis, that has yet issued from the nineteenth-century press. I90 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. It seems that the General Committee, acting on the suggestions before named, organized themselves into six groups or sub-committees, at which Mr. Home and other well-known Mediums lent valuable assistance, whilst on many occasions, phenomena of a very convincing character were evolved, no recognised Medium being present. The reports of the Sub- Committees in fact, when read and candidly considered in detail, are fully sufficient to establish the fact of an unknown super-sensuous and intelligetit power communicating with mortals both by physical and intellectual modes, and that without atiy additional testimony from any other sources T "The Dialectical Society's Report on Spiritualism," was first published by the Society, and subsequently reprinted (by permission) with additional matter, by Mr. Jas. Burns, 15, Southampton Row, Holborn, London, where the curious reader can obtain it. Meantime, the following excerpts from the introductory portion of the work will be perused with interest. The General Council of the Sub-Committee, addressing the Society at large, report as follows : — " Your Committee have held fifteen meetings at which they received evidence from thirty-three persons who described phenomena which they stated had occurred within their own personal experience. ' Your Committee have received written statements relating to the phenomena from thirty-one persons. " Your Committee invited the attendance, and requested the co-operation and advice of scientific men who had pubhcly expressed opinions favourable or adverse to the genuineness of the phenomena. " Your Committee also specially invited the attendance of persons who had publicly ascribed the phenomena to imposture or delusion. " Your Committee however, while successful in procuring the evidence of believers in the phenomena and their supernatural origin, almost wholly failed to obtain evidence from those who attributed them to fraud or delusion. "As it appeared to your Committee to be of the greatest importance that they should investigate the phenomena in question by personal experiment and test, they resolved themselves into sub-committees as the best means of doing so. " Six sub-committees were accordingly formed. " All of these have sent in reports from which it appears that a large majority of the members of your Committee have become actual vsdtnesses to several phases of the phenomena, without the aid or presence of any professional medium, although the greater part of them commenced their investigations in an avowedly sceptical spirit. " These reports hereto subjoined, substantially corroborate each other, and would appear to establish the following propositions :— " 1. That sounds of a very varied character, apparently proceeding from articles of furniture, the floor and walls of the room — the vibrations of which are often distinctly perceptible to the touch — occur, without being produced by muscular action or mechani- cal contrivance. " 2. That movements of heavy bodies take place without mechanical contrivance of any kind or adequate exertion of muscular force by the persons present, and frequently without contact or connection with any person. " 3. That these sounds and movements often occur at the times, and in the manner asked for by persons present, and by means of a simple code of signals, answer questions and spell out coherent communications. " 4. That the answers and communications thus obtained are for the most part of a commonplace character ; but facts are sometimes correctly given which are known to one of the persons present. " 5. That the circumstances imder which the phenomena occur are variable — the most prominent fact being, that the presence of certain persons seems necessary to their occurrence, and that of others, generally adverse — but this difference does not appear to depend upon any belief or disbelief concerning the phenomena. " 6. That nevertheless the occurrence of the phenomena is not induced by the presence or absence of such persons respectively." Thus far the sub-committees' personal experiences alone are touched upon. The report next proceeds to deal with the testimony of the various NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 191 witnesses who, orally or by written statements — received as indisputable, in view of the character and standing of the deponents — gave in a vast mass of testimony from which the following numbered extracts are selected : — " 1. Thirteen witnesses state that they have seen heavy bodies — in some instances men — rise in the air, and remain there for some time vsrithout visible support. " 2. Fourteen witnesses testify to having seen hands or figures not appertaining to any human being, but life-like in appearance and mobility, which they have sometimes touched or even grasped and which they were therefore convinced were not the result of illusion or imposture. . . " 4. Thirteen witnesses declare they have heard musical pieces well played upon instruments not manipulated by any ascertainable agency. " 5. Five witnesses state that they have seen red-hot coals applied to the hands or heads of several persons present without producing pain or scorching, and three witnesses state that they have had the same experiment made upon themselves v?ith the like immunity. " 6. Eight witnesses declare that they have received precise information through rappings, writings, and in other ways, the accuracy of which was unknown at the time to themselves or any persons present, and which on subsequent enquiry was found to be correct." " 9. Six witnesses declare they have received information of future events, and that in some cases the hour and minute of their occurrence have been accurately foretold, even days and weeks before." In addition to the above, evidence was given of gratuitously false statements alleged to come from spirits ; of spirit drawings produced under conditions which rendered " human agency impossible," also of " trance speaking, healing, automatic writing, the introduction of flowers and fruit into closed rooms ; of voices in the air, visions in crystals and glasses, and the elongation of the human body. After a careful and almost exhuastive review of the whole subject, notices of the literature, and the various hypotheses put forth by way of attempted explanation, the preliminary report of the General Committee concludes with the following remarks : — " In presenting their report, your Committee, taking into consideration the high character and great intelligence of many of the witnesses to the more extraordinary facts, the extent to which their testimony is supported by the reports of the sub- committees, and the absence of any proof of imposture or delusion as regards a large portion of the phenomena ; and further, having regard to the exceptional character of the phenomena, and the large number of persons of every grade of society and over the whole civiUsed world who are more or less influenced by a belief in their supernatural origin, and to the fact that no philosophical exj^lanation of them has yet been arrived at, deem it incum- bent upon them to state their conviction that the subject is worthy of more serious attention and careful investigation than it has hitherto received." With a recommendation that the entire report together with the detailed reports of the Sub-Committees should be printed, here concludes one of the most remarkable, candid, and noteworthy summaries of a series of investi- gations into the phenomena of modern Spiritualism that the records of that movement can display. The very popularity of "the cause," the many honourable and distinguished patrons which it had attracted to its ranks, and the possibility of making easy profits by simulating its phenomena, have doubtless been the super- inducing motives which have caused such a vast flood of imposture, fraud and pretension to disgrace its honoured name, si7ice the Dialectical Society issued their report Still that volume remains, and the high character of 192 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. those who constituted the witnesses, their entire disinterestedness and freedom from bias or motive to pervert the truth, and the care, caution, and indefatigable energy with which the research was pursued, will out- weigh with the capable thinker the adverse witness of determined prejudice, or even the soil of ten thousand impure and fraudulent hands laid upon the fair form revealed by the investigations of this brave band of truth seekers. It is only to be regretted that the report of the Dialectical Society has not attained to a far wider circulation than it has hitherto enjoyed — still more that other associations composed of individuals as authoritative in name and place, as capable of judging righdy, and as faithful in seeking for and sifting evidence, have not followed so laudable an example, and by thus formulating and publishing abroad all that was found valuable and important in the movement, they would have tended to repress the atrocious licence, absurd fanaticism, and audacious frauds, that have been foisted upon the name and fame of modern Spiritualism. CHAPTER XXV. SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONTINUED.) It must not be supposed that the course of Spiritualism in Great Britain moved on to the achievement of its many conquests over materialism and unbelief, without battles to fight, and obstacles to overcome. Besides the persistent opposition directed against this movement from the enemies who may be classified as the would-be monopolists of all knowledge, in religion, science, and literature, many and injurious have been "the foes of its own household," with which Spiritualism has had to contend. Whether excessive vanity or mercenary motives have been the causes which induced certain individuals, professing to be Mediums for Spiritual phenomena, to supplement the lack of natural endowments by artifice, it matters not now to enquire; but it is an assured fact, that few well-informed Spiritualists would venture to deny, that many manifestations have been exhibited, both by private and professional Media, more or less garbled by fraud, and interpolated by human contrivance. As our work is understood to record what Spiritualism is, not what it is not, we do not feel called upon to dilate farther on the performances of tricksters than to note the fact of their interference, and the injurious effect they have had upon the progress of the Spiritual cause. It must suffice to say, that Spiritualism, like every other movement in human life worth counterfeiting, has had to endure its share of hindrance and disgrace from the camp followers who are ever found in the wake of the armies of progression. We know it is constantly alleged by detected impostors, that the frauds they can no longer conceal, were undertaken, " under the influence of evil spirits" generally those, who were attracted to the circle by some evil- minded sceptic. As to themselves — poor innocents ! — they were wholly unconscious, and should be regarded merely as victims, not as offenders. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 193 To account for the prepared paraphernalia with which their frauds were perpetrated, they generally fall back upon the theory of conspiracies to ruin them, amongst the very sitters whom they have attempted to cheat, &c., &c. To expla7iations of this character, alike insulting to common sense, and common honesty, no answer can be made. Unfortunately how- ever, the heartless impostors who have no scruple in robbing their victims, and imposing on the holiest emotions of the heart, generally find hosts of apologists, who not only seek to excuse their turpitude by the miserable platitudes suggested above, but follow up the detection, with torrents of abuse against those who will not tamely submit to be imposed upon. " Hard words break no bones," says the Spanish proverb. That may be true, nevertheless they are exceedingly hurtful to the feelings, and hence it is, that many an audacious cheat has been permitted to perpetrate his foul work unrebuked, for fear of the clamorous attacks with which the exposer is sure to be met by ill-judged partisanship, or fanatical credulity. True Mediums, whether professional or otherwise, deserve the most kind consideration and courteous treatment ; but that is a poor rule which does not apply both ways, and therefore the same consideration and courtesy is due to the investigator, especially when it is remembered that such investi- gations are generally made under the impulse of the most sacred affections, and therefore deserve to be treated with reverence and respect. Still the effect of detected imposture has been most injurious to the pro- gress of Spiritualism, and though its publicity may have served the purpose of stimulating the investigator to more caution in his researches, it has turned back many an one from seeking divine truth, in a path bristling with the way marks of deceit and lies. Other causes too, conspired to produce reactionary tides in public opinion, unfavourable to Spiritualism. Mr. Sothern, a popular actor, who under the alias of " Stuart," had once been the conductor of the well-known " miracle-circle" of New York, thought proper to amuse his English associates by contriving all sorts of caricature performances calculated to bring ridicule and discredit upon Spiritualism, Mr. Benjamin Coleman in his zeal for the cause he espoused, in exposing Mr. Sothern's performances, unfortunately republished certain statements copied from the New York papers, which gave the pretext for a prosecu- tion on the ground of libel. A trial ensued. The well-known aphorism that "truth is a libel" obtained with unmistakable force in this case, and Mr. Coleman and his publisher, the editor of the paper called The Spiritual Times, were mulcted in heavy damages. It is worth while in this connection to give a curious episode which may not be unimportant in weighing the statements of those, who — because they find fraud in one direction — pass a wholesale verdict of condemnation against the reliability of all phenomena. A report has often gained currency, that there was somewhere, though rumour never condescended to be expUcit on the actual whereabouts, a mechanic who had been employed to manufacture apparatus by which a machine, concealed about the person, could produce the phenomena known as "Spirit rapping.*' More than one of the antagonists to Spiritualism have made allusion to this floating rumour, treating it as a well proven fact, and alleging that it fully explained the entire formulae of the (assumed Spiritual) rappings. Now these allegations have always been made with an amount of indefiniteness which has deprived them of credit, whether with the advocates 13 194 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. or opponents of Spiritualism. For the benefit of both classes, we shall now proceed to give the floating rumour a clear and legitimate parentage. During the investigations of the Dialectical Society, there was a general flutter of opinion on the part of the antagonists to Spiritualism lest those who were heretofore sceptics, might prove too much and not improbably become themselves converted. In this direful contingency some one (whom this record does not care to immortalize) procured the attendance before the Dialectical Society's Council, of one Mr. William Faulkner, of Endell Street, London, who gave evidence in respect to certain magnets which he claimed to have manu- factured, by means of which " artificial raps could be produced," whilst the magnets were concealed about the person of "the Medium," Being closely plied with questions by the Spiritualists present, this gentle- man was unable to show that he had ever supplied these magnets to a single Medium known to any one in the Spiritual ranks save a Mr. Addison, the accomplice of Mr. Sothern, and the gentleman at whose residence all the tricks were performed, which Mr. Coleman exposed. It must be remembered that Messrs. Sothern and Addison made it their business to bring Spiritualism into ridicule and contempt by first pretend- ing to produce phenomena and then showing that it was only the result of trickery and deception. It was in aid of this notable work that Mr. Faulkner's magnets were manufactured, and in this way that Mr. Faulkner's testimony was expected to bring discredit on the entire mass of Spiritual phenomena ; in a word, those who contrived to cite this person, before the Dialectical Society's Council, evidently meant to show that because Mr. Addison's house was fitted up with artificial magnets designed to deceive the unwary and bring SpirituaHsm into ridicule, so' all "Spirit rappings," whether occurring in the palaces of emperors and princes, or the homes of clowns and harlequins, must be produced by magnets manufactured by Mr. Faulkner, of Endell Street, London ! Comment upon this very flimsy attempt to destroy a world-wide truth with a harlequin's bat and ball is unnecessary; in short, a subject so justly relegated to oblivion would not be recalled at this time, were it not desirable to observe, to what desperate and puerile methods of warfare, the opponents of this great cause have been driven. Shortly after the Coleman prosecution, -another of a still more complex and damaging character arose, in connection with Mr. D. D. Home, and an old lady by the name of Lyon. Although the details of this case may be fresh in the memory of readers of the present generation it is necessary, for the benefit of posterity, to give the following brief abstract of its salient points. It seems that Mrs. Lyon, an eccentric old lady, took a sudden and violent fancy to Mr. D. D. Home, and being a widow with a large fortune at her own disposal, she induced the young Medium to become her adopted son and heir. Settlements were made, and Mr. Home's name was changed to Lyon, by a formal parliamentary act. For a time all seemed to promise well for the future happmess of the contracting parties. At length however, the lady grew exacting, the adopted son restive ; she wearied of her fancy, he of his gilded chains. Disputes arose ; then estrangement, and th& finale was, a demand on the part of the lady, for release from all her promises, and an immediate restitution of the gifts she had bestowed on the creature of her whim. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 195 Unfortunately for Mr, Home, the last-named demand implied an impossi- bility with which he could not comply. Failing to obtain her exorbitant demands, the whilom tender mother had the son arrested, and then commenced a vigorous prosecution against him for the restitution of all the gifts she had bestowed, on the plea, that Mr. Home had worked upon her feelings, and induced her to consent to the act of adoption by ;pretended Spiritual manifestations. A long trial ensued, in the published reports of which, not one tittle of evidence could be adduced in support of the lady's allegation ; on the contrary, her witnesses discredited and contradicted each other, and her own testimony was so silly and unsupported, that the judge was frequently obliged to advise her to be silent, as " her statements were too contradictory to be accepted." On the other hand it was shown by an immense number of the most respectable witnesses, that Mr. Home yielded to this lady's offers slowly 'and reluctantly, and that he even sent his friend and legal adviser Mr. William Wilkinson to call on her ; to place before her the magnitude of her undertaking, and beseech her to take time and good counsel, before consummating her hasty proposal. During the entire progress of this protracted trial, the balance of evidence was all on the side of the unfortunate Medium, and judging purely by the testimony adduced, not a doubt existed in the pubhc mind, that Mr. Home would be honourable acquitted, and the prosecution anything but honour- ably quashed. But great are the uncertainties of the law ! Mr. Home was found guilty of exerting undue influence over the mind of an innocent aged lady, and ordered to give back all that he could restore, and so the matter was supposed to end. End there however it did not. So long as the details of the case were fresh in the public mind, Mr. Home was regarded as the victim of a very unjust verdict, whilst Mrs. Lyon was regarded as very much more of a wolf in sheep's clothing, than as the representative of her kingly name When the real facts at issue slipped out of the versatile memory of " the dear public " however, and ancient prejudice was permitted to re-assume her sway, the Spiritualists were constantly reproached with the acts of " that wicked Mr. Home," and the wrongs of that amiable and truthful old lady, Mrs. Lyon. Nay, the author in her wide wanderings over the world has frequently been reminded "how that dreadful Mr. Home had been imprisoned for life, for plundering and imposing upon his bene- factress,, and how that dreadful delusion of Spiritualism was all exploded in consequ^ence." It was of no avail to urge that Mr. Home was at that very time the honoured guest of the Emperor of Russia, and Spiritualism exerting more power and influence over the masses than ever. The slanderers " knew all about it," for did not every one " say so," and was it not enough that it was testified of by the authoritative tongue of common report ? At a still later date, other trials and other convictions occurred, and in more than one instance frauds and adventurers received their deserts, and suffered penalties which Spiritualists were as ready to pronounce well merited as were their opponents. Still the result of any judicial trials in which Spiritualism was concerned, invariably ended unfavourably for the cause, whatever the merits of the case might be. It is not to be wondered at then, that antagonistic individuals availed themselves of this mockery of justice in connection with an unpopular movement, and scrupled not to call in the aid of the law to punish the believers whose faith they could not change. 196 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. Whatever the present generation may allege, posterity will surely reahze that it was the prevalence of an unjust and bigoted public sentiment, and the certainty that the law would uphold that sentiment, which stimulated the vexatious prosecution that was quite recently instituted against the celebrated American Medium, Mr. Henry Slade, who, during a brief visit to this country en route to fulfil an engagement in Russia, was becoming all too popular with the visitors whom his limited time permitted him to receive. It was no doubt in view of this "perversion of public feeling" and "in the highest interests of moraUty and religion " that two self-styled scientific gentlemen called on the American Medium, and aftef endeavouring in every possible way to entrap him into some suspicious act, they openly accused him of fraud, caused his arrest and entered upon a vigorous and relentless prosecution against him. Again the details of the trial were utterly barren of proof that the charge was true. Except that the prosecution could not account for the phenomena produced, and therefore trumped up an imaginary and totally impractical hypothesis as to how it anight or must have been done, there was not a shadow of evidence to prove fraud on the part of the Medium. For the defence, a large number of distinguished and respectable persons tendered their witness in favour of Slade's honesty, and the unmistakable character of the supra-mundane phenomena occurring in his presence. Only four of these favourable witnesses were allowed to testify, one of them being the celebrated author and naturalist, Professor A. R. Wallace, Notwithstanding the fact that the magistrate before whom the case was tried, was obliged to acknowledge that the evidence in Slade's favour " was overwhelming," after a most " Dogberry " like summing up, he sentenced Mr. Slade "under the fourth section of the Vagrant Act," to three months' imprisonment with hard labour, ''''for using subtile crafts and devices by palmistry or otherwise to deceive^'' Sic, &c. This notable conviction was soon after " quashed" on appeal to the Middlesex Sessions, for a formal error in the conviction. But the enemy was not to be deprived of his "pound of flesh." "In the interests of science " — as the prosecutors alleged — they commenced a fresh attack, and although the victim of this pitiful warfare — broken down in health and spirits by the cruel persecution directed against him — insisted upon meeting whatever further proceedings might be taken, his medical attendant declared that "any further attempt to face the storm would kill him outright," and his numerous friends and supporters absolutely forced him to proceed on his way to the Continent, to meet the engagement for which he had come to Europe. It is but justice to add, that when Mr. Slade's health became sufficiently restored, he wrote to one of his scientific accusers, offering to return to England at his own expense, to give him six seances at any place he might choose, under any reasonable conditions he might dictate, entirely free of charge and for the purpose of proving the absence of fraud on his part. This letter, long, clear, and manly as it was, the scientific and gentleman- like accuser doubdess deemed it " in the interests of science " utterly to disregard, even by a single word of reply. The unprejudiced reader may satisfy himself concerning the entire candour and honesty of this letter by perusing it on page 36 of Professor ZoUner's work, " Transcendental Physics." NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 197 It might be worth while to compare the facts thus briefly summarized, from already published accounts, with " the lying tongue of rumour," from which source the author has frequently heard, that "Slade had been caught in the act of trickmg a party of celebrated professors ; tried, condemned, imprisoned, and that hence, the monstrous delusion of Spiritualism was all exposed and for ever exploded ! " For the rest of Mr. Slade's Continental experiences the reader is referred to the section on " Spiritualism in Germany," and the report of his seances with the Leipzig professors. It only remains to notice one more result of the prosecution, or more strictly speaking, the persecution., to which Mr. Slade was subject, and this was, the circulation of a memorial to the British Home Secretary, a few extracts from which will close this chapter. The Spiritualists of Great Britain probably never expected any other official result from their memorial than a silent smile of contempt from the party whose duty it would be to consign it to the Governmental waste basket — nevertheless they felt that its distribution would serve the purpose of registering the Spiritualists' version of their case, and give the too-trusting public to understand that the Bow Street magistrate's unfavourable verdict, had not yet become the funeral sermon of Spirituahsm, also that this irrepressible cause still maintained a vigorous state of being, in which new conversions were effected with each succeeding day and hour. The Religio PhilosopJiical Journal., an old established and excellent Spiritual periodical published at Chicago, U.S., reprinted the above-named memorial, the main points of which, together with the editor's comments, we give in the following extract : — " The British National Association of Spiritualists has prepared, and is circulating a memorial to the Home Secretary of the British Government, asking that the construction heretofore put upon an Act for the Suppression of Vagrancy, whereby it is made a means of maintaining criminal pi-osecution against Mediums, may be corrected. The fourth section of the act classes as vagrants, ' Every person pretending or professing to tell for- tunes, or using any subtle craft, means or device by palmistry or otherwise, to deceive or impose upon any of his majesty's subjects.' It was under this clause that Henry Slade was prosecuted, and concerning his prosecution the memorial says : " ' As an instance in point your memorialists would refer to the case of Henry Slade, an American Medium, charged at Bow Street Police Court in the year ] 876, under the fourth section of the said Act. For the defence the magistrate allowed to be called as vritnesses four gentlemen, one of them of great scientific eminence, who were experts in the investigation of Spiritualism, and who had especially tested the Mediumship of the defendant on many occasions. These gentlemen gave evidence of facts wholly inconsistent with the supposition that the defendant was an impostor — evidence which the magistrate himself declared from the bench to be " overwhelming." In attendance were other witnesses prepared to give similar testimony. Yet the magistrate refused to allow them to be called : and, in giving judgment against the defendant, he avowedly put the evi- dence, which he had described as above, altogether out of consideration, expressly declar- ing that he based his decision " according to the known course of nature." The law, it is true, does not expressly sanction any presumption against the existence of agencies in nature other than and surpassing those generally known^ — and these it is, and not " miraculous " or " supernatural " powers that Spiritualists allege — but the persons who administer the law are unavoidably bounded by this common knowledge in dealing with evidence and the probabilities arising therefrom. It results then, that the magistrate who adjudicates "according to the known course of nature " in respect to phenomena which do not conform to such " known course " as interpreted by him, finds it practically unneces- sary to hear evidence beyond the mere proof of the alleged occurrence of the phenomena in question in the presence of a certain individual, when no other person also present can be taken to have produced them. The case is therefore prejudged ; and the examination of witnesses to prove that any alleged act of imposture was not really of that character is a superfluous mockery and pretence. It is upon this fact that no tribunal, without 198 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. going into an exhaustive and impracticable inquiry upon an unfamiliar subject, can do other than take its own knowledge and experience as the standard of probability, that your memorialists chiefly rest their statement of the unavoidable injustice and prejudicial character of these prosecutions.' " CHAPTER XXVI. SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONTINUED), Concerning the Literature of English Spiritualism. The first periodical issued in England in connection with the subject of Spiritualism was The Yorkshire Spiritual Telegraph. When seeking for authentic information on this pioneer work, the author was referred to the following article which appeared in the year 1882 in the columns oi Light; and its perusal will perhaps give a better idea than could otherwise be obtained of the regard with which the promoter of this periodical is still remembered : — " keighley, " An event, unique in character, has recently transpired in this cosy little Yorkshire town, which wHl long be remembered with pleasure by all concerned, marking as it did the thirtieth anniversary of the introduction of Sjiiritualism into this country. The celebration, for such in character was the event alluded to, was' conceived and executed by the committee and friends of the Keighley ' Spiritual Brotherhood,' Mr. John Pickles, the chairman, working energetically to that end, and being ably assisted by Mr. J. Smith, the hon. secretary. Indeed, so earnestly did all work that a most successful issue was achieved. The proceedings consisted of a public tea and meeting on Saturday, July 8th. The objects the committee had in view were the presentation of the portraits of the three pioneer workers in the movement, viz., Messrs. John Wright, Abraham Shackleton, and David Weatherhead ; the two first-named persons, and the family of the last-named gentleman, who has passed hence, being the recipients of the gifts. In 1853 Mr. David Eichmond, from the Shakers, of America, brought the particulars of Spirit phenomena with him to this country, and, paying a visit to Keighley, called upon Mr. David Weather- head to present the matter to the attention of that gentleman. As a result of the interview, a public meeting was held, at which table manifestations were obtained, thro' gh mediums discovered in the audience, by Mr. Richmond, who delivered an explanatory address. Mr. Weatherhead became convinced of the truth of Spirit intercourse, and at once entered heartily into the matter, sparing neither time, pains, nor purse in his zeal. He established the first printing press in the movement, printed the first English Spiritual periodical, the Yorkshire Spiritual Telegraph, and caused the circulation of innumerable tracts, pamphlets, &c., throughout the kingdom, and subsequently erected, at his own expense, the comfortable and commodious building used by the society at the present time. He contentedly bore all the expenses involved, and during his residence in the flesh was a true pillar of the cause. Messrs. Wright and Shackleton were the two trance mediums developed in the early days ; they have literally grown grey in the work. Their labours have been free of price, and as speakers, healers, and clairvoyants they have rendered valuable service to the cause. To do honour to these workers, and to express the high esteem in which they were held, the recent presentation was arranged. On Saturday the proceedings were opened by a tea, at which a very large company sat down. At seven o'clock the pubhc meeting was opened by the chairman, Mr. J. Clapham, who said : ' Ladies and gentlemen, we are met here to-night to show our gratitude to the late Mr. Weatherhead, and also to Mr. Shackleton and Mr. Wright, for their past services. Keighley was the place where Spiritualism was first promulgated in this country, being introduced to us by Mr. David Richmond, of Darlington, who, with the assistance of Mr. \/—a-u^ ' ^rm^