and sometimes from a writing medium ; but each of them was compelled to keep his communications to himself, even if he had been willing to expose them. Thus I learned nothing in this direction. Occasionally, some young girl among the audience would evince her aptitude for development as a medium by making extraordinary and uncouth movements, moving her hands and arms wildly about, or making strange attempts to speak or sing, as if some power prevented the free use of her faculties. These movements were regarded as the result of spiritual agency; the spirit indicating the direction in which she was to be developed, as a writing or speaking medium, according to the part of the body chiefly affected. The Davenport brothers will be remembered as having made some sensation in England. A writer in the Times spoke of their performances as something awful and preternatural. These persons arrived in New York during the course of lectures I am speaking of; they were then lads, and their father accompanied them. They had been exhibiting with great success for some days, drawing large crowds to see the 'spirit hand.' It was proposed at our conference to invite them to exhibit in our lecture-room, and great hopes were entertained for the cause. But one evening, at a crowded meeting, one of our principal leaders appeared on the platform in a state of the highest indignation, and informed the meeting that, having been continually present with the Davenports for some days as their agent whilst in the city, he had discovered their tricks, this very evening had solved the mystery of the spirit hand.' This hand was a shadowy, dusky apparition which appeared above the table, and persons might touch it but not grasp it, for fear of and on offending the spirits. Our informant said that he had just attended a private and select séance at which the 'hand' was to be exhibited; and watching his opportunity, the boys being bound in their chair as usual, when it appeared he made a rush and seized it; and continued he, Here is the spirit hand,' holding up a soft woollen glove, ash-coloured, and stuffed with wool. The boys had a contrivance for making it appear by stretching their legs under the table, and causing it to be elevated. It had only been exhibited when the room was nearly dark, and when the spirits were in a good humour; in other words, when the audience was particularly credulous. The immediate result of this discovery was a riot, and the delinquents were arrested as swindlers, but eventually allowed to go on condition of quitting the city. 6 Our informant was publicly thanked, and the conference declared that they had always thought the Davenports cheats, and considered their own cause shone all the brighter by contrast. It is, perhaps, needless to say that nearly every one present had been taken in by the Davenports, and had firmly believed all their phenomena' to be spiritual. They did not seem to think there was any danger that their own mediums should prove to be cheats also. Their confidence was admirable, for the manifestations, in all except the 'spirit hand,' were exactly the same as those of the convicted rogues. Our entertainments at these meetings were occasionally varied by the delivery of discourses by ladies who were, in fact, speaking mediums. The lecturer remained seated at the back of the platform for some time after all was ready. Every eye was fixed on the medium, whose business it was to wait for the 'power.' (The proper way to open the path for the approach of this power is to bring the mind into a state of utter vacuity or semiidiotic inanity.) Presently the medium shot up straight like a rocket -and at the same moment her eyes closed. These movements were signs of the commencement of the influence.' In a few minutes she approached the front of the platform by short jerks, exactly as if she were pushed forward step by step; the jerks, however, not jerking her over the edge. On reaching the proper place she remained silent, until, suddenly, the first words would fly out of her mouth. I could not make the least sense out of these lectures; there was no apparent subject, no position laid down or proved, no evidence of any reasoning. The sentences poured forth in parcels, or like an intermittent spring, and the eyes were kept fast closed during the whole of the discourse. There was a succession of such words as 'spiritual,' 'eternal,' 'universal,' ' orb,' 'wondrous,' 'unfathomable,' 'emanation,'' scintillation,' and numberless words belonging to the 'passional' school of eloquence. All these ladies spoke in this way, and I discovered that it does not much matter if no one can understand them, because the discourses are claimed to be of spiritual origin, and far above human conception. I have described the movements of these lecturers without the least exaggeration. I was inclined to give them credit for some cleverness in keeping their eyes closed for so long a time. I have found by experiment that it is far from easy to do so. Some of the ladies were young and pretty, and some were evidently 'strong-minded females' of the Mrs. MacStinger class. At length the course of lectures was ended. On the last evening the lecturer announced that he would deliver a series of dis philosophy of courses on the the mind,' 'passional attraction,' and kindred subjects; but expecting enormous crowds to hear him, he wished to engage the Tabernacle, a building capable of holding five thousand persons. For this purpose he had caused a number of tickets to be printed, admitting to the whole course. He called on the audience to purchase these at the rate of two dollars and a half per set. As he was one of the leaders and had long enjoyed their confidence, he disposed of a very fair stock of tickets; and amongst hundreds of other wiseacres, I purchased a set. The proper time arrived, but the hopes of the lecturer of securing a large audience were soon found to be in vain. After delivering two of the number of discourses promised, he requested permission to postpone the third for a week on some pretence or other, and the result was, that he was not seen in New York again for some years. He never delivered the balance of the prepaid lectures, and he forgot to return the money for them. This event closed my relations with the conference. My further experience, gained from personal acquaintance with many prominent spiritualists, only confirmed the impression which I had already formed. Of these acquaintances I will mention only one, a doctor well known for his advocacy of the water cure. He had a large establishment for boarders, principally his patients, whose faith in spiritualism induced them to undergo such medical treatment as should be advised by the spirits. This gentleman believed that he was constantly attended by spirits, with whom he would hold conversations: he was a medium for himself but not for other persons. He had a very extensive circle of spiritualist friends, and not only managed his own affairs according to the supposed guidance of spirits, but exercised great influence over other believers in this respect. I know of a case in which a person sold a very fine property at great loss, and travelled several thousand miles in order to reside near him, for the sake of spiritual treatment administered through his hands. I was present at some manifestation meetings in this gentleman's house, and though I witnessed sundry phenomena, I never witnessed any particularly marvellous. I have been told by persons who would scorn an untruth, that they have been present when a heavy table, with eight or ten people sitting on it, has been lifted up and suspended in the air without any human aid; but I have never seen such a thing done, and have not succeeded, with all the efforts I could make, in seeing anything that compared with many conjurers' tricks, the Indian basket trick, for example. To sum up the results of my experience-I have known many mediums, professional and private, witnessed a great variety of manifestations, attended lectures and séances, and perused a number of publications in its interest. I do not pretend to say how the phenomena are produced, but I have seen nothing to induce me to account for them on a spiritual theory. In the course of my investigations I have applied tests without any satisfactory result; and wherever 1 have witnessed the phenomena, I have rather been filled with wonder at the readiness with which believers have allowed themselves to be persuaded. As I have already remarked, spiritualism enjoys much greater facilities for spreading in America than among ourselves. It might have been thought that other advantages would be neutralised by the power of education. The Americans are justly proud of their exertions in this direction, and I never knew a native American who had not some degree of education. But it appears to me that American popular education rather tends to the furtherance of such movements as that under discussion: that it is the great cause of those peculiarities in American character and institutions which seem directly to encourage spiritualism and kindred theories. The young people in America are infinitely more precocious than is the case with us in England. And an unhealthy stimulus to the mind gives it a tendency to grasp at visionary or impossible objects. Then religious thought and government being vernment being thoroughly untrammelled by legal or political fetters in America, secular education appears almost in opposition to the received and revered impres sions so powerful among ourselves. The result is a removal of old landmarks and a hankering after new fields of thought. Education thus appears more in the light of a power urging to the search and attainment of something novel than to profit by the experience of the past. The effect also on the minds of the young of the want of a healthy home influence is undoubtedly injurious. We see that the Americans are not so domestic in their tastes and habits as we think desirable in England. Thus there is created a tendency to seek for some excitement out of the ordinary quiet course of life. The precocity just alluded to causes the youth of America to consider themselves men long before they have arrived at discretion. Independence of thought and action is unnaturally strained; the impulse of the mind must nearly always be in an unhealthy direction. years of The influence of political questions also permeates every condition of American society. Every male American of twenty-one years of age conceives himself to be immediately concerned in the government of the country. Of every male child it may be said, 'He may be President of the United States.' Thus early in life is excited a taste for publicity of position, for which abundant opportunities are constantly afforded. The Americans all pride themselves on their ability to speak in public, and it is not of much importance in what direction the privilege is exercised. Apart from these considerations affecting specially the American people, and speaking generally, I incline to the opinion that the showy shallow thing called modern education is calculated to operate as much in favour of a belief in spiritualism as against it. The great discoveries of the age in many departments of science-the control and adaptation to useful purposes of some of Nature's powers hitherto so little known-the uprooting of fallacies which long appeared to be truths; these facts have impressed on our minds a practical mode of dealing with all before us-a tendency to find a plain rational cause for everything at first sight wonderful, and to accept nothing without sufficient evidence of its truth, and proof especially of its practical usefulness. On the other hand, the discovery that many things which our fathers thought impossible are easily effected -that explanations in our eyes perfectly rational were not long ago considered ridiculous-that, in short, we may look for discoveries yet beyond our view,-all this gives to the mind an inclination to accept as probable much that at first sight would appear out of reason. As every fresh discovery shows us our previous inexperience, we are inclined to erase the word 'impossible' from our vocabulary. And even where we have controlled powers not long since out of our reach, we see how much may remain behind. We are uncertain what we may yet have unveiled to us in the future. These remarks apply especially to America, and if space permitted, it would not be difficult to present evidence to show that spiritualism rather gains than otherwise from the tendency of popular education. I will mention one more feature of American character, which might be expected to oppose the progress of this movement. The absorption of the faculties in the weary pursuit of wealth would tend, one might think, to direct the mind, when freed from the cares of business, to some quiet relaxation-free from the excitement of mental speculation and superstitious theory. But they seem to find relief in such excitement, in which there is a visionary, speculative kind of atmosphere that contrasts with the hard matter-of-fact nature of their business, yet corresponds with the pleasing uncertainty connected with the hope of gain. Many a man who is specially careful in commercial business, yields himself blindly up to the teachings of spiritualism. The Americans are, like the ancient Athenians, ever craving after novelty. They are not, in one sense, so truly practical as the English-they keep in view the idea of change in an inconvenient degree. Thus if they build a bridge or railway station it is generally a temporary affair. This kind of feeling prompts them to follow up any new doctrine or idea-regarding future results less than the impulse of the moment. S. B. INDEX ΤΟ VOLUME LXXVII. Abbey, Westminster, 353 Administration, the Caucasian, and the Again? 641 America and England, 269 Army, the Reorganisation of the, 546 A School for Young Ladies in Genoa, 521 Avon and Stour, By the, 734 Banking, Free, Controversy on, between M. By the Stour and Avon, 734 Captain Ord's Return, 501, 625, 757 Caucasian Administration, the, in Trouble, 666 Character, A, 678 Chips, Max Müller's, 187 Church, the Irish, and what is to succeed it, Citeaux, the Swallows of, 168 Consolidation of Police Force, and the Pre- Controversy on Free Banking, between M. Crisis, the Religious, 365 Dean Stanley's Westminster Abbey, 353 Difficulty, the Irish, and the Caucasian Ad- Disaffection bred by the Irish Land System, Echoes of the Indian Mutiny, 242 Emigration and Political Economy, by T. England and America, 269 England, Young, Politics of, 71, 333 Force, Consolidation of Police, and the Pre- Free Banking, Controversy on, between M. Genoa, School in, for Young Ladies, 521 Harvest, the, is Ended, 210 Henry VIII., State Papers of the Reign of, Herbert's Poetry, 746 Household Service, by Frances Power Cobbe, 121 How the Irish Land System breeds Dis- |